![]() ![]() In an age when scientific advances permit us to grasp the history of mankind in the context of its ecological impact on the planet, Brown's lucid, accessible narrative is the first popularization of this innovative new field of study, as thrilling as it is ambitious. ![]() Along the way historian Cynthia Stokes Brown considers topics as varied as cell formation, population growth, global disparities, and illiteracy, creating a stunning synthesis of the historical and scientific knowledge of humanity and the earth we inhabit.īig History represents a new kind of history, one that skillfully interweaves historical knowledge and cutting-edge science. It's a story that takes in prehistoric geology, human evolution, the agrarian age, the Black Death, the voyages of Columbus, the industrial revolution, and global warming. An epic book that Kirkus called "world history on a grand scale," Big History begins when the universe is no more than the size of an atom and ends with a twenty-first-century planet inhabited by 6.1 billion people. ![]() Jared Diamond meets Stephen Hawking in the first popular book in an innovative new field that seeks to fit human history into the history of the universe, by an American Book Award winner. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The film concerns Aki (Mako Midori), a nude model kidnapped by a blind sculptor, Michio (Eiji Funakoshi). It’s no real surprise then that the director eventually took on one of Rampo’s more extreme novels for adaptation, 1931’s “Blind Beast”. Throughout the 1960s, the work of auteur filmmaker Yasuzo Masumura increasingly leaned towards the erotic, with films including Manji (1964) and Irezumi (1966). We’ve cast an eye over cinematic works inspired by his writing and picked out six of the most mysteriously seductive to delve into: Continued interest in Rampo’s books has seen many silver screen interpretations of his stories go into production over the years. The 1920s and 30s saw Rampo rise to become Japan’s foremost author of mystery fiction, with much of his work coming under the umbrella of ero guro nansensu (erotic grotesque nonsense), a literary movement of the era. ![]() Born in 1894, Rampo was heavily influenced by the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe, whose detective and horror stories inspired many of his novels. Japan has been home to many famous literary figures throughout history, yet few have a body of work so instantly recognisable as that of Taro Hirai, better known by his pseudonym, Edogawa Rampo. ![]() ![]() ![]() A car accident lands her in a culvert, where a little girl keeping dark secrets of her own comes to the rescue. ![]() Sofia's angry rejection of Bride's present, coinciding with the departure of Bride's lover, inspires such self-doubt that Bride fears regressing back into Lula Ann. Amid preparations for the launch of her signature cosmetics line, Bride offers a gift-bag of cash and cosmetics to parolee Sofia Huxley, the kindergarten teacher Bride accused of sexual abuse 15 years before, earning Bride maternal approval and Sofia her prison sentence. Grown-up Lula Ann transforms herself into Bride, a stiletto-wearing, Jaguar-driving California executive with dark skin proudly accentuated by stylish white clothing. The story begins with the birth of Lula Ann Bridewell, a midnight black baby whose mother cannot stand to touch her. ![]() In Morrison's short, emotionally-wrenching novel, her first since 2012's Home, a mother learns about the damage adults do to children and the choices children make as they grow to suppress, express, or overcome their shame. ![]() ![]() When the war ends, Annemarie finds out that her sister was in fact killed by the Germans. Later, Henrik explains to her that the handkerchief contained an agent that blocked the dogs' ability to smell, meaning they would be unable to detect the Rosens and other families on the boats. Though Annemarie cries and otherwise acts the part of an indignant little girl, she has succeeded in her task, in part because she didn't understand the importance of it. They allow their dogs to smell the handkerchief and leave. They mock her and steal the food, discovering the package in the bottom of the basket. When the soldiers and their dogs stop her, Annemarie explains that she is bringing food to her uncle. She gives the package to Annemarie instead, concealing it in a basket. ![]() Annemarie's mother injures her ankle and is unable to deliver a crucial package to Henrik. The Johansens and Ellen travel to Gilleleje to meet with Henrik, the Rosens and Peter. ![]() Ellen and Annemarie hide Ellen's Star of David necklace. The Rosens escape first, leaving Ellen with the Johansens. Annemarie and her best friend Ellen are accosted by Nazi soldiers on the streets. ![]() After three years of German occupation, the atmosphere of Copenhagen becomes one of danger rather than familiarity. ![]() ![]() Mary-Anne has drawn on her love of the Australian bush, her fascination with her own family history and her deep, abiding respect for the Anzac generation to produce this novel. 1 Biography OConnor grew up in Wahroonga, Sydney, the daughter of Dorn and Australian artist Kevin Best. Work then began on her first major novel, Gallipoli Street. a time of desperate love born in desperate times and acts of friendship against impossible odds. Mary-Anne OConnor is an Australian novelist. "At 17, Veronica O'Shay is happier running wild on the family farm than behaving in the ladylike manner her mother dictates, and she despairs both of her secret passion for her brother's friend Jack Murphy and what promises to be a future of restraint and compliance.īut this is 1913 and the genteel tranquillity of rural Beecroft is about to change forever as the O'Shay and Murphy families, along with their new neighbours the Dwyers, are caught up in the theatre of war.