![]() ![]() “I am what you all call an ambassador, the first to come and communicate with you people. “You people call me an alien because I am from space, your outer heaven, beyond,” Ayodele tells them. ![]() The aliens have given the sea creatures whatever it was they have asked for, leaving the lagoon now full of massive spiked octopi, monstrous swordfish and sweet, sweet water that now heals “the worst human illnesses and cause a hundred more illnesses not yet known to mankind.” But they do not want to “rule, colonise, conquer or take.” According to their first ambassador Ayodele, they “just want a home.” Ayodele is the first shape-shifting alien to take human form and talk to the three people on the beach - Adaora, Agu and Anthony. The strange alien life form falls from the stars and into the sea around Nigeria, cleansing it and giving it new life. ![]() Instead they find themselves alive and unhurt back on the beach after a strange encounter with extraterrestrials, an encounter that changes each of them unequivocally, and sets them on a path to save the city of Lagos, in Nnedi Okorafor’s novel Lagoon. “Fast and quiet as a whisper,” a huge wave drags them into the water, as if “the ocean had opened its great maw and swallowed” them. Each is there searching for solace, each with her or his distinct, complicated life. ![]() A scientist with a tumultuous marriage, a rap star trying to find quiet and a military man desperate to contact his family. THREE strangers on a beach in Lagos, Nigeria. ![]()
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![]() ![]() It features angst, bogans, hot sex, naked snowboarding and the triumphant return of Max and Julia who are dealing with a romantic dilemma of their own. When she tells him he’s not baby-daddy material, Dean vows to become the man she needs, whatever it takes. ![]() ![]() Unfortunately, he's far from what she wants in a husband, what with his perpetually empty bank account and inability to cook anything other than bacon. Beautiful, driven and wild in bed she's all he's ever wanted in a wife. Other books mentioned in this episode: Dark and Dirty Sinners MC series by Serena Akeroyd Open Hearts by Eve Dangerfield Our next book is A Matter of. He also has the attention span of a Cocker Spaniel on MDMA, but that’s never been a problem where the opposite sex is concerned. He’s easygoing, a great footballer and always up for a beer or sixteen. No, they’re just having a little fun until Ash can find a donor. Take Dean Sherwood, sure he’s stupid hot but that doesn’t pay the bills or remember to pick you up from the airport. It's better than pinning all your hopes on a guy who's never going to make you happy. She’s not wasting any more time longing for Prince Charming and getting stuck with Prince 'Babe, What’s For Dinner?' If she can’t find a respectable, self-sufficient man to start a family with she’ll just do it by herself. ![]() ![]() The man's dreams play a large role throughout the novel the man tells both himself and the boy that good dreams are to be feared because they indicate a form of acceptance, and that death would inevitably be near. ![]() ![]() While the boy sleeps, the man reflects upon one of his dreams of a creature with dead eyes. Because this is a post-apocalyptic story, the exemption of these punctuation elements might serve as a way for McCarthy to indicate that in this new world, remnants of the old world - like electricity, running water, and humanity - no longer exist, or they exist in very limited amounts. McCarthy also chooses to use no quotation marks in dialogue and for some contractions, he leaves out the apostrophes. Stylistically, the writing is very fragmented and sparse from the beginning, which reflects the barren and bleak landscape through which the man and boy are traveling. ![]() The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world, date and place unnamed, though the reader can assume it's somewhere in what was the United States because the man tells the boy that they're walking the "state roads." Neither the man nor the boy is given a name this anonymity adds to the novel's tone that this could be happening anywhere, to anyone. The novel begins with the man and boy in the woods, the boy asleep, as the two of them are making their journey along the road. ![]() ![]() Crocker's rather imperial tone is also hard to miss when he speaks of the "mob". Crocker himself is perhaps not entirely free of traces of a colonial mindset when he offers this criticism, and which can be seen emerging occasionally throughout the book, as when he speaks of the "Indian mind" - usually negatively. He perceives Nehru's hastiness as having shown unfortunate results in many decolonised states, which have seen dictatorships emerge - and India itself is seen in danger of failing to sustain parliamentary democracy. However, while not giving it much credit initially, Crocker mentions the lack of real alternatives to non-alignment available to a person in Nehru's place, and counts it as one of his contributions to world peace.