The Year of PleasuresThe Year of Pleasures by Elizabeth Berg. Elizabeth Berg’s The Year of Pleasures is about acknowledging the solace found in ordinary things: a warm bath, good food, the beauty of nature, music, and art. Above all, The Year of Pleasures is about the various kindnesses people can - and do - provide one another. Betta’s journey from grief to joy is a meaningful reminder of what is available to us all, regardless of what fate has in store. This exquisite book suggests that no matter what we lose, life is ready to give bountifully to those who will receive.
The Princess of Haiku, keeper of simple pleasures, has been kidnapped by her archenemies the Specter of Pandemonium and the Phantom of Excess, who currently inhabit two Ogre sisters, Plethora and Chaotica Glut. Simple pleasures everywhere are in danger. Guided only by a strange riddle from given to them by an Oak tree, Spiderwort, along with Rosemary Periwinkle and Cinnebar, have only a little while to find the Princess and get her to safety. As always the Fairies will have a little magical assistance this time from a well-meaning Scarecrow and the already ghostly Minstrel of Epic Poems.
Added by: Kahena | Karma: 11524.33 | Fiction literature | 13 October 2011
5
Merde Actually
A year after arriving in France, Englishman Paul West is still struggling with some fundamental questions: What is the best way to scare a gendarme? Why are there no health warnings on French nudist beaches? And is it really polite to sleep with your boss' mistress? Paul opens his English tea room, and mutates (temporarily) into a Parisian waiter; samples the pleasures of typically French hotel-room afternoons; and, on a return visit to the UK, sees the full horror of a British office party through Parisian eyes.
Surrounded by parents and siblings with remarkable talents, Sam yearns to be good at something himself, and finds his own special niche when he discovers the pleasures of painting.
In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers.
