Back to Blog
Pied piper by nevil shute6/25/2023 Of course, things don’t go according to plan and Howard and the children find themselves facing one obstacle after another, including sickness, cancelled trains and German bombing raids. His departure is delayed when an English couple staying in the same hotel ask him to take their two young children with him to the safety of England, but soon Howard, accompanied by little Sheila and Ronnie, is boarding the train to Paris for the first stage of his journey. However, when the Nazis begin to advance much more quickly than he expected, Howard decides to return home immediately. It may seem a strange time to be taking a holiday in Europe, but Howard believes the situation in France is stable and that he won’t be in any danger. The ‘pied piper’ of the title is John Sidney Howard, an elderly Englishman who goes to France in the spring of 1940 to spend some time fishing, relaxing and trying to come to terms with the death of his son whose plane came down in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight. His 1942 novel, Pied Piper, is on my Classics Club list and I decided to also put it on my 20 Books of Summer list to give me some extra motivation to pick it up and read it sooner rather than later! I have no idea whether this was the best Shute novel to begin with – A Town Like Alice and On the Beach are probably better known however, it turned out to be a good choice for me. Nevil Shute is an author I’ve been intending to try for a long time.
0 Comments
Read More
Back to Blog
The Chocolate Kiss by Laura Florand6/25/2023 He could see her through the glass window that allowed visitors a glimpse of the way artisan chocolate was made. In the shop, an elegant blonde whose every movement spoke of wealth and privilege was buying a box of his chocolates, unable to resist biting into one before she left the shop. With a deft flick of his hand, he stroked it up and spread it out again, glowing and dark. He spread it out across his marble counter. But in his laboratoire, he brought his chocolate to the temperature he wanted it, smooth and luxurious. Outside, November had turned the Paris streets cold and gray. And so he had learned as he grew into adulthood how to master a woman’s desire. Sylvain Marquis knew what women desired: chocolate.
Back to Blog
Far from the madding crowd review book6/24/2023 One is left with the moderately daunting task of trying to figure out what this woman’s true priorities are. But there’s no further narration, suggesting that the lead-off commentary was added as a target-audience afterthought. Opening narration from the central character of Bathsheba Everdene ( Carey Mulligan) about her desire to maintain her independence in a patriarchal world immediately suggests that David Nicholls‘ adaptation will assume her point of view and that her go-it-alone attitude might stem from some cultivated intellectual stance rather than the mixed opinions she holds about each of the men in her thrall. Read more Focus Acquires Meryl Streep, Carey Mulligan’s ‘Suffragette’ for U.S.
Back to Blog
The marvellers book6/24/2023 With the help of her friends and her own growing powers, Ella must find a way to clear her family’s name and track down her mentor before it’s too late. Worse, Masterji Thakur mysteriously disappears while away on a research trip. When a dangerous criminal known as the Ace of Anarchy escapes prison, supposedly with a Conjuror’s aid, tensions grow in the Marvellian world and Ella becomes the target of suspicion. " The Marvellers deserves the highest compliment I can give a book: I want to live in this world." -Rick Riordan, #1 New York Times bestselling–authorĮleven-year-old Ella Durand is the first Conjuror to attend the Arcanum Training Institute, a magic school in the clouds where Marvellers from around the world practice their cultural arts, like brewing Indian spice elixirs and bartering with pesky Irish pixies.ĭespite her excitement, Ella discovers that being the first isn’t easy-some Marvellers mistrust her magic, which they deem “bad and unnatural.” But eventually, she finds friends in elixirs teacher, Masterji Thakur, and fellow misfits Brigit, a girl who hates magic, and Jason, a boy with a fondness for magical creatures. Dhonielle Clayton makes her middle-grade debut with a fantasy adventure set in a global magic school in the sky - an instant New York Times and #1 Indie Bestseller!
Back to Blog
Return to Shalott by Felicity Pulman6/24/2023 Her first novel for adults, titled I, Morgana, a retelling of the 'bad girl' of Arthurian legend, has also been published by Momentum/Pan Macmillan, as has the sequel: The Once and Future Camelot, written while Felicity spent several months on a writer's fellowship in the UK in 2015. Note: The Janna Mysteries have now been repackaged as The Janna Chronicles, published by Momentum/Pan Macmillan Australia. Her medieval crime series for older teenagers, The Janna Mysteries, indulges her love of crime, history, plants and herbal healing. Her novels Ghost Boy, the Shalott trilogy and A Ring Through Time reflect her fascination with such possibilities as knowledge travelling through time, ghosts, parallel realities and reincarnation. Felicity Pulman (born 1945) is an Australian author with an interest in crime, history and fantasy.
