![]() ![]() They told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole: how all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house into the dining-room how he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden how there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house! Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note, and sometimes Ilbereth the Elf would write in his elegant flowing script, adding yet more life and humour to the stories. ![]() Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful coloured drawing or some sketches. Every December an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R.Tolkien’s children. The first ever paperback edition of Tolkien’s complete Father Christmas letters, including a new introduction and rare archive materials. ![]()
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![]() This is the story behind the birth of the Cold War, and the U.S.-led liberal global order, told with verve, insight, and resonance for today. In the process, they would drive the creation of NATO, the European Union, and a Western identity that continues to shape world events. Their massive, costly, and ambitious undertaking would confront Europeans and Americans alike with a vision at odds with their history and self-conceptions. Marshall set out to reconstruct western Europe as a bulwark against communist authoritarianism. officials under new Secretary of State George C. ![]() With Britain's empire collapsing and Stalin's ascendant, U.S. A polished and masterly work of historical narrative, The Marshall Plan is an instant classic of Cold War literature. ![]() ![]() ![]() The Commonwealth Saga duology concludes with Judas Unchained. However, what if there was a very good reason to seal off an entire star system? Also, getting in could prove easier than the worst possible outcome - stopping something else from getting out. Yet who - or what - has that sort of technology? And what could this mean for us? Only a faster-than-light starship, captained by ex-NASA astronaut Wilson Kime, can reach that distance to investigate. ![]() Then a star over a thousand light years away suddenly vanishes, imprisoned inside a force field of immense size. For the first time in mankind's history there is peace. Earth AD 2329: Humanity has colonized over four hundred planets, all interlinked by wormholes. The Starflyer, an alien with mind-control abilities impossible. At the edge of the galaxy something awakens - and it's coming for us. In the star-spanning civilization known as the Intersolar Commonwealth, twenty-three planets have fallen victim to the Prime, a technologically advanced alien species genetically hardwired to exterminate all other forms of life. Hamilton's epic Commonwealth Saga duology - a fantastic galaxy-spanning novel from the master of space opera. Pandora's Star is the first part of Peter F. ![]() ![]() ![]() People who have their eye on short-term, contemporary events and the world around us tend to forget this. It contains the seeds of its own destruction.” Brilliant. ![]() He says, “The body politic, like the body of a man, begins to die as soon as it is born. The key quotation is from Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Sooner or later they fall apart and are replaced by something else. States always collapse and disappear, sometimes very quickly, sometimes after centuries or millennia, but they have a finite term in any part of the world. Not just kingdoms but empires, republics – polities of any sort which have ceased to exist. Will you begin by telling us about your book, Vanished Kingdoms: The Rise and Fall of States and Nations, and what these “vanished kingdoms” are? Foreign Policy & International Relations. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The author manages to convey to the reader the thoughts, feelings and purpose of a Arab leader who dominated his world. Of course, the one burning issue for Saladin was the eviction of the Franks from the mid-east, especially the regaining of Jerusalem for the “True Believers”.I found this an educational and enlightening read. Thus we are given a great overview of the Muslim world from the politics and intrigues of the day, to life in and around the palaces of this sultan. The book details his life by allowing us to hear his stories as he dictates to his scribe.We follow not only the life of Saladin, but the life of those closest to him and the scribe as well. Saladin has brought a Jewish scribe into his life for the singular purpose of writing down his memoirs. The Book of Saladin is a novel about the life of Yusaf Salah-ad-din Ibn Ayyub, known as Saladin to the Franks or Crusaders. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Let’s take a look at some of the characters. The pacing is okay but fifty pages or more could easily be edited out of each book. These are the first two books in a lengthy series and responsible for a lot of world-building, but the ratio of questions : answers is still off. There are several subplots involving mysterious artifacts hidden in mysterious places for mysterious reasons. Their grandparents are two in a long line of caretakers looking to find an heir of sorts to eventually replace them. The general idea behind Fablehaven is cool: two kids, Seth and Kendra, visit their paternal grandparents over the summer and discover their rural property in the eastern United States, dubbed Fablehaven, is one of many worldwide preserves that serve as safe places for magical creatures and beings. ![]() Therefore, this