![]() ![]() ![]() It was Ethan using the unawakened Slappy doll for pranks until the very end.Īs almost always in Goosebumps books the parents are frustrating. And Slappy wasn't even the actual antagonist until the last few chapters of that first part. The first and majority part of this book didn't take place in Horrorland and, while I understand the importance of setting up the plot, I felt it took a little too long. So I'm going to give the next book a shot in hopes it's more. Stine has received numerous awards of recognition, including several Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and Disney Adventures Kids' Choice Awards, and he has been selected by kids as one of their favorite authors in the NEA's Read Across America program. His other major series, Fear Street, has over 80 million copies sold. In the early 1990s, Stine was catapulted to fame when he wrote the unprecedented, bestselling Goosebumps® series, which sold more than 250 million copies and became a worldwide multimedia phenomenon. Stine began his writing career when he was nine years old, and today he has achieved the position of the bestselling children's author in history. Stine, who is often called the Stephen King of children's literature, is the author of dozens of popular horror fiction novellas, including the books in the Goosebumps, Rotten School, Mostly Ghostly, The Nightmare Room and Fear Street series. Stine and Jovial Bob Stine, is an American novelist and writer, well known for targeting younger audiences. ![]()
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![]() ![]() "Preteens who are star-struck for Broadway will enjoy the drama."- Kirkus Reviews ![]() A performer herself, author Jenna Gavigan knows the scene so well, you can practically smell the greasepaint.- Atlanta Journal-Constitution This lightsome fantasy and valentine to Broadway theater puts readers amid backstage hustle and bustle. ![]() While the book will be embraced by children (and adults) with a passion for theater, the lessons that are offered are universal and told in a way that all readers will embrace the joy that is both the heart of Lulu and Lulu the Broadway Mouse.- Times Beacon Record "A wonderfully crafted and unfailingly entertaining read from beginning to end."- Midwest Book Review Lulu's burning desire to be onstage was exactly how I felt when I was younger, and reading this book reawakened that feeling in me!"-Tony nominee Jonathan Groff "Jenna manages to capture the drama and tension and excitement of the theatre without ever losing the magic and joy of what it feels like to be on Broadway. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() “Debut novelist Bodeen effectively builds the claustrophobic suspense with each chapter as readers slowly discover the Compound is not the refuge it seems. The audience will feel the pressure closing in on them as they, like the characters, race through hairpin turns in the plot toward a breathless climax.” -Publishers Weekly, starred review As far-fetched as the premise may be, Bodeen keeps Eli's actions true to life and uses clues planted fairly and in plain sight. Repulsed and already suspicious, Eli begins investigating his father's claims, and sets up a family death match against a man who grows increasingly irrational and sinister but no less powerful. With nine years to go before the air outside will be safe to breathe again, the food supply shows signs of running out, but Eli's father has a solution-provided they jettison all morals and ethics. Eli, the 15-year-old son of a billionaire techno-preneur, has spent the last six years with his family in the massive underground shelter his father has built, knowing that nuclear war has destroyed the world he knows-and killed his grandmother and his twin brother, who couldn't reach the compound in time. ![]() “Bodeen, acclaimed as the writer of such picture books as Elizabeti's Doll, turns out a high-wire act of a first novel, a thriller that exerts an ever-tighter grip on readers. ![]() ![]() ![]() We shouldn’t place too much importance on what they think of us, as long as we’re aiming to do what’s right and acting wisely. In another respect, though, he says other people are as indifferent to us as sun or wind, or wild animals, being external to our own mind and volition. This is a quote from the Gregory Hays translation of Meditations 5.20, which Marcus begins by reminding himself that in one respect other people are of concern to us and that we have a duty to help them, alluding to the Stoic concept of oikeiôsis, or identifying with the welfare of others. The impediment to action advances action. ![]() Indeed, the title of The Obstacle is the Way is inspired by a famous quotation from The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, which reads: ![]() The book he subsequently co-authored with Stephen Hanselman, The Daily Stoic, focuses exclusively on Stoic wisdom, presenting quotations from the classics for each day of the year. Ryan was the keynote speaker at the Stoicon 2016 conference in New York, where he talked about the profound influence that reading the Stoics had on his life. It’s not exactly a book about Stoicism but it does contain a great many references to Stoicism, which reinforce the central message that every adversity is potentially an opportunity. ![]() The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph (2014) by Ryan Holiday is a book about overcoming apparent setbacks and by turning them to our advantage. ![]() ![]() Hogmanay was quiet too (we’re both homebodies and not keen on going out at New Year – prefer to spend the time in our jammies lol). We went to my partner’s folks house for Christmas Dinner and just had a nice chilled day. I’ve been playing a few games (A Plague Tale: Innocence (again) and The Sims 4) plus watching films (my traditional Christmas Eve movie – Black Christmas lol) and a couple of shows (Emily in Paris – what can I say, it’s trashy but pretty!) and