It’s not some unspoken, unexamined grossness.Īs a result, it’s easy to just enjoy Toby and Miles and how they find happiness together. You don’t end up thinking “ugh, but X was relying on Y for food to eat, so of course he couldn’t really say no” - because the characters realise that and work with it (or don’t, and later have to work with it, perhaps). It really doesn’t take much to show characters being aware of it and ensuring it, and it makes the situations so much more satisfying. Toby’s a sweetie, and Miles is… somewhat incidentally grumpy - which is to say, not permanently grumpy by constitution, but in a terrible position and not sure how on earth to turn things around.Īs always, I love Charles’ careful attention to issues of consent. There’s not much of a supporting cast, just Miles and Toby, getting to know each other, getting past their hangups, and figuring out how to take a chance on each other. I always enjoy KJ Charles’ less murdery books, and this novella’s a nice one.
0 Comments
Two reviewers have even suggested I should tour as a stand-up comedian “I found myself laughing out-loud and even sharing segments with my spouse …. Emilion,” “Due to the laughter you owe my secretary one clean pair of knickers.” To demonstrate that serious issues can be approached with humour.Įmbarrassingly, a number of the reviews for my books seem to involve people losing control of their bladder “Anyone who is a bit saucy, very fond of boobies and doesn't mind peeing slightly when they laugh too hard, this is the book for you!” “Best not to read this book on the train if you have a full bladder because by the end of your journey you will have a damp patch in an embarrassing place.” “I have to admit that I wet myself twice while reading it but this may in part have been due to my age and a couple of bottles of a fine St. And this is probably why I write the way I do, in order to use self-deprecating, piss-taking humour to bring to the fore situations that just don’t stack up. My goal, my life’s ambition if you like, is to give direction to comedy, purpose to satire. They’ve one hit record ("Love Me Do") behind them and the next ("Please Please Me") primed for release, their first album session is booked, and America is clear on the horizon. Ten years in the making, Tune In takes the Beatles from before their childhoods through the final hour of 1962-when, with breakthrough success just days away, they stand on the cusp of a whole new kind of fame and celebrity. Mark Lewisohn uses his unprecedented archival access and hundreds of new interviews to construct the full story of the lives and work of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Tune In is the first volume of All These Years-a highly-anticipated, groundbreaking biographical trilogy by the world's leading Beatles historian. Despite Reggie’s initial reluctance, the two become fast friends and set off exploring forest and shore, meeting Emily’s family and some other sweet monster neighbors along the way. Emily is energetic and excitable, but she is also anxious to make a friend for herself she comes from a large family of sisters and rarely gets the attention she needs. His peaceful solitude is soon disrupted when he meets Emily, an ebullient young rabbit-like monster. Looking to take a break from adventure, he is planning to spend a quiet summer house sitting for his cousin in a seaside monster community. What did you like about the book? Reggie is a little, brown, one-eyed monster with very useful shape-shifting skills he can stretch his limbs to reach high shelves, grow wings to fly, and flippers to swim. Rating: 1-5 (5 is an excellent or a Starred review) 4 My brothers pulled him aside, showed him how to wrap presents, and ran through the basic contents of a Christmas stocking. When I married my tall, quiet Irish carpenter in 1991, he was surprised to learn that handing each other presents, on Christmas morning, wrapped only in the store bag simply would not do. We always had an Advent wreath to help us remember to focus on the true meaning of the season. My mother and I made cookies and candy during the weeks leading up to Christmas to the sounds of seasonal music on the stereo. We tucked packages wrapped with care and adorned with ribbons and bows safely under a Christmas tree that glittered with lights and an assortment of cherished decorations. I grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC with rich family traditions. First let me say that the Advent and Christmas seasons are my favorite times of the year and have been from my earliest memory. Zelda and Fitzgerald were one of the most visible couples of the Jazz Age, inhabiting and creating around them a world of excitement, romance, art, and promise. Zelda Sayre’s stormy life spanned from notoriety as a spirited Southern beauty to success as a gifted novelist and international celebrity at the side of her husband, F. Scott Fitzgerald-tracing the inner disintegration of a gifted, despairing woman, torn by the clash between her husband’s career and her own talent. a richly complex love story.” - New York TimesĪcclaimed biographer Nancy Milford brings to life the tormented, elusive personality of Zelda Sayre and clarifies as never before Zelda’s relationship with her husband F. However should you dare watch any other televised show from any station anywhere in the world via say, your cable or satellite provider on their advertised schedule, do this without paying the BBC ‘their licence fee’ then be prepared for the consequences. Despite my dislike of most things BBC today, for their ‘woke liberal left’ agenda I recognise their ability too produce excellent audio drama.