Most of us grew up hearing, “What do you say to the nice lady?” and “Don’t put your feet on the coffee table.” Having good manners was important, and we could almost always tell when someone hadn’t been brought up to have them. But where exactly do manners come from, and who decides when they…
Tag: history
Review: Maid to Match
It’s 1898, and Tillie Reese is about to attain her lifelong dream. Being a housemaid at Biltmore — the palatial home of George and Edith Vanderbilt — is more than she could have ever imagined, and now she has the chance to become lady’s maid to Mrs. Vanderbilt herself. There’s just one problem: Mack Danvers,…
Review: Jar-Jar Binks Must Die
It’s ever been the assumption that those who write, direct, and act in Science Fiction films are slumming it — that Serious People don’t do SF, and SF is not for Serious People. Daniel Kimmel’s Jar Jar Binks Must Die is a collection of his film reviews that show the reader what happens when you…
Review: Jane Austen’s England
Author Jane Austen lived at a crossroads of time. The French Revolution tumbled a monarchy, the Industrial Revolution altered everything from transportation to manufacturing, Methodism and other “nonconformist” religions gained ground, and the treatment of illness and disease took large steps forward. Jane Austen’s England takes several themes present in Austen’s novels — birth, marriage,…
Review: The Book Thief
It is 1939, and Liesel Meminger has just lost her brother and mother; her journey to the small German town of Himmel and into the hands of foster parents is made with bleeding hands and frozen heart. Her loud-mouthed foster mother scares her, but Hans, her new papa, is different. He plays the accordion. He…