Books

NEW YORK (AP) — No former president had a more productive and diverse publishing profession than Jimmy Carter.

Its greater than two dozen Books These included non-fiction, poetry, fiction, religious meditations and a children's story. His memoir “An Hour Before Daylight” was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2002, while his 2006 bestseller “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” sparked heated debate by comparing Israel's policies within the West Bank to South Africa's brutal system of racial segregation .

And just before his one centesimal birthday, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation honored him with a lifetime achievement award for his use of “the power of the written word to promote peace, social justice and global understanding.”

In a recent work, “A Full Life,” Carter noted that he “enjoyed writing” and that his books “provided a much-needed source of income.” But some projects were easier than others.

“Everything to Gain,” a 1987 collaboration together with his wife Rosalynn, became “the worst threat we have ever faced in our marriage,” a stubborn standoff for the Camp David Accords broker and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

According to Carter, Rosalynn was a meticulous author who “viewed the resulting sentences as if they had come down from Mount Sinai, set in stone.” Their memories of various events varied they usually got into “constant arguments.” They were prepared to offer up on the book and pay back the advance until their editor persuaded them to easily split all of the disputed passages between them.

“In the book, each of those paragraphs is marked with a 'J' or an 'R,' and our marriage survived,” he wrote.

Here is a partial list of Carter's books:

• “Keeping the Faith: Memoirs of a President”
• “The Blood of Abraham: Insights into the Middle East”
• (With Rosalynn Carter) “Everything to Win: Make the Most of the Rest of Your Life”
• “An Outdoor Diary: Adventures and Reflections”
• “Turning Point: A Candidate, a State and a Nation Come of Age”
• “Always a reckoning and other poems”
• (With daughter Amy Carter) “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer”
• “Living Faith”
• “The Virtues of Aging”
• “An Hour Before Daylight: Memories of a Rural Childhood”
• “Christmas on the Plains: Memories”
• “The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War”
• “Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis”
• “Faith and Freedom: The Christian Challenge for the World”
• “Palestine: Peace instead of apartheid”
• “A remarkable mother”
• “Beyond the White House”
• “We Can Have Peace in the Holy Land: A Plan That Will Work”
• “White House Diary”
• “NIV Lessons from the Life Bible: Personal Reflections with Jimmy Carter”
• “A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Power”
• “A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety”

By Lynn O'Rourke Hayes, FamilyTravel.com (TNS)

Here are five ideas from the literary world that may enable you create your next adventure.

The Anne Frank House and Museum, Amsterdam

Anne Frank's story of her Jewish family's ordeal in the course of the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands became a world bestseller and an iconic example of the courage shown by many during that terrible time. The book was later translated into greater than 70 languages ​​and adapted for stage and screen. Anne's father Otto Frank, the only real survivor of his family, hoped that readers of the diary could be made aware of the risks of discrimination, racism and hatred of Jews. Today, visitors to Amsterdam can tour the Secret Annex where Anne hid for 2 years and write in regards to the experience in her diary before she was discovered and sent to a concentration camp. The Anne Frank House Museum tells the powerful story through quotes, photos, videos and original objects. Tickets are required for a particular time and date. Plan ahead.

For more: www.annefrank.org

Laura Ingalls Wilder Home & Museum, Mansfield, Missouri

The mission of this Midwestern museum within the Ozarks region is to encourage curiosity and promote learning in regards to the experiences of America's pioneers through the life and literature of the famous writer. Guests who visit Rocky Ridge Farm will discover the chapters of Laura's life that honed her writing skills and inspired her Little House book series. Museum exhibits include artifacts illustrating the pioneer life described by Wilder. Expect to see Pa's violin, handwritten manuscripts from the Little House books, memorabilia from the Ingalls and Wilder families, handicrafts made by Laura, and other items familiar to her readers. Take time to explore the peaceful trails where the Wilder family hiked.

For more: www.lauraingallswilderhome.com

Anne of Green Gables on Prince Edward Island

Published in 1908, the novel Anne of Green Gables played a vital role in attracting tourists to Canada's smallest province, positioned off the east coast of Canada within the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Fans of the bestselling novel can't wait to benefit from the wide open spaces, scenic trails, vistas, and exquisite beaches that the writer made famous.

Interested visitors would love to explore the places depicted within the book and learn more in regards to the writer Lucy Maud Montgomery. (It is estimated that greater than 50 million copies have been sold worldwide.) Visit the old farmhouse where much of the famous novel is ready and participate in activities at Green Gables Heritage Place, including ice cream making demonstrations and secure Includes races, hikes on nature trails, horse-drawn carriage rides, and tours offered by rangers dressed as characters from the book.

