![]() ![]() Newly divorced, she and her then-boyfriend purchased a rundown villa in Tuscany and set out to fix it up themselves. The poet and writer was the chair of the creative writing department at San Francisco State University when she wrote the book in 1996. In 2003, a movie adaptation of the same name premiered, starring Diane Lane, who got a Golden Globe nod for her portrayal of Mayes.Īnd even though Mayes now has nearly 20 books under her belt, Under the Tuscan Sun remains her most popular. Twenty-six years ago, when Frances Mayes published Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in Italy, it immediately became a New York Times best-seller - and stayed on that list for two-and-a-half years. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ‘Gut-wrenchingly beautiful.’ – Kirkus Reviews ![]() He can only hope that Alizeh will be waiting for him there-and that she’s not yet become queen of Tulan. Facing betrayal at every turn, all he knows for certain is that he must go to Tulan to avenge his grandfather. Kamran, meanwhile, is picking up the pieces of his broken kingdom. But with no means of escaping Tulan, and with the tantalizing promise of fulfilling her destiny as the heir to the Jinn, she’s forced to wonder whether she can set aside her emotions-and finally become the queen her people need. Cyrus has made his own deal with the devil-one that would require Alizeh to betray her feelings for Kamran if she’s to reclaim the Jinn throne.Īlizeh wants nothing to do with Cyrus, or his deal with Iblees. Cyrus, the mysterious copper-haired royal, has stolen Alizeh away to Tulan, the neighboring kingdom where he rules. Kamran’s grandfather, the king of Ardunia, lays dead, the terrible secret of his deal with the devil exposed to the world. ![]() With the heat of a kiss, the walls between Alizeh, the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom, and Kamran, the crown prince of the Ardunian empire, have crumbled. ![]() Full of explosive magic, searing romance, and heartbreaking betrayal, These Infinite Threads is the breathtaking sequel to the instant New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller This Woven Kingdom ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() While the ultimate goals of superintelligences can vary greatly, a functional superintelligence will spontaneously generate, as natural subgoals, " instrumental goals" such as self-preservation and goal-content integrity, cognitive enhancement, and resource acquisition. Such a superintelligence would be very difficult to control or restrain. Regardless of the initial timescale, once human-level machine intelligence is developed, a "superintelligent" system that "greatly exceeds the cognitive performance of humans in virtually all domains of interest" would, most likely, follow surprisingly quickly. ![]() It is unknown whether human-level artificial intelligence will arrive in a matter of years, later this century, or not until future centuries. Sufficiently intelligent machines could improve their own capabilities faster than human computer scientists, and the outcome could be an existential catastrophe for humans. It argues that if machine brains surpass human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could replace humans as the dominant lifeform on Earth. Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies is a 2014 book by the Swedish philosopher Nick Bostrom from the University of Oxford. ![]() ![]() ![]() Flashbacks provide details of his increasingly complicated life, working as a journalist, befriending Bolshevik leaders, falling in love with Trotsky’s secretary, and becoming a pawn for British authorities. ![]() The second part, told in the third person, is taut as Arthur counts down time to a clandestine rendezvous. Drenched in atmosphere, it gives vivid depictions of snowy Russia while magical scenes set the backdrop of Arthur’s unhappy marriage and move to Russia, eerie portrayals of Rasputin and the czar’s family, and the rise of Trotsky and Lenin. ![]() Ransome is also the author of Old Peter’s Russian Tales, and the first part of the novel reads like one of his folk tales. The book is divided into three distinct parts (just one of many fairy-tale “threes”). Originally published in 2007 in the U.K., this import tells how Arthur Ransome, British author of children’s books, including the popular series Swallows and Amazons, became a spy as Russia went to war with itself. Sedgwick plays on the fairy-tale motif to spin an intriguing tale that weaves together a famous children’s writer and the Russian Revolution. ![]() ![]() ![]() His first novel, Remembering Laughter, was published in 1937. Throughout his career and after, Stegner's literary output was tremendous. ![]() A number of his creative writing students have become some of today's most well respected writers, including Wendell Berry, Thomas McGuane, Raymond Carver, Edward Abbey, Robert Stone, and Larry McMurty. He married Mary Stuart Page in 1934, and for the next decade the couple followed Wallace's teaching career-to the University of Wisconsin, Harvard, and eventually to Stanford University, where he founded the creative writing program, and where he was to remain until his retirement in 1971. He furthered his education at the University of Iowa, where he received a master's and a doctoral degree. Stegner received most of his education in Utah, graduating from the University in 1930. ![]() Many of the landscapes he encountered in his peripatetic youth figure largely in his work, as do characters based on his stern father and athletic, outgoing brother. ![]() The son of Scandinavian immigrants, he traveled with his parents and brother all over the West-to North Dakota, Washington, Saskatchewan, Montana, and Wyoming-before settling in Salt Lake City