Christianity has become the official religion of Taina, but for some it’s only a thin veneer over their native paganism. The atmosphere of ninth century Eastern Europe is recreated in a way that feels right. Ivan is Jewish the princess is Christian both lapse into scientism or superstition at times. The book is full of paganism and witchcraft mixed with, sometimes clashing with, Orthodox Christianity and Judaism. A late twentieth century American young man named Ivan goes back in time to the ninth century to the kingdom of Taina after rescuing a sleeping princess from the clutches of a ravening bear. Now I’ve read my second book by Card, and it’s quite different from Ender’s Game, but also delightful.Įnchantment is a fantasy fairy tale based on the story of Sleeping Beauty, set in Russia, and reminiscent of Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Although I thought the ending was bit weak, I enjoyed the book very much. Last year, on the the recommendation of some of my blog friends, I read Orson Scott Card’s sci-fi materpiece, Ender’s Game.
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also based on a book by sarah waters (called Fingersmith, there’s a bbc adaptation of it too which you should totally check out as well).
Zitkala-Sa’s arrival at the school was traumatic. She would be forced to give up her Dakota culture for an “American” one. She did not know English, and tribal languages were banned at the school. She was about to spend years away from everything she knew. There were no schools on the reservation, and she wanted her daughter to have an education.Īccording to her autobiography, as soon as Zitkala-Sa boarded the train, she regretted begging her mother to let her go. She did not want her daughter to leave and did not trust the white strangers, but she feared that the Dakota way of life was ending. After debating the decision, Zitkala-Sa’s mother agreed to let her go. The missionaries told stories about riding trains and picking red apples in large fields. For children who had never been off the reservation, the school sounded like a magical place. Zitkala-Sa’s older brother had recently returned from such a school, and her mother was hesitant to send her daughter away. When Zitkala-Sa was eight years old, missionaries from the White’s Manual Labor Institute in Indiana came to the Yankton reservation to recruit children for their boarding school. Little is known about her father, who was Anglo-American. She spent her early childhood on the reservation with her mother, who was of Sioux Dakota heritage. Zitkala-Sa was born on Februon the Yankton Indian Reservation. Foodies and chefs alike will dig into Chang’s searing memoir. Its young chef-owner, David Chang, served ramen and pork buns to a mix of fellow restaurant cooks and. In 2004, Momofuku Noodle Bar opened in Manhattan's East Village. In the book’s most heartfelt section, Chang rhapsodizes about the egalitarian Asian dining ethos he wanted to import to the West and even allows himself a rare pat on the back for his influence (“Food across the country had become porkier, spicier, brighter, better”). The celebrated chef behind Momofuku and star of Netflix's Ugly Delicious gets uncomfortably real in his New York Times bestselling memoir. Chang writes about the sweaty tension of his manic episodes and his dark depression, and there are stories of kitchen screaming fits, reflections on being in the “cool chefs club,” and particularly affecting passages about Chang’s late friend, Anthony Bourdain. He left a “soul-sucking” post-college finance job after discovering that, though he was far from a natural at cooking, it was something he “didn’t hate doing.” He opened his first restaurant, Momofuku Noodle Bar, in the East Village in 2004 at least partially to stave off suicide, and in the course of becoming an international restaurateur, Chang tried to upend people’s expectations of ethnic culinary categories while pushing himself to the financial and emotional brink. Chang ( Momofuku), Momofuku restaurateur and star of Netflix’s Ugly Delicious, starts this self-effacing, heart-on-sleeve memoir with a disclaimer: “Frankly, I just don’t understand my appeal.” Chang writes about being a hard-driving Korean-American kid with an anger problem who channeled his frustrations into an eagerness to test limits and himself. Included here is the wonderful “Up, Simba” (the director’s cut), a consideration of what John McCain’s presidential bid reveals about “millennial politics and all its packaging and marketing,” and how the “general sepsis actually makes us US voters feel.” It is an essay that showcases Wallace’s ability to capture the queer gamut of our citizenry, from “Talmudically bearded guys asking about Chechnya” to “the obligatory walleyed fundamentalist trying to pin down on whether Christ really called homosexuality an abomination.” In “Joseph Frank’s Dostoevsky” he suggests why the Russian master is important to today’s American, citing his degrees of passion, conviction and engagement with deep moral issues, as well as his great plots and splendid, alive characterizations. Another savory, hard-thinking, wildly imaginative collection of essays and observations from the artful Wallace ( Oblivion, 2004, etc.). Images are snapshots of single moments, and never is a child depicted it is left to readers to decide whether the toys move on their own or have been posed by a hand outside the frame. Sometimes, as when comically on their backs "sleeping," they seem stiff and immobile other times, as when they huddle together during a thunderstorm, eyes wide and frightened, their bodies exude warmth and softness. Henkes keeps readers gently off-balance as to the nature of these toys' sentience. Respectively, the first four wait for the rain, the wind, the snow, and the moon the rabbit just likes waiting. In the mode of such pastel-hued, minimalist delights as A Good Day (2007), Henkes presents a pig with an umbrella, a bear with a kite, a puppy on a sled, an owl with spots, and a rabbit with stars (this last is depicted as a spring-loaded rabbit head, rather like the innards of a jack-in-the-box). Five toys ranged on a windowsill exemplify existential pleasure. This parallels how The Holocaust is commemorated in our timeline.
