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Roadkill by Rob Thurman6/10/2023 ![]() ![]() Too bad she took things a bit too far finally. ![]() I know it's by no means a 'healthy' relationship, but I love her and Cal together and if nothing else at least they are being 'honestly dishonest' with each other as Niko would say. I'm a bit disappointed that Promise was not included here, but I absolutely love Deliilah so it's great to see more of her. I also love Catcher's POV and the parallels between Rafferty & Catcher and Niko & Cal. There's a lot of great character dynamics going on with the close quarters, and it's great to see more of Rafferty and Catcher. IT'S ROAD TRIP TIME! Sure it might be a cliche, but shoving Robin into a car with anyone and driving across the country is bound to be a disaster, especially when it means he has to be away from his new boyfriend ) Anyway, I just really love this book and you could hardly pick a more mismatched group of people to throw in a car together. ![]() ![]() No better than I had to be seriously, what did that mean? I’d long since learned what it meant, and I knew Suyolak was no better than he had to be either, certainly no kinder than he had to be. I hadn’t gotten that as a kid, and Niko for once hadn’t felt the need to explain it to me. She’d once told me that I was no better than I had to be. We used to have a neighbor when I was ten, for a few months before we moved again as we always did. ![]()
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Idol kristen callihan6/10/2023 ![]() ![]() Will the relationship survive? Idol is no different. Of course, the inevitable dilemma of a rock star romance is how is the heroine going to fit into the heady world of sex, drugs and rock and roll. And when we get to the actually get to the relationship part it’s smoking. Rock god versus sharp tongued country bumpkin Libby was a delight to read and my favourite part of the book. Callihan built the tension, the relationship and the banter up between Killian and Libby perfectly. ![]() The build up of the romance was quite frankly un-put-downable. I was hooked straight away and at a certain time at night had to give myself a talking to to put the book down otherwise there was a good chance I would have read it until it was finished, sleep be damned. The start of the book is cracking, drunk rock star passed out in a heap on the heroine’s lawn, what does the heroine do, hose him down. Idol by Kristen Callihan was recommended to me on Amazon a little while ago, clever little thing that Amazon algorithm and I couldn’t resist a one-click pre-order. For some reason it’s even more compelling if said woman has absolutely no idea who said rock star is. ![]() I cannot resist the allure of a sexy, famous rock star falling for an ordinary person. ![]() Rock star romances have become my thing lately. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Time and time again, this megalopolis of 20 million people reminds me that one can never hold on to assumed truths about any neighborhood's profile.īecause at the end of the day, everyone in Mexico is a taco lover. I was in heaven, and left a bit ashamed by my own stereotyping. And it was just steps from Polanco's embassies and trendy antros that cater to people who like $15 martinis. It had all the good meats – bistec, pollo, chorizo – a full barrage of salsas, queso, and all the Mexican Coke or Boing de guava that your heart could desire. The stand was surrounded with people and crackling with energy at four in the morning. As we were leaving – tipsy, hungry, and not exactly flush with cash – the taco gods smiled. ![]() Polanco isn't a place where I would necessarily hang out on a weekend night, but friends from L.A. ![]() April 1, 2013— - A couple years ago I went to a magazine party near the ritzy Polanco district in Mexico City. ![]()
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A cornucopia of dunderheads6/9/2023 ![]() It is hailed for its accurate depictions of New Orleans dialects. Toole wrote the novel in 1963 during his last few months in Puerto Rico. He is an educated but slothful 30-year-old man living with his mother in the Uptown neighborhood of early-1960s New Orleans who, in his quest for employment, has various adventures with colorful French Quarter characters. Reilly, a lazy, obese, misanthropic, self-styled scholar. The book's title refers to an epigram from Jonathan Swift's essay Thoughts on Various Subjects, Moral and Diverting: "When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."ĭunces is a picaresque novel featuring the misadventures of protagonist Ignatius J. Published through the efforts of writer Walker Percy (who also contributed a foreword) and Toole's mother, Thelma, the book became first a cult classic, then a mainstream success it earned Toole a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1981, and is now considered a canonical work of modern literature of the Southern United States. ![]() ![]() ![]() A Confederacy of Dunces is a picaresque novel by American novelist John Kennedy Toole which reached publication in 1980, eleven years after Toole's death. ![]()
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The disreputable history of frankie6/9/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() ‘I am not asking that you indulge my behaviour merely that you do not dulge it without considering its context.’ The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks opens with a confession from female protagonist Frankie for being the ‘mastermind’ behind ‘mal-doings’ and ‘disruptions’ which took place at Alabaster Preparatory Academy. By the conclusion of the novel she’s certainly found them … and proved herself to be a force to be reckoned with. ![]() With 15 year old Frankie facing her first year away from home, this is going to appeal to fans of the boarding school genre.įrankie is a plucky, likeable character who is finding her feet. (You have read her novel We Were Liarshaven’t you?) I’m delighted that it has been released by Hot Key Books in the UK. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E Lockhart was first published in the US back in 2008. ![]()
