![]() ![]() ![]() Leonardo kept that painting from 1503, when he started it, to his deathbed in 1519, trying to get every aspect exactly right in layer after layer. On one of those pages you see a faint sketch at the top of the beginning of the smile of the Mona Lisa. Leonardo spent many pages in his notebook dissecting the human face to figure out every muscle and nerve that touched the lips. The Mona Lisa’s smile is the culmination of a lifetime spent studying art, science, optics, and every other possible field that he could apply his curiosity to, including understanding the universe and how we fit into it. Where does the “ Mona Lisa ” fit into Leonardo’s life and work-and how has she managed to bewitch us for 500 years? We have to start with the most famous smile in the world. When National Geographic caught up with Isaacson by phone at his home in Washington, D.C., he explained why Mona Lisa’s smile is the culmination of a lifetime of inquiry how Michelangelo and Leonardo couldn’t stand each other and why being curious was Leonardo’s defining trait. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ' The Yield also tells the story of Reverend Greenleaf, who recalls founding the first mission at Prosperous House and recording the language of the first residents, before being interred as an enemy of the people, being German, during the First World War. ![]() ![]() Poppy was the family storyteller and August is desperate to find the precious book that he had spent his last energies compiling. 'Leading up to his death Poppy Gondiwindi has been compiling a dictionary of the language he was forbidden from speaking after being sent to Prosperous House as a child. 'After a decade in Europe August Gondiwindi returns to Australia for the funeral of her much-loved grandfather, Albert, at Prosperous House, her only real home and also a place of great grief and devastation. ![]() ![]() Unlike the first book, a children’s book, this it did veer into young adult territory. This book made me want to learn more and many times I looked up the Blitz and streets and landmarks and buildings and sites when they were mentioned. I know this prejudice was a common problem though. They’re both so talented and smart and skilled. It was so infuriating the way Max and Anna were treated because they were born in Germany and not England, especially given that they were Jewish, left in 1933, and their father being an anti-Nazi writer. I felt as though I was really there as I read. This author writes so well, and is a great storyteller, and skilled at getting into and describing characters, and also places and experiences and situations. Hilary and I particularly enjoyed and benefited reading chapters at close to the same times and discussing things every two chapters. I read this book as a buddy read with Hilary and Gundula. It was lovely getting acquainted again with Anna, her brother Max, her mother and her father, and many new interesting characters. I’m still worried about the third book but want to read it. ![]() ![]() I was so worried that I would not like this book the way I did the first but I really enjoyed it. ![]() This is the second book in an autobiographical novels trilogy that started with When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit. ![]() ![]() ![]() The hardcover includes an exclusive nine-page sketchbook of never-before-published development art selected by Frank. ![]() ![]() Housed in a cloth-covered slipcase with foil stamping and printing is an oversized hardcover featuring a soft-touch matte finish with spot gloss and foil stamping. A combination of high-end materials, finishes, and iconic textures from the series make for an elegant package which evokes the grittiness of Sin City. The crime noir masterpiece that has gripped audiences for decades is back in an oversized and slipcased hardcover that includes a portfolio, exclusive print, and a sketchbook of never-before-published development art.įrank Miller returns to his comic opus with luxury editions of the graphic novel series, beginning with Volume 1 The Hard Goodbye. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened.… A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.Īs Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult.Įvie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City-and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The only problem? Trent’s a notorious womanizer, and Shaw isn’t interested in being someone’s experiment-muse or otherwise. But what he never expects is to find his muse in a six-five, tatted-up badass whose sinful smile he can’t get out of his mind. A getaway to South Haven Island seems like the perfect place for Trent to find himself again and reignite his passion for music. Trent Knox had the world in the palm of his hand as the lead singer of TBD, one of the biggest rock bands in history…until the day he walked away. But that all changes when a famous rock star walks through his door. None of them have ever made Shaw sit up and take notice for long, though. He’s built a life he’s proud of, and though that doesn’t include a significant other, he’s got plenty of sexy men to keep his bed warm at night. Shaw Jennings, the seductive, enigmatic owner of Body Electric