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Joe Goodhart (27 KP) rated A Book of Dreams in Books

Nov 30, 2020

A Book of Dreams

Peter Reich | 1973 | Biography, Medical & Veterinary, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences

4.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I remember by in the late 1980's, when Kate Bush's "Cloudbusting" (from her album 'Hounds of Love'). The song was inspired by this book, and a video also followed, in which Donald Sutherland played the late Wilhelm Reich and Bush was the 10-year-old Peter Reich. I was enamored with both Kate's music, as well as the artist herself, so I was taken in by it. I also made it a point to read the book, which at that time was difficult, as it had gone out-of-print. So, jump to the present..

I found the book available for my Kindle, so I gave it read, as it was on my "Life's Reading Bucket List". And, while I am glad to have checked it off that virtual list, it was not what I was expecting.

The book jumped perspectives - from 10 year old Peter to his adult self, in the 1970's - leaving me a bit disoriented at points, making it difficult to focus on the underlying story. It recollects memories, interspersed with odd, dream-like statements. And, at the end of it all? Not really much of an ending, nor a conclusion to all the oddness.

Conclusion? I still love the song "Cloudbusting". The book that inspired it? Not so much.

Kudos

BookInspector (124 KP) rated Buddies, Bullies, and Baseball in Books

Jan 26, 2021

The protagonist of this book is Jack, and the story is told from his perspective. Jack is a fifth-grade student, who has great friends and loves baseball. I liked Jack, he is a cute and very intelligent young boy. Jack shares his tricks in avoiding the bullies, and his general daily routine. This book is very simplistic and the whole plot can be quite relatable to any schoolboy out there. It discusses home works, friendships, and baseball. I didn’t see many adventures or twits and turns in this book, it is written in simple and easy to understand language, suitable for children. The chapters are pretty short, and the ending rounded up this story pretty nicely.

To conclude, it is an important book, and I do recommend it for children to read. As an adult, I found this book not very entertaining and quite boring. I think children would enjoy it more because they would see themselves in Jack and could relate on some level. I do see the marketing and pricing issues with this book and I highlighted that to the publisher. For now, it is free on Kindle Unlimited, so please offer it to your kids, it is quite educational and might help someone.

Kudos

_RainAllTheTime (17 KP) rated Ugly Betty - Season 1 in TV

Sep 4, 2019

Has Ugly Betty aged well?

Contains spoilers, click to show

Ugly Betty first came to screens in 2006 and as it was recently put on Amazon Prime I decided to re-watch it......watching it as an adult is a whole new experience.

The show does bring up important isses, such as Betty's fathers immigration issues, Christina's trouble with trying to raise funds for her husbands medical treatments, grief, feeling you don't fit in etc. Unfortunately some of the other important issues didn't age well......

For example the storyline of Alexis being transgender. The use of some of the words, the use of the wrong pronouns (at the beginning), the use of some of the phrases leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. I understand that in 2006 people weren't in much light towards those kind of issues as we are today but still, that storyline hasn't aged well.

Another example is the body shaming, again another issue which wasn't as spoken about then as it is today but another storyline that didn't age well.

All that a side, the show is still enjoyable and Betty is a very loveable and sweet character who we get to see grow and become more confident as the seasons go on

Kudos

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Along Came a Spider (Transplanted Tales, #3) in Books

Sep 6, 2019

The main thing I liked about this story was how the characters were rarely how they were portrayed in their particular rhyme or story, for example, Olivia Snow White running an adult business; whod have thought?? Haha :P

Its brilliant and contains almost all of our favourite characters from Al Addin to Juliet Capulet (she gets mentioned, anyway)

Im just sorry I missed the first two books in the series though they arent really necessary to understand this one, and I presume tell the story of two of the other couples mentioned in this one (Red and Nate and Lavender and Seth). I have to admit the author does a good job of making sure you dont miss out on much that happened in the previous books by retelling it from another characters viewpoint, though it isnt quite the same as reading it as it happened, if you know what I mean. It isnt necessary but it is an advantage to read Red and The Better to See You before this one.

That being said, the author has a great style of writing and I was quickly dragged into the story. Its a mix of action, mystery and romance. What more could you ask for?