- Table View
- List View
Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero
by E. Paul ZehrBattling bad guys. High-tech hideouts. The gratitude of the masses. Who at some point in their life hasn't dreamed of being a superhero? Impossible, right? Or is it?Possessing no supernatural powers, Batman is the most realistic of all the superheroes. His feats are achieved through rigorous training and mental discipline, and with the aid of fantastic gadgets. Drawing on his training as a neuroscientist, kinesiologist, and martial artist, E. Paul Zehr explores the question: Could a mortal ever become Batman? Zehr discusses the physical training necessary to maintain bad-guy-fighting readiness while relating the science underlying this process, from strength conditioning to the cognitive changes a person would endure in undertaking such a regimen. In probing what a real-life Batman could achieve, Zehr considers the level of punishment a consummately fit and trained person could handle, how hard and fast such a person could punch and kick, and the number of adversaries that individual could dispatch. He also tells us what it would be like to fight while wearing a batsuit and the amount of food we'd need to consume each day to maintain vigilance as Gotham City's guardian.A fun foray of escapism grounded in sound science, Becoming Batman provides the background for attaining the realizable—though extreme—level of human performance that would allow you to be a superhero.
Becoming Belle
by Nuala O'Connor'Luminous' SEBASTIAN BARRY'Incandescent characters and mellifluous prose' LISA CAREY'Reminiscent of Edith Wharton at her very best' LIZ NUGENT_________The true story of a woman ahead of her time . . . In 1887, Isabel Bilton is the eldest of three daughters of a middle-class military family, growing up in a small garrison town. By 1891 she is the Countess of Clancarty, dubbed "the peasant countess" by the press, and a member of the Irish aristocracy. Becoming Belle is the story of the four years in between, of Belle's rapid ascent and the people that tried to tear her down. Reimagined by a novelist at the height of her powers, Belle is an unforgettable woman. Set against an absorbing portrait of Victorian London, hers is a timeless rags-to-riches story a la Becky Sharpe._________Praise for BECOMING BELLE'Nuala O'Connor has the thrilling ability to step back nimbly and enter the deep dance of time. This is a hidden history laid luminously before us of an exultant Anglo-Irish woman navigating the dark shoals and the bright fields of a life' SEBASTIAN BARRY, award-winning author of The Secret Scripture and Days Without End'Becoming Belle is so mesmerizing you will be distraught when it ends.O'Connor has resurrected a fiery, inexorable woman who rewrites the script on a stage supposedly ruled by men. Sensual, witty, daring, and unapologetically forward.' Lisa Carey, author of The Stolen Child'Belle's determination to live her life on her own terms and in defiance of her times makes her a fascinating subject' Irish Central'Masterful storytelling! I was putty in Nuala O'Connor's hands. She made the unsinkable Belle Bilton and her down-to-earth sister Flo real to me, and brought 1880's London to my living room. Encore! Encore!' Lynn Cullen, bestselling author of Mrs. Poe'A glorious novel in which Belle Bilton and 19th century London are brought roaring to life with exquisite period detail' Hazel Gaynor, New York Times bestselling author of A Memory of Violets'Thoroughly engrossing and entertaining read' Liz Nugent'Thrillingly dramatic and achingly moving and profoundly resonant into this present era' Robert Olen Butler, author of A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain'O'Connor gently unfolds Belle's tale in a manner that is compelling and disarming. The ambience may be Victorian elegance but the sheer honesty of O'Connor's writing is sensual, authentic and earthy. A delight!' Rose Servitova, author of The Longbourn Letters
Becoming Betty
by Eleanor WoodLizzie Brown's life is one big to-do list: 1. Start college2. Become cool3. Decide wtf to do with her lifeSo when she meets Viv, the crazy, beautiful lead singer in a band, she thinks she's on her way to achieving number two on her list. And when Viv asks her to be the bass player in the band, there's only one problem - Lizzie can't play a single note. And that she's nowhere near cool enough (ok, two problems). And that she has a huge crush on the guitarist (ok, three), who happens to be Viv's boyfriend (ok, this is a terrible idea). But Viv won't take no for an answer, and decides that a makeover is the answer to everything. Boring Lizzie Brown is going to become Betty Brown the Bass Player and there's nothing Lizzie can do about it . . . Told with Eleanor Wood's trademark warmth and hilarity, Becoming Betty is the story of one girl's journey to being cool, and learning what's on the other side.
