Remo Bd-0818-00- 18" Suede Diplomat Deri - itibaren Remo içinde LIT biçim

Aayag Akber aayag — Oh, how I love Cassandra Clare. In short time, I devoured her Mortal Instruments series (which I’ll write a review on eventually), falling in love with Clary and Jace. When the trilogy ended, I was devastated. I needed more of these Shadowhunters and more of the beautiful world that Cassandra Clare had crafted. Lucky for me, Clockwork Angel came out. This was the first in a series of prequels to The Mortal Instruments series. I was scared at first, thinking that it just would not stack up to her previous efforts, but I was so, so wrong. First of all, can I talk about that gorgeous cover? When I was wandering aimlessly through the bookstore (not even knowing that this book was out), I caught it out of the corner of my eye and was drawn in by the dark beauty. The whole cover has an old London, mysterious feel to it and I was in love. Now, the actual book. If I had doubts before, I have none now. Cassandra Clare cannot disappoint me–Clockwork Angel sucked me in during the first two pages and I had a hard time putting it down. I actually decided to read it for the Dewey 24-Hour Read-A-Thon, but was so sad that I would almost be finished the book that I kept putting it down so I could come back to it later. I didn’t want it to end! The character development was spot on and I can’t wait to see Tessa grow throughout the series. The clockwork creatures were terrifying to me, in a way–it made for a great Halloween read. And the love triangle between Tessa, Will, and Jem … well, of course, I’m on Team Will! It was great to see the characters from The Mortal Instruments in this series and I look forward to seeing how the new characters came to be. Each character has their own story to tell and it was nice to read a book and not have to refer back to previous pages to figure out who is who. All of that being said, I definitely enjoyed The Mortal Instruments more than this installment–who wouldn’t love Jace and Clary? Clary was such a great character and Tessa’s just not there yet for me–but it definitely holds a dear place on my bookshelf. In even more great news, the second book in this trilogy, Clockwork Prince, comes out THIS Saturday. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. It will be a great read during this snowy Alberta month. Thank you to Cassandra Clare for writing such amazing books!

Daniel Carvalho ilustroide — a tad repetitive and perhaps a little heavy on the grace (and do whatever you want!). but a good read especially for those struggling with the concept of grace.

Prity Ahmed prityahmed — Two short stories. South African version of "Heart of Darkness." Brief but powerful; slow beginning, but intense build-up to the spectacular ends. (For Professor B; 100+ pages)

Yor Blu yorblu — I have to get something off my chest before I really get started with this – After reading John Adams by David McCullough and watching the mini-series I held John Quincy Adams to this level of awesomeness just because I “watched” him grow up. Not even 100 pages into this biography I had to admit to myself that he is a total jerk. Like the king of all jerks in the world. He should get a crown for his haughty attitude and general disdain – it seemed to ooze out of his pores and writings. Aside from that, I thought his battle with depression was well explained and described in this book. It addressed it properly – giving it the weight it deserved, but also separating it from his general jerkiness. Once again in reading a non-fiction book about this time I am in awe of how far our medical environment has advanced – not only in acceptance for conditions like depression, but also just in treatment options. However, I wish that sabbaticals to visit “healing waters” would be reinstated. I’m pretty sure that taking a long vacation to a seaside town would do my attitude wonders. One of the items I found most surprising about JQA is that his years as President were his least productive and the darkest of his life. I think I have always thought that the Presidential position was one of utmost success – touch and difficult yes, but still a time to feel a level of achieving the highest goal – but not for JQA in the slightest. He fought all through politics against the party attitudes and yet his time in the White House was so full of party lines he wasn’t able to accomplish much. This, of course, left him feeling unproductive and resentful. He wasn't always useless though - he worked tirelessly to bring the Smithsonian Institutes into reality. I have visited a few of the museum's in Washington DC and they were impressive. To know that he used his love of art, history, and creative passions to establish such a treasure shows that his legacy lives on. It seems that much of his life JQA spent doing things he didn’t like. He hated the practice of law, preferring rather to spend his time with the literary world. His time abroad included some of his best years – primarily due to his schedule allowing his creative interests to foster, especially with such close proximity to famed artists of all formats. He was a man of the arts, not a man of the law or politics. And yet, he took the political route many times just because it kept him from having to practice law to eat. The lesser of two evils as some might say. I finished this book with a profound feeling of sadness. JQA spent much of his life chastising himself for frittering away time doing things that he enjoyed. He had such a strict expectation of himself that he couldn’t possibly live up to it. Yes, he was a jerk – but not just outsiders, he was a jerk to himself too. I wonder if he would have been a happier man had his duties as an ambassador for the US had kept him overseas longer than what actually transpired.