![]() ![]() I got the impression from this book that the Romans loved politics and empire building, and despite their cults and gods and goddesses were a fairly secular and rational people. But we are left wondering what Caesar was really like - despite being an extensive writer himself, Caesar was not given to self-reflection, and his copious accounts of his various military campaigns do not shed much light on the inner workings of his mind.Ĭaesar was a serial seducer of women, too, although it may come as a surprise to some readers that his affair with Cleopatra came near the end of his packed life, and occupies barely a chapter of this lengthy book. The author dwells on his impressive leadership qualities (which included a reticence to punish his enemies, which was unusual for his time), his charisma and his incredible energy. ![]() You can't help but be overawed by how much Caesar achieved in his action packed life, and how he did so without the logistics, communications and infrastructure that we take so much for granted in the modern world. So this account draws on a wide range of sources and is expertly narrated. We are fortunate in that Caesar's life was well-documented during his own lifetime (by Caesar himself, and by Cicero amongst others) and by historians living not long after, such as Dio. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife - the days have more light and color. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. ![]() It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. A couple in their 30s live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo they work at home, freelance copy-editing they no longer have very much to say to one another. ![]() A best seller in France and winner of Japan's Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living. ![]() ![]() In other words, G- thinks everything he doesn't understand is odd, and he doesn't understand very much, so he thinks that a lot of things are odd. We gave him a hearty welcome for there was nearly half as much of the entertaining as of the contemptible about the man, and we had not seen him for several years … had a fashion of calling every thing "odd" that was beyond his comprehension, and thus lived amid an absolute legion of "oddities." (2) When G- walks in, we get a little more sense of the narrator's personality, which is a little playful but also has a bit of a condescending edge: ![]() No why, but you kind of get the hint that this is just what the two guys do together. This might as well be the lede to a newpaper article: who, what, where, and when. ![]() ![]() Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisieme, No. Even his first sentence give this impression:Īt Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18-, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. ![]() In general, he gives the impression of casually telling us a little story with no embellishment and very little of his own personal opinions. The narrator of "The Purloined Letter" doesn't give us much to work with. Casual, Condescending, Playful, Confidential ![]() ![]() ![]() Tim had acted not at all surprised to hear the doorbell, but as if he’d expected it.Ī horrible feeling rolled in her gut, confirmed when she heard male voices in the foyer. “I’ll get it.” Tim rushed toward the foyer. They’d just finished eating and she was helping him clear the table when the doorbell rang. Even after she sent him a reassuring smile, which he returned, he still seemed on edge. Tim acted nervous, glancing at the two of them. Thank god it was stew and vegetables, along with a huge salad, so nothing was ruined by the delay. With her heart feeling a thousand pounds lighter, she let Jack lead her down the hall to the kitchen where Tim had put dinner out. He couldn’t have given her a more perfect answer if she’d written it for him. Gwen wanted to sob with relief but somehow held it together. ![]() ![]() One day, Mama hides a dozen buttons in the front room, which Sarah must find while dusting. Practically the only time the girls enter the holiest of holies is to clean it. Even though the five sisters in the titular family - Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie - share one bedroom, somehow there’s a formal front parlor that is almost never used, as embalmed as Miss Havisham’s dress. Consider Chapter Two’s tour de force set piece: the dusting scene. “All-of-a-Kind” Family embeds itself in the mind by turning ordinary life into sacred ritual and de-mystifies religion by making it a ritual of the everyday. It’s déjà vu, or pre-jà vu, or all-of-a-jamais vu. The all-of-a-kind memories become readers’ memories. Taylor’s editor worried that readers wouldn’t connect with the details of Jewish life. The Jewish tenements on the Lower East Side at the turn of the century glow with nostalgia think Proust’s madeleine as a challah. ![]() In 1951, Follett published Sydney Taylor’s “All-of-a-Kind Family,” the first children’s book for a mass audience that featured American Jews. Image by Courtesy of Lizzie