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ninja-muse · 4 years

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i’m trying to branch out and read outside my genre (fantasy) do you have any book recs for someone whose heart is in fantasy but needs to see what else is out there?

Hi anon! Thanks for the ask! Fantasy’s such a wide genre, and this is such an open ask, that I’m mostly going to be recommending books with similar feels or themes from other genres, to push you a little outside the fantasy bubble and introducing you to different genres and types of storytelling. If you have a favourite subgenre or trope or author, I can maybe get a little more specific or offer read-alikes.

Also, I don’t know if you knew this before asking, but fantasy is my favourite genre too, so some of these recs are books that pushed me out of the genre as well, or that I found familiar-but-different.

And this is getting long, so I’m going to throw it under a cut to save everyone scrolling.

Science fiction

the Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold - This is space opera, which means it’ll have fairly familiar plots except with science-y things instead of magic. There’s an heir with something to prove, heists, cons, and mysteries, attempted coups and assassinations, long-suffering sidekicks, and a homeworld that’s basically turn-of-the-century Russia but with fewer serfs. It was one of the first adult sci-fi books I read and genuinely liked.

The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey - I finished this recently, and the second book of the trilogy just came out. This is post-apocalyptic sci-fi, but not grim or particularly complex. (Some SF gets really into the nuts and bolts of the science elements; this isn’t that.) Basically, Koli’s a teenager who wants more than his quasi-medieval life’s given him, and finds himself in conflict with his village (and then exile) because of it. I could see where the story was going pretty much from the start, but I loved the journey anyway.

The Martian by Andy Weir - This doesn’t have much in common with fantasy, but it’s my go-to rec for anyone who’s never read science fiction before, because it’s funny, explains the science well, and has a hero and a plot you get behind right away. In case you haven’t heard of it (or the film), it’s about an astronaut stranded on Mars, trying to survive long enough to be rescued.

Foreigner by C.J. Cherryh - This is an alien first contact story, about a colony of humans in permanent quarantine on an alien planet. The MC is the sole social liaison and translator, explaining his culture to the aliens and the aliens to the human, and working to keep the peace—until politics and assassins get involved. It’s been over a decade since I read this, so my memory’s blurred, but I remember the same sort of political intrigue vibes as the Daevabad trilogy, just with fewer POVs.

Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor - One from my TBR. It looks like dark fiction about women, outcasts, and revenge, which sounds very fantastic and the MC can apparently do magic—but it’s post-apocalyptic Africa.

Speaking of political intrigue and sweeping epic plots, the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey has both in spades. Rebellions, alien technology, corrupt businesses, heroes doing good things and getting bad consequences, all that good stuff. It takes the science fairly seriously, without getting very dense with it, and will probably register as “more sci-fi” than my recs in the genre so far.

Oh, and Dune by Frank Herbert is such a classic chosen-one epic that it barely registers as science fiction at all.

Graphic novels

It’s technically fantasy, but assuming you’ve never picked up a graphic novel before, you should read Monstress by Marjorie Liu. Asian-inspired, with steampunk aesthetics, and rebellions and quests and so many female characters. It’s an absolutely fantastic graphic novel, if you want a taste of what those can do.

I’d highly recommend Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. It’s an epic science fiction story about a family caught between sides of a centuries-long war. (Dad’s from one side, Mom’s from the other, everyone wants to capture them, their kid is narrating.) It’s a blast to read, exciting and tense, with hard questions and gorgeous tender moments, and the world-building somehow manages to include weaponized magic, spaceship trees, ghosts, half-spider assassins, and all-important pulp romance novels without anything feeling out of place.

Historical fiction

Hild by Nicola Griffith - Very rich and detailed novel following a girl growing up in an early medieval English court. It’s very fantasy-esque, with battles and politics and changes of religion, and Hild gets positioned early on to be the king’s seer, so there’s “magic” of a sort as well.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry - A widow goes to the Victorian seaside to heal and reawaken her interest in biology. Slow, gentle, lovely writing and atmosphere, interesting characters and turns of plot. Doesn’t actually deliver on the sea monster, but still has a lot to recommend it to fantasy readers, I think.

Yiddish for Pirates by Gary Barwin - The late-medieval Jewish pirate adventure you didn’t know you wanted. It’s funny and literary, full of tropes and set pieces like “small-town kid in the big city” and “jail break”, and features the Spanish Inquisition, Columbus, the Fountain of Youth, and talking parrots, among other things.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett - A thousand pages about the building of a cathedral in England, mostly focusing on the master builder, the monk who spearheads the project, and a noblewoman who’s been kicked off her family’s land, but has several other plots going on, including a deacon with political ambitions, a war, and a boy who’s trying so hard to fit in and do right.

Sharon Kay Penman - This is an author on my TBR, who comes highly recommended for her novels about the War of the Roses and the Plantagenets. Should appeal to you if you liked Game of Thrones. I’m planning to start with The Sunne in Splendour.

Lady of the Forest by Jennifer Roberson - Either a Robin Hood retelling that’s also a romance, or a romance that’s also a Robin Hood retelling.

Hamnet & Judith by Maggie O’Farrell - A novel of the Shakespeare family, mostly focused on his wife and son. Lovely writing and a very gentle feel though it heads into dark and complex subjects fairly often. A good portrait of Early Modern family life.

Mystery

There’s not a lot of mystery that reads like high, epic, or even contemporary fantasy, but if you’re a fan of urban fantasy, which is basically mystery with magic in, then I’d rec:

Cozy mysteries as a general subgenre, especially if you like the Sookie Stackhouse end of urban fantasy, which has romance and quirky plots; there are plenty of series where the detective’s a witch or the sidekick’s a ghost but they’re solving non-magical mysteries, and the genre in general full of heroines who are good at solving crimes without formal training, and the plots feel very similar but with slightly lower stakes. Cozies have become one of my comfort-reading genres (along with UF) the last few years. My intros were the Royal Spyness novels by Rhys Bowen and the Fairy Tale Fatale books by Maia Chance.

If you like your urban fantasy darker and more serious, and your heroines more complicated, try Kathy Reichs and her Temperance Brennan novels. Brennan’s a forensic anthropologist, strong and complicated in the same ways of my fave UF heroines, and the mysteries are already interesting, with a good dash of thriller and a smidge of romance.

Two other recs:

Haunted Ground by Erin Hart - The first of four books about a forensic anthropologist in Ireland, who’s called in when the Garda find bodies in the peat bogs and need to know how long they’ve been there. They’re very atmospheric—I can almost smell the bog—and give great portraits of rural Ireland and small-town secrets, and since not all the bodies found in each book are recent, they also bring interesting slices of the past to life as well.

A Burnable Book by Bruce Holsinger - This is essentially a medieval thriller about a seditious book that’s turned up in London. I liked the mystery in it and that it’s much more focused on the lives of average people than the rich and famous (for all that recognizable people also show up).

Classics

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift - I swear this is actually one of the first fantasy novels but few people ever really class it as such. Basically, Gulliver’s a ship’s doctor who keeps getting shipwrecked—in a country of tiny people, a country of giants, a country of mad scientists, a country of talking horses, etc. It’s social satire and a spoof of travelogues from Swift’s time, but it’s easily enough read without that context.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll - Another, slightly later, fantasy and satire! Even more amusing situations than in Gulliver’s Travels and, while it’s been a while* since I read it, I think it’ll be a decent read-alike for authors like Jasper Fforde, Genevieve Cogman, and that brand of light British comic fantasy.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare - Also technically a fantasy! I mean, there are fairies and enchantments, for all it’s a romantic comedy written entirely in old-fashioned poetry. It’s a pretty good play to start you off on Shakespeare, if you’re interested in going that direction.

On the subject of Shakespeare, I would also recommend Much Ado About Nothing, Macbeth, and King Lear, the first because it’s my favourite comedy, the others because they’re fantasy read-alikes imo as well (witches! coups! drama!).

the Arthurian mythos. Le Morte D’arthur, Crétien de Troyes, The Once and Future King by T.H. White, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, etc. - I’ve read bits and pieces of the first two, am about 80% sure I read the third as a kid (or at least The Sword in the Stone), and have the last on my TBR. Basically, these stories are going to give you an exaggeratedly medieval setting, knights, quests, wizards, fairies, high drama, romantic entanglements, and monsters, and the medieval ones especially have different kinds of plots than you’ll be used to (and maybe open the door to more medieval lit?) **

Beowulf and/or The Odyssey - Two epics that inspired a lot of fiction that came later. (There’s an especial connection between Beowulf and Tolkien.) They’re not the easiest of reads because they’re in poetry and non-linear narratives, but both have a hero facing off against a series of monsters and/or magical creatures as their core story.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - The first real science fiction novel. It’s about the ethics of science and the consequences of one’s actions, and I loved seeing the Creature find himself and Frankenstein descend into … that. It’s also full of sweeping, gothic scenes and tension and doom and drama.

* 25 years, give or take

** There are plenty of more recent people using King Arthur and associated characters too, if this "subgenre” interests you.

Other fiction

Vicious by V.E. Schwab - I don’t know if you classify superheroes as science fiction or fantasy or its own genre (for me it depends on the day) but this is an excellent take on the subject, full of moral greyness and revenge.

David Mitchell - A literary fiction writer who has both a sense of humour and an interest in the fantastic and science fictional. He writes ordinary people and average lives marvelously well, keeps me turning pages, plays with form and timelines, and reliably throws in either recurring, possibly-immortal characters, good-vs-evil psychic battles, or other SF/F-y elements. I’d start with either Slade House, a ghost story, or Utopia Avenue, about a ‘60s rock band. Or possible The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, which I fully admit to not having read yet.

Devolution by Max Brooks - A horror movie in book form, full of tension and desperation and jump scares and the problems with relying on modern technology. The monsters are Bigfeet. Reccing this one in the same way I’m reccing The Martian—it’s an accessible intro to its genre.

Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson - Contemporary fiction with a slight literary bent, that doesn’t pull its punches about Indigenous life but also has a sense of humour about the same. Follows a teen dealing with poverty and a bad home life and drugs and hormones—and the fact that his bio-dad might actually be the trickster Raven. Also features witches, magic, and other spirit-beings, so I generally pitch this as magic realism.

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones - Another Indigenous rec, this time a horror novel about ghosts and racism and trying to do the right thing. This’ll give you a taste of the more psychological end of the horror spectrum.

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia - A good example of contemporary YA and how it handles the complexities of life, love, and growing up. Follows the writer of a fantasy webcomic who makes a friend who turns out to write fic of her story and who suddenly has to really balance online and offline life, among other pressures. Realistic portrait of mental health problems.

Non-fiction

The Book of Margery Kempe - The first English-language autobiography. Margery was very devout but also very badass, in a medieval sort of way. She went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, was possibly epileptic, frequently “saw” Christ and Mary and demons, basically became a nun in middle age while staying married to her husband, and wound up on trial for heresy, before talking a monk into writing down her life story. It’s a fascinating window into the time period.

The Hammer and the Cross by Robert Ferguson - A history of medieval Norse people and how their explorations and trade shaped both their culture and the world.

A Time of Gifts by Patrick Leigh Fermor - Travel writing that was recommended to me by someone who raved about the prose and was totally right. Fermor’s looking back, with the aid of journals, on a walking trip he took across Europe in the 1930s. It’s a fascinating look at the era and an old way of life, and pretty much every “entry” has something of interest in it. He met all sorts of people.

Tim Severin and/or Thor Heyerdahl - More travel writing, this time by people recreating historical voyages (or what they believe to be historical voyages, ymmv) in period ships. Severin focuses on mythology (I’ve read The Ulysses Voyage and The Jason Voyage) and Heyerdahl’s known for Kon-Tiki, which is him “proving” that Polynesians made contact with South America. They both go into the history of the sailing and areas they’re travelling through, while also describing their surroundings and daily life, and, yes, running into storms and things.

Hope this helps you!

#bookblr #booklr #fantasy #read-alikes #answered asks #book recommendations #rec lists

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letterboxd · 4 years

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Summer Loving.

Summerland writer-director Jessica Swale shares 50 of her favorite heart-filled films for troubled times.

Since its release in July, Jessica Swale’s WWII cottagecore drama Summerland has quietly captured hearts—and a very respectable four out of five stars—on Letterboxd. In the time of Covid, Summerland is the “warm, breezy ride” we’ve needed, writes Tuhin.

Written and directed by Swale, an Olivier Award-winning playwright who also made the brilliant and blistering short, Leading Lady Parts (watch it here), Summerland centers on Gemma Arterton’s character Alice—also played by Penelope Wilton later in life. Alice is reclusive, prickly, focused on her writing; it’s a great inconvenience when she’s put in charge of one of the children sent to her small seaside town from London to escape the bombings. But his arrival sets off memories of a lost love, Vera (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), and Alice begins to thaw.

“It’s perhaps the feel-good film of the year, as it explores many things: imagination, motherhood, the heartbreak of war and lost love, and the touching story of how this young boy changes Alice’s life,” writes Sara. “You mean it’s this easy to make a lesbian period drama with a non-white love interest and a happy ending!” Sonny agrees.

As the northern hemisphere summer cools into fall, the blockbuster-season-that-wasn’t fades in the rear-view mirror, and a vaccine remains yet a dream, we invited Swale to select 50 uplifting films to help us through, and to pen some thoughts on the importance of movies that make your heart sing.

In the following essay, Swale shares how, through a deeply personal loss, she made a commitment “to always tell stories with hope at their heart”.

Jessica Swale and cinematographer Laurie Rose on the set of ‘Summerland’.

Jessica Swale on 50 Heart-Filled Tales for Troubling Times

For as long as people have been telling stories, there’s been a propensity—often amongst the upper echelons of society—to deem tragedy the highest form of art. Want to win an Oscar or pen a ‘proper play’ which will stand the test of time? Make sure your story includes a good spate of killing, a family rift, a mother with dead babies or a father betrayed by his wicked daughters, something of that ilk… A good smattering of tears, heartbreak, untimely demise and vengeance—usually with a pile of bodies stacked up by the end. Drama of the highest order should be serious, they say.

And yet, if you were to be shipwrecked on a desert island with only one DVD to watch on repeat for the rest of eternity, what would you choose?

I'm guessing something that makes your heart sing.

Why is it that we’re so ready to look past the bright for the bleak, reject the optimism for the politically painful, the comedy, dare I say it—the ‘rom-com’—for a good descent into depression? I don’t know about you, but the narratives which have come to mean the most to me, and made me think most deeply, have been stories with some sunshine in their bones.

‘Together’ (2000), written and directed by Lukas Moodysson.

The value of laughter, of a sense of hope and possibility, the chance to feel better about life… why do we not celebrate that? That is medicine. And the chance to escape. What an incredible gift that can be. How powerful that a good story can transport away from life’s hardships and liberate us, at least for a time.

A well told story with hope at its heart can illuminate life’s important lessons just as intelligently as the darkest tragedy. It can still break your heart, make you cry, give you ‘all the feels’, but in a way which leaves you walking out of the cinema, the theater, the library, with a spring in your step and a little more belief in the good things in life. A happy ending, trite as it sounds, often reminds us to embrace life. To get out there and live it, and to appreciate what we have. And that, I think, is invaluable.

While I was making Summerland, in an unexpected and tragic parallel with the film, my own father became seriously ill. Knowing that he had a finite amount of time left, he flatly refused to watch anything depressing or morbid, choosing instead only to engage with stories which would brighten his day. Why dwell on how painful life can be when you only have limited time? He chose to make the most of it.

‘Sing Street’ (2016), written and directed by John Carney.

We all have limited time. And at that moment in my own life, I made a commitment to always tell stories with hope at their heart. There are plenty of filmmakers who make epic, searing tragedies. They do it much better than I could—I have no ambition to be one of them. Instead, I want to spend my own finite amount of time making films which can uplift, make you think, suggest that, however bleak prospects seem, there is always the possibility of good, of hope, even if it’s just a glimmer.

I want to make films my dad would have enjoyed. I’m not talking about filmic candy-floss—cynically constructed, formulaic films made just to win laughs and box office numbers. I mean stories with something to say. Something positive. And if I am lucky enough to make a film where the audience leaves the cinema feeling a little bit better about life than when they arrived, then I’ve done my job.

Here are my top 50 films that do exactly that for me. Heart-filled tales for troubling times. Some comedies, some dramas, some classics, some foolish fun, but all of which have, to me, felt like a life-enhancing tonic when I watched them. I hope you enjoy them too—and add to the collection.

My dad, I think, would heartily approve.

Related content

It’s a Wonderful Life: The Letterboxd Comfort Films Showdown

Izzy’s Huge List of Comfort Films

‘Summerland’ is screening at select cinemas, and available on VOD/on-demand platforms.

#summerland #jessica swale #gugu mbatha raw #gemma arterton #romantic films #period films #wwii films #comfort films #lgbtqia cinema #letterboxd

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papapiusxiii · 5 years

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50 Great Thrillers by Women, as recommended by 10 of the UK’s female crime writers

Sophie Hannah:

Summertime by Liz Rigbey. Follows a woman who loses her baby and whose father unexpectedly drowns. When her husband and sister close ranks against her, she begins to suspect they are lying to her.

The Spider’s House by Sarah Diamond. Also published as In the Spider’s House. When Anna Howell discovers that a 1960s child murderess was the previous resident of her old cottage, her marriage, sanity and life come under threat.

