'I stroked her head,' Montgomery reports, 'her arms, her webbing, absorbed in her presence. On one occasion, Octavia and Montgomery hold on to each other for one hour and fifteen minutes, in an instance of tactile pleasure felt in an apparently mutual way by octopus and woman. "Wild-caught in British Columbia and transported to the aquarium by Federal Express, Octavia is the octopus Montgomery comes to know best. The aptly-named giant Pacific octopus Octavia comes alive in the book (as do other octopuses) with a unique personality that responds to Montgomery in poignant ways, as I described in my review for the Times Literary Supplement last week: Montgomery offers a unique window into octopus behavior and intelligence through elegant descriptions - both science-based and emotional - of her extended encounters with octopuses while going behind the scenes at Boston's New England Aquarium and diving in Polynesian waters. As I wrote here at 13.7 last month, after a morning at my local aquarium, I have fallen hard for all things octopus. I'll be cheering for Montgomery's book to climb even higher in the ranks. This past Sunday, an invertebrate cracked the top group.Ĭoming in 10th - after books about birds, dogs, wolves, sheep and elephants - was Sy Montgomery's The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration in the Wonder of Consciousness. Once a month, The New York Times Book Review includes animals as a category in its best-selling books list.
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In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents-telekinesis and telepathy-who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. The operation takes less than two minutes. In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. This story brought me back to being a kid again. I can remember staying up all night long to read it, and how the ending GUTTED me), mostly worrying about the kids in the story, and if they would survive whatever hell had come down upon them. Its been MANY years since those first late-night readings of The Shining and Thinner (not his greatest work, but no book EVER has made more of a lasting impression on me than Thinner. This book brought me back to the feelings I had when I first discovered Stephen King, back in Junior High, staying up late at night, scared to death about what might happen to my favorite characters. But I can’t think of a reading experience that I enjoyed more than this. Was it the best book of 2019? Probably not. Welcome to The Institute, my favorite book of 2019. For although I do kind of and to a certain small extent appreciate the work that must have gone into the pictures themselves, I also have not in any way been at all "wowed" by them, as especially in the e-book format, the vastness and majesty of outer space is not at least to and for my eyes ever successfully enough indicated by Florian's often rather overly busy and intricate visuals (which also and annoyingly often seem to appear more than a bit unclear and washed out on my Ipad). Now perhaps I am missing something with regard to Douglas Florian's illustrations because I have been reading Comets, Stars, the Moon, and Mars: Space Poems and Paintings as a Kindle download. Willa and the guys have such a bond, I sometimes was envious of it.Įverything that happened in book 2 has made Staviti call them back to Topia. They have been helping her get more control over her chaos and some of those moments are so hilarious I thought I’d die of laughter. Willa’s developing powers and she can’t stay away from the Abcurses who hold her soul pieces. It’s fun the lengths Willa goes to, to ‘protect’ Emmy. Emmy, who has gone through a tough time, is now focused on building Dweller-Sol relations. We see more of Emmy and Willa in the first part, and I love their friendship. She just grows on you, you can’t help but like her for her originality. The book starts where Persuasion ends, with Willa being her typical self – creating a mess and getting into problems. The plot in this book focuses on the character development of Willa Knight, alone, without the Abcurses helping her navigate her new life. Gah, I couldn’t stop smiling and doing a cheer routine in my head. YES! THE DEED HAPPENS! FINALLY! As I mentioned in the review for Book 2, that anticipation of waiting for them to get together, and when it finally happens, SO. She used to live in northeast Los Angeles, central Ohio, northern Norway, and on Caribbean cruise ships. Freeman 416 pages first pub 2021 ( editions) fiction dystopian middle grade poetry adventurous fast-paced Description When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She is an Impact on Education Award winner, a fellow with the Colorado State University Writing Project, a Fund for Teachers fellow, and a member of the Colorado Poets Center. Megan is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Northern Colorado Writers, Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Columbine Poets of Colorado, and Lighthouse Writers Workshop. She studied theater and dramatic literature for many years, earning degrees from Occidental College and the Ohio State University. Megan is also a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet, and her poetry chapbook, Lessons on Sleeping Alone, was published by Liquid Light Press.Īn award-winning teacher with decades of classroom experience, Megan taught multiple subjects across the arts and humanities to students K-16, and she is nationally recognized for presenting workshops and speaking to audiences across the country. Her debut middle grade novel, ALONE, won the Colorado Book Award, is an NCTE Notable Novel in Verse, a Goodreads Choice Award Finalist, and was included on over a dozen Best Of and state reading lists. Freeman attended an elementary school where poets visited her classroom every week to teach poetry, and she has been a writer ever since. This is gonna be.LIT!