Andrea Camilleri's novels starring Inspector Montalbano have become an international sensation and have been translated from Italian into eight languages, ranging from Dutch to Japanese. The Shape of Water is the first book in this sly, witty, and engaging series with its sardonic take on Sicilian life.
Author - Kevin Holtsberry
MacDonald does a great job of allowing the reader to see the world through Zelda's eyes with all the complexity involved in a broken family trying to make things work. You can feel the challenge of Ger trying to get his life back on track while caring for his sister. You can feel the strain of poverty on school, work, and relationships. But you also get the joy of the optimism and determination of Zelda; her fierce independence and desire to chart her own course.
As I so often say, taste and preferences play a big role in whether you would enjoy this book. It is not literary fiction but it is entertaining and fast paced. Not to sound even more like a dad, but perhaps it is like junk food, fun to grab once in a while but not likely to be good for you in large doses.
A funny and honest middle-grade novel, this sharply observed depiction of family, friendship, and Alice's determination to prove herself--as a babysitter, as a friend, as a daughter, as a person--rings loud and true.
At a time of catastrophe and national despair, when conservative nationalism is on the rise and violent confrontation on the streets is becoming commonplace, it’s extremely suspicious that the books politicians, the press, university administrators, and corporate consultants alike are asking us to read are urging us to put race even more at the center of our identities, and fetishize the unbridgeable nature of our differences. — Matt Taibbi, on White Fragility and its popularity
Leadership in elected office is often about telling people difficult truths that they don’t want to hear, making hard decisions that will fully satisfy no one, and accepting the responsibility for making those decisions. If you are not willing to accept that, don’t run for the job.
When thinking for self is declining, more charlatans and fewer statesmen will vie for office. Look at the political horizon to learn what the thinking is, just as you look at a thermometer to learn what the temperature is. So blame not the political opportunists for the state of the nation. Our failure to think for ourselves put them there-indeed, brought them into being. For we are the market; they are but the reflections!
These perceptive moral essays crackle with wit, intelligence, and a wide range of knowledge. A cultural hawk eye delivers relevant, down-to-earth meditations on the way we live now. "A Visit to Vanity Fair" blends personal reflection with cultural criticism to address such topics as reading with children, sitting with a dying friend, and watching TV documentaries.