![]() ![]() Where did that leave Scahill's investigations? Well, his case is that JSoc is a strangely dysfunctional, even homicidal body – which has, in fact, become no more transparent or democratically accountable as a result of the Bin Laden publicity. Its commander Admiral William McRaven, once so camera shy, now appeared front and centre on TV. Then, when Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011, Scahill had the disconcerting experience of seeing JSoc come triumphantly out of the shadows, taking the credit, wallowing in glory. For years, Scahill battled to find out more about JSoc in Afghanistan. It's a military force that has long existed in its own shadowy world of deniability, taking out assumed terrorists, launching drone attacks and killing large numbers of innocent civilians in countries with which the US is not technically at war: Somalia, Pakistan, Yemen. ![]() J eremy Scahill is the national security correspondent for the Nation and his new film is about the strange case of JSoc, or Joint Special Operations Command. ![]()
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Thread!.Check out the Weekly Recommendation Thread.New Release: Endless Summer by Elin Hilderbrand. ![]() ![]() for France in 1972 at the age of 24 to escape racial and sexual bigotry and establish life as a writer. ![]() ![]() ![]() What he did do, in context, was oversee and co-edit, along with Jennifer DeVere Brody, the republication of the late James Baldwin's "Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood" - a largely forgotten and long out-of-print book about the challenges and joys of a Black child growing up in 1920s Harlem.īaldwin, of course, was the visionary Black author whose works also include groundbreaking titles like "Go Tell It On the Mountain," "Notes of a Native Son," "If Beale Street Could Talk" and "The Fire Next Time." And the republication of "Little Man, Little Man," which Baldwin regarded as a "child's book for adults," is an important rediscovery in a developing literary renaissance for writers of color. Nicholas Boggs, January's Merrill House author, didn't actually write a children's book. Without disparaging the obvious importance of children's literature, it's accurate to say that not many would-be James Merrill House writers-in-residence jot down "KID'S BOOK" on their applications. ![]() Merrill House writer Nicholas Boggs talks about James Baldwin ![]() ![]() ![]() Traveling from Iran to North Korea, from the Dalai Lama’s Himalayas to the ghostly temples of Japan, Pico Iyer brings together a lifetime of explorations to upend our ideas of utopia and ask how we might find peace in the midst of difficulty and suffering. For some it can be enjoyed only after death for others, it’s in our midst-or just across the ocean-if only we can find eyes to see it. Most of us dream of it, but each of us has very different ideas about where it is to be found. Paradise: that elusive place where the anxieties, struggles, and burdens of life fall away. “Masterful…A book of inner journeys told through extraordinary exteriors…One of his very best.” - Washington Post From “one of the most soulful and perceptive writers of our time” ( Brain Pickings): a journey through competing ideas of paradise to see how we can live more peacefully in an ever more divided and distracted world. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Stefan Zweig makes use of the game of chess as both a character in the novel and as a metaphor for his life as he perceived it at the time. It’s a clear, riveting novella, which not only reaches very extreme psychological depths, but also offers a poignant new understanding of Nazi Germany-a period in history which already has a multitude of perspectives and analysis. Hands down it’s one of the best stories I’ve ever read. ![]() This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work’s unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig’s story. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. ![]() It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological. “ Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. By Drew Damron, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main ![]() ![]() ![]() Blake is very kept in the dark by everyone around her and she only vaguely knows about the lords and how they function in society. He will do whatever it takes to remain true to who he wants to be. Ryat has no problem bringing his darkness out to play wether it be personally or for the Lords. Contains dark themes that may be triggering to some. The Ritual is an MF, J/P (jealous/possessive) hero, OTT (over the top) hero story. ![]() But like all things, what started out as a game soon became a fight for survival. A way that the Lords manipulate you into doing what they want.