Mists Of Avalon Msn Group Or Community

What are some historical fiction/non-fiction books would you highly recommend to read?

Spartacus by Howard Fast is pretty great. I, Claudius and Claudius the God by Robert Graves are worth reading — and just watching the old 1970s TV miniseries from Britain called I, Claudius is worth doing. They had no budget. All they had were years of meticulous research, reading the Roman historians Graves had drawn on, plus his good novels, plus terrific scripts and actors. (The film of Spartacus, starring Kirk Douglas with a script by Dalton Trumbo, is also worth watching.) I must confess that Gone With the Wind is a guilty pleasure of mine — the book and the film. In some ways it does reflect the racist limitations of its author’s time and place (though it’s set earlier, obviously, during the Civil War). At many points, in various ways, it transcends those limitations, and its depiction of a woman making her way in a man’s world is interesting. There’s a strange sense of dislocation for American readers as one reads about the Siege of Atlanta, with Yankees invading as a foreign army . . . but what it comes down to is that Margaret Mitchell is just so preposterously readable. It’s a total page-turner; there’s a reason it’s one of the best-selling books of all time.I like E.L. Doctorow’s novel Ragtime. He’s done other such historical novels. I like Gore Vidal’s novel Burr about Aaron Burr who killed Hamilton. I haven’t read his other ones. Philip Roth’s novel The Plot Against America is science fiction, in a way; it’s set in an alternate universe in which Charles Lindbergh becomes president instead of FDR having a third term. But it’s an interesting book.Alexandre Dumas’ historical “romances” The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo are set in an earlier period than when he wrote them, and they’re lots of fun. I would say this about almost no other book — but go ahead and read an abridged version of The Count of Monte Cristo. He wrote it in installments for magazines, he was paid by the word, and it goes meandering off in all kinds of crazy directions . . . the subplots have subplots. Tolstoi’s War and Peace was written long after the Napoleonic Wars. If you were up for reading a play — Arthur Miller wrote The Crucible as a parable for the McCarthy era witch hunts for communists he was living through, though the play is set during the witch trials in colonial Salem.

Is studying in Australia worth it?

Australia is one of the most popular destination for further studies by all the international students who came for getting admission in the Australian Universities and Colleges from all over the parts of the world.Below are some of the reasons for internation students to get attracted to the Australia for further studies:-It is on the third position among all developed counries of the world like USA and UK in the field of education.It helps the students to provide a wide range of courses available in the Australian Universities and Colleges. They can choose by their interests.It helps the student to get high quality of education in both the Universities and Colleges.It provides a better job options available for the international students after studying in the Australian Universities and Colleges.There is no language barrier as all international students can study as well as communicate with the English language.There is a plenty of scholarships available for international student who want to study in the Universities and Colleges of the Australia.The Australia is having a very good climatic conditions as it makes easy to settle down by the international students in the country, Australia.There is a very friendly people in the Australia which motivates people to come and study further like there is no racism or other spoiled things.The degrees provided by the Australian Universities and Colleges are recognized all over the world. Students can move to another country also for further studies.The facilities related to the research and education are world class in the Universities and Colleges of the Australia which attracts the international students for further studies.

Who are your favorite female authors?