Whether the first clap of thunder finds you buried under the bedcovers or happily anticipating the coming storm, Thunder Cake is a story that will bring new meaning and possibility to the excitement of a thunderstorm. Then, while the rain pours, they enjoy a thick slice of cake and the little girl faces her fear of the thunderstorm. She becomes nervous as the storm nears and so her grandmother subtly teaches about bravery as they prepare batter for a thunder cake. Polacco's vivid memories of her grandmother's endearing answer to a child's fear, accompanied by her bright folk-art illustrations, turn a frightening thunderstorm into an adventure and ultimately. Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco is the story of a little girl who is afraid of thunderstorms. Reaching once again into her rich childhood experience, Patricia Polacco tells the memorable story of how her grandma-her Babushka-helped her overcome her fear of thunder when she was a little girl. and the storm is coming closer all the time! A real Thunder Cake must reach the oven before the storm arrives. 'This is Thunder Cake baking weather,' calls Grandma, as she and her granddaughter hurry to gather the ingredients around the farm. But the list of ingredients is long and not easy to find. A loud clap of thunder booms, and rattles the windows of Grandmas old farmhouse. "This is Thunder Cake baking weather," calls Grandma, as she and her granddaughter hurry to gather the ingredients around the farm. A loud clap of thunder booms, and rattles the windows of Grandma's old farmhouse. I found that Camino seemed more fleshed out and more of a person to me. We see both of their perspectives regarding their father's death and discovery of one another, in alternative chapters. Using verse creates a focus on images and emotion, rather than plot I'd found the plot intriguing and was concerned about its development being lacking.Ĭamino (DR) and Yahaira (NYC) have similar physical features, yet are completely different. While the novel itself didn't end up being as dramatic and over-the-top as I'd expected (that's not even Acevedo's style, so I dunno what I was thinking lol), the language evoked strong images and emotions.Īt first, I wondered if the story would have been better told in prose. It was a telenovella (soap opera) waiting to happen. A father has two separate families in DR and in the States and as a reader I was hooked into the potential drama. Inspired by an actual plane crash that had occurred two months after 9/11 and was mostly ignored, Acevedo writes a beautiful novel-in-verse that shows us the impact of secrets, hurt, loss, and discovery.įirst Impressions : The storyline is interesting. About: Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo is about two sisters (one in the Dominican Republic and one in NYC) who didn't know of one another's existence until their father's tragic death on a flight from NYC to DR. There is a fragile moment at the beginning of the play, when this violence seems to have restored order. Macbeth’s first promotion, then, is gained through the sanctioned violence of killing traitors. Among the rebels is the “disloyal traitor” the Thane of Cawdor, whose title Duncan transfers to Macbeth, commanding that the treacherous clan chief be executed. The military campaign is to suppress domestic rebellion. Macbeth does this in loyal service to King Duncan, and usually enters the stage splattered with blood, that of his victims and his own – blood lost in service to his king. In Act One, Scene One, a soldier reports that Macbeth, a Scottish general, has shown prowess on the battlefield and “unseamed” his rebel opponent, Macdonald, “from the nave to th’ chops.” That means he cut him in half. The play showcases both loyal violence and treacherous violence. In exploring what holds a society together and what tears it apart, the play doesn’t just condemn violence, it dramatises its uses. The intersecting themes of its inner world are ambition, and moral reasoning. The themes of Macbeth’s outer world of action are violence and treachery. The collision of their orbits provides the spark for the drama. Macbeth, like most of Shakespeare’s plays, sets two worlds spinning: one of outer action and one of inner being. |