Back to Blog
In the Shadow of Lies by Mary Adler6/24/2023 Bauer, Douglas: The Book of Famous Iowans.Bauby, Jean-Dominique: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.Bass, Rick: The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness.Bakis, Kirsten: Lives of the Monster Dogs.Bacon, Charlotte: A Private State: Stories.Assouline, Pierre: Simenon: A Biography.Ashbery, John: The Mooring of Starting Out: The First Five Books of Poetry".Annan, Noel: Changing Enemies: The Defeat and Regeneration of Germany. Anderson, Jon Lee: Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life.Anderson, David C.: Sensible Justice: Alternatives to Prison.Altman, Billy: Laughter's Gentle Soul: The Life of Robert Benchley.Allison, Karen Hubert: How I Gave My Heart to the Restaurant Business.Alcorn, Alfred: Murder in the Museum of Man.Ahmed, Akbar S.: Jinnah, Pakistan and Islamic Identity.Search our selection, arranged alphabetically by author:Ī | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | Y | Z Every week, The New York Times on the Web brings you a new selection of first chapters from books reviewed in The New York Times Book Review or that appear on The New York Times bestseller lists.
Back to Blog
Possible Minds by John Brockman6/23/2023 In Possible Minds, John Brockman gathers their disparate visions of where AI might be taking us. In the wake of advances in unsupervised, self-improving machine learning, a small but influential community of thinkers is considering Wiener's words again. The hour is very late, and the choice of good and evil knocks at our door." More than sixty years ago, mathematician-philosopher Norbert Wiener published a book on the place of machines in society that ended with a warning: "we shall never receive the right answers to our questions unless we ask the right questions. It is the Second Coming and the Apocalypse at the same time: Good AI versus evil AI." -John Brockman "Artificial intelligence is today's story-the story behind all other stories. Science world luminary John Brockman assembles twenty-five of the most important scientific minds, people who have been thinking about the field artificial intelligence for most of their careers, for an unparalleled round-table examination about mind, thinking, intelligence and what it means to be human.
Back to Blog
The hollow places a novel6/23/2023 QOTD: What’s the weirdest museum you’ve ever been to? For lovers of magical realism, you will not be disappointed! I enjoyed the other world and Kara and Simon’s experiences in it. Overall, this was a very interesting, well-developed book. I loved the wit and humor throughout the book, which is not a common aspect of horror books. Kara’s uncle’s museum seemed like an awesome place to visit. Kingfisher was able to craft an entirely new world in which I could easily imagine myself, and I could feel Kara’s tension as they searched for how to get home. That said, the descriptions are absolutely amazing. I think I’d probably classify it as fantasy or magic. I was never scared by it, despite a few creep scenes. I really enjoyed this story, but I wouldn’t really call it horror. I just saw a bunch of positive reviews on Bookstagram, and went with it! I’m going to start with the disclaimer that I don’t read a lot of horror, fantasy or magical realism, and I didn’t really know what this book was about going into it. Kara and Simon were able to patch the hole in the museum. Once Kara helped it get home, the mayhem stopped. It was from the other world and was trying to get home. The otter was causing the holes in the universe and all the mayhem.
Back to Blog
The Stitchers by Lorien Lawrence6/23/2023 Marion has no choice: she has to follow Tyler to the Halloween dance to try and stop him. To make matters worse, Marion’s crush, Tyler Dash, becomes the object of Winston’s possession as soon as he tries on the mask, turning him into a red-flannel and Converse high-top wearing Creature from Connecticut. She calls them the Oldies because they’ve lived on Goodie Lane for as long as anyone can remember, but they never seem to age. However, Halloween arrives with a Super Blue Blood Moon, and its powers somehow manage to bring Winston to life. Freeman City Spies By: James Ponti Publisher's Summary Thirteen-year-old Quinn Parker knows that there’s something off about her neighbors. And it’s paid off because she’s just finished her first full-face mask: a gruesome sea monster she’s named Winston. So instead of grabbing pizza and milkshakes after school like most other kids in South Haven, Marion holes up in her room, working away on her monsters. When she sculpts and paints, her fingers don’t tingle, the heaviness lifts from her chest, and she can actually breathe. Having suffered from anxiety attacks since she was eight years old, creating monsters has become a sort of therapy for Marion Jones.
Back to Blog
Book monkey beach6/23/2023 The bay can be easily reached by long tails in a few minutes, but it is best to rent a kayak on Loh Dalam Bay and reach Monkey beach rowing. The major drawback : it's pretty expensive, not environmentally friendly (speedboat) and super fast, no time to savor the presence of macaques and the beauty of the place (because, yes, besides, it's a nice place!). So you can participate in an organized tour, which stops at various other places. Beware that these animals can be aggressive and hostile if approached (we read it but did not encounter any particular problem). They are not afraid to move into the sea to get the precious bananas. The traffic never stops and the monkeys are waiting patiently. It must be said that several times a day, speed boats stop here, landed dozens of tourists who feed all the monkeys, then left immediately. Northwest of Loh Dalam Bay, the hidden cove of Ao Ling (Monkey Bay) is home to a colony of monkeys, not shy at all, who do not hesitate to climb onto the legs of their visitors in search of a banana. Half an hour is needed to reach Monkey beach from Lo Dalum Bay.īeach access is free. Monkey bay is reached by walking or renting a long tail, but the most fun way to reach it is to rent a kayak on Loh Dalam beach. Nestled in a cove, north-west of Loh Dalam Bay. |