![]() In the back of my mind was the rather fanciful notion that if I could successfully translate the opening phrase-probably the most famous words in Spanish, comparable to the opening lines of Hamlet’s “To be, or not to be” soliloquy in English…then the rest of the novel would somehow fall into place. I especially liked her comments about tackling the opening sentence. In the essay, Grossman talks about the difficulty of even approaching such a seminal work. And, to get me in the mood, I found a great essay by Edith Grossman, whose creepy looking translation has received wonderful reviews. Still, sinister looking or not, it’s on top of my TBR list. ![]() Take a good look at that cover and tell me it’s not a bit ominous. ![]() It’s an intimidating looking book – a sinister knight-errant’s helmet staring at you, slightly out of focus, swimming in a background of blood-red. I’ve even picked it up once or twice – and gotten about half way through Harold Bloom’s introduction before putting it back up onto the shelf. ![]() For almost a year now, Don Quixote has been sitting on my book shelf. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Even with half of her face covered, she was as beautiful as everyone had told him, but she was also supremely elegant. It was the first time he had seen her in person, and he didn’t know why he was surprised. So, you are the Black Widow, thought Ludovic Dunne. Interestingly, she wore no jewels, and there was no other chair at her table. A domino cloak of deep purple hung over the back of her chair, no doubt because the evening was too warm to wear it comfortably. She appeared to be watching the dancers who had spilled out of the ballroom onto the lawn while she occasionally sipped from a wine glass held gracefully in her gloved right hand. It was a masked ball, one of those held twice a week at Maida Pleasure Gardens during the summer. Her mask was of the same shade of lace over a more impenetrable fabric. She wore a gown of some elegant, gauzy material in a unique lavender hue. Chapter One THE BLACK WİDOW sat beneath a chestnut tree, palely lit by lantern light and the solitary candle on her table. ![]() No one, certainly not the uncles who were entirely concerned with soothing Lady Cornish, offered her the smallest word of sympathy or condolence. She merely bowed her head and walked across the room to the door. “Get away from him! Filthy murderess!” In shock, Rebecca could only stare with more pity as Lady Cornish threw herself on the corpse of her only son, weeping uncontrollably. “My son, my son!” Rebecca had no time to get out of the way before her mother-in-law’s eyes stabbed her with hate and fury. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() So we went one day and he chose this from the shop. ![]() I eventually came to realisation that he (or maybe I) needed a set that contained all the pieces and that he could break down and re-build into other things. It was weeks and weeks of sitting on the playroom floor sifting through tubs in search of pieces that might have been lost years ago. All the other kids were in school and he would come home from 4-year-old kinder and want me to find the pieces so he could build every Lego set that we had instruction for. This was the first Lego set that I bought for Tobin (my youngest). ![]() ![]() ![]() When the government stepped in, it was often to fan the flames. ![]() Self-appointed vigilantes executed tens of thousands of citizens’ arrests. Some seventy-five newspapers and magazines were banned from the mail and forced to close. Courts threw thousands of people into prison for opinions they voiced-in one notable case, only in private. ![]() Mobs burned Black churches to the ground. One of the year's most acclaimed works of nonfictionĪ BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times, Washington Post, New Yorker, Chicago Tribune, Kirkus, New York Post, Fast Companyįrom legendary historian Adam Hochschild, a "masterly" ( New York Times) reassessment of the overlooked but startlingly resonant period between World War I and the Roaring Twenties, when the foundations of American democracy were threatened by war, pandemic, and violence fueled by battles over race, immigration, and the rights of labor. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As the flu progresses, the unstoppable voices become overwhelming, and many people begin to lose their minds, including Jean’s infected son, Lee. And although Jean talks to all her charges, she has a particular soft spot for a young dingo called Sue.Īs disturbing news arrives of a pandemic sweeping the country, Jean realises this is no ordinary flu: its chief symptom is that its victims begin to understand the language of animals - first mammals, then birds and insects, too. Instead, she surrounds herself with animals, working as a guide in an outback wildlife park. She’s never been good at getting on with other humans, apart from her beloved granddaughter, Kimberly. Hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, and allergic to bullshit, Jean is not your usual grandma. Out on the road, no one speaks, everything talks. ![]() ![]() In 1947, Elisabeth Åsbrink chronicles the creation of the modern world, as the forces that will go on to govern all our lives during the next 70 years first make themselves known. In 1947, production begins of the Kalashnikov, Christian Dior creates the New Look, Simone de Beauvoir writes