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Todd rose collective illusions6/8/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Using originally researched data, Collective Illusions shows us where we get things wrong and, just as important, how we can be authentic in forming opinions while valuing truth. Most of us would rather be fully in sync with the social norms of our respective groups than be true to who we are. Todd Rose proves that the answer is hard-wired in our DNA: our brains are more socially dependent than we realize or dare to accept. The question is, Why do we keep believing the lies and hurting ourselves? From toilet paper shortages to kidneys that get thrown away rather than used for transplants from racial segregation to the perceived “electability” of women in politics from bottled water to “cancel culture,” we routinely copy others, lie about what we believe, cling to tribes, and silence people. Todd Rose believes that as human beings, we continually act against our own best interests because our brains misunderstand what others believe. A complicated set of illusions driven by conformity bias distorts how we see the world around us. The desire to fit in is one of the most powerful, least understood forces in society. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and social psychology research, an acclaimed author demonstrates how so much of our thinking is informed by false assumptions-making us dangerously mistrustful as a society and needlessly unhappy as individuals. ![]()
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![]() ![]() This particular book/series is a bit grittier than other romances she’s known for, but I adore the In Death series. Robb: For those who may not know, J.D. Robb is the pen name of Nora Roberts. But we’ve all had those terrible relationships where our significant other is bumming for gas money (undergrad was a dark time) and it’s appealing to find a person who has their proverbial shit together. Truthfully, I’ve never found myself attracted to many of the individuals running a Fortune 500 company. Not only that, but there’s an air of mystery and power that comes with a lot of money. Or help – perhaps some family member of the heroine is in dire straits and she desperately wants to assist them. ![]() The hero has financial security (emotional stability notwithstanding) and tends to offer the heroine some sort of foundation, whether it’s through some business arrangement, in which they vow to get all sorts of freaky with one another but never fall in love (and we all know how that ends), or it could even be through something as simple as employment. When it comes to billionaire romances, there’s a Cinderella story involved. ![]()
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![]() Hence, China becomes a mysterious, bewildering and elusive place where “truth becomes fiction when fiction’s true” (Cao Xueqin, Dream of the Red Chamber). Not only are these confusing to the audience, they are perplexing to the one who speaks of them as well. Think of the beliefs in yin-yang dualism and that all beings become one the Taoist belief that all things in the world are produced by being and being is produced by non-being and the Confucian belief that change is the only constant. Its history is like magic imagination can turn into reality and reality can become an illusion. In one moment, the beasts seem to fill the earth in a flurry of activity, in the next, there is only grass and silence.Ĭhina is like a kaleidoscope - it has everything and can become anything. It feels as though we're on a hunt in the wilderness, sitting in a jeep with binoculars in hand, peering at the bears, tigers, leopards, lions, elephants, apes, gorillas, zebras and antelopes. When we think about China’s vast mountains and rivers, massive population and rich history, the picture we form in our minds seems to be both real and illusory. For nearly half a century, while the Westerners have stopped invading and colonising China, their understanding of the country is still shrouded in a colonial mindset and befuddling myths that speak in large part of novelty, contempt and sympathy, and a small measure of hostility too. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Here’s where it came from.įrom his 1946 recorded debut “Oklahoma Honky-Tonky Gal” up to “The Purple People Eater,” the public primarily knew Wooley for his cowboy songs and hillbilly tunes. ![]() That year produced a slew of foundational rock hits, like the Royal Teens’ “Short Shorts” and the Champs’ “Tequila.” Over an irresistible boogie-woogie rhythm, the extraterrestrial squeaks references to those two hits – “I like short shorts!” “Tequila!” – as well as the immortal gobbledygook from Little Richard’s 1955 barnstormer “Tutti Frutti.”Ībove all, “The Purple People Eater’s” purpose is to make bodies move and tickle funny bones. And it’s safe to say that in 1958, that was a fairly common desire. Well, we know one thing the Purple People Eater wants – to rock ‘n roll. The creature has “one long horn, one big eye.” He’s “pigeon-toed, undergrowed.” But when the narrator frets, “Looks like a purple people eater to me!” It begs the questions: To what other purple people eaters can he compare him? Does Wooley’s clarification that he eats purple people – that he’s not necessarily purple himself – mean we’re all off the hook? ![]() In 1958, Sheb Wooley unleashed “The Purple People Eater” from his imagination into the airwaves. ![]()
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The last thing he needs by jh knight6/8/2023 ![]() ![]() I'm only giving this 4 stars because it was too much for me. So then, this book ended in a low note for me, and I cannot help but to conclude that, without discarding them completely, I'll be more cautious with my choice of books from this author in the future. That knocked off half a star of my rating. Sorry, I have a good grade of tolerance for said sentimental slush -hey! I can enjoy it, this was an exemplary case- but I don't withstand ultra sugary prose, And I say it seriously, it produces a physical rejection for me: the roll of my eyes acquires epic frequency, my throat closes and I feel nauseate. ![]() ![]() Chapter 15!!!! *screeching doors, scary sounds* but I was having a decent level of enjoyment.Īnd then. * Fairy Godmother Judy fosters soooo wellĪll in all, a quintaessential sentimental slush. This was an exclusive presentation for Hallmark Novels!!!! *broadcaster's voice in off* ![]() |