Written by G. F. Herbert Smith, a British mineralogist who worked for the British Museum of Natural History and the discoverer of mineral paratacamite, this book is intended to teach how to recognize gemstones from diamonds to jade, through its unique characteristics based on Smith's years of experience.

Over the last few decades, character-based criticism has been seen as either naive or obsolete. But now questions of character are attracting renewed interest. Making the case for a broad-based revision of our understanding of character, Character rethinks these questions from the ground up. Is it really necessary to remind literary critics that characters are made up of words? Must we forbid identification with characters? Does character-discussion force critics to embrace humanism and outmoded theories of the subject? Across three chapters, leading scholars Amanda Anderson, Rita Felski, and Toril Moi reimagine and renew literary studies by engaging in a conversation about character. Moi returns to the fundamental theoretical assumptions that convinced literary scholars to stop doing character-criticism, and shows that they cannot hold. Felski turns to the question of identification and draws out its diverse strands, as well as its persistence in academic criticism. Anderson shows that character-criticism illuminates both the moral life of characters, and our understanding of literary form. In offering new perspectives on the question of fictional character, this thought-provoking book makes an important intervention in literary studies.

Diamond Pearl Hope is a biracial news reporter. She experiences a hard childhood. Diamond is only ten years old when her black mother dies. She goes to live with relatives who discriminate against her because she is mixed race. Diamond is rescued from abusive family members through adoption. While growing up, she is kept in the dark about her white father. After graduating from college she meets and marries an older abusive man. Diamond gets arrested for assaulting her husband; and comes face to face with the man she thought shed never meet. Diamonds life story comes to a wonderful ending when her white and black relatives unite in love, as one big happy blended family. Book Review BlueInk Review of Diamonds Fate (paperback 978-1-4568-8877-0) revised by Author Angie Singleton, 09/15/2011 This intriguing novel captures the tumultuous life of Diamond Pearl Hope, a biracial news reporter living in Florida. Diamond was born to a white father and African-American mother. Due to the death of her mother, Diamond is forced to go live in a household with family members who frequently torment her, because of her light skin and interracial heritage. Diamond gets adopted by a white couple and experiences life on the other side of the color line, after the horrific death of her grandmother. When Diamond graduates from college, she meets and marries a man twice her age. She learns, firsthand, the intricacies of the criminal justice system, after getting arrested for assaulting her husband, who attacks her in a drunken rage. Struggling to put her life back together, Diamond finds strength in her Christian faith, caring friends and a loving family, including her newly discovered biological father, whom she reconciles with. In the end, Diamond not only wins an award for investigative reporting of domestic violence, she makes peace with those family members whod hurt her in the past; and her black and white relatives unite in a joyful celebration. Written in a distinctive voice Diamonds Fate conjures up past and current history making events such as the O.J. Simpson trial with telling details. References are made to popular music, movies and television shows that influenced society for generations. While the book contains idiosyncrasies or elements not typically found in most novels, such as: the authors personal photo album included in the back of the book and a frequency of italicized words and paragraphs, the story is compelling enough to make for an exciting, enjoyable and enlightening read. Readers interested in Christian and inspirational stories, as well as those curious about the unique challenges facing biracial children, will appreciate this tale of struggle and triumph. Novel is also available in hardcopy and ebook.

Get the Summary of Jason Diamond's Searching for John Hughes in 20 minutes. Please note: This is a summary & not the original book. "Searching for John Hughes" is a memoir by Jason Diamond that chronicles his journey as a writer and his obsession with the films of John Hughes. Diamond's narrative weaves through his experiences working at a bakery, his strained relationship with his parents, and his struggles with depression and identity. He recounts his childhood in the Chicago suburbs, marked by domestic chaos and a connection to the settings of Hughes' films...

Nesta's life is thrown into upheaval when she gets involved in charity work, thinking that it might be a cool way to meet people (ie: boys). But as her eyes are opened to the plight of the world, Nesta begins to genuinely want to help others. On top of this, Nesta meets William, who questions her motives. She's convinced he hates her - and the feeling is mutual. But Izzie, Lucy and TJ think it is something more like love.