I was trying to decide on a book pick for this weeks Memory Monday, when I got to thinking about my earliest memories of books I had actually read and finished myself. And other than picture books, which I've mentioned before, the earliest book I remember reading to myself was Bill Brittain's All the Money in the World. We read it for class in 1st or 2nd grade and I remember being interested in how the author made everything so literal.
Here, I'm about to show you how weirdly specific my memory can be. Keep in mind that I read this book over 15 years ago as a very small child.
So, the main character gets a wish granted. I don't remember why, or who grants the wish (a genie maybe? Isn't it always a genie?) Being a young boy, he wishes for all the money in the world. So he gets it. In his backyard. Pretty sure there was a Scrooge McDuck moment in there, where he goes swimming in it, but I might be mistaken. He even had Japanese money and he's crazy excited to go out and spend all him new money.
So, also being a young boy, he decided to buy an ice cream. But, when he gets there, and tries to spend the money, it goes into the cash register, but vanished right back out. This means our poor boy can't have his ice cream and he starts realizing maybe his wish was a little bit rash & somehow, he refinds this genie who I think only wanted to teach him a lesson anyway, and he gives back all the world's money. (This is about where, as this little elementary school kid I decided it would be much, much better to just wish to have exact change in your pocket, and then always wear jeans).
Not gonna lie, I'm kinda proud I remember all that from my earliest years in school.:)
Every year in our country hypothecary crediting (mortgage) or the loan on the security of the bought real estate uses the increasing popularity.
The hypothecary credit allows to get habitation already today, and to repay the credit for many years. The hypothecary credit or VA Loan is the long-term money advance which is given out for purchase of the real estate, on the security of this real estate.
Home Loan it's always favorable
* Hypothecary crediting brings to nothing degree of inflationary risks. * Payment of cost of the real estate, in conformity with mortgage conditions, is carried out not at a time, and in a current of long time that is much more favourable than full payment. * The Sums of payments connected with repayment of the hypothecary credit, are fixed at the moment of credit reception. * Possibility of registration (residence permit) in the got apartment (house). * VA Home Loan — favourable capital investment (at current trends of the market of the price for the real estate grow on the average from 14,5 to 30% a year).
In America, as well as all over the world, exists two ways of purchase of the real estate on credit: it is the bank mortgage or VA Loan Eligibility. For any bank hypothecary crediting is one of ways of reception of profit.
Percent paid by the borrower on the hypothecary credit include profit of bank taking into account the insurance from the every possible risks connected with difficulty of return of the credit. As a result, the apartment got by means of the bank credit, manages to the buyer essentially more expensively initial cost. In many cases — on 50-70%.
Probably, you agree, that at a choice of the organisation anyhow using your money, the first and main criteria — reliability and conscientiousness. Co-operative movement intensively develops, and now in the market there is wide enough spectrum of offers. Among them — offers to give the housing loan under the tenth shares of percent, the settling promise in apartment in two months, and so forth. It is clear, that such offers caused by the growing competition between housing-memory structures, can be or simple advertising receptions, or (that is much more dangerous) display of frank unconscientiousness.
Sixteen year old Sally Werner lives in rural Pennsylvania. It is the year 1946. She accepts a ride on the motorcycle of her cousin, Daniel, a decision that changes her life forever. The end up having intercourse, an act Sally didn't consent to. She becomes pregnant, and is blamed for ruining Daniel's life. Daniel is eager to marry Sally, Sally would rather die than marry him. Forty-eight hours after giving birth to their son, Sally leaves the child in the care of her family and runs away from a future that is not her own.
Her first encounter is with the Mason family. She accepts the role as housekeeper from seventy year old "Uncle Mason." They build a relationship of trust of over the matter of two years that Sally works for him. However, while cleaning, Sally discovers a box that contains Mason's entire life savings. She is no thief, yet she can't get the money out of her mind. When her past catches up to her the local gossip begins spreading the details of Sally's past, she must pack up and leave this family she's grown to love. She goes to the box holding Uncle Mason's money, only planning on taking a small amount, when Mason's voice appears in the darkness, demanding that she take it all. Sally takes all the money, and once again runs away.
Thus begins Sally's legacy of moving from town to town, running from her own past. She uses the Tuskagee River as a path to her future, stopping off at small towns in an attempt to settle. Each time her need to flee awakens, and Sally must pack up and move on. This continues after the birth of her daughter, Penelope, is born. She can't seem to shake the guilt of abandoning her son. She sends letters home to her parents and includes a small amount of mone when she's able. Yet it isn't until almost two decades later that Sally begins to wonder what happened to her son. ..
FOLLOW ME details the lives of Sally, her daughter Penelope, and eventually her grandaughter and traces the lies created by her family to keep her in the dark about her son's existence. Just how far will they go to keep Sally form learning the truth?
Although parts of FOLLOW ME seemed to drag a bit, it didn't take long for me to become absorbed in the characters. The writing was powerful and descriptive. The characters were all well-rounded and seemed to share the same destiny, no matter how hard they tried to take control. I recommend FOLLOW ME to any reader that enjoys a detailed storyline with twists and turns that leaves you questioning until the very end.
About the Author
Joanna Scott is the author of nine books, including The Manikin, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Various Antidotes and Arrogance, which were both finalists for the PEN/Faulkner Award; and the critically acclaimed Make Believe, Tourmaline, and Liberation. A recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Lannan Award, she lives with her family in upstate New York.
Giveaway
I have one copy of FOLLOW ME to give away. To be entered into the contest, comment on this post. To be entered twice, blog about it. For three entries, tweet about it (please include a link to your tweet in your comment). Contest is open to US and Canadian residents only. Winner will be announced on Friday, May 8th.
Thank you to Hachette for providing me with this review copy. Check out the other blogs participating in this tour:
Anna Taggart, recent Colombia grad, is thrilled when she lands a teaching job at an elite private school. Her parents are less than thrilled; they don’t understand how she can just waste all the money they put toward her Ivy-League education and become..a teacher. Teaching is her passion and she can’t wait to dive in. Until she notices that the work handed in by her students isn’t their own. The majority of her students have high-priced tutors that are doing the work for them! Anna, desperately broke, gets sucked into “the dark side” and becomes a tutor after school hours. She quickly begins earning more money than she would ever have made as a teacher. She moves to a pricey “doorman” apartment, goes on shopping expeditions every weekend. The life she always thought she wanted. Until she begins tutoring a young girl that wants a “real” tutor, not someone to do her assignments for her. Anna soon learns that money isn’t everything and remembers why she decided to become a teacher—to teach! SCHOOLED is a hilarious debut novel with a view of the private schools and tutoring that could only be written by someone that has knows it personally.