For more: www.tourismpei.com

Harry Potter World, London

For more: westcoastrailways.co.uk/jacobite/; www.visitscotland.com

Your own backyard

It could be fun to research the literary history of your individual community. Are there any famous writers who grew up or currently live nearby? Research readings which may be happening at your local bookstores or libraries. Take advantage of free children's programs, including story times and the chance to twist up in comfortable chairs with a fantastic book. If you’ve got an independent bookstore near your own home, consider supporting this literary gem of a resource.

Originally published: December 27, 2024 at 12:00 PM PST

By Laurie Baratti, TravelPulse (TNS)

The end-of-year holidays are only across the corner, and whether you're planning a conventional trip back to the family estate or a visit to a sun-kissed beach, knowing exactly when and how one can book your holiday trip can prevent money while saving you loads of stress and money with you. But the flight deal windows for upcoming holidays, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's, are largely closed at the top of October.

Good news is that vacation flight prices have fallen across the board this 12 months in comparison with the identical period in 2023. According to Kayak's holiday travel report, average air travel costs around Thanksgiving fell 6%, while the December holidays are around 9% lower than last 12 months. You can even get monetary savings by booking strategically.

When to fly for Thanksgiving

When it involves traveling for Thanksgiving, traveling on the vacation itself is the perfect strategy, each when it comes to securing the most cost effective airfare and avoiding crowds. This could potentially prevent lots of of dollars in airline tickets and in addition lead to probably the most stress-free airport experience possible. According to Hopper, most travelers will fly either the Saturday before (November 23) or the day before Thanksgiving (November 27) and return home on Sunday, December 1.

However, departing on Thanksgiving Day (November 28) and returning on Tuesday, December 3, should lead to less crowds and a savings of as much as 34% on airfare.

Tips for booking Christmas trips

For Christmas flights, Hopper said prices will reach their lowest point within the last two weeks of October. Likewise, Kayak's data suggests that travelers might want to book at the least two months upfront in the event that they hope to search out an inexpensive domestic airfare for any of the December holidays.

But starting in late November, ticket prices will skyrocket, increasing by greater than 32% in the ultimate three to 4 weeks before the vacation. So in the event you're hoping to attain low cost seats (or find seats in any respect), it's a great idea to book sooner quite than later.

When to fly at Christmas

According to Hopper, one of the best ways for travelers to travel at Christmas is to also travel on the vacation itself – either Christmas Eve (December 24) or Christmas Day (December 25) in the event that they wish to avoid traffic jams and get cheaper airfares. Returning home on New Year's Eve (December 31) also helps achieve each of those goals. If passengers fly themselves in the course of the holidays, they will save as much as 34% on their airline tickets.

Conversely, the worst departure days to your Christmas trips are Friday twentieth December or Saturday twenty first December, with return journeys on either Saturday twenty eighth December or Sunday twenty ninth December.

When prices are lowest

How to avoid the “domino effect” on vacation

Maybe you'll be lucky and… give you the option to get something done on the last minute.

Hayley Berg

Senior Economist at Hopper

It's probably no surprise that Kate Middleton was reportedly unwell for “some time” before undergoing major abdominal surgery in January which was discovered to be cancerous.

However, if so, it signifies that the Princess of Wales can have been combating the symptoms of a really serious, previously undiagnosed illness across the time her name got here to light within the wake of a controversial racial scandal within the royal family.

The Dutch-language edition of “Endgame,” a book by Omid Scobie, a journalist and writer who supports Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, was published in late November. This version of Scobie's scathing critique of the fashionable monarchy features so-called “royal racists” in Kate and King Charles III – the members of the family who, Harry and Meghan say, raised concerns about what color their son Archie's skin can be when he was born.

In a brand new report within the Daily MailRoyal correspondent Rebecca English said Kate had been feeling “unwell for a while” before going into hospital in January for a “planned” abdominal operation, during which her cancer was discovered.

“It's been a very, very tough time, a really difficult year for the whole family,” a royal insider told English. “And as she herself said, she's not out of the woods yet.”

English's report raises the query of whether the furor surrounding Scobie's book and the unconfirmed “royal racism” allegations have made Kate and Prince William's “difficult year” even worse.

The release of Endgame was “snappy, gaudy” and “a hot mess” because the book promised to spill some latest royal secrets, because the New York Times reportedIt portrays Charles as a spoiled, “unpopular” leader, William as “power-hungry” and scheming against his father, and Kate as a “Stepford royal” who doesn't need to work as hard and who was “cold” to Meghan when she married Harry and joined the royal family in 2018.