Tattoo works hard and plays even harder. What if you had everything in the world you wanted…except the man you never knew you needed? A Little Bit Like Desire, an all-new STANDALONE contemporary MM romance from USA Today bestselling author Brooke Blaine is LIVE! ![]() ![]() ![]() But when his vanity prompts him to summon Elfarran, the fair lady of the Deed of Enlad, he unleashes a shapeless mass of darkness-the shadow. There, Ged's natural talents enable him to surpass his classmates in little time. But impatient with the slowness of his studies and infatuated with glory, Ged embarks for the Island of Roke, where the highest arts of wizardry are taught. So, at the age of 13, the boy receives his true name-Ged-and gives himself over to the gentle tutelage of the Master Ogion. When Sparrowhawk casts a spell that saves his village from destruction at the hands of the invading Kargs, Ogion, the Mage of Re Albi, encourages the boy to apprentice himself in the art of wizardry. ![]() beautiful, and sorrowful, and full of fear."-from A Wizard of Earthsea A Wizard of Earthsea, first in a tetralogy that includes The Tombs of Atuan and The Farthest Shore, introduces the listener to Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, known also as Sparrowhawk. In the oval of light there moved a human shape: a tall woman. Originally published in 1968, A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin (Folio Society, £29.95) still resonates today, thanks to its timeless themes of self discovery and true friendship. It sundered, and a pale spindle of light gleamed between his open arms. ![]() "The shapeless mass of darkness split apart. ![]() ![]() Romance Broken Beyond Repair by Emily Banting (F/F Romance) In Concerning My Daughter, translated from Korean by Jamie Chang, Kim Hye-jin lays bare our most universal fears on ageing, death, and isolation, to offer finally a paean to love in all its forms. Why should not having chosen a traditional life mean that your life is worth nothing at all? ![]() ![]() Her daughter’s involvement in a case of unfair dismissal involving gay colleagues from the university where she works is similarly strange to her.Īnd yet when the care home where she works insists that she lower her standard of care for an elderly dementia patient who has no family, who travelled the world as a successful diplomat, who chose not to have children, Green’s mother cannot accept it. Having centred her life on her husband and child, her daughter’s definition of family is not one she can accept. ![]() In fact, she can barely bring herself to be civil. When a mother allows her thirty-something daughter to move into her apartment, she wants for her what many mothers might say they want for their child: a steady income, and, even better, a good husband with a good job with whom to start a family.īut when Green turns up with her girlfriend, Lane, in tow, her mother is unprepared and unwilling to welcome Lane into her home. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Critics are divided in ascertaining authenticity of the practice of cannibalism. Trope of cannibalism can also be traced in our contemporary literature, such as Thomas Harris’s 1988 novel, Silence of the Lambs and Yann Martel’s 2001 novel, The Life of Pi. Keywords: cannibalism, savagery, sacramental, representation, impasseĬannibalism is a very old trope in folklore, fairy tale, mythology, gothic tale etc. White’s take on cannibalism in the text seems to be caught in an impasse of representation. The article seeks to locate White’s discourse of cannibalism within transnational and continental cultural networks. White’s take is marked by ambivalence as cannibalism tends to stand for both savagery and sacramental. ![]() Surprisingly, only few non-Australian critics commented on this issue. Australian critics felt uncomfortable to deal with it. Patrick White’s take on cannibalism in A Fringe of Leaves is a least discussed issue. ![]() ![]() Having the sons of the two families on different sides of the conflict become friends was a stroke of genius. In North and South, John Jakes’ Main Family of South Carolina and Hazard Family of Pennsylvania helped to bring the events leading up to the Civil War and during to life. His prose is flawless and the reader feels as though the fictional character actually participated in a major historical event and spoke with the likes of Benjamin Franklin (like Phillip Kent in The Bastard). I’m a huge admirer of author John Jakes heralded as ‘the grandfather of historical fiction.’ Jakes is a master at successfully interweaving real life historical events and persons with the characters he creates. ![]() Anyone who knows me and have read my articles knows North and South is my favorite movie of all time. I anticipated the continuation of the saga of the Mains and Hazards. When I heard in 1993 that Heaven & Hell: North and South Book 3 was coming to ABC, I was thrilled. As this is the twenty-fifth anniversary, I thought I’d offer my opinion. Viewers of Heaven & Hell: North and South Book 3 have often labeled it as the worst of the three miniseries stating a major factor of it deviating from the story established in the other two. ![]() Videos Courtesy of creditman25 and vitormanuellino ![]() |