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| 9780525955023
| 052595502X
| 3.39
| 1,515
| Oct 06, 2015
| Oct 06, 2015
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it was amazing
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Shit bits (suck up identified!): Q: Whereas profanity lends credibility to our speech; (This is what Joe Biden knows. A speech is a lot more memorable if Shit bits (suck up identified!): Q: Whereas profanity lends credibility to our speech; (This is what Joe Biden knows. A speech is a lot more memorable if it contains a well-placed “damn.”) (c) A speech is even better than that if it contains a misplaced Joe Biden meeting imaginary friends and shaking hands with air. Stellar tidbits: Q: You are NASA. Your schedule is filled with rocket launches. For god’s sake, get those sons of bitches off the ground on time. (c) Q: Ultimately, a speech is a conversation—with a whole lot of people who are refusing to participate in the chat. (c) A to reread, to reread, to multiply reread. As muchas humanly possible. Love it all: the frankness, the freshness, the attention to details, the tiny details. Okay, maybe not the part about alcohol: it's bad for you no matter where it is that you drink it but the rest is megacool. Q: Someone Crying at Work Understand that crying is part of an important physical response to stress that makes us feel better. As intense and sad as it appears, crying is the beginning of feeling better. And so let them cry. Do not say, “Please stop crying.” or even “There’s no need to cry.” Crying is cathartic. You don’t want to suppress it. But do not acknowledge the crying. Speak as if there is no crying. And keep speaking until they stop crying or excuse themselves. And take the focus off them. Talk about once being in a similar situation. Tell a parable if you have to. Recite the Gettysburg Address if you have to, but keep talking. Take the spotlight, which only increases their embarrassment and likely mortification, off them. (c) Now this is a good advice, I think. No worse than the rest of the alternatives. Now, once I worked with a girl who cried for days. Seriously, she would be crying as she worked. For days on end. Well, she did have a hormonal problem which does steep up the emonality degree so that's how it went for her. And us. Since you know, there were tons of people, milling around, sitting around, working... And here she is, sniff-sniff, waterworks full on. I dunno, I think there were many people around who felt roughly the same as her (if one judges by what people were saying, how they looked (death warmed up not nearly enough to resemble life) and corroborates that via all meds being left routinely left around on people's tables which included all kinds serotonin modificatords, antistress syrops/tablets/etc, nootropics, heart attack meds etc.). So, I think we all just tuned her out, mostly. Like, she needs to cry, OK, whatever. We all feel like it but NOT TODAY. And don't get me started on people sleeping/having crying jags in toilets. Stress is a bitch. Nice tidbits. Q: Your career is too short for limp pitches. Q: there’s a way to be passionate without seeming crazy. It involves what absolutely no expert refers to as the “enthuse, temper, enthuse” approach, or ETE. The idea is to occasionally, and quite explicitly, undercut your passion with self-deprecation or even hedging. When you’re talking passionately about your product, idea, or business, you need to tone down the enthusiasm, so that it’s obvious to your audience that you aren’t on some one-track mission to convince everyone of your own brilliance. On the highway of enthusiasm, you need to stop every now and then and stretch your legs, take a restroom break, buy some beef jerky. You need to relax and look around. By acknowledging—even vaguely—that your idea is not The Great Idea but one in a cosmos of good ideas, you’re making your notion even more appealing. You’re placing it in a sane context—the context of the rigor that it will take to get the idea off the ground. (c) Q: Here’s the third thing that will decrease your anxiety and make you better a pitching: Everyone in the room wants you to succeed. They want to be using their time to listen to a great idea. Which means you immediately know if it’s not working. You either get nothing or you get something. If your pitch doesn’t work, you’ll know. Because the bar is so low and because everyone wants you to deliver a good pitch, if you get nothing and you have nothing else to give, then it’s over. If it’s being received well, of course, you’ll get some sort of positive reaction, even if it’s only a raised eyebrow or a nod of a head. (c) Q: As he looked at me, he told me what my name was, presumably so he could commit it to memory. Twice. And then he kept shaking my hand. (c) Q: This is a classic motivational speaker move: In an attempt to create a meaningful connection, they overstep and make the connection meaningful in the worst possible way. (Rule: In an intimate setting, motivational speakers are always demoralizing.) (c) Q: Someone Who Has Asked You an Indiscreet Question About Your Company at a Party Pick one: “You never know.” “Hard to say.” “It depends on so many factors.” “You gotta do what you gotta do.” “What led to you wondering about that?” “But don’t you think that’s only part of the story?” “We do what we can.” (c) Q: The way to make the most of a conversation with a famous person is the way to talk to anyone: You think of the thing that they do all day long but that no one ever asks them about. Their answers will be rich and substantive because they have thought about these things every way there is to think about them. The singer has tons of thoughts on rehearsal, on how to stalk a stage, on looking at fans. The plumber has tons of thoughts on gravity. The insurance agent has tons of thoughts on risk. ... People love talking about what they actually do for a living. Not their jobs but their work. (c) Q: he concept of sprezzatura was introduced by sixteenth-century Italian courtier Baldassare Castiglione in The Book of the Courtier, a sort of Miss Manners guide for court during the Renaissance. From the text: “Avoid affectation in every way possible . . . [and] practice in all things a certain sprezzatura [nonchalance] so as to conceal all art and make whatever is done or said appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it.” ... Sprezzatura allows for—and, more important, promotes—whimsy, messiness, flaws. Your tie is askew. Sprezzatura. Your shirt is a little untucked? Sprezzatura. Those prints don’t mix? Sprezzatura. You’re accidentally wearing your shirt inside out? Just call it sprezzatura and go about your day. Sprezzatura endorses comfort, individuality, contradiction, wrinkles. (c) The 50Cent notes are worthy of a special category (I'm not sure I buy this but it's interesting): Q: How to describe the toothy smile of 50 Cent in person? Let’s see: Imagine forty kittens winking. Or a sunflower giving you a thumbs-up. Or a panda saying “Nice to meet ya!” as he tips his hat because this panda is dressed like Dick Van Dyke in the “strolling in the park” scene in Mary Poppins. (c) Q: As we were talking, every time the drilling, hammering, grinding, would start up, he would simply grab the recording device and hold it up to his mouth as he spoke. It was a subtle, thoughtful, helpful thing. And it suggested that he was a partner as much as a subject. ... The way to talk to important people is to recognize that you are their equal. (c) Q: “Don’t wait for them to tell you. Tell them.” (c) ...more |
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Jun 15, 2022
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Jun 15, 2022
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Jun 15, 2022
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| 073871898X
| 9780738718989
| 073871898X
| 4.22
| 36
| Jan 08, 2010
| Jan 08, 2010
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it was amazing
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May 02, 2021
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May 02, 2021
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May 04, 2021
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| 1577311361
| 9781577311362
| 1577311361
| 4.13
| 381
| Apr 18, 2001
| Jun 09, 2001
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it was amazing
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Such a lovely tiny book, written with love (it literally emanates from the pages) and from a bona fide psychic. Yeah, I remember the case of 'Those wh Such a lovely tiny book, written with love (it literally emanates from the pages) and from a bona fide psychic. Yeah, I remember the case of 'Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand', well, that's not the case here. So, I got my new fav under the guise of this tiny volume. The title, it really well summarizes the gist. The most important one-liner I've ever seen. Q: Why? I have come to believe that it's because intuition is that part of us that is connected to the divine. When our souls were created, the source that created us took a part of its energy and breathed eternal life into us. This part of us is commonly referred to as our Higher Self or the God within.* This voice of God, which the Bible refers to as a "still, small voice" (I Kings 19:12) is our guide, our compass, our way shower, our intuition. (c) Q: It's not a chatty voice or an intellectual voice and, in fact, it doesn't really come in the form of sound. It's more like a thought that comes from inside your stomach. It's usually quick and to the point. (c) Q: By listening to my internal voice regarding all my business decisions, I've always ended up in the right place at the right time, meeting the right people and doing the right thing. (c) Q: Many of us go to church or synagogue every week, do the rituals we've been taught, say the memorized prayers at the appropriate times, and believe that the hour per week we spend "worshipping God" is all that we need to have a fulfilling intimate relationship with our creator. But look at it this way: If you're trying to have a relationship with someone but only see them once a week for about twenty minutes (we're subtracting time here for weekly announcements, choir time, collection plate time, greeting and good-bye time, and so on), it's absurd. (c) Q: God's number isn't 911. If we truly want to walk a fulfilling spiritual path we have to develop a deeper relationship with God. We can't just turn to God in times of crisis. (c) Q: Your intuition will guide you with all questions concerning your love life - where you'll meet the next significant person in your life, who you should and shouldn't date, who you should and shouldn't marry, when it's time to break off a relationship, and when you should stay with it. … If you want to meet someone significant, you need to tell God you're ready and then you need to pay attention. Your inner voice will give you a nudge to call so and so, or maybe direct you to go to a certain place, or join a specific dating service, or put an ad in the paper. It nudges us through our gut feelings to take the steps we need to in order to meet that certain someone. (c) Q: No one has ever argued with me about salary. (c) Sounds fun! Q: My fears got in the way as well: What if I couldn't read him, what if no healing energy came out of my hands, and how on earth could I lose thirty pounds and a face full of wrinkles by 4:00 PM.? (c) Q: Any and all financial decisions can be made through your intuition. It's like having your own personal banker in your front pocket at all times, except this one loves you unconditionally, knows what's coming up for you, and doesn't charge a monthly fee for all that advice. (c) Q: I clearly heard my inner voice ask, Are you going to listen to the fears of the world or are you going to get to work? (c) Q: The trouble is that most of us have so many different voices inside that it's hard to know which one is God's. Over the course of our lives, we internalize the voices of so many others parents, siblings, friends, our inner child and we deem them conscience. There are all the voices from society, the church, our teachers, the government, our bosses, the neighbors, our significant other, that tell us what to do in any given situation. And then there are all the internalized voices of the various emotions we experience, such as fear, anger, or sadness. All these voices can mask what the inner voice is trying to say. (c) Q: When the inner voice speaks, no matter what it has to tell us, it's always calm and without emotion. Even when a message appears to be negative, if you can calm yourself down and really listen, you'll sense the calmness in the voice and know that your intuition is speaking. (c) Q: Sometimes when there are too many voices and too much pressure, you just have to take a walk and ask God to clear you of all the chattering voices and help you see what's best in this situation. Just focus on your gut and ask, "Should I buy this vehicle? Yes or no?" You'll get a feeling, an inner knowing, when you ask and pay attention to the answer, and it will always feel like the right thing to do. God knows what your future finances and responsibilities are going to be, knows if you're going to get a raise or lose your job. He/She also knows if there's a better price or better vehicle somewhere else. Or perhaps He/She has a different plan entirely (which will always be for your highest good). And by the way, God would never tell you you don't deserve something. It's not in God's vocabulary. Jesus said, "Ask and you shall receive." He didn't say, "Ask and you shall receive if you deserve it." (c) Q: Listening to your intuition isn't selfish, it's wise. The people around you may be disappointed when you change your plans, but in the long run, they will understand that you are following your guidance, and you will serve as an example to them, perhaps even an inspiration, showing them how to live by listening to their intuition. (c) Q: The mind sees things from a limited three-dimensional viewpoint; intuition is based on higher, more comprehensive reasoning. As hard as it is to accept sometimes, it helps to remind your mind that your inner guidance knows what's going on at all times. Talk to your mind tell it that if it would just cooperate with your divine intelligence, the two would make a truly great team. (с) Q: In order to see future events, a psychic has to be able to be emotionally detached from their life and to not care what's coming. That can be very hard to do in one's own life. (c) Q: Remember: Clairvoyance is seeing pictures, visions, and images. Clairaudience is hearing thoughts from different sources the living, the dead, the spirit realm. Clairsentience is sensing information. Intuition is inner knowing. (c) Q: Ask for guidance from your guides as you would ask a friend for guidance. Don't make it a formal prayer, or a prayer of any kind. Guides don't like it when you pray to them they are friends to your soul, and they are not God, and not to be confused with God. If you want or need help with major issues in your life, go directly to the Source, and pray to God. If you want daily guidance and companionship, talk to your guides and you'll never walk alone. (c) Q: How do we get a dialogue going with our personal God? By talking. Talk while you're driving the car or riding your bike. Talk in the shower, in the garden, working around the house, walking the dog. Talk, knowing He/She is listening. Talk to Him/Her like you