![]() This is a book as absorbing as any fantasy novel, because this is not a dry academic text, but one in which the Viking world, in reality and myth, is brought to life so you can feel the wind on your face and the smells of the ancient hearths crackling on cold winter nights. The author’s field trips to ancient Viking sites are woven brilliantly into the commentary on the different Sagas, and are illustrated with a generous helping of colour photographs worthy of an experienced photojournalist. ![]() The text skillfully draws out the highlights of the Sagas in all their gore and, at times, enormous humour.Īlthough a non-fiction book, Beyond the Northlands is a ‘must-buy’ for anyone writing fantasy or those who are interested in the Vikings and their stories, because it not only methodically works through potential sources, but also provides the context for the Sagas. Within it you will find commentaries on entrepreneurs, business empires, jealousy, skulduggery, conniving, lust, desire, fantastic voyages and, of course weird and wonderful mythical creatures. ![]() ![]() The influence Norse-Icelandic Sagas have had on modern fantasy writing is far reaching, because these are stories so rich in imagery, myth and the incredible deeds of the Viking people, writers will never want for material or inspiration. In reading this book it is easy to see the heritage of sweeping fantasy novels like Lord of the Rings and the Game of Thrones. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Digging deeper into her past while exploring the underground theater world of New York City, she rediscovers a long forgotten dream. Through the lens of an ongoing four act play within the novel, the fantasy of their undying love unravels line by line, scene by scene. The betrayal causes Gen to question everything.Īs Gen pushes herself forward to find her new identity without Peter, she must also confront her most painful memories. ![]() She finds refuge and stability in her relationship with her boyfriend, Peter-until he abandons her at a Planned Parenthood clinic during their appointment to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. “Troubled.” That’s seventeen-year-old Genesis according to her small New Jersey town. ![]() ![]() ![]() " - Publishers Weekly A New Friend for Sparkle "Appealing illustrations, done in pen with pastel washes of color, are warm and inviting. Her message to readers is clear: Self-awareness and finding a soul mate don't always come easily. A tale about coming to love someone-or something-for who they are and not what one hopes them to be: a pleasant addition to the odd-couple shelf." - Kirkus Reviews "'She had to admit: Sometimes he made her smile and sometimes he made her laugh,' writes Young ( Don't Eat the Baby! ), whose storytelling and watercolor cartooning are spot-on in their comic timing. Merry and bright." - Kirkus Reviews, A Unicorn Named Sparkle "Young hits all the visual beats, creating something likable and appealing. ![]() Lucy is a little girl of color with light brown skin and springy black hair. ![]() Merry and bright." - Kirkus Reviews "The relationship between Sparkle and Lucy remains perfectly enchanting." - Publishers Weekly, "The joy of giving permeates Lucy's first Christmas with her unicorn in this series third after A New Friend for Sparkle. ![]() "The joy of giving permeates Lucy's first Christmas with her unicorn in this series third after A New Friend for Sparkle. ![]() ![]() ![]() To distract her social media followers from seeing that her boyfriend of three weeks has humiliatingly dumped her at a party, Piper breaks into the. Everyone thinks 28-year-old Piper Bellinger is a vapid, airheaded socialiteincluding herself. to sneak in a visit to her sister, Piper, and Pipers fianc, Brendan. A Hollywood socialite is forced to spend the summer in a fishing village in Washington state. Excited for the future book in the series. Baileys second Bellinger Sisters novel (after It Happened One Summer) sizzles. The chemistry among Brendan and Piper just added such a great amount to the story, and I felt that the pacing was totally awesome. I wanted to live in this book world for a little longer. Overall, I cannot tell you the amount I enjoyed It Happened One Summer By Tessa Bailey. Widowed seven years back, Brendan still couldn’t move on however meeting Piper Bellinger gave Brendan hope for another future. Brendan Taggart is a Westport local, having grown up living and working at the ocean. ![]() However, repairing her late dad’s bar, and being in love with our story line hero, provided Piper an opportunity to stop and think about the future, a future she had never thought about or considered. Piper had never thought about calling Westport her home, and had plans to get back to LA when her ‘sentence’ was finished. ![]() sent off Westport, Washington, Piper and Hannah have three months to turn their lives around, 90 days in which Piper will be in love, and Hannah starts to rethink her own future back in LA. Piper Bellinger is only an influencer a party girl with no knowledge or plans for the future, and in this, she struggles with the daily assignments like clothing and cooking. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Kevin in turn manipulates his father by affecting a polite, friendly demeanor This dual nature eventually leads to both the birth of Celia out of desperation for rekindling for love and Kevin's parents divorcing one another. While Eva sees Kevin for what he is, Franklin is convinced that his son is normal, and makes excuses for everything he does. He has no friends and shows no interest in school or after school activities, except for his one hobby, archery. He also takes pleasure in harming other children in grade school, he manipulates a girl with eczema to gouge her own skin. Eva also visits her son in his prison cell, where they interact like hostile strangers.įrom a young age, Kevin despises his mother and is obsessed with causing her pain and discomfort, such as spraying ink on her maps and resisting toilet training. In this letters, Eva both details her relationship with her son and his descent in psychopathy and her own demons relating to her son. Kevin's mother, Eva, takes the role of narrator throughout the book, documenting his actions through letters to Franklin Plaskett, Kevin's father and Eva's husband. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The context of the parable, however, shows that Jesus is speaking to…. ![]() Often the Parable of the Prodigal Son is interpreted to be about the experience of the younger brother. The only way to gain entrance is through Christ Jesus himself. We have all sinned and been cut off from our proper home, but through Christ a new heavens and new earth are being made where a great feast will take place. This is only possible because of the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. ![]() The love of the Father invites all to come in. In The Prodigal God (2010), Timothy Keller proposes to ‘lay out the essentials of the Christian message, the gospel’ and ‘to get to the heart of the Christian faith’. Nevertheless, even Pharisees are invited to enter the joy of the feast. This poses a special problem to those who are self-satisfied with their religious practices. Both brothers are lost, and the only way back to the father is through his love and grace. Keller shows clearly that the parable is a powerful challenge to self-righteous, religious moralists. The Prodigal God looks at the Parable of the Prodigal Son as a parable about the lostness of both brothers and the heart of God the Father that is revealed towards them both. He is the author of numerous books and is a popular speaker and Christian leader. Timothy Keller is the pastor of the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance ![]() ![]() “It could be from anywhere,” Nina tells a TV interviewer, for her jewelry, worth a fortune, is big news. The door begins to open just a little when a piece of jewelry that completes a set arrives at her door. ![]() I miss the way it felt to dance.” As the book opens, now in the rueful twilight of her life, a young art appraiser, Drew Brooks (“these American girls, going around with men’s names,” grumbles Nina), is helping Nina prepare her collection of amber and jewelry for sale, irreverently quizzing the exceedingly grumpy prima ballerina about the past. “You must miss dancing,” that woman says, to which Nina replies, “Every day I miss it. ![]() But that is in the past, for Nina has been living in Boston for years, alone with her thoughts, practically alone except for a West Indian woman who comes to cook for her. Her other friends in Stalinist Russia were less subtle, numbering a few figures, such as a sardonic dissident composer, who fairly screamed to disappear into the Gulag in that unforgiving time. Her lover, the poet Viktor Elsin, was “subtle,” that damning term of Doctor Zhivago, meaning suspect, though managing most of the time to slip past the censors. Nina Revskaya was one of the privileged ones in the old days as a lead ballerina in the Bolshoi, she was allowed to travel, to mix with foreigners, to taste some of the better things in life. Sweeping transgenerational novel, short-story writer Kalotay’s ( Calamity and Other Stories, 2005) first, of the Soviet era and its discontents. ![]() ![]() ![]() I enjoyed some of the side characters more, especially some of the rather intriguing fae characters that flit in and out of the story. ![]() She does grow and change as the book continues. She never really knows herself so it’s hard to really like her. Characters (4/5): Triss was okay as a character but I never engaged with her all that well. While this wasn’t as good as "A Face Like Glass" or "Deeplight" but still a well done story and beautifully written. Also the idea of someone being replaced by something that’s not them but not realizing they’ve been replaced it‘s super creepy. There are some interesting concepts behind how the fae survive and thrive. Story (4/5): This started out super slow but I ended up enjoying it once all the strange fae creatures started appearing. No complaints though, this was a great book to listen to on audiobook. The narrator did speak pretty slow for me, so I ended up listening to this at 1.2x. Audiobook Quality (4/5): The narration of this book was very well done and pleasant to listen to. I borrowed this as an audiobook through Audible Plus. Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The company controls every part of their lives, and defying them puts everything at risk-her water ration, her livelihood, her connectivity, her friends, her life-but she can’t just sit on the knowledge. The world worships them, but the world believes a lie. They were kids, just like her, who lost everything in the war, and were stolen and augmented and tortured into becoming supersoldiers. Until a chance encounter with a SpecOps operative in the game leads Mal to a horrifying discovery: the real-life operatives weren’t created by Stellaxis. The best part of the game isn’t killing enemy combatants, though-it’s catching in-game glimpses of SpecOps operatives, celebrity supersoldiers grown and owned by Stellaxis, the corporation that runs the America she lives in. And the job she’s best at is streaming a popular VR war game. As an adult, she lives in a cramped hotel room with eight other people, all of them working multiple jobs to try to afford water and make ends meet. As a child, she lost her parents, her home, and her entire building in an airstrike. ![]() Like everyone else she knows, Mallory is an orphan of the corporate war. ![]() ![]() ![]() The list of countries that make it all work is smaller than you think. In The End of the World is Just the Beginning, author and geopolitical strategist Peter Zeihan maps out the next world: a world where countries or regions will have no choice but to make their own goods, grow their own food, secure their own energy, fight their own battles, and do it all with populations that are both shrinking and aging. Billions of people have been fed and educated as the American-led trade system spread across the globe.Īll of this was artificial. American security policy forced warring nations to lay down their arms. Complex, innovative industries were created to satisfy American consumers. The American dollar underpins internationalized energy and financial markets. Globe-spanning supply chains are only possible with the protection of the U.S. Finally, we reached the point that almost anything you could ever want could be sent to your home within days - even hours - of when you decided you wanted it.Īmerica made that happen, but now America has lost interest in keeping it going. 2019 was the last great year for the world economy.įor generations, everything has been getting faster, better, and cheaper. ![]() |