The Second Sex, the first computer bug is discovered, the CIA is set up, a clockmaker's son draws up the plan that remains the goal of jihadists to this day, and a UN Committee is given four months to find a solution to the problem of Palestine. Among the millions in flight across Europe looking for a new home in 1947 is Elisabeth Åsbrink's father. ![]() Some run from their deeds, and most get away. People try to find their way back to homes that are no longer there, or on to an uncertain future across the sea. This shift does not happen overnight, from one day to the next instead, the world vibrates for a number of years. Her non-fiction book 1947: When Now Begins, published in 2016, has been translated into 19 languages and received a prize from the Royal Swedish Academy. Her work deals with memory and oblivion and often focuses on the aftermath of The Second World War. ![]() Author(s): Elisabeth Asbrink Fiona Graham (translator)Īs the clock strikes the end of the war, the time begins to turn towards a new age - the one we call now. Elisabeth sbrink is a Swedish writer and journalist. ![]() ![]() ![]() He is led to believe that his father's pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family's financial woes. Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. It challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality: the black Chinese restaurant.īorn in the "agrarian ghetto" of Dickens - on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles - the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: "I'd die in the same bedroom I'd grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling that've been there since the '68 quake." A biting satire about a young man's isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty's The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 'Natalie Haynes is both a witty and an erudite guide. 'Haynes combines a wide-ranging knowledge of the original myths with a gift for compelling narrative' - The Times her thoughtful portraits will linger with you long after the book is finished' - Madeline Miller 'With her trademark passion, wit, and fierce feminism. Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes Mythology (2022) A fresh take on the story of Medusa, the original monstered woman.They will fear you and flee you and call you a monster. And how she was never really a monster at all. This is the story of how a young woman became a monster. That is, until Perseus embarks upon a fateful quest to fetch the head of a Gorgon. Medusa can no longer look upon anyone she loves without destroying them, and so condemns herself to a life lived in shadow and solitude to limit her murderous rage. ![]() Appalled by her own reflection: snakes have replaced her hair and she realises that her gaze can now turn any living creature to stone. When the sea god, Poseidon, commits an unforgivable act in her sacred temple the goddess, Athene, takes her revenge on an innocent - and Medusa's life is changed forever. Her mortal lifespan gives her an urgency that her family will never know. ![]() Growing up with her sisters, she quickly realizes that she is the only one who gets older, experiences change, feels weakness. Medusa is the only mortal in a family of gods. Natalie Haynes - the Women's Prize-shortlisted author of A Thousand Ships - brings the infamous Medusa to life as you have never seen her before. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “I argue that empathy…is biased,” says Paul. If we’re not able to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes to feel their pain, then aren’t we lacking a fundamental piece of what makes us human?Īgainst Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion author Paul Bloom disagrees, but give him a chance before you condemn him as some kind of cold-blooded psychopath. We tend to think of the capacity to feel empathy as a good thing. This may seem infuriatingly negative at first glance, but trust us - it will all make sense as you listen to the episode. But Paul Bloom, developmental psychologist and author of Against Empathy: The Case for Rational Compassion, rejoins us at The Art of Charm to talk about why we should take a deeper, logical look at the notion of empathy so we don’t misdefine and misapply it in ways that do us - and others - more harm than good. Most of us are taught from an early age that empathy is an important part of being a “good” person. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Leadership development and culture change to teams, leaders, entrepreneurs, change makers, and culture shifters.īrené lives in Houston, Texas with her husband, Steve, and their children Ellen and Charlie.įurther information is available at. Her TED talk – The Power of Vulnerability – is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world, with over 25 million viewers.īrené is the Founder and CEO for The Daring Way™, COURAGEworks – an online learning platform that offers classes for individuals and families on braver living and loving, and BRAVE LEADERS INC – a platform that brings her latest research on She has spent the past fifteen years studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy and is the author of three #1 New York Times Bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, and Rising Strong. Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Brené Brown Endowed Chair at the Graduate College of Social Work. ![]() |