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Wednesday, March 31, 2021

Maya Angelou


April has the honor of being National Poetry Month, and what better way to start the month, than with a celebration of one of the world's greatest, Maya Angelou. April 4 would have been Maya Angelou's 93rd birthday. Born in 1928 and she died in 2014 at the age of 86, leaving behind an incredible legacy.



A collection of poetry written by Maya Angelou.



Throughout her illustrious career in letters, Maya Angelou gifted, healed and inspired the world with her words. Now the beauty and spirit of those words live on in this new and complete collection of poetry that reflects and honors the writer's remarkable life.



Author's memoir of growing up black in the 1930s and 1940s.



In a sixth memoir, the author and poet describes her return from Africa to the U.S., her work with the civil rights movement, and the writing of her first autobiographical work, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."



This wise book is the wonderful continuation of the bestselling Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now. Even the Stars Look Lonesome is Maya Angelou talking about the things she cares about most. In her unique, spellbinding way, she re-creates intimate personal experiences and gives us her wisdom on a wide variety of subjects. She tells us how a house can both hurt its occupants and heal them. She talks about Africa. She gives us a profile of Oprah. She enlightens us about age and sexuality. She confesses to the problems fame brings and shares with us the indelible lessons she has learned about rage and violence. And she sings the praises of sensuality. Even the Stars Look Lonesome imparts the lessons of a lifetime.



Maya Angelou, one of the best-loved authors of our time, shares the wisdom of a remarkable life in this best-selling spiritual classic. This is Maya Angelou talking from the heart, down to earth and real, but also inspiring. This is a book to treasured, a book about being in all ways a woman, about living well, about the power of the word, and about the power do spirituality to move and shape your life. Passionate, lively, and lyrical, Maya Angelou's latest unforgettable work offers a gem of truth on every page.



Dedicated to the daughter she never had but sees all around her, Letter to My Daughter reveals Maya Angelou's path to living well and living a life with meaning. Whether she is recalling such lost friends as Coretta Scott King and Ossie Davis, extolling honesty, decrying vulgarity, explaining why becoming a Christian is a "lifelong endeavor," or simply singing the praises of a meal of red rice--Maya Angelou writes from the heart to millions of women she considers her extended family.



In this book, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away, and unearths the well of emotions she experienced long afterward as a result. For the first time, she reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence, a presence absent during much of the author's early life. When her marriage began to crumble, Vivian famously sent three-year-old Maya and her older brother away from their California home to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Their reunion a decade later began a story that has never before been told.


"In this beautiful, deeply moving poem, Maya Angelou inspires us to embrace the peace and promise of Christmas, so that hope and love can once again light up our holidays and the world. "Angels and Mortals, Believers and Nonbelievers, look heavenward," she writes, "and speak the word aloud. Peace." Read by the poet at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree at the White House on December 1, 2005, Maya Angelou's celebration of the "Glad Season" is a radiant affirmation of the goodness of life and a beautiful holiday gift for people of all faiths."--Publisher's website.



Maya Angelou has achieved great things as both an artist and activist. In this engaging book, students will learn about Angelou's accomplishments as a writer, director, singer, and actress, as well as her work fighting for civil rights alongside Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Students will come away from this engaging book inspired by Angelou's brave life and brilliant work.



An unusual and irresistible look at Maya Angelou's life as well as her myriad interests and accomplishments by the people who know her best--her longtime friends Marcia Ann Gillespie and Richard Long, and her niece Rosa Johnson Butler. Features over 150 sepia portraits, family photographs, and letters.

Monday, March 29, 2021

Smoke and Mirrors Day: Illusions

Smoke and mirrors, the art of illusion, the game of misdirection. Enraptured audiences gasping with delight, as magicians work their magic. March 29 is Smoke and Mirrors Day, a day for celebrating magic and illusions.