Īfter being sucked into the dark, twisted world of the Lords, I embraced my new role and allowed Ryat to parade me around like the trophy I was to him. ![]() ![]() He made me believe that anyway, but it was just another lie. He offered me what no one else ever had-freedom. I never got the chance to do what I wanted, until Ryat Alexander Archer came along and gave me an option for a better life. My entire life has been planned out for me. People think growing up with money is freeing, but I promise you, it’s not. And during their senior year, they are offered a chosen one. They devote their lives to violence in exchange for power. They are above all-the most powerful men in the world. Barrington University is home of the Lords, a secret society that requires their blood in payment. ![]() ![]() ![]() In the summer of 1918, places where lovers used to walk, widows now wander alone. ![]() But war has transformed Paris from a city of style and romance to a place of fear and mourning. La Fantasie Russie is owned by Pavel Orloff, protégé to the famous Faberge, and is known by the city’s fashion elite as the place to find the rarest of gemstones and the most unique designs. Nestled within Paris’s historic Palais Royal is a jewelry store unlike any other. ![]() Rose’s “brilliantly crafted” ( Providence Journal) novel The Witch of Painted Sorrows. As World War I rages and the Romanov dynasty reaches its sudden, brutal end, a young jewelry maker discovers love, passion, and her own healing powers in this rich and romantic ghost story, the perfect follow-up to M.J. ![]() ![]() ![]() Picturing his face forces me to reconsider my choice. I twist it around to read the inscription. It’s my ring, the last precious gift my father gave me. Dropping my hands, a glimmer catches my eye. I inhale, preparing myself for the finality of it all. I take one last look at the crystal chandelier, the foyer outlined with mirrors, and the flawless decorations. Sweat pours down my back.ĭeath and I glare at each other through my tears. I pull down, making sure the knot is secure. ![]() The rope chafes as I loop it around my neck. I’m buried six feet under, and no one hears my screams. My name is Lexi Hamilton, and this is my story. I’ve been accused of a crime I didn’t commit and now the Hole is my new home. Now LUST wraps around my neck like blue fingers strangling me. He created the Hole where sinners are branded according to their sins and might survive a few years. ![]() In his warped mind, the seven deadly sins were the downfall of society. Fifty years ago the Commander came into power and murdered all who opposed him. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() They were mean (Aunt Polly), or loyal and sweet (servant girl), or glad (Pollyanna), and that was about it. Here's what I had a problem with: the characters were all fairly 2-dimensional. ![]() The 3 star rating is the middle ground between our opinions. I would read some chapters, then she would take it to her room and read more on her own as she had time. ![]() I read this one with my 7-year-old daughter. That was my only experience with this story. Pollyanna will need all of her friends and all of her optimism when tragedy strikes.ĭid you ever see this movie? I did, a long time ago. Living with Aunt Polly would suck the joy right out of life for most people, but dear little Pollyanna even finds gladness there. You see, her father always taught her that there was something to be glad about in almost every situation-sometimes you just had to look harder for it than others. She makes friends everywhere she goes with her "Glad Game," from the invalid neighbor she goes to see regularly, to the grumpy man on the street whom she greets cheerfully every day. Even though Aunt Polly does her best to raise the girl with strictness and no affection, Pollyanna's positive attitude in every situation soon has the staff of the house jumping to her every need. When her brother dies, she very grudgingly takes in her only niece, named Pollyanna. Polly is a rather severe woman, who takes no nonsense from her servants or anyone else. I thought it was just okay, but my daughter liked it. ![]() ![]() ![]() This drama at the railway station unfolded more than thirty years after Tolstoy had written the novels for which he is now best known: War and Peace, completed in 1869, and Anna Karenina, completed in 1877. She had traveled to Astapovo as soon as she heard of his illness, but the friends caring for him did not allow her in until Tolstoy was on the very point of death. One of the most haunting images caught on camera is of Sonya herself, peering in through the window of the room in which her sick husband lay. ![]() “Tolstoy is Better … The Count Is Very Weak, but the Doctors Say There Is No Immediate Danger,” blazed a headline in the New York Times just a couple days before his death, when he was already drifting in and out of consciousness. His death became one of the first international media “events.” It attracted to the little station not only hundreds of his admirers (and some watchful government spies) but also a Pathé News camera team, eager to catch the great man’s final moments on film, and reporters from all over the world who wired often unreliable stories back to their editors. And there was certainly very little solitude or quiet. ![]() In fact, there were to be very few of those “last days.” For whatever Tolstoy’s plans for the future had been (and we can now only guess at them), they were soon interrupted when he was taken ill on board a train and forced to get out at Astapovo, where the stationmaster gave him the use of his house. ![]() |