Advise and Consent is an incisive description of how politics operates at that highest level, when personality as well as facts and ideology come into play. The Senate is a microcosm of 100 people (99 men and one woman at that time), each with roles to play both officially and privately. There are a number of well delineated characters - the Majority Leader, the ancient Senator from South Carolina, the Mormon with a past, the demagogue, the guy who wanted to be President, the President himself. High drama ensues, with a memorable series of denouements of which the least spoilerish that I can reveal is a Soviet moon landing the week before the Americans would have got there. But the young Senator from Utah who is most responsible for holding up the process is himself concealing a wartime gay love affair. The plot concerns the nomination of a new Secretary of State by an ailing President whose party controls both Senate and House the nomination runs into difficulties because of the nominee's alleged Communist past. NwhyteAnother little reading project of mine: as well as reading the best-selling novels of 100 year ago, as I have done this year and last year, I decided to try the best-selling novel of 50 years ago, a political tale by a long-serving Washington journalist, which soon after (1962) became a film starring Henry Fonda and Charles Laughton (the latter's last role before he died).
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In Gore Vidal's Lincoln we meet Lincoln the man and Lincoln the political animal, the president who entered a besieged capital where most of the population supported the South and where even those favoring the Union had serious doubts that the man from Illinois could save it. To most Americans, Abraham Lincoln is a monolithic figure, the Great Emancipator and Savior of the Union, beloved by all. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observers. Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. Gore Vidal Lincoln: A Novel (The American Chronicle Series) This, however, they claim, is just how it looks exoterically. The authors claim that BGE can be read either exoterically or esoterically. Prima facie, the book seems to articulate a completely naturalistic project. Their focus is on Part 1 of BGE, for there Nietzsche lays the theoretical ground for his subsequent treatment of ethics. The result is a powerfully argued and challenging investigation, which shows how sophisticated Nietzsche's treatment of the traditional questions about the True and the Good is. Clark and Dudrick take on the ambitious task of offering a textually careful as well as philosophically sensitive reading of the book. It is, at the same time, an extraordinarily intricate piece of philosophical writing. Moreover, BGE is supposed to provide an "introduction to the background of Zarathustra", as Nietzsche wrote to his editor. The book is also intimately connected to other important pieces Nietzsche wrote in this period, like On the Genealogy of Morality (1887) and the fifth book of The Gay Science (1887). Certainly, it is the best place to look if one is interested in his views on thosetopics which traditionally come under the heading of "first philosophy". Beyond Good and Evil (1886) (BGE) arguably occupies a privileged position in the economy of Nietzsche's works. Unbelievable is her darkly comic, fascinatingly bizarre, and often scary story of how America sent a former reality show host to the White House. Through all the long nights, wild scoops, naked chauvinism, dodgy staffers, and fevered debates, no one had a better view than Tur. The Boys on the Bus became the Girls on the Plane. She was part of the first women-led politics team in the history of network news. At one point, he got a crowd so riled up against Tur, Secret Service agents had to walk her to her car. He tried to charm her, intimidate her, and shame her. In return, Trump repeatedly singled Tur out. She visited forty states with the candidate, made more than 3,800 live television reports, and tried to endure a gazillion loops of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer"-a Trump rally playlist staple.įrom day 1 to day 500, Tur documented Trump's inconsistencies, fact-checked his falsities, and called him out on his lies. Katy Tur lived out of a suitcase for a year and a half, following Trump around the country, powered by packets of peanut butter and kept clean with dry shampoo. this book couldn't be more timely." - Jill Abramson, New York Times Book ReviewĬalled "disgraceful," "third-rate," and "not nice" by Donald Trump, NBC News correspondent Katy Tur reported on-and took flak from-the most captivating and volatile presidential candidate in American history. There, her speeches were lauded as “almost single-handedly changing the way we think about executive communications at Microsoft. She draws from her work as the former speechwriter and communications manager for the president of Entertainment at Microsoft. That’s a fancy way of saying that she conducts popular corporate storytelling workshops at places as far-ranging as Disney and AT+T, NASDAQ and Microsoft. When she isn’t writing for teens, Justina is an executive communications strategist. Her other novels include Girl Overboard (a Junior Library Guild premiere selections) and Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies), which won the Asian Pacific American Award for Literature.