![]() ![]() These dynamic women and their league have accomplished so much both on the court and off, and yet as they acknowledge, much remains to be done. ![]() Today’s stars, such as Betnijah Laney, Sabrina Ionescu and Didi Richards, offer striking parallels, fighting for social justice while still dazzling the world with their skill and athleticism. In the beginning, icons like Teresa Weatherspoon, Rebecca Lobo, Sue Wicks and Kym Hampton had to fight for the WNBA’s very right to exist while also delivering electric performances on court. Moving between present-day action on court and the many dramatic struggles across the WNBA’s quarter century history, UNFINISHED BUSINESS is a joyful and moving exploration of the league’s relentless push towards equality in elite sport. The New York Liberty began it all back in 1997, playing the first game in the new league, and in 2021 they again made history, playing their entire season for the first time at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Now is a defining moment for the WNBA as it shifts from fledgling league to thriving enterprise in a world that is finally embracing its greatness. ![]()
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![]() ![]() While the characters are fictitious, the historical circumstances in this book are not. It follows four generations of a Korean family through the political turmoil of Japanese colonization, the hardship of wartimes, seeking a new and better life in Japan, and witnessing the home they left become divided into two countries they hardly recognize. ![]() Pachinko is a historical family saga set in Korea and Japan throughout the 20th century. Pachinko parlours are incredibly noisy, smokey, and filled to the brim with 1/7 Japanese adults playing regularly. What we found incredibly surprising is that pachinko generates annual revenues of about 23 trillion yen, or 203 billion USD, which is more than the combined gambling revenue of Las Vegas, Macau and Singapore. While gambling is illegal in the country, pachinko manages to bypass this prohibition by allowing players to win prizes, which are exchanged outside the parlour for cash. ![]() Pachinko is a kind of vertical pinball game played by adults in Japan. Published in 2017, Pachinko generated a lot of buzz, but it wasn’t until I first walked into a Pachinko parlour in Tokyo that I knew I had to read this book. For Japan, I chose Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. My plan while travelling is to read one book related to each nation we visit. ![]() ![]() ![]() Evocative third-person narration brings the wonders of the wilderness to life and underscores the mysterious connections between humans, nature, and destiny. Breaking her father’s rule to never leave their property, Jules embarks on a quest both dangerous and marvelous. Then there is the fox, who seems to beckon 11-year-old Jules into the same Vermont woods. Just as anguished are Jules’s father and their neighbor Elk, a veteran who knows what it’s like to lose a loved one. When Sylvie, whose burning wish is to run faster than she has ever run, disappears into a Vermont forest and is assumed dead, Jules, her younger sister, feels a sorrow like no other. Appelt ( The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp) and McGhee ( Firefly Hollow) create an intoxicating blend of realism and myth in a novel involving a grieving child, ancient legends, and a mysterious fox. ![]() ![]() She was only the second woman to receive both honors for one book. Her groundbreaking novel The Left Hand of Darkness (1969) won Hugo and Nebula Awards. Her first fantasy novel, A Wizard of Earthsea (1968), earned the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award. Genre and mainstream recognition occurred throughout her career. A prolific writer, she published more than sixty books including novels for adults and young adults, picture books, short story collections, critical nonfiction, poetry, screenplays, and works of translation. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1951, earned a masters degree from Columbia University in 1952, and married historian Charles Le Guin in 1953. Her parents were Alfred Kroeber, pioneering anthropologist, and Theodora Kroeber, author of Ishi in Two Worlds. Ursula Kroeber was born on in Berkeley, California. Through her literary approach to genre themes and settings, she inspired not only generations of genre writers but also many mainstream writers who incorporated fantastic elements in their work. Elevating fantasy and science fiction from pulp-era sword and sorcery and space opera, her fiction explores and condemns chauvinistic traditions of colonialism, nationalism, sexism, and racism. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() 2018) began publishing in the 1960s and soon became known for her courageous exploration of ethics, ecology, and diversity using fantastic and futuristic settings. One of the most influential voices in contemporary American literature, Ursula K. ![]() ![]() ![]() And though he's written about everything from the plague to Yeti, his most well-known books are those that compose the Mars Trilogy ( Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars). He came onto the scene in 1984 with his enigmatic novel Icehenge, and continued to write at a prolific pace, winning eleven major sci-fi awards and being nominated for more than twice that. But Robinson's name is already familiar to devotees of the genre. ![]() Over the weekend, Robinson's latest novel, 2312, was nominated for a Hugo award, one of the most prestigious prizes in science fiction (it's also in the running for sci-fi's other big accolade, the Nebula award). ![]() Where's the great novel about climate change? I'd argue that to find it, you're better off leaving the world of "straight fiction" for science fiction, specifically for Kim Stanley Robinson. ![]() |