Hugh MacLennan has chosen great themes-revolution, the conflict of generations, the love of father for son, of man for woman-and has handled them magnificently. It is combined with the tender love affair between young Chantal Ainslie and Gabriel Fleury, friend and contemporary of her father. Set in Montreal and Ottawa, Return of the Sphinx illuminates the conflict between Alan Ainslie, idealist, patriot, intellectuel, and his son Daniel, a young revolutionary Quebec separatist. The title refers to the Oedipus legend of the sphinx which made cities sick, tore families assunder, and set sons against fathers and daughters against mothers-a description that seems only too apt for our society today. Revolutionary violence in Quebec-and indeed in many other parts of the world as well-has demonstrated in a terrifying way the prophetic quality of Return of the Sphinx.
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The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom out June 1) Countries hurriedly build spaceships to save themselves, but the US is the only one to complete a ship in time, and the young narrator is chosen as the only Japanese member of its crew. “Mono No Aware,” my favorite piece in the collection, describes an Earth nearing destruction. In “The Literomancer,” a young girl with big dreams of becoming a bullfighter moves to China in the 1960s with her military family and has trouble adjusting. In it, a boy's Chinese mother makes him origami animals that move after she breathes into them. The title piece became the first work of fiction to win all three of SFF's major awards: the Hugo, the Nebula, and the World Fantasy Award. These melancholy and gorgeous short stories infused with Chinese history and culture have won many awards. The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories by Ken Liu (Gallery/Saga Press) The idea that rape could occur within marriage had been recognised in law only three years before – although, it took 12 further years for a successful prosecution. In 1993, the existence of the Magdalene laundries roared to public prominence, when the bodies of more than 130 residents of a convent were exhumed from unmarked graves. Was the father of her child the first man with whom she had had sex? How long were they together? When had they commenced sexual relations? When had they had sex? Where? Had they used condoms? How had she become pregnant? It was less than 10 years since a 22-year-old Garda recruit, Majella Moynihan – who had just given up a baby against her wishes – was summoned for questioning as part of a disciplinary case against her. When Annie vanished without trace in 1993, it was another era in many respects. Each disappeared without trace from one side of a small country in the space of a few years. How could all those women vanish into thin air? The question is almost a cliche now, sounding more like clickbait for the kind of true crime documentaries that fuel full-time television channels. One will become a friend, one an enemy, one will try to kill Lin, one will be killed by another. When he arrives to fulfil his obligation, he enters a room with eight men: each will play a significant role in the story that follows. It is a novel about seeking identity, love, meaning, purpose, home, even the secret of life.As the story begins, Lin has found happiness and love, but when he gets a call that a friend is in danger, he has no choice but to go to his aid, even though he knows that leaving this paradise puts everything at risk, including himself and his lover. A sequel to SHANTARAM but equally a standalone novel, The Mountain Shadow follows Lin on further adventures in shadowy worlds and cultures. While blood moss has fantastic healing properties, there is also a symbolism in Will finding this relief after meeting his father again. It isn’t until he reunites with his father that his blood moss ointment heals the wound and alleviates the pain. He wakes up with the bed soaked in blood, he bleeds through bandages, the witches can’t even heal his hand with magic. In fact, the pain in his hand is one of his key hindrances in the final act of the novel. Will has just lost two of his fingers and although he is suffering from the pain in the show, it’s not comparable to the pain that Will feels in TSK. The show has been following the timeline of the series pretty closely, with the main deviation in this episode being the actual heist that Will and Lyra conduct to get back the alethiometer. Proceed with caution! In this His Dark Materials book comparison, we’re primarily looking at The Subtle Knife ( TSK) Chapter 9 “Theft” and Chapter 12, “Screen Language”. Spoiler Alert! The following article discusses the His Dark Materials television series up to Season 2 Episode 5 “The Scholar” and it spoils all the events of The Subtle Knife as well as events in The Amber Spyglass. After weeks of adding this comparison to the bottom of my recaps, I’ve finally decided to separate them. This audio CD-MP3 works on your computer. Audiobooks are read by professional narrators. The format of the tracks is MP3 This is the extension of better handling and of more quality. Please be sure to use one of the players mentioned above. The AudioDVD format is not the same as traditional CDs and does not work on CD players. The number of discs varies by each title, although generally it goes in a single disc. The tracks are handled in the same way that you would handle the songs through iTunes. In addition, the tracks can be taken to any mp3 player, such as portable mp3 player, tablets, smartphones, etc. It can be used on DVD and DVD-Rom players, also on devices such as Playstation, Xbox or portable DVD players. The Case of the Garbage Monster from Outer SpaceĤ7. The Case of the Vampire Vacuum Sweeperģ2. The Case of the Night Stalking Bone MonsterĢ9. The Case of the Swirling Killer TornadoĢ7. The Case of the Double Bumblebee StingĢ4. The Case of the Wounded Buzzard on Christmas EveĢ2. The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horseġ3. The Curse of the Incredible Priceless CorncobĨ. The Further Adventures of Hank the Cowdogħ. The Original Adventures of Hank the CowdogĢ. It’s not until he’s a teenager in Los Angeles that George becomes curious about his childhood in the internment camps and speaks to Daddy about it. Though George gets occasional glimpses into the adult world of politics and danger, Mama and Daddy mostly shelter him, which means that George’s childhood is as enjoyable as possible given the circumstances. Rather, George and Henry throw themselves into discovering as much about their world as possible while they’re in the camps. He and his little brother, Henry, don’t know anything different, so they don’t think it’s abnormal to, for instance, have to travel on a train with guards or eat meals on a set schedule in the mess hall. Given his age, internment seems like a great adventure to George. Months later, the Takei family is incarcerated in an internment facility, first in Rower, Arkansas and later at Camp Tule Lake in California. George is only five when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and the U.S. George Takei is the author and protagonist of the memoir. He asks probing questions: Why does a government with more success lifting people from poverty than any civilization in history choose to put strict restraints on freedom of expression? Why do millions of young Chinese professionals-fluent in English and devoted to Western pop culture-consider themselves "angry youth," dedicated to resisting the West's influence? How are Chinese from all strata finding meaning after two decades of the relentless pursuit of wealth? In Age of Ambition, he describes the greatest collision taking place in that country: the clash between the rise of the individual and the Communist Party's struggle to retain control. What we don't see is how both powerful and ordinary people are remaking their lives as their country dramatically changes.Īs the Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker, Evan Osnos was on the ground in China for years, witness to profound political, economic, and cultural upheaval. From abroad, we often see China as a caricature: a nation of pragmatic plutocrats and ruthlessly dedicated students destined to rule the global economy-or an addled Goliath, riddled with corruption and on the edge of stagnation.
Ben tells great yarns with good jokes (getting "Dr" McKeith's degree for his dead cat is one of the best) but an underlying high seriousness. He explains not just what happens but how and why. We also learn how the media, especially it seems the British, swallow fistfulls of alarmist nonsense and ignore anything resembling real science. There are tricksters aplenty and some villains, the most egregious being the guy who persuaded Mbeki to torpedo the the South African AIDS programme. I was familiar with it in outline but Ben really makes clear how it works and why it matters and far from blinding us with science he shows it to be common sense pursued to the utterance. The clinical trial - blind, controlled, randomised, peer-reviewed - is the hero of the book. Funny, educative, committed, deeply informed. |