![]() See the photos and video on the page for her Kew Gardens gallery: ![]() walking into Marianne's gallery at Kew Gardens on typically gray British day and suddenly feeling transported to Australia or Jamaica or Africa thanks to the beautiful artwork that surrounded you! Imagine, a world before photographs and movies and internet. This gave so much more richness and vibrancy and helped those who saw the work feel more immersed in the plant's native area. What amazing things she did at a time of life when many others in that era were already wind down for "old age"! I was especially interested to note that her botanical art, unlike most at the time, actually showed the backdrop for the plant she depicted. At age forty, she finally had her freedom. ![]() Marianne took care of her father and led a fairly conventional (from the sound of it) life from the time she was twenty-four until he passed away sixteen years later. ![]() ![]() I love reading about women who write their own journey and I love reading about women whose adventures come later in life. This book is well-written and beautifully illustrated (I'm grateful the end papers show some of Marianne's own artwork) and the back matter is rich and extensive. Marianne was a wild bird who not only refused to let Victorian gender roles confine her but also changed the course of botanical illustration forever." ![]()
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![]() Tash was an interesting lead because what she was saying felt crazy but believable and yet it also felt like she was unreliable I think there were a few different directions the author could have gone in which leaves the reader in suspense a lot wondering what exactly is going on (in a good way!). Sparrow is seriously creepy as all hell - I feel like next time I have a nightmare that it'll feature Sparrow. ![]() I am honestly amazed this is the author's debut! The plot is intense and dark. Does Sparrow really exist? Or is Tash the dangerous one? Tash thinks Mallory is the key to unlocking the truth. Tash begins not only having disturbing memories but also starts to see Sparrow again. ![]() Mallory is now 15, mute, and has never disclosed what happened during that week she was missing. Nobody believed Tash and now she accepts Sparrow wasn't real. Tash has been traumatised since age eight when she witnessed her gruesome imaginary friend Sparrow lure six year old Mallory away from a carnival. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Barrowman siblings' debut novel, titled Hollow Earth, was published in February 2012. ![]() In addition to her brother's memoirs, the siblings co-wrote a Torchwood comic strip, featuring Jack Harkness, entitled Captain Jack and the Selkie. ![]() In 2009, John Barrowman published I Am What I Am, also featuring Carole as co-author. Part of the writing process involved her transcribing her brother's dictations. She was credited as co-author on her brother's memoir and autobiography, Anything Goes, which was published in 2008 by Michael O'Mara Books. She is also known for her writing contributions with younger brother, actor, singer and dancer John Barrowman, best-known for his role as Jack Harkness in Doctor Who and Torchwood. She is Professor of English and Director of Creative Studies in Writing at Alverno College, Milwaukee, and a reviewer and crime fiction columnist for the Milwaukee Sentinel. Carole Emily Barrowman (born 20 April 1959) is a Scottish-American writer and academic. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Charlene needs to use all of her talents to reach James, aka His Disgrace, who’s bringing four women to his country house for a weekend in order to find a suitably proper wife (with suitably powerful father) who can give him an heir and restore his reputation. Charlene looks just like her half sister, Lady Dorothea, who's busy traveling, which means Lady Desmond wants to train Charlene to stand in for Dorothea and help charm the Duke of Harland into marrying her. Her father’s wife has offered her what might be her only chance to change their lives. ![]() One proud duke, four desperate women, and a weekend full of surprises.Ĭharlene knows her place-she’s the by-blow of the Earl of Desmond-and all she dares hope for is a better life for her family. ![]() ![]() ![]() (The picture book did not provide a better behind the scenes glimpse than the series. I really enjoyed watching Charlotte's story in the documentary series On Pointe. To be honest George Balanchine's The Nutcracker is not my favorite Nutcracker. ![]() My thoughts: I love, love, love The Nutcracker. This book doesn't focus so much on the plot of the story of The Nutcracker as it seeks to capture what it is like for a young dancer to be a part of this 'magical' stage production-the stuff of dreams. If you are looking for a book that retells the story of the ballet, this is not that book. The book provides with a (small) behind-the-scenes glimpse of the production of The Nutcracker. The book focuses on the many, many years of hard work and dedicated practice that went into her being chosen to play Marie. Premise/plot: Charlotte and the Nutcracker is a new picture book based on the true story of Charlotte Nebres, the first Black girl to play the role of Marie in New York City's production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. But Charlotte gets the best gift she can imagine: her first ballet class. First sentence: It isn't quite Christmas-not yet. