The throne, made of rosewood and inlaid with gold and a floral pattern, was owned by philanthropist Li Chunping.

It took him three years to buy the throne from a descendant of a royal highness of the Qing Dynasty in Tianjin.

Li said the final price was lower than he expected and that the throne will have a higher value after two or three years.

A buyer from Beijing bought the throne after three rounds of bidding.

Source: China Org [January 13, 2015]

I first heard about The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens from Becky, who blogs at Escapism through Books. She was talking about it, and wrote a really stellar review of the book (read it, you know you want to!) . I left a comment mentioning that I thought it sounded like a great book, and being the wonderful person Becky is, she sent me her copy!! (Thanks Becky. You are made of awesome!)

The book starts out as so many of these intense fantasy series do — It has children (girl, boy, girl) mysteriously/suspiciously missing parents, a prophecy (of sorts) and the understanding that these seemingly unimportant, average orphans are going to change the fate of the world. Everyone has read a book like this recently. I can almost guarantee it. Sure, the number of children, their gender, why/how the parents went missing and the specifics of the prophecy all change, but the basic storyline is the same. When the book started out, following this pattern, I admit that I groaned a little bit. But then, the story moved on and became something completely wonderful. The basic outline laid out for us, Stephens then delves into his own specific mysteries and magics and I was swept away.

Kate has an overdeveloped sense of responsibility for her younger siblings. Her parent's went missing when she was four years old, and right before being taken from them, her mother made her promise that she would keep her siblings safe. That's a lot of pressure to put on a four year old, and Kate feels it at times, but she never tries to avoid it. The children have an amazingly strong bond, and they are deeply loyal to each other. Kate is also the most sure that her parents are not dead, because just after her mother made Kate promise to keep her siblings safe, she also promised Kate that they would all be together again someday.

Michael is more of a dreamer. He's learned to cope with the increasingly horrible conditions in the various orphanages they are forced to live in by imagining hidden and secret worlds, and he is especially fascinated by dwarfs. Emma, the youngest is fierce and tough, having learned early on that in this life, being weak, or unwilling to fight is dangerous and that only the strong survive in these places.

When the children are kicked out of yet another orphanage, they are sent to a mysterious home, where they are the only orphans in the 'orphanage', the orphanage director is absent and nothing 'quite' adds up. One day, while exploring the house, they stumble across a room that they assume is the owner's study and they find a green book. They assume it's just an old photo album, but when Michael places an old picture on one of the pages, the world as they know it will change for ever, and they are thrust into the middle of a conflict that's been brewing for centuries.

I loved the development of this story. Each of the characters was given their own set of strengths and weaknesses, and we watched as all of their unique abilities developed, changed, and led to the growth of the characters. Each of the secondary and side characters was also given a distinct personality. I was actually surprised at how uniquely formed each and every character and situation was, given the rather formulaic pattern used to set the initial stage for the story.

The magic in this book was also wonderfully developed and explained. The children have no idea that the world of magic exists, so we get to learn everything as the children do. I've always loved being able to learn right along with the main characters. It's just an extra way of becoming involved in the book, because we are sharing an experience! And when you get to share a life changing experience with your characters, when you learn it as they do, and they keep no secrets from the reader, it offers the reader an extra connection to both the character(s) and the story.

I'm a little bit sad right now, because I know that my review is not doing this book justice. I read the book a while ago, and I kept putting off writing the review, because every time I tried, I was painfully aware that no matter what I said, I wasn't really going to be able to articulate how this book made me feel. So, instead I'm going to finish by saying that I really enjoyed the story, and it's one that I think will have a very wide level of appeal. It's a book that can be read and enjoyed by both the younger, MG set, and the older groups, YA and up. I believe that this is a series that is going to have a lot of cross-over appeal and will be enjoyed by just about everyone who gives it a chance.

Now, if only I didn't have to wait so long for the sequel!