Becoming The Boss: The Woman Sent To Tame Him / Diamond Dreams (the Drakes Of California) / The Price Of Success (Mills And Boon M&b Ser.)
by Victoria Parker Zuri Day Maya BlakeSuccess always comes at a price!
Becoming Calder: A forbidden friends-to-lovers romance (Acadia Doulogy)
by Mia SheridanThe first book in the Acadia Duology, a forbidden friends-to-lovers romance, from the New York Times bestselling author of the TikTok sensation ARCHER'S VOICE.....................The light of love has always found its way into even the darkest of places, from the beginning of time to the end of the world.There is a place in today's America with no electricity, no plumbing, and no modern conveniences. In this place, there is no room for dreams, no space for self-expression, and no tolerance for ambition.In the community of Acadia lives a boy named Calder with the body of a god and the heart of a warrior. He serves his family with faith and honour, but he dares to dream of more . . . especially when an angel-faced girl his age is brought to their community. To Acadia, Eden is obedient perfection, prophesized to lead them to eternal peace, but to Calder, even at first glance, she is so much more.Calder and Eden were never meant to be friends. Certainly never meant to fall in love. After all, Eden is betrothed to Acadia's leader, secluded until the day of her destiny. But as she and Calder steal fleeting moments and forbidden kisses, their hearts grow dangerously tangled, and it's too late to heed the warnings.In Acadia, they can never be together. But Acadia is all they know. If they want any chance at a future, they must risk everything to choose between the life they were taught to live and the dream their hearts want to follow.....................Praise for Mia Sheridan:'The bible to how to write a good, convincing love story' L.J. Shen'There is no love story like a Mia Sheridan love story' A.L. Jackson
Becoming Cleopatra: The Shifting Image of an Icon
by F. RoysterCleopatra. Sexy, sultry, political, and racially ambiguous. Moving fluidly from Shakespeare's England to contemporary LA, Francesca Royster looks at the performance of race and sexuality in a wide range of portrayals of that icon of dangerous female sexuality, Cleopatra. Royster begins with Shakespeare's original appropriation of Plutarch, and then moves on to analyze performances of the Cleopatra icon by Josephine Baker, Elizabeth Taylor, Pam Grier (Cleopatra Jones) and Queen Latifah (in Set It Off ). Royster argues that Cleopatra highlights a larger cultural anxiety about women, sexuality, and race.
Becoming Criminal: Transversal Performance and Cultural Dissidence in Early Modern England
by Bryan ReynoldsIn this book Bryan Reynolds argues that early modern England experienced a sociocultural phenomenon, unprecedented in English history, which has been largely overlooked by historians and critics. Beginning in the 1520s, a distinct "criminal culture" of beggars, vagabonds, confidence tricksters, prostitutes, and gypsies emerged and flourished. This community defined itself through its criminal conduct and dissident thought and was, in turn,officially defined by and against the dominant conceptions of English cultural normality.Examining plays, popular pamphlets, laws, poems, and scholarly work from the period, Reynolds demonstrates that this criminal culture, though diverse, was united by its own ideology, language, and aesthetic. Using his transversal theory, he shows how the enduring presence of this criminal culture markedly influenced the mainstream culture's aesthetic sensibilities, socioeconomic organization, and systems of belief. He maps the effects of the public theater's transformative force of transversality, such as through the criminality represented by Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton, and Dekker, on both Elizabethan and Jacobean society and the scholarship devoted to it.
Becoming Dinah
by Kit de Waal"A gripping, heart-wrenching coming-of-age story" - GuardianIn her first YA novel, Costa-shortlisted Kit de Waal responds to classic Moby Dick by tearing the power away from obsessive Captain Ahab and giving it to a teenage girl.Dinah's whole world is upside down, dead things and angry men and cuts all over her head that are beginning to sting....Seventeen-year-old Dinah needs to leave her home, the weird commune where she grew up. She needs a whole new identity, starting with how she looks, starting with shaving off her hair, her 'crowning glory'. She has to do it quickly, because she has to go now.Dinah was going to go alone and hitch a ride down south. Except, she ends up being persuaded to illegally drive a VW campervan for hundreds of miles, accompanied by a grumpy man with one leg. This wasn't the plan.But while she's driving, Dinah will be forced to confront everything that led her here, everything that will finally show her which direction to turn...In her first YA novel, Costa-shortlisted author Kit de Waal responds to the classic Moby Dick with entirely new characters, a VW campervan, and by tearing the power away from obsessive Captain Ahab and giving it to a teenage girl who's determined to find a new life, far away from her unconventional upbringing."An emotionally charged book" - Daily Mail"Fresh and defiantly original ... what a beautiful book" - Sarah Moore Fitzgerald
Becoming Dr Bellini's Bride: Becoming Dr Bellini's Bride / Summer Seaside Wedding / Wedding In Darling Downs (Mills And Boon Medical Ser.)
