![]() Their proposals for reform have not always been seriously meant. It is important to understand that one of the main functions of utopias, since Plato and Thomas More, has been to function as a critique of existing society, providing a kind of benchmark against which the flaws of real cultures can be more clearly revealed. There seemed no reason to believe that all of humanity’s problems could be solved through improved social organization but it seemed possible that some of them might be. ![]() After all, utopias are not required, by definition, to be perfect. What differentiated these new utopias was their attempt to evade the traditional criticisms of the old utopias like Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward: that they were static, boring, and unattainable. Delany’s Triton, and this novel, though there are many other examples. ![]() The most famous examples are Ernest Callenbach’s Ecotopia, Samuel R. However, in the mid-seventies there was a spate of new utopias written by Americans inspired by the upsurge of social reform begun in the late sixties and continuing into the new decade. After World War I, the writing of utopian fiction gradually declined, until the genre almost disappeared in mid-century, to be replaced by dystopias (descriptions of ultimately evil places) like George Orwell’s Nineteen-Eighty-Four (1948). ![]()
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![]() ![]() She is bolshie, compassionate and fiercely judgemental. Olive is a retired maths teacher living in a small town in Maine. It’s her third novel in four years, and though its title winks at the possibility of readerly exasperation, these stories reconfirm their author as a superlative talent operating at the height of her powers. ![]() Olive, Again is Strout’s most overt reunion yet with a previous creation. Her last book, Anything is Possible, was an overt expansion of its predecessor, My Name Is Lucy Barton, returning to central characters and crucial scenes. Recently, Strout has become more open about revisiting characters as they age. In previous works the links were hard to spot: a walk-on character might turn out to be the granddaughter of an earlier protagonist a whisper of off-stage abuse in one novel became the narrative focus of another. For years, Strout has been building connections between her books. With Olive, Again, she has returned to her earlier protagonist. It was that rare kind of book that can reasonably be called a masterpiece, and it won its author the Pulitzer prize. With 2008’s Olive Kitteridge she moved from novels to a trickier form: the cycle of interconnected stories. ![]() Her second, Abide With Me, went one better. Olive, Again, Elizabeth Strout, Viking, 2019, 304pp, £14.99 (hardback)Įlizabeth’s Strout’s bestselling debut, Amy and Isabelle, announced the arrival of a serious talent. ![]() ![]() ![]() What is it about Ellis that draws them near? And more importantly, how can they stop them for good?Together, Ellis and Ryn embark on a quest that will bring them deep into the heart of the mountains, where they will have to face both the curse and long-hidden truths about themselves. Ryn has always been quick to deal with this inconvenience whenever they wander too close to her graveyard, but when Ellis, an apprentice mapmaker, arrives in town, the bone houses attack with renewed purpose. The problem with being a gravedigger in Colbren, though, is that the dead don't always stay dead.The risen corpses are known as "bone houses," and legend says that they're the result of a decades-old curse. ![]() Since the death of their parents, Ryn and her siblings have been scraping together a meager existence as gravediggers in the remote Welsh village of Colbren, which sits at the foot of a harsh and deadly mountain range that was once home to fae creatures known as the Otherfolk. Seventeen-year-old Aderyn ("Ryn") only cares about two things: her family, and her family's graveyard. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It is said that only an onmyōji clan head is strong enough to pass Nurarihyon's Hyakki Yagyō unharmed. One legend of recent vintage states that "every year the yōkai Nurarihyon, will lead all of the yōkai through the streets of Japan during summer nights." Anyone who comes across the procession would perish or be spirited away by the yōkai, unless protected by exorcism scrolls handwritten by Onmyōji spell-casters. Over more than one thousand years of history, and its role as a popular theme in traditional storytelling and art, a great deal of folklore has developed around the concept, making it difficult if not impossible to isolate any canonical meanings. As a terrifying eruption of the supernatural into the real world, it is similar (though not precisely equivalent) to the concept of pandemonium in English. Sometimes an orderly procession, other times a riot, it refers to a parade of thousands of supernatural creatures known as oni and yōkai that march through the streets of Japan at night. Hyakki Yagyō ( 百鬼夜行, "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons" ), also transliterated Hyakki Yakō, is an idiom in Japanese folklore. ![]() ![]() ![]() I am not only throwing around big words to add some elan in my writing. A true magnus opus in terms of comics craftsmanship, storytelling artistry and evocative soul-stirring. The very last strip of Calvin and Hobbes. Although snow-related strips were intrinsic, and perhaps of the most iconic depiction of experiences for a child-experienced-theme comic strip, there is one specific strip created by Watterson that comes back every time I get to look at snow. Those that I always find in the snow-embracing Calvin and Hobbes strips by Bill Watterson. A certain urge to use this white canvas that so gratuitously comes down and give it a unique palette of tints, hues and feelings. ![]() Even though I dislike snow -it’s slippery, dangerous and it rarely