Ī passionate advocate of teen literacy, Justina co-founded readergirlz, a cutting-edge literacy and social media project for teens, which won the National Book Foundation’s Prize for Innovations in Reading. A Blind Spot for Boys (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2016). Justina Chen is an award-winning novelist for young adults whose books include A Blind Spot for Boys, Return to Me and North of Beautiful (a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus and Barnes & Noble). Storytelling runs in Justina Chens blood. Plus, she's just an extraordinary person with a wicked sense of humor and a ridiculous amount of knowledge when it comes to all things literary. No single human being has helped me half as much as Danielle with respect to advancing my career as an author. She helped me find my current agent (who is fantastic & just secured me a great deal for my next book) she has advised me on contracts, editorial concerns and marketing, and she has even referred me to media. “Besides being an incredible editor, Danielle is an amazing writer in her own right, and over the years, she's been my greatest guide through the crazy world of publishing. I cannot recommend her highly enough.”Īuthor of Hystera, The Fragile Mistress, and Edges Dani is remarkable for her sensitivity and poetic sensibility, but also for the sense of humanity she brings to literature and writing. She managed to make suggestions, shape and edit the work without violating its vision even once, however raw and unfocused that vision was. She transformed it and illuminated not only the elements it needed, but helped me feel a confidence in what lay beneath the mess-sustaining my belief in it through a long, arduous process. I worked with Dani for several years, through several drafts of an impossibly difficult literary novel. “It is difficult to sum up Dani's qualities as an editor because they are too numerous, too rare, and far too intangible than such a "recommendation" can allow for. Through the character of Corliss, Alexie examines his own issues of identity, which arise from being teased over the years by relatives over his own bookishness and academic pursuits. The first story, “The Search Engine,” concerns Corliss Joseph, a bookish nineteen-year-old student of Spokane Indian ancestry and her attempts to investigate the truth behind a previously-unknown Spokane Indian poet, Harlan Atwater. Written by Sherman Alexie, a descendant of the Coeur d’Alene tribe who was raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation, these nine tales evoke the struggles and beauty of indigenous culture in the Pacific Northwest through a combination of fictionalized and autobiographical elements. Ten Little Indians is a 2004 collection of short stories about the Native American experience. There's definitely a lot going on in this book, and a lot of characters to fall in love with. Theo and Maddie's banter was hilarious, their friendships with Alexa were super sweet, and the hookup scenes were.*clears throat* definitely something that would make you blush. You guys, I really loved reading this book. But once the wedding date gets pushed up, and they realize that their time together might be short, neither one of them wants to admit that they might be catching feelings. Which they swear to stop as soon as the wedding is over. But they don't want a relationship, just good sex. That is, until they hook up a few times and realize that there is definitely some.physical chemistry there. Other than that, they can't stand each other, so when they both find out that they're going to be in Alexa's wedding party, the idea seems insufferable. So when I remembered that The Wedding Party was coming out, I preordered it and got my copy and tore into it ASAP! So without further ado, let's get into my review:Īs the summary explains, Theo and Maddie only have one thing in common - they're friends with Alexa. I also recently read The Proposal, the second book in the "series" (which I'll explain a little bit later in this review), and I loved that one just as much. As someone who is a huge rom-com reader (and writer!), Jasmine's books just have a way of making you feel all good and fluffy inside. I have been a huge fan of Jasmine Guillory ever since I read The Wedding Date and got a copy at BookExpo two years ago. They saw a man walking toward them from the Knife Edge, a long ridge that extends generally east from Baxter Peak. It was very cold up there with clouds swirling around like fog. See the Google map below to find out just how far!ĭonn and his friend Henry Condon walked ahead of the group and reached Baxter Peak on Mt. He wandered far off this map to the north over the next 9 days. Donn crossed the Saddle Trail at least once while coming down. You can see the Saddle Trail headed in that direction. Donn wandered north into the Great Basin area. The Hunt Trail that Donn climbed the mountain on approaches it from the left. Compare this one with the Google map below. This map can be hard to read in spots, but it gives you an idea of the area. Her very existence haunts Prince Leopold, the Queen's son, who is driven to know more about the mysterious mark that encircles her wrist. Rieker has secrets of his own, and Tiki is not all that she appears to be. Unbeknownst to Tiki, she is being watched-and protected-by Rieker, a fellow thief who suspects she is involved in the disappearance of the ring. With the ring missing, a rebel group of faeries hopes to break the treaty with dark magic and blood-Tiki's blood. For the ring belongs to Queen Victoria, and it binds the rulers of England and the realm of Faerie to peace. One December night, Tiki steals a ring, and sets off a chain of events that could lead to all-out war with the Fey. Their only means of survival is by picking pockets. The year is 1871, and Tiki has been making a home for herself and her family of orphans in a deserted hideaway adjoining Charing Cross Station in central London. Debut novelist Kiki Hamilton takes readers from the gritty slums and glittering ballrooms of Victorian London to the beguiling but menacing Otherworld of the Fey in this spellbinding tale of romance, suspense, and danger. |