Jane AustenSorry to be a predictable chick, but I don't like her just for Mr. Darcy. He's nice and all, but I love her sharp wit and keen observations the most. See more: Cristina Hartmann's answer to What is so great about Jane Austen?Isabel AllendeThere's just something so quintessentially Latin American about her writing. The female touch that she gives to magical realism (which has been traditionally a male-dominated genre) really livened things up for me.She was my go-to as a teen.Madeline L'EngleEveryone has a few books that they consider life-altering. Wrinkle in Time was one of mine. As a child, Madeleine L'Engle's seemingly outrageous idea that individualism and nonconformity should be cherished was a boon to a child like me Ever since, I've always kept Meg and Charles Wallace in mind when I feel the pressure of the outside world.Kristin CashoreI found her with Graceling a few years ago and I've been a big supporter ever since. Her writing is simply lovely. Her ideas are modern.The thing that I admire the most about her is that she isn't afraid to take risks with her writing. In Graceling, she writes about a woman who doesn't want to marry. In Fire, her protagonist is sexuality active and makes no apologies about it. In Bitterblue, she tackles a very complicated plot in a genre that usually doesn't support such things.Agatha ChristieMost people are all about Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes. I'm one of a rarefied breed who preferred Hercule Poirot. I always enjoyed how Hercule did most of his sleuthing through psychology and people-watching. Plus, I'm a sucker for Belgians!Amy TanI was introduced to Amy Tan when I was eleven with Joy Luck Club. I went on to read every one of her books, other Asian American fiction, and history books about Asian history. Amy Tan manages to interweave sympathetic and relatable characters into a large and complicated backdrop of the Chinese Cultural Revolution and the Asian American immigrant experience. It's because of her that I always wanted to learn mahjong. Margaret AtwoodAfter I picked up The Blind Assassin in a London used bookstore, I became an Atwood fan right there. She's not as easy to read as Gruen, L'Engle or Cashore, but she's really worth it. Her books explore social issues in such a thoughtful and detailed way that you walk away with your mind full of ideas and questions.

Which author have you lost respect for, whose works you once enjoyed reading?

Yes. Science fiction writer and rabid anti-gay crusader Orson Scott Card.I liked Ender’s Game. I've read it several times.Then I discovered what an absolute, barking moonbat, foaming-at-the-mouth homophobe Card is. I mean, this is a dude Rasputin would look at and say “chill, man, you're acting crazy.”It's not just that he's an anti-gay bigot. There are lots of anti-gay bigots. In the US we have an entire political party of anti-gay bigots. It's that he rides that train to the last station and then refuses to get off. He takes anti-gay bigotry to the next level.I mean, yes, okay, he trots out the same ridiculous nonsense that most anti-gay bigots do, like this gem of a quote from an essay he wrote:“The dark secret of homosexual society — the one that dares not speak its name — is how many homosexuals first entered into that world through a disturbing seduction or rape or molestation or abuse, and how many of them yearn to get out of the homosexual community and live normally.”(From The Ornery American)But then he doubles down on weird. He wrote an essay called The Hypocrites of Homosexuality in which he said that gay sex should be against the law, but that this was a “liberal and tolerant view” because—I swear I am not making this up—he didn't think those laws should be enforced all the time, they should be enforced, and I quote, “when necessary to send a clear message that those who flagrantly violate society’s regulation of sexual behavior cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within that society.”This is Card at his apogee of liberal and tolerant.And then he engaged warp drive. He wrote a story called Hamlet’s Father, based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, only—get this—Hamlet’s father is a gay pedophile who molested Laertes, Horatio, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern (turning them gay in the process), he wasn't really murdered by Claudius but by Horatio, and Hamlet is sent to Hell for his coup against the wise and just Claudius, where he is reunited with his gay father to be molested for all eternity.Amen.

Is it possible to judge the objective quality of a work independent of its creator's morality?

Depends on the type of work we are judging. The works you describe are highly creative/emotional art. The work is designed to invoke emotional response. When one judges such work, we do it with the right side of our brain, the emotional side.Even judgment of engineering works, or scientific discoveries are highly influenced by the reputation or status of the designer or scientist. A nobody’s work will be ignored. A recognized genius’s work will be lauded, at least by some. Some of the most genius discoveries of human history were initially ridiculed by the expert establishment at the time.Yes, experts at judging such emotional work can be objective by analyzing the components, the organization, elements, execution, that laypeople are not aware of. They can look at the work the way a mathematician looks at an equation. In that sense, they can divorce themselves from the author’s morality. Often though, this analytical based judgment differs widely from the public appreciation of art, who do so from a purely emotional level. We are all aware of the difference between critically acclaimed and popular movies.No one is completely free of emotion and in emotion invoking works, the average person has little control over the judgment process. They judge by the heart, not with the brain. How else could Trump have been elected president?