![]() I’ve learned to put most of these stones back after looking. But stones ground me, quite literally, when I am in a new place. And they are mysterious and yet friendly inhabitants of my house. Every time I’ve moved, I’ve left behind a small pile of foreign stones in the garden. That’s a hazard of book tours-they add to the carry-on. Sometimes I notice an odd, local type of stone and pick up a shard or a pebble. I have a stone a friend brought back from Indonesia, from a place near where the Buddha rested a stone that is a Neolithic tool from Europe and many stones from my travels. ![]() I don’t exactly have a collection of stones they just seem to be everywhere. Is it based on a real stone? And does the stone have any actual power? ![]() Your story in this week’s issue, “ The Stone,” revolves around a large, smooth stone that seems to have some kind of power over the girl who finds it. ![]()
0 Comments
![]() ![]() I say this about every book I love, but I want more!!! I hope Ee does more with these characters in the future. The incredible YA fantasy phenomenon, not to be missed by fans of Sarah J. ![]() In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel. I was also surprised (and delighted) to see how dark the story got in places. READ THESE BOOOOOKS (also- I know the series is technically called Penryn and the End of Days but that's super long so oh well)I also did. The complete Penryn and the End of Days trilogy from bestselling author Susan Ee. Series list: Penryn & the End of Days (3 Books) by Susan Ee. ![]() Penryn and Raffe’s relationship continues to develop in both World After and End of Days. The chemistry between them is so entertaining to read and though you’ll be shipping them immediately, Ee doesn’t take the easy road and force them into a romance right away. Raffe is a disciplined warrior with a snarky sense of humor. Penryn’s had several years of fight training (due to her mother’s paranoia) and is a kick-ass heroine. I thoroughly enjoyed the series and felt that each book was just as good as the one before it. When her sister is kidnapped by an angel, Penryn makes a deal with Raffe, a wounded angel, to get her back. ![]() But humans don’t come out of it clean, either, and in the middle of the gang warfare and harsh decisions is Penryn, a 17-year-old girl trying to keep her wheelchair-bound sister and schizophrenic mother alive. ![]() ![]() Margio, a well-known local youth, has murdered a respectable local man, who also happens to be the father of his girlfriend. ![]() ![]() We’re immediately thrown into the middle of chaotic scenes in a small town, quickly finding out that the rumours are true. ![]() “On the evening Margio killed Anwar Sadat, Kyai Jahro was blissfully busy with his fishpond.” Where it is a little different, though, is in how much darker and grittier Man Tiger is.Īs was the case with the earlier book, the reader is given no time to ease into Kurniawan’s world – the action starts on line one: Again, the story is set in provincial Indonesia and focuses on women, sex, violence, and supernatural happenings. So, back to Indonesia we go, and first up is a writer we encountered not too long ago, with a familiar, but shocking, story of love and death – and the animal nature of both…Įka Kurniawan’s Beauty is a Wound is an epic early novel, but while his follow up, Man Tiger (translated by Labodalih Sembiring, review copy courtesy of Verso Books), is a much shorter story, it’s recognisably the work of the same writer. Unfortunately (!) my efforts with German Literature Month got in the way of that idea, but now that November is finished, I’m free to look at some more non-Teutonic works. After my trio of reviews back in October celebrating Indonesia’s role as guest of honour at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair, I fully intended to look at some more of the country’s fiction. ![]() ![]() ![]() I remember Gran pulling my father close when we got to her bedside and asking him who I was in a voice shaking with confusion. He warned me she wasn’t feeling herself in that protective anodyne way that parents often shield their children from life’s realities. My grandmother had been in hospital for some time and my father had chosen until then to visit her alone. I was a boy when I first came across dementia. With the increasing number of people with dementia, becoming a befriender offers much to those impacted by it. ![]() ![]() Steve Watkins, who works in communications at Ealing Hospital, shares his personal story on how he volunteered to become a dementia befriender. ![]() |