Hidden by Katy Gardner. When a young mother’s seven-year-old daughter disappears, she finds herself questioning everything in her life. Then a police officer starts asking about the murder of a woman 14 months earlier …

A Shred of Evidence by Jill McGown. DI Judy Hill and DCI Lloyd investigate the murder of a 15-year-old girl on a patch of open parkland in the centre of town.

Searching for Shona by Margaret Jean Anderson

The wealthy Marjorie Malcolm-Scott trades suitcases, destinations and identities with orphan Shona McInnes, as children are evacuated from Edinburgh at the start of the second world war.

Val McDermid:

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. A teenage war orphan accuses two women of kidnap and abuse, but something about her story doesn’t add up.

Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer. The Booker-longlisted author of Snap follows it up with the tale of a medical student with Asperger’s who attempts to solve a murder.

The Field of Blood by Denise Mina. The first in the Paddy Meehan series sees the reporter looking into the disappearance of a child from his Glasgow home, with evidence pointing the police towards two young boys.

A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine. Writing under her pen name, Ruth Rendell tells of the discovery of a woman and child in the animal cemetery at Wyvis Hall, 10 years after a group of young people spent the summer there.

When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson. In the third Jackson Brodie book, a man is released from prison 30 years after he butchered the mother and siblings of a six-year-old girl in the Devon countryside.

Ann Cleeves:

Little Deaths by Emma Flint. Inspired by the real case of Alice Crimmins, this tells of a woman whose two children go missing from her apartment in Queens.

The Dry by Jane Harper. During Australia’s worst drought in a century, three members of one family in a small country town are murdered, with the father believed to have killed his wife and son before committing suicide.

Devices and Desires by PD James. Adam Dalgliesh takes on a serial killer terrorising a remote Norfolk community.

The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina. Heavily pregnant DS Alex Morrow investigates the violent death of a wealthy woman in Glasgow.

Fire Sale by Sara Paretsky. The inimitable VI Warshawski takes over coaching duties of the girls’ basketball team at her former high school, and investigates the explosion of the flag manufacturing plant where one of the girl’s mothers works.

Sharon Bolton:

Gone by Mo Hayder. In Hayder’s fifth thriller featuring Bristol DI Jack Caffrey, he goes after a car-jacker who is taking vehicles with children in them.

Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris. A murderous revenge is being plotted against the boys’ grammar school in the north of England where eccentric Latin master Roy Straitley is contemplating retirement.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes. A time-travelling, murderous war veteran steps through the decades to murder extraordinary women – his “shining girls” – in Chicago, in this high-concept thriller.

The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood. Two women who were sentenced for murdering a six-year-old when they were children meet again as adults, when one discovers the body of a teenager.

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty. Married scientist Yvonne, who is drawn into a passionate affair with a stranger, is on trial for murder.

Sarah Ward:

A Place of Execution by Val McDermid. Journalist Catherine Heathcote investigates the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl in the Peak District village of Scarsdale in 1963.

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths. Forensic archaeologist Dr Ruth Galloway investigates the discovery of a child’s bones near the site of a prehistoric henge on the north Norfolk salt marshes.

The Ice House by Minette Walters. A decade after Phoebe Maybury’s husband inexplicably vanished, a corpse is found and the police become determined to charge her with murder.

The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard. When a body is found in Dublin’s Grand Canal, police turn to the notorious Canal Killer for help. But the imprisoned murderer will only talk to the woman he was dating when he committed his crimes.

This Night’s Foul Work by Fred Vargas (translated by Sian Reynolds). Commissaire Adamsberg investigates whether there is a connection between the escape of a murderous 75-year-old nurse from prison, and the discovery of two men with their throats cut on the outskirts of Paris.

Elly Griffiths:

R in the Month by Nancy Spain. Sadly out of print, this is an atmospheric story set in a down-at-heel hotel in a postwar seaside town. The period detail is perfect and jokes and murders abound. This is the fourth book featuring the fantastic Miriam Birdseye, actress and rather slapdash sleuth.

The Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. A gripping crime novel in which the detective never gets out of bed and the murder happened over 500 years ago. Griffith says: “I read this book as a child and was hooked – on Tey, crime fiction and Richard the Third.”

The Detective’s Daughter by Lesley Thomson. Cleaner Stella Darnell finds herself tidying up her detective father’s final, unfinished case, after he dies. It is the first in a series featuring Stella and her sidekick Jack, an underground train driver who can sense murder.

A Place of Execution by Val McDermid. Griffiths says: “I could have chosen any of Val’s novels, but this book, about a journalist revisiting a shocking 1960s murder, is probably my favourite because of its wonderful sense of time and place. It’s also pitch perfect about journalism, police investigation and life in a small community.”

He Said, She Said by Erin Kelly. An account of a rape trial at which nothing is quite as it seems. Griffiths says: “The story centres around a lunar eclipse, which also works wonderfully as a metaphor and image.”

Dreda Say Mitchell:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. The Gone Girl author’s debut follows journalist Camille’s investigation into the abduction and murder of two girls in her Missouri home town.

Dangerous Lady by Martina Cole. Cole’s first novel sees 17-year-old Maura Ryan taking on the men of London’s gangland.

The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid. Clinical psychologist Dr Tony Hill is asked to profile a serial killer when four men are found mutilated and tortured.

Indemnity Only by Sara Paretsky. A client tells VI Warshawski he is a prominent banker looking for his son’s missing girlfriend. But VI soon discovers he’s lying, and that the real banker’s son is dead.

The St Cyr series by CS Harris. Mitchell has nominated the whole of this historical mystery series about Sebastian St Cyr, Viscount Devlin – master of disguises, heir to an earldom, and disillusioned army officer. It’s a bit of a cheat but we’ll let her have it.

Erin Kelly:

No Night Is Too Long by Barbara Vine. Tim Cornish thinks he has gotten away with killing his lover in Alaska. But then the letters start to arrive …

Broken Harbour by Tana French. The fourth in French’s sublime Dublin Murder Squad series, this takes place in a ghost estate outside Dublin, where a father and his two children have been found dead, with the mother on her way to intensive care.

Chosen by Lesley Glaister. When Dodie’s mother hangs herself, she has to leave her baby at home and go to bring her brother Jake back from the mysterious Soul Life Centre in New York.

A Savage Hunger by Claire McGowan. Forensic psychologist Paula Maguire investigates the disappearance of a girl, and a holy relic, from a remote religious shrine in the fictional Irish town of Ballyterrin.

The Cry by Helen Fitzgerald. Parents Joanna and Alistair start to turn against each other after their baby goes missing from a remote roadside in Australia.

Sarah Hilary:

The Hours Before Dawn by Celia Fremlin. A sleep-deprived young mother tries to stay sane while her fears grow about the family’s new lodger, in this 1950s lost classic.

Cruel Acts by Jane Casey. Leo Stone, sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two women, is now free and claims he is innocent. DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwen want to put him back in jail, but Maeve begins doubting his guilt – until another woman disappears.

Sex Crimes by Jenefer Shute. A lawyer’s New Year’s Eve pick-up spirals into an erotic obsession which leads to graphic cruelty.

Skin Deep by Liz Nugent. Nugent, whom Ian Rankin has compared to Patricia Highsmith, tells the story of a woman who has been passing herself off as an English socialite on the Riviera for 25 years – until the arrival of someone who knows her from her former life prompts an act of violence.

Cuckoo by Julia Crouch. Rose’s home and family start to fall apart when her best friend Polly comes to stay.

Louise Candlish:

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. Christie’s classic – with a legendary twist. The best Hercule Poirot?

The Two Faces of January by Patricia Highsmith. A conman on the run with his wife meets a young American who becomes drawn into the crime they commit.

Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. The author of The Handmaid’s Tale imagines the life of the real 19th-century Canadian killer Grace Marks.

Little Face by Sophie Hannah. Hannah’s thriller debut is about a young mother who becomes convinced that, after spending two hours away from her baby, the infant is not hers.

Alys, Always by Harriet Lane. Newspaper subeditor Frances is drawn into the lives of the Kyte family when she hears the last words of the victim of a car crash, Alys Kyte.

#reference

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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Bridgerton: Best Shows to Watch After the Netflix Series

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Netflix’s Bridgerton has swept viewers off their feet with its lush blend of romance tropes—fake relationship, forbidden love, “we could be together if only we could stop misunderstanding each other”—anchored by the soapy, searing gossip of one Lady Whistledown. Those eight episodes went down like tea sandwiches, doubtless leaving viewers hungry for more Regency romance and timeless drama. Thankfully, you can sate your appetites with these nine TV series. A mix of adaptations and original series, they reimagine famous figures as compelling heroines and transplant viewers into immersive towns and households, with new scandals and love stories to get obsessed with.

Dickinson (AppleTV+)

Alena Smith’s brilliant, queer dramedy series audaciously reimagines the historically reclusive poet as a Millennial soul stuck in 19th-century societal constraints. It’s delightfully anachronistic, with artful contemporary music choices—like one sequence set to Lizzo’s “Boys”—and gleefully meta cameos like John Mulaney as Walden naturalist Henry Thoreau and Zosia Mamet as Little Women author Louisa May Alcott. The sophomore season (which premiered January 8) sees Emily grappling with the fear of losing her sight, yes, but also something far worse: writer’s block. The reason for her creative dampening? Her poems may finally be published. But fame proves a fickle creature, as Emily struggles with an attraction to her editor Samuel Bowles (Iron Fist’s Finn Jones) while her dear Sue (Ella Hunt) retreats into the glittery world of out-of-touch influencers. This season, expect seances, spa days, and more than one fabulous house party.

Outlander (Starz)

Daphne Bridgerton has to survive the season, but Claire Beauchamp Randall Fraser (Caitriona Balfe) has to stay alive across several historical wars, not to mention the realities of being a 20th-century doctor sent back in time two hundred years to where she’s little more than property to be traded or kidnapped. Thankfully she’s got the romance hero to end all heroes in sensitive Highlander Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan)—and their sex scenes rival even Daphne and Simon’s romping honeymoon. If you’ve never gotten into Diana Gabaldon’s sweeping romantic epic (with Ronald D. Moore’s adaptation touch), get ready for a breathless adventure. And if you’re tuning in for next season, you’ll appreciate how like the Bridgertons, the Frasers nurture a big, close-knit clan—blood and chosen—whose own adventures in time travel, spywork, and war spin out into various triumphs and high drama.

Sanditon (PBS Masterpiece)

Adapted from Jane Austen’s final, unfinished novel, Sanditon takes place in the eponymous seaside town, a sleepy retreat poised to become a Regency resort destination. An accident of chance brings the unconventional and impetuous Charlotte Heywood (Rose Williams) to Sanditon, where she bonds with the bold Georgiana Lamb (Crystal Clarke), Austen’s first and only black character. And of course, Charlotte clashes with the hunky Sidney Parker (Theo James), part of the family looking to change Sanditon. Andrew Davies, the writer behind the classic Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice and other Austen adaptations, uses the unfinished manuscript to set up the pilot, then takes those characters in new directions. That means engaging with England’s colonial history in surprising ways, but also includes an ending to the eight-episode series that challenges readers and viewers used to the genre’s conventions.

Harlots (Hulu)

Anthony Bridgerton’s opera-singer lover Siena would have fit right in with the pragmatic, hardworking women of London’s seedier districts a century before the events of Bridgerton. Alison Newman and Moira Buffini’s series similarly builds its drama on circulated pamphlets that, like Lady Whistledown’s missives, could make or break a young woman’s future prospects—only these ladies are sex workers. The short-lived series tackles sex work, abuse, secret societies, racism, and a mafia-like war between the city’s top two brothels.

The White Princess (Starz)

Before she dazzled (and terrified) on Killing Eve, Jodie Comer’s breakout role was as Elizabeth of York, mother of Henry VIII, in this miniseries adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s historical novel. Forced into a political marriage with the new king Henry Tudor in order to unite their houses, Lizzie realizes that she can wield her own brand of power through pregnancy and heirs. The White Princess will scratch that “enemies to lovers” itch while dramatizing a turning point in England’s royal history.

The Great (Hulu)

Like Daphne, Catherine of Prussia (Elle Fanning) approaches her marriage with alarming naïveté at the start, only for her idealized hopes for life at Peter III’s (Nicholas Hoult) court to be smashed like fine crystal with a mocking “huzzah!” Instead, she must learn to navigate the cutthroat Russian court of simpering and sabotaging ladies, while convincing the tantrum-prone Peter that she is interesting enough not to be killed. All this while fomenting a revolution with the help of her street-smart maid and various sympathizers who may be willing to consider that Catherine could be good, perhaps even Great. Tony McNamara’s Hulu series takes the brilliance of his 2018 film The Favourite and expands it over series arcs (season 2 is forthcoming) that will make you cheer and even cry.

Downton Abbey (Peacock)

The one thing Bridgerton could have used more of was the “upstairs/downstairs” dynamic of servants commenting on their employers’ ridiculous interpersonal drama. We got a little bit of that with housekeeper Mrs. Colson laughing at Eloise Bridgerton’s accusation that she is Lady Whistledown (as if she had the time!), but Downton Abbey serves up plenty of shade through the eyes of the valets and maids who keep the Crawley family comfortable at their country estate. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of scandal, from diplomats dying during sex to real-world events like the sinking of the Titanic and the assassination of archduke Franz Ferdinand. And those missing Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte will delight in Maggie Smith’s scathing Dowager Countess.

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (Acorn TV)

If you found Daphne’s lack of sex ed and real-world knowledge a tad tiring, you might find the company of Miss Phryne Fisher (Essie Davis) as refreshing and heady as a whiff of exotic perfume. Melbourne’s most glamorous lady detective spends the 1920s solving all manner of murders—at society functions, on trains, at the dance hall—with nary a hair out of place. But the best part of the series is Phryne’s refreshingly modern attitudes about sex and her simmering banter with the stern Detective Inspector Jack Robinson (Nathan Page). Despite all the death and unrequited attraction, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries is a spectacular romp that will be over all too soon—but then the cast reunited for a movie, Miss Fisher and the Crypt of Tears, to keep the fun going just a little longer.

Gossip Girl (HBO Max)

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Hear us out—the Upper East Side in the early 2000s definitely gives the Ton (that is, Bridgerton’s high society) a run for its money. You’ve got sex tapes, secret children, faked deaths, and the unlikeliest of matches, between golden girl Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and “Lonely Boy” social outcast Dan Humphrey (Penn Badgley, prepping his stalkery writer skills for You). After all, Gossip Girl walked so Lady Whistledown could run. And with a reboot coming to HBO Max this year, there’s never been a better time to catch up on the original.

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News top stories daily news hot topics Hershey beer, sassafras sickness, demolition mystery: News from around our 50 states

News top stories daily news hot topics

News top stories daily news hot topics Alabama

Birmingham: A girl previously charged with voter fraud has been appointed to a county elections board by Gov. Kay Ivey. Files outlets say Ivey appointed 79-twelve months-outdated Rosie Lyles to the Hale County Board of Registrars on Friday. Lyles was charged with four counts of voter fraud in 2007 and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor of possession of a cast instrument. Ivey press secretary Gina Maiola says the governor didn’t know relating to the conviction and hadn’t performed a background check earlier than the appointment. She says background assessments aren’t traditional for such appointments. Secretary of Convey John Merrill, the drawl’s top election legit, says his put of enterprise is investigating the appointment. He says it seems Lyles can aid as registrar, nonetheless, as her conviction wasn’t a prison.

News top stories daily news hot topics Alaska

Fairbanks: The drawl Division of Education has launched an on-line instrument aimed at providing families the ability to evaluate recordsdata from public colleges. The Fairbanks Day-to-day Files-Miner reports the instrument is is called The Compass: A Book to Alaska’s Public Colleges. Education Commissioner Michael Johnson says its reason is to show conceal recordsdata to families in an participating and precious way. The on-line portal lets users take a college and peek recordsdata substances about it. Johnson says the position offers folks a probability to review colleges across the drawl. “Here is suitable the start up. We want to proceed working on the on-line position,” Johnson says. The division will replace recordsdata as it receives original recordsdata and could presumably per chance well review suggestions to be taught the way in which the portal will be formed.

News top stories daily news hot topics Arizona

Phoenix: A child javelina is making improvements to after a jaunt on a small-access toll road. The Arizona Division of Public Safety says the younger javelina was indubitably one of two that brought web page traffic on Convey Route 51 to a standstill Monday afternoon. DPS officers inform a total lot of troopers tried to spherical up the animals, that had been on the northbound lanes. Trooper Martin Sotelo managed to wrangle one javelina. The diversified ran off and eluded snatch. The rescued javelina was transported to Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale for clinical treatment. Javelina, which judge like wild boar, are native to barren space environments.

News top stories daily news hot topics Arkansas

Tiny Rock: United States Metal Corp. is shopping a minority stake in an Arkansas-based metallic firm for $700 million. Huge River Metal launched Tuesday that it had entered into an agreement with the Pittsburgh-based company. Below the agreement, U.S. Metal will preserve a 49.9% ownership passion in Huge River Metal and could presumably per chance well preserve an technique to originate the final 50.1% interior the next four years. Huge River Metal began operations at its $1.3 billion mill in Osceola in 2017 and final twelve months launched a selection of the ability that will add 500 original jobs. The plant was Arkansas’ first “superproject” beneath a 2004 constitutional modification that allowed the drawl to borrow money to reduction lure foremost employers.