Ĭrocker also criticizes Nehru for being "too hasty" in his pursuit of decolonisation and independence. ![]() Non-alignment is perhaps treated unfairly by Crocker, who at times reads it as myopic. In our day and age, when Nehru's name invites only disparagement and criticism, this sympathy is perhaps a desirable reminder to look at history with not only a critical eye, but also with sympathy and understanding. In its judiciousness, however, it does not forget to treat Nehru with compassion. ![]() Crocker's Nehru is a judicious and measured account of the first prime minister of independent India. ![]() ![]() If you can, picture yourself sitting in a big comfy chair by the fireside with the fire burning and a cup of coffee or tea nearby, and an afghan if needed and this little book in your hands as you begin reading. When you finish the novel you will be given additional pages filled with wonderful recipes from the cuisine of Provence and Marseilles prepared by Salvatore Cuneo who has joined Jean Perdu on his floating barge down the rivers of France. I say unique because the imagination of the author Nina George provides for us an interesting concept and, I say little because this novel is 370 pages set in a smaller than average hardcover. This novel will take you on a personal adventure of the heart starting with one man and ending with multiple story lines of interesting lives of the characters who become the personal friends who join him throughout this unique little book. ![]() The Little Paris Bookshop is on a floating barge called Lulu on the River Seine and beckons all book lovers to come on board. People who love books and bookstores will appreciate the notion that certain books stay with you and you never forget them. I could not think of a better opening line for my review of The Little Paris Bookshop than a quote by Cicero: “A room without books is like a body without a soul.” ![]() The Little Paris Bookshop: Book Review by Arlene ![]() ![]() ![]() He held out against Farrah for so long, and even though he’s falling for her in a big way, he’s worried about Nathan’s reaction, given Jace’s well-deserved reputation as a player who avoids relationships. ![]() ![]() You can see the connection that Jace and Farrah have, and I love that their strong friendship forms the basis of their romance. Their coming together is hot, sexy, and so much more. I just hoped it didn’t crash and burn, taking all three of us down with it. Meaningful looks, subtle touches, and deep conversations hint at something more, and even though Jace knows he’s no good for Farrah, with her pushing him all the way, soon everything changes. But even though she’s an adult now, both Jace and Nathan still see Farrah as a young girl needing their protection. Now, he’s back, 27 years old to Farrah’s 21, and he has moved in with Farrah and her brother, Nathan, to help them make ends meet – setting up a fun but rather interesting roommate situation.įarrah has never moved on from her crush on Jace, and now that he’s back, it’s bigger and more all-consuming than ever. He was a big part of her life, but right after Farrah’s parents were killed right in front of him, Jace left town. A brother’s-best-friend/second-chance romance, this one left me feeling a bit underwhelmed.įarrah has been in love with her brother’s best friend, Jace, since she was 12 years old. ![]() ![]() ![]() NO MIDDLE BOOK SYNDROME HERE THIS IS MASTERCLASS IN FANTASY WRITING Promised a world by a star god, Eimarille sets into motion the gears of war and launches the opening salvo of a battle whose repercussions will ripple across the whole of Maricol. With a crown claimed, Eimarille Rourke sets her sights on Ashion and the continent beyond her country’s borders. ![]() ![]() Every rebellion needs a figurehead, but Caris is determined not to become a martyr. As the Clockwork Brigade is targeted by Daijal, she must fight to save the people she cares about. With her entire world upended, Caris Dhemlan is on the run, struggling to come to terms with the truth of her heritage. Refusing to face his peers alone, Vanya will stand before the Houses of Solaria with Soren by his side, a decision that risks his heart when an unspeakable betrayal threatens everything he’s fought for. When his claim to the Imperial throne is challenged by a traitorous House, Vanya Sa’Liandel must adhere to the ancient tradition of the Conclave to stay in power. But even the darkest secrets cannot remain hidden forever, and when lies come to light, the price he pays for his silence may very well be his undoing. ![]() Drawn into a web of Solarian politics, Soren finds himself at the center of a storm of his own making, unwilling to break free if it means losing the man he loves. As a warden, Soren’s duty is to guard against the dead, but he was never trained to guard against his heart. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Recent winners of the Charlemagne Prize include the Belarusian opposition leaders (2022), Klaus Iohannis (2020/21), Antnio Guterres (2019), Emmanuel Macron (2018), Timothy Garton Ash (2017) and Pope Francis (2016). The daughters were named Rotrude, Bertha and Gisela. The prize is named for Charlemagne, the Frankish king revered by his contemporaries as the Father of Europe. Focusing on the generally neglected presence of Charlemagne's will in the text, the essay locates at least the genesis of Einhard's composition in the disturbed politics of 828-829, thereby tying it born to the Epitaphium Arsenii and to Einhard's own Translatio et miracula sancti Marcellini et Petri as evidence of vocal and articulated opposition to Louis's political and ecclesiastical activity. Charlemagne had three sons and three daughters by his second wife Hildegard. ![]() An awareness of the general rules of epideictic, deliberative, and, above all, forensic rhetoric, it is argued, sheds considerable light not just on Einhard's influential fusion of biography with annals but on the status of the text as an implicit critique of Louis the Pious. Instead, it reconstructs the context of Ciceronian rhetoric to which Einhard is known to have been familiar and with which the writing of history and res gestae was closely associated. "Some Ciceronian Models for Einhard's Life of Charlemagne." This essay seeks to reevaluate the traditional characterization of the Vita Karoli Magni as the first secular biography of the middle ages, a work which self-consciously used Suetonius in order to adapt the written traditions of hagiography and shape a distinctively "imperial" ideal of Carolingian kingship. 4 Peter Munz, Life in the Age of Charlemagne, European Life Series (New York: G. ![]() ![]() And Jade narrates the quirky history of Proofrock as if it is one of those movies. especially the ones where a masked killer seeks revenge on a world that wronged them. ![]() She lives in her own world, a world in which protection comes from an unusual source: horror movies. Jade Daniels is an angry, half-Indian outcast with an abusive father, an absent mother, and an entire town that wants nothing to do with her. But beneath is its beating heart: a biting critique of American colonialism, Indigenous displacement, and gentrification, and a heartbreaking portrait of a broken young girl who uses horror movies to cope with the horror of her own life. On the surface is a story of murder in small-town America. ![]() About the Book "In her quickly gentrifying rural lake town Jade sees recent events only her encyclopedic knowledge of horror films could have prepared her for. ![]() ![]() It’s easier to have a broken bone-something tangible that can be “fixed”-than to have a mental illness, and easier to have a discussion about sex than it is to have one about mental health. ![]() However issues around mental health still tend to be treated as something shrouded in shame or discussed in whispers. Millions of people are going through similar things. Have you ever felt like you just couldn’t get out of bed? Not the occasional morning, but every day? Do you find yourself listening to a voice in your head that says “you’re not good enough,” “not good looking enough,” “not thin enough,” or “not smart enough”? Have you ever found yourself unable to do homework or pay attention in class unless everything is “just so” on your desk? Everyone has had days like that, but what if you have them every day? Your favorite YA authors including Ellen Hopkins, Maureen Johnson, and more recount their own experiences with mental health in this raw, real, and powerful collection of essays that explores everything from ADD to PTSD. “ much-needed, enlightening book.” - School Library Journal (starred review) ![]() “Who better to raise teens’ awareness of mental illness and health than the YA authors they admire?” - Booklist (starred review) ![]() |