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Child 44:
Book Review: “Italy Travel Guide: Top 40 Beautiful Places You Can’t Miss! “
31 Mar“Italy Travel Guide:
Top 40 Beautiful Places You Can’t Miss!”
by Manuel de Cortes
A handy tour guide gifted to visitors in Italy.
Manuel de Cortes’s recent book, “Italy Travel Guide: Top 40 Beautiful Places You Can’t Miss” is an resources for travelers or students interested in visiting Italy. At 125 pages, the book is small but still contains quite a bit of useful information on locations worth checking out during your trip.
I’ve never been to Italy, so I cannot actually tell you if the places he recommends are truly the best. But I looked up some reviews and pictures of the spots, and I would definitely want to check them out if it were me. I’m planning my dream trip to Italy one day, and this book gave me some great ideas 🙂
There are seven Chapters, including the introduction and conclusion. He has divided the country into a general overview, North Italy, Central Italy, South Italy, and the Islands. Each gets its own description and list of recommended locations. In addition to brief descriptions, he also throws in the fun fact here and there to spice up your trip.
The book is a little simple, and he doesn’t include directions or tell you how to reach these spots. And it’s usually recommending a larger area (this city, that pot), so specifics like where to find dinner or shop aren’t here. That will be up to you. But it is a good place to find ideas if you want to get a good look at all the different areas in the country.
Writing style: Pretty good. Some of the writing could have been edited better, but I feel that with a decent editor it would read like a professional. Mr. Cortes has written several other books, and is obviously familiar with the writing process. The book is self-published, and you can tell in some places. But overall, I really liked the flow and all the information he includes. A lot of people seem to have really appreciated his use of pictures – he has one for almost all of the major locations. It certainly helps you find them on the streets.
If you are planning a trip to Italy, I recommend checking his book out. You can find it on Amazon as a cheap E-book ($2.99) so you can carry it with you as you tour 🙂
BUY ON AMAZON
Book Recommendation: “Child 44”
30 MarChild 44:
by Tom Rob Smith
““—Isn’t this how it starts? You have a cause you believe in, a cause worth dying for. Soon, it’s a cause worth killing for. Soon, it’s a cause worth killing innocent people for.” Continue reading
” O’ Winter! Ruler of th’ Inverted Year”
6 Feb“A Winter Scene” by Renaboo
William Cowper
from his work: “The Task“
Oh Winter! ruler of th’ inverted year,
Thy scatter’d hair with sleet like ashes fill’d,
Thy breath congeal’d upon thy lips, thy cheeks
Fring’d with a beard made white with other snows
Than those of age; thy forehead wrapt in clouds,
A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne
A sliding car, indebted to no wheels,
But urg’d by storms along its slipp’ry way;
I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem’st,
And dreaded as thou art! Thou hold’st the sun
A pris’ner in the yet undawning East,
Short’ning his journey between morn and noon,
And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,
Down to the rosy West; but kindly still
Compensating his loss with added hours
Of social converse and instructive ease,
And gathering at short notice, in one group,
The family dispers’d, and fixing thought,
Not less dispers’d by day-light and its cares.
I crown thee King of intimate delights,
Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturb’d retirement, and the hours
Of long uninterrupted evening, know.
“Clearing Rain” – Poetry I Love
17 Dec“Autumn in the Big City” by Spirosart
“Clearing Rain” by Du Fu (758)
The sky’s water has fallen, and autumn clouds are thin,
The western wind has blown ten thousand li.
This morning’s scene is good and fine,
Long rain has not harmed the land.
The row of willows begins to show green,
The pear tree on the hill has little red flowers.
A hujia pipe begins to play upstairs,
One goose flies high into the sky.
雨晴（一作秋霁）
天水秋云薄
从西万里风
今朝好晴景
久雨不妨农
塞柳行疏翠
山梨结小红
胡笳楼上发
一雁入高空
yǔ qíng（yī zuò qiū jì）
tiān shuǐ qiū yún báo
cóng xī wàn lǐ fēng
jīn zhāo hǎo qíng jǐng
jiǔ yǔ bù fáng nóng
sāi liǔ háng shū cuì
shān lí jiē xiǎo hóng
hú jiā lóu shàng fā
yī yàn rù gāo kōng
tiān shuǐ qiū yún báo
cóng xī wàn lǐ fēng
jīn zhāo hǎo qíng jǐng
jiǔ yǔ bù fáng nóng
sāi liǔ háng shū cuì
shān lí jiē xiǎo hóng
hú jiā lóu shàng fā
yī yàn rù gāo kōng
Build Your Own Virtues
13 Nov
“People are often unreasonable and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.”
**Mother Teresa
The Erl-King ~ by Johanne Wolfgang Von Goethe
11 NovThe Erl King 1 by odingraphics
The Erl-King
by Johanne Wolfgang Von Goethe
WHO rides there so late through the night dark and drear?
The father it is, with his infant so dear;
He holdeth the boy tightly clasp’d in his arm,
He holdeth him safely, he keepeth him warm.
“My son, wherefore seek’st thou thy face thus to hide?”
“Look, father, the Erl-King is close by our side!
Dost see not the Erl-King, with crown and with train?”
“My son, ’tis the mist rising over the plain.” Continue reading
Random Lit. Crit. Question ~ The Sleeping Beauty Fairies
28 JunRandom Question:
Have you every wondered what Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) would have been like had the fairies not given their birthday presents? Would she have been ugly, stupid, a horrible singer, nonspiritual, ungraceful, unmusical, and unhappy? Or were a couple of those wishes wasted on her? I suddenly had this mental image of wondering how she changed after their wishes. Was she a bald baby that suddenly grew a full head of hair? Were her teething cries suddenly full-on choreographed musical numbers? What was the REAL Aurora like?
Were these changes really any good for her? Perhaps she would not have married Philip and enchanted the birds, but did she suddenly lose her original soulmate by no longer being likely to stumble into his path? Or would Philip have fallen for her anyway? Does this mean that Philip was really more shallow than we thought, if he needed a perfect princess to fall in love? I mean, it’s no wonder he fell at first musical chord. And if she lost her first soulmate (the one who loved the original her), does this mean she stole Philip’s soulmate? The one that was made for him before the fairies changed Aurora’s life?
Other than saving her life, how did they change her future? And did her mother miss the original Aurora? Taking the story way too seriously, but that’s what you get with an English major. 🙂
Waiting in Silence
27 JunRandom Literary Criticism Question. . . do you know what this poem is describing?
WAITING IN SILENCE
Pounding. Pounding. Pounding.
Always ever stomping, chest drum beating
Thudding up and down, up and down.
Heart forcing its way up and out.
Racing here. There. Back. There. Again.
Never closing, always opening. Wider, Wider.
Espying, Missing. Chasing, Searching, Seeking. There!
Eyes ever seeing what remains unseen.
HELP. Help. help. Shhh.
Choking. Stopping. Breath intangible, concrete.
Words Spilling Out in Air. Hanging. Fading. Gone.
Voice Screaming whispered cries falling from speechless lips.
Never Give In. Never Give Up. Never Stop Fighting.
30 MayI’m not a son, but I needed this message today 🙂
MOTHER TO SON
by LANGSTON HUGHES
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin’ on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in the dark
Where there ain’t been no light.
So boy, don’t you turn back.
Don’t you set down on the steps
’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.
Don’t you fall now—
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’,
And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.
“She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderess, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” ~ Roman Payne
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