News top stories daily news hot topics California

San Francisco: The mayor has suggested division heads they'll no longer investigate the doable ties of city contractors to the Nationwide Rifle Association, prompting the gun-rights crew to account for victory in its ongoing fight with the liberal city. Mayor London Breed issued the advisory Sept. 23, about a weeks after the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution labeling the NRA a “home terrorist group” and calling on town to make a decision steps to evaluate doable ties between its contractors and the group. In a memo cowritten by town attorney, Breed wrote that the board can most effective enact original contracting requirements by ordinance. Resolutions have not any appropriate weight. William A. Brewer III, counsel to the NRA, acknowledged Tuesday that the memo is a “determined concession” to a lawsuit filed in federal court docket against town according to the resolution.

News top stories daily news hot topics Colorado

Denver: A native man has agreed to make a decision with federal officers after convincing investors to give him tens of thousands and thousands of bucks in a cattle and marijuana Ponzi scheme. The Denver Submit reports that Imprint Ray agreed to make a decision with the U.S. Securities and Replace Commission to total the agency’s fraud investigation. Authorities inform Ray channeled better than $140 million to repay prior investors and his personal clinical bills, personal flights and herd of show conceal cattle from 2014 to March. Federal authorities inform Ray consented to having his sources frozen, but he didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing within the settlement. Authorities inform the industry Universal Herbs was in deep debt, and detailed descriptions of the cattle and feedlots were mostly lies.

News top stories daily news hot topics Connecticut

Windsor Locks: A World Battle II-abilities airplane with 13 folks aboard crashed and burned at the Hartford airport after encountering mechanical concern on takeoff Wednesday, killing seven. The four-engine, propeller-driven B-17 bomber struggled to construct up into the air and slammed into a repairs constructing at Bradley Global Airport because the pilots circled aid for a touchdown, officers and witnesses acknowledged. Some of the essential survivors of the shatter were severely injured, authorities acknowledged. One particular person on the floor was moreover injury, and a firefighter eager on the response suffered a minor injury. The classic bomber – moreover is called a Flying Fortress, indubitably one of the crucial crucial renowned Allied planes of World Battle II – was used to make a decision historical previous buffs and airplane enthusiasts on immediate flights, all the way in which thru which they could presumably per chance well accumulate up and stroll across the loud and windy interior.

News top stories daily news hot topics Delaware

Dover: Highmark Blue Substandard Blue Protect of Delaware says it’ll lower its charges on the Cheap Care Act marketplace by almost 20%, marking the foremost time charges beget dropped after years of regular will increase. Decreased premiums will be funded by thousands and thousands of drawl and federal bucks, alongside with a tiny fee taken from all industrial insurers. The fee reduction comes as a drawl say showed the cost of month-to-month marketplace premiums doubled from 2014 to 2018, causing thousands of residents to descend coverage and insurers to descend out. Highmark is the superb insurer left. Insurance coverage Commissioner Trinidad Navarro moreover credits Delaware’s newly authorized reinsurance program with serving to lower charges. This arrangement will duvet some costly ACA enrollees’ clinical claims.

News top stories daily news hot topics District of Columbia

Washington: Court records inform Total Foods customers helped detain a man accused of filming beneath the skirt of a 13-twelve months-outdated lady standing in a retailer checkout line. Citing D.C. Superior Court records, news outlets say Daniel Izquierdo, 25, was spotted standing “on the total close” to the girl in March. Files inform a conception seen Izquierdo perceived to be filming beneath the girl’s costume and commenced yelling, main customers to detain him until police arrived. Files inform he refused to let police peek any video on his cell phone. Police Chief Peter Newsham acknowledged at a news convention Tuesday that officers acquired search warrants and, with the FBI’s help, learned the upskirting video, alongside side movies of 34 diversified girls folk. Izquierdo was arrested Monday on voyeurism bills.

News top stories daily news hot topics Florida

Miami: A South Florida eco-gallop park is internet hosting a Chinese lantern competition for the comfort of the twelve months. A Jungle Island news originate says it’s opening Luminosa to the public this Saturday. The 18-acre park, positioned on an island between downtown Miami and Miami Seaside, has partnered with Zigong Lantern Group and China Lantern Global to style a nighttime jungle stuffed with big illuminated lanterns made of vivid silk by Chinese artisans. Luminosa capabilities lanterns formed into animals, vegetation and iconic Miami destinations. Larger than 1 million LED lights are used within the appeal. Luminosa will bolt from 5 to 10 p.m. each day until Jan. 8. Fashioned grownup admission is $35.

News top stories daily news hot topics Georgia

Atlanta: A federal address on Tuesday hasty blocked Georgia’s restrictive original abortion law from taking make, following the lead of diversified judges who beget blocked the same measures in diversified states. The law signed in Can also by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp bans abortions once a “detectable human heartbeat” is show conceal, with some restricted exceptions. Cardiac exercise also will likely be detected by ultrasound as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, earlier than many girls folk designate they’re ready for, according to a appropriate field. The law had been scheduled to develop to be enforceable Jan. 1. Attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights in June filed a constitutional field to the law on behalf of Georgia abortion suppliers and an advocacy crew.

News top stories daily news hot topics Hawaii

Honolulu: A park pattern mission has been delayed following the discovery of a doable artifact on the grounds. Mayor Kirk Caldwell halted the mission at Waimanalo Bay Seaside Park on Tuesday while officers stay up for added recordsdata from the Convey Historic Preservation Division and the Oahu Island Burial Council. The discovery of an artifact of historical cost could presumably per chance well extend a $1.43 million pattern at the Oahu park, commonly is called Sherwood Woodland. The deliberate development of a multipurpose self-discipline, 11-stall parking zone and playground has sparked demonstrations and a lawsuit to block the enchancment. Experts determined the article is “basalt of a lava dike.” The burial council is scheduled to discuss the article at its Oct. 9 meeting.

News top stories daily news hot topics Idaho

Boise: Federal officers notion to spherical up almost the total wild horses in a south-central Idaho wild horse space so the inhabitants also will likely be brought down and maintained at about 50 horses. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management acknowledged Tuesday that it has authorized an environmental evaluation that capabilities the exercise of fertility administration on 25 female horses that can presumably per chance well also be launched aid into the wild. The agency estimates the inhabitants at the Saylor Creek Herd Management Space, about 15 miles south of Glenns Ferry, will be about 170 horses by summer season 2020. The agency says if the roundup occurs then, it expects to grab about 150 horses the exercise of a bait and water lure. Horses no longer returned to the wild would be ready for the agency’s adoption program. It’s no longer determined when the roundup could presumably per chance well happen.

News top stories daily news hot topics Illinois

Chicago: Town will utilize $2.7 million to assign certain that extra residents are incorporated within the 2020 census. It’s an effort Mayor Lori Lightfoot says is driven in natty section by an effort to fight fright created by the Trump administration’s immigration raids. At a news convention Tuesday, Lightfoot launched what she says is the superb quantity of funding Chicago has ever dedicated to the census. She says despite a U.S. Supreme Court resolution to block the Trump administration’s push as a way to add a citizenship question to the census originate, instruct linger amongst immigrants and refugees that it is no longer stable to come aid ahead to be counted. Lightfoot moreover says a suitable census is obligatory because for every particular person no longer counted, town stands to lose $1,400 per particular person per twelve months.

News top stories daily news hot topics Indiana

Indianapolis: The Indianapolis Zoo reached a deal final month with the proprietor of the weak GM stamping plant position to originate dozens of acres that will enable the zoo to assign better within the upcoming years. Ambrose Property Group donated 10 acres of land, and the Indianapolis Zoo sold one more 161/2 acres of situation from the weak GM plant position, according to a Wednesday news originate from the zoo. Later Wednesday, town despatched a letter to Ambrose threatening to exercise well-liked domain to make a decision ownership of the comfort of the enchancment position except Ambrose reaches a deal to promote to town. In a switch that insecure officers, Ambrose launched Friday that it plans to promote the position after better than a twelve months of preparations and an total bunch of thousands of bucks of infrastructure improvements made by town.

News top stories daily news hot topics Iowa

Des Moines: The drawl will terminate its 2019 fiscal twelve months with a surplus of better than $289 million in its identical outdated fund, but Republican political leaders had been cautious about discussing the put the money could presumably per chance moreover very effectively be spent. Gov. Kim Reynolds says it’s a reflection of a shiny economy, alongside with in a assertion Monday that the drawl ought to be “mindful of the industrial headwinds in our agricultural economy and be ready for no subject the future could presumably per chance well preserve.” Farmers are facing a advanced twelve months with alternate disruptions consequently of President Donald Trump’s tariffs and insurance policies that beget injury corn and soybean markets, presumably chopping into drawl earnings tax income. The fiscal twelve months resulted in June, however the drawl posted its final budget figures at the terminate of September.

News top stories daily news hot topics Kansas

Topeka: Gov. Laura Kelly is discounting Republican calls to rescind a policy requiring out-of-drawl on-line businesses to amass sales taxes on transactions in Kansas and remit the tax to the drawl. On Monday, Attorney Frequent Derek Schmidt issued a nonbinding notion that Kelly’s administration did no longer beget the suitable authority to impose the policy, which some consultants acknowledged is the nation’s most aggressive policy for accumulating drawl and native taxes on on-line sales. House and Senate GOP leaders then demanded Kelly descend the policy, which the Kansas Division of Earnings issued in August. The tax collections were scheduled to make a decision make Tuesday. The Topeka Capital-Journal reports Kelly says the policy reflects existing drawl law and would promote tax fairness.

News top stories daily news hot topics Kentucky

Frankfort: Gov. Matt Bevin wants college students to celebrate a holiday Oct. 3 – and he isn’t talking about Imply Girls Day. This Thursday, Bevin wants kids to lift the Holy Scripture to class and decide section in “Bring Your Bible to College Day,” an annual match that encourages college students of all ages to make a decision the non secular text into the school room. “I'd aid you, please, don’t appropriate lift your Bible to college, but be taught your Bible. Bring it, allotment it with others. Whenever you beget an additional Bible, lift it and allotment it with any individual who doesn’t beget one, who presumably has by no manner be taught this e book,” Bevin acknowledged Tuesday in a video posted on social media. “Bring Your Bible to College Day” is backed by Variety out the Family, a nationwide Christian group that has many times come beneath fireplace.

News top stories daily news hot topics Louisiana

Shreveport: A planning committee in Caddo Parish has suggested atmosphere aside up to $500,000 to switch a Confederate monument. Files outlets say the Prolonged Vary Planning/Special Projects Committee of the Caddo Parish Commission made the resolution at a gathering Monday. The corpulent commission is expected to vote on the proposal in early December. The monument stands out of doorways the Caddo Parish Courthouse in Shreveport. Parish attorney Donna Frazier wrote to the United Daughters of the Confederacy in unhurried August asserting the crew had 90 days to make a decision the monument. In a assertion and letter launched Monday, the UDC acknowledged Frazier hadn’t replied to a Sept. 5 letter from attorney Arthur Carmondy asserting the 90-day observe is invalid. Frazier suggested the Shreveport Times she replied to the letter Monday.

News top stories daily news hot topics Maine

Portland: The University of Maine Machine says it’s going to duvet the corpulent designate of tuition and charges for better than 1,200 people of the drawl’s graduating excessive college classes next twelve months. The device made the announcement Wednesday as section of its “Maine Values You” outreach program. Machine Chancellor Dannel Malloy says the provide is proof the drawl’s public universities “can proudly provide Maine college students unmatched affordability” and access to elevated education. Machine spokesman Daniel Demeritt says college students will be chosen according to better than one metric and could presumably per chance well first must conform to for financial aid. The drawl coated 1,142 college students this twelve months. Demeritt says the coverage of tuition will be on hand at UMaine campuses across the drawl.

News top stories daily news hot topics Maryland

Baltimore: Property records show conceal weak Mayor Catherine Pugh, who resigned in Can also, has sold her house for only half its assessed cost. The Baltimore Solar reports records show conceal she sold indubitably one of her two Ashburton homes for $75,000 to Boaz Replacement Strength and Technologies LLC in July. Property records listing the house’s assessed cost as $187,700. Pugh resigned in Can also beneath tension amid a flurry of investigations into whether she organized bulk sales of her self-published kids’s books to hide an total bunch of thousands of bucks in kickbacks. She’s quiet being investigated at the drawl and federal level. Pugh listed the house as her main address but lived at a diversified Ashburton house.

News top stories daily news hot topics Massachusetts

Boston: A federal address has cleared Harvard University of discriminating against Asian American applicants in a ruling that was seen as a essential victory for supporters of affirmative action. In a closely watched lawsuit, a crew known as Students for Gorgeous Admissions accused the Ivy League college of deliberately – and illegally – maintaining down the need of Asian Individuals authorized in account for to eradicate a certain racial steadiness on campus. U.S. District Reflect Allison D. Burroughs, nonetheless, dominated that Harvard’s admissions route of is “no longer best possible” but passes constitutional muster. She acknowledged there could be “no proof of any racial animus in anyway” and no proof that any admission resolution was “negatively stricken by Asian American identity.”

News top stories daily news hot topics Michigan

Detroit: Police are taking a judge into who demolished a house that a drawl lawmaker and her nonprofit crew were planning to rehab for a needy family. Detroit police Sgt. Nicole Kirkwood acknowledged Tuesday that the case is being investigated as malicious destruction of property. Mayor Mike Duggan’s put of enterprise acknowledged recordsdata shows the house on Minock in northwest Detroit was torn down on or around Sept. 20 but was no longer on a listing of properties slated for demolition and was no longer within the pipeline in preparation to be razed. Democratic Procure. Sherry Homosexual-Dagnogo has acknowledged the house was torn down without observe to her or her nonprofit crew, Coalition to Integrate Technology and Education. The property was purchased final twelve months for $1,000 from the Detroit Land Monetary institution Authority.

News top stories daily news hot topics Minnesota

Duluth: Some midwives are warning that the drawl’s unregulated midwifery practices pose a hazard to moms and babies as house births upward push. Minnesota Public Radio Files reports that the drawl in 2000 recorded two deliberate house births. In 2018, that number jumped to 721. Minnesota and Utah are the sole states that don’t require midwives to assign a license to lift babies. Licensed house birth midwives must assign their Certified Real Midwife credential from the drawl Board of Clinical Prepare. Tavniah Betts, an authorized midwife, says being licensed advantages families and midwives by providing access to submitting complaints. Tracey Lapointe, an unlicensed midwife and the president of the Minnesota Midwifery Guild, says requiring licensing would diminish the availability of midwives while question is rising.

News top stories daily news hot topics Mississippi

Jackson: The U.S. Justice Division says a sheriff fired an employee because he needed to be gone on protection force duty for prolonged classes. Coahoma County Sheriff Charles Jones says the employee was fired for “insubordination,” no longer for taking protection force plod away. The division filed a civil lawsuit Monday against Coahoma County. It says Jason M. Sims Jr. of Batesville is within the Navy Reserve and teaches management classes at Citadel Knox, Kentucky. The suit says Sims began working for the sheriff’s division in 2014 and suggested his bosses he would decide to make a decision protection force plod away. It says the sheriff’s put of enterprise “demonstrated hostility” to that in 2016, then fired him in 2018. Jones says he’s “100% confident” the firing was unrelated to Sims’ protection force provider.

News top stories daily news hot topics Missouri

St. Louis: An inmate was finished Tuesday for killing a man in 1996 in a string of violence that incorporated a total lot of diversified crimes, despite issues that the prisoner’s rare clinical situation would place off a unpleasant deadly injection. Russell Bucklew was put to death at the drawl detention center in Bonne Terre. It was Missouri’s first execution since January 2017. Bucklew had twice previously been interior hours of execution, most effective to beget the U.S. Supreme Court grant final-minute reprieves over issues that he could presumably per chance well undergo all the way in which thru the execution route of. He had a situation known as cavernous hemangioma and had blood-stuffed tumors in his head, neck and throat. He breathed with reduction from a tracheostomy tube. His attorneys acknowledged a throat tumor could presumably per chance well burst, causing him to choke and die painfully and in violation of the constitutional guarantee against cruel and irregular punishment.

News top stories daily news hot topics Montana

Helena: A address is desirous relating to the U.S. government’s question to throw out a lawsuit by two girls folk who inform they were illegally questioned by border agents for 40 minutes for talking Spanish in a comfort retailer. U.S. District Reflect Brian Morris was scheduled to hear motions to push aside the lawsuit filed by Ana Suda and Martha “Mimi” Hernandez on Wednesday. They are saying U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agent Paul O’Neill detained them in a parking zone in Havre final twelve months in violation of constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizures. They are asking Morris to block the agency from detaining anybody according to flee, accent or language alone and to award them an unspecified quantity for damages. Attorneys for the agency inform that it has sovereign immunity against injury claims and that the girls folk are unlikely to be stopped all another time.

News top stories daily news hot topics Nebraska

Bellevue: An Air Power colonel says he and diversified officers are paying close attention to resident complaints about residing conditions and repairs at off-atrocious, privatized housing for personnel at Offutt Air Power Grisly appropriate south of Omaha. Col. Gavin Marks, commander of the 55th Hover at Offutt, suggested residents Tuesday at a city hall meeting at a Bellevue college that he’s organize a original hotline to address complaints. The Omaha World-Herald reports native complaints about mold, shoddy development, boring repairs and avenue problems at the Rising Search neighborhood west of the atrocious echo these from diversified bases. At Offutt, inspectors learned 96 homes with what inspectors described as “effectively being and safety” violations, comparable to mold or lead paint. The leasing manager says the total violations had been rectified.

