Lolly's always loved Legos, and he prides himself on following the kit instructions exactly. Then Lolly's mother's girlfriend brings him a gift that will change everything: two enormous bags filled with Legos. They're still reeling from his older brother's death in a gang-related shooting just a few months earlier. It's Christmas Eve in Harlem, but twelve-year-old Lolly Rachpaul and his mom aren't celebrating. ** WINNER OF THE CORETTA SCOTT KING-JOHN STEPTOE AWARD FOR NEW TALENT! ** It's the novel we've been waiting for." - The New York TimesĪ boy tries to steer a safe path through the projects in Harlem in the wake of his brother's death in this outstanding debut novel that celebrates community and creativity. It's not just a narrative it's an experience. Description "The right story at the right time.
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5/30/2023 0 Comments Watchmen novelWatchmen hinted that it wouldn’t be anything like the superhero comics status quo before a reader even started leafing through an issue. No characters appear on the covers, nor are there any fight scenes or scintillating imagery to lure the reader in, a break in ranks for superhero comic books. The title, written in all caps, traces up vertically on the left, near the spine. The covers for all 12 issues of Watchmen - released just over 30 years ago, from 1986 to 1987 - balk at this. But superhero comic book covers tend to be superheroes striking poses fighting evil or supervillains striking poses fighting good, with a certain strategy to their art: According to the 2017 annotated version of Watchmen, because of the way comic books are displayed in an overlapping pattern in comic book stores, the trick is to push titles toward the center and keep the imagery to the center and right of the cover page. Watchmen was never meant to be a regular superhero comic book, and it made its intentions clear right from the jump.Īverage readers might not notice what makes Watchmen so different. Her new import, the novella “ Foster,” was originally published in 2009 and received that year’s Davy Byrnes Short Story Award. It feels worth noting that Keegan had published two widely lauded story collections but only got some traction in this country on the publication of her first (very short) novel, 2021’s “Small Things Like These.” This year’s candidates for the honor, much deserving I’d say, are Gwendoline Riley and Claire Keegan, both writers of sparse, assured sentences that burrow into something ineffable about what it is to be alive and then hold it up with care for our examination and pleasure.Īnother thing that feels particularly American: a belief in bigness, brashness, as if precision and structural intelligence weren’t also necessary artistic skills. It feels particularly American to happen upon a masterful writer long recognized in their own country (and lots of others) and then to gush, obscenely, to make up for lost time. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores. 5/30/2023 0 Comments Endurance book alfred lansingIt will make your daily grind seem like a daily paradise. This is one of the stories that will reset your perspective on what the human animal is capable of and I highly recommend you avail yourself of the opportunity to reboot your mind-set. Now I’m not a non-fiction, survival story expert, but this has to be pretty close to the absolute limit of human endurance, both physically and psychologically. Holy persevering manliness Batman, I was wincing, shuddering and cringing just reading about this ordeal from the creaturey comfort of my toasty, warm bed while maintaining a glass of wine within reaching distance. Stranded for over a year in the most inhospitable climate on the face of the Earth, literally one tiny step away from complete disaster due to starvation, extreme weather or the ice flows on which they lived deciding to crack and deposit into the freezing depths below. * Psst.don’t mention this to my wife as she thinks she took care of this years ago. Behold.the gentleman whose exploits crushed the last vestiges of manhood from my fragile psyche*: 5/30/2023 0 Comments A song of arbonneBy the end, when all the machinations bore fruit, I had a hard time putting the book down. Once I got the names straight, I was hooked and didn’t want to sop reading. I had a hard time keeping everyone straight and even remembering who people were when they reappeared in the story (I’m not good with names, in books or real life). Gorhaut and Arbonne go to war.įinal thoughts: It took a while for me to get into the book, mainly because of all the difficult names. He ends up in Arbonne and is goaded into declaring himself the true King of Gorhaut by his father’s actions. Blaise has been travelling as a coran for hire. Opposing him is his son, Blaise, who has renounced Gorhaut after a treaty he disagreed with. Galbert de Garsenc, the High Elder of Corannos, is working on the weak King of Gorhaut to invade Arbonne and burn the followers of Rian. Compare that to their northern neighbor, Gorhaut, where the god Corannos rules in a cold, harsh climate and women are subservient to the men. Summary: Arbonne is a country devoted to music, love, worship of the goddess Rian, and women have power. I’m just sad my local library system doesn’t have much of his work. I like Kay’s work, so it was an easy choice. Interest: I wanted a “K” author for my Alphabet Soup author challenge. Setting: mostly Arbonne and Gorhaut, a Medieval setting with a French and German feel 5/30/2023 0 Comments Shades of magic trilogyA Darker Shade of Magic is an entertaining magical tale. She can’t let her soft side show because she can’t afford to, though being with Kell opens up little windows into that side of her. I enjoyed this story and particularly appreciated Lila, who is determined and tough and knows what she wants. The two face down one threat after another until they find out just who set this dark magic loose. He reluctantly allows Lila to accompany him because she just won’t take no for an answer. He