Talia Hibbert, More Life Chloe Brown!
(AST)
Chloe Brown is a web designer and a stay-at-home girl who, in her opinion, leads a rather boring lifestyle.
One day, a girl miraculously avoids an accident in which she could die.
After that, Chloe decides to change everything.
A lover of making all sorts of lists, she is preparing another one - called "Take care of your life."
The heroine plans, for example, to move, ride a motorcycle, travel the world with only hand luggage and do something bad, and decides to quickly add to the plan.
However, it turns out that changing lives in an instant is not so easy.
However, she quickly finds an assistant in the person of the charming handyman Red.
In the US, the book was first published in 2019 and was named the best romance novel of the year by Publishers Weekly, Amazon, Apple and Kirkus.
"More life, Chloe Brown!"
The first part of the Hibbert trilogy about the Brown sisters.
“She broke into a sweat.
I got dizzy.
You need to sit down, right now, so that you don't fall, so that your head doesn't crack open like an egg on a marble tile.
I immediately remembered the words of my mother: “We need to change the sexes.
These fainting spells become completely unpredictable.
She'll break down."
But Chloe insisted it wasn't necessary.
She promised to be careful and, by God, she kept her word.
Slowly, very slowly, she slid down to the floor.
She placed her clammy palms on the cool tiles.
Inhaled.
Exhaled.
Inhaled.
As she exhaled, she whispered in a voice like cracking glass:
“If I died today, what would the eulogy sound like?”
“This incredible bore had exactly zero friends, she had not traveled for the last ten years, although there were plenty of opportunities, she wrote code on weekends and never did anything that was not planned in her diary.
Don't mourn her: she's in a better place now.
Even in paradise, life is not so boring.”
That's what they would say about her at her funeral.
Perhaps someone especially caustic and mischievous like Piers Morgan would read the speech over the radio.
- Chloe?
Gigi called.
- Where are you ... Oh, there you are.
Are you all right?
Lying flat on the floor, gasping for air like a dying fish, Chloe said cheerfully:
- Thanks, everything is fine".
© AST
Alex Pappadimas, "Keanu Reeves: Victories, Sorrows and Rules of Life" (ABC-Atticus)
Writer and journalist Alex Pappadimas in a new book recalls his interactions with the star of "The Matrix" and "John Wick" Keanu Reeves, whom he interviewed for GQ.
The author tells what an artist is like in life, but a small part of the book is reserved for this.
First of all, Pappadimas is looking for connections between the actor himself and the numerous characters he has played.
According to the writer, all films with Keanu Reeves are partly autobiographical.
So, Pappadimas notes that both Neo from the first "Matrix" and Reeves himself live in fictitious images, only one - in the program, and the other - as a celebrity, whose public image differs from the real one.
In the film "Constantine: Lord of Darkness", according to the writer, the restless atmosphere of Los Angeles after the September 11, 2001 attacks and the anxiety of the townspeople is reflected - therefore Reeves' character turned out to be unusually gloomy.
“Neo lives in a fictitious image imposed on him by external forces;
among other things, this is one of the features of the life of a star.
Neo is lost in Thomas Anderson - and Keanu, when he is offered a role in The Matrix, is also lost in the confusion of his public image, an action hero and a reluctant celebrity.
The Matrix uses his movie star persona.
It turns Keanu's own life - an action hero and celebrity who aspired to be neither and is constantly the victim of external forces - into a metaphor.
Being Neo is like being a movie star.
Everyone you meet knows who you are;
everyone has their own opinion about you and whether you are capable of fulfilling your destiny.
And everyone wants to see how you kung fu: when Morpheus fights Neo in the simulator, the other members of the Nebuchadnezzar team rush to the monitors to stare, and this is a surrogate for our own delight from the scene with the fight between Fishburne and Keanu on the screen.
© Azbuka-Atticus
Chris Bojalian, "Hour of the Witch" (MYTH)
The Witching Hour is set in Boston in 1662, at a time when a woman could be called fallen for talking to a stranger, or a witch for using herbs for medicinal purposes.
The main character is 24-year-old Mary, the wife of an influential man.
Everyone considers him kind and generous, although in fact he is still a tyrant.
