![]() On the subject of editing, Cohen cites Chandler’s ‘Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Subjects like dialogue, editing, and character are discussed, but Cohen seems interested in the spectrum of approaches to these aspects rather than steering writers down a specific path. If, however, you are in the mood for a sedate meander down the river of literary figures, then Cohen’s book comes a close second to King. If you are looking for concise, prescriptive grammatical advice, the ‘Elements of Style’ is your book. ![]() I found Cohen’s book closer to the latter in content. So it was that I added ‘How to Write Like Tolstoy’ to a modest collection including Strunk and White’s ‘Elements of Style’ and Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’. Whether it is writing whilst standing up (Hemingway) or scribbling to the smell of rotten apples (Schiller) it is tempting to believe that if we change one or two writing rituals we will find ourselves blessed with inspiration or writing for sixteen hour stretches. Despite the incontrovertible fact that reading about writing inevitably (in the short term at least) makes one less productive, it is a habit I frequently fall into. ![]()
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![]() However, the reactions soon turned cold as they witnessed the mother’s tired tone and closed eyes. Initially, they also laughed as the mother and father kept referring to the monster as Bernard, saying ‘Not now, Bernard.’ ![]() They laughed as the monster ate up all of Bernard except for his shoe, laughed when the monster went to bite the father’s leg, and laughed as the father’s face turned green and purple in pain and rage. ![]() As the monster appears on the cover and has a light purple color, it is clearly not meant to scare children, and indeed the children I read to were in no way scared of the monster, but were rather amused by him. The illustrations in this picturebook are clear and simple, drawn in a style similar to that of cartoons, shortening characters in a comic, familiar, and non-threatening way for children. The story ends on the quote of the monster saying, ‘But, I’m a monster,’ to which Bernard’s mother replies, ‘Not now, Bernard.’ They keep telling him ‘Not Now, Bernard’ up until he is asked to go to bed after eating alone in front of the television. Halfway through the story, he gets eaten by a monster in his garden and the monster goes into his house, but the parents never notice. ![]() ![]() Not Now, Bernard deals with a neglected child at home who vies for his parents attention. After a vote, it seems Not Now, Bernard’s cover appealed to them more. This week, I read Not Now, Bernard (David McKee) and Angry Arthur (Hiawyn Oram & Satoshi Kitamura) to my second graders. ![]() ![]() ![]() READ MORE: 10 best TV shows coming to streaming services in May ![]() Alkemi: Can create poisons and blasting powders. They can also change the state of an object and move objects without touching them. Durasts: Can manipulate solid matters like glass, metals, wood and stone. They wear purple keftas, with different colour embroidery based on their abilities. The Materialki's powers relate to the manipulation of physical matters and chemicals. Shadow and Bone: Squaller Grisha powers explained. The Darkling and Baghra wear black keftas. Baghra is a summoner of the shadows, too. Alina's friend Nadia is a Tidemaker.īoth Alina Starkov and General Kirigan also fall into the Etherealki order as they can summon the sun and shadow, respectively. Zoya is a powerful Squaller and is able to move skiffs through the Shadow Fold. ![]() They wear blue keftas on Shadow and Bone, with different colour embroidery based on their abilities. The Etherealki's powers relate to the summoning of the elements. Shadow and Bone: Heartrender Grisha powers explained. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() All opinions are my own.ĭo No Harm is Christina McDonald’s latest novel and if you’re into stories that ask big questions, like how far will a mother go to save her family, then Do No Harm will be a must-read for you. ![]() One thing that really intrigued me about them was that they share a basic theme: How far will a mother go for her children?įTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary audio copy of this book from Netgalley. I’m still working on my goal of reading more of the books I already own, so I was kind of proud of myself for grabbing the older book rather than just reaching for the next ARC, haha. I got into a groove reading Christina McDonald’s domestic suspense novels and have a new release as well as one from her backlist to share today. This weekend was so cold and miserable that all I really did was hibernate and read the entire time. Another new week means it’s time for more reviews. ![]() ![]() ![]() Rosen not only deepened our conception of style as a regulative frame for artistic creation, but he also argued that the Classical style was an artistic achievement best generalized from the works of its creators and masters, not from the mass of lesser composers. At that time, the concept of style was in disrepute as implying a collection or taxonomy of surface features. In it, he eloquently and effectively explained what was at stake in Haydn's development and Mozart's and Beethoven's expansion of the Classical styles as a set of artistic principles. ![]() ![]() The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (1971, expanded ed 1997) received the National Book Award for Arts and Letters in 1972. Rosen's scholarly books have become standards in the field. In addition, he has written convincingly as a critic and scholar on literature and art. But he is equally renowned for his scholarly work on Classical and early Romantic musical styles, as well as on the twentieth-century styles of Schoenberg and Elliott Carter. A concert pianist who studied with one of Liszt's pupils, he has performed to acclaim throughout the world, and he has recorded the major works of the piano repertoire from Bach to Schoenberg. Charles Rosen is a rare genius in an age of specialization. ![]() ![]() ![]() The word count is between 84,000 and 100,800 (estimated). "The bigger they are, the harder they fall."