"Paris, 1925: To enter the Secret Circus is to enter a world of wonder--a world where women weave illusions of magnificent beasts, carousels take you back in time, and trapeze artists float across the sky. Bound to her family's circus, it's the only world Cecile Cabot knows until she meets a charismatic young painter and embarks on a passionate affair that could cost her everything. Virginia, 2004: Lara Barnes is on top of the world, but when her fiancé disappears on their wedding day every plan she has for the future comes crashing down. Desperate, Lara's search for answers unexpectedly lead to her great-grandmother's journals. Swept into a story of a dark circus and ill-fated love, secrets about Lara's family history come to light and reveal a curse that has been claiming payment from the women in her family for generations. A curse that might be tied to her fiancé's mysterious fate"--. Provided by publisher.



"Magic is in Revelation "Reve" Dyer's blood. Together, she and her husband Jeremy have three daughters, a beautiful home, and a world-famous Las Vegas magic act. But Reve has many secrets, secrets that have not only shaped her past but now threaten her family. When a mysterious intruder tampers with the weapon used in one of the illusions in Reve's act, igniting a fresh tragedy, Reve fears for the safety of her three daughters--the twins, Fai and Grace, with their passion for horses and music, and little Caleigh, who seems to be able to weave the future in her endless games of cat's cradle. Grief-stricken, Reve flees with the three girls to the only place she's ever felt safe: the forest of Hawley Five Corners in Massachusetts. It's the place where magic reigns, and her oldest friend--and first love--is the chief of police. Once there, she'll discover The Hawley Book of the Dead, the ancient book that may hold the key to her family's mysterious past...and ultimately, to her own future"-- Provided by the publisher.




London 1870. A terrifying place for a young, beautiful woman of limited means. But Eliza is modern before her time. Not for her the stifling if respectable conventionality of marriage, children, domestic drudgery. She longs for more. Through her work as an artist's model, she meets the magnetic and irascible Devil - a born showman whose dream is to run his own theatre company. Devil's right-hand man is the improbably-named Carlo Bonomi, an ill-tempered dwarf with an enormous talent for all things magic and illusion. Carlo and Devil clash at every opportunity and it constantly falls upon Eliza to broker an uneasy peace between them. And then there is Jasper Button. Mild-mannered, and a family man at heart, it is his gift as an artist which makes him the unlikely final member of the motley crew. Thrown together by a twist of fate, their lives are inextricably linked: the fortune of one depends on the fortune of the other. And as Eliza gets sucked into the seductive and dangerous world her strange companions inhabit, she risks not only her heart but also her life...



Water for Elephants meets The Night Circus in The Magician's Lie, a debut novel in which the country's most notorious female illusionist stands accused of her husband's murder - and she has only one night to convince a small-town policeman of her innocence.

The Amazing Arden is the most famous female illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden's husband is found lifeless beneath the stage later that night, the answer seems clear.

But when Virgil happens upon the fleeing magician and takes her into custody, she has a very different story to tell. Even handcuffed and alone, Arden is far from powerless - and what she reveals is as unbelievable as it is spellbinding. Over the course of one eerie night, Virgil must decide whether to turn Arden in or set her free... and it will take all he has to see through the smoke and mirrors.



A tale set in Victorian London introduces the characters of a stage magician and detective and his silent sidekick, whose fiendish plot to re-create the apocalyptic prophecies of Samuel Taylor Coleridge threaten the British Empire.



The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas, tents are an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des RĂªves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them both, this is a game in which the only one can be left standing. Despite the high stakes, Celia and Marco soon tumble headfirst into love, setting off a domino effect of dangerous consequences, and leaving the lives of everyone, from the performers to the patrons, hanging in the balance.



"Set in 1920s New York City, this is the story of budding magician Anna Van Housen, who has spent her whole life playing sidekick to her faux-medium mother--and trying to hide the fact that she actually possesses the very abilities her mother fakes"-- Provided by publisher.




Shunned by her fellow performers after a disastrous liaison with an older magician, card-trick prodigy Natalie Webb writes an article about the art of cheating at cards to supplement her meager income, only to be drawn into the world of a talented poker cheat who entices her to help orchestrate a lucrative trick.



It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children--four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness--sneak out to hear their fortunes. Their prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11, hoping to control fate; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality. The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.