One day Mary, out of sympathy for someone else's sick child, offers him herbs that can alleviate his condition.
Others find out about this, and the husband in anger sticks a fork into the girl's hand.
Mary decides to get a divorce, but soon unpleasant rumors begin to hover around her.
Then the heroine has a problem more serious than her tyrant husband: she is threatened with the gallows.
Chris Bojalian is best known as the author of the novels Midwives and Girls of the Sandcastle, and his book Flight Attendant formed the basis of the Kaley Cuoco series of the same name.
“We do not accuse Mary Deerfield of witchcraft.
At least not formally.
Katherine Stillman only confirms what she saw that night and what she thought.
Seeing her mistress with the teeth of the Devil, she was afraid that perhaps all this summer Mary Deerfield did not help her brother with her herbs, but in fact even aggravated his condition.
Mary is friends with Constance Winston, a strange old woman who lives on the Neck and who, as we know, was friends with the hanged witch Anna Gibbens.
It was Constance Winston who taught Mary Deerfield everything she knew about herbs.
“Yes, I know who Constance Winston is, and I know about her relationship with Anna,” the governor said, his voice sad and weary.
"Gibbens," he added abruptly, emphasizing both syllables unnaturally, as if by referring to the hanged witch by name alone he was being overly familiar.
“Catherine thinks it possible,” Bristol continued, “that Mary Deerfield tried to aggravate her brother's illness.
Mary wanted to arrange for Satan to take Catherine's brother, and in return, Mary herself, until then barren, would conceive a child.
© MIF
Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu, Medieval France.
From the 11th century to the Black Death (1348)" (AST)
The book by Marie-Anne Polo de Beaulieu is a reference book on the Middle Ages, which is designed to help all those interested in understanding the many nuances associated with the era.
Readers will open the veil of secrecy over some mysteries - from the Templars to witches - will find answers to questions that may appear after going to the museum, and will also understand that even today they are surrounded by elements of the Middle Ages.
The reference book covers the time period from the beginning of the 11th century to the plague epidemic called the Black Death, which occurred in 1348.
The book tells about the events that unfolded on the territory of modern France.
“For a person of the Middle Ages, there is no single system of time reference - he obeys various interrelated time rhythms.
Knowledge of the future afterlife makes him think about the purpose of the human soul (the Last Judgment and the resurrection from the dead) and his own end (hence the Latin expression Memento mori - "Remember death").
The cyclical repetition of years brings with it the alternation of the seasons (associated with certain agricultural works and special rites dedicated to their onset) and numerous church holidays (the days of specific saints, as well as important stages in the life of Christ and the Virgin Mary).
Calendar landmarks, such as month, week and day, for a person of the Middle Ages are closer to everyday existence, even if specific dates are more often associated with major holidays, and not just with a table of days in a month.
Human life is also marked by rituals dedicated to the transition to the next age, which the Church tries to link with religious sacraments (baptism, first communion, chrismation, wedding and unction).”
© AST
Erich von Däniken, Confessions of an Egyptologist.
Lost libraries, vanished labyrinths and unexpected truth under the vaults of the pyramids in Saqqara" (ABC-Atticus)
Erich von Däniken's book begins with a memoir of a terrorist attack that occurred on November 17, 1997 near the Egyptian city of Luxor.
Then the militants shot 68 people, including 58 foreigners.
Among the victims was a local tour guide, Egyptologist Adele, thanks to whom von Daniken discovered some knowledge.
According to Adel, in addition to the official history of Egypt, there is a story that is strictly classified from a simple layman.
He came into full contact with it when he spent several days in an underground labyrinth under the pyramid in Saqqara, and discovered something "impossible".
“I have no doubt that aliens have indeed visited our planet.
They are still in orbit today, studying our languages, politics, and religion, recording our communications systems, and evaluating our knowledge of viruses and bacteria.
And although it is rarely talked about — or not talked about at all — I am convinced that we are currently being swept up in a whirlwind of paradigm shift.
The spirit of the era is changing,” says Erich von Däniken
“The history of Egypt is known and at the same time unknown,” he began hesitantly, “and the unknown part is much older than we imagine.
New chambers and corridors are opened every year.
More than eighty years ago, in the fall of 1933, the archaeologist Salim Hassan stumbled upon a shaft just below the ramp leading to the pyramid of Khafre.