I remember in elementary school my art teacher told my class about an artist named Vincent Van Gogh. She said he cut his ear off and everyone in my class squealed and squirmed and some of us (including me) asked why. I still remember very clearly that my teacher said he did it because he was in love. Later in high school one of my art teachers told me that he was in love with a prostitute. And now in college I took an art history class where my professor told us he cut his ear off, that he was in love with a prostitute, and that he was extremely depressed. I've always been attracted to Van Gogh's painting and curious about his story, so when I saw Sunflowers
by Sheramy Bundrick I knew I had to give it a try. This is the story of Van Gogh, or at least what Bundrick thinks might be the story of Van Gogh. Here's the rub: there is really no information about this prostitute he was in love with, and we don't really know how in love with her he was. So most of this book is just Bundrick's musings.
But I was still glad I read it. There are some beautiful moments where Bundrick tries to recreate what she thinks (from research) is Van Gogh's spirit; "You have years ahead, but one day you'll wake-up and wonder where they went. Don't let the things you want escape you" (39). I just thought that was a fantastic line, and whether Van Gogh said half the things she writes him saying or not, it's still great writing. She does an amazing job of recreating his total obsession with art as well; "But I can't stop. I can do without everything else- money, people, even God- but I can't do without my painting. Even if someday it kills me" (113). But there is something else to that quotation too and it has a lot more to do with Rachel, the prostitute, the main character really, than anything with Van Gogh. We're seeing Van Gogh through Rachel's eyes and in this quotation we can see how in love with painting Van Gogh is, but we can also see that Rachel clearly does not come first in his life. And how must that feel? To love an artistic genius so much you would do anything and everything for him, but to know you will never come first in his life. I think this is something Bundrick really considered when writing this novel and it really shows in the conversations between Rachel and Van Gogh and even the characterization of Rachel herself. What kind of woman is that selfless?
Historically, I also found this novel interesting just because of the way Rachel talks about her job. She talks about how she is regarded as a piece of meat and how she has to pay to have her name removed from a list before she can get another job. But money is too precious and everyone knows she is a prostitute anyway. So she feels very stuck. I also thought it was interesting how she viewed sex in two different ways. Vincent is her lover and she wants to love him just because of that, but the man that come and visit her are just "jobs" she has to do for money. I just think that would be such a strange way to experience sex and love and really even just to live your life.
This is great writing, and lovely characterization, but I still wasn't completely satisfied. The ending wasn't as good as I had hoped for, although I won't go into great detail about that. When I look at this book from a fiction perspective I think it was awesome even though the ending wasn't quite right for me, but from a historical standpoint... the fact that the majority of the book is almost entirely a fabrication makes me a little uncomfortable. But then at the same time that is where Bundrick can really bring her creativity in, and she follows the outline of Van Gogh's life fairly well. Honestly, this is an argument you can make over any historical fiction novel, so I won't dwell on it anymore.
This novel earned a B, if you are interested in art or just like historical fiction I think you will enjoy it.
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The number of tourists visiting the ancient city of Sardis in İzmir’s Salihli district has increased three fold over the last five years, thanks to promotional work. The ancient city was the capital of Lydia, the civilization that invented money.
The ancient city of Sardis was the capital of Lydia, the civilization that invented money [Credit: AA]
Salihli Tourism Association Chairman Mustafa Uçar said that excavations had started in Sardis in 1910 and accelerated again after 1958, unearthing many historical artifacts.
Uçar said the excavations covered an area of 3,000 square meters and shed light on 1,400 years of history between the 7th century B.C and the 7th century A.D., with artifacts from the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman cultures, among others.
He said among the findings were an acropolis, a gymnasium, a synagogue, a bath, a court building, houses, 85 graves where Lydian kings had been buried and the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven holy temples of Christianity, built in 300 B.C. by the ancient Greeks and renovated by the Romans in the 2nd century A.D.
The ancient city had been overlooked for many years and rarely hosted tourists, said Uçar, adding that interest in the city has been increasing in recent years and it now draws tourists throughout the year.
“Eight to 10 buses of tourists come to Sardis every day,” he said, adding that ongoing excavations and promotional activities were the reason for the increase of interest in the ancient city.
“In recent years, both local management and non-governmental organizations attached great importance to the promotion of Sardis. Symposiums and conferences were held to showcase the importance of the ancient city and the status of the Lydian Kingdom in history. Catalogues and brochures were printed and delivered to travel agencies. The site was promoted in both in Turkey and abroad. As a result, tourist interest in the ancient city has increased every day,” Uçar said.
“The ancient city of Sardis hosted 22,000 people in 2010. This number increased to 27,000 in 2011, 30,000 in 2012, 43,000 in 2013 and 65,000 in 2014. The city is expected to welcome 100,000 tourists annually in the near future,” he said.
Uçar said that the traces of the Lydians, who had led the way for the invention of money, could be found only in Sardis, and expressed the importance of the Temple of Artemis to tourists.
“It is the fourth largest ionic temple in the world. It had remained underground for many years, which is why it is still in good condition. It draws lots of interest from tourists,” Uçar said.
The trade in antiquities is one of Islamic State's main sources of funding, along with oil and kidnapping. For this reason the UN Security Council last week banned all trade in artefacts from Syria, accusing IS militants of looting cultural heritage to strengthen its ability "to organise and carry out terrorist attacks".The gold-plated bronze figurine (photo D Osseman) was stolen from the museum in Hama, western Syria [Credit: BBC]
The BBC has been investigating the trade, and the routes from Syria through Turkey and Lebanon to Europe.
The Smuggler
It has taken many calls and a lot of coaxing to get a man we are calling "Mohammed" to meet us. He is originally from Damascus but now plies his trade in the Bekaa valley on the border between Syria and Lebanon. He's 21 but looks much younger in his T-shirt, skinny jeans and black suede shoes. As we sit in an apartment in central Beirut I have to lean forward to hear the softly spoken young man describe how he began smuggling looted antiquities from Syria. "There's three friends in Aleppo we deal with, these people move from Aleppo all the way to the border here and pay a taxi driver to sneak it in." He specialised in smaller items which would be easier to move on - but he says even that has become too risky. "We tried our best to get the items which had most value, earrings, rings, small statues, stone heads," he says.
