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Domonique (0 KP) rated Little Fires Everywhere in Books

May 12, 2018

Little Fires Everywhere

Celeste Ng | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry

8.3

(43 Ratings)

Book Rating

I just finished this book and it was so good. I loved the way they weaved the stories of the different characters throughout the book, especially how they started with the fire and then went back so we could know how they got to that point, and then circled back around to the beginning with Mrs. Richardson herself. [SPOILER ALERT] I think it was less about the big fire and more about, as the title says, the little fires everywhere from Mrs. Richardson finding out the truth about Mia, to Mia trying to help her friend, Bebe trying to get her baby back after she gave up her, to Pearl and Trip trying to figure out who they were to each other and it eventually causing a riff between Pearl and Moody to Izzy and her relationship, not only with her mother but also with Mia and how that ultimately led to the decisions she made that changed everyone's lives forever. #AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Kudos

ClareR (5721 KP) rated Ancillary Justice in Books

Apr 2, 2019

Ancillary Justice

Ann Leckie | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

This is everything about Science Fiction that I love: something totally original, something that I could never imagine on my own, and I’m just grateful that someone else has put this something in to book form! Saying that, I did listen to this on Audible (and the narrator, Adjoah Andoh, is fast becoming one of my favourite narrators), which is a much slower process for me to get through a book. But I’ve learnt that it’s well worth the commitment. Oh, and I can pretend I’m NOT cooking dinner or vacuuming.
Justice of Torrin was a ship whose consciousness was shared between many Auxiliaries - human, and potentially other, life forms. However, Breq is the only one of those life forms left, and Justice of Torrin has been destroyed. And they’re out for revenge.
There are so many twists and turns to this, and I loved it. I’ll be looking out for the second book, that’s for sure!

Kudos

ClareR (5721 KP) rated The Sealwoman's Gift in Books

Apr 29, 2019

The Sealwoman's Gift

Sally Magnusson | 2018 | Fiction & Poetry, History & Politics

8.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

This is set in 17th century Iceland, and based on the true story of the kidnapping and enslavement of 250 Icelanders in Algiers.
We follow a Pastors family, Olafur and his wife Asta, as they and their family are kidnapped by corsairs and pirates, and sold off separately to their owners. Olafur is sent back to Denmark to seek a ransom, but he fails. So we follow the life of Asta, how she lives and adapts in the house of Cilleby, and how she copes with the loss of her children and husband.
The Icelandic Sagas are Asta’s Means of escape and comfort, and in telling them she gets Cilleby onside and makes her own life more comfortable. She refuses to give up her Lutheran belief, and believes that she will be reunited with her family - at least in death - because of this.
This was such a touching novel, and the narrator (I listened on Audible) really did the story justice.

Kudos

David McK (3425 KP) rated The Silent Guides in Books

May 26, 2019

The Silent Guides

Steve Peters | 2018 | Education, Health & Fitness, Mind, Body & Spiritual

6.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

So, the (not so) Silent Guides

I'm calling it that because I read (listened to?) the audiobook version.

Recently, I decided to give audible (or, more accurately, it's free month) a try, and this came up as one of the 'recommended first listens'. I'd heard, anecdotally, of the Chimp Paradox, even though I'd never read it so thought I would give this a listen, especially since I'd been having a hard time of late and had been feeling rather a bit of stress/was unable to 'switch off' from work.

I don't really know what I was expecting, but what wasn't clear - at least, not to me - was that most of this (say, roughly 80% worth) is actually more about raising kids and how to be a role-model to them. I don't have any.

(I do have nieces and nephews, though)

With that said, there were still some aspects that I could probably put to use in my personal life ...