From the author of The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors, which Library Journal
called, “ripe for Oprah or fans of Elizabeth Berg or Anne Tyler,” comes
a magical novel about a family of women separated by oceans,
generations, and war, but connected by something much greater—the gift
of wings.
On March 29, 1973, Prudence
Eleanor Vilkas was born with a pair of wings molded to her back.
Considered a birth defect, her wings were surgically removed, leaving
only the ghost of them behind.
At fifteen years old, confused and
unmoored, Prudence meets her long-estranged Lithuanian grandfather and
discovers a miraculous lineage beating and pulsing with past Lithuanian
bird-women, storytellers with wings dragging the dirt, survivors perched
on radio towers, lovers lit up like fireworks, and heroes disguised as
everyday men and women. Prudence sets forth on a quest to discover her
ancestors, to grapple with wings that only one other person can see, and
ultimately, to find out where she belongs.
Above Us Only Sky spans the
1863 January Uprising against Russian Tsarist rule in Eastern Europe to
the fall of the Berlin Wall, and Lithuania gaining its independence in
1991. It is a story of mutual understanding between the old and young;
it is a love story; a story of survival, and most importantly a story
about where we belong in the world.I found the storytelling in this novel about WW2 Lithuania and the people that inhabited the small towns to be fascinating. The prose was a bit clunky in spots, but the strong characters more than made up for that, and the plot was regular as a railroad, so it all worked out well. I'd give it a B+, with the recommendation for those who enjoy historical fiction and magic realism, as well as war stories, to give the book a shot.
Stone of Destiny, with Robert Carlyle, Kate Mara and Charlie Cox was a delightful film about a group of young Scottish university students who, in the grip of nationalism in the 1950s, decide to steal the Stone Of Scone (also called the Stone of Destiny) back from the English who absconded with it 600 years ago. It is based on fact, which allows for a delightful "making of" segment after the film in which we meet the real Ian Hamilton. Here's the brief blurb:Prolific actor/director Charles Martin Smith takes the helm for this lighthearted adventure comedy recounting the theft of the Stone of Scone from Westminster Abbey. Based on the memoirs of Ian Hamilton, Stone of Destiny follows the determined student's reckless quest to make the ultimate symbolic gesture for Scottish independence. Charlie Cox stars in a film featuring Robert Carlyle, Billy Boyd, Stephen McCole, and Kate Mara.
Shipping Brown
Boxes Across the Universe'
"Amazon was a
fabulous company to be at. I learned so much. That's the
smartest team I've
ever worked with. It grew me as an individual. But,
really, what I'm
doing is helping ship brown boxes across the universe.
Is that useful to
the world? I wanted the opportunity to give something
back."
--Greg Russell who
is leaving Amazon, where he oversaw corporate
applications,
enterprise data warehouse and IT, to become chief
information
officer for the Seattle Police Department, as quoted in the
SPD Blotter
Yet another time that I wish I could visit NYC!
On St. Patrick's
Day, next Tuesday, March 17, the Irish Arts Center
http://www.shelf-awareness.com/ct/uz3642037Biz24475401
in New York City will "take to the streets to
introduce and re-introduce New Yorkers to some of Ireland's
most celebrated
writers" by giving away thousands of free books to
commuters and
schoolchildren at transit hubs across the city.
At 7 a.m.,
volunteers will start handing out the books--hundreds of
titles--and keep
going until the books run out. This is the fifth year
the Irish Arts
Center is celebrating St. Patrick's Day in this way.
Poet Jane Hirshfield noted:
“Poetry
offers "new ways of perceiving" in complex and interconnected ways, she argues. The poet sees or
hears or feels something and, in an act of the imagination, uses the tools of
craft--words, images and form--to turn it into something previously unsaid and
unknown. Each
reader in turn
re-creates the poet's imaginative experience. A poem
changes us because
experience changes us, and so poetry provokes new
reactions to the
familiar objects and concerns of life, connecting
writer and reader and showing both how to see
or hear or feel.
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