![]() ![]() A paleontologist who has spent so many years looking at dried-up fossils, she’s almost become one herself. But first she needs to believe in herself, in her abilities, and in her friends at the club. Shirley has a secret dream: a wellness spa that nurtures body and soul. Though her yoga-slender body belie her years, decades of dating losers and the strain of being broke make her feel her age. Now she’s got a tricky problem to bring to the club’s table: how can they catch her perfect son-in-law cheating on her only daughter Laura? Shirley, the healer. A determinedly cheerful widow and connoisseur of control-top pantyhose, she’s struggling with creative block and an empty, lonely house. Now as the Hot Flash Club, where the topics of motherhood, sex, and men are discussed with double servings of chocolate cake, they vow to help each other. ![]() But in a moment of delicious serendipity, they meet and realize they share more than raging hormones and lost dreams. Four women with skills, smarts, and secrets-all feeling over the hill and out of the race. From the bestselling author of Between Husbands and Friends and An Act of Love comes a wise, wonderful, and delightfully witty “coming of age” novel about four intrepid women who discover themselves as they were truly meant to be: passionate, alive, and ready to face the best years of their lives. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Porter’s novel, related in verse of mixed measure, charts the course of grief, the two sons “brave new boys without a Mum” who, in time, come to resent the meddling, unwanted Crow enough that one or the other of them-it doesn’t matter which, Porter tells us-becomes a teenager with a murderous hatred of “black birds with nasty beaks.” In time Dad comes out of his shattered shell enough to date, taking a Plath scholar to bed: “She was funny and bright and did her best with a fucked-up situation.” Was Crow watching? Probably, and creepily, though now, a couple of years into his invasion, his tutelage alternately maddening and to the point, he’s ready to leave, saying his goodbye in a lovely poem that’s strong enough to stand outside the context of the book, and that closes, “Just be good and listen to birds. But Crow, framed against and obscured by the “blackness of his trauma,” is also very real. “I wished I wasn’t lying terrified in a giant bird embrace in my hallway.” Crow is a metaphor, borrowed from the poems of Ted Hughes, whom debut novelist Porter rightly reveres-and indeed, Dad is a Hughes scholar, gently berated by the great man himself for posing a dissertation instead of a question at a reading. “I lay back, resigned, and wished my wife wasn’t dead,” says Dad. It’s worse, and more complicated still, when a huge crow takes her place. ![]() It’s bad enough to lose a spouse, too soon and unexpectedly, and be left to bring children up alone. ![]() ![]() In 1918, the immediate family-Czar Nicholas, Czarina Alexandra, and their four children-were executed by firing squad. Of all of history’s royal families, and the mysteries and conspiracies associated with them, few have captured the public imagination as obsessively as the Romanovs, who ruled Russia for nearly 300 years until they were forced out of power in 1917 by Bolshevik revolutionaries. That is, until I read Ariel Lawhon’s historical thriller I WAS ANASTASIA. It’s embarrassing, really-my entire life is reading and recommending books, after all-but it’s just so much pressure to have someone else’s experience on the line, and it’s hard to think on the fly of a book that’s not only a good story, but also has unforgettable characters, sweeping settings, and page-turning action. ![]() Usually when someone asks me what book to read, my mind goes completely blank. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() James grew up in Suffolk but now lives in Hertfordshire with his wife and small son. From Peter and the Wolf, to Scheherazade, James has worked internationally with many different orchestras and musicians, creating illustrations in time to music. Katie would love to grow her own flowers, so when she sees some seeds in Van Goghs Sunflowers masterpiece she cant resist reaching in and grabbing some. Alongside his work in publishing, James has devised and performed in a hugely successful series of concerts for children, combining live classical music, storytelling and live art. He is also the creator of the much-loved Ella Bella Ballerina series, and many other titles. Katie would love to grow her own flowers, so when she sees some seeds in Van Goghs Sunflowers masterpiece she cant resist reaching in and grabbing some. ![]() Mimi, a little girl from a painting nearby, comes to help Katie, but when Mimis dog Zazou comes too disaster follows This imaginative fantasy about a mischievous character is an original and fun way to introduce. Many more titles have followed, and the series sells in museums and galleries all over the world, from the Met in New York, to the Uffizi in Florence, the Louvre in Paris and beyond. Katie tries to pick the sunflower seeds from the Vincent Van Gogh painting, but when the vase tips over, the flowers go everywhere. It's been firmly in print ever since, recognised universally as the original and best introduction to art for children. James Mayhew studied at Maidstone College of Art and his first children's book, Katie's Picture Show was published in 1989. ![]() ![]() ![]() Then, when he reached the front of the classroom, he did something amazing. How can you top an ancient, rare dinosaur tooth with a common, everyday "Hot-Wheels" car? As he walked to front of the classroom clutching the unimpressive toy in his hand, I can only imagine the panic he must have felt. This kid didn't have anything cool to show the classroom and he knew it. This was bad news for the next kid in line for show-and-tell that day. ![]() He even knew where the tooth had been dug up, and how much it was worth.