He made a good profit but bigger players with better connections "sold pieces worth $500,000, some for $1m", he says. When I ask who's making the money and controlling the trade in Syria his gentle voice takes on a flinty tone: "IS are the main people doing it. They are the ones in control of this business, they stole from the museums especially in Aleppo," he says. "I know for a fact these militants had connections overseas and they talked ahead of time and they shipped overseas using their connections abroad." Mohammed is still involved in cross-border trade, but no longer in antiquities. "Anyone caught with it gets severe punishment," he says. "They accuse you of being IS."
The Go-between
To sell looted antiquities you need a middle-man, like "Ahmed". Originally from eastern Syria, he is based in a town in southern Turkey - he doesn't want me to specify which one as he doesn't want the police to know. As a Turkish-speaker he is popular with Syrian smugglers, who ask if he can move goods on to local dealers. When I speak to him via Skype he shows me a blanket next to him filled with artefacts - statues of animals and human figures, glasses, vases and coins. They were dug up in the last few months. "They come from the east of Syria, from Raqqa, all the areas controlled by ISIS (Islamic State)," he says. Islamic State plays an active part in controlling the trade, he tells me. Anyone wanting to excavate has to get permission from IS inspectors, who monitor the finds and destroy any human figures, which are seen as idolatrous (those Ahmed is showing me have slipped through the net). IS takes 20% as tax. "They tax everything," he says.
The main trade is in stoneworks, statues and gold, and it can be extremely lucrative. "I have seen one piece sold for $1.1m," he says. "It was a piece from the year 8500BC." He gently handles each artefact as he brings it closer to the webcam to give me a better view. He has had to pay a sizeable bond to the smugglers to get this material and he doesn't want to lose any of it. The final destination is Western Europe, he says. "Turkish merchants sell it to dealers in Europe. They call them, send pictures... people from Europe come to check the goods and take them away." Ahmed will have to return the looted artefacts to his Syrian contacts, as I am clearly not buying them, but he won't be returning to his homeland. "If I went back I'd be killed," he says.
A statue from Palmyra [Credit: APSA]
The Dealer
It's an unremarkable tourist shop in the centre of Beirut. Inside the glass cases are ancient oil lamps, rings and glassware but the shop owner, a laconic man in his late 40s, has an unusual selling tactic - he says much of it is fake. However, he assures me he does have genuine pieces from the Hellenic and Byzantine periods, around 1,000 years old. I'm interested what other items he can get, mosaics for example? I had been advised by archaeologists that mosaics would almost certainly be looted - at the moment, that would mean most likely from Syria. He asks which kind I want. Faces, animals, geometric designs? "If you're serious we can have a serious negotiation... there is always a way," he promises. When I ask if it's legal he smiles as he tells me the only way to legally ship these items is with official documentation from a museum saying they have been cleared for export.
If it was only a small mosaic I wanted, I could take the chance and try to smuggle it out myself but he warns it's a serious decision, as I could get caught. For a fee he can have them shipped to the UK but it will cost me many thousands of pounds. We shake hands as I leave and he gives me his business card. It has only taken 10 minutes to be offered illicit antiquities. Arthur Brand, an investigator who helps recover stolen antiquities isn't surprised, it chimes with his experience in Lebanon. "I've been there several times and at times and it really is amazing," he tells me from his base in Amsterdam. "The illicit trade is run as a professional business with offices and business cards and you can buy antiquities from Lebanon, but also from countries like Syria, Iraq." The link between smugglers and dealers is the dirty secret the art world doesn't want to admit to, he says.
The Cop
He could easily pass for the star of an Arabic cop show but Lt Col Nicholas Saad is a real policeman, head of Lebanon's bureau of international theft. In his office, filled with certificates from the FBI and Scotland Yard, he shows me photos of huge Roman busts seized in a recent raid in Lebanon. We go up to the roof of his police station, where out to the east, beyond the mountains, is the border with Syria. This is where refugees pour into the country and are exploited by the smuggling gangs.
"The refugees come in big numbers and the gangs put things between the belongings of the refugees," he explains. Since the conflict in Syria he has noticed a significant increase in the smuggling of looted artefacts, "especially from the Islamic parts, Raqqa (the base) of the Islamic State", he adds. His team has seized hundreds of Syrian artefacts. "We have the archaeology expert that said they're very valuable from the Roman period, from the Greek period, years before Christ," he says. But there isn't a market for them in Lebanon. "Lebanon is a transit station, it's one of the the doors that goes to Europe. The real money is made in Europe."
The Treasure
Inside the Beirut National museum are treasures from the cradle of civilisation - Hellenic, Roman and Byzantine statues, busts and sarcophagi 3,000 years old. Hidden away from the public in a store room below the main galleries, seized looted antiquities wait to be returned to Syria. My guide is Dr Assaad Seif, an archaeologist and head of excavations at the directorate general of antiquities in Beirut. He rings a bell and a wrought iron door is unlocked. Inside are scores of items - pottery, stonework - but the most valuable items are sealed away in a warehouse. "We have huge funeral sculptures, representing men and women used to seal the tombs, from Palmyra," he says.
Most of the seized items are from excavations rather than thefts from museums. The looters target warehouses at ancient sites like Palmyra, a Unesco world heritage site. "The warehouses at archaeological sites have objects they know are not listed or catalogued yet, and they think it could be easier to sell them," he says. "The Palmyra objects had value for people in Syria... it gives a kind of identity," he says. Although reluctant to put a price on any of the bigger items, after some coaxing he relents. "We have a dozen objects that would sell for $1m each on the open market." I understand why they keep them out of sight of curious foreign visitors.
The Destination
It has taken days to get through to Dr Maamoun Abdulkarim, the archaeologist in charge of Syria's dept of antiquities in Damascus. When I do reach him, he's angry. "The sites under the control of ISIS, in these areas we have a disaster, a lot of problems. IS attack all things just for the money," he says. "It is our memory, our identity, for the government, the opposition, for all Syria." It's impossible to stop the looting but he is adamant more could be done to crack down on the trade. "We are sure through all the sources a lot of objects go from Syria to Europe, in Switzerland, in Germany, in UK - and Gulf countries like Dubai and Qatar," he says.