įireflies, Glow-worms, and Lighting Bugs by our guest, Lynn Frierson Faust is available NOW She has over 20 years of experience as an independent researcher working with university teams, and as an advisory consultant on firefly studies with state and national parks in Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and New York and an on-site scientific consultant with BBC Nature, the Discovery Channel, and National Geographic, she’s published plenty of her own papers, and knows more about fireflies than fireflies know about themselves. She’s the author of Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs,which details flash patterns of the 75+ species found in the eastern and central United States and Canada. Our guest is Lynn Frierson Faust, the lightning bug lady of Knoxville, TN. Discover why we are seeing less fireflies, the secrets behind their natural glow, how to find yourself a lady firefly, and so much more in this jam-packed episode. Her humorous, lively tales and beautiful illustrations have become a natural part of childhood. Tiggy-winkle, Benjamin Bunny, Jemima Puddle-duck, Mr. From her first book, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, published by Frederick Warne in 1902, she went on to create a series of stories based around animal characters including Mrs. In this tale we hear all about his and Peter's adventures in Mr McGregor's vegetable garden, and what happens to them when they meet a cat! Even more frightening, is what happens to the two pesky bunnies when Old Mr Benjamin Bunny finds out what they have been up to!īeatrix Potter is regarded as one of the world's best-loved children's authors of all time. Peter Rabbit's cousin, Benjamin Bunny, has been a very popular character since this book's first publication in 1904. The Tale of Benjamin Bunny is an original classic by Beatrix Potter. A staunch conservative herself, her family's politics tended to be more extreme. In the ‘60s, Andrew served as a Minister of State and the couple travelled widely. When her husband inherited his title, she became the mistress of Chatsworth the Devonshire family estate dated back to the time of Henry VIII and contained fabulous treasures, including original Rembrandt paintings, and Mitford helped manage a variety of enterprises connected with it. As their guest, she attended JFK's inauguration, and then his funeral, and writes movingly of both events. In 1938, she met her future husband, Andrew Cavendish, and socialized with the Kennedy's. She was related to Winston Churchill's wife, Clementine, and to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. In this sparkling memoir, the Duchess (The Pursuit of Laughter) writes about her famously eccentric family and the upper reaches of the British aristocracy with whom she has mingled during her long life (she'll turn 91 in March). (Male, Fiction) Authoritative, Characterization, Novel, General US 547 547 HotGhostWriter - Barry G. Vikas Adam is a classically trained actor who has starred on stage, …Male fiction narrators HotGhostWriter Barry G. Love, or charity, is not only the greatest commandment and most important virtue but it is also the …Frank Muller was a stage and television actor, but he was best known for his work as an audiobook narrator, frequently collaborating with prolific authors like Stephen King. While there are many ways of seeing God’s influence in the lives of His children, charity is the most consistent and most crucial. In this important work by Jonathan Edwards, the truth and importance of love is laid out plainly for the Christian to understand. Today, he has narrated over 1,300 audiobooks in his 20-year career and amassed several accolades and awards. Guidall began narrating books as a side gig while he was pursuing a career on stage and on the screen. George Guidall George Guidall is best known for his work with mysteries and thrillers. He has read most of Ken Follett's books, which are complex with numerous characters and nationalities. Another GREAT audiobook narrator is John Lee. The Ptolemaic dynasty, a Macedonian-Greek royal family that had ties to Alexander the Great, had ruled Egypt since 305 BC. But beneath the gold and glamour lies a far darker tale of sibling rivalry taken to the extreme, and a thirst for power that would change the course of history.īorn c69 BC, Cleopatra was the third of a possible six children, all of whom shared a common father, Ptolemy XII. Her story is one that has been retold throughout history – full of romance and love, riches and betrayal. An enigmatic heroine to whom William Shakespeare devoted one of his greatest tragedies. A woman immortalised in film, on canvas and in print. Legend has it that she encouraged a snake to bite her.Ĭleopatra VII: Ancient Egypt’s most famous daughter, and its last active Pharaoh. Arab writers refer to her as a scholar, and 400 years after her death a cult statue of Cleopatra was being honoured at Philae, a religious centre that also attracted pilgrims from further south, outside Egypt.Ĭause of death: Took her own life, possibly with poison. Outside Europe, in Africa and in Islamic tradition, she was remembered very differently. Known for: Being the last pharaoh of Egypt, being a fabled beauty, her love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, and – alongside Mark Antony – waging a war on Rome, which she ultimately lost. Reigned: She assumed control of Egypt in 51 BC after the death of her father, Ptolemy XII, intially co-ruling with her brother XIII. |