![]() In the time of the Moors the fortress was capable of containing within its outward precincts an army of forty thousand men, and served occasionally as a stronghold of the sovereigns against their rebellious subjects. The royal palace forms but a part of a fortress, the walls of which, studded with towers, stretch irregularly round the whole crest of a hill, a spur of the Sierra Nevada or Snowy Mountains, and overlook the city externally it is a rude congregation oftowers and battlements, with no regularity of plan nor grace of architecture, and giving little promise of the grace and beauty which prevail within. How many legends and traditions, true and fabulous, how many songs and ballads, Arabian and Spanish, of love and war and chivalry, are associated with this Oriental pile! It was the royal abode of the Moorish kings, where, surrounded with the splendors and refinements of Asiatic luxury, they held dominion over what they vaunted as a terrestrial paradise, and made their last stand for empire in Spain. ![]() ![]() Excerpt from book: PALACE OF The Alhambra TO THE traveller imbued with a feeling for the historical and poetical, so inseparably intertwined in the annals of romantic Spain, The Alhambra is as much an object of devotion as is the Caaba to all true Moslems. ![]() ![]() Purchase of this book includes free trial access to com where you can read more than a million books for free. ![]()
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![]() ![]() even if doing so demands the greatest price of all. Xingyin must uncover the truth of her heart and claw her way through devastation - to rise against evil before it destroys everything she holds dear, and the worlds she has grown to love. The fragile peace Xingyin fought so hard for when freeing her mother is under threat.įorced to flee her home, Xingyin ventures into the unexplored lands of the Immortal Realm to seek aid in her fight, but, with alliances shifting quicker than the tides, she has to overcome past grudges and enmities to forge a new path forward, seeking aid where she never imagined. The stunning conclusion to the Celestial Kingdom DuologyĪn unspeakable terror is sweeping across the realm as the Celestial Emperor tightens his grip on power. ![]() ![]() 'Epic, romantic, and enthralling from start to finish' Stephanie Garber ![]() ![]() ![]() During this period he expanded his spiritual teachings and commented extensively in discourses on the writings of religious traditions, mystics, and philosophers from around the world. In 1970, Rajneesh spent time in Mumbai initiating followers known as "neo-sannyasins". In advocating a more open attitude to human sexuality he caused controversy in India during the late 1960s and became known as "the sex guru". Rajneesh emphasized the importance of meditation, mindfulness, love, celebration, courage, creativity and humor-qualities that he viewed as being suppressed by adherence to static belief systems, religious tradition and socialization. In the 1960s he traveled throughout India as a public speaker and was a vocal critic of socialism, Mahatma Gandhi, and Hindu religious orthodoxy. ![]() During his lifetime he was viewed as a controversial new religious movement leader and mystic. Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain, 11 December 1931 – 19 January 1990) and latter rebranded as Osho was leader of the Rajneesh movement. ![]() ![]() ![]() Out of Paige's struggle to find wholeness, Jodi Picoult crafts an absorbing novel peopled by richly drawn characters, and explores motherhood with a power and depth only she is capable of. ![]() Harvesting the Heart is written with astonishing clarity and evocative detail, convincing in its depiction of emotional pain, love, and vulnerability, and recalls the writing of Alice Hoffman and Kristin Hannah. But her mother's absence and shameful memories of her past force her to doubt whether she could ever be capable of bringing joy and meaning into the life of her child, gifts her own mother never gave. ![]() Now, having left her father behind in Chicago for dreams of art school and marriage to an ambitious young doctor, she finds herself with a child of her own. Paige has only a few vivid memories of her mother, who abandoned her at five years old. From the author of the #1 New York Times bestsellers Small Great Things and My Sister's Keeper, a novel exploring the story of a young woman overcome by the demands of having a family. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Who could have wanted Mark dead? His wife, Gabby? His girlfriend, Darcy? Someone who wanted his seat on the council? Or another citizen of this sweet Texas town that holds some seedy secrets? Job hunting, building her mixology business, and fending off late-night phone calls from her nearly betrothed don't leave much time for sleuthing. Now, she'll have to use all of her reporter's wisdom and wiles to clear her name. Since Sam mixed the drink that Mark imbibed right before his demise, she finds herself at the front of the suspect line. But the party's over for one of the council members, who keels over dead soon after he sips the bereft bride's bitter brew.It turns out that the victim, Mark, was poisoned-his drink spiked with oleander. She intends to use that as her "in" to become an in-demand party mixologist. At a meeting of the local historical-homes council, she serves up the homemade bitters that she made as gifts for her wedding party. ![]() But Sam has a way of making lemonade out of the bitterest of lemons. Bad news for Samantha Warren: The plucky Houston, Texas, reporter lost her job and her fiancé in rapid succession. ![]() A Houston reporter-turned-mixologist mixes it up with murder in this series debut from Michelle Hillen Klump, superbly catering to fans of Diane Mott Davidson and Lee Hollis. ![]() ![]() KarinĪ true healer has the gift to introduce a new way of being into your life. Whenever I hear of people having problems, I’m always very eager to tell them about else, and that they just HAVE to go and see her. ![]() Now I see Else regularly to avoid further problems with my back. ![]() In fact, I believe I would have been able to avoid my second disc operation if I had met her earlier. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to thank Else enough for what she has done for me. Else is not only a great therapist, but a great person. I think even just having someone to come and say “Of course, I will try to help you” was a great help. I have to mention, that else even came home and treated me in my bed. After the first treatment I was out of bed and could walk around without pain. My slipped disc operation was a success, but my nerves had been trapped for such a long time that they still gave me severe pain. I was in great pain and still couldn’t get out of bed, sleep or do anything really. ![]() Testimonial from Karin I called Else three days after I came home from hospital. ![]() ![]() I'm a big fan of them, and it sucks that they're 90% of the time portrayed as ruthless villains in media taking place in Africa, but this book has a nice balancing act going on. However, unlike in Kona's Song where they mythology was sparsely used, the mythical elements are a little bit more at play here with Kachula meeting his deceased daughter once and later joining the dead lions with Simba, the first king.Īnother thing I really liked was its portrayal of hyenas. I really dig how this book both mixes real lion behavior (including the darker aspects such as having to kill cubs) with more human aspects and even some mythology. I felt that it was a slight improvement over the last, and lives up to its potential way more. I liked this book quite a lot, even better than Kona's Song. And even after they manage to obtain one, it's not an easy task to keep their subjects safe. They soon grow successful at survival, but they wish to have a pride of their own. When he is a young-adult and two nomad males take over, he and his brother Shango are banished and now forced to look after themselves. We meet Kachula, a young lion living in his own pride. Turns out, the author did write another book, this time about lions, so let's have a look. It was a fine book that had quite a bit of unrealized potential, so I did want to read more by Searl. ![]() I've previously reviewed Kona's Song, a book about wolves by the same author. ![]() ![]() ![]() Facing betrayal at every turn, all he knows is that he must go to Tulan to avenge his grandfather. Kamran, meanwhile, is picking up the pieces in Ardunia. ![]() But without a way to escape Tulan, and with the fulfillment of her own destiny tantalizingly close, she’ll have to decide whether she can set aside her emotions to become the queen her people need. Cyrus has stolen Alizeh away to his homeland and plans to marry her there, giving her everything she needs to become the Jinn queen-and when she assumes the throne he will have fulfilled his own bargain with the devil.Īlizeh wants nothing to do with Cyrus’s deal or the devil. Kamran’s grandfather lays dead at the hand of Cyrus, ruler of the neighboring kingdom of Tulan. When Kamran, the heir to the human throne, falls in love with her, he’s forced to question everything he’s been taught about Jinn. And so have both of their lives.Īlizeh, the heir to the Jinn throne, is destined to free her people from the half-lives they’ve been forced to live under human rule. With the heat of a kiss, the walls between Alizeh, the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom, and Kamran, the crown prince of the Ardunian empire, have crumbled. ![]() Instant #1 New York Times bestseller! Full of explosive magic, searing romance, and heartbreaking betrayal, this breathtaking sequel to This Woven Kingdom is from the award-winning and bestselling author of the Shatter Me series and is perfect for fans of Leigh Bardugo, Sabaa Tahir, and Tomi Adeyemi. ![]() ![]() ![]() “Piketty has written an extraordinarily important book…In its scale and sweep it brings us back to the founders of political economy.”-Martin Wolf, Financial Times “Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is an intellectual tour de force, a triumph of economic history over the theoretical, mathematical modeling that has come to dominate the economics profession in recent years.”-Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post It may well manage the feat.”- The Economist “The book aims to revolutionize the way people think about the economic history of the past two centuries. ![]() “It seems safe to say that Capital in the Twenty-First Century, the magnum opus of the French economist Thomas Piketty, will be the most important economics book of the year-and maybe of the decade.”-Paul Krugman, New York Times In May 2020 a full-length documentary film based on Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century opened via virtual screenings at independent theaters across the United States. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() When the road dips again there are stretches of marshland that one instinctively dislikes, and indeed almost fears at evening when unseen whippoorwills chatter and the fireflies come out in abnormal profusion to dance to the raucous, creepily insistent rhythms of stridently piping bullfrogs. It is noted that "much of the physical description of the Dunwich countryside is a faithful sketch of Wilbraham:" ( EXP: The Dunwich Horror and Others)ĭunwich is "a vague echo of the decadent Massachusetts countryside around Springfield - say Wilbraham, Monson and Hampden." ( HPL: Selected Letters 3.508) One such legend is the notion that whippoorwills can capture the departing soul. ( HPL: letter to August Derleth, August 4, 1928, EXP: The Dunwich Horror and Others) The action "takes place amongst the wild domed hills of the upper Miskatonic Valley, far northwest of Arkham, and is based on several old New England legends - one of which I heard only last month during my sojourn in Wilbraham," a town east of Springfield. ![]() |