![]() His work ignored historical accuracy, psychology, and analysis, but its thrilling adventure and exuberant inventiveness continued to delight readers, and Dumas remains one of the prodigies of nineteenth-century French literature. With collaborators, mainly Auguste Maquet, Dumas wrote such works as The Three Musketeers (1843-1844) its sequels, Twenty Years After (1845) and the great mystery The Man in the Iron Mask (1845-1850) and The Count of Monte Cristo (1844). Dumas's overall literary output reached more than 277 volumes, but his brilliant historical novels made him the most universally read of all French novelists. Monte Cristo has two goals to reward those who were kind to him and his aging father, and to punish those responsible for his imprisonment. ![]() ![]() His lavish spending and flamboyant habits led to the construction of his fabulous Château de Monte-Cristo, and in 1851 he fled to Belgium to escape creditors. His first play, Henri III et sa cour (1829), scored a resounding success for its author and the romantic movement. His early education was scanty, but his beautiful handwriting secured him a position in Paris in 1822 with the du'Orléans, where he read voraciously and began to write. He was born in Villers-Cotterêts, France. ![]() Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) lived a life as romantic as that depicted in his famous novels. ![]()
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![]() With the understanding that the show’s star, criminal Macheath, was created to poke fun at a politician, his lack of good qualities becomes far less surprising. Heins Senior, John Theodore Robert Walpole (1676-1745), Earl of Orford Norwich Civic Portrait Collection It’s reasonably well known that The Threepenny Opera was adapted from John Gay’s 18th century musical The Beggar’s Opera, but it takes a little more work to discover that Macheath was conceived as a rather blatant caricature of the first Englishman to win the title of Prime Minister - Robert Walpole. ![]() The popular versions of Threepenny’s famous Mack the Knife tune, sung by Sinatra and his ilk, have lyrics that omit and soften many of his worst crimes, and with their upbeat, jazzy rhythms (a bit different from Brecht’s original) make Macheath sound like a pretty swell guy. Pabst’s 1931 film of The Threepenny Opera, I was very struck by what a wicked man Mack the Knife was and how there was so little attempt to give him any really favourable qualities. Today she is here to talk about her new book which has just been released – Slick Filth: A Story of Robert Walpole and Henry Giffard. ![]() Her article last time was about her then latest book – The Cut of the Clothes: A Story of Prinny and Beau Brummell. ![]() I am delighted to welcome back a guest who writes under the pen name of Erato. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Instead of the original voicemail planned, the scene features Sondheim telling Jonathan Larson (played by Andrew Garfield), “It’s first-rate work and has a future, and so do you. Lin-Manuel said that he wasn't going to turn "down a Sondheim rewrite!" Can I please rewrite what Sondheim says in the voicemail? I’ll record it if you can’t get the actor back.’” ‘I have a feeling you’re going to have a very bright future.’ I would never say that. “But he said, ‘One thing: The last voicemail message to Jon, it sounds a little cliché. “When I screened the movie for Sondheim, he emailed me and said, ‘You treated me very gently and royally, for which I am grateful,’” he recalled. Speaking to The New Yorker, Lin-Manuel said that Sondheim thought the original voicemail written in the script was a little cliché. While Sondheim is portrayed on screen by Bradley Whitford, the real Sondheim did record the voicemail heard in the film. Lin-Manuel Miranda has revealed that Stephen Sondheim actually re-wrote on of the scenes in tick, tick.Boom! that involved him. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Why it's important: These cinematic scenes present a more human, multidimensional side of Snow than Katniss ever sees, and furthers the idea that Katniss has become such a hero to some in the Capitol that even the president's own family supports her.Ģ. The film gives us far more perspective on his day-to-day-life we see Snow's granddaughter talking to him about how she looks up to Katniss, and how she wants to be in love the same way that Katniss and Peeta are. What was lost or added to The Hunger Games: Catching Fire on its way to the big screen? Here, a guide (spoilers for both the book and the movie to follow):īecause the book is told from Katniss' perspective, we don't get to see how President Snow is experiencing the Games, or his subsequent interactions with his young granddaughter. ![]() ![]() ![]() Niles is the good one whilst Holland is the bad one, always up to something really bad. ![]() However, it took me a long time to get into this book, but I was definitely rewarded with a twist and a great ending! One good twin, one bad twin, yup, definitely sounded interesting. When I read the synopsis of this book, I was definitely intrigued. ![]() (This review can also be found on my blog at The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl). It is a landmark of psychological horror that is a worthy descendent of the books of James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shirley Jackson, and Patricia Highsmith. Thomas Tryon’s best-selling novel about a homegrown monster is an eerie examination of the darkness that dwells within everyone. As the summer goes on, though, and Holland’s pranks become increasingly sinister, Niles finds he can no longer make excuses for his brother’s actions. Perry still hasn’t recovered from the shock of her husband’s gruesome end and stays sequestered in her room, leaving her sons to roam free. The Perrys live in the bucolic New England town their family settled centuries ago, and as it happens, the extended clan has gathered at its ancestral farm this summer to mourn the death of the twins’ father in a most unfortunate accident. Holland is bold and mischievous, a bad influence, while Niles is kind and eager to please, the sort of boy who makes parents proud. They are close, close enough, almost, to read each other’s thoughts, but they couldn’t be more different. Holland and Niles Perry are identical thirteen-year-old twins. ![]() ![]() He calls Liz and goes to the adoption meeting alone. When the FBI arrive outside to take Liz, she gives him the car keys. He also wants the car, but because Liz is late he agrees that she can have it. While they are getting ready for work he shows her 2 fliers and asks her to choose which one he should visit with his class for a field trip. Tom and Liz oversleep and are awakened by their dog, Hudson, on Liz's first day as an FBI profiler. He and Liz eventually married and made plans to adopt a child.