![]() ![]() He has written three plays for the London stage, including the multi-award-winning Popcorn. ![]() More recently he has had successes with three hit West End musicals, including the global phenomenon We Will Rock You. ![]() He has received accolades for his hit TV sit-coms, The Young Ones, Blackadder and The Thin Blue Line. His ground breaking work as a TV stand-up comedian set the (high) standard of what was to follow. His career as both performer and writer encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past twenty years. He wanted to be a stagehand at the local theatre, but instead did A-Level Theatre Studies and studied drama at Manchester University in 1977. The youngest of four, he went to Godalming Grammar school, joined amateur dramatic societies and wrote his first play at 15. Ben Elton was born on, in Catford, South London. ![]()
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![]() Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard series, but its composition feels utterly unique, as if the elements of one’s waking life were scrambled in a dream. ![]() Cosby’s original voice, action-packed scenes and unflinching examination of relationships earned him praise from a wide array of peers and critics, as well as the 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for mystery/thriller.Ĭosby’s drive to expand the chorus of voices representing the South is on full display in his follow-up, “ Razorblade Tears.” The novel’s DNA - a Black man and a white man unite to fight a common foe - may seem familiar to readers of “Blacktop Wasteland” or Joe R. A rubber-burning tale of Black and white criminals uniting to defeat a common foe, the novel was also a deep rumination on fathers and the impact of their absence. ![]() ![]() Cosby’s “ Blacktop Wasteland” came screaming across the literary landscape, shredding readers’ expectations about Southern life, race and crime. If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores. ![]() ![]() ![]() For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots, as the Soviet leadership grew increasingly paranoid at the United States's nuclear first-strike capabilities and brought the world closer to the brink of war. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union's top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation's communism as both criminal and philistine. If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double-agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. ![]() Shortlisted for the Bailie Giffords Prize in Nonfiction "The best true spy story I have ever read."-JOHN LE CARR era tale of Oleg Gordievsky, the Russian whose secret work helped hasten the end of the Cold War. Returns with his greatest spy story yet, a thrilling ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Alice’s out with Brad or something? I can’t remember. My Life Next Door is the most emotional romantic read of 2023 and the first in three uttery addicitve contemporary romances by Huntley Fitzpatrick. But the other guys are really hungry? Even though I gave them all Lucky Charms. And every day from her balcony perch, seventeen-year-old Samantha Reed wishes she was one of them until one summer evening, Jase Garrett climbs the trellis to sit by her and changes everything. I redo the eyeliner for her and French-braid her hair.“Has everyone eaten?”“Patsy. ![]() “Mom’s upstairs, sleeping? She really doesn’t feel good.” Andy fills me in while trying to apply eyeliner and put on her shoes at the same time. My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick is a summer romance between two neighbors from completely different living conditions and backgrounds. right over.The Garretts’ house is unusually hectic. Good-girl Samantha finds herself when she falls for the boy next door. It’s Andy.“Samantha? Can you come over? Mom’s sick and Daddy isn’t home yet and I have, well, I’m going to see Kyle and…would it be okay if you babysat until Jase gets back? Duff isn’t good with diapers and Patsy has this major rash? You know, the kind you need a prescription cream for? It’s all over her bottom and down her legs.”I, of course, know nothing about diaper rash, but say I’ll be. by Huntley Fitzpatrick RELEASE DATE: June 1, 2012. The lines from the last vacuuming are still visible. To quickly assess the difficulty of the text, read a short excerpt:Ī task I blow off. What reading level is My Life Next Door book? ![]() ![]() Unlike the avalanche of books specifically about The Da Vinci Code, The Unauthorized Dan Brown Companion covers all of Dan Brown s books and, crucially, has no religious agenda or political axe to grind these are the facts. But perhaps the one thing that still keeps his readers guessing is that nagging question: How much of this is true?The Unauthorized Dan Brown Companion tells all. His novels, intricate mosaics combining well researched facts with action packed storytelling, have created their own industry of location tours, seminars even PBS specials. ![]() With millions of copies of his books in print, a major motion picture based on The Da Vinci Code in theaters, and religious leaders everywhere launching scathing attacks on his work, Dan Brown is, quite simply, a phenomenon. ![]() The definitive truth within Dan Brown’s fantastic fiction revealed at last. ![]() ![]() a thought-provoking book about a topic sure to evoke the empathy of readers. ![]() She lives in Southern California with her family. “The evocative spareness of the verse narrative will appeal to poetry lovers as well as reluctant readers and ESL students.” - The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Katherine Applegate is the New York Times bestselling author of Wishtree, Crenshaw, Willodeen, and Home of the Brave, all from F&F, as well as The One and Only Ivan, winner of the Newbery Medal, and its sequel The One and