in 1921. Wallace Stegner was born in 1909 in Lake Mills, Iowa. ![]() ![]() ![]() Oprah Winfrey's book club selection in 2001 of The Corrections led to a much publicized feud with the talk show host. His 1996 Harper's essay "Perchance to Dream" bemoaned the state of contemporary literature. Franzen has contributed to The New Yorker magazine since 1994. Franzen's latest novel Crossroads was published in 2021, and is the first in a projected trilogy. ![]() His novel Freedom (2010) garnered similar praise and led to an appearance on the cover of Time magazine alongside the headline "Great American Novelist". His 2001 novel The Corrections, a sprawling, satirical family drama, drew widespread critical acclaim, earned Franzen a National Book Award, was a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, earned a James Tait Black Memorial Prize, and was shortlisted for the International Dublin Literary Award. Jonathan Earl Franzen (born August 17, 1959) is an American novelist and essayist. ![]() ![]() ![]() Selene’s narrative is animated by the concerns of a young girl in any time and place-the possibility of finding love, the pull of friendship and family, and the pursuit of her unique interests and talents. Recounted in Selene’s youthful and engaging voice, Moran introduces a compelling cast of historical characters: Octavia, the emperor Octavian’s kind and compassionate sister, abandoned by Marc Antony for Cleopatra Livia, Octavian's bitter and jealous wife Marcellus, Octavian’s handsome, flirtatious nephew and heir apparent Tiberius, Livia’s sardonic son and Marcellus’s great rival for power and Juba, Octavian’s watchful aide, whose honored position at court has far-reaching effects on the lives of the young Egyptian royals. Delivered to the household of Octavian’s sister, the siblings cling to each other and to the hope that they will return one day to their rightful place on the throne of Egypt. When the lovers choose to die by their own hands, their three orphaned children are taken in chains to Rome only two-the ten-year-old twins Selene and Alexander-survive the journey. ![]() ![]() The marriage of Marc Antony and Cleopatra is one of the greatest love stories of all time, a tale of unbridled passion with earth-shaking political consequences. ![]() From the internationally bestselling author of Nefertiti comes the tumultuous story of Antony and Celopatra's daughter, Selene. ![]() ![]() ![]() Sapkowski has won five Zajdel Awards, including three for short stories "Mniejsze zło" (Lesser Evil) (1990), "Miecz przeznaczenia" (Sword of Destiny) (1992) and "W leju po bombie" (In a Bomb Crater) (1993), and two for the novels "Krew elfów" (Blood of Elves) (1994) and "Narrenturm" (2002). The world in which these adventures take place is heavily influenced by Slavic mythology. At the same time cynical and noble, Geralt has been compared to Raymond Chandler's signature character Philip Marlowe. Geralt exists in an ambiguous moral universe, yet manages to maintain his own coherent code of ethics. The main character of The Witcher (alternative translation: The Hexer) is Geralt, a mutant assassin who has been trained since childhood to hunt down and destroy monsters. ![]() This cycle and his many other works have made him one of the best-known fantasy authors in Poland in the 1990s. Sapkowski has created a cycle of tales based on the world of The Witcher, comprising three collections of short stories and five novels. His first short story, The Witcher ( Wiedźmin), was published in Fantastyka, Poland's leading fantasy literary magazine, in 1986 and was enormously successful both with readers and critics. Sapkowski studied economics, and before turning to writing, he had worked as a senior sales representative for a foreign trade company. ![]() Andrzej Sapkowski, born Jin Łódź, is a Polish fantasy writer. ![]() ![]() ![]() Publishers Weekly (starred review) Wealth. Thick with history and packed with Bardugo’s signature twists, Hell Bent brings to life an intricate world full of magic, violence, and all too real monsters. 1 New York Times Bestseller From the author of Shadow and Bone, now a hit NETFLIX series Readers will be wowed. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. The Ivy League is going straight to hell in the sequel to the smash New York Times bestseller Ninth House from 1 bestselling author Leigh Bardugo. ![]() But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.įorbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. 1 New York Times Bestseller From the author of Shadow and Bone, now a hit NETFLIX series Readers will be wowed.' Publishers Weekly (starred review) Wealth. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. Alex Stern is back and the Ivy League is going straight to hell in #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo's Hell Bent. ![]() ![]() ![]() It was the fastest Audible purchase I've made, and I don't regret it. "A story I always wanted to hear more of, and one of the narrators is Forest Whitaker!" I like his voice so much I'd listen to him reading a refrigerator repair manual. I was thrilled to find "The Butler: A Witness to History" (2013) at the top of the Audible crawl. ![]() Allen must have had interesting stories, but he was discrete and I thought they had died with him in 2010. Later, watching the inaugural on television, the camera panned to Allen, and a commentator mentioned he was there as a special guest of the President's. "A Butler Well Served by this Election" was the too brief story of Eugene Allen, a Black butler who served eight presidents, retiring during the Reagan administration. Three days later, I read a nice piece in the Washington Post by Wil Haygood. On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama was elected to his first term as President. ![]() |