Due to groundwater, he managed to move only 15 meters deep into the rock.
Twelve years later, the Egyptologist Abdel Moneim Abu Bakr explored the side tunnel that led from the main shaft to the pyramid of Cheops and discovered several chambers to the right and left of it.
Today they are all looted.
I don't know what was inside.
Then several brothers from the Rasul clan managed to pump out part of the groundwater.
They had to work hard, because the pump constantly failed and water seeped into the shaft again.
Adele paused, as if gathering his courage, then continued.
“Erich,” he spread his arms, as if about to hug me, “there, under a layer of crystal clear water, is a sarcophagus.
The lid weighs probably several tons and is carved with incredible precision.
It is slightly shifted to the side, and the sarcophagus itself is empty, but we know for sure that several shafts extend from this underground chamber in different directions.
© Azbuka-Atticus
Kylie Lee Baker, Night of the Shinigami, (MYTH)
The author of the book Kylie Lee Baker has Japanese, Chinese and Irish roots.
The cultures of these countries influence her work, including new historical fantasy aimed at young people.
Shinigami Night intertwines Japanese mythology with the Victorian era.
The main character Ren is the daughter of a British reaper and a Japanese shinigami (goddess of death).
In London, she, along with other reapers, is collecting souls, but she feels like a stranger.
One day, Ren finds out about his unusual abilities and runs away to Japan.
There she will be in the realm of the dead and will receive an important task from the goddess of death.
“This is an amazing story about finding your roots and identity.
The risky decisions of the characters, the carefully built world, the skillfully written characters - all this creates a book that is required reading," says the author of the best-selling "The Silence of the Bones" Joon Hyur.
“I draped the watch chain around my neck like a locket, made sure the metal touched my skin, and got to work.
She pressed the forehead of the dying man, preventing him from moving, and put her thumb in his mouth, unclenching his jaw.
The man was panting and crying as I pushed my hand deep down his throat.
Feeling the blurred edges of his soul, I grabbed it and pulled it out.
From the man's lips floated a cloud of golden mist, sparkling with bright lights that all moved at the same time, like constellations.
I've come across souls made of black tar and bile, souls made of pale pink cotton candy, and even souls made of fireworks.
Like all human life, souls are unique and beautiful for only a brief moment, and then crumble to dust.
The soul whirled aimlessly as I uncorked the vial, and quickly seeped in, drawn by the bone glass.
As soon as I sealed the vial, the soul became cloudy, turned gray and fell to the bottom as ashes.
I cut the number 7 on the cork with a penknife, as it was my seventh victim of the night, put the vessel in a bag, tightened it with a cord and threw it into my pocket, where it blurted out on the six previous vials.
© MIF
Alexey Balabanov, "Brother and Brother 2" (AST)
The work "Brother and Brother 2" is a novelization of cult films by Alexei Balabanov with Sergei Bodrov Jr. in the title role.
The book, in the format of two short novels, tells the well-known story of a simple guy Danila Bagrov.
Also on the pages are exclusive shots from the filming of the tapes.
The book opens with an article by film critic Mikhail Trofimenkov, in which the author recalls the day of the premiere of the first "Brother" and discusses the importance of Balabanov's films.
“The instant decision of Balabanov, who saw Bodrov in Sochi in The Prisoner of the Caucasus, to make a film together - namely “together”, and not “with” - is an example of director's intuition, even shove it into filmmaking textbooks.
Unthinkable, within the limits of statistical error, the cost of production.
Balabanov's flannel shirts and a sweater bought at a flea market, in which Nadya Vasilyeva, costume designer and director's wife, dressed Danila Bagrova - props in the genre of "need for inventions are cunning" have almost become memes.
The fruit is an apple.
The poet is Pushkin.
Balabanov is the last genius of Russian cinema.
Bodrov is the last hero.
“You’re not my brother… Do you have “Wings”?… Let’s stick out…
But even a quarter of a century later you ask yourself: what was it?
What is "Brother", this crystal clear, apparently uncomplicated thing in itself?
The unthinkable critical and journalistic srach - you can't say otherwise - that accompanied the triumph of "Brother", reduced the film to an ideological phenomenon.
© AST