by Joanna NeilPaediatrician Katie Logan moved to the Sunshine State for a fresh start! But her new life is rocked by her dazzling attraction to dreamy doc Nick Bellini, a man she has no reason to trust… Katie tries her best to resist Nick, but if only she'd step into the Italian's strong, tanned arms she just might find her California dreams come true…
Becoming The Earl's Convenient Wife (Mills & Boon Historical)
by Louise AllenThe friend she’s loved… Is now the husband she must resist…
Becoming Female: The Male Body in Greek Tragedy
by Katrina Cawthorn"Becoming Female", the first book-length examination of the body in classical Athenian tragedy, reconsiders the figure of the male tragic hero, making use of both feminist and body theory. The male hero becomes female in the space of tragedy through the experience of suffering, and seems unable to return to any secure expression of masculinity. Katrina Cawthorn concentrates initially on the figure of Heracles in Sophocles' "The Women of Trachis", an exemplary specimen of the tragic process of becoming female, who exhibits many of the central issues considered in the book. The male hero is, in the course of the play, undone and feminised, while the instability of masculine identity is revealed.This theme of becoming female, and the resulting failure to circumscribe the feminine and return to any secure and triumphant concept of masculinity, is argued to be a discernible feature of the genre of tragedy. The inconclusive and disconcerting nature of tragic endings contribute to the dislocation of the tragic male and emphasise the Dionysian disturbance of the male hero.Moreover, this state of the dissolute male hero has textual and theatrical consequences, extending to affect the audience so that it too becomes feminised by the processes of tragedy."Becoming Female" is an important work for scholars and students of Classical Studies, Ancient History, Drama and Theatre Studies, Women's Studies and Cultural Studies.
Becoming Female: The Male Body in Greek Tragedy
by Katrina Cawthorn"Becoming Female", the first book-length examination of the body in classical Athenian tragedy, reconsiders the figure of the male tragic hero, making use of both feminist and body theory. The male hero becomes female in the space of tragedy through the experience of suffering, and seems unable to return to any secure expression of masculinity. Katrina Cawthorn concentrates initially on the figure of Heracles in Sophocles' "The Women of Trachis", an exemplary specimen of the tragic process of becoming female, who exhibits many of the central issues considered in the book. The male hero is, in the course of the play, undone and feminised, while the instability of masculine identity is revealed.This theme of becoming female, and the resulting failure to circumscribe the feminine and return to any secure and triumphant concept of masculinity, is argued to be a discernible feature of the genre of tragedy. The inconclusive and disconcerting nature of tragic endings contribute to the dislocation of the tragic male and emphasise the Dionysian disturbance of the male hero.Moreover, this state of the dissolute male hero has textual and theatrical consequences, extending to affect the audience so that it too becomes feminised by the processes of tragedy."Becoming Female" is an important work for scholars and students of Classical Studies, Ancient History, Drama and Theatre Studies, Women's Studies and Cultural Studies.
Becoming George Orwell: Life and Letters, Legend and Legacy
by John RoddenThe remarkable transformation of Orwell from journeyman writer to towering iconIs George Orwell the most influential writer who ever lived? Yes, according to John Rodden’s provocative book about the transformation of a man into a myth. Rodden does not argue that Orwell was the most distinguished man of letters of the last century, nor even the leading novelist of his generation, let alone the greatest imaginative writer of English prose fiction. Yet his influence since his death at midcentury is incomparable. No other writer has aroused so much controversy or contributed so many incessantly quoted words and phrases to our cultural lexicon, from “Big Brother” and “doublethink” to “thoughtcrime” and “Newspeak.” Becoming George Orwell is a pathbreaking tour de force that charts the astonishing passage of a litterateur into a legend.Rodden presents the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four in a new light, exploring how the man and writer Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, came to be overshadowed by the spectral figure associated with nightmare visions of our possible futures. Rodden opens with a discussion of the life and letters, chronicling Orwell’s eccentricities and emotional struggles, followed by an assessment of his chief literary achievements. The second half of the book examines the legend and legacy of Orwell, whom Rodden calls “England’s Prose Laureate,” looking at everything from cyberwarfare to “fake news.” The closing chapters address both Orwell’s enduring relevance to burning contemporary issues and the multiple ironies of his popular reputation, showing how he and his work have become confused with the very dreads and diseases that he fought against throughout his life.