News top stories daily news hot topics Nevada

Carson Metropolis: Convey policymakers beget launched plans to procure possible legislation that can presumably per chance conform to California in allowing drawl college athletes to assign money from endorsement offers. The Las Vegas Overview-Journal reports the Legislature does no longer meet all another time until February 2021, and Democratic drawl Sen. Yvanna Cancela says a formal proposal has no longer yet been created and is quiet within the analysis route of as she seems for “a proposal that fits Nevada.” Cancela says the California invoice is forcing diversified states to resolve out guidelines on how to compete with its recruitment practices. The Mountain West Conference didn’t reply to requests for commentary. A NCAA assertion says authorized guidelines from diversified states would no longer level the playing self-discipline.

News top stories daily news hot topics Current Hampshire

Harmony: Gov. Chris Sununu has made one more take for the drawl’s poet laureate, about a months after he deserted his final desire following rising criticism of the man’s work and the way in which he was chosen. Sununu deliberate to nominate Alexandria Peary, of Londonderry, to be the next poet laureate, at Wednesday’s Govt Council meeting. She’s written six books, alongside with “Adjust Bird Alt Delete.” Her most standard e book, “The Water Draft,” is to be published this month. Even though he by no manner formally nominated him, Sununu firstly chose Daniel Thomas Moran, a retired dentist and weak poet laureate of Suffolk County, Current York, whom some acknowledged wasn’t qualified. The surfacing of a sexually suggestive poem Moran wrote about weak Secretary of Convey Condoleezza Rice most effective intensified the criticism.

News top stories daily news hot topics Current Jersey

Trenton: A federal address has agreed to block the drawl’s most standard political donor disclosure law according to a lawsuit brought by a judge tank founded by the Koch brothers. U.S. District Reflect Brian Martinotti granted the injunction Wednesday. Individuals for Prosperity challenged the original law, which required political organizations and some nonprofits to advise all spending over $3,000, up from $1,600. The law moreover mandated that contributors giving better than $10,000 would be disclosed. The crew acknowledged the law was unconstitutional on its face and could presumably per chance well extinguish organizations. The drawl argued the invoice was aimed at showing who was “pulling the strings” in politics. A spokesman for Attorney Frequent Gurbir Grewal acknowledged the drawl is reviewing the resolution.

News top stories daily news hot topics Current Mexico

Albuquerque: A tiny lizard learned amongst the dunes straddling Current Mexico and West Texas in indubitably one of the crucial nation’s richest oil basins is at the heart of a appropriate complaint filed Tuesday. Environmentalists want the U.S. government as a way to add the dunes sagebrush lizard to the endangered species listing as section of a fight that stretches aid to the Bush and Obama administrations and could presumably per chance well have an effect on section of the multibillion-buck energy alternate within the Permian Basin. The Center for Natural Variety and Defenders of Wildlife filed the complaint in federal court docket in Washington. It follows a itemizing petition that the groups submitted in Can also 2018. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Carrier had 90 days to judge the petition and provoke a review of the species if vital, however the groups inform the agency failed to make a decision action.

News top stories daily news hot topics Current York

Woodstock: The Woodstock Film Competition this twelve months will feature an look by actor Matt Dillon. The 20-twelve months-outdated annual competition runs Wednesday thru Sunday within the Hudson Valley cities of Woodstock, Rhinebeck, Kingston, Saugerties and Rosendale. This twelve months the match will showcase better than 50 capabilities from across the realm, immediate motion photographs, panels and are residing performances. Films being proven this week encompass Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Memoir” and “Portrait of a Girl on Hearth,” which acquired superb screenplay at the Cannes Film Competition. Dillon is to make a decision section in a matter-and-resolution session Saturday.

News top stories daily news hot topics North Carolina

Mount Holly: A truck meeting firm has launched this can lay off 900 workers between two Freightliner vegetation within the drawl within the upcoming weeks. Daimler Trucks North America, the parent firm of Freightliner, confirmed Tuesday that about 450 workers would lose their jobs at the manufacturing plant in Mount Holly, and one more 450 would be laid off at Rowan County’s Cleveland plant by Oct. 14. Daimler acknowledged in a assertion the layoffs come because the truck market returns to identical outdated phases after a twelve months of legend sales. Mount Holly employee Robin Jenkins suggested the Gaston Gazette some workers are scared because they don’t judge they’ll be receiving severance, though diversified workers acknowledged they’re used to the “cyclical nature” of truck constructing.

News top stories daily news hot topics North Dakota

Bismarck: The proposed presidential library for Theodore Roosevelt in western North Dakota now has a CEO. The board of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum voted Tuesday to appoint Edward F. O’Keefe to manual the group. Gov. Doug Burgum calls O’Keefe “the acceptable particular person” to make a decision the proposed library “to the next level.” O’Keefe is a North Dakota native who's writing a e book on Roosevelt, who spent better than three years within the drawl within the 1880s. Burgum has made the library a top precedence of his administration. Convey legislators in April authorized $50 million to operate the library, but that ought to be matched by $100 million in personal money. O’Keefe will join Burgum and Interior Secretary David Bernhardt alongside side Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer on a tour of Medora on Thursday.

News top stories daily news hot topics Ohio

Nelsonville: The federal government says it acquired no bids all the way in which thru a aggressive rent sale for coal beneath about 430 acres of Wayne Nationwide Woodland. The Bureau of Land Management-Jap States launched the implications of ultimate week’s offering on Tuesday. Leases enthusiastic seven tracts in Perry and Morgan counties that have an estimated 1.4 million a kind of subsurface mineable federal coal. The sale came according to a rent application by CCU Coal and Construction, previously Westmoreland Coal Co., which already operates an adjoining privately owned underground coal mine. However the bureau acknowledged no one advise on the leases. Officials acknowledged the public will be notified if an additional question is ever made to give aggressive leases for the tracts.

News top stories daily news hot topics Oklahoma

Oklahoma Metropolis: A address made a $107 million miscalculation when he ordered user merchandise big Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million to reduction perfect up the drawl’s opioid crisis, attorneys for the firm argue in a court docket submitting. The firm moreover is asking for a superb buy within the judgment according to pretrial settlements totaling $355 million that the drawl reached with Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma and Israeli-owned Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. The firm has separately appealed the court docket’s ruling to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, arguing that Cleveland County District Reflect Thad Balkman’s ruling was an unparalleled interpretation of the drawl’s public nuisance law. A spokesman for Attorney Frequent Mike Hunter declined to commentary on the submitting.

News top stories daily news hot topics Oregon

Salem: Authorities suspect the extraordinary deaths and mutilations of 5 bulls were precipitated by humans, but they have not any leads. The deaths of the bulls buy mutilations of livestock across the West and Midwest within the 1970s that struck fright in rural areas. A weak FBI agent who headed an investigation acknowledged there was no indication that one thing diversified than traditional animal predators were boring the mutilations. Within the weeks for the reason that needless bulls were learned over a total lot of days in July, the Harney County Sheriff’s Situation of enterprise has acquired calls and emails with hypothesis about what, or who, could presumably per chance moreover very effectively be responsible. Colby Marshall, vp of the ranch that owned the bulls, says he suspects a cult is boring the killings. Ranch fingers had been suggested to gallop in pairs and to switch armed.

News top stories daily news hot topics Pennsylvania

Pottsville: Quickly on tap: a original brew featuring Yuengling’s almost 200-twelve months-outdated porter recipe and Hershey’s chocolate. The two Pennsylvania companies are teaming up on a restricted-edition beer known as Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter. The chocolate-infused brew will be on hand on tap starting in mid-October at bars, restaurants and diversified venues in 13 states. It’s the foremost collaboration for Pottsville-based Yuengling, America’s oldest working brewery. The firm says the beer can beget “effectively off chocolate notes” and recommends pairing it with barbecued and smoked meats, cheeses and cakes. The brew was in pattern for nearly a twelve months. Yuengling expects it to final until February.

News top stories daily news hot topics Rhode Island

North Windfall: Town has constructed a public safety complex the exercise of its allotment from a settlement with Google. The Windfall Journal reports the $27 million, 58,000-sq.-foot constructing now houses the North Windfall police and fireplace departments. Rhode Island’s allotment of the 2012 settlement, about $230 million, is being dispensed to police departments, the attorney identical outdated’s put of enterprise and the Nationwide Guard. An investigation uncovered Google’s feature within the on-line sale of non-FDA-authorized prescription treatment. The complex recommendations a court docket, offices, dispatch center, training space, bunk rooms, crime laboratory, emergency operations center and cell block.

News top stories daily news hot topics South Carolina

Columbia: A weak member of the board that oversees drawl highways will utilize seven months in detention center for attempting to rent a prostitute appropriate hours after he acquired probation for admitting he tried to derail an FBI investigation by destroying proof. John Hardee, 72, was sentenced Wednesday after a psychiatrist hired by his attorney suggested a peaceful originate of dementia could presumably per chance well beget led him to text what became out to be an undercover deputy offering $40 for a intercourse act. Hardee moreover asked for mercy, asserting he has been with hideous criminals and heard sinful language used all the way in which thru his time in jail since his August arrest, according to media outlets. As he handed down the sentence, U.S. Reflect Terry Wooten suggested Hardee he hoped the weak legit learned his lesson this time and identified even with the dementia diagnosis, the psychiatrist quiet testified Hardee knew appropriate from injurious.

News top stories daily news hot topics South Dakota

Sioux Falls: A crew of truckers plans a “boring roll” express within the drawl Thursday. Organizer Jeremy Johnson says the demonstration of a line of semi-vans using at diminished plod will loop around Sioux Falls and proceed on to Pierre. He says the crew can beget a “boring roll” on Interstates 29, 229 and 90. The express is a native response to a trucker demonstration deliberate in Washington, D.C., to express federal legislation alongside with proposals to limit truck plod, assign better the minimal personal liability that truckers must lift, and mandate safety gear to preserve vehicles from sliding beneath vans. The line of vans will force about 50 mph interior Sioux Falls city limits and force about 60 mph out of doorways city limits.

News top stories daily news hot topics Tennessee

Nashville: The Tennessee Division of Agriculture says a disease that kills sassafras bushes has been detected in Dickson and Bernard Law 1st viscount montgomery of alamein counties. The division is advising residents to be searching for signs of laurel wilt disease. They encompass browning of leaves, leaf loss and staining within the internal bark. Folks who suspect their bushes could presumably per chance moreover very effectively be diseased must quiet contact the drawl Division of Forestry. Laurel wilt is a fungal disease transmitted by the wood-unimaginative redbay ambrosia beetle. It'll have an effect on a range of vegetation, alongside with sassafras and spicebush. Convey Forester David Arnold says in a news originate that sassafras and spicebush are crucial ecological species in Tennessee. He says the disease is “one more unpleasant example of an invasive pest impacting our forests.”

News top stories daily news hot topics Texas

Dallas: The U.S. government has awarded three contracts rate better than $812.6 million for development of about 65 miles of original border wall alongside the lower Rio Grande in South Texas. In a assertion issued Monday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Navy Corps of Engineers acknowledged the contracts were awarded Sunday to two contractors. The wall projects are to encompass metallic bollard partitions of 18 to 30 toes in peak, all-climate roads, lighting fixtures, safety cameras and diversified abilities in 19 separate segments in Starr, Hidalgo and Cameron counties. The assertion acknowledged the partitions will plod up, starting early next twelve months, the put none now exist but no longer in areas prohibited beneath the CBP’s 2019 appropriation. The sphere is the CBP’s busiest, accounting for about 40% of its immigrant apprehensions.

News top stories daily news hot topics Utah

Provo: Gov. Gary Herbert has rescinded an emergency drought account for nearly a twelve months after it went into make. The Day-to-day Herald reports that chronic rain and snowstorm this twelve months beget gradually put an terminate to statewide severe drought conditions. Nearly 99% of Utah was experiencing no longer lower than moderate drought final twelve months when the governor declared a drawl of emergency in October 2018. Herbert acknowledged it was affecting agribusiness, livestock production and flowers and fauna habitats. However with a change within the climate this twelve months, no space of the drawl has severe drought conditions, and the U.S. Drought Video show shows parts facing moderate drought beget dropped to 15%. Grand of that space is within the southern section of the drawl, which has had a barely aloof monsoon season.

News top stories daily news hot topics Vermont

Barre: The drawl Company of Transportation has launched a original instrument that will reduction bus riders song the position of buses and their arrival times as effectively as search bus routes and prevents. The agency launched Tuesday that the Transit app, which is able to be downloaded to cellphones without cost, shows the actual-time bus region on any transit route working in Vermont. Barbara Donovan, the agency’s public transit program manager, says that “our riders deserve this predictability and exact-time recordsdata.” The agency says the app moreover has capabilities for commute planning, navigation, notifications for bus provider disruptions, and departure and extinguish reminders.

News top stories daily news hot topics Virginia

West Level: A excessive college trainer who was fired for refusing to exercise a transgender student’s original pronouns has filed a lawsuit. The Washington Submit reports Peter Vlaming is suing West Level Public Colleges, out of doorways Richmond. Vlaming says his rights to discuss freely and exercise his religion were violated. The suit states that Vlaming “sincerely believes that relating to a female as a male by the exercise of an objectively male pronoun is telling a lie.” The French trainer was fired in December . He had suggested superiors at West Level High College that his religion kept away from him from the exercise of male pronouns for a student who had suggested the faculty of his transition all the way in which thru the summer season.

News top stories daily news hot topics Washington

Mount Vernon: Convey land officers beget authorized a land switch to reduction conservation groups give protection to recreation areas on Blanchard Mountain. The Skagit-Valley Herald reports that the drawl Board of Natural Sources granted the approval Tuesday for the 2.5-sq.-mile space is called the Blanchard Core, which comprises in style trails, campgrounds and lakes. Land officers inform the switch would be paid for with $10 million allocated by the Legislature in 2018 to develop to be a drawl pure space. The switch would be completed by striking sections of the Blanchard Core into the Frequent College Trust program, then paying this technique the $9.2 million cost of timber on that land. Officials inform the $626,000 cost of the land would be used to eradicate original forest lands every other put within the drawl.

News top stories daily news hot topics West Virginia

Morgantown: The U.S. Division of Strength has awarded $5 million to the Water Analysis Institute at West Virginia University for its rare earth restoration mission. The mission comprises constructing a facility at a original acid mine drainage treatment plant reach Mount Storm. Uncommon earth parts come from acid mine drainage sludge and are used to energy things comparable to smartphones and the U.S. missile steerage device. The institute will partner with the West Virginia Division of Environmental Protection’s Situation of enterprise of Special Reclamation, Rockwell Automation and TenCate Corp. within the mission. About 15,000 a kind of rare earth parts are used once a year within the U.S., which imports almost all of them. A bench scale pilot plant was opened in 2018 on WVU’s campus to examine the feasibility of extraction and refining abilities.

News top stories daily news hot topics Wisconsin

Madison: A particular person convicted of rape and homicide when he was a teen whose memoir was documented within the 2015 Netflix series “Making a Assassin” asked the governor for a pardon or commutation of his lifestyles detention center sentence Wednesday. The question from Brendan Dassey came as his advocates launched yet one more strive to free him, this time out of doorways the court docket device. His most standard charm was no longer conception about by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dassey’s potentialities of getting a pardon from Gov. Tony Evers seem far off. “I am writing to ask for a pardon because I am innocent and want to switch house,” Dassey acknowledged in a handwritten show conceal to Evers that accompanied his application. Dassey moreover listed things he enjoys, alongside with Pokemon and hamburgers, and drew a pair of hearts with the observe “hugs” in one and “treasure” within the diversified.

News top stories daily news hot topics Wyoming

Jackson: Convey flowers and fauna officers beget launched a detailed notion for review to scale aid elk and bison feeding days by 50%. Jackson Gap Files & Book reports the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Carrier officially launched the draft “step-down” notion Monday. Wildlife officers inform the notion was supposed to lower elk numbers and assign the animals extra reliant on native vegetation, alongside with recommendations to wean the animals off alfalfa. Officials inform the notion tiny print feeding the elk later and ending the alfalfa handouts earlier to plan fewer elk to feedgrounds on the Nationwide Elk Refuge north of Jackson. Officials inform the notion isn't any longer open to being altered thru the most standard public review route of, but an accompanying environmental review is. Decrease-off date for feedback are consequently of the refuge by Oct. 30.

From USA TODAY Community and wire reports

Read or Share this memoir: https://www.usatoday.com/memoir/news/50-states/2019/10/03/hershey-beer-sassafras-illness-demolition-thriller-news-around-states/40237133/

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zillowcondo · 7 years

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The Best Bournemouth Attractions That You Shouldn’t Miss

Bournemouth is one of the most popular English seaside towns, with 7 miles of sandy beach, a thriving city centre and vibrant nightlife. There are many Bournemouth attractions for all ages, like the Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum, the Oceanarium and Hengistbury Head. In the 1800s, Bournemouth became popular with those people suffering from health problems thanks to the fresh sea air. It became a favoured destination of affluent holidaymakers, and the arrival of the railway in 1870 further contributed to its ascent. In the 1900s, famous authors Enid Blyton and JRR Tolkein were residents.