īurning Ridge was published in 2018 by Margaret Mizushima. It would take a slow reader 22 hours, an average reader 11 hours, and a fast reader 6 hours to read it. Hunting Hour was published in 2017 by Margaret Mizushima. ![]() ![]() "There are times when the brain tells you that you're okay even when your body is guarding or holding itself ready to protect you, either emotionally or physically. It would take a slow reader 21 hours, an average reader 11 hours, and a fast reader 5 hours to read it. The word count is between 80,000 and 96,000 (estimated). Stalking Ground was published in 2016 by Margaret Mizushima. "Robo turned more vicious, growling and giving the man's arm a fierce shake. It would take a slow reader 21 hours, an average reader 10 hours, and a fast reader 5 hours to read it. ![]() The word count is between 78,500 and 94,200 (estimated). Killing Trail was published in 2015 by Margaret Mizushima. Was Robo refusing her command? Dismay immobilized her for a few seconds." "Robo raised his head, sniffed the breeze, and then turned to stare at her, his body rigid, his ears pricked. ![]() ![]() ![]() She’s falling for Jake–hard–but Jake wants a traditional wife, not a career woman. Hannah’s beginning to think it’ll be hard to leave the ranch when her fourteen nights are over-even if she’s heading to veterinary school. Jake can’t believe Hannah has agreed to move into his cabin, but now his brother Ned is stirring up trouble, trying to break them up before he can propose. ![]() What they get up to together is their business, but if Hannah misses a night, it’s bye-bye bison. But now Holt Matheson is threatening to kick Gladys off the ranch-or eat her!-unless Hannah spends fourteen consecutive nights with Jake. She’s grateful for Gladys’s temporary home on the Double Bar K-and for the chance it gives her to see Jake on a daily basis. ![]() Hannah Ashton loves the fifteen hundred pound bison she rescued from being the object of a trophy hunt. He’ll have to work fast to secure her hand in marriage before his time is up. Jake knows just the woman he wants–Hannah Ashton–but they haven’t even gone on a date, let alone been together long enough for him to propose. Now Holt has demanded that Jake find a wife-in the next thirty days. It’s bad enough the old man won’t step down and let him run things his own way. Jake Matheson loves everything about ranching the Double-Bar-K, except for his father’s controlling nature. ![]() ![]() ![]() However, after the press found him guilty of the Cleveland Browns loss, his NFL career was jeopardized. Thus, Rick had played for other important teams, like the Philadelphia Eagles, but never with much success. ![]() Until then, the career of the Quarterback, the most important position in American football and responsible for the fate of all offensive plays, was very unstable. 1 in the city, being forced to look for a new place to live. However, after a catastrophic performance in the semifinal of the championship, Rick is chosen as Public Enemy No. In the plot, the main character, Rick Dockery, is an American football player from Cleveland Browns, team of the NFL. ![]() And with Playing for Pizza, by American writer John Grisham, it is no different. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() These are all topics I'm deeply interested in! And I found many of the characters incredibly compelling! It just never quite hit for me in that very specific subjective way that I hoped it would. The cycle played out again here, this is a messy family drama that shifts perspectives, holds on to a few key reveals, and really asks about anger and forgiveness within families. This doesn't mean she is a bad writer (she is an objectively good one!) but the way in which her books *should* work for me and then don't quite work for me fascinates me and I cannot figure it out. Jami Attenberg is one of those novelists I am always curious about, because I read her books and I know they are good, but they never really connect with me on the level I want them to. ![]() ![]() ![]() Grouping machines together by the principles that govern their actions rather than by their uses, Macaulay helps us understand in a heavily visual, humorous, unerringly precise way what gadgets such as a toilet, a carburetor, and a fire extinguisher have in common. The award-winning author-illustrator-a former architect and junior high school teacher-is perfectly poised to be the Great Explainer of the whirrings and whizzings of the world of machines, a talent that landed the 1988 version of The Way Things Work on the New York Times bestsellers list for 50 weeks. "Is it a fact-or have I dreamt it-that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?" If you, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, are kept up at night wondering about how things work-from electricity to can openers-then you and your favorite kids shouldn't be a moment longer without David Macaulay's The New Way Things Work. ![]() |