The result is an intellectual history of nineteenth-century Russia, with Dostoevsky's mind as a refracting prism. Already in his forties, Frank undertook to learn Russian and embarked on what would become a five-volume work comprising more than 2,500 pages. The endeavor began in the early 1960s as an exploration of Dostoevsky's fiction, but it later became apparent to Frank that a deeper appreciation of the fiction would require a more ambitious engagement with the writer's life, directly caught up as Dostoevsky was with the cultural and political movements of mid- and late-nineteenth-century Russia. One critic, writing upon the publication of the final volume, casually tagged the series as the ultimate work on Dostoevsky "in any language, and quite possibly forever."įrank himself had not originally intended to undertake such a massive work. The term "biography" seems insufficiently capacious to describe the singular achievement of Joseph Frank's five-volume study of the life of the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky.
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She went boneless." The accompanying pictures comically corroborate the omniscient narrator's claim. We're going home." An especially delicious scene finds the frustrated Trixie abandoning baby talk for action: "Well, she had no choice. "Aggle flaggle klabble!" she says when she finds Knuffle Bunny missing, and her well-intentioned but clueless father translates, "That's right. Her wide-eyed enthusiasm about the world around her is matched only by her desperate attempts to communicate. But it's pre-verbal Trixie who steals the show. Willems renders the characters with Little Lulu–style pointed noses and their expressions are laugh-out-loud funny, from the hapless father's worried look as he and Trixie venture out to the Laundromat, to his roll-up-your-sleeves determination as he rescues the stuffed toy from the washing machine. His economical storytelling and deft skill with line lend the book its distinctive charm, while the endpapers mitigate anxiety by clueing in readers concerning the solution to Trixie's problem. ) creates an entertaining story for parents and children alike. In an innovative style that employs dappled black-and-white photographs of Brooklyn as backdrop to wickedly funny color cartoons, Willems ( Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The plot is simple: Trixie loses bunny, finds bunny and then exuberantly says her first words-"Knuffle Bunny!!!" The fun comes from the details. Any child who has ever had a favorite toy will identify with the toddler star of this tale. It was a time when scientists genuinely believed, as Frankenstein did, that they could know what it feels like to be God."Raising the Dead" is the story of the science of galvanism - named after the Italian scientist Luigi Galvini who had conducted the original experiments - a movement that investigated the theory of 'animal electricity', a unifying vital spirit that animates us all, its leaders believing that they stood on the brink of immortality. What she imagined as her modern Prometheus was a serious pursuit for some of the greatest minds of the early 19th century. Few, however, realised that Shelley's story had a basis in fact. Those who read the book were thrilled by this incredible Gothic adventure. Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, "Frankenstein", introduced readers around the world to the concept of raising the dead through scientific procedures. However, in reality, he was a hyperactive child who was being indulged by his chancellor and his generals. His styling of Warlord put him in the same category of Arminius, who is renowned for having defeated the Roman Army at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest. This was the case in Germany where the excitable and megalomaniac Kaiser Wilhelm II was keen to don the ancient mantle of Frederick the Great and march his country off to war, glory and dominance in Europe. These people are all around us and, let’s face it, are incredibly annoying! Imagine how much more annoying that would be if that person was your Emperor and Warlord… The collection started in 1987, with volumes reprinting the issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, and The Avengers. Marvel Masterworks is an American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics, with the main goal of republishing classic Marvel Comics storylines in a hardcover, premium edition, often with restored artwork and better graphical quality when compared to other Marvel collected editions. JSTOR ( April 2011) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message).Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.įind sources: "Marvel Masterworks" – news Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification. In her introduction, Oluo sets up her experience growing up in a racially marked body in America, from the micro-aggressions that populate her daily life to the pleasures of Jollof rice, family, and the glories of black culture - things like jazz, Toni Morrison, hair braiders, and sweet potato pie.