![]() ![]() ![]() How do you even begin to transform a single idea into a complete book? "I have never before read a book about writing that is so thorough, thoughtful, and most of all, helpful." -Lisa See, New York Times bestselling author of The Island of Sea Womenįor many writers, the biggest challenge is figuring out how to take that earliest glimmer of inspiration and shape it into a full-length novel. This is a subject she knows well, having taught creative writing both nationally and internationally for over thirty years. In Mastering the Process, George offers readers a master class in the art and science of crafting a novel. As the author of twenty-four novels, Elizabeth George is one of the most successful-and prolific-novelists today. ![]()
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![]() Sappho’s sexuality, for example, is the ground of most contention. These biographies tend to be charged with the beliefs and ideals of the biographer, a practice more in reflexivity. This, of course, does not stop many from trying to construct a biography of the poet. Sappho as real historical figure remains an enigma and will probably always remain so. Her poetry is the only definitive source for a woman bearing that epithet.Īs Page Dubois observes in her introduction to Sappho Burning, “She is not a person, not even a character in a drama or a fiction, but a set of texts gathered in her name” (Dubois 3). Little is known about the actual life of Sappho. The personage of Sappho has been a subject of much dispute over the centuries. Out of this oeuvre, we possess only one of those books, containing only forty, decipherable poems. Of course, we all know what happened to that library. The library of Alexandria once held nine of her books. ![]() ![]() The papyri on which she wrote has been lost, destroyed, or corrupted beyond recognition. ![]() ![]() Ripped, torn, shredded papyri, quotations on pottery shards and in the text of historical writers are all that remain of Sappho’s lyrical poetry. Review of If not, Winter, Fragments of Sappho Translated by Anne Carson Global Health Engineering Music Writing Randy Yee Review of If not, Winter, Fragments of Sappho Translated by Anne Carson ![]() ![]() ![]() After meeting with Taichi who understands him as an open notebook and Kohei’s life changes forever as he opens his heart. Kohei has a hearing disability and is often misunderstood on campus. It’s a heartwarming shounen-ai with a beautiful storyline and is sure to leave you smiling at the end. ![]() Our Dining Table is a joyful ride from start to finish. However, his life changes when he meets Minoru and Tane who ask him to teach them cooking, Now his heart races when as they share meals together. Yutaka has a natural talent for cooking but hates eating with other people. If you want to try something new, then try this manga. Hikaru Ga Shinda Natsu is a horror shounen-ai manga that has some creepy scenes that may not be digestible to some. Yoshiki at the bottom of his heart wishes to stay by his side and Hikaru doesn’t feel like himself anymore. Yoshiki and Hikaru did everything together in their village but everything changed when Hikaru was hit by a mysterious light. The characters are absolutely hilarious and cute but the plot doesn’t offer much to readers. ![]() Karasugaoka Don’t Be Shy has some of the best art in the bl genre. However, his life takes a turn after realizing that he’s in love with the leader of the rival group, Shinba Tetsuji. Izuhara Sou is the leader of the popular crime prevention club “VOICE”. ![]() ![]() ![]() Bechdel creates a plot which presents her father and herself as parallel and diverging stories. 100), by Alison Bechdel, 2006, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.īechdel entwines their two stories into one plot by considering how her father made these decisions and lived his life. 2 – Alison finding out that Roy was her father’s lover. 113), by Alison Bechdel, 2006, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.įig. 1 – Alison telling her brothers to call her Albert on vacation. Such events include her memorable camping trip, which is memorable because of her uncomfortable experience with gender expression and is made more notable when she learns that their babysitter who accompanied them on vacation, Roy, was her father’s lover.įig. ![]() However, all of these events are meaningful and impactful to the memoir and Bechdel’s life, because she retroactively examines these events through the lens of knowledge that her father was a queer man. There are interesting and noteworthy developments and settings which make Fun Home about Bechdel’s unorthodox upbringing the title Fun Home both referring to the Bechdel family funeral home and the Gothic revival house in which she grew up. Although Fun Home is ostensibly a memoir about Alison Bechdel, her coming out, and the unexpected death of her father at a young age, the memoir is largely about Bechdel processing her father’s queerness and possibly resulting suicide. ![]() ![]() ![]() And it’s an incisive, provocative exploration of what it really means to be a mother. Claire Oshetsky’s debut novel about a woman who gives birth to an owl-baby is one of the oddest – yet most captivating – books I’ve ever read. “It’s a wonder that any woman ever agrees to be a mother, when the fruits of motherhood are inevitably conflict and remorse, to be followed by death and disembowelment.”Ĭhouette is not for the faint of motherhood. ![]() When she discovers that her husband is on an obsessive and increasingly dangerous quest to find a “cure” for their daughter, Tiny must decide whether Chouette should be raised to fit in or to be herself-and learn what it truly means to be a mother.