would to a best friend, a confidant, a loving parent, the source who created you and loves you unconditionally. Your conversations with God don't have to be formal, or structured. Talk about your day, about your thoughts and feelings. Share who you are, and what your dreams are. Ask for advice if you need it. Talk things over. The part of the relationship we often call prayer is simply talking. The other part of the conversation is just like any other: Listen. Give God time to respond. Don't expect a deep thundering voice from on high. Listen for anything, as attentive as you can be. (c) Q: For the rest of our lives, we walk hand in hand with this presence, always knowing that no matter what happens to us during our lifetimes on Earth, we're here for our highest good and our experiences are providing us with invaluable life lessons. (c) Q: "Please clear my mind. Please clear my mind." Now, continue to take these relaxing breaths and ask the Universe to please clear your body. "Please clear my body." Next, ask it to please clear your soul. "Please clear my soul." If you need to do it again, then do it. The point of this is to get rid of the day's "stuff" so that you can go into that secret place without being distracted by the day or by thoughts of other people. Now you're ready for the meditation. Sit wherever you're comfortable, take everything off of your lap, uncross your legs and arms, take a couple more relaxing breaths, relax your shoulders and forehead, and with your eyes closed (hard to do that and read a book, I know!) focus on your solar plexus. Use your imagination and visualize a white light, similar to a flame on a candle. Just sit for a while and focus on it. Now imagine that the light is growing with each breath you take. Imagine it has a light, playful, creative, loving feeling to it as you focus on it, and continue to see the light growing and growing, until it becomes so big it envelops your whole being. Just let yourself be in this presence, and whenever your mind starts to wander, bring it right back to focusing on the light within you and around you. Every living creature has this light within itself, so you're not creating something that isn't there. After a while, when you come into this secret place, you'll automatically see the light and know it's for real. Keep your focus on the light, and, at some point, ask yourself if you sense a voice within the light. If so, listen to what it has to say to you. (c) Q: ...more |
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Aug 21, 2019
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Aug 21, 2019
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Aug 21, 2019
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| 177022906X
| 9781770229068
| B01C40X10E
| 4.04
| 259
| unknown
| Mar 01, 2016
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it was amazing
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Q: Life is beautifully unexpected and we never know where our path might take us. (c) Q: To my dream givers, you have become my family and there are no w Q: Life is beautifully unexpected and we never know where our path might take us. (c) Q: To my dream givers, you have become my family and there are no words to describe how grateful I am to you for enabling me to live my dreams. (c) Q: Wherever I’ve been, my running shoes have allowed me to experience first-hand interactions with local communities and cultures. Running through the Gobi, Madagascar, Chile, Egypt, Nepal and Hong Kong has just been mind-blowing. It’s changed my whole perspective on life, and it’s certainly made it crystal clear that material wealth is not the key to happiness. The problem with the world these days is that it’s driven by greed and ego. It’s such a short-sighted and pointless way to live your life, isn’t it? I’m not going to be able to take any money to the grave with me. (c) From the foreword: Q: In this book, Ryan Sandes introduces us to the crazy. And his story raises questions that seriously challenge our comfortable understanding of what determines ultra-endurance performance and how you train to get there. (c) Q: ... a complete novice becoming a world-leading competitor in extreme ultra-distance racing within a year of taking his first step as a more serious runner. And then becoming as successful at single-day ultra-marathon trail races, which demand a quite different set of skills and abilities … Everything we know about human biology tells us that the rapidity with which Ryan Sandes progressed from utter novice to world-leading athlete in this discipline simply cannot happen. It is a statistical and logical impossibility. (c) Q: The next option is that Ryan has a unique biology, so that even if he is not the fastest distance racer in the race, he tires less rapidly – that is, he has greater fatigue resistance. But this is merely a statement of the obvious, as this is clearly the reason why he is able to outlast his opposition. But this does not help, since we remain in the dark about the exact biological factors that explain superior fatigue resistance. Is it in the muscles and the heart, for example? Or is it in Ryan’s mind? Or does a unique biology allow Ryan to recover more quickly after each race stage so that he is less fatigued at the start of each subsequent stage and so can again perform better than his competition? If this is so, to what extent is it a genetic gift or due to more training? I doubt that training can be the factor, as all the athletes whom Ryan races against are among the hardest-training athletes on the planet. You don’t out-train those guys. So training is unlikely to be the sole explanation for Ryan’s performances (c) Q: When we developed the Central Governor Model of Exercise, we realised that the fatigue we experience during exercise is a mental construct of our own brains, the goal of which is to ensure that we don’t overdo the exercise and so damage ourselves. As a result, the discomfort we feel is unique to each of us – only we know exactly how we feel during exercise. We have no reason to believe that the sensations our own brain generates to regulate our exercise performance will be exactly the same as everyone else’s. Or, indeed, identical to those of even one other runner on earth. And therein lies the clue. Ryan’s success requires that the mental strategies he uses to regulate his exercise performance are different from those the rest of us use. In particular, he must have an astonishing ability never to doubt his own ability, even when running by himself in the solitude of his own thoughts in the world’s toughest environments for days on end. To a large extent, his self-belief must be innate, since it was clearly already apparent and very well developed in the first few hours of his first multistage race in the Gobi Desert in June 2008. (c) Inspiring advice for runners from an extraordinary runner who knows how to shoulder a lot of day to day running stuff and more. Fun stuff. A lot of advice in here can be ealily seen as interdisciplinary. Takeouts ('Stuff I’ve learnt'): Q: The importance of balance in life. The one great privilege about being an ultra-trail runner is that it gives you a helluva lot of time to think about things. Spending four or five hours running on a mountain gives you plenty of time to ponder the complexities of life. (c) Q: Relax a little more – be flexible ... Just go with the flow. (c) Q: One grain of sand … and one training session at a time... One grain of sand at a time leads to the whole dune completely shifting. ... Thinking back to those grains of sand helped, though. It helped to break it all down into small steps and just focus on getting through one training session at a time. I tried to block the rest out of my mind and maintain my focus on the moment. Small steps – one grain of sand at a time. Basic Psychology 101, sure, but it works. (c) Q: Running in sand is an art... (c) Q: You are your brain. ... Trick your brain. (c) Q: Recovery is key. (c) Q: Find a happy place. If you’re really suffering, take a step or two outside the pain cave and focus instead on the trail you’re running on. The great thing about outdoor sport is the outdoors, and you are inevitably surrounded by natural beauty. Find something in your field of view – an epic lake in the distance or majestic trees in a forest – and really try to focus on that. Keep a positive mindset and keep at bay the ‘what the hell am I doing here?’ demon. Once that thought pattern slips into your head, your whole day is going to get a lot harder. (c) Q: Always fill up your bottles (c) Q: Reccce your route (c) Q: It’s a motivator As your journal grows with accumulated miles, the actual physical evidence of the hours of effort will be a source of pride and motivation to keep going (c) Q: Don’t micro-manage the trail (c) Hilarious stuff: Q: One totally unexpected ‘snake’ belonged to a French competitor who, as it turned out, was also a male stripper. Apparently he had a show booked in Paris soon after the race and had decided to keep his tool-in-trade well maintained during the race. That involved a thorough shave, which unfortunately backfired, as it caused him such bad bollock chafe that he had to withdraw or risk compromising his entire livelihood. (c) Q: Sneaky pee... (c) Quotes I loved: Q: It came at me out of the shadows. A snake … longer than I was. It looked like a cobra, but this was not the time for a close herpetological study. (c) Q: Because my surname is often pronounced ‘Saunders’, I was mixed up with another swarthy kid whose actual surname was Saunders, and my mother ended up breastfeeding this little imposter for the first day. (c) Q: Fortunately, I’ve never been one to be told what I’m incapable of, and I did walk again. In later years I even learnt to run a bit. (c) Q: There were even a few parties where I refused to leave without some kind of prize. I think the birthday kids’ poor moms eventually just wrapped something up and gave it to me. (с) Q: Nick was a free spirit who didn’t take life too seriously, and I reckon there’s definitely a lot of that in me. (c) Q: The story goes that when my dad first met my mom, Nick gave them a bit of a lecture about financial planning – my dad is fairly straight down the line – but they looked at him like he was crazy. (c) Q: When I’m out there on my own, running on some beautiful trail, feeling free and at one with my environment, it’s often Nick who will pop into my head. I wouldn’t say I’m the religious type, but I’m definitely spiritual, and my granddad and I have had the odd conversation out there. I definitely feel like he’s watching over me in some sense. Even a couple of times during races, when I’ve been tired and have wanted to start walking on a big climb, I would just picture him standing there telling me to flippin’ sort myself out and keep going. (c) Q: I was like one of those little dogs that doesn’t realise it’s half the size of the others and takes them all on. ... For me, it’s always been all or nothing. At least when it comes to sport. It’s the one area where I’ve always been able to express myself. (c) Q: You can be as talented as you like, but without putting in the hard yards, you will ultimately not be successful. (c) Q: ... not stressing too much about the race, and going in with a carefree and open mind, helped a lot too. (c) Q: I set myself a goal, but the problem is, it kind of consumes me when I do that. (c) Q: ... running brought me the same highs as partying, plus it felt healthy and like I was achieving something, and doing something credible and good. It made me feel as if I had a place in this world. (c) Q: I remember just lying there at the finish line – it must’ve been for over an hour – feeling incredibly nauseous and with a massive headache. I couldn’t get anything down and was really concerned that the medics would have to put me on a drip, which would’ve meant a time penalty, so I went to lie down behind the tents where no one could see me. (с) Q: They started shoving this state-of-the-art narcotics detector – a stick with a nail on the end – through all my running shoes. I could basically throw them away afterwards. Fortunately, they had not had access to this piece of hi-tech equipment when I passed through there the first time. And, once again, realising I still wasn’t an international drug smuggler, they somewhat reluctantly let me go. (c) Q: I had a plan. I trained. And I executed. Now all I had to do was apply that strategy to the rest of my life. (c) Q: After I’d finished the second day, I was lying in my hammock as most of the field began to come in, including a big group of UK soldiers. They were high-fiving each other at the finish line, only for them to start having fits a couple of hours later. They’d contracted severe heatstroke and had to be evacuated that night. Apparently, some of them were properly messed up. One guy, I later heard, ended up with some form of brain damage. (c) Q: I reckon it’s crucial to get to know other cultures around the world. I’d almost put more emphasis on that than school. Over the last eight years I personally have learnt more than I did at any school. (c) Q: I feel a lot more comfortable in my own skin and I don’t feel I have anything to prove. (c) Q: If there’s one piece of advice I can leave you with from all the ‘stuff I’ve learnt’, it’s this – I love what I do, and so should you. (c) Q: This time around, my attitude was to focus on enjoying myself and this spectacular place, and just kind of go with the flow a bit more. Whatever happened, nature would always be greater than me and anything can happen out there. I had to come to terms with that. (c) ...more |
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May 25, 2019
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May 25, 2019
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May 26, 2019
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Kindle Edition
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| 1783350121
| 9781783350124
| 1783350121
| 4.02
| 221
| Oct 03, 2013
| Oct 03, 2013
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it was amazing
