![]() ![]() But saying the sex we have is harmful-that's a tougher story to market. Buzz RatingĪndrew Sullivan and a few papers have talked up the book, but Pornland hasn't gained much traction. Now it is mainstream, and undermining the ways men and women approach sex. The result? Dines argues that aspiring producers are turning out more and more "gonzo porn," which is extreme, is graphic, and was once relegated to the fringes. With more than 370 million Internet sites, that means it takes something pretty shocking to stand out. ![]() Pornographers are no longer in the business of making love, Dines says. ![]() And if, as Dines argues, porn really is becoming a celebrated, completely commonplace facet of American life, this voice railing against the sex-saturated machine testifies to some pretty miserable sexual values infiltrating the culture. All of it is quite familiar, but recited together, as Dines has done in her book, it's a sobering reality check. ![]() Female porn stars are simultaneously dehumanized and exalted. Playboy logos adorn backpacks and Miley Cyrus looks like a stripper dancing on a pole. Profits, not pleasure, drive the porn industry. ![]()
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![]() She wanted to leave Cadiz and explore the other stars in her galaxy and beyond. Amani is a dreamer, who loves poetry and believes in the power of hope. She lives in a poor and impoverished village in Cadiz. The Vathek are determined to wipe out the entire civilization of Cadiz by destroying their customs, traditions, and language.Īmani emerges as the protagonist of Mirage. It has been captured by the ruthless and brutal invaders from the planet Vaxor – the Vath empire. The story is set in the fantasy world of Cadiz, a lonely moon to the planet Andala in the Mizaal Galaxy. Mirage is her debut novel and the first book in the Mirage duology. Somaiya Daud is passionate about Arabic poetry and the cosmos. She worked as a bookseller in Washington DC while pursuing her master’s degree. ![]() ![]() Somaiya pursued a degree in English literature with a specialization in world literature and nineteenth-century Orientalism. ![]() She took to writing from a very young age. Somaiya Daud is a PhD holder from the University of Washington. ![]() ![]() ![]() Can this mismatched threesome improvise a successful "second run" despite deep-rooted animosities and seemingly insurmountable barriers? Or will bitterness and bigotry forever steal center stage? A daughter's determination, a mother's mistrust, and a father's faith collide in this witty and powerful story of healing, forgiveness, and family. ![]() Meanwhile, Aziz (the father of two in an arranged marriage) follows a script all his own trying to convert his newfound daughter to Islam. ![]() While Sonya struggles to keep a tenuous hold over rebellious Raz, she stubbornly sets her sights on transforming her mom's "sperm donor" into a doting dad. But Raz prefers drawing to drama and has no problem defying her mom to get what she wants-be it piercing her own ears, doing a dumb dare, or hunting down her biological father, Aziz. Alone and forsaken by her family, Sonya tries to keep her dream alive through her "stage daughter," Razia, now a precocious pre-teen enrolled in a competitive performing arts school. Sonya Schoenberg dreamed of someday becoming a famous actress, but instead, a hapless, one-time tryst with a Muslim man lands her the lifetime role of single mother. ![]() "Cultures clash in this engaging, heartfelt novel about a single mother forced to face unresolved feelings from the past when her 12-year-old daughter insists on connecting with the father she's never known." Stephanie Lehmann, author of Astor Place Vintage Every unmarried woman fears unwanted pregnancy (just as every married man dreads discovering he fathered an unknown child). ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() P: This story fits into American history because in this story because in America everybody wants to be "perfect" and the mother in the story wants her son to marry the ideal "perfect". She was a woman of power, of determination, of concrete and steel." She was Michael's mother, and she had all the tenderness of the Titanic. In the book it says "Marion was no flower girl. She is not a very nice lady and would do anything to keep her son from marrying Nancy. Marion carried on the family business after her dad died and then again after her husband died. Michaels mom hates her, she thinks that it is just a "fling" and that her son can do better. She was hoping that her and Michael could get married after graduation and live happily ever after, but there is one problem with that. Michael means the world to her and she has never really had someone like that because she doesn't have a family. Nancy and Michael are madly in love and do everything together. ![]() ![]() Both authors were aware that they were different from, and experienced the world differently from, everyone else from very early in their lives. 128 ISBN 1‐85302‐724‐3 £12.95 (pbk) These two books are first‐person accounts of what it is like to live with an autistic‐spectrum disorder in a nonautistic or ‘neurologically typical’ world. 144 ISBN 1‐85302‐749‐9, £12.95 (pbk) Discovering My Autism: Apologia Pro Vita Sua (with Apologies to Cardinal Newman) Edgar Schneider London Jessica Kingsley 1999 pp. Liane Holliday Willey London Jessica Kingsley 1999 pp. Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome Pretending to be Normal: Living with Asperger's Syndrome ![]() ![]() ![]() Bound by their need, they came together in a blaze of passion –Saura, the proud Norman beauty, and William, the golden warrior who laid siege to her heart. ![]() But that was before his world exploded in agonizing darkness. She lived a life of lonely servitude until she was summoned to the castle of Sir William of Miraval, the magnificent knight sworn to live–or perish–by the sword. Yet her fortune and her day-to-day existence were controlled by her unscrupulous stepfather. ![]() Raven-haired Lady Saura of Roget was the loveliest maiden in all Christendom, unrivalled in face and figure. Two lovers ignite a world of darkness with their wild, breathless passion. You can read this before Candle in the Window (Medieval, #1) PDF EPUB full Download at the bottom. ![]() Here is a quick description and cover image of book Candle in the Window (Medieval, #1) written by Christina Dodd which was published in January 30th 2007. Brief Summary of Book: Candle in the Window (Medieval, #1) by Christina Dodd ![]() ![]() ![]() I listened to Incarceron on audio so when my library got Sapphique on audio as well I was ecstatic. ![]() I really enjoyed the first book in Incarceron Series, by Catherine Fisher. If Keiro steals the glove, will he bring destruction to the world? Inside. ![]() Sapphique, whose image fires Incarceron with the desire to escape its own nature. Is he the lost prince Giles? Or are his memories no more than another construct of his imprisonment? And can you be free if your friends are still captive? Can you be free if your world is frozen in time? Can you be free if you don’t even know who you are? Inside Incarceron, has the crazy sorcerer Rix really found the Glove of Sapphique, the only man the Prison ever loved. Outside, Claudia insists he must be king, but Finn doubts even his own identity. Sapphique (Incarceron #2) Catherine Fisher Published: December 28, 2010įinn has escaped from the terrible living Prison of Incarceron, but its memory torments him, because his brother Keiro is still inside. ![]() ![]() ![]() The lack of transparency makes it difficult to know where the system is going right and where it is going wrong. One of AI's main alignment challenges is its black box nature (inputs and outputs are identifiable but the transformation process in between is undetermined). He tells the story of Julia Angwin, a journalist whose ProPublica investigation of the COMPAS algorithm, a tool for predicting recidivism among criminal defendants, led to widespread criticism of its accuracy and bias towards certain demographics. In the first section, Christian interweaves discussions of the history of artificial intelligence research, particularly the machine learning approach of artificial neural networks such as the Perceptron and AlexNet, with examples of how AI systems can have unintended behavior. Each section covers researchers and engineers working on different challenges in the alignment of artificial intelligence with human values. The book is divided into three sections: Prophecy, Agency, and Normativity. It is based on numerous interviews with experts trying to build artificial intelligence systems, particular machine learning systems, that are aligned with human values. The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values is a 2020 non-fiction book by the American writer Brian Christian. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And if the story was more about characters than world or plot, well, I kinda like that. Otherwise, this little indie book scratched the itch – it had the drama of a fantasy world, the romance focus I love, and characters that fired up my imagination. The story tries, it really does, to make up for the skewed power dynamic. Oh and she has the baggage of a lifetime of slavery to overcome. ![]() As the story goes on, alongside being a spy, Martise becomes Sil’s apprentice, servant, and (no spoiler here, guys, we knew it was coming) lover – sometimes simultaneously. But but but, I’m squeamish when it comes to professor-student, mentor-mentee, and employer-employee romances. Powerful, tortured hero meets terrible-past heroine, and slowly, from animosity, we get affection as they both realize that the other is a human being worthy of love and respect. On the one hand, it has all of the kind of intrigue I love in my fantasy/romance. So, I loved The Master of Crows, and I really didn’t love The Master of Crows. ![]() She’s set up to be his scribe and apprentice. This is the strongest aspect of the book for me. Draven has cleverly constructed her fantasy world, which shows evidence of careful and thoughtful world-building throughout. On the other, you have Martise a young slavewoman-turned-spy who’s been promised her freedom if she is able to find the proof of Silhara’s crimes that would lead to his execution. Master of Crows is a romance first and foremost, set in a fantasy world of mages and gods. Welp, on the one hand, you have the renegade sorcerer Silhara, reticent avatar of the evil god, Corruption. Who needs plot? The Book I Ended Up Reading. Here’s another cover that I couldn’t pass by. Author Grace Draven has created a vivid, harsh, magical world. ![]() ![]() This did not influence my thoughts or opinions. Thanks to the publisher, author, and narrator for a listening copy of Later for review consideration. With echoes of King’s classic novel IT, Later is a powerful, haunting, unforgettable exploration of what it takes to stand up to evil in all the faces it wears. Later is Stephen King at his finest, a terrifying and touching story of innocence lost and the trials that test our sense of right and wrong. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. ![]() #1 bestselling author Stephen King returns with a brand-new novel about the secrets we keep buried and the cost of unearthing them. ![]() |