įrom the horrors of Gallipoli to the bloody battles of the Somme, through love lost and found, the Great Depression and the desperate jungle war along the Kokoda Track, this sprawling family drama brings to life a time long past. Near Fine Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, uncreased spine, no inscriptions (see photographs) ![]() ![]() ![]() At 17, Veronica O'Shay is happier running wild on the family farm than behaving in the ladylike manner her mother requires, and she despairs both of her. Harlequin Mira, 2015, ISBN 9781743692141, paperback An Anzac tale of three families whose destinies are entwined by war, tragedy and passion. ![]() ![]() They were tall volcanoes and looked capable of spewing lava. I was on the third floor, which was also the top floor. ![]() I could see the volcanoes from the window of mym hotel room. Its ugliness, which is a threatened look (the low, morose houses have earthquake cracks in their facades the buildings wince at you with fright lines), is ugliest on those streets where, just past the last toppling house, a blue volcano’s cone bulges. Guatemala City, an extremely horizontal place, is like a city on its back. As always, I just love his writing, cranky as it is.įrom The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas by Paul Theroux. But I’ll post a bit from his chapter on Guatemala. Theroux interviewing Borges – but basically the two of them just sit around and talk about literature for 2 days – I LOVE that chapter. Fascinating stuff – While he is in Argentina, he calls on writer Jorge Luis Borges – and they spend a couple of days together. ![]() ![]() It’s about his journey through Central America and down into South America. In this book, Paul Theroux travels from Boston to Patagonia – by train. The Old Patagonian Express: By Train Through the Americas by Paul Theroux. ![]() ![]() ![]() Shado: Song of the Dragon (1992) #1-4 - loose issues (not collected). 9 - Old Tricks - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #73-80, and Green Arrow: The Wonder Year (1993) #1-4. 8 - The Hunt for the Red Dragon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #63-72. 7 - Homecoming - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #51-62. 6 - Last Action Hero - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #39-50. 5 - The Black Arrow - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #29-38. 4 - Blood of the Dragon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #21-28. 3 - The Trial of Oliver Queen - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #13-20. 2 - Here There Be Dragons - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #7-12. 1 - Hunter's Moon - Collecting Green Arrow (1988) #1-6. Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters - Collecting Green Arrow: The Longbow Hunters (1987) #1-3. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I inhaled this gloriously horrific and anxiety-inducing novel in all of three hours, and then spent the next few hours being considerably stressed out. A girl’s gotta read.Īnd the other book that destroyed me for a good few days? What Lies Between Us by Nayomi Munaweera, a Sri Lankan-American writer who also wrote Island of a Thousand Mirrors. Probably not the best idea of mine, in hindsight, considering the very real implications of a Gilead-like future for the U.S., but oh well. I read it on my honeymoon, and let me tell you, nothing puts a damper on marital bliss like a dystopian horror story that strips women down to their biological functions and wipes away their humanity. One was The Handmaid’s Taleby Margaret Atwood. ![]() Have you ever read a book that you knew would completely mess you up? Like, you’ve gone in knowing that the journey through the pages would be worth it, but your soul might not make it through to the final destination? Friends, I’ve read two of those books in recent times. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Education-private schools in Bolivia and Lebanon.Destined to witness the battle between freedom and repression as it plays out across the world, Roser and Victor will find that home might have been closer than they thought all along.Ī masterful work of historical fiction about hope, exile, and belonging, A Long Petal of the Sea shows Isabel Allende at the height of her powers. Through it all, their hope of returning to Spain keeps them going. But they will also find joy as they patiently await the day when they will be exiles no more. Starting over on a new continent, their trials are just beginning, and over the course of their lives, they will face trial after trial. Together with two thousand other refugees, they embark on the SS Winnipeg, a ship chartered by the poet Pablo Neruda, to Chile: “the long petal of sea and wine and snow.” As unlikely partners, they embrace exile as the rest of Europe erupts in world war. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires. ![]() When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border.Īmong them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. ![]() Allende's epic novel spanning decades and crossing continents follows two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home. ![]() ![]() ![]() The author doesn't even know how to correct something so simple, he can create literally any excuse, but he creates one that doesn't solve the problem. The explanation in the "spoiler" part will make this more understandable, and Honestly, if you are used to good novels or at least one where the author cares about cohesion, I recommend reading the spoilers, nothing too revealing and can spare you from reading this. The author realized his mistakes in one instance, but instead of writing something correcting like using a sentence that made us see something now, that happened in the past, he inserts a solution in the storyline AFTER the problem. If the series of events changes without explanation, then how can the reader understand or keep up with the plot? And it is only chapter 31 guys. ![]() There's no way you can read a story where a character (one of the very few) goes to war, and the next day he appears in the house and no explanation is given to the reader. more> a given especially since these novels are usually too long to keep track of everything, and not really a professional book so my expectations usually are low enough regarding them, but this one was surprising in a bad way. Look, plot holes are common, I honestly don't mind them too much. For me was like a 10 yo wrote this with no regard for things he wrote before, just making up as he goes. ![]() ![]() I kept waiting for them to be corrected or for new information to come along and correct it, but no. BUT what stands out is this :Ī LOT, of obvious plot holes. There are other problems, and other qualities too. ![]() |