It's Boston, 1919, and the Cast Iron club is packed. On stage, hemopaths--those "afflicted" with the ability to create illusions through art--captivate their audience. Corinne and Ada have been best friends ever since infamous gangster Johnny Dervish recruited them into his circle. By night they perform for Johnny's crowds, and by day they con Boston's elite. When a job goes wrong and Ada is imprisoned, she realizes how precarious their position is. After she escapes, two of the Cast Iron's hires are shot and Johnny disappears. With the law closing in, Corinne and Ada are forced to hunt for answers, even as betrayal faces them at every turn.



Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas's stage lights while her father's career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.

Wednesday, March 24, 2021

National Tolkien Reading Day


March 25th the fall of Sauron, or otherwise known as Tolkien Reading Day. Established in 2003 by the Tolkien Society in hopes that everyone will celebrate all things, Tolkien. I have to say, I know absolutely nothing about Tolkien and the worlds he crafted. I recall watching the animated version of The Hobbit when I was a kid but I'm also fairly positive I slept through it, (honestly couldn't help it, that hobbit had a really soothing voice).





Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an adventure from which he may never return.





Venture into the imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien with these classic fantasies that dazzle and delight.
Smith of Wootton Major
"Like The Hobbit, this is first and foremost a good tale--dense and engrossing, full of unexpected turns. . . . It is both homely and haunting, and in its way, almost literally bewitching."--The New York Times Book Review
"A short prose meditation on the gift of fantasy, what it is, whence it comes, and what it means to the life and character of the man who receives it."--Paul H. Kocher, author of Master of Middle-earth
Farmer Giles of Ham
This short story is a delightfully ribald mock-heroic tale. When a "cunning, inquisitive, greedy, well-armored but not overly bold" dragon invades a kingdom, a most unwilling Farmer Giles is chosen to slay the dragon . . . a dragon who refuses to fight.





SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT, PEARL, and SIR ORFEO are masterpieces of a remote and exotic age--the age of chivalry and wizards, knights, and holy quests. Yet it is only in the unique artistry and imagination of J.R.R. Tolkien that the language, romance, and power of these great stories comes to life for modern readers, in this masterful and compelling new translation.



The Legend of Sigurd and GudrĂºn is a previously unpublished work by J.R.R. Tolkien, written while Tolkien was Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford during the 1920s and '30s before he wrote The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It makes available for the first time Tolkien’s extensive retelling in English narrative verse of the epic Norse tales of Sigurd the Völsung and The Fall of the Niflungs. It includes an introduction by J.R.R. Tolkien, drawn from one of his own lectures on Norse literature, with commentary and notes on the poems by Christopher Tolkien.



A number-one New York Times bestseller when it was originally published, The Silmarillion is the core of J.R.R. Tolkien's imaginative writing, a work whose origins stretch back to a time long before The Hobbit. Tolkien considered The Silmarillion his most important work, and, though it was published last and posthumously, this great collection of tales and legends clearly sets the stage for all his other writing. The story of the creation of the world and of the First Age, this is the ancient drama to which the characters in The Lord of the Rings look back and in whose events some of them, such as Elrond and Galadriel, took part. The three Silmarils were jewels created by Feanor, the most gifted of the Elves. Within them was imprisoned the Light of the Two Trees of Valinor before the Trees themselves were destroyed by Morgoth, the first Dark Lord. Thereafter, the unsullied Light of Valinor lived on only in the Silmarils, but they were seized by Morgoth and set in his crown, which was guarded in the impenetrable fortress of Angband in the north of Middle-earth. The Silmarillion is the history of the rebellion of Feanor and his kindred against the gods, their exile from Valinor and return to Middle-earth, and their war, hopeless despite all their heroism, against the great Enemy. This second edition features a letter written by J.R.R. Tolkien describing his intentions for the book, which serves as a brilliant exposition of his conception of the earlier Ages of Middle-earth.



"The first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Kullervo, son of Kalervo, is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. "Hapless Kullervo," as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny. Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone, save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Tolkien himself said that The Story of Kullervo was "the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own," and was "a major matter in the legends of the First Age." Tolkien's Kullervo is the clear ancestor of Turin Turambar, the tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. Published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes, and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala, The Story of Kullervo is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world. "-- Provided by publisher.