Things To Do In Bournemouth

Bournemouth beach is rightly famous for its golden sand, and it’s also the home of Britain’s oldest beach hut, built in 1909. Visitors can walk, cycle or run for miles in either direction, or simply take in the sea views from the comfort of their beach towel.

Bournemouth Pier dates from Victorian times but has been completely renovated and houses an amusement arcade, climbing walls and the world’s first pier to shore zipline. If you’re wondering what to do in Bournemouth with kids, then this is a good place to start. Oceanarium, aka Bournemouth Aquarium is close by and a good option for a rainy day. Adults and kids alike will enjoy Bournemouth Land Train, taking you between Alum Chine, Bournemouth Pier and Boscombe Pier. From Boscombe Pier, you can walk to the scenic headland at Hengistbury Head.

Bournemouth has some award-winning gardens, totalling over 842 hectares. Upper, Central and Lower Gardens have been Green Flag winners since 1999. It’s a lovely 3 kilometer walk from Bournemouth Pier up to the outskirts of Poole. The Lower Gardens boast a popular mini golf, an aviary, bandstand and Street Food Corner.

The Upper Gardens are something of a hidden gem – we’d been visiting Bournemouth for many years before discovering them! Follow the path from the Lower Gardens and you’ll come across ornamental red bridges, a tower folly and finally, a Coy carp pond. Another garden that you should not miss in the Bournemouth area is Compton Acres, one of the most beautiful private gardens in the UK.

One of our favourite things to do in Bournemouth is to visit The Russell Cotes Art Gallery & Museum. It’s a fascinating place that was a birthday gift from Sir Merton Russell-Cotes to his wife Annie. Built in the Art-Nouveau style, it was completed in 1901. The couple were passionate about art and amassed an impressive collection on their travels. They donated their home and the collection to the town of Bournemouth in 1907, continuing to live there for the rest of their lives. There are over 1,000 objects including some beautiful Pre-Raphaelite paintings, such as Venus Verticordia by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The views from the house and gardens towards the sea are stunning.

Bournemouth Shopping

Bournemouth city centre is known for its shopping and people come from miles around for some retail therapy. Beales is the oldest Bournemouth department store, and there are a good number of independent boutiques here and in nearby Westbourne. The Arcade is a Victorian covered gallery that’s good for gift shopping in Bournemouth. It has stores such as Cath Kidston, Waterstones and several jewellers. Castlepoint Shopping Centre has many well-known stores such as B&Q, Marks & Spencer and Topshop.

Places to Eat in Bournemouth

Ventana Grand Cafe is a stylish 2 rosette restaurant on East Overcliff. Located inside The Cumberland Hotel, it has an Art Deco vibe and very friendly service. They serve delicious food that is beautifully presented and there’s a great wine list, as well as locally made Giggi gelato.

For a great cup of coffee in the town centre, head to South Coast Roast. As the name suggests, they roast their own coffee beans and also host regular supperclubs.

Ice cream fans will enjoy the artisanal flavours at Giggi Gelateria, as well as at Lollipop Gelato Lab. A few doors down from Lollipop, you’ll find the quirky Flirt Cafe Bar which scooped The Family Eating Experience Award at the 2017 Bournemouth Tourism Awards. Enjoy a “sexy OMG hot choc” whilst sitting on an airline seat.

West Beach is a great place to relax and enjoy Bournemouth seafront while tucking into a great plate of seafood. Fish and chips is a British seaside classic and Chez Fred in Westbourne is a family run business established by Fred and his Dad Pete in 1989. It’s a smartly decorated restaurant that prides itself on the finest sustainable fish and tasty chips overseen by Big Steve, the Chief of Spud Operations – yes really!

When to Visit Bournemouth

Any time of the year is enjoyable, just bear in mind that the beach does get busy on Bank Holidays. Bournemouth Air Festival is the UK’s largest air festival and hugely popular. This year it takes place between 31 August and 3 September, and it’s advisable to book accommodation well in advance.

Weather in Bournemouth

The weather in Bournemouth is generally pretty good. Dorset is one of the 3 sunniest counties in the UK and Bournemouth is blessed with an average 7.7 hours of sunshine in Summertime. Still, it’s advisable to bring an umbrella with you outside of the Summer months, as you would for the rest of the UK.

What to Wear in Bournemouth

For walking along the beach, espadrilles or wedge shoes will come in handy and nautical accessories will add flair. Those sea breezes can get chilly at times so a lightweight bomber jacket will help keep you warm. Bournemouth is a great place to do watersports, so neoprene swimwear will also come in handy.

Getting to Bournemouth

Bournemouth Airport flies to a number of overseas destinations including Geneva, Ibiza, Krakow and Turin. One of the most relaxing ways to visit Bournemouth is by train, with South West Trains reaching London in under 2 hours. If travelling by car, take the A35 from the Suoth or West and the A338 from the North or East.

Where to Stay in Bournemouth

The Cumberland Hotel is one of the best hotels in Bournemouth, thanks to its spectacular views over the coast. The iconic Art Deco building has been carefully updated to retain many original features . The heated outdoor pool is a lovely place to relax and enjoy a cocktail. Its neighbouring sister hotels have more facilities for guest to enjoy, such as an indoor pool, games room, squash courts and award-winning spa. The food here is second to none, with Ventana Grand Café holding 2 rosettes and Mirabelle Restaurant doing some great set menus. If you can tear yourself away from that pool, it’s just a few minutes walk to Bournemouth seaside and the beach.

We hope that we’ve inspired you to visit Bournemouth and try out some of these experiences for yourself. Which would be your favourite Bournemouth attractions? We’re keen to try the zipwire next!

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angelicyoung-19 · 8 years

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Prompt A: How has our conception of “the city” changed throughout history?

There is so much about the modern city that has changed. When we look at how our cities have changed in the last 50 years, we cannot escape the conclusion that our physical surroundings must have had a part to play in this decline. Post-war buildings and planning are the product of the failed modernist ideal that transformed most aspects of twentieth-century life, from politics to painting, and that gave rise to our urban social ills and to urban ugliness. In architecture, modernism—the cult of abstract rationality and change for its own sake—has given us sterility and inhumanity instead of its promised progress and liberation. Utopian ambitions and professional arrogance have left our cities with decay and dereliction, the perfect breeding ground for the alienation and brutality that have undermined community life.

Some of us look to the cities we admire from the past for a solution. In traditional cities like Siena in Italy or Bath in England we can see something that is not only beautiful but alive and humane, the very qualities that modernism seems to have destroyed. One can't help feeling we could make our cities more life-enhancing if we were to build them like these traditional cities. Out of this impulse, a revival of traditional architecture and city planning has grown up; it is flourishing from Portland, Oregon, to Paternoster Square in London, from Brussels in Belgium to Seaside, Florida.

We call the places that have inspired this movement traditional, but, other than the simple fact of being old, how do we define a traditional city? I must confess that I do not know.

But the question is do any of us know really know? We talk about tradition and cities as if we all knew what these things were, and we make comparisons with the past on the assumption that we really can do something similar today. But what hope do we have if we are not even talking the same language?

The word "city" is derived from the Latin for citizen and originally meant a community of citizens. It does not mean that now. Any comparison we make with classical antiquity must also acknowledge huge differences in size. The average population of a pre-Hellenic Greek city would be a little over 5,000. A large provincial Roman city would have a population of 10,000 to 20,000. Not much changed in terms of size until the Industrial Revolution. Most medieval cities had fewer than 10,000 inhabitants. Even major Italian Renaissance cities rarely exceeded 50.000. Today, London counts 8 million inhabitants, Chicago contains nearly 3 million people, Paris 2.5 million, and even a small Italian city such as Perugia has a population of 120,000.

These differences in size make for very different dynamics of city life. So, too, do differences in social and political organization. Democracy in Greek city-states or Italian communes was unlike modern democracy and was a fragile flower easily and often crushed. Throughout the history of the city, it was much more common to be subject to oligarchic or tyrannical rule.

Equally crucial to an understanding of the city is its economic base. Very early cities were fortified villages where people engaged in agriculture outside the walls. This did not last for long. Since antiquity, the city has been a consumer of goods produced in the countryside. It supported itself on trade or conquest. A city was a place where wealth free from the pressures of sufficiency could be enjoyed. Outside the city there was brute existence, the wilderness, the struggle for survival and danger; inside the city there was order, safety, wealth, and the leisure to pursue the finer things of life. This urban ideal may have been the lot only of some citizens, but it embodies the essential ideas that made the city a civilized place.

This ideal of civilization, however, is at odds with the modern concept of the city. The modern city is the wilderness, the urban jungle. The inner city is a dangerous place where brute existence is dominated by the struggle for survival. Anyone with sufficient wealth leaves the public city for a private place where there is safety, order, and the enjoyment of leisure.

In so many ways, the modern city is not the city of the pre-industrial past. The population, the social structure, the political organization, the economy, access to and from the city, and even the concept of the city is quite different. Above all, the citizen is a radically different creature. Modern aspirations and the understanding of citizenship have little similarity with any period in the past.

If all this does not define what a traditional city is, it certainly defines what a modern city is not. It is not an ancient Greek, medieval, or Renaissance city. We may wish to make it more like one of these, like part of one of these, or an amalgam of these types of cities, but to do that we must understand who will live in it and how they will live.

What has happened to all these people who no longer live in our city centers? They live in the suburbs.

As with the word "city," we have to be careful with the word "suburb," which originally referred to the place "suburbs"—below, under the power of, or just outside the city. As the population of cities has exploded in the last two centuries, and ever more people have spilled out into suburbs, "suburb" has come to mean a quite separate environment with its own way of life.

In fact, it can mean different things in different countries. In southern Europe, where denser patterns of living are acceptable, suburbs tend to be recently built, unregulated areas, no less dense than city centers. Often it is the suburb that is undesirable and dangerous and the city center that is desirable.

In northern Europe—and particularly in Britain—and in the United States, Canada, and other countries sharing an Anglo-Saxon inheritance, suburbs are quite specifically low-density areas of individual dwellings, each with its own lot. They cover large areas and sometimes, but not always, are a dormitory area for a city. In the Anglo-Saxon and

American world, unlike parts of southern Europe, it is the suburb that is usually desirable and safe and the city center that is undesirable and unsafe.

In southern Europe, suburbs often have arisen solely through population pressure. In the Anglo-Saxon world, they developed with the spread of railway travel and then of the motorcar, and were enthusiastically adopted.

The Anglo-Saxon suburb grew out of a very clear set of ideals. It began in England, where the social pattern of urban life is unlike that of most other European countries. The ruling aristocracy never really took to city living, and as a consequence English culture to this day is defined more by the country than by the town. The idea that to have your own house in the country is the best of all worlds is the Anglo-Saxon suburb's founding principle. Improved transport, the uncontrolled migration of rural workers into city slums in the Industrial Revolution (which affected Britain long before anywhere else), and the rapid increases in population and wealth that went with it, drew more and more people into the Industrial Age's version of the countryside—the suburb.

In the United States, the founding fathers (Hamilton excepted) inherited the English view of the countryside. When this ideal was added to the New World enthusiasm for the wilderness, the tradition of pioneering isolation, and the cult of the individual—and as the population grew unfettered by loyalty to historic towns-living in a suburban way seemed irresistible. In Britain and the United States, whole towns—Muncie, Indiana, for example, or Letchworth in Herefordshire—now conform to the suburbian model.

In one sense, both the Anglo-Saxon and the American suburbs have been a great success. Each household has its own lot where the individual or family can reign supreme, untroubled by the antisocial acts of others. The suburb answers one of the great social imperatives of the last two centuries—the increasing demand for privacy.

This demand for privacy can be traced through individual house design, mass housing design, and law. It extends from the detached house to the individual child's bedroom and to the proliferation of bathrooms. It has been enhanced by the private motor vehicle, the telephone, the television, and now the personal computer. In Britain it is being extended into laws on domestic noise and garden fires, and in California (always ahead) to smoking and even personal fragrance.

If we are to build cities today in the United States or in Britain, and if it is to be more than a minority exercise, we will have to design for the citizen who is now suburban or at least yearns for suburban amenities—for the citizen who will demand a level of privacy and will possess the technological means of isolation unknown to any citizen in history. We can no longer build on the classical ideal of the subordination of the citizen to the community. Suburban values are middle-class values, where the family and the individual take priority.

So building traditional cities, traditional modern cities, we have an interesting dilemma. We would not do this unless we thought it was a good thing. We must think that the city can be a desirable place, and yet the popular Anglo-Saxon and American concept of the city contains much that is undesirable. We can only think that the city is desirable because we have an ideal that differs from 112 the way that modern cities have developed. If the ideal is traditional and so necessarily historical, we know that in many respects it will not fit with present realities.

If it is our desire to reconcile the ideal of the traditional or historical city with the realities of modern life, we must realize that we will not be re-creating the past but creating something new. In doing so, we must first look beyond any superficial resemblance to the essential and desirable characteristics of the historical city that are missing from the modern city and then seek a mechanism for their introduction into a modern context.

Source: The Social Order, Tradition and The Modern City. Robert Adam 1995

Furthermore Many cities grew in a process called urbanization which is the process of making an area more urban. Many people have left the life they had of poverty and economic vagary in the countryside and moved to “the city” for the promises of jobs and more opportunities. However, the cities were not prepared for the sudden arrivals of many new people which means that were overcrowding housing in addition to primitive sanitation, which cause the city to be the sites of major public health epidemics. the 1793 yellow fever outbreak killed 5,000 people in Philadelphia. In 1849, St. Louis lost 1/10 of its population to cholera. Four years later, yellow fever killed 11,000 in New Orleans.

One concept that Americans had 50 to 60 years ago about the city does still somewhat stand to this day and that’s the city is still better in many way. Most people tend to move out to the city such as New York City in search of better jobs, more opportunities, more freedom etc, especially if they tend to come from a small town.

1/17/2017

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inkni · 8 years

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The Most Anticipated of 2017

Okay, so, revelation: there’s a lot of entertainment to take in this year. The INK crew and I chose to review the entertainment we’re most anticipating and/or dreading this year (but you won’t see much of the latter from me). Lucky for you, my thoughts on this topic span more than one post. Because I’m indecisive me, I simplified my list of entertainment mediums under consideration to a whopping 4 categories: film, TV, music, and video games. Without further ado, here’s what I have my antennae up for this year.

MOST ANTICIPATED…

IN FILM

Marvel Event (November 3): While Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and Spider-Man: Homecoming are taking up most of the limelight on publications’ “most anticipated” lists, my attention is on Thor: Ragnarok. With the most vibrant chemistry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), especially considering what a left turn Captain America and Iron Man’s relationship took, Thor and Loki and their stellar Asgard are enough to pique my interest. Add to that mix Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, Mark Ruffalo, Idris Elba, Jeff Goldblum, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tessa Thompson, and you have the most acclaimed cast for a Marvel film. Director Taika Waititi had one of 2016′s funniest and most honest comedies with Hunt for the Wilderpeople, so I expect he’ll bring a wonderfully fresh brand of quirky comedy to Marvel’s trademark jocularity. Thor is the most underrated series in the MCU, which won’t change this year under the shadow of Guardians and Spider-Man. And I’m ready for this to be Marvel’s “hidden gem.”

Filmic Adaptation (TBA): Jeanette Walls’ 2005 memoir, The Glass Castle, is such an intelligent and unflinching look at a dysfunctional family and survival amidst constant change, I fear some of its emotional nuance will be lost on the big screen. However, Walls’s story is in good hands with director Destin Cretton, whose Short Term 12 so effectively explored the uncertainty and fragility of human relationships in seemingly powerless situations. In a moment of true godsend, Cretton’s lead for that film, Oscar’s current best actress Brie Larson, takes on the role of Walls. She’s joined by a strong supporting cast of Naomi Watts, Woody Harrelson, and Max Greenfield. If it hits all the right notes, I expect we’ll be seeing much more of The Glass Castle come 2017′s awards season.

Movie With Toys (February 10): The most famous caped crusader + Lego + Mariah Carey = Need I say more?

Genre Mashup (July 28): Stephen King’s magnum opus of a series—or so many would call it—gets the theatrical treatment. In The Dark Tower, a 10-year-old boy, Jake, falls into a cutthroat, fantastical world where Idris Elba (Roland Deschain) is a knight fighting off monsters and sorcerers, the baddest of which is played by Matthew McConaughey (in what’s sure to be maniacally ruthless fashion). For Jake and Deschain, It’s not just a fight to rule the kingdom of Mid-World. They’re up against time too. Jake must make it to the Dark Tower of End-World to save Deschain’s Mid-World. Multiple dimensions, monsters, sorcerers, knights, and King’s trademark touch of horror make for 2017′s most intriguing mashup.

Most Dreading: More of Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor in Justice League. No interpretation of a character—especially one as classic as Lex—was as grating, infuriating, and just plain annoying as Eisenberg was in Batman v Superman. It was the sourest point in a film that got a way worse wrap than it deserved. Here’s to hoping they keep his screen time to a minimum (but we know they won’t). Watch (again) if you dare.

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IN TV

Supernatural Entry (FX, February 8): Noah Hawley, showrunner of FX’s acclaimed Fargo series, decided it’s high time for X-Men to hit the small screen with a live-action format. The series follows Professor X’s son, Legion, as he discovers he’s more than his mental disorder. Dan Stevens, the Beast of Disney’s upcoming Beauty and the Beast, leads a cast that includes Parks and Rec alum Aubrey Plaza and the always-top-notch Jean Smart. I expect the show will provide a fruitful analysis of societal attitudes towards mental disability, but I hope it also sets the stage for a feast of visual effects.