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Q: ‘Having died, they buried him’ (c) and other things that go bump in the newspapers. And elsewhere. Q: The following did, however, appear: ‘Sir Vivia Q: ‘Having died, they buried him’ (c) and other things that go bump in the newspapers. And elsewhere. Q: The following did, however, appear: ‘Sir Vivian Fuchs For Antarctic’ (6 December 1963) and ‘Sir Vivian Fuchs At Palace’ (16 May 1968). (c) A discourse on the demerits of Jargonauting as the international mental sport. I totally loved how the author notes Newspeak and Gibberish and Gobbledegook are getting their unfair share of our minds: Q: At the 2010 general election, the Liberal Democrat manifesto offered voters ‘change that works for you’. Just to clarify, Nick Clegg explained that this meant ‘change that will make a difference’, presumably in contrast to change that makes no difference and to Gordon Brown’s ‘the change we choose’. (c) Q: There’s nothing new in the idea that politicians and civil servants use language to conceal rather than communicate. (c) Q: The 19th-century Tory politician George Canning is said to have included the phrase ‘he died poor’ in a tribute to William Pitt the Younger. This was much too straightforward for a Whitehall official, who changed the inscription to read: ‘He expired in indigent circumstances.’ More than 60 years ago, newspapers were poking fun at the following unintelligible government regulation: ‘In the Nuts (Unground) (Other than Groundnuts) Order, the expression nuts shall have reference to such nuts, other than groundnuts, as would, but for this Amending Order, not qualify as nuts (Unground) (Other than Groundnuts) by reason of their being nuts (Unground).’ (c) Nuts. Q: In more recent times, Labour’s ‘Interception Modernisation Programme’ became the coalition’s ‘Communications Capabilities Development Programme’. Modernisation and development: cool! What’s not to like? In fact, these were plans to allow the police and security services to monitor everyone’s emails and other online activities including social media, chatrooms and even computer games. My colleague Polly Toynbee warns people to look out for ‘killer words [that] flash out instant red alerts: reform, flexible, harmonise and modernise all signify their opposites’. Politicians use ‘reform’ for a reason: it carries a positive connotation. Not many people nowadays think the Great Reform Act of 1832 was a bad idea. Hence ‘NHS reforms’. A reader (a professor, in fact) accused the Guardian of ‘colluding in this Orwellian misuse of language’, adding: ‘Professional conservative wordsmiths manipulate our choice of words so as to frame the debate on their terms. Your role is to expose these tactics, not collude in them.’ I think he is right. (c) Q: as a matter of principle, one should always beware of parties with ‘liberal’ or ‘democratic’ in their name. They may turn out to be neither, as those of us who voted Lib Dem in 2010 were, alas, to discover. We also have a Conservative party that values making money above conservation (and everything else) and a Labour party most of whose MPs have never laboured at a normal job. (c) Q: ... there may be a connection between ever declining turnouts at elections and the rise of the android candidate, spouting jargon. (c) Q: The US and its allies, notably the mindlessly loyal UK, fight wars that aren’t actually wars, or winnable, such as the ‘war on drugs’ and the ‘war on terror’. But when they actually do go to war, it’s not called a war, but Operation Iraqi Freedom or, in Afghanistan, Operation Enduring Freedom. It remains to be seen how ‘enduring’ it is. Minipax (the Ministry of Peace) in Nineteen Eighty-Four would envy the US military’s mastery of its own version of Newspeak. A US Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with the destructive power of 250 Hiroshimas was ‘the Peacekeeper’. Note that this was not a weapon of mass destruction – WMDs are what the bad guy has (or, in the case of Saddam Hussein, didn’t have). We, of course, have a ‘deterrent’, although since the cold war it has been unclear who, if anyone, it is meant to deter, and from what. The English language is abused to shield us from the reality of war and death. Killing someone on your own side becomes ‘friendly fire’. Body bags are ‘transfer tubes’. Kidnapping becomes ‘extraordinary rendition’, torture is ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’. A ‘surgical strike’ misleadingly implies precision as well as the idea that something beneficent is being done. ‘Collateral damage’ means blowing people up. ‘Bomblets’ from cluster bombs, some dropped by UK planes despite denials by the government, lie scattered around Iraq to this day. Large parts of the media collude in this process. Fox News reporters were instructed to call suicide bombings ‘homicide bombings’ to divert attention from the bomber’s motives and US snipers ‘sharpshooters’ because of the possible negative connotations of the traditional term. (c) Academics vs the world: Q: Academics are even worse. In my first reporting job, straight out of university, it took six months for the news editor to cure me of writing 10 long words where five short ones would do, a habit I had acquired in a successful attempt to make my essays sound more impressive to the examiner. When I went back to university to do a master’s 25 years later, it took six months for my tutor to cure me of writing five short words where 10 long ones would do. (c) The rest of his findings are stellar, as well! Q: I have worked with plenty of successful journalists I would not trust to write a shopping list. (c) Q: It’s been a lifelong mission to create order out of chaos. And that’s what I mean by a quest for perfection. The chaos takes many forms. It might be sloppy syntax, a disregard for grammar or a fundamental misunderstanding of what grammar is. (c) Q: Clear, honest use of English has many enemies: politicians, business and marketing people, local authority and civil service jargonauts, rail companies, estate agents, academics … even some journalists. Thinking and writing in cliches, abusing and misusing language, assaulting us with gobbledegook, they are a powerful foe but we can beat them. (c) Q: fun stuff, such as the fact that an apostrophe is the difference between a company that knows its shit and a company that knows it’s shit, or the importance of capital letters to avoid ambiguity in such sentences as ‘I helped my Uncle Jack off his horse’. (c) Q: Purists might object to James Brown’s ‘I feel good – I knew that I would’ on the grounds that the adjective ‘good’ should strictly be the adverb ‘well’. Not only have such people got no soul, but they are also wrong. There’s a credible case for ‘I feel good’ because feel is a copular verb, which as I mentioned refers to states of being – most obviously be, but also act, appear, seem, and similar. As we have seen, copular verbs can take an adjective as complement (‘the baby is sleepy’). And good, my friends, is an adjective. Which is why ‘I act good’ (adjective – I pretend to be good) means something quite different from ‘I act well’ (adverb – I’m a good actor). (c) Q: It’s certainly, undoubtedly, very easy indeed to overdo adverbs. (c) Q: Thankfully, many of us happily await the day when such people finally notice that many adverbs can be used to govern the whole sentence or just the verb: unfortunately, sadly, thankfully, happily – and hopefully. Even the normally sensible Robert Allen, in How to Write Better English, says hopefully ‘is best reserved for spoken use, and should be avoided in more formal writing, if only to avoid causing irritation to language purists who might be reading’. Hopefully, you will agree with me that they deserve all the irritation they get. (c) Q: Some armchair grammarians also get worked up about the position of focusing adverbs, suggesting for example that ‘I Only Have Eyes for You’ should have been written ‘I Have Eyes for Only You’. HW Fowler called such people ‘those friends from whom the English language may well pray to be saved’. In such cases, any sensible person would know the meaning at once from the context. But where you place the adverb can sometimes make a difference. Compare: ‘Rubbing it with a dock leaf will only ease the pain.’ (It won’t cure it.) ‘Only rubbing it with a dock leaf will ease the pain.’ (Nothing else will do.) (c) Q: If you see any of the following examples in a newspaper, alarm bells should be ringing: apparently (to whom?), evidently (what evidence?), reportedly (reported by whom?). (c) Q: Distinguished Guardian commentators are by no means immune from this kind of thing: ‘The challenge for Ed Miliband is how to capture the right tone of indignation at this injustice and class bias, how witheringly to crush the wilful ignorance of Tory backbenchers …’ This sentence might mean one of two things: the challenge for Ed Miliband is how witheringly he should crush the wilfully ignorant Tories – a lot, or a little bit? – or how best to crush them witheringly. Knowing the writer, she probably means the latter – in which case, why not say so? ‘The challenge for Ed Miliband is how to capture the right tone of indignation at this injustice and class bias, how to witheringly crush the wilful ignorance of Tory backbenchers …’ does the job neatly and unambiguously. (c) Q: Following a ‘rule’ that confuses the reader is barmy. The last word on the subject goes to George Bernard Shaw who, after an editor tinkered with his infinitives, declared: ‘I don’t care if he is made to go quickly, or to quickly go – but go he must!’ (c) Q: It turned out that a writing guide for press releases and internal communication had advised: ‘As a general rule, do not use the serial/Oxford comma: so write “a, b and c” not “a, b, and c”.’ It added, however, that such a comma might help clarify a sentence or resolve ambiguity, especially where an item in the list was already joined by ‘and’. So: he ate ham, eggs and toast; but he ate cereal, kippers, sausages, toast and marmalade, and a muffin. (c) Q: Sometimes an Oxford comma is essential to avoid ambiguity: ‘I dedicate this book to my parents, Martin Amis, and JK Rowling.’ (Try it without the comma after ‘Amis’.) But often it is neither use nor ornament: The Times, in an article about the late actor Peter Ustinov, is said to have referred to his ‘encounters with Nelson Mandela, a demigod and a dildo collector’. Inserting an Oxford comma after ‘demigod’, it is true, would make clear that Mandela does not collect dildos, but only at the risk of labelling him a demigod. In such cases, it’s easier to forget about the Oxford comma altogether and recast the sentence: ‘encounters with a demigod, a dildo collector and Nelson Mandela’ would fix the problem. (c) Q: I was taught that between applies only to two things, and among should be used for more than two – a rare example of Mrs Birtles getting it wrong. Between is appropriate when the relationship is reciprocal, however many parties are involved: an agreement between the countries of the EU, for example. Among belongs to collective relationships, as in votes equally shared among political parties. When fighting broke out at Wembley during the 2012/13 FA Cup semi-final, the punches appear to have been equally shared among the Millwall fans, so it sounded a bit odd when the Observer reported clashes ‘between Millwall fans’. So the 1927 Paul Whiteman song ‘Among My Souvenirs’ got it right. (c) Q: You don’t expect a politician being interviewed by Kirsty Wark about the economy to suddenly start paraphrasing Ludacris by saying he’s got his mind on his money and money on his mind, and adding, ‘You’se a hell of a distraction when you shake your behind.’ Although it might make Newsnight more entertaining. (c) Q: ‘This is the house that Jack built; but this house, which John built, is falling down.’ ‘The Guardian, which I read every day, is the paper that I admire above all others.’ ‘I am very proud of the sunflowers that I grew from seed’ (some of them); ‘I am very proud of the sunflowers, which I grew from seed’ (all of them). (c) Q: The back cover of the Penguin edition of Bill Bryson’s Mother Tongue contains the following recommendation from the Sunday Express: ‘A joyful celebration of our wonderful language, which is packed with curiosities and enlightenment on every page.’ The syntax suggests that our wonderful language, rather than the book, is packed with curiosities and enlightenment on every page. It should have been: ‘A joyful celebration of our wonderful language that is packed with curiosities and enlightenment on every page.' (c) Q: Though long-legged and possessing a lovely smile, gentleman journalists aren’t looking up her skirt and wouldn’t even if she weren’t gay. GUARDIAN Of several strange things about this sentence, which somehow found its way into the Guardian when everyone was asleep, not the least strange is the image conjured up of smiling, long-legged gentleman journalists. (c) Q: ‘Having died, they buried him’ is a simple example of a dangling or hanging participle because the participle having is left suspended too far from the pronoun it refers to, him, and instead clings to the adjacent pronoun they. The meaning is clear enough but it sounds silly, if not as silly as this: ‘This argument, says a middle-aged lady in a business suit called Marion …’ (What were her other outfits called?) (c) Q: ‘The book has been compared to All Quiet on the Western Front, A Farewell to Arms, The Red Badge of Courage, The Naked and the Dead, The Things They Carried: practically every classic war novel in the American canon.’ Another piece from the London Review of Books, this time a review by Theo Tait of The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers, tells us much more than if it had merely said the new book had been compared with the classic war novels – the choice of ‘compared to’ implies that it is of similar quality. The two phrases have usefully distinct meanings and, although ‘compare to’ can be replaced by ‘liken to’, it’s clumsier to replace ‘compare with’ with another phrase. (c) Q: People will understand you if you say things like ‘there were less than 200 of us’ but it may strike a jarring note, so don’t say you haven’t been warned. Observing this distinction also enables you to differentiate between ‘Do you have less able children in your class?’ (children who are less able) and ‘Do you have fewer able children in your class?’ (not so many able ones). (c) Q: The bad news is that English has lots of tenses, just like other languages. But we use auxiliary verbs (be, do, have, will) to make them. So, for example, you make the present continuous tense like this: ‘I am sitting.’ It’s the first person singular of the verb be, plus the present participle of the verb sit. And the name, though mildly worrying, turns out to be helpful: it’s happening now (present), and it’s going on (continuous). Easy peasy. Future tense? ‘I will sit’ (or, if you want to be a little more emphatic about it, ‘I shall sit’). Future continuous? Hmm … ‘I will be sitting.’ (I will be doing it in the future, and it will go on.) A few more: emphatic present (‘I do sit’); emphatic past (‘I did sit’); past continuous or imperfect (‘I was sitting’); present perfect (‘I have sat’); perfect continuous (‘I have been sitting’); past perfect or pluperfect (‘I had been sitting’); and future perfect (‘I will have sat’).So you add the infinitive, sit, the present participle, sitting, or the past participle, sat, to an auxiliary verb to get the right tense. If you substituted any other verb, the principle would be the same: the infinitive (write, for example), present participle (writing) or past participle (written) would be correct in place of sit, sitting or sat. Participles are tricky, which explains why Ernie Wise got so many laughs from the phrase ‘the book what I wrote’. Present participles usually end in -ing (writing, loving, fighting). But there are various endings, including irregular ones, for past participles (written, loved, fought), and sometimes they are the same as the past tense (as with sat). That doesn’t explain the fact that using sat when it should be sitting, as in the two examples at the start of this section, is so common. (c) Q: If you lay a table or an egg, or you lay something down, the past tense is laid, as is the past participle. If you lie down, the past tense is lay. The past participle is lain. (c) Q: A senior Tory has warned that David Cameron’s leadership would be at stake if the Conservative party loses next year’s European parliamentary elections, something most polls, political betting sites and Ukip have said was likely to happen. GUARDIAN This sentence, which appeared in the Guardian in May 2013, is a mess because the tenses are mixed up. That ‘was likely’ in particular sits about as comfortably as riding a bicycle with no saddle, because none of the other verbs are in the past tense. It should have read: ‘A senior Tory has warned that David Cameron’s leadership will be at stake if the Conservative party loses next year’s European parliamentary elections, something most polls, political betting sites and Ukip have said is likely to happen.’ The tenses are present perfect, present and future, which sit happily together. If you wanted to use the past tense, you could have said: ‘A senior Tory warned that David Cameron’s leadership would be at stake if the Conservative party lost next year’s European parliamentary elections, something most polls, political betting sites and Ukip said was likely to happen.’ The point is that you can’t just mix and match and hope for the best. (c) Q: Apostrophes are used in phrases such as two days’ time and 12 years’ jail, where the time period (two days) modifies a noun (time), but not in three weeks old or nine months pregnant, where the time period (three weeks) modifies an adjective (old). You can test this by trying the singular: one day’s time, but one month pregnant. (c) Q: Apostrophes are used in phrases such as two days’ time and 12 years’ jail, where the time period (two days) modifies a noun (time), but not in three weeks old or nine months pregnant, where the time period (three weeks) modifies an adjective (old). You can test this by trying the singular: one day’s time, but one month pregnant. (c) Q: ‘Do not administer any liquids which are diuretic’ (some liquids are permissible) and ‘Do not administer any liquids, which are diuretic’ (all liquids are forbidden). (c) Q: If you could use ‘and’ between adjectives in a list, use a comma: a bright red car doesn’t need one because you wouldn’t say ‘a bright and red car’; a tall, dark, handsome man does, because you could say ‘tall and dark and handsome’. This example from the Guardian shows how a misplaced comma in such a list can actually sabotage the intended meaning: ‘Neocon economists often claim a large, black economy turbo-powers growth.’ The writer meant a large black economy, not a large and black one, which is what this says. (c) Q: Estate agents are also very fond of the word ‘deceptively’, as in ‘deceptively spacious’, which I think means ‘not as small as it looks’ although the word is ambiguous: in a survey, half the respondents thought ‘deceptively easy’ meant easy, and half thought it meant hard. It is, therefore, rarely used by normal people. (c) Q: Unspeak Steven Poole, a Guardian colleague, coined this term to categorise language that conceals what the speaker really means, ‘smuggling in’ an opinion in which ‘a whole partisan argument is packed into a soundbite’, while at the same time attempting to rubbish one’s opponents by suggesting that there is only one way of looking at an issue. Examples he gives include ‘pro-life’ and ‘pro-choice’ in the abortion debate (who could possibly not be in favour of life and choice?). (c) ...more |
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I never knew this guy had synesthesia... Q: THE cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light I never knew this guy had synesthesia... Q: THE cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness. (c) Q: Nature expects a full-grown man to accept the two black voids, fore and aft, as stolidly as he accepts the extraordinary visions in between. Imagination, the supreme delight of the immortal and the immature, should be limited. In order to enjoy life, we should not enjoy it too much. (c) Q: AS FAR back as I remember myself (with interest, with amusement, seldom with admiration or disgust), I have been subject to mild hallucinations. Some are aural, others are optical, and by none have I profited much. The fatidic accents that restrained Socrates or egged on Joaneta Darc have degenerated with me to the level of something one happens to hear between lifting and clapping down the receiver of a busy party-line telephone. Just before falling asleep, I often become aware of a kind of one-sided conversation going on in an adjacent section of my mind, quite independently from the actual trend of my thoughts. It is a neutral, detached, anonymous voice, which I catch saying words of no importance to me whatever—an English or a Russian sentence, not even addressed to me, and so trivial that I hardly dare give samples, lest the flatness I wish to convey be marred by a molehill of sense. This silly phenomenon seems to be the auditory counterpart of certain praedormitary visions, which I also know well. What I mean is not the bright mental image (as, for instance, the face of a beloved parent long dead) conjured up by a wing-stroke of the will; that is one of the bravest movements a human spirit can make. Nor am I alluding to the so-called muscae volitantes—shadows cast upon the retinal rods by motes in the vitreous humor, which are seen as transparent threads drifting across the visual field. Perhaps nearer to the hypnagogic mirages I am thinking of is the colored spot, the stab of an afterimage, with which the lamp one has just turned off wounds the palpebral night. ... At times, however, my photisms take on a rather soothing flou quality, and then I see—projected, as it were, upon the inside of the eyelid—gray figures walking between beehives, or small black parrots gradually vanishing among mountain snows, or a mauve remoteness melting beyond moving masts. (c) Q: On top of all this I present a fine case of colored hearing. Perhaps “hearing” is not quite accurate, since the color sensation seems to be produced by the very act of my orally forming a given letter while I imagine its outline. The long a of the English alphabet (and it is this alphabet I have in mind farther on unless otherwise stated) has for me the tint of weathered wood, but a French a evokes polished ebony. This black group also includes hard g (vulcanized rubber) and r (a sooty rag being ripped). Oatmeal n, noodle-limp l, and the ivory-backed hand mirror of o take care of the whites. I am puzzled by my French on which I see as the brimming tension-surface of alcohol in a small glass. Passing on to the blue group, there is steely x, thundercloud z, and huckleberry k. Since a subtle interaction exists between sound and shape, I see q as browner than k, while s is not the light blue of c, but a curious mixture of azure and mother-of-pearl. Adjacent tints do not merge, and diphthongs do not have special colors of their own, unless represented by a single character in some other language (thus the fluffy-gray, three-stemmed Russian letter that stands for sh, a letter as old as the rushes of the Nile, influences its English representation). I hasten to complete my list before I am interrupted. In the green group, there are alder-leaf f, the unripe apple of p, and pistachio t. Dull green, combined somehow with violet, is the best I can do for w. The yellows comprise various e’s and i’s, creamy d, bright-golden y, and u, whose alphabetical value I can express only by “brassy with an olive sheen.” In the brown group, there are the rich rubbery tone of soft g, paler j, and the drab shoelace of h. Finally, among the reds, b has the tone called burnt sienna by painters, m is a fold of pink flannel, and today I have at last perfectly matched v with “Rose Quartz” in Maerz and Paul’s Dictionary of Color. The word for rainbow, a primary, but decidedly muddy, rainbow, is in my private language the hardly pronounceable: kzspygv. The first author to discuss audition colorée was, as far as I know, an albino physician in 1812, in Erlangen. The confessions of a synesthete must sound tedious and pretentious to those who are protected from such leakings and drafts by more solid walls than mine are. To my mother, though, this all seemed quite normal. The matter came up, one day in my seventh year, as I was using a heap of old alphabet blocks to build a tower. I casually remarked to her that their colors were all wrong. We discovered then that some of her letters had the same tint as mine and that, besides, she was optically affected by musical notes. These evoked no chromatisms in me whatsoever. Music, I regret to say, affects me merely as an arbitrary succession of more or less irritating sounds. (c) Q: One day, after a long illness, as I lay in bed still very weak, I found myself basking in an unusual euphoria of lightness and repose. I knew my mother had gone to buy me the daily present that made those convalescences so delightful. (c) Q: ...more |
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Q: My name is Radleigh Valentine, and I’m living a magical life. I would like to invite you to live there with me. (c) A lot of cool advice on how to ge Q: My name is Radleigh Valentine, and I’m living a magical life. I would like to invite you to live there with me. (c) A lot of cool advice on how to get out from one's lamp! Q: Archangel Ariel: If you’re concerned with manifesting what you need in this world from the standpoint of abundance, prosperity, or your material needs, Ariel is your gal. She’s also the protector of nature, including animals and the environment. Her name translates as “the lioness of God,” and she is associated with the color pale pink. Archangel Azrael: If you’re burdened with sorrow, have suffered a loss, or are in need of comfort and a way to get past what you’ve experienced, call upon Azrael. He is the most graceful and the most elegant of all the archangels. His name means “the mercy of God,” and he can help you or those you know in need find comfort. He is known for appearing in a creamy-white color. Archangel Chamuel: If you’ve lost something or are searching for something (the perfect job, the perfect mate, your car keys), Archangel Chamuel can come to your aid. His name means “the eyes of God,” and he can help you find anything you’re looking for. Resonating in a pale green color, he’s also the archangel to call if you’re trying to come to peace about something in your life. Archangel Gabriel: Archangel Gabriel is much like the patron archangel of creative people. If you are working on something artistic; are a creative type like an actor, a speaker, or a writer; or need to find the right words for a conversation, then Archangel Gabriel is perfect for you. She is also great if you need someone to help push you past procrastination and get stuff done. As she is the angel of the Annunciation, she is also known to work with people regarding pregnancy, birth, or adoption. Her associated color is copper, and her name means “the strength of God.” Archangel Haniel: Archangel Haniel’s name means the “grace of God.” If your concern is about growing your spiritual gifts and becoming more intuitive, then ask for her assistance. She can help with giving readings or doing them for yourself. She also specializes in women’s issues. She is known to appear in a silvery blue color. Archangel Jeremiel: Jeremiel is another archangel who’s awesome for developing your spiritual gifts, but who is also great at helping you review your life to date so that you can understand what changes you need to make. His name means “the mercy of God,” and his color is deep purple. Archangel Jophiel: Archangel Jophiel is the archangel of beauty. She can help you clean up your space and beautify any part of your life. Some call her the feng shui angel. I prefer to think of her as the archangel of positive thinking, because you can also call on her if your thoughts need cleaning up. As you might suspect, her name means “the beauty of God,” and she resonates to a fuchsia pink. Archangel Metatron: If you need help with time management, then Archangel Metatron will be of assistance. He can bend time for you so that you have more time to get a project done or arrive somewhere on time even if you left later than you meant to. He’s also known as the protector of children and very sensitive people. The meaning of his name is unclear. His color is a blend of violet and green. Archangel Michael: For those who are feeling unsafe, I recommend asking for the help of Archangel Michael, “he who is like God.” Known for helping protect us and also soothing our fears, Michael can sever unwanted connections to the past or to people you feel need to be safely and lovingly removed from your life. If you need self-confidence or clarity on your life purpose, call upon Michael. His color is a deep royal blue, sometimes seen with a hint of gold. Archangel Raguel: If your concern is clearing up an argument, resolving a misunderstanding, or just making sure that things go well among individuals or groups, Raguel is the right one to call. His name means “the friend of God,” and he can smooth over difficult interpersonal situations or even help you make new friends. His color is a pale, robin’s-egg blue. Archangel Raphael: Raphael, whose name means “God heals,” is the archangel for physical healing. So if you’re sick, in physical pain, or have other bodily ailments, he’s your guy. Raphael is also the archangel of safe travels, so you can call upon him while flying or driving long distances. He is also known as a bit of a matchmaker. I often suggest that people work with Raphael and Chamuel in partnership for issues of finding the right romantic partner. Raphael’s healing light is emerald green. Archangel Raziel: I always think of Raziel as a kind of wizard of the archangel realm. He’s very magical and can help you understand esoteric information, heal from past-life issues, or interpret your nighttime dreams. His name means “the secrets of God,” as he is said to sit at the throne of God, writing down all he hears. He radiates rainbow colors. Archangel Sandalphon: When you feel as though your prayers aren’t being heard or are being left unanswered, you can call upon Sandalphon, the archangel known to personally carry prayers to God. Ask him for help seeing, hearing, or knowing what the answers to your prayers are. He’s also the archangel associated with music, so musicians should take heed! Sandalphon means “brother together,” and he appears turquoise in color. Archangel Uriel: Do you need a brilliant idea? Are you seeking a true epiphany about what to do next or any aspect of your life? Then Archangel Uriel is there for you. Uriel is also known for emotional healing, so if you carry pain from the past you need to reconcile and work through, he can help. Along with Gabriel, he’s a great archangel to work with if you see yourself as a spiritual teacher. His name means “the light of God.” I see him as being a glittery golden color, though others perceive him as solid yellow. Archangel Zadkiel: Zadkiel, “the righteousness of God,” is the tutor of the archangel realm. Think of him as a kind of angelic ginkgo biloba! If your concern is taking tests, passing your exams in school, learning something new, or just remembering things, call upon Zadkiel, who is associated with deep indigo blue. He can also help you with forgiveness of yourself and others. (c) ...more |
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it was amazing