meets its potential of a free day from work and/or school- something always stirs inside me. ![]() ![]() Julia wants a divorce and she’s desperate enough to go to any lengths to secure a divorce and when Aidan gets caught in the middle of it all, she’s sorry for it but she doesn’t regret it. I knew that something was going on between Julia and Aidan in WotS and I knew that it was going to be a good story and boy was I not disappointed. As much as I enjoyed the first book, Wedding of the Season, I enjoyed this book a little more. This is the second book in the Abandoned at the Altar series and I ate this book up. ![]() ![]() This review was originally posted on January 25, 2011. What is it about this brazen seductress that he finds so hard to resist? And how can he stop himself from falling into her bed a second time? Hot, erotic memories of kissing her skin, falling into her bed, pulling her naked body on top of his own continue to torment and tempt him. So when she needed to be caught in a compromising situation, Aidan was the answer to her prayers.Īidan is supposed to be looking for a bride, yet his scandalous liaison with Julia is all he can think about. ![]() Also in this series: Trouble at the Wedding (Abandoned at the Altar, #3)Ĭliffhanger: View Spoiler » No « Hide SpoilerĪmazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Booksįrom their very first meeting, Julia knew that Aidan Carr, the oh-so-proper Duke of Trathen, had a bit of the devil in him, a devil who secretly yearned for what he could not have, a devil who harbored a desire for her. ![]() ![]() Well, her story continues with the upcoming release of the sequel, titled, “Life After Death.”Īs reported by The Source, here’s how the new book is described – Her story comes to life in the pages of Souljah’s superbly written novel. Winter, the title character, has her story told while she journeys through the streets of New York. The page-turning novel has fans wondering what became of their favorite around-the-way girl, Winter Santiago. But, if you’ve read the book, the content is still fresh in your memory. If you’ve never read the book, you better go pick it up pronto so you will see what the fuss is all about. So what is ‘The Coldest Winter’ all about anyway. Sister Souljah Penned Sequel To “The Coldest Winter Ever” Titled “Life After Death” Well, no word on that front, but the next best thing is a sequel to the original. So popular was the novel, that fans everywhere have been waiting for the book to be adapted into a full-fledged movie. ![]() ![]() Sister Souljah to release a sequel to her novel, ‘The Coldest Winter Ever,’ a book she wrote more than 20 years ago. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If you are curious about hell, this would be a great one to start with. It was a great afternoon read for me, and one that has lingered in my thoughts as I dwell on what might await us someday. The Great Divorce // This book was a beautiful fantasy, what Lewis calls in the preface an "imaginative supposal" of what Heaven and Hell might look like. If you want to better understand love and all its forms, start here! It's rich, it's wise, it's insightful, it's incredible. The Four Loves // This one goes through the four main types of love- affection, friendship, erotic/romantic love, and the love of God. No matter where you are in your faith journey, there are amazing things to be learned from this one, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Mere Christianity // This is one of my all-time favorites, and this was my third time reading it through. ![]() ![]() ![]() Using a unique, deceptively simple and always entertaining workbook format, complete with quizzes, exercises, and puzzles, Bornstein gently but firmly guides readers toward discovering their own unique gender identity. In My Gender Workbook, transgender activist Kate Bornstein brings theory down to Earth and provides a practical approach to living with or without a gender.īornstein starts from the premise that there are not just two genders performed in today's world, but countless genders lumped under the two-gender framework. For fans of the original, Bornstein's new material merits a fresh read."- Publishers Weekly, starred reviewĬultural theorists have written loads of smart but difficult-to-fathom texts on gender theory, but most fail to provide a hands-on, accessible guide for those trying to sort out their own sexual identities. This revised and expanded edition extends that legacy, offering an accessible foundation for examining gender in the reader's life and in the broader culture while arguing for the dismantling of all forms of oppression. The original is a classic of modern transgender theory and literature and, alongside Bornstein's other work, has influenced an entire generation of trans writers and artists. ![]() ![]() "This updated edition of Bornstein's formative My Gender Workbook (1997) provides an invigorating introduction to contemporary theory around gender, sexuality, and power. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() She has the ability to stimulate the reader’s mind, and still be able to suddenly swoop in, and hit directly in the gut by creating shocking, unpredictable connections. Her language is fresh and unusual in the best sense-without contrivance or petty literary gamesmanship. Matthea Harvey’s poetry rewards the effort, involvement and attention of the reader. Then, still with the breathtaking mystery of staying in a strange place, you may find you are able to gain some small entry into its true essence, while still maintaining the sense of wonder at something truly different. Eventually, words and phrases which pulled tantalizingly away from you at first, their sounds striking and bold, evocative and possessing an almost subconscious power, begin to coalesce. Matthea’s Harvey’s poetry is like going to a foreign country, and not knowing the language. ![]() |