It was a common refrain. Everyone from the Lebanese police to Mohammed the smuggler and Ahmed the go-between said the main market was Europe. In the UK there have been no prosecutions or arrests for selling looted Syrian artefacts but Vernon Rapley, who ran the Metropolitan Police's art and antiquities squad for almost a decade, says too much shouldn't be read into this. "I'm quite confident that there have been seizures of material like this," he confidently states, as we stroll around his new workplace, the Victoria and Albert museum, where he is director of security.
Rapley still liaises closely with his former police unit and he is certain that artefacts from Syria are being sold here. He wants the trade in these antiquities to become "socially repugnant and unacceptable" so that in the future, he says, "we don't have interior decorators looking for these things to decorate people's houses".
Author: Simon Cox | Source: BBC News Website [February 17, 2015]
Today, I have Michael Mullin visiting us for Fairy Tale Fortnight! Michael is a writer who has two fun fractured fairy tales! He's written 8: The Previously Untold Story of the Previously Unknown 8th Dwarf, which is exactly as the title suggests and the story of the 8th dwarf in Snow White's tale and The Plight and Plot of Princess Penny , the story of a girl who gets picked on at school and decides to hire the witch from The Frog Prince to seek revenge. How fun does that sound?!
AND Michael has been generous enough to offer an e copy of each to one lucky winner! AND since they are e-copies, that means it's INTERNATIONAL!:) Details on that at the end of the post! And now — The interview! ______________________________________________
What do you make of the resurgence in popularity for fairy tales? (Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsmen, all within a very short time)? Do you see it as a trend that will sort of peter out, or is it just getting started?
Studio trends are about competition and money. Keeping in mind movies and TV shows are in development for years before the public sees any billboards, it’s not too surprising that similar themes reach the public around the same time. If something is well received, similar projects in development are revised and hurried.
Personally, I hope the trend lasts; it’s a great marketing tool for my eBooks. As long as the executions maintain some level of quality, people will want to read and see retellings. My irrational fear, of course, is that at the moment of my big break, someone decides fairy tale retellings are “so last year”.
What impact do you think fairy tales have on society (especially with the same tales popping up in various forms in every society)?
I think the sanitized versions (Disney and the like) have the most impact, and not much of it is positive. Those princesses are terrible role models for young girls, but that argument has been made often and far better than I ever could.
As far as cross-cultural impact, I defer to Joseph Campbell, who tells us the symbols of myth (including fairy tales) tap into what Jung called the collective unconscious. The trouble is, who’s reading or hearing the originals these days?
Book in a Tweet: Your fairy tale in 140 characters or less?
I have 2 books, so I get 2 tweets, right?
An 8th dwarf named Creepy was banished to the basement for being a misfit loner. Yet he affected the Snow White tale we thought we knew.
A teenage princess hires the witch from The Frog Prince to get revenge on a Mean Girl at school. A troll she meets thinks it’s a bad idea.
Favorite fairy tale: I’d say The Frog Prince, the early Grimm version in which the transformation comes not from a kiss but from the princess throwing the frog at the wall in disgust. Seems odd behavior to reward, but the symbolic images throughout that story are rich. And I love the King’s no-nonsense attitude about making his daughter keep her promises.
Most underrated fairy tale? Godfather Death. Surprises me more hasn’t been done with this one. Maybe I’ll do it myself.
Most overrated fairy tale? Sleeping Beauty. Aside from the ultimate passive heroine, I never liked the idea of the whole kingdom going to sleep to “combat” the spell.
Last year we asked everyone’s fairy tale hero/heroine name; this year, we want to know your fairy tale villain name: Lincoln La Rogue (Linus, maybe?)
Using that name, give us a line from your villainous fairy tale: Having been dead for centuries, La Rogue paid no attention to the so-called “life and death” matters with which the townspeople seemed so concerned.
If a genie granted you 3 wishes, what would they be? I’m assuming I can’t ask for more wishes. (Standard caveat.)
1. Sounds superficial but I’d ask for success. With it comes money and influence that I happen to know I’d use for the greater good – not just on myself. 2. Sounds corny but I’d wish happy lives for my kids. 3. Some oddball superpower, like being able to stop time.
Best way to read fairy tales? (ie location, snacks, etc) On the living room couch, glass of red wine or scotch in hand.
If one of your books was being turned into a movie and you could cast 1 character, which character would you cast and who would play them? I think the young woman from the 2010 remake of True Grit would make a good Princess Penny. (Yes, I had to look up her name: Hailee Steinfeld.) ____________________________________
Thanks so much Michael! I'm totally loving these fairy tale interviews! (Don't tell anyone else, but the FTF interviews are always my favorite!:) )
And now — To win an electronic copy of Michael's books, you need to leave a meaningful comment on this post, something that shows me and Michael that you have read the interview, or are genuinely interested in his books! You can also get an extra entry byLiking the facebook page for 8and for Following Michael's Blog. Just let me know in your comment how many of the 3 you did!
AND- make sure you have filled out the main giveaway form so that we can get you your prize! (So, don't be leaving personal info in the comments! Just fill out the form!)
Click the button to be taken to the Fairy Tale Fortnight Main Page & Schedule (button image via)
I use the phrase “getting in the door” to refer to becoming published. The process now is both easier and harder than in years past. If you have the money, you can easily get into print with a self-publisher or a print on demand (POD) firm. And, I’ve discovered some POD companies actually have literary agents on their payroll. So, you need to be extremely careful in seeking an agent, much less a publisher.
Having a literary agent represent you is perhaps the smartest thing to do. They know the people you want your work to be examined by. And they can get to them, you can’t. But, again, finding one willing to represent you can be extremely difficult. And with POD firms having agents in their employ, you may do yourself more harm than good.
Is it still possible to have a conventional publisher print your work? It is. But they tend to stay away from fiction and focus instead on self-help works and biographies. It does seem as if all they want are bestsellers and ignore anything that isn’t guaranteed to sell at least a million copies. And, granted, they don’t seem interested in taking the risk of promoting excellent unknown writers.
Another rule to remember: don’t go with a publisher who effusively promises to promote your work. Always keep in mind you’re on your own in this area. It’s your book, not theirs. Whether they even care if you succeed or not is extremely debatable in my experience. There are excellent book promotion firms available which do not charge the heinous $47/hour rates I’ve seen advertised on the Net.