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A true talent never dies. Farewell 'My Secret Life', 'The Partisan', 'Nevermind'... So many wonderful people are no longer with us... LC was one of the A true talent never dies. Farewell 'My Secret Life', 'The Partisan', 'Nevermind'... So many wonderful people are no longer with us... LC was one of the mavericks. RIP! Christmas has come early this year for me. A postmortem edition of one of the most revered contemporary magicians of the word! Choosing between reading and not reading this one is no choice at all! A must read and a must reread god knows how many times. Q: On rare occasions The power was given me To send waves of emotion through the world. (c) Q: Let's say that on that lucky night I found my house in order and I could slip away unseen tho' burning with desire Escaping down a secret stair I cross into the forest the night is dark but I am safe - my house at last in order But luck or not, I do it right and no one sees me leaving hidden, blind and secret night - my heart the only beacon But O the beacon lights my way more surely than the sun, And She is waiting for me here - of all and all the only One ... (c) Q: And now that I kneel At the edge of my years Let me fall through the mirror of love And the things that I know Let them drift like the snow Let me dwell in the light that's above In the radiant light Where there's day and there's night And truth is the widest embrace That includes what is lost Includes what is found What you write and what you erase... (c) Q: I was always working steady But I never called it art I was funding my depression Meeting Jesus reading Marx ... It was nothing, it was business But it left an ugly mark So I've come here to revisit What happens to the heart (c) Q: My guitar stood up today and leaped into my arms to play a Spanish tune for dancers proud to stamp their feet and cry aloud against the fate that bends us down beneath the thorny bloody crown of sickness, age, and paranoid delusions I, for one, cannot avoid (c) ...more |
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| May 19, 2014
| Dec 10, 2014
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it was amazing
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YES! Another spectacular installment. I'm in a mindblinding bliss right now. When I'm done hibernating, I'll make a more detailed review! Crackgods, i. YES! Another spectacular installment. I'm in a mindblinding bliss right now. When I'm done hibernating, I'll make a more detailed review! Crackgods, i.e. cracked gods, literally. Walls for magic, the internal ones. I loved charming names for streets: - Ink Street, where all the ‘scribes, copyists, chandlers, and accountants’ live. - Street of Owls... I didn't particulartly like the honorific reference for 'Doma', which seems to have been coined from the Latin 'Domina'. I get the why and how this derivation took place but sort of don't like it. My pet peeves aside, the whole thing was juicy and charming, in the Tad Williams and Mercedes Lackey way. Q: Someone quick-witted. Someone with an almost inhuman will to survive. Someone who could inspire loyalty, even love. Someone with the ability to overcome desperate, brutal situations against hopeless odds. (c) Q: The Knife observed with keen interest the children who flooded the city, found no aid, and, crushed by the weight of destitution, desperation, and hunger, became petty thieves, then cunning criminals, then—as often as not—cold-eyed killers. But most keenly, it observed the handful that became consummate survivors. Those who died were not, of course, mourned though the Knife remembered them. The Knife remembered everything. (c) Q: I was home alone, savoring a nice Gol-Shen red and rereading Dubbuck’s epic and amusing Iron Witch, when someone came knocking at the door. (c) Q: The wine and the ale flowed freely, and the revelers, both men and women, seemed to have abandoned anything approaching morals or common sense. Many had also abandoned important parts of their attire, though everyone I could see still had on a mask of one sort or another. (c) Q: Q: The only way to be truly sure it was safe was to have somebody else open it with me in another room, but what can I say? The list of people I would use that way had grown remarkably short. (c) Q: I briefly considered slapping the lid back on and just living with the curiosity, but even as I was thinking it, I put three fingers into the loop and lifted up. (c) Q: You’d wind up sitting on your hands in some inn or public room when you could be here, trying to blow up half the city. (c) Q: Over the last year, I’d decided to limit myself to two knives on my person at any one time in an effort to better play the respectable woman of business role. It wasn’t easy. I felt, if not naked, at least under-dressed. (c) Q: Some people keep talismans. Some kids have a favorite doll. Knives comfort me, and I needed a bit of comfort, coming back to Bellarius. Don’t judge. (c) Q: Have I mentioned my suspicious nature? (c) Q: I’m a woman. I get to change my mind. Get used to it. (c) Q: I prefer any possible enemy to be as stupid as mossy rocks. (c) Q: Everybody in Hardside knew where to find her. It made it easier to avoid her. (c) Q: “You broke a Blade forged by a goddess, powerful enough, perhaps, to cleave the world in twain. I would very much like to know how you managed such a feat.” “I expressed my dislike for it using harsh language.” (c) Q: Handing out sound advice is generally a thankless task even with rational people. Try it with a mage sometime. (c) Q: “Um. That. Powerful and mysterious people appearing and disappearing, talking to you like you were a barrel full of gunpowder sitting next to a bonfire.” “Don’t be ridiculous,,,,Nobody talks to barrels. That would be crazy.” (c) Q: Were these traps set to keep me out, or keep me in, or just to do me in, whichever way I was going? (c) Q: So I have monsters on both sides of my heritage. (c) Q: “My father was unpredictable.” By which I meant irrational, which was a nice way of saying half-crazy. Among other things. (c) Q: Mysterious, powerful, nameless entities toying with my life kind of scared me spitless. (c) Q: Storm winds had started to blow in my soul. (c) Q: I’m not really up to date on the love lives of dead gods, sorry. (c) Q: I prefer to do the impossible before the unpleasant. (c) Q: “Do you remember the Cataclysm?” “Why do people always ask me that? How Kerf-damned old do I look?” (c) Q: What the renegade Philosophers who caused the Cataclysm a thousand years ago desired most was to understand the workings of reality itself. What they did not realize, sadly, is that which is observed is changed by the very fact of its observation. (c) Q: “I planned my assault with great care. Much good it did me.” “You flew into a window and tried to burn the Telemarch to a crisp. You call that planning?” (c) Q: That is the most spectacularly stupid idea I have ever heard in my life. (c) Q: I’ve got better, and less insane, things to do with my time. (c) Q: I put up with it until it got old. Which was about three seconds. (c) Q: Being able to tap that power didn’t make me a mage. It made me a disaster waiting to happen. (c) Q: I was, apparently, perched on the stone railing of a long balcony. To my right was the Bay of Bellarius, sparkling in the sun. To my left, graceful, stone arches and beyond them a big room. In the room was a big, white block of stone. Glowing runes chased each other across its surface. (c) Q: Would you have liked it better if I’d said, ‘Hello niece, I’m your long-lost uncle. By the way, I’m also a revolutionary leader, a middling mage, and I’ve got a sideline in hunting those responsible for the Purge. You know, on my idle days?’ (c) Q: I’ve no idea what exactly they were rioting about. I doubt they did either. … “I see. Is there a particular reason for that anarchy, or is it just an excess of high spirits?” (c) Q: “Amra my dear… We need to talk about your ideas on gardening.” ... “Why’s that?” “They are disturbing.” (c) Q: “…And the friend you came here to help?” “He’s fine. He’ll be trying to kill me any time now, but he’s fine.” “Well then. What’s next on the agenda?” (c) Q: “Amra?” “Yes?” “How do I put this delicately? You are very much a grown woman, but I’m not sure you should be let out of the house on your own any more.” (c) Q: “Can I ask why we’re about to kill the most powerful mage on the Dragonsea?” “Sure. If we don’t, the whole city will explode come morning. “Given the state it’s in right now, I’m not sure how you could tell the difference.” “Easy. Right now, there’s a mountain. In the morning, there’ll only be a smoking hole in the ground.” (c) Q: “You really are hard on knives … If I was Kalara’s Knife, Amra Thetys, I’d be very, very worried.” (c) Q: They were an ugly, hard, not-very-nice lot, but they were not, on the whole, stupid. Well, except for Moron. ... “You’d kill me just because somebody named Moron Fishhead didn’t like your leadership style? Really?” (c) Q: Nobody wants to be associated with an idiot. (c) Q: “Really? I was being sarcastic.” Really. I was being factual. (c) ...more |
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| 1944760180
| 9781944760182
| B01HU8DVU0
| 3.97
| 1,895
| Jul 01, 2003
| Jun 14, 2016
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it was amazing
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Sheer goodness!! Amra is on the roll and I'm with her! Great cover, btw. Q: I’ve never taken anything from someone who had less than I did. (c) Q: There’s Sheer goodness!! Amra is on the roll and I'm with her! Great cover, btw. Q: I’ve never taken anything from someone who had less than I did. (c) Q: There’s a thief down in Lucernis, likes to swear by my testicles, of all things. Annoyed me for years, that one. (c) Q: I never said I wouldn’t go,” I finally said. “I just said it was pointless. Where do we start? (c) Q: I suppose gods see most things differently. Who’s going to tell them they’re wrong? (c) Q: Whenever you say things like ‘attempt’ and ‘should be,’ my blood runs cold. (c) Q: I never said I wouldn’t go,” I finally said. “I just said it was pointless. Where do we start? (c) Q: No one else would be willing to attempt this. I need to keep that in mind and show my appreciation more.” “You can start by feeding me.” (c) Q: Thagoth wasn’t a city at all; it was a vast stone skeleton placed there by the gods for the wind to play with. (c) Q: I usually feel better when I know who I have to rob. Not this time. (c) Q: “I was. I am that person no more.” “A thousand years to think about it made you a new man?” (c) Q: Can a mirror see itself? Can a coin be minted so thin that it has no edge? Which is more important: words or the space between them? (c) Q: I don’t know what you’re talking about, and I’m starting to think you don't either. (c) Q: You were a very bad man, my friend. I’m glad you’re not still roaming around loose. (c) Q: Impatience struggled with natural curiosity. What did all these things have to do with one another, if anything? I tried to make the facts hang together. (c) Q: You tried it, and something went wrong. Now, there’s three of you. The Flame, the Shadow King, and you. Two sides to a coin and its edge. (c) Q: I suppose that would have been the perfect time, there on that ledge with the sun rising and the water lapping and a gentle breeze and all. (c) Q: “Why would you want to know?” “I’m working on my conversational skills. (c) Q: Change is nature’s way. (c) Q: What is right for you isn’t right for everyone. (c) Q: I had lived through things that would—had—killed others more capable than me only because I refused to give up, to give in. Survival was ingrained in me. (c) Q: I stalked off into the ruins, feeling an ache in my heart that I couldn’t fully explain. (c) Q: Maybe the world would be better off without magic, but I suspected that power would just take some other form. (c) Q: I hadn’t seen snow in years—it rarely got cold enough in Lucernis, which, while not one of the reasons I’d moved there in the first place, was one of the reasons I’d stayed. (c) Q: I pulled myself out of the window and lay on my back, staring up at the sky. From this position, with the walls blocking out the surrounding terrain, I could be anywhere. Sky is sky. (c) Q: Eventually, even I can realize when I’m being an idiot. (c) Q: I love you too. Now, get up, you lazy bastard, and help me gather firewood. (c) Q: Adepts of the Order are taught to make even their deaths serve the will of the Emperor. It is what we call the argilleh, the last blow. In the days when battle mages were an integral part of warfare, sometimes even in defeat, those of the Order would secure victory for the armies of the Empire by preparing themselves in just such a way as you will help me prepare.” (c) Q: “I do wish I had access to my sanctum.” “I wish I had a bottle of wine and a leg of lamb.” (c) Q: The front of me sweltered while my backside froze. Such is life. (c) Q: Magic was at heart a simple matter of impressing your will on reality... (c) Q: The part of the room open to the sky had grown a snow-drift overnight. I watched as more flakes swirled in, driven by the howling wind. (c) Q: She was in some sort of trance state, motionless, arms raised to the sky, palms up. (c) Q: I fail to see your point. “That’s because I haven’t made it yet.” (c) Q: Free, he said again, and the golden aura grew in intensity. He stretched out his arms, threw his head back, and howled. It made the very stones tremble. There was an undeniable—glory, I suppose—about him. I knew I was in the presence of a power, something greater than me. Greater than I ever would be. I shrugged the feeling off as much as I could. I began to have second thoughts about what we’d just done. (c) Q: I don’t know anything about fate. I do know a little about time. Nothing lasts forever. (c) Q: I had had enough of wonders. (c) Q: They were idiots led by a dangerous deity. (c) Q: I have suffered every ill of Aridhall Flamehand, of Halfa the Wanderer King, of Havak Silversword and a dozen-dozen more both famous and obscure. And now, I add Amra Thetys and Holgren Angrado to the list. (c) Q: They wouldn’t call it courage if it was easy. (c) Q: How many times could I twist events in my favor? As many times as it took, I told myself firmly. (c) Q: There are some very old souls roaming the world, you know. (c) Q: One more thing, Amra: Choose what you swear by a little more carefully from now on. You never know who might be listening. (c) Q: ... boring was fun. While it lasted. (c) ...more |
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| 194198794X
| 9781941987940
| B01H7K9MKO
| 3.98
| 3,334
| Oct 08, 2012
| Jun 14, 2016
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it was amazing
