![]() ![]() Things you knew : When the age we were as campers no longer mattered in comparison to how old the ex-counselors were, that I had found Gabe online and that we dated for a year. ![]() ![]() I eventually got an official boyfriend, Jackson, who was sent home after a week for smoking weed. I flirted with boys playing basketball on “The Slab,” a concrete surface surrounded by a fence where everyone plays Horse. I befriended a set of twins who I took turns kissing after evening program. I kissed a boy who went by the name “Ice” because his hair was so blonde it was white. All the while, I lost myself in the boys of camp. You put hay in your hair for the weekly Square Dance, you wore all your clothes backwards for a laugh, you ate macaroni and cheese every night in our cabin and disregarded the weight that started to show on your belly. I tried hard to look good while you seemed to put all your energy into looking silly. I wore make-up and braided my hair in pigtails. I wore denim skirts and twisted the front of my shirts into a knot to show my midriff. None of our inside jokes carried over to the realm of camp, and since you were not available, I died for attention from someone else, anyone else. Even though I hated camp, I continued to go for the next two years, hoping each time would be better than the last. ![]()
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![]() ![]() I have to admit I found this novel a disappointment (and I do realize I'm in the minority in my opinion many people seem to think it's a delight). During the course of the novel, first-time author Helene Wecker leads her readers to ponder such weighty subjects as what it means to be human, the importance of friends, and the place of religion in society. ![]() And, as in the best friendships, they interact in ways that bring out the better natures of each. ![]() Recognizing each other as someone outside of humanity – alone and lonely without a sense of community or someone who truly understands them – the two become friends. The Golem and the Jinni is a magical tale about two mythical creatures that cross paths in New York City at the turn of the last century. Despite an inviting premise, a tale about two mythical creatures in late nineteenth century New York proves far from satisfying ![]() ![]() ![]() She attended high school at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Gay was raised Catholic and spent her summers visiting family in Haiti. Her mother was a homemaker and her father is owner of GDG Béton et Construction, a Haitian concrete company. ![]() Gay was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Michael and Nicole Gay, both of Haitian descent. Gay is a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times, founder of Tiny Hardcore Press, essays editor for The Rumpus, co-editor of PANK, a nonprofit literary arts collective, and the editor for Gay Mag, which was founded in partnership with Medium. In 2018, she left Purdue to become a visiting professor at Yale University. ![]() Gay was an assistant professor at Eastern Illinois University for four years before joining Purdue University as an associate professor of English. Gay is the author of The New York Times best-selling essay collection Bad Feminist (2014), as well as the short story collection Ayiti (2011), the novel An Untamed State (2014), the short story collection Difficult Women (2017), and the memoir Hunger (2017). Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. ![]() ![]() ![]() Praise for A Guide to Being Just Friends: "A joyful, swoony romance full of heart and humor!" - Sarah Adams, author of The Cheat Sheet But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike up a friendship. When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game. ![]() With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone who he likes, but won’t love. Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. ![]() Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. ![]() "Sophie Sullivan’s writing feels like a warm hug.” -Rachel Lynn Solomon, bestselling author of The Ex Talk When Harry Met Sally meets 500 Days of Summer in A Guide to Being Just Friends, a playful and emotional romantic comedy from the author of Ten Rules for Faking It. Most Anticipated Romance by Goodreads, Buzzfeed, PopSugar, and more! ![]() ![]() Her latest book, “Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War” (W.W. Norton & Co., as well as “My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places” (2013), the complete collection of her “My Planet” articles published in Reader’s Digest. Roach is well known for her humor-tinged and engaging New York Times bestsellers “Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal” (2013), “Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void” (2010), “Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex” (2008), “Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife” (2005) and “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers” (2003), all published by W.W. American Sign Language interpretation and Communication Access Real Time will be available. Roach’s appearance is presented in cooperation with the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the College of Engineering & Computer Science. She will share the stage with Sandra Hewett, professor of biology and the Beverly Petterson Bishop Professor of Neuroscience, for an informal dialogue. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “The Miniaturist” The Forge/BBC/ Laurence Cendrowi ![]() The latter, in fact, appears to be the main goal because he spares no expense in enrobing her in the most sumptuous fabrics and gowns, putting her on display for a society that is caught up in appearances. On the surface, it appears to be the usual sort of marriage contract: She and her family benefit from his wealth and status, while he receives a youthful bride to help continue the Brandt line and look pretty while doing it. Set in the 17th century, “The Miniaturist” follows Petronella “Nella” Oortman (“The Witch” and “Split” star Anya Taylor-Joy), a wide-eyed 18-year-old from Assendelft, who has traveled to Amsterdam to join the household of her new husband, Johannes Brandt (Alex Hassell). “ The Miniaturist,” based on Jessie Burton’s novel of the same name, is PBS’ three-part adaptation that satisfies the “Masterpiece” aesthete’s hunger for beautiful visuals, lavish costuming, and mesmerizing performances. Two weeks after HBO’s Southern gothic thriller “Sharp Objects” revealed its twisted ending, another drama featuring a dollhouse is opening its doors to welcome viewers into a meticulously crafted world. ![]() ![]() On a recent visit to her hometown, Perkins-Valdez sat for an interview for the WYPL-FM program “Book Talk.” As the novel unfolds, all three find themselves heading to Chicago and a new life. The story has three protagonists: Madge, who was raised by a family of root doctors in Tennessee as a free woman of color Hemp, who was a slave in Kentucky and is now searching for his wife and her daughter and Sadie, a young white widow from York, Pennsylvania, who begins communicating with the dead. ![]() “Balm,” which was released last month, looks not at the soldiers’ suffering but at the pain of widows, former slaves and others. The book chronicles the Civil War’s legacy of death and destruction, and Perkins-Valdez decided her next novel should investigate the possibilities of healing the personal and national trauma caused by the war. ![]() Then she read “This Republic of Suffering” by Harvard president and historian Drew Gilpin-Faust. Afraid of being pigeonholed following the success of her 2010 New York Times best-selling antebellum novel, “Wench,” Memphis native Dolen Perkins-Valdez had no desire to write another historical book. ![]() ![]() ![]() Oh well, 4,25* rating for this amazing book that will knock your socks off if you're a hopeless romantic. who knows when or if that will ever appear. This was released four and a half years ago and the sequel. If I knew beforehand that the book ended the way it did, I wouldn't have read it yet. ![]() This book managed to make me laugh, smile and cry until my eyes and heart wanted to file assault and battery charges.Īlthough I really liked this book I would have liked more dialogue between the characters because the book is told from Blake's POV and we're stuck in her head as she pines away for Rachel. I won't recap this since there are several great reviews out there that already do a good job of that. That along with this book has tugged relentlessly on my heartstrings over the past few days. ![]() This is one of those books.Ĭonfession time: Before I started reading this book, I read the blog post Stephanie Kusiak wrote about what inspired her to write this story. Then there are book that you read once and you never forget them. There are some books that can be read over and over again and they still remain amazing. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The lead in this story, though, is her brother Teddy, who, having survived both childhood and the air war, is now disillusioned-“The whole edifice of civilization turned out to be constructed from an unstable mix of quicksand and imagination”-and suffering from more than a little guilt that he lives while so many others do not. Ursula Todd, the protagonist of Life After Life, returns, appearing from time to time at just the right moments, in the manner of a chorus. Transpose Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” to the skies over Europe in World War II, and you’ll have some idea of the territory in which Atkinson is working. Fresh from the excellent Life After Life (2013), Atkinson takes another sidelong look at the natures of time and reality in this imaginative novel, her ninth. ![]() ![]() ![]() Anthony ended up being a rather bland character without much personality or giving the reader much reason to believe that the two characters actually liked each other beyond their looks enough to get married. ![]() ![]() The part where the story reflected the happenings in Mulan was the most fun and the most in need of more detail and moments to push character relationships further, particularly the one between Prince Anthony and Bristal. Despite this, I wish that the book was longer and took more time or more books to flesh out the characters and events in a way that connects the reader to the book in an emotional aspect. It follows Bristal, a newly found elicromancer, as she builds up her magic skills with the help of her mentor, Brack, to someday defeat the powerful Tamarice.Īlong the way, the story uses plot points similar to those found in Cinderella, Mulan, Sleeping Beauty, and Jane Austin’s Emma. The Cinderella aspect of the book was fun and added a new twist to the cliché norms of high fantasy novels, which was refreshing. Kingdom of Ash and Briars, the first in the Nissera Chronicles written by Hannah West, is a fun fairy tale mashup and retelling that keeps the reader interested through to its final page. ![]() |