The first publication of a previously unknown narrative poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the extraordinary story of the final days of England's legendary hero, King Arthur.



A misunderstood man: Tolkien and the modern world -- Cradle convert to the grave: the child behind the myth -- Father Francis to Father Christmas: the father behind the myth -- True myth: Tolkien and the conversion of C.S. Lewis -- A ring of fellowship: Tolkien, Lewis, and the Inklings -- The creation of Middle Earth: the myth behind the man -- Orthodoxy in Middle Earth: the truth behind the myth -- The well and the shallows: Tolkien and the critics -- Tolkien as Hobbit: the Englishman behind the myth -- Approaching Mount Doom: Tolkien's final years -- Index of characters and places in Tolkien's Middle Earth."First published in Great Britain in 1998 by HarperCollins Publishers"--T.p. verso.



This collection will entertain all who appreciate the art of masterful letter writing. The Letters of J.R.R Tolkien sheds much light on Tolkien's creative genius and grand design for the creation of a whole new world: Middle-earth. Featuring a radically expanded index, this volume provides a valuable research tool for all fans wishing to trace the evolution of THE HOBBIT and THE LORD OF THE RINGS.



John Ronald loved dragons. He liked to imagine dragons when he was alone, and with his friends, and especially when life got hard or sad. After his mother died and he had to live with a cold-hearted aunt, he looked for dragons. He searched for them at his boarding school. And when he fought in a Great War, he felt as if terrible, destructive dragons were everywhere. But he never actually found one, until one day, when he was a grown man but still very much a boy at heart, when he decided to create one of his own. This picture book biography introduces the beloved creator of Middle Earth and author of The Hobbit to a new generation of children who see magic in the world around them.



John Ronald Reuel Tolkien's novels were strongly influenced by his childhood both in South Africa, where lions prowled and wild beasts roamed and in the English countryside, where he imagined that elves and gnomes dwelled. J. R. R. Tolkien wrote many stories, studied languages--even inventing one of his own--and fought bravely in World War I. He wrote The Hobbit, a children's book about a courageous creature with pointed ears and furry feet, which was an instant success. His next book, The Lord of the Rings, made Tolkien, an ordinary man with an extraordinary imagination, one of the world's most beloved authors. Includes a timeline and bibliography.

Monday, March 22, 2021

Gardening

Although gardening is not generally in the works until after the last frost, an impossible thing to gauge in Illinois, it's never too early to plan. Or you can do as I do, and live vicariously through other people's gardens, as I tend to have negative, "oh look I'm in the hospital again," reactions any time I come in close contact with a weed. In fact, I'm quite convinced that, in the case of a zombie apocalypse, I will surely be taken out by a weed while attempting to run from a horde.



A Garden Miscellany is a fun and informative visual exploration of the main features commonly found in gardens. Fully illustrated by Julia Yellow, it is a gorgeous gift for every kind of garden lover.



"From the Booker Prize winner and national bestselling author, reflections on gardening, art, literature, and life Penelope Lively takes up her key themes of time and memory, and her lifelong passions for art, literature, and gardening in this philosophical and poetic memoir. From the courtyards of her childhood home in Cairo to a family cottage in Somerset to her own gardens in Oxford and London, Lively conducts an expert tour, taking us from Eden to Sissinghurst and into her own backyard, traversing the lives of writers like Virginia Woolf and Philip Larkin while imparting her own sly and spare wisdom. "Her body of work proves that certain themes never go out of fashion," writes the New York Times Book Review, as true of this beautiful volume as of the rest of the Lively canon. Now in her eighty-fourth year, Lively muses, "To garden is to elide past, present, and future; it is a defiance of time." "-- Provided by publisher.



