![]() ![]() ![]() The present work is unique in its comprehensive treatment of the occult history connected to this ambiguous creature. Toads can be used for love charms or they can bewitch an enemy with their evil eye and even cause death." There are toad rituals to protect property and livestock and toad spells to bring sickness and calamity. At the same time both life giver and life taker. It has simultaneously been seen as mid-wife's helper and devil's familiar. "The toad has had a colorful and checkered history with its role in magic and folk-lore. First enlarged edition first standard impression. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() ![]() Kate and I, now living far away from one another and both sheltering at home in the second month of the pandemic, reconvened (part of) that writing group over email to talk about the fruits of her labor, and bringing a book out during a global pandemic. Now, that very same novel, Kept Animals, is out in the world, a sprawling but tightly controlled book about California, horses, family, class, race, love, and violence kaleidoscoping out from a ranch in Topanga Canyon in the early 1990s. This was my first exposure to the life of a working writer-Milliken had just won the Iowa Short Fiction Award for her book of short stories, If I’d Known You Were Coming-and I was awestruck by her commitment to what seemed like the very daunting undertaking of writing a novel while also fulfilling her other obligations as a person. I remember specifically that she once checked herself into a motel for two nights, the longest she could get away, to plug away at a massive revision she was supposed to be sending to her agent. ![]() Kate was deep in the weeds with a long, epic-sounding novel that she was working on in pieces around her other responsibilities, which included raising two young kids. I met Kate Milliken when we both lived in the Bay Area and our mutual friend, the novelist Edan Lepucki, convened a small writing group to exchange pages and encouragement. ![]() ![]() I also felt that there were some actions on the part of minor characters that were not well explained. ![]() I found myself a little uncomfortable with this voyeuristic behavior. In addition to writing adult contemporary fiction, she is the author of the bestselling young adult fiction series The Princess Diaries, which was made into two wildly successful Disney movies. She actually spent many an evening watching her male friend dress and undress via some binoculars. Meg Cabot was born in Bloomington, Indiana. However, the female protagonist, Steph, did a few things I found a little distasteful. Ergo, I really liked the main characters in this book. Her secondary characters are often superficial and stereotypical, but her main characters are always likable and well fleshed out (although they often are similar to the protagonists in her other books). One thing I like about Meg Cabot is her ability to create characters. Her inspiration is a book she finds entitled "How to Be Popular." Her intelligence and resourcefulness allows her to accomplish this feat however, she runs into situations that force her to chose between remaining popular and staying true to her own sense of right and wrong.ĭid you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry? "How to Be Popular" is about a young teenager who decides she wants to integrate herself into the popular crowd in school. They end more happy than is really believable, but I love a positive ending, even if I have to overlook a few plot holes. I like these light, fun books by Meg Cabot. I am rating it 4 starts as compared to other books of its type. ![]() Where does How to Be Popular rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() In her own voice, often in a humorous and chatty tone, she explains where each recipe originated, when and where she served them, and how people reacted to them. My mother presented each recipe, from the simple plate of hors d’oeuvres to the intimidating cheese soufflé, with its own unique story. Sounds like a simple and common idea, but she added an additional component that made her cookbook priceless to me. It was organized and formatted into book form for her children, family, and friends to enjoy. On the pages inside, my Mother dumped out her entire culinary mind. It fills over eighty-five pages and it’s lined with hundreds of recipes. ![]() I cherish this book and hold it dear to my heart, perhaps more than any gift she has ever given me. It was a cookbook titled Mom’s Cookbook: A Culinary Memoir of Family, Food, and Friends. Several years ago, my mother presented me with a wonderful gift. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I mean, no one could've seen that coming-least of all me. As the older brother of my lifelong best friend, this new love has caused relationships to break down and communication to become stilted, and the one question that remains is: am I willing to give up the love and friendship of one for the chance of love and forever with another? SeanI didn't mean to fall in love with Alexander Thorne, my brother's ex and the number one prime-time news anchor in the country. But with each passing day, the connection between us grows stronger, and the idea of a world without him is something I can't imagine.But Sean's love doesn't come without complications. I never could've imagined a world where he was my everything. XanderIf I had to describe Sean Bailey, it would be as the sexy, caring, wonderful man I've gone and fallen in love with. ![]() ![]() USA TODAY bestselling author Ella Frank concludes the story of Sean Bailey and Alexander "Xander" Thorne in Headlines. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Parrish is a mesmerizing debut psychological thriller full of delicious twists about a coolly manipulative woman who worms her way into the lives of a wealthy “golden couple” from Connecticut to achieve the privileged life she wants.Īmber Patterson is fed up. Recipient of starred reviews from Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, and Library Journal. Genre: domestic thriller, psychological thriller, suspense, women's fictionīuy the Book: AMAZON, APPLE BOOKS, BARNES & NOBLE, BOOKS-A-MILLION, BOOKSHOP, INDIEBOUND, AUDIBLEĪ national and international bestseller with over one million copies sold, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, soon to be a Netfilx movie, a People Magazine Best Pick, a New York Post Must Reads, a “Best Of Skimm Reads 2017” selection, and a Library Reads selection. ![]() ![]() ![]() Far off to the north and west the mountains stood up half encircling Omelas on her bay. ![]() They flared their nostrils and pranced and boasted to one another they were vastly excited, the horse being the only animal who has adopted our ceremonies as his own. Their manes were braided with streamers of silver, gold, and green. The horses wore no gear at all but a halter without bit. All the processions wound towards the north side of the city, where on the great water-meadow called the Green' Fields boys and girls, naked in the bright air, with mud-stained feet and ankles and long, lithe arms, exercised their restive horses before the race. Children dodged in and out, their high calls rising like the swallows' crossing flights, over the music and the singing. ![]() In other streets the music beat faster, a shimmering of gong and tambourine, and the people went dancing, the procession was a dance. Some were decorous: old people in long stiff robes of mauve and grey, grave master workmen, quiet, merry women carrying their babies and chatting as they walked. In the streets between houses with red roofs and painted walls, between old moss-grown gardens and under avenues of trees, past great parks and public buildings, processions moved. The rigging of the boats in harbor sparkled with flags. With a clamor of bells that set the swallows soaring, the Festival of Summer came to the city Omelas, bright-towered by the sea. ![]() ![]() ![]() Solenoidwas named one of the best books of 2022 by the New Yorker, Publishers Weekly, The Financial Times, and The Washington Post. Solenoid is grounded in the reality of late 1970s/early 1980s Communist Romania, including long lines for groceries, the absurdities of the education system, and the misery of family life. On a broad scale, the novel's investigations of other universes, dimensions, and timelines reconcile the realms of life and art. The novel begins with the mundane details of a diarist's life and quickly spirals into a philosophical account of life, history, philosophy, and mathematics. Solenoid is a highly acclaimed masterwork of fiction based on Cărtărescu's own role as a high school teacher. Join us for a reading of Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu, together with his translator, Sean Cotter, on Monday, April 10, at 5:30 p.m. ![]() ![]() Join Becka, Scott, and Ryan as they head for mind-bending clashes between the forces of darkness and the kingdom of God. Counterfeit spiritualities are widespread and popular with spiritually searching young adults such as Becka's peers. In the Forbidden Doors series by bestselling author Bill Myers, teenager Rebecca "Becka" Williams, her younger brother Scott, and her friend Ryan Riordan are swept into heart-stopping encounters with an all-too-real invisible world-a world fraught with deception and spiritual adversaries that promise goodness and enlightenment but will stop at nothing to destroy life, sanity, and human souls. Some doors, you don't want to find out what lies behind them. ![]() Biblical truths about spiritual warfare have never been so suspenseful and entertaining. In Volume 2 of the bestselling Forbidden Doors fiction series, author Bill Myers presents books 4-6-The Haunting, The Guardian, and The Encounter-which keep readers on the edge of their seats as he tells stories about the young adults who battle dangerous occultic influences in their lives. ![]() ![]() ![]() Ross awaits Robert’s return and collects every letter he sends. He travels with Harris and the two men bond. ![]() By the time the boat docks, he has been bruised by the horses traveling on the boat, and the Captain insists that he visit the infirmary. An officer named Harris contracts pneumonia and nearly dies. Storms beset his journey across the Atlantic storms. A girl takes Robert up to her room where they watch Taffler through a peephole as he engages in a rough sexual encounter with the brothel’s bouncer.Īt only 19, Robert is promoted to Second Lieutenant, and he sets out for Europe. With the other recruits, Robert visits a local brothel. He meets Eugene Taffler, a famous war hero. ![]() He intends to join the military and is sent to Alberta for training. In April 1915, Robert arrives in Ontario. Old photographs show the onset of the First World War Robert Ross is in military clothing and standing with his wheelchair-bound sister, Rowena. The novel begins with Robert Ross, surrounded by burning wreckage. ![]() |