Ethan chatter5/23/2023 ![]() That’s because that voice does so much for you: It helps you keep information in your head (remembering, say, a phone number or items on a grocery list), simulates and plans for upcoming events, like a date or an interview, coaches you through problems, and even narrates your life to make sense of your experiences. If you’re awake for sixteen hours, that’s more than 3.8 million words every day. According to one study, it can spew up to four thousand words a minute. (Maybe you can hear yours, right now, reading these words.) And though you’re intimately familiar with that inner voice, since it talks to you all day long, you might be surprised to learn just how incessant it is. ![]()
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Hoedowns reels and frolics5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() Glossary of Dance Terms, Figures, and Steps ![]() ![]() Appalachia and Appalachian Danceġ.ĝiversity and Cultural Transmission in the Southern Mountainsĥ.Ĝecil Sharp and the Kentucky Running Setġ3.Ĝlogging: Appalachian Step Dance on StageĪppendix. On the way he explores the powerful influence of black culture, showing how practices such as calling dances as well as specific kinds of steps combined with white European forms to create distinctly "American" dances.įrom cakewalks to clogging, and from the Shoo-fly Swing to the Virginia Reel, Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics reinterprets an essential aspect of Appalachian culture.| ![]() He traces the forms from their European, African American, and Native American roots to the modern day. These distinctive folk dances, Jamison argues, are not the unaltered jigs and reels brought by early British settlers, but hybrids that developed over time by adopting and incorporating elements from other popular forms. In Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics, old-time musician and flatfoot dancer Philip Jamison journeys into the past and surveys the present to tell the story behind the square dances, step dances, reels, and other forms of dance practiced in southern Appalachia. ![]() Half Bad by Sally Green5/22/2023 ![]() Green began writing a novel in 2010, and completed a manuscript that was rejected by every agent she contacted. After her son began school, she took online English literature and creative writing courses at the Open University. We had a huge garden so I kept chickens, grew vegetables and became a complete earth mother." She began developing the Half Bad story after going to a storytelling weekend at the Festival at the Edge in Shropshire. She told The Daily Telegraph, "I loved being at home with the baby. Īfter becoming a mother, she stopped working as an accountant for four years. ![]() After she completed her degree, she worked for an industry publishing firm, and then trained to become an accountant. She studied mining geology and graduated from Imperial College London in 1983. Green was born in 1961 and grew up around Lytham in England. The Half Bad trilogy was adapted into the Netflix series The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself. Her work includes the Half Bad trilogy, related short stories, and The Smoke Thieves trilogy. Sally Green (born 1961) is a British fantasy author. ![]() The marrow thieves full book5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Those facts form the setting of the story, but not the plot. I know it seems like I’ve spoiled the book, but I promise I haven’t. It’s horrifying, and forces you, as the reader, to stop and reflect on North America’s past, and what needs to be done to reconcile for the future. ![]() Why? Because the majority (white people) want to be able to dream again. Instead, a new form of residential school has been created, where Indigenous people are taken, and tortured, in order to extract their bone marrow. In this futuristic world, you’d think people would remember and learn from the past, but that’s not the case. As a result, people have gone mad, and the only cure for this mysterious disease is to harvest the bone marrow from Indigenous people, as they are still able to dream. Climate change has brought more than rising water levels: it’s also somehow stopped the majority of the population from dreaming. The story is set in Northern Ontario, in the not-so-distant future. The Marrow Thieves, by Cherie Dimaline, was chosen for Canada Reads 2018, and has also won a Governor General’s Literary Award, the 2017 Kirkus Prize for young readers’ literature, and other notable awards. This isn’t your typical young-adult, dystopian story it’s a must-read for everyone. The Marrow Thieves was the best book I’ve read (so far) this year, and I need to tell you why. ![]() Miss pym5/22/2023 ![]() Miss Pym Disposes, however, is a stand-alone novel that has both a sufficiently outlandish setting and an unlikely heroine. Most of her novels feature Inspector Grant of Scotland Yard, who is exactly the kind of likeable, intelligent and introspective detective we know from other great mystery writers. Her novels do the talking, and although she’s not the best-known female mystery writer, The Daughter of Time was voted the greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers Association in 1990. Not much is known of Josephine Tey, whose real name was Elizabeth Mackintosh, other than the fact that she was a private person who left work to care for her elderly father, never married, and left her estate to the National Trust when she died in 1952. I loved the book, and was given the entire collection of her novels shortly after (high fives and admiration for my husband). ![]() ![]() I had never heard of Josephine Tey until I was given The Daughter Of Time, her most famous novel, which must have found a few new readers this year when Richard III’s remains were identified in Leicester. ![]() ![]() The grandparents gave them the nickname “Jamon.” Each day Bill would ask Jamon to keep thinking about going to the penguin exhibition, but the boys declined the offer. As the week progressed so did Eamon's and James' friendship, it was even possible that the two friends became one person. Before they were about to leave for day two of camp, Bill gave both of them a pair of binoculars and things to find with them. Throughout the first night the two boys ate banana waffles, jumped on a mattress and played. The next morning the two