Only Bob. Like Hanna Jansen's Over a Thousand Hills I Walk With You, the focus on one child gets behind those news images of streaming refugees far away.” - Booklist “The boy's first-person narrative is immediately accessible. is an almost lyrical story.” - Voice of Youth Advocates “This beautiful story of hope and resilience. ![]() A memorable inside view of an outsider.” - Publishers Weekly “Precise, highly accessible language evokes a wide range of emotions and simultaneously tells an initiation story. Kek is both a representative of all immigrants and a character in his own right.” - School Library Journal, Starred Review Thank Katherine Applegate for writing it.” - Karen Hesse ![]() ![]() ![]() From Good Goddess to Vestal Virgins argues that the ritual roles played out by women were vital in defining them sexually and that these sexually defined categories spilled over into other aspects of Roman culture, including political activity.Īriadne Staples provides an arresting and original analysis of the role of women in Roman society, which challenges traditionally held views and provokes further questions. Roman history is not short of powerful female figures, such as Agrippina and Livia, yet their power stemmed from their associations with great men and was not officially recognised.Īriadne Staples' book examines how women in Rome were perceived both by themselves and by men through women's participation in Roman religion, as Roman religious ritual provided the single public arena where women played a significant formal role. On the one hand they enjoyed social, material and financial independence and on the other hand they were denied basic constitutional rights. The role of women in Roman culture and society was a paradoxical one. The Last Vestal Virgin by Lorraine Carey, 9781502466983, available at Book Depository with free delivery worldwide. ![]() ![]() ![]() How much of that is believable depends on each person. They use the same rhetoric about being for the common man as they do today. In fact, the Democratic party was developed under Jackson. It is easy to see the origins of the Democratic platforms. A rather naive assumption on his part, but to his dying day he fought those like Henry Clay and Daniel Webster who believed in limited government. Jackson believed that only a large government represented everyone's interests and had fail-safe locks in the structure to keep corruption and self-interested individuals out. He destroyed the National Bank because he believed that private business exploited the under-privileged while promoting elitism. Later he became president and an ardent federalist. He fought in the 1812 War and lead his troops into New Orleans where they defeated the British, thus securing his reputation as a formidable military leader. ![]() Raised from humble beginnings, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, Jackson brought himself up by his own boot straps and worked his way into politics. Andrew Jackson could give Donald Trump a run for his money as far as colorful personalities go. The important thing about history is to realize that nothing new is happening. Love Andrew Jackson or hate him, and there's good reason for doing both, one thing you can never do is yawn at him. ![]() ![]() ![]() because there are no citations, footnotes, or leads to supplementary reading about the many, many issues that hooks touches upon in her shallow, four-page chapters, a beginning feminist reader can only assume that hooks's assertions are accurate & true, because they are presented to be so. ![]() as such, it is riddled with opinion disguised as fact & questionable arguments built on an ever-shifting bedrock of historical inaccuracy concerning the formations, goals, & fractures within the second wave feminist movement. there are little hints of the man-pandering mega-christian hooks was to become here, but my bigger issue with this book is that 1) the book, despite its brevity, veers wildly away from its own stated thesis to act as a basic introductory primer for people reluctant to align themselves with the feminist movement, & 2) the book instead functions as a repository for hooks's own myriad opinions about what feminism really is & how contentious inter-movement arguments should have shaken out. in the decade since, her writing has gone steadily downhill & is currently almost completely unreadable, incoherent, hippie weirdness. this book was my first hint that she can do some pretty serious wrong. ![]() yes, i originally read it shortly after it was released, because i loved bell hooks back then & felt she could do no wrong as a feminist theorist. I kind of live-blogged this book while i was re-reading it. ![]() ![]() ![]() We have been told that our true love is meant to be everything to us. Many of us grew up trusting in a very convincing fairy story: that we can grow up to find The One, get wed, and live happily ever afterward. And, most critically, it helps us to face our feelings of inadequacy and, rather than intimidation and possessiveness, create relationships built on honesty.Ĭhapter 1 – It’s a misconception that all our wishes and demands can be met by one individual. Opening our relationships allows us room for our needs to be discussed. And demanding too much from one partnership will cause the strain to buckle. The reality is, no one individual can satisfy all our wishes and demands. Monogamous marriages are impossible to maintain, as divorce rates indicate. This fairy story, however, clearly does not fit reality. ![]() We are told when we grow into adults that we will find our life partners and live peacefully ever after. In your relationship, do you feel frustrated, like something is lacking that you can’t quite explain? Or are you stuck in an adultery cycle against your partners? If so, a monogamous partnership may not accommodate you. ![]() |