is drawn to what it can do but knows it must be taken out of the cities he knows to keep them safe. It’s full of dark magic, a relic of Black London. The two cross paths after Kell accepts a package that contains a dangerous black stone. But she’d love to break free and see the world and live on her own terms - preferably as a pirate. Lila is an orphan who lives in Grey London and steals to get by. And there used to be Black London, but it was taken over by magic and is sealed off. There’s Red London, where he’s from, and which is flourishing there’s Grey London, pretty much the one we know of, ruled by mad King George, and that has almost no magic there’s White London, which still has magic but is out of balance, and the rulers are vicious and constantly changing. There are several versions of London, and he goes among them carrying messages among the different kings and queens of the cities. Kell is one of the last Antari, people gifted with magic that allows them to travel between worlds. 5/29/2023 0 Comments Fantastical kristen ashleyUnfortunately, hot guy, fantasyland Noctorno doesn’t like the Cora of his world all that much (to say the least) and he thinks our Cora is her. Luckily, hot guy, fantasyland Noctorno is there to save her from the clutches of the grotesque vickrants sent by Minerva to capture her. The problem is, she thinks she’s in a dream but she’s actually taken the place of the parallel universe Cora and without realizing it, our Cora does something that starts a centuries old curse that will sweep the land if she gets captured by the evil Minerva.Īt this point, her dream world becomes a nightmare. Cora Goode has woken up in a fairytale world where she can understand what birds are saying to her, men ride horses and have fluffy feathers in their hats and furniture zigs, zags and whirls in miracles of construction. 5/29/2023 0 Comments High fidelity novelAnd Rob begins to think that life with kids, marriage, barbecues, and soft rock CDs might not be so bad. (High Fidelity: a Novel) Author: Nick Hornby published on (October, 1997) Paperback 2,729 ratings See all formats and editions Kindle 4.99 Read with Our Free App Audiobook 0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover 24.99 35 Used from 5.61 4 New from 27.75 6 Collectible from 39.99 Paperback 14.99 2 New from 14. Stochastic High Fidelity Autonomous Fixed Wing Aircraft Flight Simulator Eduardo Gallo This document describes the architecture and algorithms of a high fidelity fixed wing flight simulator intended to test and validate novel guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithms for autonomous aircraft. Rob tries dating a singer, but maybe it’s just that he’s always wanted to sleep with someone who has a record contract. A novel power hardware-in-the-loop interface algorithm, the Virtual Shifting Impedance, is developed, validated and demonstrated in this paper. After all, could he have spent his life with someone who has a bad record collection? Rob seeks refuge in the company of the offbeat clerks at his store, who endlessly review their top five films top five Elvis Costello songs top five episodes of Cheers. His girlfriend, Laura, has just left him for the guy upstairs, and Rob is both miserable and relieved. From the bestselling author of Funny Girl, About a Boy, and A Long Way Down, a wise and hilarious novel about love, heartbreak, and rock and roll.Rob is a pop music junkie who runs his own semi-failing record store. 5/29/2023 0 Comments Memorial bryan washingtonBen and Mitsuko develop a cordial but strained coexistence. Mike immediately leaves her alone with Ben in their apartment to return to Osaka to care for his dying father, Eiju. Early in the story, Mike’s mother, Mitsuko, arrives from Japan for a visit. Four years into their troubled union, each is having significant doubts about their future together. Memorial is about the relationship between two men, Benson (“Ben”), a middle-class African American who works at a daycare center, and Mike, a chef, who was born in Japan but came to the United States as a child. It succeeds because of its raw humanity and how it captures what it means to care about someone. Indeed, Bryan Washington’s Memorialis the kind of novel you can’t put down, but for none of those reasons. Put all of these ingredients in the hands of a gifted writer, and you would expect nothing less than a fiery page-turner. Add the economic precariousness of underemployment, and alternate the settings between a gentrifying Houston neighborhood and a gritty section of Osaka, Japan. Imagine two young gay men of different races, each of whom has a dysfunctional father and the kind of mother you keep at a careful distance. 5/29/2023 0 Comments Wasted book maryaAlthough in many ways she fit the profile of a person with an eating disorder-her family life was emotionally chaotic, she was a perfectionist-Hornbacher feels there is more to it, including society's dictate that ``you can't be too rich or too thin.'' In and out of eating-disorder clinics and mental institutions for many years, she also encountered general practitioners who accepted her extremely low weight-she bottomed out at 52 pounds-as normal. Not yet convinced that she will survive, she struggles each morning over her bowl of ``goddamn Cheerios'' to let go of the urge to be thinner and of ``the bitch in your head'' who says, ``You're fat.'' With the help of journals and thousands of pages of her own medical records, Hornbacher explores why she began trying to make herself disappear. Hornbacher, a freelance editor and writer, is now 23 years old and, if not well (``it's never over, not really''), at least ingesting and keeping down enough food to sustain life and begin the repairs of the heart and other organs that were ravaged by over a decade of vomiting and starvation. Bulimic since she was 9 years old, anorexic since she was about 15, the author reveals how and why women with these eating disorders can be helped and, most of all, how long it takes for that help to take hold. |