Emily Dickinson was a keen observer of the natural world, but less well known is the fact that she was also an avid gardener--sending fresh bouquets to friends, including pressed flowers in her letters, and studying botany at Amherst Academy and Mount Holyoke. At her family home, she tended both a small glass conservatory and a flower garden. In Emily Dickinson's Gardening Life, award-winning author Marta McDowell explores Dickinson's deep passion for plants and how it inspired and informed her writing. Tracing a year in the garden, the book reveals details few know about Dickinson and adds to our collective understanding of who she was as a person. By weaving together Dickinson's poems, excerpts from letters, contemporary and historical photography, and botanical art, McDowell offers an enchanting new perspective on one of America's most celebrated but enigmatic literary figures.



For six years, House & Garden editor-in-chief Dominique Browning has written a monthly column that weaves together personal stories and tips about home decorating, gardening, and raising children with universal themes of domestic life. In Around the House and in the Garden, Browning adapts and expands these well-loved pieces, adding dozens of new essays, to create an insightful and moving narrative about the solace and sense of self that can be found through tending one's home. From bedrooms and bathrooms to gardens and trees, from the importance of a couch in the kitchen to the spiritual role of a grand piano, Around the House and in the Garden reveals the intimate relationship between home and self.



“Quoting seminal figures...Darke reexamines the pertinence of arts and crafts ideas for our own gardens...[and] sidebar boxes...suggest[ing] specific plants and planting methods, and types of materials and decorative embellishments. A bevy of beautiful photographs illustrates Darke’s thoughtful and inspiring ruminations.”—Booklist.



The Illinois Gardener's Guide: Revised Edition is written by the popular gardening expert James Fizzell. It contains easy-to-use advice on the top landscape plant choices (more than 190 entries) for Illinois. It also recommends specific varieties and provides advice on how to plant, how to grow, and how to care for Illinois' best plants.



Illinois gardeners now have a handy new tool for maintaining and improving their gardens throughout the year. The book combines the features of an almanac and a gardening journal. Twelve pages are dedicated to each month of the year. Beautiful full-color photographs and helpful hints specifically geared to the growing conditions of the state provide both inspiration and a practical garden planner. A calendar format and lay-flat binding allows you to keep your own notes on such variables as weather, insect and disease appearances and treatments, as well as garden highlights.



This book features over 300 annuals suitable to the Illinois climate. A must-have addition to any garden library, it includes over 350 brilliant full-color photographs. You'll also find plenty of practical advice on choosing the best varieties of annuals for your garden, tips for improved growth, and strategies for taking on pests and other problems.



This book shows you the basics you need to get your yard or green space under control and keep it that way, and gives you lots of garden ideas you can do yourself--all with step-by-step photographs. From planting decorative climbers to growing your own fruits and vegetables, these easy steps will make a big difference in how your garden and landscape look and feel. Take the anxiety out of planting, potting, and pruning and enjoy your lush lawn, beautiful landscape, and bountiful garden.



Focusing on containers, trellises, and raised beds, this book shows how everyone can garden, including those with physical limitations like arthritis or location limitations like apartment-dwellers without backyards.



There's no need to keep buying the same vegetables you eat all the time. This insightful guide will show you how to recycle and regrow more than 20 popular fresh vegetables right at home, from cabbage to coriander. Reduce waste, save money, and Regrow Your Veggies the right (and easy) way!



With The Pollinator Victory Garden, you can create a beautiful landscape that attracts and supports many different species of pollinators.



A one-stop treasure trove from the RHS that covers every aspect of gardening, from planning and planting to growing and care. Choose plants that will thrive in your space.
Design a border for year-round color.
Grasp different pruning techniques.
Discover how to protect your veg patch from pests.
Make the best compost. Delve into this concise, practical encyclopedia to find all the ideas and advice you need to create a spectacular, thriving garden.



"Gardening for All Seasons" provides both the basic information necessary to create and maintain successful gardens and houseplants and guidance on growing and maintaining flowers during all the seasons of the year.



Children find gardening fun and fascinating - it's wonderful to witness the pride and amazement they feel when they produce their own juicy tomatoes or sky-high sunflowers.

Favorite Books Read in 2024

2024 has been a reading slump for me.  I struggled to select which books to read.  I also struggled to settle myself so I could just sit and...