So, it is easy to see your name on a book cover. However, it is not easy to get that volume on a New York Times bestseller’s list. So, in the end, if you’re not making money by what you’re doing, why bother? I write because I love it. And sometimes, someone writes a wonderful review which makes all the frustration and effort worth it. Let me share a portion of one such review of my recently published novel Grayrider:
Fans of sword-and-sorcery adventures and fantasy novels will enjoy this book. It is fast-paced with intricate story lines, and a depth familiar to students of Celtic lore and history. Written in a style reminiscent of Tolkien's "The Two Towers," the reader is swept into the story from the first page.
Today, I have J.L. Powers, author of This Thing Called the Future here to share with us to share the books her main character, Khosi would love. Who doesn't like talking about books right?! So here we go!
What books do my characters love?
In my recent novel, This Thing Called the Future, my main character Khosi is a fourteen year old citizen of South Africa, struggling with school, a boy she likes, and the conflict between her grandmother (who is a traditional Zulu) and her mother (who is very modern and wants Khosi to leave behind what she calls the “superstition of the old ways”). Khosi wants to please everybody in her life, but she also wants to be herself. At the beginning of the novel, the next-door neighbor accuses Khosi’s mother of stealing money; a witch curses the family; and a drunk man with shape-shifting powers starts to stalk Khosi.
Khosi doesn’t have access to a lot of books, since her family struggles to survive and doesn't have extra money for books. And to be honest, she doesn't crack open a book during the entire novel. But she loves school and there is a library there. So what books would she check out and read in her spare time?
Khosi’s world is steeped in mystery and spiritual beings that talk to her, help her, and wreck havoc in her life. She would definitely be a fan of fantasy and would probably appreciate the Lord of the Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien’s creation of evil beings, and the ability of goodness to stand up against evil power, would appeal to her. She would probably enjoy books by Janni Lee Simner. She would probably like the classic fantasy books by Madeleine L’Engle and would definitely identify with Nancy Farmer’s protagonist Nhamo in A Girl Named Disaster.
She would probably find the books by Gabriel Garcia Marqez to be set in a world that is familiar to her—the spiritual and the physical worlds meshed together, not kept distinct and separated the way they are in so many books written by American and European writers.
Khosi also loves loves loves science, so although it’s not sexy to say so, she would probably really like to read a biology textbook. Most of the herbal knowledge she will eventually learn and know will come to her through access to her ancestors, who have passed on to the other world, as well as from her mentor who ushers her into the secret knowledge of traditional healers. But still, she’d like a handbook on herbal lore, especially one that identified the herbs of South Africa. Perhaps she’d like Mad Apple by Christina Meldrum because of the plant and herbal lore in it.
And this might surprise people but, like many girls in South Africa today, she probably read the Twilight series and swooned over Jacob and Edward!
How fun! What a varied list!! Thanks so much for stopping by to share with us today J.L.!
I was so excited for Don't Say a Word by Holly Cupala because I absolutely loved Tell Me a Secret. And for the most part it SO delivered. Almost the whole way through Don't Say a Word, I was convinced it was going to be a new favorite, a five star rating, Basically Amazing. Everything about it was like Tell Me a Secret, only more. The cover is better, the emotions more intense, the danger more real etc. But, unfortunately, everything was more, which also means that the complaints I had about the ending of Tell Me were more in Don't Breathe as well, and I was left disappointed by the end.
In Don't Breathe a Word, Joy, so desperate to get away from the problems in her home life, fakes her own kidnapping and runs away, determined to find the homeless boy in Seattle who once offered her help. The pieces to why Joy is so desperate to get away, and why it's necessary that it not seem like a voluntary absence, are slowly revealed as the story unfolds. You know there is something sinister about her boyfriend, Asher, but we don't know the extent of it until much later in the story, but still, my heart just ached for Joy as I thought about all that she must have gone through, all that rested on her shoulders. But, then, she escapes and she finds Creed, who welcomes her into his 'family'.
Joy (now called Triste) knew that being homeless would be hard. But she thought more about the physical hardships — no shelter, little food, no money etc and less about the dangers from other people. Before she finds Creed, she has close encounters with several dangerous persons and in one encounter, loses her backpack with all her money, but more importantly, her asthma inhalers, which she needs to live. She's been hospitalized numerous times because of near fatal asthma attacks, and it's one more reasons Joy felt completely smothered at home. This is something that saddened me, because her parents don't realize what her life is like. She tries so hard to be a help, not a burden to her parents that she doesn't tell them about what's going on with her and they either don't notice, or they choose not to. Everyone is constantly afraid she will have an asthma attack so her freedoms are nonexistent and her boyfriend is controlling, manipulative and creepy. And her parents have no idea, instead pushing her closer to Asher, because he takes care of her and can protect her. Broke my heart. It's something that I'm genuinely afraid of — having a child going through something so horrible and not having a clue about it.
This book, this story was intense. Living on the streets is not a picnic, not something easy, and a decision to leave your home to live on the streets is not something that should be easily reached. Joy thought she was prepared for what was waiting, but she wasn't even close. I was constantly afraid for Joy and I was so happy when she found a group of people who accepted her and helped her. She really connected with the people who made up her new family; Creed, the leader who found her and was the first to welcome her, Santos, who keeps his dark secrets close but finds Triste the asthma medicine she needs, and May, initially wary of Triste and unwilling to welcome her, but they soon reach a friendly understanding and May even gives Triste a better (much better) haircut. But, life on the streets cannot remain happy for very long and the four are faced with regular challenges and dangers, some that they cannot escape from.
And it's told beautifully. I mean it. Guys, I was always so caught up in this story, so moved, so worried for these characters. I felt so much of this story, so strongly. Cupala writes hard and painful emotions perfectly.
But as I mentioned earlier, I didn't feel the novel as a whole maintained that level of emotion. For such a powerfully intense and gritty story, the ending was far too tidy. The story was so realistic, so believable and so hard to read because of it. But then the ending took all that away from me. Real life does not hand you packages wrapped with bows, which is what I got from this book. If I want bows on my endings, I read light-hearted Contemporary, maybe some fantasy, or some middle grade. If I want realistic and honest endings, I read Contemporary YA. And this book delivered all that I desire in an emotional Contemporary read, right up until that ending. And the ending that was delivered here cheapened not only the experiences of every single character, but the people and teens who have to live through something like this in real life too.
I'm a firm believer in the power of endings. Ofttimes for me, they can make or break a book completely. I still loved this book, I really did. The writing is too honest and powerful to ignore but the ending significantly lessened the impact of the story for me.
