![]() The students, the students’ teeth, and the fences surrounding the outdoor swimming pools we never used. “I also began to notice how white everything was. Gradually, Leila begins to see that almost all her classmates are more complicated than they first appear to be, and many are keeping fascinating secrets of their own. Struggling to sort out her growing feelings and Saskia’s confusing signals, Leila confides in her old friend, Lisa, and grows closer to her fellow drama tech-crew members, especially Tomas, whose comments about his own sexuality are frank, funny, wise, and sometimes painful. But when beautiful new girl Saskia shows up, Leila starts to take risks she never thought she would, especially when it looks as if the attraction between them is mutual. As an Iranian American, she’s different enough if word got out that she liked girls, life would be twice as hard. Leila has made it most of the way through Armstead Academy without having a crush on anyone, which is something of a relief. Trust me, you'll be glad you listened.” -Sarah Dessen Farizan is just the voice YA needs right now. ![]() “Both personal and universal, this is a compelling story about high school, family and owning up to who you really are. ![]() ![]() A 2015 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers ![]()
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![]() ![]() Done and dusted … dawn of a new era.’ She voted Leave. ![]() She says things like ‘when I was young and foolish’, ‘you young people’, ‘what is cancel culture?’ She endlessly harks back to her feminist heyday in the 1980s, when she was an actor she refers to herself as ‘ so menopausal’ when her memory fails her she talks in slogans, particularly about Brexit: ‘All over now. But in other ways (and possibly in that way too) she is a caricature of her generation. ![]() Grace gets good marks from the novel’s thirtysomethings for her resolve to live on easy terms with her ex-husband (‘next door dad’), who lives – next door – with his much younger girlfriend. In Summer, the final novel of Smith’s seasons quartet, the harried mother is Grace. I mean that Smith gives them a hard time, as well as acknowledging the hard time they’ve had already, just getting this far, in one piece. M others have a hard time in Ali Smith’s novels. ![]() ![]() ![]() He became the favourite painter of empress Joséphine de Beauharnais, who bought many of his paintings, so that the European renown gained by his first works was recognised by Madame de Staël. His first paintings had major success and he mingled with the Paris intelligentsia, among whom the Troubador style was highly favoured. In 1796 he joined the Paris studio of Jacques-Louis David. The son of a magistrate, Fleury François Richard studied at the collège de l'Oratoire in Lyon then at the école de Dessin under Alexis Grognard. A student of Jacques-Louis David, Fleury-Richard and his friend Pierre Révoil were precursors of the Troubador style. Portrait of Fleury François Richard by Jean-Marie Jacomin in 1852įleury François Richard (25 February 1777, Lyon – 14 March 1852, Écully), sometimes called Fleury-Richard, was a French painter of the École de Lyon. ![]() ![]() ![]() True to Malorie Blackman’s usual style of writing in the Noughts and Crosses series, Endgame’s narrative jumps back between the various characters, plus scenes that throw the reader back to Dan Jeavon’s notorious party, adding further to the tension and suspense that builds up and up for the reader until the story reaches its final climax. As with all of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses books, Endgame also delivers several emotional punches to the reader, feelings that readers who followed Sephy and Callum’s original story will be all too familiar with. ![]() While the main bulk of the plot only really covers about 36-hours, a lot happens in that time with countless mysteries, twists and turns, action-packed moments and shocking revelations. ![]() Without giving away too much of the plot for those who haven’t read this book or the ones that came before it, Endgame’s story spans across a short period of time during which the characters are all on an important life-changing mission. The novel sees the return of Persephone (Sephy) Ealing née Hadley, her daughter Callie Rose, son Troy, Tobias (Tobey) Durbridge, and his daughter Liberty (Libby) Jackman. This final book in Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses series, picks up right where the previous book, Crossfire, left off with its high-tension cliff-hanger. ![]() ![]() ![]() Talon and Shasta soon grow closer than anyone, especially her father, could have predicted. But what Shasta doesn't know is that her new guardian has a very well-kept secret: he is actually a she. With the threat of another attempt on Shasta's life imminent, her father declares that the young hero will be come the Princess's bodyguard. Keeper of the Lost Cities: The Graphic Novel, Part 1 Shannon Messenger. Shasta, the only remaining heir to the throne, narrowly escapes the assassin's blade thanks to the intervention of a traveling acrobat named Talon. Waterstones Exclusive: UK hardback with a gold sword stencilled on blue sprayed. But in the midst of a birthday celebration, her world shatters when a mysterious assassin takes her brother's life. Princess Shasta Soltranis enjoys a pampered life of court dances, elaborate finery, and the occasional secret fencing match with her twin brother, Daric. ![]() A shocking assassination creates an unconventional bond between a princess and her guardian in a kingdom filled with political intrigue, danger and unexpected romance. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() "So I am instructing legal representation to file a claim in the Supreme Court, outlining the peculiar circumstances and circumstantial evidence surrounding the 13 years that I have been in occupation, and the adverse conditions that apply," added Gardine, who was unwilling to divulge the name of his attorney on Friday. "The value of converting the abandoned, crime-infested building into a liveable and tradeable property I am putting at $50,000,000, as it involved taking immense personal risks and stress, as well as personal investment on the property," declared Michael Gardine in his letter to the owner of the property. In response to a letter the land- owner sent on April 22, 2013, the illegal occupant responded with a missive of his own outlining the reasons for his multimillion-dollar claim. A Kingston-based man is moving to sue the owner of the property he is squatting on for $50 million for all the work he says he has done on the property and the duress he allegedly suffered during the titleholder's attempts to have him removed. ![]() ![]() ![]() Who is the Author of Zero to One Peter Andreas Thiel is. And what venture capitalists like him can do is spot the difference between the indefinite thinkers who value old-fashioned ideas such as competition, and the definite thinkers who will build the new monopolies. The book is about being innovative - going for something unique and not just becoming anyones shadow. ![]() What we need, says Thiel, are more definite thinkers: people with fixed ideas willing to cast them on the world. The world is complex and engaging with it in this way leads to inertia. You might like the sound of them, but they don’t create value. Really solid treatise on how to create REAL innovation.Upside: A really solid book by an accomplished entrepreneur and investor (one of the PayPal founders).Downside: The Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future was read by a nearly unlistenable voice (God, I hope that's not you, Peter Thiel).But the content cuts through.I had to take a HyperFocus DRIVE. Indefinite thinkers start with the data, if you like, or the world as they find it. ![]() If you think that’s a broad and sweeping statement, then here’s another: people are either indefinite or definite thinkers. In a perfectly competitive environment, no business makes a profit and hence all of them exit. Peter Thiel, the founder of the online payment service PayPal and first outside investor in Facebook, thinks competition is overrated. The event will be live streamed for free around the world. ![]() Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel (Virgin Books, £16.99) General Assembly is thrilled to welcome Thiel to our New York City campus on Monday, February 9th for a discussion on his business philosophies and new book Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() If you’re looking for something to read, below you’ll find 13 books on sale, including a handful of freebies. (In her defense, TB swears they cost less than buying a dozen actual eggs.) Whatever your plans this weekend, we hope you have a wonderful time! She’s had a lot of practice recently, ever since TB bought a dozen Cadbury Creme Eggs. Miranda will be with family, trying to control the younger members hopped up on sugar. Later, TB plans to curl up on the couch to read Written in the Starsby Alexandria Bellefleur. If the wind settles down (a big if since she’s convinced she’s accidentally been transported to a planet that’s actually a wind tunnel), she plans to spend her Easter hiking. Think of it as your personal queer directory! After all, we know the weekend is when so many of us are able to unwind for a minute and want to get lost in a good wlw book. Saturdays are when we round up all the sapphic book news from the previous week into one convenient location. It’s all jellybeans and Cadbury mini eggs here at IHS Headquarters this weekend! ![]() ![]() ![]() The stars were embedded in the firmament like spots on a leopard’s fur. It was one of those magnificent starry skies never visible in the big city. As the residents of Hanno, the local small town in which they live, consider them a bunch of misfits, it’s a good thing they have that solidarity… So they study the stars and watch the heavens, worrying all the time about nuclear war and what the human race is doing to the planet, this ‘beautiful star’. ![]() This knowledge is one of the things which helps them to cope with the horrors of the modern world and brings them together as a family. The father is from Mars, mother from Jupiter, son from Mercury and daughter from Venus. As the book opens, the family have discovered that they are all extra-terrestrials, and are setting off to watch out for flying saucers. “Beautiful Star” was first published in 1962 and tells the story of the Osugi family. Today sees the publication of another of his books which has never been rendered into English before: it’s “ Beautiful Star”, translated by Stephen Dodd, and it’s apparently the work which Mishima considered to be his masterpiece. I’ve mentioned before on the Ramblings how excited I am about the recent new translations of Yukio Mishima‘s works which have been appearing in English I’ve written about “ Star“, “ The Frolic of the Beasts“ and “ Life for Sale“, all of which have been marvellous, as well as shifting my view of the author a little. ![]() ![]() I hung onto this book with bloodless knuckles, and I adored every spine-chilling second Chuck Wendig, Sunday Times bestselling author Read moreĮqual parts hell-ride thriller and American fable, Kiersten White's HIDE runs you through a sinister child's game set in a nightmare amusement park, and it does so with gleeful, fiendish delight. ![]() Everywhere to hide, but nowhere to run.Ĭome out, come out, wherever you are. It's the reason she's alive, and her family isn't.īut as the people around her begin disappearing one by one, Mack realizes this competition is more sinister than even she imagined, and that together might be the only way to survive.įourteen competitors. All she has to do is hide, and she's an expert at that. ![]() The prize: enough money to change everything.Įven though everyone is desperate to win - to seize their dream futures or escape their haunting pasts - Mack feels sure that she can beat her competitors. The challenge: spend a week hiding in an abandoned amusement park and don't get caught. ![]() A high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this dark supernatural thriller, perfect for fans of SQUID GAME.Ī high-stakes hide-and-seek competition turns deadly in this dark supernatural thriller from New York Times bestselling author Kiersten White, perfect for fans of Stephen King and SQUID GAME. ![]() |