Īfter his death at the hands of Ian Garvey and Elizabeth's death at the hands of Elias VanDyke, their daughter Agnes Keen is being taking care of by Harold Cooper. To protect himself and to remain with Elizabeth, Jacob went to Milos Kirchoff and the Major reassigned Jacob's contract to Milos when he offered to double Red's original price.Īs part of his cover, Phelps took the identity of Thomas Vincent Keen and started working as a fourth grade teacher. As an adult, he was hired by Raymond Reddington to keep an eye on Elizabeth Keen, however Jacob got romantically involved with Elizabeth which led Reddington to fire him. His mother mentioned it has been 28 years since his disappearance, which makes him 31 years old by the event of “ Susan Hargrave”.Īs a foster child by the name of Jacob Phelps, he was a petty thief who was eventually recruited at a young age by an underground spy trainer known as the Major in 1994. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() When he was 3 years old, Christopher Hargrave was kidnapped from his parents Susan and Howard Hargrave. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Intense and gripping, Pines is another masterful thriller from the mind of bestselling novelist Blake Crouch. Why can’t he get any phone calls through to his wife and son in the outside world? Why doesn’t anyone believe he is who he says he is? And what is the purpose of the electrified fences surrounding the town? Are they meant to keep the residents in? Or something else out? Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the world he thought he knew, from the man he thought he was, until he must face a horrifying fact-he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive. As the days pass, Ethan’s investigation into the disappearance of his colleagues turns up more questions than answers. The medical staff seems friendly enough, but something feels…off. He comes to in a hospital, with no ID, no cell phone, and no briefcase. ![]() But within minutes of his arrival, Ethan is involved in a violent accident. Wayward Pines, Book 1 By: Blake Crouch Narrated by: Max Meyers Length: 10 hrs Release date: 04-06-23 Language: English Not rated yet Regular price: 14. Night Shyamalan based on the book series Pines by Blake Crouch. Secret service agent Ethan Burke arrives in Wayward Pines, Idaho, with a clear mission: locate and recover two federal agents who went missing in the bucolic town one month earlier. Wayward Pines is a American thriller television series by Chad Hodge and M. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Named for a courageous Russian freedom fighter of World War II, Zoya was fourteen when Burmese aircraft bombed her peaceful village, forcing her and her family to flee through the jungles to a refugee camp just over the border in Thailand. Undaunted tells of Zoya’s riveting adventures, from her unusual childhood in a fascinating remote culture, to her years on the run, to her emergence as an activist icon. This same cadre has also relentlessly hunted Zoya and her family across borders and continents. Now, Zoya of the, a young member ofthe Karen tribe in Burma, bravely comes forward with her astonishingly vivid story of growing up in the idyllic green mansions of the jungle, and her violent displacement by the military junta that has controlled the country for almost a half century. In recent times, Burma has been torn apart and isolated by one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world. Once a royal kingdom and then part of the British Empire, Burma long held sway in the Western imagination as a mythic place of great beauty. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I really only remembered a few stories from this one, so most of the stories were new to me this go around. While the first collection has some true classics, I think I prefer volume 2 because of the way it raises the scares a notch.Īnother collection of spooky tales, Scary Stories 2 is not quite as good as the original but I love it anyway. Combined, of course, with Gammell’s iconic illustrations, there’s not a finer book of campfire tales yet. The slim volumes of utmost quality serves the vision much better than a mediocre thick collection, which is unfortunately the structure of competing collections. Schwartz deserves much praise for his dedication to folklore and attention to quality. It took another 7 years before the third book was released and of course there hasn’t been any more collections since. It doesn’t surprise me at all that it took a full 3 years between volume 1 and 2 because of the massive research involved. What people don’t realize about Scary Stories is that it’s an extremely scholarly project. The list of books include many from academia. What I love most is that Schwartz takes time at the end to explain his sources for the legend and offer supplemental reading suggestions for those interested. I was going to include my list of favorites when I realized I loved every story in here except one or two which were still good. ![]() This second volume of scary stories compiled/adapted from folklore and legend is significantly scarier and more adult than the previous volume. ![]() ![]() However, I digress - Kennedy is also a single parent with secrets regarding her baby's dad, her own upbringing and her relationship to people on the less savoury side of Inverness. I think women do this to themselves regularly. ![]() As a bit of a short ass, I find it intriguing to get some insight into how she perceives herself because of her height. That Monica Kennedy is so different from many detectives. So here are my reviews.Ī chilling serial killer book, with a fabulous main character. I'm posting these reviews to mark the publication of the second in the series which is called Dark Waters and am thrilled to say that I feel this series is going from strength to strength. I think the highlands with their remoteness and natural beauty combined with an, at times, unforgiving landscape is the perfect place for a deep dark and brooding crime series and Halliday does that in this series. ![]() These books are set in the Scottish highlands and I really love that. ![]() |