But even with my disappointment in the ending, this is still a book that I'm going to highly recommend reading. Cupala is a gifted writer and I plan to read her for as long as she writes (although, not gonna lie, I am hoping that her endings get a little more... authentic with future books).
This is a post I have been looking forward to for a long time. Anna Godbersen's The Luxe
is the second book I have read for my 19 Going On 20 Self Challenge. The novel starts with the supposed death of 19th Century Manhattan socialite Elizabeth Holland. Then it goes back in time to a party at Elizabeth's friend Penelope's home. Penelope's family is new money, but they have moved their way up the social ladder and are now being accepted by the elite. At least kind of. Penelope is having a very saucy romance with everyone's favorite rich boy, Henry Schoonmaker. What Penelope doesn't know is that Henry's father has other plans for him. He wants Henry to marry the nice, from a good family Elizabeth, which is perfect for Elizabeth's family since they have lost money after her father's death. It does not make Elizabeth happy though, because she is in love with her carriage driver, Will Keller.
This novel is full of dark secrets, backstabbers, and saucy love sessions. I could not put it down. This isn't the kind of thing I normally read. I don't read a lot of YA in general, but the novel's jacket caught my attention. I loved the idea of Gossip Girl in the 19th Century. I mean, how much better can it get? After the first chapter I was totally hooked. I'm dying to read the rest in the series and will probably do so very soon.
My favorite character in the novel is Diana, Elizabeth's younger sister. She is obsessed with romance and fantasy, and loves reading. By the end of the novel she has a bit of a reality check, but overall lets romance and fantasy win. She can be a total bitch but usually has others best intentions at heart. This novel has marvelous characters. It is one of the few books I've ever read where I didn't feel like anyone was the "good guy" or the "bad guy." Honestly when you finish the novel you see everyone has good and bad in them. The only exception to this is Elizabeth, who is mostly good. Although she does steal her best friend's lover even if she is doing it to save her family.
In short, if you haven't read this book stop wasting your time and READ IT!
Pub. Date: September 2008 Publisher: HarperCollins Format: Paperback, 464 pp
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What is the repair? Universal accident or a way at last to see habitation of the dream in a reality? Once building of houses from the base to a roof was quite on forces to several people. And the so-called design of an interior and at all was an exclusive prerogative of owners, instead of a highly paid field of activity. In general, and today nobody forbids to repair independently apartment, to erect a garden small house, and even a cottage which becomes habitation for a family.
Forces on it will leave much, but all will be made by the hands. And money it will be spent less, after all it will not be necessary to pay to designers, intermediaries and workers. Sometimes, thinking in a similar way, the person manages to forget about an ultimate goal. And after all the main thing not to save, and to create convenient and beautiful habitation.
Any activity requires preliminary planning, and building in particular. That doubts have not crossed out pleasure from complete business, it is necessary to weigh, consider and plan all carefully. It, instead of attempts to make all is independent, will allow to save time and money.
Even if construction of a summer garden small house or cosmetic furnish of a room is planned, it is necessary to answer itself some questions. First of all, whether there is at you time for independent repair of apartments, then — whether enough you are competent not to miss annoying trifles which will spoil all subsequent life, and whether forces, at last, will suffice to finish business.
If cottage building without attraction of additional forces, as a rule, does not manage is planned. Sydney home builder — the highly professional and reliable building company in Australia.
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Think, if you are an excellent bookkeeper or the talented journalist why you should be able to carry out qualitative Bathroom renovation Mosman or to glue wall-paper in a drawing room? Observing of harmonious actions of professionals, necessarily you will reflect, instead of whether to call to the aid professional builders? Quite probably, that it will be a little bit more expensive, but faster and more qualitatively!
It is time to agree that repair of apartment which was carried out exclusively by the hands earlier, from intrafamily process has turned to work for professionals to whom trust so that suppose even on protected territories. What to speak about repair of offices or other uninhabited premises where speed and quality of work, first of all, is important.
Thus the owner at all does not lose feeling of participation to arrangement of the house in spite of the fact that other people repair. Actually, applying a minimum of efforts and spending has some time, the owner receives the full control over an event — and materialised dream as a result. Home builder Sydney will help with repair of your cottage!
Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin and 11th Earl of Kincardine, brought heartbreak to generations of Greeks for his pillaging of half of the Parthenon Marbles. Following in his father’s footsteps, James Bruce – the 8th Earl of Elgin – is notorious in China for ordering the destruction of the beautiful Old Summer Palace, known as Yuan Ming Yuan (the Gardens of Perfect Brightness), in Beijing.Ruins of the Old Summer Palace, known as Yuan Ming Yuan (the Gardens of Perfect Brightness), in Beijing [Credit: WikiCommons]
At the time, he was serving as the British High Commissioner during the Second Opium War when he ordered the advancement of the army. In retaliation for the imprisonment, torture and execution of almost twenty European and Indian prisoners he ordered the destruction of the palace and reduced it to smithereens. Known as China’s Ground zero, every Chinese school child is taught that the site once held the most beautiful collection of architecture and art.
Initially, the army’s intent was to plunder the palace. Fragments of the collection at the exquisite palace were “saved” as they were looted by troops that helped themselves to the porcelain, silks and ancient books. But mostly, they destroyed what they found. One witness wrote: “In body and soul they were absorbed in one pursuit which was blunder, blunder, plunder.”
Even Lord Elgin recorded the very horror he had ordered in his diary, when he wrote: “War is a hateful business. The more one sees of it, the more one detests it.”
The Old Summer Palace as depicted in Forty Views of the Yuanmingyuan, a series of paintings completed in 1744 [Credit: Shen Yuan, Tangdai, Wang Youdun/WikiCommons]
That could have been the end of the cultural destruction, but What Lord Elgin hadn’t counted on was retaliation. The 20-membered delegation that had gone to negotiate Chinese surrender were taken prisoners and died an excrutiatingly painful death.
Had this not happened, the palace would still exist in half its glory, much like the Parthenon exists today following the 7th Earl’s passage through Athens. Instead, the 8th Lord Elgin responded to the executions by ordering the absolute cultural destruction of the palace. It took days and days of hard work to destroy the magnificent buildings that were part of the cultural heritage of the Chinese people.