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Limited Miniseries (HBO, February 19): An absolutely knock-out, female-led cast—Nicole Kidman, Shailene Woodley, Laura Dern, Reese Witherspoon—heads to a small (seaside?) town for a look at the lives of three women in Big Little Lies. Kidman, Witherspoon, and Woodley star as as the trio that endures scandal, small-town agendas, and, well, lies. This adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s 2014 novel is under the direction of legendary dramedy scribe, David E. Kelley, and the man who brought us Wild and Dallas Buyer’s Club. Prepare yourself for killer performances, snappy dialogue, and brooding cinematography.

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TV Adaptation (Hulu, April 26): Author Margaret Atwood is such a prolific and innovative author, so many of her offerings could find new life in today’s “Platinum Age” of TV. It makes sense, then, that Hulu would choose to adapt one of her more famous and accessible novels, The Handmaid’s Tale. The show is set in the dystopian Republic of Gilead, where pregnancies are scarce and certain women, known as Handmaids, are indentured baby machines. Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss stars as Offred, a Handmaid serving the Commander (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife (Yvonne Strahovski), who decides to end her hellish servitude. Intrigue awaits.

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IN VIDEO GAMES

Vampyr (Xbox One, TBA): There’s the superhero fight-fest of Injustice 2 (please let it have a seemless narrative like Mortal Kombat IX); the Red Dead follow-up; Prey, a horror-action thriller from the Dishonored 2 team; and of course Mass Effect: Andromeda, which Mark discussed in detail. Then there’s Vampyr. Based on the Spanish flu epidemic that took over 1918 London, the game follows Jonathan Reid, a vampire doctor. His struggle is to balance his professional oath with his new bloodlust (i.e. study and kill his prey, oodles of innocent people). Overall, the semi-open world, role-playing format, and historical setting are reasons enough to call me intrigued.

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#thor chrishemsworth glasscastle brielarson legobatmanmovie jesseeisenberg justiceleague legion biglittlelies handmaidstale vampyr

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booksbakingandblogging · 4 years

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It’s almost getting boring saying this each month, but I had yet another great reading month in June! I participated in the Make Your MythTaker readathon, so if you want to know more about that, I recommend watching my TBR video (click here). I ended up reading five books for the readathon and then two additional ones besides those – and all but one of them were four- or five-star reads! Let’s get into the nitty gritty…

Don’t Date Rosa Santos by Nina Moreno ★★★★⭑ (4.5)

This was such a wonderful book! I didn’t expect to love this as much as I did, but it’s been over a month now and I’m still thinking about it almost daily. Maybe I should bump my rating up to five stars… Don’t Date Rosa Santos is a contemporary YA novel and it has everything I love in a book: a small-town seaside setting featuring a tight-knit community, a family of strong female characters, a hint of magic, lots of food, and a cute romance. It’s also a story about immigrants: Rosa feels stuck between Florida, where she was born and raised, and Cuba, the home her grandmother still dreams of. Rosa is a wonderful main character and I got very invested in her story as she tries to navigate the past and the present and find out what’s best for her future. I kind of already want to reread it!

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden ★★★★★

This might just be the best graphic novel I have ever read, and I’ve read some pretty great ones already. On a Sunbeam is a sci-fi novel that takes place in space and follows main character Mia as she becomes part of a crew that rebuilds broken-down and abandoned structures, moving from job to job in their spaceship. Through flashbacks, we also get to know about Mia’s time at a boarding school (also in space), where she fell in love with a mysterious girl. I had to find my footing within this story a little bit as it started quite abruptly, but when I did, I loved it. I love the theme of found family that plays a big role as Mia becomes close to the rest of the crew. The story itself is beautiful as well, and Walden slowly builds to a crescendo in a wonderful way. And then there’s the art… That alone would almost be enough for me to give this five stars!

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle ★★★⭑☆ (3.5)

A children’s classic! I knew very little about A Wrinkle in Time before going in – I’m pretty sure I picked it up in a bookstore in London right around the time the film came out, but I ended up not reading it and not seeing the film either. It was such a fun story, though! It’s about these kids who go in search of their missing father and travel through time and space with three funny, old, all-powerful ladies to do so. I thought the mystery at the heart of the story was pretty interesting, but ultimately the good versus evil dichotomy (and by extension the God versus Satan one) was a bit too heavily present for me. In spite of that, though, it did feel quite modern, which I was surprised by.

Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Edo-Lodge ★★★★★

I always find it a little difficult to rate non-fiction books, but with this one there was no hesitation before I gave it five stars. With everything going on in the world – the Black Lives Matter protests, the rampant police brutality, and the deeply embedded institutionalised racism – I wanted to educate myself more on the topic, so I decided to pick up this book, which had been on my radar for a while already anyway. Reni Edo-Lodge provides both much-needed history lessons and sharp social analyses of the current state of racism in Britain. Even though I don’t live in Britain, this was still an eye-opener, since much of it probably also applies to Dutch society (but I’m going to read up on that specifically as well). I think that, as a white person, it is important to be aware of your white privilege and to acknowledge that black people (and other people of colour) face (institutionalised) racism and discrimination on a daily basis. This book is a great gateway to learning more. I’d highly recommend it!

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender ★★★★☆

This is a YA contemporary novel that tells the story of Felix, a black, gay transgender boy living in New York. Felix has never been in love but desperately wants to be. In the meantime, though, he has other stuff to deal with as well, such as trying to get into Brown University, a father who still calls him his daughter sometimes, and an anonymous bully sending him transphobic messages and hanging up old pictures of him around the school. This was a really beautiful novel about finding your identity and learning to love both yourself and others. Throughout the book, Felix made some dumb decisions that had me pretty frustrated, but they also kept me on the edge of my seat. I loved Felix and his friends, and I especially loved all of the honest, open conversations about identity, sexuality, and love.

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende ★★★★⭑ (4.5)

I’d been meaning to read something by Isabel Allende for quite some time, so when this book fitted one of the prompts for the Make Your MythTaker readathon quite perfectly, I was very happy! This is Allende’s first novel and it’s a family saga about three generations of women living in Chile. It features love, tragedy, and lots of subtle magic. I loved how complex the characters were and how none of them were entirely likable. I loved the way the story was told, with the references to what was still to come and the constant sense of impending doom. I loved the beautiful writing and the political undertones that taught me a lot about Chilean history. I loved it all, and now I can’t wait to read more of Allende’s work!

This Coven Won’t Break by Isabel Sterling ★★★★☆

This is the sequel to These Witches Don’t Burn, which I read earlier this year, and absolutely loved. I didn’t know it when I started reading, but This Coven Won’t Break is actually the finale of the series, and it picks up a few weeks (or maybe months) after the end of the first book. This series tells the story of Hannah, who is part of a coven of Elemental witches living in Salem, Massachusetts. They have to keep their identities as witches as a secret, but then their safety gets threatened. Both books are very action-packed and they completely drew me in. There’s an adorable female-female romance, there are great friendships and family dynamics, and there’s an exciting plot. What’s not to love?

And that’s it for all of the books I read in June! I have no idea what I’ll be reading in July, because, for the first time in months, I don’t have a set TBR, so it will be exciting to see what my July Mini Reviews post will look like! Now, tell me about your reading month: what did you read in June? Did you like it? Let’s chat in the comments!

In June, I read seven books and I really liked all of them! Here are my thoughts... It's almost getting boring saying this each month, but I had yet another great reading month in June!

#Book Review #Book Reviews #Books #Mini Reviews #Novels #Readathon #Reading

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almostdiplomatic · 5 years

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Will you travel for good food? I think it’s one of the best excuses to get off your lazy bum, hop on a train, and discover a new place and some flavours. Last month, I found myself doing just that. We (and by we, I mean my friend Ute along with a couple of other food journalists) were on an important mission around mid-June. We took a short trip to see whether Medinis, the new Italian restaurant facing the Baltic Sea, was worth the trek from Berlin.

Welcome to Medinis

It’s not that far but it’s not a hop across the pond either. We took the Deutsche Bahn to Rostock and was fetched at their Hauptbahnhof by a van. A short drive later, we were in Heiligendamm. A seaside resort town that’s been around since the late 1700s, it’s a popular destination for royalty to relax and unwind when the sun was out. It recently got a facelift as well. A fancy, new hotel, modernised villas, and dining options can be seen right by the sandy beaches.

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The ‘White City by the Sea’

Chef Luigi Frascella who used to head private members’ club ‘Harry’s Bar’ in London was convinced to move to the idyllic location and set up his own restaurant there by real estate mogul Anno August Jagdfeld himself. Jagdfeld is currently redeveloping Heiligendamm and was convinced Frascella’s talent was what he needed for the new restaurant in the complex.

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“I love it here. My wife, my daughter – they are happy living here,” Frascella said with a contented smile on his face. “The sunsets are always different, the produce is fresh. It’s a beautiful place.” As the ‘Perlenkette’ (pearl necklace) villas next door are given a new lease on life, Frascella gets to run his restaurant nearby. And it seems nothing makes him happier.

While al fresco dining at Medinis gives you a wonderful view of the Baltic Sea, Germany’s unpredictable weather is not enough reason for you to eat at home instead. The restaurant’s interior is utterly divine. Mr Jagdfeld’s wife, famed interior and landscape designer Anne Maria Jagdfeld, created a cosy yet elegant space for windy evenings and even chilly days.

For foodies and families looking for a special meal during their beach holiday, it looks like the most wonderful setting. “It’s not easy to keep an elegant restaurant next to the beach,” Frascella admitted. “It’s usually a casual setting near the water.”

Their team, however, succeeded in creating a sophisticated, inviting space that won’t intimidate.

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The most calming combination of blue and white dominate the interior. It reminds people of the vastness of the sky and the sea. Huge windows allow light to filter in while giving you an undisturbed view of the Baltic Sea. Outdoor seats were made to be lower than those inside to allow diners sitting indoors a slice of the view as well.

Classic Italian

Chef Luigi Frascella with his Parmesan and Pepper Breadsticks wrapped in Prosciutto

The Jagdfelds didn’t court Frascella for his expertise for nothing. An Italian was needed to run an Italian restaurant.

But it’s much more than that.

Frascella’s talent in making dishes from his motherland has the power to make you feel at home – and I’m not even Italian. Is comfort an ingredient he imports as well? One can only wonder.

Paired with the view, the warm breeze, and great company that day, I found myself feeling so relaxed with a mouthful of potato salad and truffle shavings.

My type-A personality hardly ever allows me to just let go and enjoy moments during the day but I was doing just that.

Maybe living by the sea and eating Frascella’s creations daily is the answer to fully getting rid of my anxieties? Ah, that would be the dream.

Only the best

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Insalata di Patate e Tartufo

Fresh Focaccia made in-house

Bread freshly made in-house, truffles shaved on to your plate, balsamic vinegar on tables brought in from a small producer in Modena. It’s in the little things, after all. As for their source in Germany, bio farm Gut Vorder Bollhagen is just a kilometre down the road.

“They provide our ingredients. The chickens are moved every 10 days and they get to feed near the sea. Grass in this area is also saltier which makes the meat taste better,” Frascella said.

Peperoni Arrosto Marinati e Acciughe

The Peperoni Arrosto Marinati e Acciughe even features anchovies from Spain. “I like the ones that come from the Atlantic Ocean,” Frascella said. “They have more muscle.”

As someone who loves anchovies to death but looks at bell peppers with disdain, I now know that the only place I’d let paprika anywhere near my mouth is if it’s from Medinis. The fish’s salty flavours gave the bell peppers a whole new flavour profile and I’m all for it.

Summer picks

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Carpaccio di Manzo

Carpaccio di Branzino

It’s not an Italian meal without carpaccio and Frascella took his beef version to the next level by using mustard instead of the same old lemon juice. It’s got a slightly spicier kick than your usual and is balanced out by the parmesan. Divine.

For a healthier choice, I highly recommend the fish version (Branzino) which used sea bass, a lemon confit dressing, and was topped with vegetables. A refreshing, summer dish.

Insalata di Anguria

Speaking of refreshing, the Insalata di Anguria is something that you should order if you want something that says summer all over it. Sweet and salty at the same time. Creamy because of the feta but not cloying thanks to the miso dressing on top. A light crunch adds texture to each bite due to the fresh watermelons and salad.

Fiori di Zucca

Another favourite of mine from the whole meal is the Fiori di Zucca. Zucchini flower stuffed with ricotta cheese and honey cooked in a way that the flower becomes a light, crunchy shell. Cutting through it was such a joy and having the melted ricotta and honey in your mouth played into my bias for the sweet and salty combo. Just be careful that you don’t bite into it when it’s too hot so the ricotta won’t burn your tongue.

Heaven for pasta

Ravioli di Ossobuco

The bad thing about my job is how it elevates my standards for food. Sometimes, a little too much. After having Frascella’s Gnocchi Pomodoro e Basilico, I couldn’t make pasta at home knowing it would not taste remotely the same.

The cure to this is usually me going for a different cuisine for a week. (I went for Vietnamese and lots of Middle Eastern dishes before I could eat pasta again.) Helps your tastebuds forget a little.

I also enjoyed the Ravioli di Ossobuco and a version with sharp, sheep cheese.

If you want to see how they looked, check the three-minute video I posted above about our visit. You’ll see not just how the trip went but how creamy the sauces are.

Fruti di mare

“Steak or prawns?” Frascella asked the group. At this point, we were utterly full. But leaving Medinis without trying any of their grilled dishes would have been blasphemous. The decision was unanimous and we went for fresh, gigantic prawns, grilled in a Spanish Josper grill.

It was magical, especially with the spiced, salty salad it came with.

Gamberoni alla Griglia alla Pizzaiola

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Sweetness as a weakness

I said we’re full but how can one leave without having dessert?

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Lemon Sorbet

Cioccolato Fondente di Hani, Gelato alla Vaniglia di Haiti

Ananas Sorbet

Truly a sweet ending to the whole trip. Frascella also picked the flower beside the lemon sorbet on the way to work.

Is it worth it?

As someone who will travel for food, you’ll probably think I’m biased when I say that it is. But really – I look at other gnocchis with sadness now.

For people looking for a meal that will impress even the pickiest Italian friend, this is also the restaurant for you.

I say make a trip out of it. Stay in the hotel, have a wonderful weekend by the sea, and enjoy the food. Time it with a special occasion and there won’t be any guilt over the calories and the money you’ll spend on multiple meals at Medinis. Once you try the food there, it will seem pointless to look elsewhere in the area. Yes, it is on the pricier side but for the quality and the service you get on this side of the world, it actually feels like a steal.

Medinis

Prof.-Dr.-Vogel-Straße 14, 18209 Bad DoberanProf.-Dr.-Vogel-Straße 14, 18209 Bad Doberan Open daily from 1200-1500, 1800-2230 Call for reservations: 038203 400647 Visit their website

More later.

Video: Medinis in Heiligendamm – Perfect Day Trip from Berlin Will you travel for good food? I think it's one of the best excuses to get off your lazy bum, hop on a train, and discover a new place and some flavours.

#Germany #Heiligendamm #Restaurants

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how2to18 · 5 years

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IN 2010, I moved to Girona in Catalonia. I lived in a run-down apartment, near a gelid river, and spent most of my time pacing the streets, trying to keep warm. I spent the rest of my time obsessing over the literature of Catalan writer Josep Pla, which I had discovered a few years earlier. His work hadn’t been translated into English yet, and I felt as though I had found a secret literary well at the foot of the Pyrenees. The magic of literature often makes us believe that we are a singular witness to the secrets of the page, but luckily, we are never alone in our obsessions. In fact, Peter Bush was already in the process of translating Pla’s masterpiece, The Gray Notebook.

Josep Pla was born in Palafrugell in 1897. As a young adult he left for Barcelona to study law, but was forced to return to his sleepy seaside village of Palafrugell during the 1918 Pandemic. He spent the year recording deaths, reading, writing. He taught himself how to translate the landscape into words. He became consumed with writing. Decades later, he published an expanded version of his diary under the title The Gray Notebook.

What most fascinates me about Pla is his ability to fictionalize memory, to recycle his own work; over the course of his writing life he built an interconnected universe of books that have an encyclopedic relationship to one another. A complicated moody man caught between his Catalanist and Catholic identities, Pla spent the last decades of his life living in a 17th-century farmhouse in Palafrugell, known as Mas Pla. He died there in 1981 and is buried at the cemetery in Llofriu.

The Gray Notebook was published by the New York Review Books in 2014. I read it again in English while living in Chicago (also gelid, though at least my house is warm). There is a growing collection of Josep Pla’s works available in English, all exquisitely translated by Bush. Bush is not only a prolific translator, but also a political activist and an innovative pedagogue. He set up the MA program in the Theory and Practice of Translation at Middlesex University, where many stellar translators (like Anne McLean and Lisa Dillman) got their start. Peter Bush and I discussed his childhood and his long career: his translations of Marxist texts, which garnered the reproach of the Oxford academic establishment; his award-winning translations of Catalan literature; and of course, Pla’s epic masterpiece, The Gray Notebook.

AZAREEN VAN DER VLIET OLOOMI: You began your translating career by working with Marxist texts. How did you come to literary translation? How did this shift change the direction of your life?