The book also sparked the uproar over Harry and Meghan's claims to Oprah Winfrey that the biracial Duchess of Sussex was subjected to racist attitudes – or unconscious bias, as Harry would later say – during her time as a serving member of the royal family. The late Queen Elizabeth II responded to those claims by famously saying, “Recollections may vary.”

Scobie's unflattering portrayal of members of the royal family didn’t surprise many, as he co-authored “Finding Freedom,” a book that was sympathetic to Harry and Meghan's decision to go away royal life. British tabloids referred to Scobie as a “mouthpiece,” or unofficial spokesman, for the Sussexes, resulting in questions on whether Harry and Meghan had collaborated with Scobie in his reporting for “Endgame.”

The Sussexes, who live in California, denied any connection to the book through anonymous media leaks. However, they didn’t publicly distance themselves from the book, leading the Times UK editors to imagine that they could at the very least have “given their blessing to the book's largely unfounded anti-Windsor allegations.”

The editorial also called for Charles to strip Harry and Meghan of their royal titles. Given such a response from a longtime newspaper, it is probably going that the royal family was quite upset in regards to the Sussexes' supposed connection to Scobie and his book.

If Kate was also combating the symptoms of her cancer on the time, it is straightforward to assume that William was even angrier at his brother than he reportedly already was, and much less inclined to ever reconcile with him again.

The book's release became a “hot mess,” as The New York Times wrote, when the Dutch-language edition of the book got here out and contained this “unconfirmed, thoroughly radioactive nugget” – the claim that Kate and Charles were the members of the family who had discussed Archie's skin color.

It is a world mystery how Kate and Charles' names got into the Dutch-language version of Endgame. Scobie said he didn’t know and denied that their names were smuggled into the Dutch version as a publicity stunt. He said he only gave his British publisher, Harper Collins, a manuscript that didn’t include their names, out of concern about British libel laws.

But the Times UK reported that the writer's agent, United Talent Agency, had sent the Dutch publisher an earlier draft that named the Princess of Wales and the King because the members of the family in query. Scobie's agent later sent the Dutch publisher a final version that didn’t include the names, in accordance with the Times UK. Whatever happened, the Dutch translators ultimately based the Dutch-language interpretation on the sooner version that did include the names, and that version was published within the Netherlands and Belgium.

Kate was probably “not feeling well” within the meantime, but before and after her operation in January she “kept her suffering secret,” English reported, citing insider sources.

“I don't think people realize how much she's been through behind the scenes and for a long time, much longer than anyone really appreciates,” an insider told English. “She's an incredibly strong woman, but she's been through really tough times.”

The Daily Mail report stressed that there isn’t any timetable for if and when she is going to return to royal duties, although her cancer treatment goes well and there may be hope for a full recovery. The princess made her first public appearance since her diagnosis at Trooping the Colour in June. She also attended the boys's final at Wimbledon last month.

In a recent report from Daily BeastA friend said that even when Kate makes a full recovery, she would likely be far less within the highlight than she has up to now. This means she is going to make fewer public appearances. Her “blush with mortality” has left her wanting to give attention to her family, which incorporates her three children Prince George, 11, Princess Charlotte, 9, and Prince Louis, 6.

“From what I understand, people are going to have to get used to seeing Kate much less,” the friend told the Daily Beast. “For them, their family and the kids are their priority now.”

Americans have challenged books at an unprecedented pace. According to the American Library Association People have requested greater than 4,200 titles be faraway from public and faculty libraries in 2023 highest number in a single 12 months because the ALA began tracking it greater than 20 years ago.

These challenges are further exacerbated by recent and proposed laws in lots of states. Florida Parental Rights in Education ActFor example, schools ban many grade levels from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity, while a 2022 Missouri law makes sharing “explicit sexual material” in schools a misdemeanor. Such mandates have prompted librarians to achieve this Pull materials from shelves.

Material written by or about LGBTQ+ people is often at the middle of book challenges and laws.

“We're seeing more and more challenges that simply say: This book has a gay character or: This book deals with LGBTQ themes even if it doesn't contain sexuality,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom, told the New York Times in April 2024.

As a scholar of medieval literature and religionI used to be struck by the resonances between modern and medieval censorship of queer texts. Both are characterised by a sort of ““Don’t Say Gay” mentality: an assumption that even seeing or speaking about LGBTQ+ issues poses a threat to children and society, no matter the way it happens.