įor those unaware of the BBC, and their ability to track down and ultimately if needed bring the police to your door!!! For what you may indeed ask?įor the crime of watching TV without a licence, you may never (like me for reasons stated above) even think about watching their agenda filled output on tv Manchester United’s last 5 results: WWLLW Sunday, May 28: Manchester United vs Fulham – 11:30am ET Sunday, May 28: Southampton vs Liverpool – 11:30am ET Sunday, May 28: Chelsea vs Newcastle – 11:30am ET Thursday, May 25: Manchester United vs Chelsea - 3pm ET Thursday, May 18: Newcastle 4-1 Brighton - Recap, highlights, player ratings Sunday, May 14: Arsenal 0-3 Brighton – Recap, highlights, player ratings Sunday, May 7: Newcastle 0-2 Arsenal – Recap, highlights, player ratings Thursday, May 4: Brighton 1-0 Manchester United – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Sunday, April 30: Liverpool 4-3 Tottenham – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Thursday, April 27: Tottenham 2-2 Manchester United – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Sunday, April 23: Newcastle 6-1 Tottenham – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Saturday, April 15: Chelsea 1-2 Brighton – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Sunday, April 9: Liverpool 2-2 Arsenal – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Saturday, April 8: Tottenham 2-1 Brighton – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Tuesday, April 4: Chelsea 0-0 Liverpool – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Sunday, April 2: Newcastle 2-0 Manchester United – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Saturday, April 1: Manchester City 4-1 Liverpool – Recap, player ratings, video highlights Key fixtures that will decide the Premier League top-four Manchester United: Chelsea (H), Fulham (H) Remaining fixtures for top-four contenders Premier League fixtures for 2022-23 season: How to watch, TV schedule, live. Trantor, the empire's capital, comes across as a sort of hyper-version of Manhattan in the 1940s. Asimov's Galactic Empire sounds an awful lot like the Roman Empire. The Foundation novels are about society, not gadgets – and unlike, say, William Gibson's cyberpunk novels, which are excellent in a very different way, they're about societies that don't seem much affected by technological progress. But these are superficial details, playing a fairly minor part in the story. Yes, it's set in the future, there's interstellar travel, people shoot each other with blasters instead of pistols and so on. Maybe the first thing to say about Foundation is that it's not exactly science fiction – not really. By the way, spoilers follow, so stop reading if you want to encounter the whole thing fresh. The trilogy really is a unique masterpiece there has never been anything quite like it. So how do the Foundation novels look to me now that I have, as my immigrant grandmother used to say, grown to mature adultery? Better than ever. Hoffman does have a CD, Works of Larry Hoffman-Contemporary American Music but he produced and paid for it himself in 2011. If you are a contemporary composer and your name is not John Adams or Philip Glass, one of your biggest challenges is to get anyone to record and perform your music. Asked if he is happy with that life, he shoots back an unequivocal one-word response: "Thrilled." Everything in his life is as it is so he can create music. He is now 68 years old and living in a tiny, overstuffed, shabby apartment because he has never made a dime as a composer, and he does not care. He was 10 years old when he discovered he would rather play the ukulele at summer camp than swim with the other kids in an icy lake, and if the great question of human existence is how to live, then Hoffman's great question has been how to live through music. What Bartok and Janáček and Copland did with folk melodies, what Gershwin did with jazz, Hoffman has been doing with the blues, to scant notice. For the last 30 years, he has worked at composing original blues music, not quotes or transpositions, for the classical stage, for string quartets and other chamber ensembles. He has played blues guitar, performed with some of the great old bluesmen, studied the blues with a scholar's rigor, produced blues records, and been nominated for a Grammy for his blues liner notes. All his life, he has been besotted by music, especially one of the two great African-American musical forms, the blues. Larry Hoffman does not mind being teasingly called the blackest white guy in Baltimore. |