PETER BUSH: I was a political activist in Oxford and London for six years from 1967. As I was one of the party members with a knowledge of languages, I translated Marxist texts and was also a journalist on the daily newspaper covering Spain, Latin America, Portugal, and Italy. This wasn’t to the liking of the ex-MI6 Alfonso XIII Professor of Spanish at Oxford University, where I was researching — the one idealized by Javier Marías as Toby Rylands — and I found it difficult to find a post. My references said things like, “Peter Bush spent more time haranguing at demonstrations than reading in libraries,” or in more Oxonian cadences, “He went outside the society of the university.”

Eventually I taught in inner-city London schools for 14 years. I was head of languages at Holland Park in west London and had been teaching Campos de Níjar/Níjar Country, Juan Goytisolo’s account of his visits to impoverished Almería and Murcia. Juan Goytisolo was one of the most prominent Spanish writers at the time and some of my students’ grandparents were migrant workers from those areas or from Larache, in the former Spanish protectorate in Morocco. I thought they’d be interested; they weren’t — they wanted to be part of swinging London. I prepared a critical edition hoping that some socio-economic background might help students come to grips with the narrative. Juan Goytisolo liked it and when the first volume of his autobiography came out — Coto Vedado/Forbidden Territory — I thought it was wonderfully original and was discussing it with a colleague, John Lyons, a translator of Ernesto Cardenal, in our little staffroom and he asked: “Why don’t you translate it?” That’s when my career as a literary translator kicked off.

When did you first travel to Catalonia and become aware of it as a region with a cultural identity that is distinct from the rest of Spain?

I first traveled to Catalonia mentally when I was reading French and Spanish as an undergraduate in Cambridge. In the second year of the course, I opted for the Spanish medieval literature and culture course and that’s when I discovered the importance of Catalonia in the Middles Ages and read the whole of Vicens i Vives’s economic history of Spain. I could also have opted to learn Catalan but I didn’t; I chose to read all of Cervantes instead. However, my closest friend at the time did choose Catalan and with him I read the great poets Carles Riba and Jacint Verdaguer. Ironically, my friend fell in love with a madrileña, and spent his whole life in Madrid.

Cambridge also had strong Catalan connections — exile Batista i Roca lived in the city and Catalan lecturer Geoffrey Walker was a leading member of the Anglo-Catalan Society. There was somewhat of a division in the faculty: those who were into the 1898 Generation and Ortega y Gasset, and those who thought they were all second-rate — with the exception of Machado — and were more drawn to history. David Barrass was one of the latter and he offered a course on contemporary Spanish history that had a strong Catalan focus. (No Latin American literature was taught in Cambridge until 1968.)

I first traveled to Barcelona in 1968 in pursuit of my academic research into the relationship between writers and working-class organizations at the time of the 1868 Revolution. Many of my sources were newspapers, chapbooks, and pamphlets written in Catalan, so that was when I first began to read Catalan. In 1970, I returned to Barcelona to pursue my non-academic activities. Oxford historian Raymond Carr had gathered around him a group of postgraduate researchers from Spain, and some of them took an interest in my political activities — Pepe Varela, Juan Pablo Fusi, and Santi Udina. Santi was an economic historian and had published in the New Left Review under a pseudonym, given that Franco’s dictatorship still had Spain under its heel. Santi was active in a left-wing group in Barcelona, and I went over for 10 days to give lectures and talk to a range of intellectuals and trade-unionists mainly in an abandoned flat on Carrer de Balmes. I stayed with Santi in Sant Cugat and that’s when I first heard Catalan being spoken en famille. I also visited activists in Baix Llobregat, workers in the Seat factory who spoke in southern Spanish, and textile workers in Terrassa who spoke Catalan. I had previously spent three summers teaching English in Madrid from 1964 to 1966, and my sense of the difference between Madrid and Barcelona was, yes, that there was the Catalan language, with very little public presence, and that Barcelona seemed much more like a city under occupation. It was very gray; Gaudí was covered in soot.

I often think of learning a new language as a kind of love affair. Can you describe your love affair with Catalan? How is your relationship with Catalan different from your relationship to Spanish, French, and Portuguese?

Everything depends on your point of departure. Estrangement, evasion, the search for another place to be are all elements in a love affair, and as consciousness is so located in language and culture, the addition of other languages leads to an expansion of consciousness and culture (in its broadest sense).

I was brought up speaking a non-standard working-class dialect of English — a hybrid of my father’s rural Lincolnshire and my mother’s urban Yorkshire. When I entered elementary school and was told this wasn’t “proper” English, I was shocked. I knew standard English from radio, movies, and newspapers, but it wasn’t what we spoke at home. The situation worsened when I passed the exams to go to the Grammar School, the first time anyone from my family had gone to this place that had existed in the town since the 16th century. At the elementary school, most pupils came from the neighborhood. The Grammar School was the “natural” home for the sons of the middle classes. I felt increasingly estranged from my home language and uncomfortable with the standard that the majority used in their homes in very different parts of town. So Latin and French rescued me. Here we all started from zero, and I excelled, and then came Spanish.

My estrangement was linguistic and cultural. My father was a print worker and active trade-unionist, not a manager, banker, shop-owner. I loved jazz, rock ’n’ roll, country-and-western; school music was only classical. I only really came to like and read English literature for pleasure when I was 16 and reading Virgil and Horace, Balzac and Lorca and company in the original. Those three languages freed up my imagination, feelings, and intellect, got me over what I suppose was a narrowness caused by a visceral sense of class that simultaneously was powering me into other places. In Cambridge, for example, I was more interested in going to Raymond Williams’s lectures on European drama and the English novel and Nikolaus Pevsner’s on the Baroque than most of my Spanish and French literature lectures, though I was thoroughly enraptured and absorbed by Rimbaud and Baudelaire, Proust and Galdós and Gide, Camus and Sartre, who were the authors most in vogue. I started to learn Portuguese when I was a journalist and consolidated that when I translated Chico Buarque and made a TV documentary about him. I began to learn Catalan at the end of the 1970s as I was hoping to live in Barcelona for a year. That didn’t turn out — I went to a small town in Murcia!

Later it was literally a matter of love. When I was director of the British Centre for Literary Translation, I met my wife, Teresa Solana, the director of Spain’s Translators’ House. We both left our posts to go and live in Barcelona in 2003. That’s when I really started to be fluent in Catalan. For the first time, I was learning the language properly in the country where it was spoken. Again, the linguistic shift wasn’t straightforward. I met Teresa speaking Spanish and that’s what we still mostly speak to each other. Teresa speaks Catalan to our daughter, who speaks to me in English, and most of our conversations are trilingual, even after our move to the United Kingdom in 2014.

Many of the Catalan books you’ve translated deal with exile and disenfranchisement, with lives lived at the margins. Do these themes speak to you personally?

I started in Spanish with Juan Goytisolo and Juan Carlos Onetti, both exiles and victims of dictatorship. The exclusion of my working-class culture from my own education led me to embrace other languages and literatures and want to bring those into the English-speaking world through translation, to challenge, as it were, the hegemony of the nationalist standard and canon.

Memories of disenfranchisement came from my family. I was to an extent franchised by the postwar settlement and the welfare state; I studied at Cambridge and Oxford and it didn’t cost me or my parents a penny. My new reality clashed with the visions of life my parents and other members of my family retailed in story after story. I’ll just mention a few details. My grandfather in the village of Pinchbeck was a shepherd living in a tied cottage. He fell ill, and the landowner threw him and his family onto the street. (This was at the end of World War I when three of my uncles were killed in France.) My mother came from Sheffield, lived in the center of the city of steel, and enjoyed an urban working-class culture — socialist cycling clubs, visits to the theater and opera, movies and dancing — until she was put into service with an uncle and aunt, which she left to go strawberry-picking in Lincolnshire in 1929. She met my father and never went back. Then came World War II, and my father was away for two years in France and four in the Middle East; when he returned, he was a stranger to my mother and his young daughters. I was then born into a family that had been ravaged by war. It was a “happy” family on the surface, but turbulence was never far away.

When I was school teacher in London, I taught in schools that were multilingual — 50 or 60 languages spoken by students — and I was fortunate that there was a progressive educational authority, and we attempted to forge a curriculum that responded to the experiences of our students. Students would suddenly appear on the school doorstep as a result of conflicts thousands of miles away — from China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Cyprus — exiles in flight from civil war and dictatorship. We developed whole school policies on language and culture. All that pedagogical potential was ended by Thatcher, who abolished the educational authority. All these memories and experiences, as well as my academic and linguistic knowledge, nourish my translations, driven by a political anger.

My encounter with Catalan literature also made me angry with myself. I considered myself as a Hispanist, but I had virtually ignored a literature where some of the best fiction of the civil war was written — Uncertain Glory by Joan Sales, In Diamond Square by Mercè Rodoreda, or Josep Pla’s amazing short fiction, as in Life Embitters. Shouldn’t all students of Spanish have to read these authors? Shouldn’t they be as well known to general readers in the English-speaking world as Zafón, Cercas, or Marías?

Do you think the art of translation has anything in common with the art of listening? Do you consider the process of conducting a translation to be an embodied experience?

The art of listening is about capturing nuance, subtext, irony, wordplay, social and political resonances, and being able to listen alertly, whether it be in an exchange with a butcher or to a lecture by Judith Butler, about being interested in and interpreting what another person has to say. On the other hand, listening is usually a one-off; translating involves rereading and then rewriting, researching, and self-editing, interactions with editors and, sometimes, writers. Though, in oral cultures, like my family’s, it involves hearing the same stories many times, over many years, and catching the fresh elements and variations in what is being recounted, and, in my case, nearly all those storytellers are now dead, or have dementia or Alzheimer’s, and that leaves me alone to tell them.

I like the idea of “conducting” because it is as if you are appealing to all the strands in the text as instruments you have to weld into a new whole. The various drafts feel like a succession of rehearsals for the final performances which will be the readings by others. And that is a very intense, embodied experience — as is any act of reading — but more so because you are rewriting and rewriting, and that’s physically exhausting: body and mind are engaged. Literary translation is embodied in another sense. It’s a livelihood. It’s the means to pay the rent and put food on the table.

Has the act of translation changed how you think about yourself? Do you think of literary translations as a form of self-translation? Or is it more like a journey?

It is self-translation in the sense that you are moved deep into the language and experience of another person and culture, into unknown territory that then speaks to parts of yourself; through translation your own experience and imagination are extended, your use of language is broadened.

In my case, translation has taken me on real journeys to Havana, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, and Palafrugell. My translations of Cuban literature, for example, sprang from a commission to make a TV documentary about Tomás Gutiérrez Alea. Translating Pla, Sales, and Rodoreda has changed my view of the civil war and Spanish culture. These writers and their work are obviously embedded in Catalan language and history and have suffered as a result in terms of recognition both inside and outside Catalonia because of the civil war and dictatorship. However, I think in the act of translating, you say to yourself and others, these are great books about specific moments in Catalan and Spanish history, but they are also about a young man forging himself as a writer, or a group of radical students in the early 30s whose lives are ruined by the rise of fascism, or an older working-class woman looking back on her struggle to survive with her children in a city under siege.

How do you approach teaching the art of translation? What advice would you offer a novice translator?

I approach it as a form of creative writing where students must read widely and learn to become writers in their own language. Most come from degrees that have prioritized academic discourse, which, generally, isn’t the language of literature! I advise emerging translators to be proactive, to think laterally and network extensively in the world of professional literary translators and publishing. And to start building up a vitae by translating short stories, poems, or excerpts from novels in magazines.

We share a deep love for Josep Pla, whose work wasn’t translated into English until you took on El Quadern Gris. How did you happen to start translating Josep Pla? What is the most enjoyable part of translating Pla, and the most challenging?

You’ll probably be shocked by my response. I came to Pla via Valle-Inclán. I had translated Tyrant Banderas for Edwin Frank at the NYRB. A few months later, Edwin wrote to tell me he’d bought the English rights to El Quadern Gris and asked if I knew someone who could translate it. I’d not read a word by Pla. I consulted with my wife, and she said I’d enjoy translating the book. I responded to Edwin that I could do it. The adventure of translation …

The most enjoyable part [of working on the book] was the humor and the description of literary life in Barcelona; the most challenging was Pla’s description of land and sea. I’d translated a lot of complex literature, but never such descriptions. Here is an example:

The sunlight is like a sheet of glass. Wind and sea battle in a futile, delirious fury. Everything stays the same, impassive and still — the coral of the almond trees, the playful kitten, the aioli, and the anglerfish soup. The things of the world pass by the light in my window — wind, water, and diamond spray racing toward the raw purple of the horizon. The brightness turns daylight into haze and my eyelids droop after that sudden, shimmering, dazzling illumination.

I had to draft and redraft these sections. I had to develop a new strand in my literary writing.

You are currently working on another of Pla’s books, Aigua de mar.

It’s another stylistic challenge because of the descriptions of the nautical world, of boats and fish. It also shows the immense humanity of Pla. He was at home in the bohemian, expat colony in hyper-inflationary Berlin or boarding-houses in London or Paris, but he never turned his back on the fishermen and farmers of the Empordà and Costa Brava.

What is your favorite region in Catalonia? Do you like to spend time in the cities or provinces described in the books you are working on?

I lived for 10 years in Barcelona and frequently return. Beyond Barcelona, I love the small towns on the Costa Brava described by Pla — Begur, Calella de Palafrugell, and Cadaqués.

I’ve always liked to see the places in the books I translate. Learning other languages and reading other literatures makes me want to go to where they come from.

Do you feel optimistic about the future of Catalonia? How has the recent geopolitical crisis affected your work or influenced your process as a translator?

By nature, I’m an optimist, but at the moment it’s hard to be optimistic about Catalonia, the United Kingdom, the United States, or anywhere, what with Vox, Brexit, and Trump and the rise of the extreme right all over the world.

The crisis has affected my work, in the sense that I now promote Catalan literature widely, and some say that I’m “anti-Spanish,” which is ridiculous. I’m still translating from my other languages and have spent years promoting the teaching of the Spanish language and its literatures. I’d say rather that I’m enjoying becoming a specialist in Catalan literature and discovering for myself all these great writers I want to bring to readers in the English-speaking world.

Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi is the author of Call Me Zebra.

The post The Catalan Paradox, Part III: A Conversation with Peter Bush appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

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flauntpage · 6 years

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NBA Summer Vacation Watch: Do Not Go Gently into That Regular Season

This is just about it, my friends. From the gym equipment just out of focus in some of these vacation photos to the guys choosing to start their season training on a beach, the long and beautiful time we have known as NBA summer vacation is almost behind us. There can be an overwhelming urge to mourn the loss as you stare at your rapidly drying bathing suit, wondering, “Will I ever get to wear this thing again?”

But fear not.

For we are not quite at the end, and every grain of sand stuck and chafing in your shorts, every chance to submerge yourself even if it’s just via garden hose should be embraced. We will not go gently into that good regular season, but we will burn, sunburn, and rave like James Harden raved in Ibiza earlier this summer.

Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol has been on vacation. Since about, oh, mid June, Gasol has been ping-ponging his giant, shorts-clad frame around. From Italy’s Amalfi Coast to Big Sur on the California coast, the Catalonia region in Spain, making time for charity work in Bangladesh, then back to Spain, to wind the summer down in Bilbao and Basque Country. Does it count as vacation if you’re just enjoying the country that you’re from? Yes, especially when you live away from it most of the year, are enjoying it like a tourist would, and look as relaxed as Pau does. He could just be mowing his lawn smiling this serenely and it would count.

Rating: Bilbao baggin’ the last of the summer.

DeAndre Jordan

It’s been a quiet summer from DeAndre—understandably—since he moved away from the beach, which is why I am including this picture of him showing a lot of leg in a very summer tie-dye top. First, he’s in shorts, so, we’ll take what we can get. Second, why are his legs the size of mine? Third, he’s in Canada? At night??? The ultimate quest of Vacation Watch is always for truth, but this has left me with some cold questions I’m not sure I can or want to answer—is DeAndre OK?

Rating: 'Legs' by ZZ Top finally applicable to more than one person but me, anyway.

Boogie Cousins

Our man of perpetual late summer vacation, Boogie Cousins, sits atop Montjuïc Castle in Barcelona, enjoying a moment. Clad in some excellent vacation shorts and straw hat, plus just like a regular T-shirt you or I might wear, this photo is in exact and perfect contrast to the goblins blowing up the comments on it. Note his reflective shades? A stylish growth opportunity to those who would wish an NBA player, or anyone, ill in the comments of their summer vacation photos to take a look at their own reflection—do you like what you see?

Rating: The power of Boogie sitting on top of an 18th century canon compels you to have a good summer.

Patty Mills

Patty heard that there was some competition coming for his SVW title and he immediately got to work starting his season training the only way we here at the Watch know how to respect: running across the ocean floor in loud summer trunks and a headband, carrying a huge rock.

Rating: Bala Pat could have served simple hammock or sitting on the beach realness but he’s come to show that he’d rather lift rocks with no oxygen than lose at the thing most dear to him—summer vacations. All to say, a little intense!

Klay Thompson

Here we have Klay at the beach looking off in what I imagine is the direction someone told him China was in, wondering how he can reconcile that Klay with this Klay for the greatest Klay of them all. Klay is also sporting the late summer vacation season fav: a crewneck and shorts.

Rating: In a way we’re all Klay on the beach, waiting.

Rudy Gay

I can only assume Rudy is celebrating his birthday in tropical climes, given the silk pajama top carelessly unbuttoned, the tops of some blurred palm fronds visible in the background, and the rate at which he is chugging that cigar.