“Unmentionable” acts

Beginning across the eleventh century, European theologians and writers classified homosexual desire and sex as “sodomy,” an ethical sin. Unlike more modern definitions of sodomy, the medieval category was broad. It has been particularly related to sexual or gender-based sins “against nature” and also known as “heinous crime,” the unspeakable vice.

theologians, preacher And Authors of courtly travel guides expressed outrage at people's continued “discovery” of sodomy and stressed the importance of suppressing any mention of “deviant” sexuality.

This censorship was taken up within the comprehensive ecclesiastical and episcopal reforms the eleventh and Twelfth centuries, even though it went far beyond that. In these reform movements, sodomy was often portrayed as a threat to social stability since it disrupted gender hierarchies. Close relationships between male clergy were believed to encourage corruption. Gay sex was viewed as dangerous since it inverted strict gender expectations: passive sexual and social positions for girls and energetic ones for men.

From celebration to silence

The Fear of sodomy manifested itself within the suppression of homoerotic and homosexual content. Scholars debate the extent to which texts accused of “sodomy” were destroyed solely for his or her sexual content because such accusations were continuously used to justify the destruction of books Authorities desired to censor.

The more common and insidious type of censorship was deletion and alteration, which took various forms. In adapting and commenting on material from Greek and Roman history, medieval authors specifically chosen It must not contain any material depicting homosexual intimacy and sexual activity.

The stories of Alexander the Great modified his eunuch lover Bagoas into a girl, Bagoe. Stories about queer relationships within the Roman poet Ovid's Metamorphoses were reframed, Turning romantic endings into cautionary tales.

One of Ovid's stories describes how Iphis, assigned female at birth but raised as a boy, falls in love with a fantastic young woman named Ianthe and finds happiness in her. In “The moralized Ovid“, a medieval version, the commentator ties in with a story that describes how such gender-specific “tricks” are at all times discovered and punished.

The same pattern may be present in original texts by medieval authors. Some stories clearly highlighted what people today would consider queer narratives: Kissing games between men or young knights battling their gender identity. These stories might even have a good time homoerotic relationships and gender transitions for tons of of lines, only to finish in an abrupt ending that “corrects” them.

A very shocking example is the “Romance of silence” describes the adventures of the heroic knight Silence, who was assigned female at birth but lived most of his life as a person. At the tip of the poem, Silence must surrender his knighthood, marry a king, and is forced into a lifetime of quiet passivity.

Condemn or remain silent?

The “unspeakable vice” was so provocative that folks refused to deal with these issues in medieval texts and teachings, even to criticize them.

Typically, priests advise their congregation about specific sins and tips on how to avoid them. In “Instructions for PastorsHowever, the 14th-century English preacher and author John Mirk identified that priests mustn’t talk about “sins against sin” or nature: “You shall teach nothing to your congregation, neither shall you preach of this sin.”

Other texts were more explicit of their condemnation, equivalent to “De planctu naturae” by the Twelfth-century poet and theologian Alain de Lille or “Nature's Complaint.” The poem launches a violent attack, using metaphors that simultaneously describe, condemn and obscure homosexual desire – for example: “He hits an anvil that admits no seeds.”

By controlling access to information, these medieval theologians and writers believed they may end “deviant” sexualities and gendered behavior. By this logic, never talking about sodomy—not even condemning it—meant nobody would ever learn about it and never engage in it.

Records in sight

The truth is that records about queer people and their lives date back to the Middle Ages are more plentiful than many individuals are aware of.

Some historians previously neglected or even intentionally hidden Evidence of medieval queer history, literature and art. Court records medieval sex staff equivalent to Eleanor Rykener Talk in regards to the ways people have transcended categories of gender and sexuality, often without evidence of criminal punishment. The lives of the saints bear the records of holy men and ladies who selected to live their lives based on their religious calling moderately than the gender assigned to them at birth. Works of mystical theology, equivalent to Julian of Norwich's “Showings“described visionary experiences wherein God appeared as each female and male, husband and wife, mother and father. Many religious devotional texts Depicted were monks tenderly embracing one another and pictures of Christ giving birth to the church through his wounds of crucifixion.

Nevertheless, there have been efforts to silence the varied spectrum of medieval thought and experienceStories that tested the boundaries of gender, sex and desire increased.

Taylor Swift has drawn inspiration from women of the past, including actresses, in her work Clara BowCelebrity Rebekah Harkness and her grandmother Marjorie Finlaywho was an opera singer.

But sometimes I ponder what the 34-year-old pop star would consider the life and work of the Italian-born French author Christine of Pisa.

