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 Gainsborough, A Portrait by James Hamilton is much, much more than a biography of a painter, though if it were only that it would still be a masterpiece of its genre. Thomas Gainsborough was born in Suffolk in 1727 and died in London in 1788. He spent his early years in Suffolk, was apprenticed in London as an engraver. He moved back to Suffolk and lived again in the family home. He was already painting. He seemed not perfectly suited to the messy, fiddly practices associated with engraving. He gradually amassed commissions, almost by increment from sitters of ever higher rank. A lengthy stay in Bath was purely for professional reasons, but London and Suffolk were always a draw. By then he was a wealthy and successful painter of portraits, who dabbled in landscapes on the side. That last phrase, incidentally, is apposite since his wife, Margaret, used to pocket all of the fees he charged for portraits. What he received for landscapes he did not disclose to her, only to his own ...

 In A Tale Of Love And Darkness Amos Oz writes an autobiography of his early years. Though written from a much later perspective, this memoir effectively lives entirely in the first years of the author's life, covering birth to the age of twelve, when his mother died in 1952. There is also much in the book that is drawn from his adolescence and his work in a kibbutz after leaving home, but these remain like visions of an only partially real future when the narrative returns, often abruptly to those earlier years when his mother was still alive. There are detailed stories of schooling, discovery of literature a nd a little of his coming of age and his first experiences of an adult life of love and affection. There is much more about his father and his only partially successful life as a writer and academic, plus some other things for which he displayed equally unrecognized talent. There is also a good deal of Jewish history, especially that related to the post-World War II diaspora...

 Unfortunately, across the country, today's teachers and students step o nto school grounds and have to conduct drills on active shooter scenarios. We didn't have that scenario what I was a child. Luckily, my children made it through school. I worked as an aide at their school in the elementary grades. I've noticed a pattern in the books I've read. bn is doing a good thing or something innovative, there is always someone creating a roadblock, trying to shut them down and set them up for failure. I see it as jealousy. Good conquers in the end but the person being tested endures some tough things they have to rise above. Kaitlin and her first grade class survived a b because there was a small bathroom in the room that they hid in and pushed a rolling cabinet in front of it as a disguise. Teachers and students in the next room and others perished. The principal and counselor perished while trying to tackle the gunman. I won't repeat the accounts of that day here. Beca...