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A fascinating start to a particularly intriguing series. Q: I don’t believe in chance. I believe in cause and effect. (c) Q One of the privileges of being A fascinating start to a particularly intriguing series. Q: I don’t believe in chance. I believe in cause and effect. (c) Q One of the privileges of being a mage, I suppose, is that you can be as strange as you like, and nobody dares comment. (c) Q: Magic is a rusty hammer with which to beat reality into different shapes. Philosophy, the true Philosophy, is a pen with which to alter, and hopefully correct reality. (c) Gee, I could have been living to hear it said in a fiction book. Q: …I’ll see what I can see… (c) Q: I had a drink in their beer garden and watched golden bees do their thing in the late afternoon sunshine. I let my mind wander. (c) Q: I had seen what there was to see, and knew better by now than to try and force any sort of plan. It would all fall into place soon enough. Theft is as much art as it is craft. Reconnaissance work was a big part of that art, that craft. (c) Q: But I figured stirring up trouble would help keep eyes off me. (c) Q: Every room in my house has easily accessible knives. I’d had a lover for a short time that found it off-putting. He went. The knives stayed. (c) Q: Kluge and company would be scrambling to find someone to pin his death on, before Corbin’s family came to town with blood on their mind. Heirus, I could safely assume, would still be looking for what he’d been willing to kill for. And of course some cold-eyed killers would be arriving in the next few days, come to collect their pound of flesh for Corbin’s old man. From every perspective, all roads could at some point lead to me. It was too late for me to back out, even if I wanted to. I didn’t want to. There would be interesting days ahead. (c) Q: I was planning a death, not a burglary, but in many ways that just made it easier. Taking a life was, in my experience, a damned sight less complicated than taking jewels from a hidden strongbox. (c) Q: And there was the whispering. Like he was trying to tell me things. Awful things. Terrible truths it was better not to know. Things that made my head pound and my chest constrict. (c) Q: Just seeing the outline of the thing made me want to kill it. (c) Q: If I had to guess, it was a sentry, making a circuit of the yard. But I didn’t have to guess. I had all night. (c) Q: And I think I should be half a foot taller, and rich as Borkin Breaves. Thinking something doesn’t make it so. (c) Q: Most of my peers wouldn’t think twice about breaking an oath. But why would you care about honor?” “If you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand. (c) Q: We watched each other’s back, and bragged to each other about scores. We lent each other money and we bet on the horses, and the cards, and the dice. The day before he died, he asked me to look after his dog. And the morning he died, I had to pull that howling mutt away from the smell of his blood. I’m the one that got to tell his lover that he’d died, and how. But somehow I’m the one who’s chained to a floor, and you’re the one laughing when I say I’m going to kill the man who did it. (c) Q: Prison, I found, was wonderful for clarifying your priorities. (c) Q: You see that mausoleum, the one with the gargoyles doing unspeakable things to each other? (c) Q: Bath chose to share a secret with me. I think I can stand to keep a secret about him. (c) Q: In a place like the Cock’s Spur, they don’t even bother putting out chairs or benches that don’t face the door. Nobody wants their back to any trouble that enters. (c) Q: I have an idea,” I said. “Let’s put away the blades and do some business. (c) Q: Yes. I can see it escalating, people trying to outbid each other. And every one of them paying a ten per cent, non-refundable commission to you. All that gold piling up will be very messy indeed. (c) Q: News indeed travelled fast, but Holgren blew through the motley collection of murderers waiting for us outside like an autumn storm off the Dragonsea. Quite literally. It’s hard to stick a knife in someone when you’re rolling down the street, being pushed along by gale-force winds. Holgren was proving to be a lot more powerful—and versatile—than I’d ever imagined. And I have an active imagination. (c) Q: “What do you say?” “I say you talk too much.” (c) Q: “I don’t like him. He’s smelly and makes me feel like an idiot.” “He makes everyone feel like an idiot. He’s the high priest of the god of knowledge.” (c) Q: He was the high priest of Lagna, god of knowledge. Which meant he was a jumped up librarian, since Lagna happened to be dead. (c) Q: “You want to know about the Eightfold Goddess?” “No. I thought I’d ask just so you could feel superior some more.” (c) Q: Thus is truth distorted over millennia. (c) Q: And then the One Who Is Eight tore Shem to pieces with eight pairs of hands. They say that She made the Blades from his horns, his bones, his scales and claws and fangs. “She is terrible, and beautiful, and no god or demon fucks with Her, for She is as mad as they come and eight times as nasty.” (c) Q: “Why have I never heard of this goddess?” “You mean besides being generally ignorant? Probably because there aren’t many daft enough to worship Her. She might take notice. (c) Q: “Who is Kalara?” “The Eight-fold Goddess has, try to imagine it, eight aspects. Kalara, Goddess of Assassins, is one. Let me see if I can remember all the others. Abanon, Goddess of hate. Moranos, deity of desire, Ninkashi, worker of retribution, Heletia, font of true sight and clarity. How many is that?” “Five.” “Then there’s Husth, goddess of deception and shadows. Very popular with thieves in Bellarius.” “I’ve actually heard of that one. But go on.” “Xith rules death and rebirth. And that leaves Visini, goddess of decay, inertia, chaos and despair. That’s eight, right?” “Yes.” “Mind you, together they make one. The Eight-fold Goddess.” ... And given the choice I’d rather not be in the same country as any of them.”(c) Reminds of Kali. Q: They’re the tools of an insane goddess, forged from the body of a demon lord. What did you expect? (c) Q: You’re a thief, not a hells-damned knight of the Order of the Oak. (c) Q: True wisdom lies not in knowing the correct answer, but in knowing the correct question. (c) Q: I’m seventeen hundred years old. Older than the Cataclysm. I saw the fall of Thagoth, and of Hluria. I was ancient when Havak Silversword was imprisoned behind the Wall. You people are mayflies to me. (c) Q: Because of the curse laid on me, every moment that passes feels like a hundred. Listening to you talk bores me to tears. Listening to me talk bores me to tears. I’ve experienced this conversation as though it’s lasted all damned day.” “I’ll try and talk faster, ... (c) Q: I knew who he meant, but had no idea why he wanted to avoid a teenaged ascetic. It was a strange tic of character for the King of Assassins to have. (c) Q: “Do you remember the Cataclysm?” he asked. “Not really, no. It was a thousand years ago.” (c) Q: You can’t improve on perfection. (c) Q: It’s become fairly plain that you, Amra Thetys, given the choice between fighting and capitulating, will pick a fight every damned time. (c) Q: The question itself matters, not who it belongs to. (c) Q: So, Kingmaker, Godslayer, why not answer the question? (c) Q: And what is Apathy? Best I can describe it is fatalism mixed with utter indifference. Things are as they are. Things will be as they will be. No point thinking about them, much less worrying. No point doing much of anything at all, as a matter of fact. ... A mote of dust drifted into my eye and it was meant to be so. Blinking was futile. (c) Q: I am no one’s tool. (c) Q: Some secrets cannot be shared. Some secrets must be discovered. (c) Q: I felt I had to stay still, or I would burn the world down. (c) Q: Secrets have no power. Not by themselves. It’s the control of secrets that’s power. (c) Q: How could I trust myself? I was riding a dragon. (c) Q: “Blade, can you end hunger? Poverty? Deformity in children? Can you heal the sick? Can you do one useful fucking thing other than destroy?” Silence. “You’re bloody useless, aren’t you?” I am the hate of a goddess made manifest. I am a Power. “You know what I think? I think she discarded you because you were useless. No, more than useless. A hindrance. A liability.” (c) ...more |
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| Nov 08, 2022
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Seriously? When, oh when's it gonna be out there? 2021??????!!!!! WTH is taking so loooong??? This better be a masterpiece and not the last one in this Seriously? When, oh when's it gonna be out there? 2021??????!!!!! WTH is taking so loooong??? This better be a masterpiece and not the last one in this series at that!!! PS Jan 22. Looks like the fandom needs to ramp up congratulations to Shannon! PS Aug 22. We GOT the COVER!!!!! YES! Now that I see the light at the end of the waiting tunnel I'm gonna plan me the reads of prior books. Like, 2-3 last volumes?! I'm gonna enjoy this so much! ...more |
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| Nov 05, 2019
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it was amazing
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I'm dying!!! I want it right away! Ugggghhhhh!!!! Gimme this quirky wonderment of goodness! I want itttttttt! Now! I'm dying!!! I want it right away! Ugggghhhhh!!!! Gimme this quirky wonderment of goodness! I want itttttttt! Now! ...more |
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| Nov 06, 2018
| Nov 06, 2018
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it was amazing
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DD 13 June 2018. I want it now! Gimme my KLT fix! I don't know how this series managed to have been published under my nose without me knowing about i DD 13 June 2018. I want it now! Gimme my KLT fix! I don't know how this series managed to have been published under my nose without me knowing about it. I know even less how I managed to stumble upon it, ungracefully, and hardly fall in love with this world. Moarrr! ...more |
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Jan 30, 2019
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Jun 12, 2018
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ebook
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| 4.54
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| Nov 07, 2017
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it was amazing
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Love this! Why is this not on par in popularity with the Harry Potter books? The quality, the imagination, the worldbuilding, the imagery, the dark-an
Love this! Why is this not on par in popularity with the Harry Potter books? The quality, the imagination, the worldbuilding, the imagery, the dark-and-light parts of the story, multifaceted protagonists and lots more... This is the memorable winner in all categories! Can somebody please put me out of my misery? I won't be able to wait for the 7th book... Ughhhhhh!!! Q: The path of ancient silver and gold stones shouldn’t exist—and yet it had been there all along. Hidden in plain sight. Buried under lies. Wiped from memory. But never truly gone. (c) Q: Time to stop believing the pretty stories they’d been fed all their lives. Time to see their world for what it really was. Time to take something back. (c) Q: “One of them said he was listening for nearby thoughts as he searched the house, so I thought about darkness and silence just in case.” (c) Q: Then their bubble burst and the light carried them away. (с) Q: We wanted her to see that the shadows that scared her could be beautiful and powerful when we learn how to take control of them (c) Q: His idea of excitement is when he changes the way he parts his hair. (с) Q: “You’re not in your rock-dude disguise… Did you get sick of getting pebbles stuck in uncomfortable places?” (c) Q: I have no doubt the seven of you could find all kinds of impressive ways to create havoc ... (c) Q: I suppose we had a touch too much fun ensuring that the legends about us stayed as convoluted as possible. (c) Q: Some creatures do not mix well with others (c) Q: I just overshared, didn’t I? (c) Q: Probably better if we don’t unleash that havoc upon the world. (c) Q: Space was good right now. They needed a cushion of air to hold all the angst swirling between them. (c) Q: Let’s go see if you two can annoy King Dimitar into giving us what we need. (с) Q: Like oh, look at us—we’re elves, and we like light, so we make everything sparkly! (c) Q: “I call them my gorgodons. Part flareadon, for their flame resistance. Part gorgonops for their fangs. Part argentavis for their wingspan. And part eurypterid, for their stinging tails. Equally at home on land, in the sea, or in the sky—” “Wouldn’t that be a gorgentaveridon?” Fitz interrupted. “It seems like the argentavis and eurypterid should be in the name.” Lady Gisela sighed. “Clearly this is why you get along so well with my son.” Fitz shrugged. “Hey, it’s not my fault you chose a stupid name—which also sounds too much like a gorgonops, by the way.” (c) Q: “Not that we found anything.” “Except proof that Keefe’s dad is even more ridiculous than my father… Do you know he has an entire room dedicated to himself, complete with a life-size statue made of lumenite? It glows, guys. I’m going to have nightmares about it.” (c) Q: … talking about crushes with your mom sounds as fun as being chewed on by a verminion… (c) Q: Someday, you’ll be so sure of what you want that you won’t care who knows. (c) Q: You can’t change who you are, or who your family is...Believe me—if I could, I would. All you can do is make sure you’re living by what you believe in. (c) Q: So they flew for hours and hours, until the sun was long gone and the blue-black sky twinkled with the flickers of early stars. (c) Q: Adults have more experience. Yeah, well, go be experienced in the kitchen (c) Q "But you will always make the wrong choices." ... “WHO CARES ABOUT CHOICES?”... "Our choices define us" ... "Wrong … Choice is only a tiny part of it." (c) Q: I have access to an entire arsenal of weapons,” she told them. “And I can restrain a woolly mammoth with one hand. (c) I like the badass version of Edaline! Q: It’s not about perfect plans. It’s about believing you can handle whatever happens. (c) Q: Light creates the strongest illusions. Even for the mind. (c) ...more |
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Jun 12, 2018
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| Nov 01, 2016
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it was amazing
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Looove it! Q: A school isn’t a school until Sophie tries to destroy it. (c) Q: Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. (c) Q: Actions nev Looove it! Q: A school isn’t a school until Sophie tries to destroy it. (c) Q: Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. (c) Q: Actions never tell the whole story. Good can be done for the wrong reason. And bad can be misunderstood. (c) Q: It's all a rather dark shade of gray. But that's a color all of us are familiar with, aren't we? (c) Q: She wasn't the same girl she'd been the year before, who though failing out of Foxfire would be the end of the world. Now she'd been kidnapped, presumed dead, banished from the Lost Cities, and helped stop a plague from killing off the entire gnomish species. She'd even snuck into the ogres' capital and helped destroy half the city--which happened to be why the Council was struggling to negotiated a new elvin-ogre treaty. (c) Q: ... remember, change can be a powerful, inspiring thing when we keep an open mind. (c) Q: In fact, I seem to remember you telling me that the villains are never all bad.” “I didn’t say that because I wanted you to join them! (c) Q: “I promise, I’m still me. And I can do this.” (c) Q: You know this is about more than broken mirrors. (c) Q: It’s all a rather dark shade of gray,... But that’s a color all of us are familiar with, aren’t we? ... After all, I helped form an illegal organization. (c) Q: The window slumber parties they’d held so they wouldn’t have to face the tougher nights alone. (c) Q: Questionable actions can be forgiven when they’re done with good intentions. (c) Q: Worry can bring power... Better to embrace it than ignore it. (c) Q: How does Fitz not pee his pants every time you do this—or wait, DOES HE? Don’t be gross. I’m not. I’m keeping it real. (c) Q: Hey, it was my turn to blow up the school. You’ve been hogging all the fun. This isn’t a joke, Keefe. It can be if we make it one. We just have to commit! (c) Q: There you go, ruining all the fun with your logic. I guess that’s my job. (c) Q: ... it is kinda nice having someone look out for me. (c) Q: ... I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to strangle you with my thoughts! (c) Q: ... sooner or later you’re going to have to solve the triangle. Or should we get real and call it a square? (c) Q: There you go being all practical and wise. Hey, one of us has to be. (c) Q: It takes a special person to see darkness inside of someone and not condemn them. (c) Q: now I try to be the person Bronte thinks I am. (c) Q: … your first instinct is to say no to everything. You realize that ninety percent of the time, you give me a big speech on all the reasons why an idea is too dangerous, and then a few weeks later we end up doing it anyway? (c) Q: … the Left Hemisphere for those who favored logic and reason, the Right Hemisphere for those who were impulsive and creative, and the Ambi Hemisphere for those who used elements of both approaches. (c) Q: … there are degrees of rightness (c) Q: I hear all the other T. rexes love them, Sophie transmitted, adding images of happy dinosaurs gobbling them up. (c) Q: … they also had each other. And that was something special. (c) Q: DEX’S HOUSE WAS even more beautiful on the inside. Everything looked blue and gray and shimmery, with swirls of white like waves in the ocean. (c) Q: I had a lot to consider in that moment—but I can’t believe that I would overlook a glowing mark projected across the floor. (c) Q: People rarely notice things they don’t expect to see... They’re too distracted by their own perception of reality. (c) Q: We can debate theories all day… But it won’t bring us any closer to the truth. (c) Q: And teleporting created quite the spectacle, between the whole jumping-off-the-cliff thing, and the booming thunder as they slipped in and out of the void. (c) Q: … I don’t even know your name.” “Well, there’s an easy way to fix that, isn’t there?” (c) Q: “You’re going to think I’m crazy.”