27-year-old captain Charles George Gordon wrote: “We went out, and, after pillaging it, burned the whole place, destroying in a vandal-like manner most valuable property which [could] not be replaced for four millions. We got upward of £48 apiece prize money…I have done well. The [local] people are very civil, but I think the grandees hate us, as they must after what we did the Palace. You can scarcely imagine the beauty and magnificence of the places we burnt. It made one’s heart sore to burn them; in fact, these places were so large, and we were so pressed for time, that we could not plunder them carefully. Quantities of gold ornaments were burnt, considered as brass. It was wretchedly demoralising work for an army.”
The looting of the Palace by British and French soldiers in 1860 [Credit: WikiCommons]
Victor Hugo in his “Expedition de Chine” says: “Two robbers breaking into a museum, devastating, looting and burning, leaving laughing hand-in-hand with their bags full of treasures; one of the robbers is called France and the other Britain.”
He helped organize an auction where the spoils were sold to raise money for the families of dead or wounded soldiers. These days, many of these works sit in all kinds of private and public collections. The Chinese feel resentment, much like the Greeks feel when considering the theft of the Parthenon Marbles.
For instance, seven of the zodiac heads that were part of the palace’s collection are in China, whereas the other five are sitting in foreign collections. The National Treasures Fund, affiliated to the Chinese Ministry of Culture, is seeking ways to track down the artworks and take them back to China, however the British museums show the same arrogance that their earls showed when destroying other culture’s heritage.
These days, Lord Elgin tells the BBC that it’s better to look forward than back all the time regarding the events of 1860, and the same could be insinuated for the Parthenon Marbles. It seems that arrogance and disregard for other culture’s can be considered the Elgin legacy.
Watch the dosumentary 'The Destruction of China's Yuanming Yuan (The Old Summer Palace)' on ArchaeoTube.
Confront them about it and offer to pay them $5 to read a book teaching you to be nice to people.
I can't even make up the stuff my dad comes up with sometimes. (see the Memory Monday post: where my father tells me that the fate of a young girl who runs away is to be kidnapped and turned into a crack whore...) Ahem...
When I was a kid/teenager/young person, I had a dual personality. In public, especially at school, I was about as perfect as a kid can be. I desperately wanted my teachers to think I was a perfect pupil/person and for the most part, they did. I was always teacher's pet without ever being that annoying kid that everyone hated... But my perfection didn't carry over at home and I was... not always super nice to my parents or my siblings.
Once, when I was about 14, in an effort to teach me some people skills that weren't based on my need to have my teachers like me, my dad came to my room, told me I was sometimes a bit of a brat and told me that he would pay me $5 to read a book by Dale Carnegie called, How to Win Friends and Influence People. I don't know that being called a brat (or some other, more 'father friendly' term) really swayed me, but being offered $5 just to read a book sure did.
So I read the book and was amazed at how simple some of the things Carnegie taught were. Things like noticing the names of the grocery checkers, or asking someone you want to do business with what interests them instead of talking about what you like. Or one of my favorite stories — The man who couldn't get the rowdy kids who hung out on the corner by his house to be quite. So he paid them to stand there for a few hours. And each night, he offered less and less money until they finally decided it wasn't worth it and went home.
I won't lie and tell you that this book immediately changed my life and made me this super awesome perfect person. (As is clear by the fact that my dad came back about a year later and told me he'd give me another $5 for reading the book, but this time I had to take notes on it) But I will tell you that it changed something. If nothing else, it has made me increasingly aware over the years (because I've reread it a time or two without the additional motivation of my dad's five dollars) and there is a lot to learn from Carnegie's rather simple observations on life.
In defense of my dad — He remembers offering me the money to read the book, but he denies ever having called me a brat. Maybe he didn't say brat specifically, but I do most certainly remember the feeling of outrage at whatever he did call/tell me when explaining why I needed to read this book.
Nineteen year-old Harmony Blue Kucharski is single, alone, and pregnant. She opts to put her son up for adoption. She had a difficult childhood and only wants the best for her son.
Twenty years later: Blue Reynolds is a very successful Chicago-based talk show hostess. She has everything that money can buy, everything but happiness. During the taping of a teen pregnancy show, Blue loses herself and begins to defend a young pregnant teen that is a guest of the show. Blue realizes what she's missing in her life: knowing what happened to her son. She hires a private investigator to find the location and name of her son's adoptive parents. He finds the location of the daughter of her midwife, and begins sending her money in return for her medical file.
While taping an episode of The Blue Reynold's Show in Key West, Blue is reunited with Mitch Forrestor, her former English Professor. They had a relationship twenty years ago, and the dissolution of this relationship is what caused blue (then Harmony Blue) to rebound and find herself pregnant. Is this reunion Fate's way of telling her to fight to regain everything she lost those decades ago?
When Blue decides to help Mitch produce his literary documentary, Literary Lions, Blue meets his thirty-something son, Julian. Julian puts a bit of a kink in Mitch and Blue's potential relationship.
When her past is revealed, Blue must quickly decide just how much she is willing to relinquish in order to find true happiness. Reunion
tells a a story that pulled me in during the first few pages. Blue's character is a strong and honest one. One can't help but feel for her and everything she was forced to experience in life. The secondary characters are extremely well-developed as well and serve as a backbone to the storyline. All of the characters are human, they have natural faults real challenges they are forced to address. The tale that Reunion
portrays is a powerful one. Fowler's writing paints the setting of Key West as if it were a painting that is being unveiled before our eyes. The imagery and detail pulls the reader into the story. I felt the sun beating on my face, smelled the warm ocean breeze. The ending leaves me begging for a sequel so I can follow the characters on their journey of rediscovery
Reunion
is the perfect book to take along with you to the beach, or in my case, to read on a rainy day.
About the Author
Therese Fowler is the author of Souvenir. She holds an MFA in creative writing. She grew up in Illinois and now lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and two sons. You can visit Therese Fowler’s website at http://www.theresefowler.com/.
Giveaway:
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is a fascinating look into the world of madness. The novel was written in 1861. A biographical note: Braddon lived with publisher John Maxwell and his children but they could not get married because his wife was still alive and in an insane asylum. It's like the real life Jane Eyre
!
George Talboys has been in Australia working to make money for his wife back home in England. They are newly married and he wants to provide a good life for her because he felt she seemed unhappy with the small amount of money they had. He left in the middle of the night without giving his wife anything but a note saying where he was going. His thoughts have been filled with his wife and he is excited to get home to her, but when he arrives he finds out that his wife, Helen Talboys, is dead.
