Gitchie Girl: The Survivor's Inside Story
5.0
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A terrified voice cried out in the night. "Who are you? What do you want?" The sound of...
The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir
9.0
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In search of a place to call home, thousands of Hmong families made the journey from the war-torn...
Small Talk (2016)
Movie Watch
Anu is a tomboy. Although she was married off at a young age – as was customary in Taiwan in the...
international documentary biography
Last Band Standing by Orchestre Les Mangelepa
Album Watch
Strut present the first ever new international studio album by one of the all-time great African big...
pop world
Brown Girl Dreaming
Book
Jacqueline Woodson, the acclaimed author of Another Brooklyn, tells the moving story of her...
The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020
8.0
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From the Booker-shortlisted author of The Mars Room, a career-spanning collection of spectacular...
ClareR (5726 KP) rated The Queen Of Bloody Everything in Books
Sep 9, 2018
I listened to this through Audible, and I think the narrator was exactly the right choice. Dido, the main character, starts off as a six year old in 1976. We follow her through a difficult childhood with her single, bohemian, hard and fast living mother, Edie, in a very conservative small town. There are times where I wondered who the adult actually was. There is no doubt that Dido loves her mother no matter how difficult she is, but it's also evident that she is largely responsible for the direction that Dido's life takes. Dido is mainly cared for by the Trevelyans, who she meets on the day she and her mother move in to the house left to Edie in her aunts will. Mrs Trevelyan is clearly disapproving of Edie (as are a lot of people in their small town). Dido attempts to become part of the Trevelyan family, and she does succeed in time.
I loved all of these characters and the way their lives played out, and I think the use of the first person narrative was really effective. A really lovely book.
David McK (3425 KP) rated Wonder Woman (2017) in Movies
Jul 27, 2019 (Updated Jun 22, 2021)
That was a role that Gal Gadot took in in the 2016 movie, portraying a different take on the character: one who has largely remained in the background throughout history, only revealing herself (and her powers) towards the end of that movie.
This film takes place at an earlier period in her life (albeit 'bookended' by a modern day setting, with Diana receiving a vintage photo of her in costume): during the First World War, to be precise, when Diana first leaves the Amazonian island paradise of Thermiscyra and enters the world, discovering her powers and heritage in the process.
While there may be an element of truth in the criticism that the plot of this movie is - largely - a role-reversed Captain America (World War setting? Sacrificial ending?) and that it probably could have done without the CGI battle at the end (which, IMO, lessened the impact the movie would have had without it) this is still a very enjoyable movie indeed!
As an aside: the stand-out scene where Diana crosses No-Mans land on her own? That was nearly cut from the movie.
The Top Gear Story: The 100% Unofficial Story of the Most Famous Car Show...In the World
Book
From humble beginning as a 1970s motoring show, Top Gear has achieved world domination. Reaching a...