... “I usually do. But I also think you’re brilliant—and have solved way more problems than anyone else has. (c) Q: “I think the proper term is great-great-grandniece. But she always told me the greats meant I was the best.” (c) Q: Next time I fake-join an evil organization, remind me to choose one that hasn’t angered the gnomes, okay? (c) Q: And then he said he’s counting on me to live up to my potential. Potential for what? He didn’t say. ... He said it’s good to see that I care so strongly about his vision—and of course he didn’t say what his vision is. (c) Q: I suspect you could bring down a mountain if you sat in solitude long enough. (c) Q: And there she was: the poster child for the New Darkness. (c) Q: It’s a moonlark,... “Though now I’m kinda wishing they’d called it Project Boobrie. (c) Q: It has less to do with actuality and more to do with potential. (c) Q: So you’re asking me to send my wife and daughter into fraught treaty negotiations?” ... Actually, I’m asking Sophie and Edaline if they’d be willing to participate in a world-changing event... (c) Q: … it says Gwynaura. Another star. Right again, you little star-memorizing show-off. (c) Q: “Wow,” ... “I’ve never seen people fight because they all want to do the crazy, dangerous thing.” (с) Q: BAD PEOPLE? Silveny asked. The worst, Sophie transmitted. Silveny’s thoughts darkened. BITE THEM? Maybe once we get back. (c) Q: You both push each other to believe in yourselves. Don’t go easy on him now because you’re afraid he’s too fragile. The more you let him prove himself, the more he’ll realize he’s still worthy. (c) Q: ...Draft the treaty”…. “Looks like we’re in for a late night.” “Not if you write fast,” (c) Q: “We have a new start. A new lead. A new weapon in this fight.” Also a new world. (c) Q: I can be happy with that. Please be happy with me. (c) Q: Time is a funny thing. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. But then it passes to someone else. (c) Q: Change was definitely a theme in the elvin world. (c) Q: The star only rises at Nightfall... (c) ...more |
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Jun 13, 2018
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| 4.58
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| Nov 03, 2015
| Nov 03, 2015
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it was amazing
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Holy angst! So enjoyable! I seem to be unable to stop raving about this series. It's seriously addictive! ⛓SPOILER ALERT!⛓ I love stories about crazy s Holy angst! So enjoyable! I seem to be unable to stop raving about this series. It's seriously addictive! ⛓SPOILER ALERT!⛓ I love stories about crazy schools, it's my pet topic and Exillium is so very seriously bonkers that one can't help loving this part of the plot. THIS school offers some serious fun and entertainment to attendees (I'm kidding!). ✨ Its attendees are called Waywards (while in Foxfire they are called Prodigies!). ✨ Waywards are not allowed to use names or interact with each other. ✨ They are welcomed into school by surprise, hanging upside down! And the very botched procedure of Waywards getting out of this predicament helps teachers to sort them into an even more botched system Hemisphere-oriented groups (Right, Left or Ambi). ✨ The curriculum of Exillium doesn't sound as bad as might be reasonably expected from the info above. It actually might be more useful than Foxfire, since it focuses on skills not talents. Including slowing breath (Dex is good at it already, as we know!), blinking control, developing night vision, regulating body temperature, hunger suppression, levitation and telekinesis. ✨ Exillium's location changes every day and is always in the Neutral Territories. ✨ The fashion sense in Exillium? Don't get me started on it! ✨ You don't get expelled from here: you get EJECTED! ✨ The economic situation with it, incl. the supplies and pretty much everything else is horrible and makes initially little sense in the light of how everything is supposed to be economically effortless for the elves who get all those fun endowment funds. I'm not spoiling this at the moment. Suffice it to say that there is a lot more to this all! Who knew kids' books could be THIS MUCH FUN? Q: I will do everything in my power to help my world. (c) Q: All it takes is one to stand where others fall. (c) Q: We will never be more than a few words away. (c) Q: … I’m hoping you’ve learned the dangers of inventing new weapons. (c) Q: Instead, everything was earthy and natural. Fall-colored leaves had been woven into brightly patterned rugs, which felt softer than dandelion fluff but still made that great crunching sound (с) Q: It truly was life changing. Every bite felt like home, warming her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head and making her feel safe, happy, and loved. (c) Q: They’re walking around crusted with ice and turning their bodies to stone. Cactus head is nothing. (c) Q: And here I thought we were training your minds to think critically and solve problems. (c) Q: “Are you throwing shoes at me?” … “Seemed like a good idea. Now I don’t have to wear them.” (c) Q: They leave their hatchlings alone because they know their young need to be strong. Moonlarks face more predators than most other creatures. So even though the parents follow their eggs across the ocean and are never far away from the babies, they do not make contact, and they do not bring them to the nest. Their instincts know that if they did, they would shelter the younglings and weaken their ability to survive. (c) Q: I do my best thinking when I can tuck my consciousness away. (с) Q: I tried solar-powered stuff, but it still seemed too techie. Then I saw some branches on the ground and thought, why not? Only Dex would decide to jab a gadget with a stick. (с) Q: Who knew you were such a rebel?” “I have my moments. (с) Q: It took her longer than she’d expected to de-serial-killer his room. (c) Q: “Is this guy bothering you?” Fitz asked. “Is that a guy?” Dex added. (c) Q: Whoa, let’s not add projectile vomiting to the list of Awesome Things We Get To Do Today (с) Q: “We’re trying to have a private conversation.” “Then you shouldn’t have it in a common room.” (c) Q: It’s pretty much the Great Vacker Hurlfest. Every time Fitz spews up black gunk, it makes Biana barf, and then Della loses it—and repeat! (c) Q: Yeah, I’m cute and glittery—what’s it to you? (c) Q: “I guess everyone has a few crazy family members they’d don’t know what to do with. You’ll be mine.” (c) Q: LEAVE IT TO you to try to burn down Exillium on the first day (c) Q: All I know is it tasted like kissing a muskog.” “And you have a lot of experience with that?” (c) Q: “I listened. And I realized their voices had been silenced. So I gave them mine. I sang of sunlight and rain and rich soil. And hope. Always hope.” (c) Q: If words could cast a shadow, they would’ve darkened the whole house. (c) Q: NOW SOPHIE KNEW what the ancient gnomish songs had meant by their warnings of a great Withering and an endless Fall. (c) Q: “But how is it redeeming to only care about ourselves?” … someone needs to tell them they’re wrong. (c) Q: They could be learning things that might help the gnomes, and instead she was trying to air-swim. (c) Q: It’s called shadow-whispering. My shadow is carrying my consciousness, so no one can hear me except you (c) Q: Sophie was pretty sure they were setting a record for Exillium disobedience. (c) Q: “Sometimes the greatest power comes from showing mercy,… “Especially to those who may not deserve it.” (c) Q: “You build entire cities out of jewels and live in glittering castles,” Sophie said, “but you can’t spare any medicine or food for a group of kids who are smart and talented and would try way harder if they weren’t constantly being told they’re worthless? What’s the point of having the school in the first place? It could be a valuable rehabilitation center if you supported it. But you’re letting it go to waste.” (c) Q: “I think I’m going to like this assignment,” Keefe said. “What else can we fling at Fitz?” (c) Q: He’s not all bad. No one is. That’s what makes villains so scary. They’re not as different from us as we want them to be. (c) Q: Evil is better than dead, Mr. Sencen. Evil can change. Though neither is in your power. (c) Q: You keep trying to fix everything, Sophie. You even fixed Exillium. But you can’t fix me. (c) Q: But your dad’s enjoying it. He’s been rigging traps... (c) Q: Nothing like jumping off a cliff you can’t even see. (c) Q: … I want them safe more than I want them close. I want to know they can run away if they need to… (c) Q: Greyfell stretched his wings and stared at the grayish blue sky. It wasn’t as beautiful as the rainbow sky inside the Sanctuary, but it was the first real sky Greyfell had seen in decades. Sophie watched his brown eyes glint... (c) Q: SOPHIE. FRIEND. ALWAYS. But the best words were her last two: VISIT. SOON.(c) Q: “Is anyone who they really say they are?”… “You are, and always will be, Sophie Foster.” (c) Q: We want you to know that you’re never alone, ... We’re always here in one form or another. All you have to do is trust us.” (c) Q: There are many shades of trust... and most of them are gray. (c) Q: Never underestimate the power of the page. (c) Q: Hindsight is a dangerous game. (c) ...more |
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Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 12, 2018
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Hardcover
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| 1442445998
| 9781442445994
| 1442445998
| 4.49
| 50,318
| Aug 03, 2014
| Nov 04, 2014
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it was amazing
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How do you get rid of a glittering city? - You burn it! With regular fire? - Nope, that would be too lame and plain ordinary. You do it with Everblaze How do you get rid of a glittering city? - You burn it! With regular fire? - Nope, that would be too lame and plain ordinary. You do it with Everblaze! Or a lovely, lively fantasy for kids! SPOILER ALERT! It's a good thing I'm a sucker for all things epic. Even though I'm a tad sorry about Eternalia going to waste. And the ending? It's pure mallowmelt and lushberry! This misprint needs to be corrected, I think: Q: And when she focused what little energy she had left, the sound morphed into a string of feint words (c) faint, not feint. Right? Q: Remember who you can trust, and keep them close. (c) Q: All twelve Councillor’s arms flew up, their hands lightly smacking each side of their faces. (c) Q: You’re welcome to drop in anytime. I just never realized you’d do it so literally. (с) Q: THE PLAN HAD SEEMED SO BRILLIANT, until Sophie reached the cold, sandy shore. She’d never been to the cave at night, and now she understood why. The roar of the surf sounded like a snarl, and the shadowy rocks looked like faces and limbs. Even the moonlight—and the blue glowing sphere Sandor had pulled from one of his pockets—couldn’t convince her eyes that she wasn’t stumbling into the lair of giant beasts. (c) Q: Who knew she’d miss her Black Swan stalkers? (c) Q: A few piddly waves won’t stop me.” Sophie doubted a rampaging T. rex could stop him. (c) Q: “And I expect you to sing the whole time I’m gone.” ... “Oh wait—you’re serious?” “Of course I’m serious. It’s how I’ll know you’re not in trouble.” (c) Q: “That . . . actually makes sense.” “Of course it does. I’m a genius. That’s why you keep me around. (c) Q: I love when things go according to plan. That so rarely seems to happen these days. (c) Q: “Want me to go with you?” Sophie offered. “Nah—then I have to act all brave and stuff. Freaking out sounds way more fun.” (c) Q: “You seriously need to cause more trouble, Foster. I mean, it’s been months since you almost blew up the school.” (c) Q: Ogres and goblins and missing dwarves? Her life had officially turned into a fairy tale gone wrong. (c) Q: “When I attended here, these were reserved for extreme emergencies.” “Well, maybe things have changed since the dark ages,” (c) Q: It felt like Bronte had custom ordered The Most Uncomfortable Chair Ever Invented—and the designer had exceeded his expectations. (c) Q: Now personally, I don’t believe a twelve-year-old will ever be ready to handle such a task—” “I’m thirteen,” Sophie corrected. “Oh, that’s much better, then. Everyone knows teenagers are so full of wisdom and experience.” (c) Q: The only thing she was desperate to do now was pelt Bronte with sparkly alicorn poop. (c) Q: He’d swept her away from her world of headaches and blaring thoughts and the inescapable sense that she was too strange, too different—and shown her where she truly belonged. And for that one brief moment everything felt right, like a missing piece of her life had finally clicked into place. (c) Q: NEXT TIME YOU ALMOST KILL a Councillor, can I be there? (c) Q: One second he was insulting me, next second he was collapsed on the floor.” “Clearly it’s not a good idea to get you angry. (c) Q: Sophie repressed a sigh when she realized it had a train. As if she didn’t have a hard enough time walking without tripping. (c) Q: And I should probably stop stalling, huh? Nah—take your time. In fact, feel free to stall for the rest of the session. Then I don’t have to take a turn either. (c) Q: “Sometimes a mirror is just a mirror,” (c) Q: Her insides tangled into more knots than a friendship bracelet when they both whispered, “A place best forgotten.” (c) Q: Part of her was tempted to stand there forever. But the brave part of her—or perhaps the part that was troublingly insane—wrapped her fingers around the chain and tugged. (c) Q: They wanted an Empath to get a reading on who you were as a person, a Telepath to judge your capabilities, and Councillor Grumpypants because, well, he insisted. (c) Q: She doubted Fintan would respond to love or joy