also starting watching World on Fire (which is so, so good). I’ve had the last week off work and I’m off the whole of next week as well and it’s been great just to chill out and not think too much about everything (probably also why I’m posting more as well). I’d say it was a New Year resolution but no one ever keeps those so it’s more like a promise to myself. I made a decision to not let things get too on top of me and most importantly to give myself a break and stop beating myself up for every little thing. Happy New Year folks! Whoa – three posts in one week? Some kind of record for me (this year anyway!) What can I say? I’m inspired lol. ![]() Stacking the Shelves – a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality what’s the buzz: weekly round-up and book haul ![]() ![]() ![]() It’s the sort of book that the right reader will adore. ![]() I’m talking face-out in airport bookstores, with the name “Evan Winter” in a font bigger than the title. ![]() The Rage of Dragons is one of those rare books that I can really see jumping into the stratosphere in terms of popularity. There’s so much to say about this book that I’m not entirely sure where to start. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him. ![]() Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.Įveryone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. Their society has been built around war and only war. The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Game of Thrones meets Gladiator in this debut epic fantasy about a world caught in an eternal war, and the young man who will become his people’s only hope for survival. ![]() ![]() She makes these big declarations in the narration that seem overblown in retrospect. She'll say that being on this ship was the best time she ever had - flash forward to the actual story and she was there for a couple of days and learned how to (maybe) play the guitar or something? Maybe because Hazel has this weird narration style that is starting to grate on my nerves. I just finished this volume and I'm struggling because none of it really made an impression on me. I don't know if it's the years-long hiatus, the lack of Marko, or just the loss of seeing a realistic marriage playing out in a fantasy setting, but this story doesn't tug at my heart the same way that it used to. I feel bad because this was that graphic novel that I would shove at people who didn't like graphic novels and tell them to just give it a chance. ![]() ![]() ![]() Devils at the crossroads offering your heart's desire for a price, insular villages not fond of rude outsiders in a dangerous wilderness, herb craft and rustic proverbs, even Ancient Aliens, it all gets a DCC twist that is a refreshing change. The author critically isn't making fun of mountain folk, he's sharing their culture with a fantasy twist, and somehow it works.Īppalachian folklore fits surprisingly well in a human-centric fantasy campaign. It would have been really, really easy to make The Chained Coffin a satire piece or a bad parody with inbred cannibal hillbillies playing banjos, but that's not what happens. In fact when I realized what was happening I thought I'd hate it. The setting covers the Shudder Mountains, which is a fantasy take on Appalachian culture. That setting is what shines, because it's way outside the norm both for Dungeon Crawl Classics and for fantasy roleplaying in general. It's a full campaign setting that happens to be jam packed full of a bunch of adventures at the end. Give it a good read and then figure out how you can make a supplement this high quality for your own lines.īased on the cover art and description, I thought this was going to be a collection of gothic horror adventures for high level Dungeon Crawl Classics characters. ![]() RPG publishers, do yourself a favor and pick this up. ![]() ![]() ![]() The visionary producer behind Free To Choose was Bob Chitester, a hardcore free marketeer who ran the PBS affiliate in Erie, Pennsylvania, and wanted to bring libertarian ideas to mainstream audiences. ![]() The original 1980 series and an updated 1990 version, both of which can be viewed here for free, enjoy continued popularity online. In each episode, Friedman engaged leading liberal and progressive thinkers such as The Other America author Michael Harrington, teachers union leader Albert Shanker, and sociologist Francis Fox Piven in spirited debate.įree To Choose has been translated into two dozen languages and a companion book, co-authored by Milton and his wife Rose, became a New York Times bestseller and a Book of the Month Club main selection. ![]() Over the course of 10 hour-long episodes, the Nobel laureate economist laid out the pitfalls of protectionism, espoused the virtues of school choice, and explained why spending, not taxes, is the real measure of the burden that governments put on their citizens. It was an unapologetic defense of why capitalism was both morally and pragmatically superior to socialism. Milton Friedman's documentary series Free To Choose first aired on PBS 40 years ago. ![]() ![]() When the Queen’s Guard arrives on her nineteenth birthday at the cottage where Kelsea and her adoptive parents have been hiding on the outskirts of the Tearling kingdom, she has no choice but to go with them and rule the Tearling for as many days as she can survive. ![]() ![]() 18 years have passed between the death of her mother, the infamous Queen Elyssa, and Kelsea’s own coronation. But this book tied for the win in my Choose My Next Read interactive post for June, so I read it by request, and I’m so glad I did.Ībout the book: Kelsea, sole heir to the Tearling throne, has been raised by a foster family for most of her life. I had been putting off reading this trilogy because I wanted to have them all in matching paperbacks on my shelf before I started. Erika Johansen’s popular NA/adult fantasy trilogy starts with: The Queen of the Tearling, a beautiful book inside and out. ![]() |