The Mermaid's Mirror by L. K. Madigan is the story of Lena, a 16 year old who feels the call of the sea. She been through a lot of changes in the last year or so, changes that come from growing up. Her best friend, Kai, has grown into something more, and she's trying to navigate the boyfriend-girlfriend thing without alienating their other best friend, Pem. She's also desperate to begin surfing, but because of a horrific accident when Lena was young, her father refuses not only to return to the water himself, but also refuses to let Lena learn to surf. But the sea is calling to Lena, stronger than ever and she finds herself unable to resist its call.

And then she sees the mermaid. After that, nothing will ever be the same.

Although not a direct retelling of The Little Mermaid, The Mermaid's Mirror definitely contains elements that feel very like a fairy tale and the story moves in much the same rhythm and pattern as a retelling. There are mysteries to uncover, secrets to keep, and unbelievable challenges to face.

Lena is fairly close to her family. Her mother died when she was young and her father remarried when she was nine. This is the mother she remembers and they have a relationship that is closer than many biological families share. She doesn't always understand her father or the decisions he makes, but she loves him and they too are close, although that relationship gets a little strained as she realizes just how many secrets are really being kept. But it is with her half-brother, Cole, that Lena has the strongest relationship. About ten years younger than Lena, he worships her in that special way reserved only for young children. And she is a wonderful older sister, doing what she can to make sure Cole always feels loved and welcome by her.

Her relationship with her friends was also handled very well. Lena is still a little unsure about what it really means to be Kai's girlfriend and you can tell that he is more into her and their relationship than she is. She cares about him, but you can kind of tell that something is missing. But the three of them, Lena, Kai and Pem are close and it is obvious that they all truly care about one another.

As Lena searches for truths about the mermaid in the water and the mother she never really knew, she begins to unravel the secrets that her father was not ready for her to learn. When she finally gets the full story, she is left with an unimaginably tough choice. She is taken, by the mermaid in the waves, to live beneath the surface, in the village of the merfolk. Wrapped in the enchanted seal cloak, she is able to breath the water and survive in the water. Below the surface, she learns about different kinds of love and her whole world is opened up to new possibilities. Her thoughts of her previous life are murky and seem to drift away almost as soon as she has them. It is eventually that strong connection to her family, specifically Cole that will eventually force her to make a choice between the world she has always known, or the world she is just discovering.

I think that the real strength of Madigan's writing with this story is her characters. They are so complex, so developed and so real that I cannot help but feel drawn to them. I feel Lena's pain and her confusion. The anguish of her father is palpable when he realizes his daughter is lost to him. Although the story was delightful and the writing well crafted and beautiful, it was the characters that truly made this story. They are what carry it, what the story rests its weight upon.

I was thrilled with how much I enjoyed this book. Madigan does not take the easy way out here. She does not give you a pretty package to wrap your story in and make the world perfect. But she does give you a real story, one that is beautifully told and one that will linger with me for a while. I imagine that this is a tale that will make sudden appearances in my mind, reminding me of the enchanting world beneath the waves and the bittersweet relationships all tied together by Lena. It was much different than I had expected, but it is, nonetheless, a story that I truly enjoyed and one I imagine I will be reading again in the future.

Bridget Jones's Diary

is one of the few instances where I've seen the movie before I read the book, and I've seen the movie what seems like one hundred times. I really didn't even have any desire to read the book until I saw that Nick Hornby had called Helen Fielding hilarious. I got the book from Bookmooch and it had me laughing out loud the whole time I was reading it. Bridget Jones is 30, slightly chubby, a bit of an alcoholic, and totally obsessed with her boss who is not interested in her (or at least she thinks it's that way). Her mother is constantly trying to set her up with suitable men even though her mother isn't happy in her own marriage and has gone running around with some new man, leaving Bridget's dad alone and quite sad. On top of everything else, she's just got bad luck it seems. Always saying the wrong thing, doing the wrong thing, burning this, ruining that, and tripping over herself. In short, Bridget Jones is every woman everywhere, or at least she was me. I felt, and that's what made me keep reading.