or peace. But she could feed him pride and triumph, and hope it drew him back. So she inflicted the victory of every A she’d earned in school, and the confidence from every compliment she’d ever been paid. (c) Q: It reminds us just how small we really are, and how big the rest of the world is by comparison. One person is not the source of anything—it’s millions of pieces all working together. And it shows us that there’s always hope—always light. No matter how much darkness we might be facing. (c) Q: The people of our world fear the new and the different. (c) Q: “You guys shouldn’t be doing this,” Sophie said, wondering if Dex was about show up to complete the Let’s Ruin Our Lives Club. (c) Q: “Never mind, what I mean is, they’re only saying that because of me. Because of this like . . . aura of doom that seems to ruin everything I touch.” “Aura of doom?” Keefe asked, a smirk curling his lips. “Sounds like my kind of party.” (c) Q: “You must think I’m a total idiot.” “Nah. I am starting to wonder if you’re trying to beat Keefe’s record for biggest interspeciesial episode—and if you are, I’m pretty sure you’ve won. (c) Q: Lucilliant Phosforien Marquiseire Candesia Elementine (c) Q: Weird that there’s a map of the unmapped stars, isn’t it? (c) Q: … they’re finally including me on the team! Hope they know this means their little rule book just went out the window—and the first change I’ll be implementing is clearer stinking directions. Any idea ‘where the lost have no end’? (c) Q: The days ahead will be dark and dour. You must not fear yourself or your power. (c) Q: Why give away a secret if we don’t need to? (с) Q: Anyone who got close would surely notice that he was one buffed-out, armadillo-looking grandma. But from a distance he appeared to be a sweet, albeit rather lumpy looking, little old lady. (c) Q: … our family doesn’t decide who we are. We decide who we are. Believe me, it drives my parents crazy. And sometimes that’s the only thought that gets me through the day. (c) Q: … if whatever you’re chasing starts to catch up with you—run, don’t walk away. (c) Q: No matter how many times the elves explained the “illumination in a darkened world” analogy, she would never stop thinking it was weird to have a school named after glowing fungus. (c) Q: I don’t care if you dropped out of the sky or floated on the beach in an egg and hatched—you’re still my daughter and I will always love you. No matter what. (c) Q: I like Dex. But I kinda want to kick him in his special place.”(c) Q: “when are you going to realize that you could wrap yourself in neon green feathers and start walking around roaring like a dinosaur, and we’d still hang out with you? Shoot—I’d join in.” “I would too,” Fitz agreed. “Me too—though I’d want pink feathers,” Biana decided. (c) Q: It takes a special person to see darkness inside of someone and not condemn them. (c) Q: Her thoughts were still slower, and her headache couldn’t dull completely. But this time she felt confidence—and the confidence made her realize she was on the wrong track completely. (c) Q: The fall is never seen before the rising … The bold and brave are never seen... She’d find random messages, or hear whispers—but never meet an actual member. She was starting to think the whole thing was just shadows and games… (c) Q: … gnomes believe anything beyond nature is corrupting … (c) I'm starting to love their version of gnomes, actually. Q: I’ll follow you if I have to, but I’d rather not have to be creepy like that. © Q: “She’s cute when she’s in denial, isn’t she?... Especially covered in sparkly unicorns.” (c) Q: “... I don’t know when I’ll be able to come home.” “Sounds perfect. Is now too soon to leave?” (c) ...more |
Notes are private!
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Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 12, 2018
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Hardcover
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| 9781442445987
| 144244598X
| 4.48
| 58,675
| Oct 01, 2013
| Oct 01, 2013
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it was amazing
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Epic. Different. Capturing. Can't get enough of this series. I think I'm going to stick with it till the end. Q: I think we could all use a little more Epic. Different. Capturing. Can't get enough of this series. I think I'm going to stick with it till the end. Q: I think we could all use a little more weird in our lives. ( c) Q: It was a dangerous world for a sparkly flying horse. (c) Q: In fact, most of the great human innovations of the last few centuries happened under elvin tutelage. Electricity. Penicillin. Chocolate cake. (c) Q: “Each Wanderling’s seed is coiled with a single hair from the one who’s been lost,” he explained. “When it sprouts, it absorbs their DNA, taking on some of the attributes of the life they now share. Letting the lost live on.” Those who wander are not lost . (c) Ok, this is a beautiful idea of expressing sorrow in a world where it's largely unknown. Q: Apparently, terrifying her only friend was better than snacks. (c) Q: Our long-lost elf, and the most searched-for creature on the planet, stumbling across each other in the middle of a forest in the Forbidden Cities. (c) Q: “Well, then why don’t you go visit him there? I’m sure Kesler would let him take a break. Or you could stay there and put your fabulous alchemy skills to use. Maybe you’ll be the one to finally burn down that ugly store.” (с) Q: It was a tiny thing, really. Just a small bit of encouragement. But it meant something. It meant everything. (c) Q: “School starts in a little more than a week?” She’d known it was coming up, but that suddenly felt very, very soon. (c) Q: There were many, many questions racing through Sophie’s mind as she scratched her neck where the furry collar was tickling it. But the most important one was probably, “Why am I dressed like a shaggy elephant? (c) Q: This is our chance to show the older generations what we can do.” “By dancing like elephants?” (c) Q: “I’m a few minutes late and I miss all the fun.” “Don’t worry, I’m sure Stina will pick plenty more fights with me before the year is over,” (c) Q: Would it be right to kill them, simply because we planted them by mistake? (c) Q: “Only elves would call tunneling to the center of the earth ‘logical.’ ” “And only a girl raised by humans would think otherwise.” (с) Q: Sophie gulped down the words like they were cold water in the scorching desert. … And for the first time in a few weeks, the future was feeling bright. (с) Q: “So I wagged my tail when I was supposed to flick it—what’s the big deal?” … “The ‘big deal’ is that this was your chance to impress the faculty—and instead you’ve shown them you’re just as ridiculous as ever. When are you going to start taking your education seriously?” (c) Q: She hated the way he stared at her. Like any second he expected her to sprout an extra brain and use it to take over the world. (c) Q: Things weren’t so bad, really. How could they be when there was this cool rush racing through her, filling her with life and energy and lifting her higher . . . “Whoa—what did you give me? (c) Q: Guilt is a treacherous thing. It creeps in slowly, breaking you down bit by bit. (c) Q: SOPHIE NEVER THOUGHT SHE’D WANT to be the creation of a band of murderers—but now she wished for it more than anything else she’d ever wished for. (c) Q: “I need to look around a room that Grady and Edaline don’t like me to go into, and since your job is to report everything I do—” “That’s not my job,” Sandor interrupted. “If it were, I would’ve told them how you sneak out of bed to read by the light of the moon jars you keep in your desk.” (c) Q: “Really? You don’t think I look like a rotten orange?” “No, you do. But at least it almost matches your freaky eyes.” (c) Q: “Mr. Sencen!” … “Would you like me to extend your detention?” “Tempting. But I think I’ll pass.” (с) Q: And I’ve been thinking—” “Oh good, at least one of us should.” (c) Q: “I don’t see how that’s fair.” “I didn’t say it was fair. You either agree or you’re out.” (c) Q: “Your dad seems . . . intense.” “That’s putting it mildly. Do you know we have an entire room at our house dedicated to the Wonder That Is Him? He’s covered the walls in portraits and awards and has a life-size statue of himself in the center—carved out of Lumenite, so it glows. … “What about your mom?” ... “She’s a perfect match for my dad.” (c) Q: “Of course he’s wrong,” Keefe agreed. “If anyone’s malfunctioning, it’s him—I heard him try to laugh one time and he sounded like a freaked-out banshee.” (c) Q: It was hard to catch something that could rip an opening in the sky and vanish into it. (c) Q: “Just so you know, you’re pretty much my hero now. It takes serious talent to freak out the entire Council. I may need you to give me some pointers!” (c) Q: “Um, who doesn’t want to know more ways to annoy people?” “Trust me, you already know them all.” (c) Q: “I’ll do everything I can to guide you through this. But you’re going to have to fight hard.” “I always do.” (c) Q: Maybe it was just her rushing high from mending things with Fitz and Biana, but she couldn’t help feeling like something really good was about to happen. She just had to trust, and try. (c) Q: “And why do we need your spectacle?” Bronte snapped. “We’re perfectly capable of making one on our own.” (c) Q: Sophie was afraid of many, many things. But she wasn’t afraid of herself anymore. She could do this. She just had to trust. And be willing to take the first leap. (c) Q: “Am I interrupting something?” “Yes, Sophie and I were having a pleasant conversation. So I’m sure this is your cue to ruin it.” (c) Q: But she’d already faced her deepest fears. How much worse could it be? (c) Q: SOPHIE SAT ALONE ON THE cold ground in a shadowy corner of the valley, watching the beams of light twist and spin above the snowcapped mountains. (c) ...more |
Notes are private!
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1
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Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 12, 2018
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ebook
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☘Misericordia☘
>
Books:
best-ever
(42)
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my rating |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 3.39
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it was amazing
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Jun 15, 2022
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Jun 15, 2022
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| 4.22
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it was amazing
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May 02, 2021
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May 04, 2021
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| 4.13
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it was amazing
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Aug 21, 2019
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Aug 21, 2019
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|||||
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| 4.04
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it was amazing
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May 25, 2019
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May 26, 2019
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|||||
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| 4.02
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it was amazing
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Apr 14, 2019
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Apr 13, 2019
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|||||
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| 3.82
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it was amazing
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Oct 16, 2022
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Apr 01, 2019
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|||||
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| 4.08
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it was amazing
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Mar 31, 2019
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Mar 31, 2019
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|||||
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| 4.47
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it was amazing
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Feb 14, 2019
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Feb 13, 2019
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|||||
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| 4.04
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it was amazing
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Feb 10, 2019
Nov 10, 2018
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Nov 10, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.26
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it was amazing
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Jul 28, 2018
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Jul 28, 2018
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|||||
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| 3.97
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it was amazing
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Jul 28, 2018
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Jul 28, 2018
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| 3.98
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it was amazing
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Jul 27, 2018
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Jul 27, 2018
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| 4.45
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not set
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Jun 12, 2018
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||||||
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| 4.45
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it was amazing
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not set
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Jun 12, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.34
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it was amazing
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Jan 30, 2019
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Jun 12, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.54
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it was amazing
|
Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 12, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.51
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it was amazing
|
Jun 13, 2018
|
Jun 12, 2018
|
|||||
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| 4.58
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it was amazing
|
Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 12, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.49
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it was amazing
|
Jun 13, 2018
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Jun 12, 2018
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|||||
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| 4.48
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it was amazing
|
Jun 13, 2018
|
Jun 12, 2018
|
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