As early because the fifteenth century, Christine – often referred to by scholars by her first name because “de Pizan” merely reflects her hometown and he or she may not have had a surname – was preoccupied together with her share of “Dads, Brads and Chads“, identical to Swift within the twenty first century.

Considered the primary French woman to make a living as a author, Christine compiled the next:The Book of the City of Ladies” in 1405 to challenge the negative stereotypes of girls within the Middle Ages. In it, she offers dozens of examples of successful women from history, including queens, saints, warriors, and poets.

Christine's writings proceed to resonate—particularly with women—and are incessantly utilized in college courses on women and gender. I recently used excerpts from The Book of the City of Ladies in my course on women and gender in early modern Europe.

As I reflect on Christine's writings from over 600 years ago, I’m struck by how she recognized the damaging effects of attacks on women's intellect and achievements – the ways by which they could possibly be internalized and accepted when women break the stereotypes not questioned.

Building the “City of Ladies”

Christine de Pizan was born in Italy but spent much of her life on the royal court of France in the course of the reign of France the House of Valois.

Her father, a court physician and astrologer, supported her education along together with her brothers. She had three children together with her husband, a French royal secretary named Etienne de Castel, who died when Christine was just 25 years old.

Widowed and faced with the prospect of raising and financially supporting her children alone, she turned to composing works that appealed to elites, which earned her commissions from patrons. She wrote on various topics including a poem celebrating Joan of Arc's success on the battlefield.

Her most ambitious and enduring work, nevertheless, is The Book of the City of Ladies.

Disheartened by all of the misogyny she had read, Christine whimsically claimed that she had received a vision from three ladies: Reason, Righteousness and Justice, who had tasked her with the project.

By collecting stories of girls's achievements, Christine got down to construct an allegorical city where women and their achievements could be protected against men's insults and slanders.

In “The City” she specifically referred to “The Lamentations of Matheolus“” from 1295, a protracted Latin essay by a priest from Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. The late thirteenth century French translation could have been the version Christine read.

It is stuffed with hateful views about women, but Matheolus saves most of his anger for girls.

“Anyone who wants to sacrifice himself on the altar of marriage has to endure a lot,” he writes, adding that the torture of marriage is “worse than the torments of hell.” He derides women as “always quarrelsome…cruel and quarrelsome” – “terribly perverted” individuals who’ve “deceived all the greatest men in the world.”

Matheolus was not alone in his low views of girls. Other popular writings of this era included Jean de Meun's “The Romance of the Rose“, by which women were portrayed as untrustworthy and jealous, and an anonymous essay: “About women's secrets“, which provided misinformation about women's biology.

With a lot misogyny coming from so many sources, Christine acknowledged how easy it was for girls to imagine what was said about them:

“It is no wonder that women have been the losers in the war against them, since the envious slanderers and vicious traitors who criticize them have been allowed to turn all manner of weapons on their defenseless targets.”

Christine recognized the explanations for this widespread misogyny: women, who were smarter and kinder than men, were seen as a threat and a challenge the established patriarchy of western society.

Taylor Swift's 'Big Old City'

Like Christine, Swift is a gifted author who began making a living together with her pen as a youngster.

She built her own city, so to talk, to guard her status, her music and her self-esteem.

In her 2020 documentary “Miss Americana“, Swift talks about her struggles with media scrutiny that contributed to an eating disorder. In it, she describes herself as “trying to deprogram the misogyny in my own brain.”

She sued a DJ who groped her and wonwhich led to her being dubbed one among the “silence breakers.” on the quilt Time Magazine in 2017, in the beginning of the #MeToo movement. And in 2021, she began reclaiming her words and music by re-recording their older albums as “Taylor's Versions” after the unique masters were sold by her first record label without her consent.

In her songs, Swift also repeatedly confronts the lads who belittle her talent and intellect. your song”MeanIt is widely believed that it is about the critics who questioned her talent, such as Bob Lefsetzwho wrote that Swift obviously couldn't sing and could have destroyed her profession afterwards a shaky appearance on the 2010 Grammys.

“One day I'll live in a big old city,” Swift replies within the track, “And all you'll ever be is mean.”

At the conclusion of The Book of the City of Ladies, her mission to chronicle the achievements of girls, Christine de Pizan invites her female readers to affix her:

“All of you who love virtue, fame and a good reputation can now be accommodated within its walls in great splendor, not only the women of the past but also those of the present and the future, for this was founded and built to to do justice to all deserving women.”

Even though the City of Ladies was built centuries ago, I actually have a sense Taylor Swift would feel right at home on this grand old city.