This is set up in a series of diary entries and I think Fielding did a good job of making the entries fairly believable but still moving the story along. There are times when Bridget goes several days without writing and then days where she writes ten pages. Any time I've kept a diary this has generally been my pattern too, so I found that easy to believe. The only thing that is hard to believe is how funny Bridget is in her diary, but I'll forgive that since it's what made the book so charming. At the beginning of each entry Bridget lists her weight and pounds lost, her number cigarettes so she can measure trying to quit, and the number of calories she's had. There are other things she lists throughout the book, such as alcohol units and number of times looked at her boss, Daniel Cleaver, but these depend on what existential crisis she is dealing with at the time. I could relate to her weight gain and loss since I have spent my whole life basically trying to lose weight, although I did think that her weight was a little low to be obsessing over. Of course, I'm six feet tall so I think anything under 150 pounds is pretty low weight.

I enjoyed how the whole book wasn't entirely focused on men even though that was a huge part of it. One of the things I found really interesting was how Bridget's middle-aged mother was trying to live a new life since she thought no one really needed her anymore and she had spent her whole life taking care of her family. I've experienced this with my own mother and also saw it in Tales of a Female Nomad, which I recently finished. It seems like it's common for middle-aged women to search for something new in their lives, almost as if they've been disappointed with what they've ended up with. It's rather sinister, but it made me wonder if Bridget would be happy with her decisions in the long run or not. At the same time, Bridget isn't all that happy with her decisions in the present of the book, she changes a lot of of things but one thing that always stays the same is her friends. It was nice to see a woman who relied on her friends more than anything else instead of just a boyfriend or crush.

I give Bridget Jones's Diary an A.

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I love books with really strong female characters, so I'm excited that Top Ten Tuesday is all about that this week. Check out other answers at The Broke and Bookish.

1. Jane Eyre of Jane Eyre One of my favorite books of all time. Jane isn't particularly outstanding, but she does stick up for herself and does what she believes is right, so I must respect her for that.
2. Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games series Another girl who does what she thinks is right, even in the face of danger.
3. Diana of The Luxe Series This is another girl (am I seeing a pattern?) who isn't afraid to say what she thinks or live her life the way she pleases, even if it's unpopular.
4. Marian Halcombe of The Woman in White Oh Marian. She is ugly, but incredibly smart and you just have to love her. The best character in the whole book.
5. Bridget of Bridget Jones's Diary She is hilarious, honest, and messed up just like the rest of us. A girl to love.
6. Margaret of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret A young heroine, but like Bridget she is totally honest with what she thinks, even if its bizarre or rude.
7. Joan Didion of The Year of Magical Thinking This is a nonfiction book, but I think I love her character in the book for a lot of the same reasons as I love Bridget and Margaret, although she is less funny. She doesn't lie though, and it would be easy to lie in the situation she is in.
8. Hermoine Granger of The Harry Potter series Smart, outspoken, and not afraid to run with the boys. Gotta love Hermoine!
9. Edna Pontellier of The Awakening This is just a beautiful, sad book and I really admired her character when I first read it.
10. Scout of To Kill a Mockingbird Another young heroine but one of my favorites. Not afraid to ask questions or say things how they are.

So apparently I love women who aren't afraid to tell it like it is! Wonder what that says about me in real life?

Luxury Bar in Las Vegas

Bar in Las Vegas, work of the Japanese studio “Design Spirits Co., Ltd” became one of winners of competition The Great Indoors Awards. The Chinese restaurant is in one building with very large casino and hotel on 3,300 apartments.

Luxury Relax & Consume

The project has won a nomination “Relax and Consume”. Walls and a ceiling are covered by a white openwork pattern from a steel.

Habitual registration of an interior — division into various zones by means of various "samples". In the given premise there is one magnificent feature — an absolute openness, absence of columns. Designers have decided to use this fact and have issued all interior in uniform style. The space has turned out unique and picturesque.

VIA «The Bar Interiors»