īut in this book, she’s not writing to celebrate, she’s writing to educate and to fight back against this fact: “It is very hard to survive as a woman of color in this world and I remember saying once that if I stopped to feel, really feel, the pain of the racism I encountered, I would start screaming and I would never ever stop.” But what makes So You Want to Talk About Race such a strong addition to books that address race is that the author also turns her eye toward much more complex issues like intersectionality, the school-to-prison pipeline, and cultural appropriation with wit and heart. The book is divided into chapters that tackle issues such as the myth that class is a bigger problem than race or what racism and micro-aggressions actually are. While white readers are going to gain insight on hard-to-understand-unless-you’ve-lived-it topics in So You Want to Talk About Race, readers of color generally will find camaraderie and a resource in Ijeoma Oluo’s conversational approach to race, racism, and racial violence in America. Their story is beautiful, heart breaking, funny, sexy, and so very relevant. Their story is not an easy one as a matter of fact it is hard, heartbreaking, and just painful at times. Because life is complicated they go their separate ways but that one brief encounter forever haunts them. However, when the bartender lets them know they can't stay any long the two of them have a moment of do I stay or should I go. They have a wonderful conversation that is easy and charged with sexual chemistry. She is watching her favorite team and he is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Iris and August meet at a bar on possibly the eve of his biggest game ever. AMAZING narration!! Iris and August have a few things in common 1) they are both huge basketball fans, 2) that they both have troubled pasts that have impact on their lives as adults, and 3) they have this instant connection that can be seen from a mile away. Sean Crisden and Jo Raylan embody everything these characters feel and go through. Kennedy Ryan has this beautiful way of telling a story that you can relate to and just be in that moment with her characters. I am still speechless to what I should be writing for this review. But back in October 2005, Mr Reading Matters and I had a personal tour of the New York Stock Exchange, and I remember coming out of the building feeling slightly dizzy: I couldn’t get my head around the fact that we’d just been given an inside glimpse of the beating heart of capitalism.įast forward three years, and that beating heart seemed to be in cardiac arrest.Īnd it wasn’t just in New York the financial crisis swept through other places around the globe, including London, Iceland, Ireland, Greece and Portugal. I do not understand the inner-workings, or even the outer-workings, of Wall Street. Then, a few days later, I saw a review of the book on Material Witness, and decided I might like to read the book myself.įirst things first. Non-fiction – paperback Penguin 288 pages 2011.īack in February I bought The Big Short for Mr Reading Matters, because I knew he had loved Michael Lewis’s Liar’s Poker many moons ago. I still (and yes, even years later) cannot even remotely fathom that Bill Martin Junior's classic and universally beloved by young children Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was actually and in fact categorically banned in 2010 by the State Board of Education in Texas because its (and no, I am not really feeling contrite at all or in any manner guilty about being insulting and denigrating here) obviously woefully lacking in even basic intelligence members (and in particular totally moronic board member Pat Harding, who also made things much much worse and herself look absolutely and utterly ridiculous by repeatedly and vocally trying to justify her sorry self) somehow and in error believed that Bill Martin Junior was the author, was the same Bill Martin of the DePaul University in Chicago, who in 2008 penned an academic textbook called Ethical Marxism: The Categorical Imperative of Liberation (a book I have actually read, and no, it did not turn me into a raging Communist either, Ms. Anyone who has read a few of my articles will know that I’m a big fan of this author and I’d like to take this chance to once again recommend all her novels! The plots are exciting and, at times, scary and the characters and romances are loveable. “ Sacrament” by Clive Barker – a surreal gay horror novel by this best-selling author about a wildlife photographer who experiences strange visions while in a coma.Īll Jordan L Hawk‘s novels tend to have a supernatural and horror element, particularly the ‘ Widdershins‘ and ‘ SPECTR‘ series. (Her latest two novels still feature m/m characters but aren’t horror.) The characters are often extremely dark, sometimes showing no conscience, so the books won’t be liked by everyone. Her first five novels – “ Lost Souls“, “ Drawing Blood“, “ Wormwood“, “ Exquisite Corpse“, “ The Crow: The Lazarus Heart” and “ Are You Loathsome Tonight” – are all horror novels. Poppy Z Brite is another popular writer of gay vampire fiction. The first book in the series, “ Interview with the Vampire“, featuring the characters of Louis and Lestat, was made into the 1994 film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Not all her books have major gay characters but most do and her 11-book ‘ Vampire Chronicles‘ series has been loved for decades. Anne Rice is both a best-selling author and the queen of horror novels. |