boys set off to their first day at Nature Camp, after their first day they realized that Nature Camp may not be what they anticipated. The boys decline as they both wish to play inside together. When they first arrive at the house, Eamon's grandfather Bill asks the two boys if they want to go to the penguin exhibition, happening at the museum. His friend James also gets to come and stay with his grandparents. The story begins with a boy named Eamon, who is staying at his grandparents’ house in Malibu, California. ![]() ![]() In 2009, the book was named a Caldecott Honor Book. ![]() The story relates the growth of a friendship between two boys enjoying a week away from parents. It tells the story of two boys named James and Eamon, who go to a nature camp for a week and stay with Eamon's unique grandparents. A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever is children's book written and illustrated by Marla Frazee and set in Malibu, California. ![]() Ballet shoes book5/22/2023 ![]() I did have ballet lessons for a while, but it was never a passion for me, so a book about three girls who attend a stage school wouldn’t be the first book you would have picked out for me to fall in love with. I was never a particularly girly girl growing up. Things look bleak until they hit on an inspired idea: Pauline, Petrova and Posy will take to the stage.īut it’s not long before the Fossils learn that being a star isn’t as easy as they first thought… ![]() The girls grow up in comfort until their money begins to run out and nobody can find Great Uncle Matthew. ![]() All three were adopted as babies by Great Uncle Matthew, an eccentric and rich explorer who then disappeared, leaving them in the care of his niece Sylvia. Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil are sisters – with a difference. I am talking about Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild. This time we have come forward in time and closer to home to read about the three Fossil sisters living in London in the first half of the twentieth century. ![]() I was obviously obsessed with reading about the lives of other young girls living in other times during my own formative years. It’s time for March’s Desert Island Children’s Book and I can see a theme forming in my last three choices. ![]() Conn iggulden genghis khan5/22/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() Inspired by The Secret History of the Mongols (the leading primary source into the life and times of Genghis Khan), Conn Iggulden fantastically weaves a story that moves at a breathtaking pace from the birth of Temujin to his first unification of the warring Mongol tribes, and to his assumption of the title Genghis (which a lot now rather put as ‘Chinggis’) upon claiming his birthright as the rightful khan of the Wolves. And indeed, it turns out that I enjoy Genghis even more than Buddha. I picked this book entirely on a whim - that cover doesn’t inspire much - since I was convinced by Deepak Chopra’s Buddha ( read my review) that there is much to enjoy in a good historical fiction book. Every now and then of course, we have a movie that is both.Ĭase in point, Conn Iggulden’s Genghis: Birth of an Empire (published in the UK as Wolf of the Plains - a more impressive title) which is a terrific piece of fiction and an even more terrific window into the life and times of Genghis Khan. I liken this genre to the summer blockbuster movie - while not necessarily a great film, it’s great entertainment. I’ve given up on reading mainstream fiction since I had to devote more time to reading history and political science books, but lately I’ve crossed over to historical fiction for a healthy dose of escapism. ![]() Reading historical fiction is always a fun thing to do. When I am dead, I will come for you all in the coldest nights.” “I am the land, and the bones of the hills. ![]() Brandon sanderson superhero5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() It also remains my most successful book series by far. My first book, The Rules of Supervillainy, was released in it as a sort of pure fun collection of pop culture and oddball antics. I have a certain fondness for superhero prose, though, because it's a genre that hasn't been utterly glutted by imitators. ![]() This is because superheroes are a primarily visual medium and you get a large amount of storytelling from watching the heroes at work. The vast-vast majority of superhero fiction is in comic book form and following up are movies, cartoons, video games, and even live action storytelling. Martin and Brandon Sanderson have dipped their toes in the genre but prose fiction is something that is traditionally considered a somewhat off-beat medium for stories about them. Superhero novels are one of the areas of genre fiction that don't get much attention. ![]() Pippi lindgren5/21/2023 ![]() ![]() Her main theme is the fight for children's rights and their right to be themselves. They are capable yet retain their youthfulness and curiosity. ![]() ![]() In 1945 her first book, called Pippi Longstocking, was published. In all her stories, children are the protagonists: strong-willed, adventurous and compassionate. Astrid Lindgren is one the most famous authors in the world. ![]() Set in early medieval times, Ronja lives in Mattisborgen (Matt’s Fort) but spends much of her time seeking adventure in the enchanting forest that surrounds it, reflecting Lindgren’s love for nature and belief that it should be respected and enjoyed.Īstrid wrote about children but also had the gift of writing for children. Ronja Rövardotter – daughter of chief robber Mattis – is another strong female character who typifies Lindgren’s portrayal of compelling young people who are relatable yet heroic. The ginger-haired 9-year-old feels as relevant today as she did when she made her first fictional appearance in 1945 – not to mention during her heyday in the 1970s, when gender equality in Sweden was heavily debated. Pippi broke and revolted against many norms, for instance related to gender, age and class. As for the awe-inspiring Pippi Långstrump, she’s a thoroughly independent orphan who is strong enough to lift a horse above her head. Astrid Lindgren, (born November 14, 1907, Vimmerby, Swedendied January 28, 2002, Stockholm), influential Swedish writer of children’s books who created such memorable characters as Pippi Longstocking. ![]() |