The Writer's Garden: How Gardens Inspired Our Best-Loved Authors
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Great things happen in gardens. No one can doubt the importance of the garden in Roald Dahl's life...
ClareR (5721 KP) rated Miss Benson's Beetle in Books
Dec 5, 2020
It must have been very unusual for a woman in 1950 to up sticks and travel to the other side of the world, searching for a beetle that might not even exist. And the fact that she does this with no prior travel experience, not knowing the language at her destination, and with very basic equipment, made me feel that Margery Benson was even more courageous. I loved her companion, Enid Pretty, too - although I think Margery really struggles with her huge personality (despite her diminutive size) for a large part of the book. Enid is confident where Margery is unsure, loud where Margery is quiet - and she teaches Margery the importance of female friendship.
In the wings is an ex-prisoner of war who had been held captive by the Japanese. He suffers from PTSD and a tropical disease, and there is a feeling of constant unease that he will do something to harm Margery or Enid. I felt so sorry for him though. He really wasn’t in a good place mentally or physically throughout.
This book is a story of courage, trials and tribulations, tragedy, and joy in the small things in life (not just beetles!) and I loved it. It’s a book with a lot of laughter and a good helping of tears.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Homefront (2013) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
Written by Sylvestor Stallone. The film opens with a major drug bust going down, and inside undercover DEA agent Phil Broker (Statham) gives chase to the head of the drug ring and his son. While trying to arrest the father and son team, the son is shot to death, and his father promises to kill Broker and his children.
The rest of the movie takes place a few years later in a small town in Louisiana, where a now widowed Broker and his pre-teen daughter have moved to rebuild their life. An entire series of events is set off by Broker’s daughter standing up for herself against the school bully. The bully’s mother Cassie, demands an apology and doesn’t get one enough to her liking. She escalates the situation by going to her brother, Gator, who is the town’s resident “drug kingpin”.
After Gator discovers that Broker is actually an ex-undercover DEA agent, he tries to use that information as leverage to gain business ground for his drug running enterprise, and that’s where the rest of the movie plays out.
There are a lot of action and shooting scenes, which is what one would expect from a Statham movie, but it is still pretty predictable. Once Gator brings in the “big dogs” from the city, things quickly escalate and spin out of his control. The remainder of the movie is one gun fight after another, interspersed with chase scenes, swearing, explosions and hand to hand fighting. If you’re a fan of Statham, then there are really no surprises here. If you know to expect the movie’s complete predictability and his somewhat stiff acting, you’ll enjoy it.
Fame (Keatyn Chronicles book 8)
8.0
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Riley Johnson -- Captive Films' CEO and millionaire playboy is hot, privileged, and seriously...
Power (Keatyn Chronicles book 9)
8.0
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Riley Johnson -- Captive Films' CEO and millionaire playboy is hot, privileged, and seriously...
Money (Keatyn Chronicles book 10)
7.0
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Riley Johnson -- Captive Films' CEO and millionaire playboy is hot, privileged, and seriously...
Sex (Keatyn Chronicles book 11)
8.0
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Riley Johnson -- Captive Films' CEO and millionaire playboy is hot, privileged, and seriously...
Love (Keatyn Chronicles book 12)
4.0
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Riley Johnson — Captive Films’ CEO and millionaire playboy is hot, privileged, and seriously...
Ryker (Owatonna U Hockey #1)
RJ Scott and V.L. Locey
6.0
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This New Adult book is the first in the Owatonna U Series, a spin off from the best selling...
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson, #1) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
There are two major plot lines involved within the covers: the murder of three lawyers and how it ties into an innocent man and the mysterious entity who steams up Charley's dreams with some hot, hot action (and isn't as stalkerish as it sounds from the description). While the former seems to become an afterthought by the end, it ties up rather nicely, even if it's rather abrupt in comparison to how it's paced at the beginning. Though it is the other plot that is the more intriguing of the two and kept me reading so I could find out what happened next. I'm happy with how it ended and the author did a good job leaving me wanting to know more. The writing is capable, even if there was some redundancy of certain phrases and words, but it got better the further into the story I got. The book is bursting with sarcasm, which I love, and there's rarely a passage that doesn't have one snarky little morsel included. I hope future entries in the series will expand some of the other characters that are glossed over, but overall, this was a blast to read. If you're looking for a fast, fun piece of brain-candy, look no further, pop into this for a sweet treat. Also, kudos to whoever chose the cover, it captures the book perfectly.
3.5 stars