Becoming George Orwell: Life and Letters, Legend and Legacy
by John RoddenThe remarkable transformation of Orwell from journeyman writer to towering iconIs George Orwell the most influential writer who ever lived? Yes, according to John Rodden’s provocative book about the transformation of a man into a myth. Rodden does not argue that Orwell was the most distinguished man of letters of the last century, nor even the leading novelist of his generation, let alone the greatest imaginative writer of English prose fiction. Yet his influence since his death at midcentury is incomparable. No other writer has aroused so much controversy or contributed so many incessantly quoted words and phrases to our cultural lexicon, from “Big Brother” and “doublethink” to “thoughtcrime” and “Newspeak.” Becoming George Orwell is a pathbreaking tour de force that charts the astonishing passage of a litterateur into a legend.Rodden presents the author of Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four in a new light, exploring how the man and writer Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, came to be overshadowed by the spectral figure associated with nightmare visions of our possible futures. Rodden opens with a discussion of the life and letters, chronicling Orwell’s eccentricities and emotional struggles, followed by an assessment of his chief literary achievements. The second half of the book examines the legend and legacy of Orwell, whom Rodden calls “England’s Prose Laureate,” looking at everything from cyberwarfare to “fake news.” The closing chapters address both Orwell’s enduring relevance to burning contemporary issues and the multiple ironies of his popular reputation, showing how he and his work have become confused with the very dreads and diseases that he fought against throughout his life.
Becoming Half Hidden: Shamanism and Initiation Among the Inuit
by Daniel MerkurFirst Published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Becoming Half Hidden: Shamanism and Initiation Among the Inuit
by Daniel MerkurFirst Published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Becoming Insane
by Leyla CardenaWhen the monsters hiding underneath your bed are much less frightening than the bills you have to pay, the family you have to support, the job you have to find, and the unrealized dreams you cry about, then you know there’s a problem. Especially when you are a full-grown adult in your mid-thirties. It’s 1987. John Crane feels like throwing himself out of the window because of his depression, while his friend Jack Vain has to support his spiraling O.C.D. and panic attacks. Their issues are driving them into a shared psychosis. Without these issues, John and Jack may never have needed to go searching for the demon in the middle of the night, through the mean streets of New York. John Crane’s writings will never be read and discussed, and Jack Vain’s drawings and paintings will never be seen and admired. But the creature is here. It knows them. It wants them. It wants their help. It wants to eat, to touch, to create. It wants to live and be free. It wants to avoid death and become immortal. John and Jack’s creativity looks like the perfect host. As the beast of insanity takes hold, will John and Jack survive their own imaginations?
Becoming Jane Eyre: A Novel
by Sheila KohlerThe year is 1846. In a cold parsonage on the gloomy Yorkshire moors, a family seems cursed with disaster. A mother and two children dead. A father sick, without fortune, and hardened by the loss of his two most beloved family members. A son destroyed by alcohol and opiates. And three strong, intelligent young women, reduced to poverty and spinsterhood, with nothing to save them from their fate. Nothing, that is, except their remarkable literary talent.So unfolds the story of the Brontë sisters. At its centre are Charlotte and the writing of Jane Eyre. Delicately unraveling the connections between one of fiction's most indelible heroines and the remarkable woman who created her, Sheila Kohler's Becoming Jane Eyre will appeal to fans of historical fiction and, of course, the millions of readers who adore Jane Eyre.