Īt the end of his presentation, he passed the tooth around so that all the children could go home and tell their families that they had actually touched a genuine dinosaur tooth that day. He knew how old the tooth was, and what kind of dinosaur it had come from. The boy stood in front of the classroom told everyone all about the tooth. One day in a California kindergarten classroom, a little boy brought a REAL dinosaur tooth in for show and tell. "This book was partly inspired by a true story I once heard. ![]() ![]() As he hit rock-bottom in 2015, he moved into his childhood bedroom (aka he lived with his parents) and was reacquainted with the rejection-slip wall of his youth. The bonuses dried up, leaving Harv with no option but to use Axe products. Armed with a calculator and an appetite for expensive, LeLabo fragrances and Jack Black hair products, Harv immersed himself in his banking career and wrote inappropriate poetry to his supervisor (who ended up becoming his wife).īut, as Harv's luck goes, the housing crash and financial crisis of 2008/09 changed banking forever. Discouraged by the "thank you, but." mail, he looked to his back-up plan, which was to take a job as a banker in an industry known for lucrative bonuses and sick parties. ![]() From a young age, Harvey Church knew that writing was his destiny and, like all clichés, he wallpapered his bedroom walls with rejection slips. ![]() ![]() The critically acclaimed, internationally beloved novel by Philippe Besson-“this year’s Call Me By Your Name” ( Vulture) with raves in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, Vanity Fair, Vogue, O, The Oprah Magazine, and Out-about an affair between two teenage boys in 1984 France, translated with subtle beauty and haunting lyricism by the iconic and internationally acclaimed actress and writer Molly Ringwald. A stunning and heart-gripping tale.” -André Aciman, author of Call Me by Your NameĪ New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice Two young men find each other, always fearing that life itself might be the villain standing in their way. This one sentence had me in its grip until the end. “I remember the movement of his hips pressing against the pinball machine. ![]() ![]() ![]() Teaming with a band of hackers, Lindy works to solve the murders. When her friends at the elusive cyber police uncover a potential serial killer in Manhattan, all signs point to one of Lindy's dates. ![]() Victoria Justice plays Lindy Sampson, a tech genius who, convinced by her friend to take up online dating, starts to suspect that one of her mysterious suitors may be a deadly cyber stalker. Even though a premiere date has yet to be scheduled, MTV has already picked up the series for ten episodes. Stine, with the series revolving about a teenage hacker. The official release date for Eye Candy is January 2015, and it is based on the novel of the same name by R. Production is now underway for the up and coming New York-based TV television show, “Eye Candy” starring Victoria Justice. ![]() ![]() ![]() Jonathan Adler at the Washington Post’s Volokh Conspiracy blog has kept one running list of the book’s flaws. Munger’s review essay is remarkable in that it is utterly devastating to MacLean’s thesis without being an exhaustive inventory of her mistakes. ![]() She contacted none of them, nor did she contact Bruce Caldwell at Duke’s Center for the History of Political Economy. The current president of the Public Choice Society Georg Vanberg is a Duke political scientist. ![]() One of them (Geoffrey Brennan) was a prominent Buchanan coauthor, and the other (Munger himself) has written and spoken extensively on Buchanan. Duke’s political science department is home to two past presidents of the Public Choice Society. If you're going to read one review you should read her Duke colleague Michael Munger's long review essay for the Independent Institute. Why? I think the most important reason is that she failed to make use of some of the most obvious resources at her disposal. ![]() ![]() He will be pitted against scientists, soldiers and governments with motives of their own: a physicist who has no place for moral judgement in his pursuit of knowledge a beautiful army major obsessed with new ways to wage war a desperate nation facing certain military defeat.Ĭonjuring awe-inspiring new worlds of cosmology and philosophy from meticulous scientific speculation, Ball Lightning has all the scope and imagination that so enthralled readers of Cixin Liu's award-winning Three-Body trilogy. ![]() His pursuit of ball lightning will take him far from home, across mountain peaks chasing storms and deep into highly classified subterranean laboratories as he slowly unveils a new frontier in particle physics.Ĭhen's obsession gives purpose to his lonely life, but it can't insulate him from the real world's interest in his discoveries. Striving to make sense of this bizarre tragedy, he dedicates his life to a single goal: to unlock the secrets of this enigmatic natural phenomenon. From the New York Times bestselling author of the Three-Body Trilogy, Cixin Liu's Ball Lightning is the story of what happens when the beauty of scientific inquiry runs up against the drive to harness new discoveries with no consideration of their possible consequences. ![]() ![]() On his fourteenth birthday, right before his eyes, Chen's parents are incinerated by a blast of ball lightning. 'Cixin Liu is the author of your next favourite sci-fi novel' WIRED. Liu’s recent novels, beginning with the inclusion of Ball Lightning as part of Science Fiction World ’s Nebula series, have led to increased mainstream attention to the genre. ![]() |