post will cover both books one and two. After starting my review of the first installment I realized that A) the primary issues I have with Book 1 persist throughout Book 2, and B) I don’t plan on continuing with the series or picking anything up by this author again. My original intention was to individually review every book in the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. Fablehaven (Book 1) by Brandon Mull, ⭐ || Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven Book 2) by Brandon Mull, ⭐ ![]() ![]() ![]() World of Solaria Reading Order: Here’s a quick list of t …more Hi there! Thanks for wanting to dive into our books :) here is the reading order suggestions. Be the first to get teasers of upcoming books, plus interact with us daily, asks us questions, make friends with other book junkies and find your reader home.įor all business inquiries please contact us more information check out my website here >Ĭaroline Peckham Hi there! Thanks for wanting to dive into our books :) here is the reading order suggestions. Me and my sister Susanne Valenti now write books together and we've built the most amazing, fun, crazy reader group on Facebook which we would LOVE you to join. I write all things dark romance, from fantasy to contemporary, high school bully to mafia, there's bound to be a book for you! For all business inquiries please contact us at> For more information ch I'm a #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Zodiac Academy series. ![]() Be the first to get teasers of upcoming books, plus interact with us daily, asks us questions, make friends with other book junkies and find your reader home. ![]() I write all things dark romance, from fantasy to contemporary, high school bully to mafia, there's bound to be a book for you! Me and my sister Susanne Valenti now write books together and we've built the most amazing, fun, crazy reader group on Facebook which we would LOVE you to join. ![]() I'm a #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Zodiac Academy series. ![]() ![]() ![]() Further, Humpty Dumpty's attempt to decode the poem doesn't do much to illuminate it-while he defines many of the words, the fact remains that about half of the words and all of the creatures in the poem are made up. To illustrate this, even Alice remarks, upon reading it, that "It seems very pretty, but it's rather hard to understand!" The narrator even notes that Alice has no real idea of what she's reading, but she can enjoy it nonetheless. As the poem comes up again and again in various points throughout the novel, it continually plays with the rules of Looking-glass World and, in general, proves the novel's broader point that literature or poetry only needs to be fun it doesn't need to make sense. She initially thinks that it's written in a different language, but quickly discovers that it's just in reverse-holding it up to a mirror allows her to read it. ![]() Alice first encounters the poem "Jabberwocky" after she climbs through the looking-glass and into Looking-glass House. ![]() ![]() This one starts most promisingly: “Nothing happens by accident.”” The inimitable Nan Talese Pat’s editor who brought us the most incredible fiction from Pat’s mind and soul…Īnd then Booklist tops it all: “Conroy fleshes out the almost impossibly dramatic details of each of the friends’ lives in this vast, intricate story, and he reveals truths about love, lust, classism, racism, religion, and what it means to be shaped by a particular place, be it Charleston, South Carolina, or anywhere else in the U.S. The title refers, meaningfully, to a section of Charleston, S.C., and, as with so many Southern tales, one great story begets another and another. “First novel in 14 years from the gifted spinner of Southern tales (Beach Music, 1995, etc.)-a tail-wagging shaggy dog at turns mock-epic and gothic, beautifully written throughout. South of Broad was, at the time of its launch in August 2009, one of the most controversial novels Pat Conroy ever wrote. Reviewers everywhere were split on its literary value but Kirkus Reviews managed to make sense of the many parallel running plots: Here signing South of Broad at Doubleday in 2009 with Random House “publicist extraordinary” Todd Daugherty who had a long and great relationship with Pat… ![]() Pat Conroy never tired of signing books for his readers. ![]() ![]() ![]() Nazi Germany's desire for aggressive territorial expansionism was one of the most important causes of World War II. The establishment of the Neuordnung had already begun long before the start of World War II, but it was publicly proclaimed by Adolf Hitler in 1941: "The year 1941 will be, I am convinced, the historical year of a great European New Order!" Īmong other things, it entailed the creation of a pan-German racial state, structured according to Nazi ideology, to ensure the existence of a perceived Aryan- Nordic master race, consolidate a massive territorial expansion into Central and Eastern Europe through colonization by German settlers, achieve the physical annihilation of Jews, Slavs (especially Poles and Russians), Roma ("gypsies"), and other people whose lives were considered " unworthy of life", as well as the extermination, expulsion or enslavement of most of the Slavic peoples and other people who were considered " racially inferior". ![]() ![]() The New Order ( German: Neuordnung) of Europe was the political order that Nazi Germany wanted to impose on the areas of Europe that were conquered and therefore under its dominion. ![]() |