Becoming Liz Taylor
by Liz HarveyVal, a widow living in Weston-super-Mare, spends lonely evenings dressing up as the movie star Elizabeth Taylor. It seems to be a way of coping with the loss and sadness she has experienced in her life. One day, when Val sees a pram left unattended on the seafront, on a whim she kicks off the brake and walks away with it...Set in the present and the 1970s, BECOMING LIZ TAYLOR is a vivid and touching depiction of love, loss and bereavement - thought-provoking, moving fiction for fans of Rachel Joyce, Emma Healey and Ruth Hogan.
Becoming Madame Mao: From the author of the international bestseller Empress Orchid
by Anchee MinFrom the author of the international bestseller Empress Orchid comes the stirring, erotically charged story of the woman known as 'the white-boned demon' - the ambitious wife of Chairman Mao whose actions led to the death of millions in the Cultural Revolution.From the young, unwanted daughter of a concubine, defiant in her refusal to have her feet bound, to the wayward, beautiful actress on the stages of Shanghai, to the ruthless, charismatic partner of the great revolutionary leader, Mao Zedong, Anchee Min moves seamlessly from the intimately personal to the broad sweep of world history in this fascinating portrait of an extraordinary woman driven by ambition, betrayal and a desperate need to be loved.Finely nuanced and always ambiguous, Min penetrates the myth surrounding Madame Mao with passion and sensitivity to pain a surprising picture of one of history's most vilified women. Rich with compressed drama and all the lyrical poetry of great opera, Becoming Madame Mao is a startling and moving achievement.
Becoming Male in the Middle Ages (New Middle Ages)
by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen Bonnie WheelerFirst published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Becoming Male in the Middle Ages (New Middle Ages #No. 4)
by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen Bonnie WheelerFirst published in 2000. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Becoming Modern Women: Love and Female Identity in Prewar Japanese Literature and Culture
by Michiko SuzukiPresenting a fresh examination of women writers and prewar ideology, this book breaks new ground in its investigation of love as a critical aspect of Japanese culture during the early to mid-twentieth century. As a literary and cultural history of love and female identity, Becoming Modern Women focuses on same-sex love, love marriage, and maternal love—new terms at that time; in doing so, it shows how the idea of "woman," within the context of a vibrant print culture, was constructed through the modern experience of love. Author Michiko Suzuki's work complements current scholarship on female identities such as "Modern Girl" and "New Woman," and interprets women's fiction in conjunction with nonfiction from a range of media—early feminist writing, sexology books, newspapers, bestselling love treatises, native ethnology, and historiography. While illuminating the ways in which women used and challenged ideas about love, Suzuki explores the historical and ideological shifts of the period, underscoring the broader connections between gender, modernity, and nationhood.
Becoming Muhammad Ali (Becoming Ali)
by James Patterson Kwame AlexanderFrom two heavy-hitters in children's literature comes a biographical novel of cultural icon Muhammad Ali.Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other. Kwame Alexander and James Patterson join forces to vividly depict his life up to age seventeen in both prose and verse, including his childhood friends, struggles in school, the racism he faced, and his discovery of boxing. Readers will learn about Cassius' family and neighbors in Louisville, Kentucky, and how, after a thief stole his bike, Cassius began training as an amateur boxer at age twelve. Before long, he won his first Golden Gloves bout and began his transformation into the unrivaled Muhammad Ali.Fully authorized by and written in cooperation with the Muhammad Ali estate, and vividly brought to life by Dawud Anyabwile's dynamic artwork, Becoming Muhammad Ali captures the budding charisma and youthful personality of one of the greatest sports heroes of all time.
Becoming Nancy
by Terry RonaldFor David Starr, being cast as Nancy in the upcoming school production of Oliver! is quite a shock. But David is up to the challenge. Living in a three-bedroom semi in 1970s' working-class East Dulwich, surrounded by his somewhat colourful relatives, he is bright, smart-mouthed, fanatical about pop music and ready to shine. Rehearsals begin, and he strikes up a friendship with the handsome yet enigmatic Maxie Boswell, captain of the school football team. As their alliance deepens it appears they might become more than just good friends, but that can't be right, can it? Discovering a confidant in empathetic teacher, Hamish McClarnon, and spurred on by his no-nonsense best friend, Frances Bassey, David takes on the school bully, the National Front, and anyone else who threatens to stand in the way of true love.Vibrant, warm, and full of life, this uproarious and touching coming-of-age novel, set against the backdrop of South-East London in the thrill of the late seventies, will transport you straight back to your first music obsession and the highs and lows of your first love.