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A Delicate Truth
A Delicate Truth
John Le Carre | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have received this book through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway and I am have very much enjoyed reading it!

It follows the mysterious 'Operation Wildlife', a catastrophe from start to finish, and something that ekes out a wave of human destruction with everyone who finds out any piece of information about it. Toby, Kit, 'Suki' and Emily are all dragged into the lives of others, the lives of those trying to cover and smother an operation that should never of happened, and when it did, went totally pear shaped.

I have to be honest, I really didn't like this book to begin with. It was really tough at first to get into, as the mystery is so deeply entwined and you have no idea where it's going. Reach the halfway point and it's like a totally different book. The second half immensely fast paced, incredibly difficult to put down and a fantastic read!

The characters are well written, and in the second half they are incredibly engaging. I have to say, I found this got better with each page, and by the cliff hanger at the end, I was heart in mouth wanting to know what was happening next and was very annoyed that it had finished!

A bit of a bitty review, but in all honesty, that reflects the book. It is bitty, it doesn't seem to flow well, but there's just something about it. The last half saves it, and that's about all I have to say. I'd recommend, but only if this was your cup of tea, it's not a book that's going to get you hooked on this genre if I'm honest, but the foundations are there, and this is the sort of book that I feel would play out better on the big screen.
  
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Kyera (8 KP) rated The Circle in Books

Feb 1, 2018  
The Circle
The Circle
Dave Eggers | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.8 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Even a day after finishing The Circle by Dave Eggers, I’m still not quite sure how I feel about the book. The story follows Mae, a young twenty-something year old as she gets a job at the Circle the biggest tech company around. They’ve essentially outperformed, purchased and influenced their competition like Google, Facebook and Apple – and have become dominant in the field. The plot progresses as the company invents more and more ways to progress technology and access to knowledge.

I didn’t find any of the characters in this book particularly likable. In fact, I really didn’t connect with or like the main character at all. She seemed to have no backbone, became very defensive and accusatory with no motivation, meddled in other people’s private affairs, and made some terrible decisions in her life. Her choices throughout the book were very frustrating, as she succumbed to bad decision making, alienated her family, and pushed away her true friends.

For me, this book was very stress-inducing. Just Mae’s job in customer service became overwhelming very quickly. When she was introduced to her job, her desk and her coworkers, it was explained to her that she would have multiple points of contact that she must keep her focus on. Her first screen was for her work and interaction with customers, where she would respond to their queries and assist them with problems. The second screen was for inter-office communication (which was constant) between her and her colleagues. That in and of itself was overwhelming, but she was also told that she had to pay attention to her phone on her desk and the health monitor/smart watch type device on her wrist. As if that wasn’t enough, over time the number of screens that were installed at her desk multiplied and became completely overwhelming to me as the reader. Just attempting to imagine having to deal with that was stressing me out a little.

As the book progressed, it reminded me more and more of 1984 and Big Brother. One of the first things that horrified me was the installation of cameras across the globe, although it was touted as a way to disseminate information and curb crime – I could only think of the implications. What happened to personal privacy? As an introvert, the ideas put forth in the Circle were incredibly hard to accept. Circle membership grew, voting became mandatory and privacy all but disappeared. What makes the book even more hard-hitting and thought provoking is that the ideas in the book are the way that the world is currently progressing.

The book and its ideas definitely force you to think about the state of the world today, our reliance on technology and willingness to put so much information about ourselves out there in the world. Just as a slight spoiler, in the next paragraph I will discuss my feelings about the conclusion of the book. If you don’t want to know whether they followed the path of Big Brother or rebelled, please just skip that paragraph and continue reading after that.

<spoiler>The entire book, I was expecting there to be a lesson about the overwhelming power of technology, our loss of privacy and the world’s discovery that this is not the way to live. There is a line that perhaps we should not cross and continuing on the path the Circle is taking is crossing that line. Unfortunately, that is not what happened in the book. In the end, the Circle’s way of being with no privacy, a world monopoly and forced participation in everything was accepted, wholeheartedly. I was baffled and so I have no idea how I feel about the book. It seemed like it was a technological horror, warning humanity but the acceptance at the end makes me question the purpose of the book. </spoiler>

One of my problems with the book may just stem from the issue of converting the book into eBook form and not formatting it well. As I have never paged through a physical copy, I don’t know what the book is supposed to look like – but beyond basic paragraph formatting there was no delineation between sections in my copy. Scene changes would occur where the day, location or character being interacted with would change and it caused a split-second of confusion. There were no chapters and no page breaks. The only formatting I had in my copy where the headings for book 1, 2, and 3. Again, this may just be my copy and if so I don’t want to fault the book – but if the physical book is like that, then I take issue with the formatting. It doesn’t look professional and affects the readability of the book.

This book definitely forces you to think and may cause a few nightmares depending upon how you feel about technology, just be warned. Overall, I would recommend this book but to adult readers as it is not a young adult book.
  
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    iMoneyFlow

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    Voice of DAISY

    Voice of DAISY

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PM
Private Message (Private, #1)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I absolutely devoured this book! I couldn't put the flippin thing down! This story is off the charts hot, the characters are so easy to love, and the twists in the story literally made me yell "shut the f@%k up!"

I was so excited to get an ARC of this book that I pretty much started reading it as soon as it showed its pretty little face on my Kindle screen! From word one I was hooked! I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading this proving that I again have an inadequate respect for my required 8 hours of sleep; but oh baby, was this book ever worth it!

Tess is a great character, and she reminds me of myself in a couple of different ways which made me love her even more, yeah? She is the punky rocker girl who is shy and timid and has walls up all around her heart. She is fun to be around but likes to stick to herself.

Ben is just hot, hot, hot!!! He swoops in and knocks Tess right off her feet! She doesn't know what to think about him, and he just zings her with surprise after surprise! I loved the dynamic of their relationship. Ben also shows a lot of character in the way you watch him grow up throughout the book.


This book left me wanting more! I am not sure if this is going to be part of a series or if the author intended it to be a stand alone book. The ending of the book for me could go either way. I am satisfied if she intended it to be a stand alone, but if she were to expand the story that would be amazing! Private Message is now going to be added to my stack of favorite books! I will be re-reading this again and again!
  
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