Īrresting, darkly funny, and unsettling, Chouette is a brilliant exploration of ambition, sacrifice, perceptions of ability, and the ferocity of motherly love. Even in those times when Chouette’s behaviors grow violent and strange, Tiny’s loving commitment to her daughter is unwavering. Left on her own to care for a child who seems more predatory bird than baby, Tiny vows to raise Chouette to be her authentic self. When Chouette is born small and broken-winged, Tiny works around the clock to meet her daughter’s needs. “You think this baby is going to be like you, but it’s not like you at all,” she warns him. An exhilarating, provocative novel of motherhood in extremis ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As Rufus ages (the Maryland years amount to hours and days in 1976 time), the relationship between him and Dana takes on some terrifying dimensions: Rufus simply cannot show the humanity Dana tries to call forth Dana, drawn into the life of slaves with its humiliation and atrocities, treads carefully, trying to effect some changes, but too often she returns beaten and maimed to her own century. ![]() ![]() Dana has been "called" by her white ancestor, Rufus-on her first visit, Rufus is a small child, son of a sour slaveowner-and she'll be transported back to Maryland (twice with her white husband Kevin) to rescue Rufus from death again and again. Suddenly I was outdoors on the ground beneath trees". And this time the appeal should reach far beyond a sci-fi audience-because the alien planet here is the antebellum South, as seen through the horrified eyes of Dana, a 20th-century black woman who time-travels in expeditious Butler fashion: "The house, the books, everything vanished. Butler is one of those accomplished science-fiction writers ( Mind of My Mind, 1977 Survivor, 1978) who tap out their tales so fast and fine and clear that it's impossible to stop reading at any point. ![]() ![]() ![]() Sapphire is the author of Push, American Dreams, The Kid, and Black Wings & Blind Angels. In the intimate, terrifying, and deeply alive story of Abdul's journey, we are witness to an artist's birth by fire. A testament to the ferocity of the human spirit and the deep nourishing power of love and of art, The Kid chronicles a young man about to take flight. In a generational story that moves with the speed of thought from a Mississippi dirt farm to Harlem in its heyday from a troubled Catholic orphanage to downtown artist's lofts, The Kid tells of a twenty- first-century young man's fight to find a way toward the future. Left alone to navigate a world in which love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history, and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind. We meet him at age nine, on the day of his mother's funeral. ![]() ![]() In The Kid bestselling author Sapphire tells the electrifying story of Abdul Jones, the son of Push's unforgettable heroine, Precious.Ī story of body and spirit, rooted in the hungers of flesh and of the soul, The Kid brings us deep into the interior life of Abdul Jones. Fifteen years after the publication of Push, one year after the Academy Award-winning film adaptation, Sapphire gives voice to Precious's son, Abdul. ![]() ![]() Gripping, terrifying, an unputdownable read. ![]() I highly recommend this book, a c lassic novel really shouldn’t be this enjoyable! The original film, with Richard Attenborough, is definitely worth catching as well. When I moved to Brighton in the 90s, I couldn’t wait to discover all the locations in the book and the film and I was pleased to discover that so many of them still existed. Graham Greene paints a vivid, seedy picture of Britain in the 30s, packed full of memorable characters and indelible scenes. WE SAY: What better way to start an online book journey than with a proper old classic, set in my hometown of Brighton.īrighton Rock is a terrific page turner, especially when you consider it is over 80 years old. The Paw of Approval #9 - Mr Benn 123456789īook of the Week #1 - At Home with Dyslexia The Paw of Approval #8 - Meet the Moomins! The Paw of Approval #7 - Fantastically Great Women who made History Activity Book The Paw of Approval #6 - Who is the Biggest? The Paw of Approval #5 - Pick a Pine Tree ![]() The Paw of Approval #4 - Bird Builds a Nest The Paw of Approval #2 - Rhinos Don’t Eat Pancakes The Paw of Approval #1 - Ruby in the Ruins ![]() ![]() ![]() Since you declare yourself so bravely I will tell you this for your comfort: Your daughter would take no harm from me, nor from anything that lives in my lands,” and he threw out an arm that swept in all the wide fields and the castle at their centre. You may think me lacking in honour, but I am not such a cruel father that I would buy my own life with the life of one of my daughters.” ![]() ![]() “The Beast thought for a moment and then said: “I will spare your miserable life on one condition: that you will give me one of your daughters.” She must go to the castle and tame the Beast-if such a thing is possible…” When her father comes home one day with the strange tale of an enchanted castle in the wood and the terrible promise he has made to the Beast who lives there, Beauty knows what she must do. But what she lacks in looks, she makes up for in courage. Thin, awkward, and undersized, with big hands and huge feet, she has always thought of herself as the plainest girl in her family-certainly not nearly as lovely as her elder sisters, Hope and Grace. “Sixteen-year-old Beauty has never liked her nickname. ![]() ![]() ![]() How does Shapiro fit in to the narrative of his life?Įqually important, how does this stranger fit in to Shapiro’s own narrative? Finding answers requires digging into dusty boxes of old records and into the minds of people with scraps of memories of Shapiro’s origin. He is in his seventies and retired, and he wants to spend more time with his grandchildren. And yet, when she musters the courage to contact him, he is reluctant to form a relationship with her. ![]() As Shapiro writes, watching him give a talk on YouTube is like seeing an alternate version of herself, one that feels immediately and viscerally connected to her own identity. He is a doctor and medical ethicist from Oregon. Through some investigative journalism and genetic sleuthing, Shapiro discovers the identity of her biological father. But both of her parents are deceased she can’t ask them any questions. ![]() After taking a DNA test through Ancestry.com - something she and her husband both did as a lark - the results came back with unanticipated news: Shapiro’s DNA was only 52% Ashkenazic. As Dani Shapiro’s new memoir opens, she stares into a mirror confronting a rankling feeling she’s had her whole life: that her face is that of a stranger she doesn’t resemble either of the Orthodox Jewish parents who raised her.And she’s just received confirmation that she’s been right all along. ![]() |