I found an interesting slideshow on the online Encyclopaedia Brittanica, about Charles Dickens and his penchant for inflicting various symptoms upon his characters...
"English novelist Charles Dickens had a knack for expertly portraying the symptoms of medical conditions. He also had a tendency to slip those descriptions into his works in subtle terms, such that historians and physicians have made it something of a hobby to interpret them medically and attempt to diagnose afflicted characters. In some cases, Dickens’s descriptions actually predated those offered by medical doctors, revealing his skill for observation. "Dickensian diagnoses" ascribed to nine of the novelist’s characters are explored in this list." - Kara Rogers
You can read the article here- meanwhile I am going to start reading Great Expectations...
That time of the year has come around again.
You book lovers know what I am talking about - BEA. Book Expo America. I am once again devastated that I cannot attend (the fact that I live on a different continent is not a factor!), and am envying the goodies that are being displayed in the blog world. On her blog, author Elizabeth Norris talks about some great looking books in her BEA giveaway posts, which can be found here, here, here.. and here.
Some of the ones that I picked up on were:
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell "Bono met his wife in high school," Park says. "So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers. "I’m not kidding," he says. "You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen." "What about Romeo and Juliet?" "Shallow, confused, then dead." ''I love you," Park says. "Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers. "I’m not kidding," he says. "You should be."
Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under. Just Like Fate by Cat Patrick & Suzanne Young I love Cat Patrick, she is always involved with interesting concepts, and Elizabeth Norris siad that it's "like a Sliding Doors for Teens". Sounds good, no? Caroline is at a crossroads. Her grandmother is sick, maybe dying. Like the rest of her family, Caroline's been at Gram's bedside since her stroke. With the pressure building, all Caroline wants to do is escape--both her family and the reality of Gram's failing health. So when Caroline's best friend offers to take her to a party one fateful Friday night, she must choose: stay by Gram's side, or go to the party and live her life.
The consequence of this one decision will split Caroline's fate into two separate paths--and she's about to live them both.
Friendships are tested and family drama hits an all-new high as Caroline attempts to rebuild old relationships, and even make a few new ones. If she stays, her longtime crush, Joel, might finally notice her, but if she goes, Chris, the charming college boy, might prove to be everything she's ever wanted. Though there are two distinct ways for her fate to unfold, there is only one happy ending...
Parasite by Mira Grant A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease.
We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the tapeworm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them.
But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives... and will do anything to get them.
I first learned about this new YA novel by Rick Yancey when I stumbled across the first trailer in a series of four. Based around the premise of the novel, each trailer depicts one of the first four 'waves' that aliens are using to destroy the human race. Apart from the lure of this clever marketing technique, I found the trailers well directed and produced. This only enticed me more into reading the book. I watched the vlog on 365 Days of Reading, and decided it had to be my next read.
The Passage meets Ender's Game in an epic new series from award-winning author Rick Yancey.
After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.
The alien, sci-fi genre not really your thing? Don't worry, me neither, but I have heard that it's not really about that anyway. In an interview with the Yancey, he assured:
"RICK YANCEY: Because it isn’t! It’s about us after a
devastating, species-threatening event...The 5th Wave
is sci-fi, but I tried very hard to ground the story in very human
terms and in those universal themes that transcend genre. How do we
define ourselves? What, exactly, does it mean to be human? What remains
after everything we trust, everything we believe in and rely upon, has
been stripped away?"