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Auras explores the many-layered energy field that is the human aura and will teach you to sense and work with your own aura and those of others. Ultimate Energy: Using Your Natural Energies to Balance Body, Mind, and Spirit is a collection of three books-Chakras, Auras, and Energy Healing by Tori Hartman, Eliza Swann, and Kris Ferraro-that will give readers the tools to tap into their own unique energy using a variety of modalities and practices.Ĭhakras explains the associations and strengths of each of the seven chakras along with how to harness their power in your own life. Our bodies are surrounded by and filled with powerful streams of energy that can be used to improve our mental, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. The ultimate guide to harnessing the body's energy for health and wellness ![]() ![]() ![]() But despite his countercultural interests, he struck up a friendship with Ken, a seemingly mainstream San Diego native whose Japanese-American family had been in the country for generations. The son of Taiwanese immigrants, Hua Hsu grew up desperate to build an identity of his own. ![]() ![]() Hua weaves his story with wider questions of diversity and culture, proving that “we aren’t alone, and we never have been.” About Hua Hsu Hua’s memoir “Stay True”-which turned him into a “literary phenomenon” (The New York Times)-touches on the immigrant experience and growing up Asian-American but more than that, it’s an exploration of grief, pop culture, being young and how friendship helps us discover who we are. ![]() Telling our own complex stories complicates the narratives that are told about us, and opens up new worlds of possibility. Our collective and individual identities are messy, amorphous, and impossible to define-but New Yorker staff writer and bestselling author Hua Hsu says that’s a good thing. The event is co-sponsored by the AAPI Faculty and Staff Affinity Group, AAPI Heritage Month Planning Committee and Multicultural Affairs. This event has been made possible by Co-Curricular Fee funding and the generous support of Tom MacDougall ’92 and Grace Wu. As part of the University’s celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, the campus community is invited to attend a lecture by Hua Hsu.Ī meet-and-greet and book signing will follow the event. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Luminous Dead reads like a mix between The Descent and Buried: High tension, low character count, and plenty of thrills. On top of the mind’s eye’s visuals, Starling engineers an atmosphere that I think would do well onscreen. In a setting that is mostly rock and darkness, the things which arrest Gyre’s attention are the necessary focal points and never tangential or unessential. You get a strong sense of what Gyre is seeing and details vary depending on how much attention GYRE is paying, not how much Starling is. ![]() Instead, what Starling tells you is enough. I don’t need to know the intricate designs of the lacy frill at the cuff of the king’s shirt, you know?! ![]() In fact, I think some authors spend too many letters on detail and in the process pull you away from the narrative. So cinematic in this case hits the nail on the head.Īnd it’s not just because she is detailed in her descriptions. You never see that kind of quality off the line!īut as I read, I discovered that Starling writes The Luminous Dead in such a way that every image of every scene comes to the mind’s eye vividly. ![]() You know the move: It is the equivalent of the picture of the Bic Mac in an ad. And I’ll be honest here: The press release used the word “cinematic,” and I wrote it off as pure hyperbole for the sake of hype in marketing. One of the qualities of this book that struck me over and over again as I read through The Luminous Dead was its cinematic quality. ![]() ![]() ![]() Unwanted and mistreated at home and bullied at school, Eleanor is in a constant tug-of-war with herself as to whether she should make herself smaller to avoid scrutiny and negative attention, or puff herself up to declare that she won’t be silenced or made to feel invisible. As the novel progresses, her clothes emerge as a symbol of Eleanor’s competing desires to both shrink herself and to announce herself as a presence that will not go away no matter how much the world tries to bring her down. ![]() Eleanor’s clothes are always too big and too baggy-eventually, it becomes clear that Eleanor is trying to hide herself inside them from the prying eyes of her leering stepfather, Richie, and from the girls at school, including Tina and her crew, who mock Eleanor’s body. She ties scarves and men’s neckties in her hair and on her wrists, and wears brightly-printed Vans sneakers that clash with her outfits’ muted tones. Eleanor never looks “nice,” thinks her boyfriend Park-she looks like “art.” Eleanor, a self-admittedly big-boned teen girl with flaming red curls that she can never seem to tame, dresses in bizarre and ill-fitting clothes, often culled from the men’s section of Goodwill. ![]() ![]() ![]() 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 and soon to be a major motion picture directed by Michael B. 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. African American Fiction, Juvenile Fiction, Juvenile Literature ![]() |