Skurnick Books ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Reeling from her latest break up, Freddy's best friend, Doodle, introduces her to the Seek-Her, a mysterious medium, who leaves Freddy some cryptic parting words: break up with her. ![]() There's just one problem: Laura Dean is maybe not the greatest girlfriend. Laura Dean, the most popular girl in high school, was Frederica Riley's dream girl: charming, confident, and SO cute. One of Bitch Media’s Best Queer YA Novels of 2019Īuthor Mariko Tamaki and illustrator Rosemary Valero-O’Connell bring to life a sweet and spirited tale of young love in Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, a graphic novel that asks us to consider what happens when we ditch the toxic relationships we crave to embrace the healthy ones we need. One of FORBES Best Graphic Novels of 2019 ![]() ![]() ![]() Many, including former Monkee Michael Nesmith, have tried turning the tune – about a guy dealing with heartbreak and physical woes at a beach resort – into a movie or TV series. In the decades since, that song and its title have become integral to Buffett’s empire it’s the name of his restaurant chain and hotels, his former indie record label, and his retirement-community developments. I thought, ‘This is a pretty good song.'” I wasn’t wasting away – I was working my ass off. ![]() “I was a bit hung over, but I started writing the song on my guitar case at the Austin airport. “It was a hot day and I had a couple of margaritas,” he recalls. More than 40 years later, Jimmy Buffett can still recall the moment he wrote “Margaritaville.” Buffett had played a show in Austin and was on his way back home to Key West. ![]() ![]() ![]() The stories range from supernatural horror to science fiction but they are all strange, weird and terrifying. You’re left plowing your way through story after story each one leaving you breathless and unprepared for the next shot that is right behind it. ![]() ![]() This collection was fantastic.Įach story, though short, packs a huge punch and before you can recover from one story the next one is right there to throw another punch at you. But I wasn’t prepared for what Calvin Demmer had in store for me with THE SEA WAS A FAIR MASTER. I was worried if I didn’t like reading a flash collection I would do the author a disservice. I don’t read much flash fiction and I certainly don’t read it in bulk like this, so when I found out this was a flash fiction collection instead of a short story collection I was excited and also nervous. Joe read the book and reviewed it below, and Charlotte interviewed Calvin, also below. Calvin Demmer reached out to us at Horror Bound to share his latest collection and have a chat about his work and the horror genre. ![]() ![]() ![]() She knows who she is and she knows why*** ***I dedicate this review to my homie, Starla. If he wants a life with the woman of his dreams, he’ll have to convince her that some goals can only be made with an assist. The problem is, Sabrina’s heart is locked up tight, and the fiery brunette is too stubborn to accept his help. ![]() It doesn’t hurt that the soon-to-be mother of his child is beautiful, whip-smart, and keeps him on his toes. On the ice, he’s fine staying out of the spotlight, but when it comes to becoming a daddy at the age of twenty-two, he refuses to be a bench warmer. Tucker believes being a team player is as important as being the star. One night of sizzling heat and surprising tenderness is all she’s willing to give John Tucker, but sometimes, one night is all it takes for your entire life to change.īut the game just got a whole lot more complicated Her path to escaping her shameful past certainly doesn’t include a gorgeous hockey player who believes in love at first sight. ![]() Alternate cover edition for 9781533344342Ĭollege senior Sabrina James has her whole future planned out: graduate from college, kick butt in law school, and land a high-paying job at a cutthroat firm. ![]() ![]() She is the author of numerous academic books, including High Theory, Low Culture (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005), The Solitary Vice (Counterpoint, 2009), and Hyena (Reaktion, 2013), as well as commercial books like The Greay Grisby (HarperCollins, 2014). ![]() Her articles and case studies have appeared in Film Quarterly, The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, New Literary History, American Imago, and elsewhere. She was formerly Visiting Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University and was Chair of the Program in Humanities and Depth Psychology at the Pacifica Graduate Institute from 2008 to 2010. ![]() in English Language and Literature from Oxford University, in which she focused on contemporary critical theory, with emphasis on the work of Roland Barthes, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Jacques Lacan. Mikita Brottman is an author and psychoanalyst with particular interests in true crime, forensics, psychoanalysis, animals, abjection, and the unexplained. ![]() |