George and his friend Robert spend a great amount of time together after his arrival and Robert sees how depressed George has become. They visit the deceased wife's father and their child she left behind. George does not take the child. Eventually George is nowhere to be found and Robert declares that he is dead, and possibly murdered. When George disappears they are at Audley Court, Robert's uncle's residence.
Robert's uncle, Sir Michael Audley has recently taken a very young wife, Lucy Audley. She is the same age as his tomboy daughter, Alicia, and has no history. She is childlike, with blonde hair and blue eyes, but there is something in her personality that people seem to pull away from. Alicia especially dislikes her.
I will admit that the plot was pretty easy to figure out in the first few chapters which isn't necessarily a good thing in a "murder mystery" but it really is quite good. It's one of my favorite books I've read this semester and if you like murder stories or Victorian literature it is definitely a must read.
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Isha Tilak and her husband, Nikhil, have just discovered that the child they are expecting is a girl. What would be wonderful news to just about any couple is a curse to the young couple. Young Isha and Nikhil live in India, in a society where male heirs are sought out above all else; female children are viewed as burdens. When their doctor, Dr. Larnick, along with Nikhil’s parents, suggests they have an illegal abortion, Isha and Nikhil are furious and adamantly refuse. Soon after, Nikhil is found brutally murdered. Isha decides that living with her oppressive in-laws is detrimental to the life and safety of her young daughter, Priya, and her unborn daughter. She leaves with a small amount of money and just a few belongings. Born into a privileged class, Isha hasn’t ever had to fend for herself. She soon learns. Isha and Priya seek refuge at a local convent. Isha gives birth to young Diya, and meets Harish Salvi, a doctor that treats the children at the convent. Isha ultimately receives the life insurance money that she and Nikhil kept hidden from his parents and is then able to purchase a more appropriate residence for her and her young girls. She discovers that her husband has left her with evidence of the selective abortion trade, and suddenly her life, and the life of her children, is in danger. THE FORBIDDEN DAUGHTER tells a difficult story of the treatment and value of women in India. The characters were very compelling, as was the storyline. It has it all: love, bribery, murder, blackmail, kidnapping. Isha is an amazingly strong woman who will stop at nothing to protect the lives of her daughters.
*Note: My apologies to the author. This was scheduled to post in September and for some reason it did not.
Here at Horns Up Rocks we believe that there is nothing more Metal than helping others, specially when your help could benefit another human being to live a healthier life. You may think that Crohn's and Colitis are not as serious as terminal diseases like Cancer, but the truth is that both Crohn's and Colitis are real hard to live with for anyone regardless of age. Here are some facts about these diseases: - Crohn's disease: - An inflammatory disease that usually affects any part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus. - The symptoms include abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, or weight loss. - It can also cause complications such as skin rashes, arthritis, inflammation of the eye, tiredness, and lack of concentration. - There is no cure for Crohn's disease. Colitis: - An inflammation of the large intestine (colon, caecum and rectum). - It is a digestive disease. - Colitides may be acute and self-limited or chronic. - While the disease is treatable, severe colitis can be life-threatening and may require surgery. On Saturday, June 11, 2011, we want you to get off the couch and head over to the South Street Seaport (Pier 17) in New York City. The "Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis Walk" starts at 6 PM (registration at 4 PM) and will last until approximately 8 PM. Here is the OFFICIAL press release: "The Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis Walk is CCFA's national evening walk and celebration, and also the nation's largest event dedicated to finding cures for digestive diseases. It is a casual 2-3 mile stroll to raise money for crucial research, bringing us closer to a future free from Crohn's disease and ulcerative Colitis. Over 1.4 million American adults and children are affected by these digestive diseases. While many suffer in silence, Take Steps brings together this community in a fun and energetic atmosphere, encouraging them to make noise and be heard. All donations will help support local patient programs, as well as important research projects. Anyone interested in attending the event should know that there will be food, music and kid's activities. The more money we raise, the closer we will be to making life more manageable for patients who live with these diseases every day." You can register as a walker by clicking on this link NOTE: When you register, CCFA recommends participants donate $25, however a donation at the time of registration is not mandatory. All donations can be made prior to the event or on the day of. Cash & checks are accepted. Anyone not registered online are able to register at the event, however depending on the crowd, they may have to wait in a rather long line so registering ahead of time is recommended and any walker is urged to wear either blue or orange as they are the Take Steps official colors! Related links: Take Steps for Crohn's & Colitis Walk Team Yovino's Official Site Facebook Invite
Thomas Kohnstamm's travel book Do Travel Writers Go to Hell?: A Swashbuckling Tale of High Adventures, Questionable Ethics, and Professional Hedonism
was published in 2008 and raised some questions about the ethics of Lonely Planet guidebooks and some questions about Kohnstamm himself. You can read more about that here because honestly I'm not going to waste a lot of time on this book.
Kohnstamm quit his life, his girlfriend, his office job, all because of an author to write a Lonely Planet guide to Brazil. On his way there he realized that the advance he had from Lonely Planet was not nearly enough money to get around all of Brazil. He also realized that there was no time to write and travel. He meets several colorful characters along the way, most of which are women, drunk, drug addled, or all three. He stays in a hotel where the rooms are separated by a shelving unit which allows him to hear every fart of his neighbor. Basically, let me sum the book up for you: He goes to Brazil, has lots of sex with trashy women, drinks a lot, worries about how much money he has, and cuts corners writing his guidebook. Do travel writers go to hell? Most likely yes.
I didn't hate this book, well, not exactly. If you decide to read this here are some tips:
Skip the first 72 pages. Here is the summary: Thomas is sad at his job in New York City and his girlfriend is mean to him. He decides he is going to leave. He has a fist fight with his best friend who he calls the Doctor. They have been drinking a lot. Thomas likes to drink.
Do not believe anything Thomas says to be 100 percent true because it's probably not.
Be prepared for several sexual encounters and lots of whining about how women are mean to him.
The middle of the book is actually pretty good, well, in comparison to the beginning of the book. The bad thing is that the beginning is about half the book.
Pub. Date: April 2008 Publisher: Crown Publishing Group Format: Paperback, 288pp
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Every year in our country hypothecary crediting (mortgage) or the loan on the security of the bought real estate uses the increasing popularity.
Percent paid by the borrower on the hypothecary credit include profit of bank taking into account the insurance from the every possible risks connected with difficulty of return of the credit. As a result, the apartment got by means of the bank credit, manages to the buyer essentially more expensively initial cost. In many cases — on 50-70%.