Rating: A nice reminder from Rudy that you can always bring the vacation to you by unbuttoning a few.

LaMarcus Aldridge

From this perfectly fine but a little bit sad shot of the London Bridge (did you know they keep the crown jewels up in one of those turrets? What an ancient and weird country) we know that Aldridge is 1) In London. 2) Alone. Maybe he was out for a solo stroll but prior to this there was a similar style photo of the Eiffel Tower, and a nice looking hotel pool. Nothing wrong with traveling solo, but would it have killed someone to offer to take a picture of Aldridge by one national monument this summer? Lonely planet, indeed!

Rating: Petition to start an NBA-sponsored buddy program where two guys are paired up by lottery if they don’t have vacation plans or anyone to go with.

Wayne Ellington

Wayne Ellington, who will turn out to be a lost opportunity for every team that didn’t sign him this offseason, is having a quiet summer at home. Sea-Doos and safaris are all well and good but sometimes it’s nice to get a classic hose spraying situation going to show that summer vacation can happen anywhere, even right in your own backyard.

Rating: This column is now sponsored by Big Hose.

Greg Monroe

Happy to see the guy coming in hot to Toronto is still taking his sweet ass time with getting the most out of summer—sincerely. This could be almost anywhere, the Pacific coast of Mexico, where we last left Moose, or even off the beautiful shores of Lake Ontario. I’m going to project the latter, and predict that Monroe gets right into day-sailing, up to the point where coach has to gently but firmly sit him down and say, "Look, Greg, it can be the wind or the rock, but it can’t be both."

Rating: Why’s he so wet, though?

Khris Middleton

Speaking of safaris—we got another one! Middleton was at a game reserve in South Africa, sipping some local varietals or imported Hennessy on the back of a jeep, looking pretty relaxed. This has got everything you want out of a late-season vacation—he’s comfy, cozy, (a bit) boozy, and later, snoozy.

Rating: NBA Summer Vacation 2018 sponsored by Big Safari.

D’Angelo Russell

D’Angelo Russell, still in Greece, took in the menu at a sleepy seaside island town looking very relaxed himself in a tenderly wrinkled white T-shirt with the neck hole blown out probably from all the times he’s been yanking it off to jump in the ocean.

Rating: I’ll have what he’s having.

Lauri Markkanen

Lauri gave himself grief over his pose but buddy, we’re all friends here, and at least you did not pull an Aldridge and take a picture of just the monument. Need some intel on these water shoes he seems to be wearing, however.

Rating: A perfect opportunity to put the new, NBA summer vacation buddy program to the test!

Wade Baldwin IV

Here’s one I like to call Wayne Baldwin On A Bike, What’s Not To Like?

Rating: Don’t put your coconuts all in one basket!

Jusuf Nurkić

I can’t tell if those are regular size cups or espresso cups given the size of the man holding two single-serve trays full of them, but one thing is for sure, Nurkić is ready to rip!

Rating: If an NBA player goes on summer vacation without wearing gym clothes, does it count as summer vacation?

Luka Dončić

When Luka Dončić gets behind the wheel of a boat you better clear your schedule and tell your family that you love them, 'cause you can never be sure when you’re coming back. That’s a little piece of summer vacation watch wisdom for you.

Rating: Dončić lives every day like his forearm tattoo sleeve—and eagle in space— and you should, too.

NBA Summer Vacation Watch: Do Not Go Gently into That Regular Season published first on https://footballhighlightseurope.tumblr.com/

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toddrogersfl · 6 years

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Contemporary fragrance houses flying the flag

Who can lay claim to being ‘the birthplace of perfumery’? France and Italy regularly duke it out for the title, but British scents have been going strong since 1730 – with whispers of Yardley London‘s heritage in fact going all the way back to the reign of King Charles I, supplying royalty with lavender-scented soaps. Sadly, these records were lost in 1666’s Great Fire of London, but many British houses have archives bursting not only with records of their fragrant wares, but the customers who bought them – including royalty, film stars and prime ministers along with the many millions who flocked to their historic doors.

We decided to dedicate the latest issue of our award-winning magazine, The Scented Letter, to these Best of British. The emphasis being on heritage houses who have made our name and are still some of our favourites to this very day, and with a selection of newer houses mentioned – inluding Miller Harris, Angela Flanders, Ormonde Jayne and Floral Street – all of whom have their own boutiques you can visit to stock-up on those perfumes, both historic and ground-breakingly new. The streets of London may not be paved in gold, but perhaps they are with perfume…

To be frank, the feature was practically an entire book’s worth of material, and we still didn’t have room for every single one we’d have like to mention, which goes to show how many we have to be proud of. Also, we are thrilled that so many contemporary houses are continuing to fly that fragrant flag, being sold online and stocked in independent perfumeries that stretch the entire globe.

What better time, then, to continue our celebration of the diversity, ingenuity and creativity British fragrance houses display, and share with you a list of some contemporary houses your nose should definitely get to know…?

Ruth Mastenbroek

Born in England, graduating with a Chemistry degree from Oxford University, Ruth trained and worked as a perfumer in the 70s – both in the UK and Netherlands with Naarden International (which later became Quest and is now Givaudan – one of the largest perfume suppliers in the world…) Ruth then went to work in Japan and the perfume capital Grasse before returning to England to work for a small company, where she created fragrances for up-and-coming brands like Kenneth Turner and Jo Malone – including her Grapefruit candle. Setting up her own perfumery company, Fragosmic Ltd., in 2003 – the year she became president of The British Society of Perfumers, it was in 2010 that Ruth launched a capsule collection of scented products featuring her signature fragrance – RM – the first to use advanced micro-encapsulation technology in a scented bathrobe…! Still creating bespoke fragrances for brands, Ruth’s own fragrances allow her to bottle memories, she says, ‘…of childhood in England and America – chocolate cookies, fresh earth, blackberries… Of Holland – lilies, narcissus, hyacinth and salty sea air… Of France – orchids, roses and wild herbs… Of Japan – cherry blossom, lotus and green tea…’ Believing that fragrance can uniquely move us, and with a wealth of knowledge at her fingertips; Ruth distills olfactory flash-backs into perfumes that everyone can enjoy and form their own, highly personal connections with. And with her latest, the sulty, smoking rose of Firedance, shortlisted for Global Pure Beauty and Fragrance Foundation Awards this year, we suggest you allow yourself the pleasure of connecting with them, too…

Quintessential Scents: Launching tomorrow (Friday) on our site, we’re giving you a sneak-peek of how you can indulge in a whole box of emotionally uplifting scents. From the sparkling secret-garden fruitiness of Signature, through the romantic, rolling landscape of Umbria captured in Amorosa. A furtively-smoked Sobranie with notes of jasmine and cashmere evoke the dreaming spires of Oxford, while a classic rose is transformed with hot leather in Firedance, to become quite swaggeringly swoon-worthy. Have a chaise-lounge at the ready…

Ruth Mastenbroek Discovery Set £17.95 for 4 x 2ml eau de parfum

4160 Tuesdays

Founded: If we live till we’re 80, we have 4,160 tuesdays to fill, and so the philosophy of copywriter-turned-perfumer Sarah McCartney is: better make the most of every single one of them. Having spent years writing copy for other people’s products, and writing for LUSH for 14 years, Sarah wrote a novel about imagined perfumes that make people happy, with such evocative descriptions that readers began asking her to make them. Ever the type to roll up her sleeves and take on a new challenge, Sarah explains she’d ‘…tried to find perfumes that matched what I was describing, and they still weren’t right, so I set off on my quest to make them myself. I became a perfumer!’ Proudly extolling British eccentricity, the ever-increasing fragrances include Sunshine & Pancakes, which Sarah made to evoke a typical 1970s British seaside family vacation, opening with a burst of sunny citrus, with jasmine to represent sun-warmed skin – alongside honey and vanilla (the pancakes element). The Dark Heart of Old Havana is based on a 1998 trip to Cuba: brown sugar, tobacco, rich coffee, fruit, warm bodies, ‘alcohol, exuberance and recklessness,’ as she puts it. Maxed Out and Midnight in the Palace Garden were both shortlisted for the coveted Fragrance Foundation Awards 2016 in the ‘Best Indie Scent’ category, and an army of devotees now relish every day, scented suitably eccentrically.

Quintessential Scent: Named for a comment made by a Tatler beauty editor who smelled it, a dash of bergamot, a soft hint of creamy vanilla, velvety smooth woods, musk and ambergris make for a dreamily decadent ‘your skin but oh, so much better’ affair. Like wearing a magical potion made of lemon meringue pie and fancy pants, if they don’t fall at your feet after a whiff of this, they aren’t worth knowing.

4160 Tuesdays The Sexiest Scent on the Planet Ever (IMHO) £40 for 30ml Buy it at 4160tuesdays.com

Nancy Meiland Parfums

Founded: Nancy’s background as a bespoke perfumer began with her apprenticeship to one of the UK’s experts in custom perfumery, creating signature scents for those coveting ‘something highly individual and special…’ Before launching Nancy Meiland Parfums, her decade-long journey through fragrance had already included co-running the former School of Perfumery, acting as a consultant for independent perfume houses, working on collaborations with Miller Harris, and speaking on the subject of fragrance at events nationwide. Now dividing her time between town and country (Nancy’s based in East Sussex), she explains that ‘the creative process of gathering sensory impressions and honing them into a formula is a vital one. Once a blank canvas, the formula sheet acts as a metaphor – and gradually emerges essentially as a kind of poem, with body, light and shade and a life of its own.’ It amuses Nancy, looking back, that she often had school essays returned to her emblazoned in red pen for being “too flowery”. ‘It figures!,’ she says. Thank goodness, say her extensive base of fragrance fans, in love with these portrayals of often traditional ingredients, composed with elegant modernity and beautiful harmony.

Quintessential Scent: Definitely not your grandma’s drawer-liner, this is a rose in all its glory, with the entire plant evoked – pink pepper, for the thorns, stalky green galbanum for the leaves; geranium, jasmine, white pear and violet delicately sketching the tender bud. As Nancy observes: ‘I wanted to depict both the light and the dark shades of it, as opposed to this pretty, twee and girly rose that’s become slightly old-fashioned.” Rambling roses entwined with brambles, if this scent surrounded Sleeping Beauty, she’d never forgive that meddlesome prince for cutting it down…

Nancy Meiland Parfums Rosier £62.50 for 50ml eau de parfum Buy it at nancymeiland.com

Tom Daxon

Recalling his childhood and growing up ‘in fragrant surroundings,’ Tom Daxon rather understates how perfume practically ran in his blood. Lucky enough to have a mother who was creative director at Molton Brown for over 30 years, and therefore ‘would often give me new shower gels to try, fragrances to sniff’ his scented destiny was sealed by frequently accompanying his mother on her business trips to Grasse. There he met the father-daughter duo of Jacques and Carla Chabert, who worked for Chanel, Guerlain and L’Oréal, with Jacques the nose behind Molton Brown’s ground-breaking Black Pepper and Carla creating the hit follow-up, Pink Peppercorn. Having esteemed perfumers in his life from such an early age was a connection that would bravely – still in his twenties – lead Tom to launch a brand new British fragrance house. Clearly a chap who doesn’t like to hang around when he’s got a bee in his bonnet, by the end of that same year, he was already being stocked in Liberty’s. Not a bad start, all things considered, and describing the impetus behind him starting his own line of fragrances, Tom says ‘I wouldn’t have bothered if I thought I couldn’t offer something a bit different.’ Uniquely intriguing, the entire range celebrates a luxurious kind of British modernity in their pared back, clean lines, the oils being macerated and matured in England for at least six weeks before they’re bottled here. Harnessing Tom’s Grasse connections but remaining resolutely British in their spirit, it’s just the beginning for this exciting house.

Quintessential Scent: Lushly narcotic, it’s a hyper-realistic big-hitter – like sticking your entire face in a buxom bouquet, the better to get another dose of its lascivious charms. Using traditional, headily feminine notes like lily of the valley, carnation, rose and oakmoss might have become ‘vintage’ or even a bit old-fashioned smelling in the wrong hands, but the Chaberts and Tom vividly evoke just-bruised, silky petals with a futuristic drama that never fails to shake you out of the doldrums.

Tom Daxon Crushing Bloom £105 for 50ml eau de parfum Buy it at tomdaxon.com

Marina Barcenilla Parfums

A rising star of perfumery, Marina Barcenilla is one of the talented ‘noses’ driving the strong trend towards natural perfumery. As the name may suggest, her birthplace may not have been in the UK – in fact she was born in Spain – but it’s where Marina chose to make her home, and to set up her now thriving perfume business. Marina recalls being intrigued by the aromatic notes in the Herbíssimo fragrances and in her grandmother’s lavender water. Having always been fascinated and inspired by scent – when the chance came to branch out from her aromatherapy roots into the world of perfume, Marina rose beautifully to the challenge. In 2016 Marina won the coveted Fragrance Foundation (FiFi) Award for Best New Independent Fragrance with India. Against incredibly stiff competition, judged blind by Jasmine Award-winning journalists and bloggers, this prompted her to take the next step on her journey – what had formerly been called The Perfume Garden became Marina Barcenilla Parfums. But although the name had changed, the ethos remained the same – ‘to create the finest fragrances, using what nature has to offer.’ More awards followed, including a Beauty Shortlist Award for Patchouli Clouds, an International Natural Beauty Award for The Perfume Garden, and the Eluxe Award for Best Natural Perfume Brand. In 2017, for the second consecutive year, Marina won Best New Independent Fragrance for the opulent Black Osmanthus – which truly put her on the radar of journalists and perfumistas. From sourcing rare and precious aromatic essences from around the world to blending fragrances by hand in her own perfume studio, after years of study, Marina’s long-awaited olfactory journey to ‘rediscover the soul of perfume’ is off to a rousing start – and all from the suitably mystical base of Glastonbury. More than simply reaching for the stars, parallel to her perfumery career she’s also studying to become a Planetary Scientist and Astrobiologist, at the University of London; recently combining her twin passions by creating AromAtom – creating the imagined scents of space as a way to make space science more engaging for children – which Marina regularly tours through schools. What else can we say for this exciting house, but “up, up and away…!”

Quintessential Scent: Silky smooth sandalwood is enticingly laced with flecks of fragrant cardamom, dotted with coriander, huge armfulls of rose and woven with incense for an all-natural scent that’s soothingly spiced, earthily grounding and yet erotically tempting; so you’ll be wanting to dance barefoot (perhaps comletely bare) and wrap yourself around a Maypole, have no doubt…

Marina Barcenilla Parfums India £130 for 30ml eau de parfum Buy it at mbparfums.com

St Giles

Rarely do founders of fragrance houses come with such experience, passion and dedication to the industry as Michael Donnovan. With a career thus far helping stock the shelves of such cult fragrance-shopping destinations as Roullier White, running his own PR company, representing such luminaries as Fréderic Malle – every time we’ve met Michael, he’s been bubbling with enthusiasm about a perfume we ‘…absolutely must smell!’ or a nose who’s ‘a complete genius!’ And you know what? He’s always been right. He’d been badgered for years by fragrance experts and enthusiasts alike to launch his own range, but the idea had tickled his brain for some decades before being fully explored as a reality. As Michael explains, the concept he just couldn’t let go of was to have a collection that truly represented ‘scents as complex as you are.’ And so, the St Giles fragrances have ‘…been created to stimulate and amplify the many different aspects of our character. This wardrobe of fragrances celebrates the parts that make us who we are, fusing the reality and the fantasy.’ And the nose he sought out to compose them just happens to be one of the greatest of our time. ‘The perfumes are made in collaboration with Master Perfumer Bertrand Duchaufour, whose vision I have long admired and whose friendship I cherish.’ Having spent many years working alongside Bertrand, but always in regard to his work for other houses, Michael admits he was ‘…extremely nervous’ about approaching him, but it turns out Bertrand was more than enthusiastic in his acceptance. The only question you need ask, now, is which fragrant character you want to embody, today…

Quintessential Scent: Rosemary absolute – now proven to stimulate memory performance – adds an aromatic, drily green note while fresh ginger warmly fizzes alongside Champagne-like aldehydes, herbaceous clary sage and the uplifting, fruity zing of rhubarb. There’s a sigh of soft leather and frankincense at the heart, slowly sinking to the inky-tinged base of castoreum absolute, sandalwood, Atlas cedarwood and a salty tang of driftwood. Absolutely unique, you’ll want to cover yourself in it while seeking your muse, perhaps while enjoying a sip or three of something refreshing, wearing nothing else but a velvet smoking jacket and an enigmatic smile…

St Giles The Writer £130 for 100ml eau de parfum Buy it at stgilesfragrance.com

With a strong heritage behind us, and many of those houses still not only surviving but thriving, it seems British perfumery is once again blooming with a fresh crop of forward-thinking (and often self-taught) perfumers shaking up the scent scene. No fuddy-duddy fragrances, these, they’re flying the flag not only for British niche perfumery, but for the art of fragrance itself. Hoist the bunting!

For further reading, we suggest getting your hands on a copy of British Perfumery: A Fragrant History by The British Society of Perfumers, £30 including UK delivery.

Written by Suzy Nightingale

The post Contemporary fragrance houses flying the flag appeared first on The Perfume Society.

from The Perfume Society https://perfumesociety.org/contemporary-british-fragrance-houses-flying-the-flag/

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