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The Girl and Her Ren
9.0
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Book
The Epic Conclusion to The Boy & His Ribbon "What do you do when you write down all your secrets?...
coming of age romance YA
Light Changes Everything
Book
“I adored stepping back into to the world of the Prines through tough-as-rawhide Mary Pearl. Light...
Ross (3282 KP) rated The Sieve (Drakon Book 1) in Books
Jul 31, 2018
Very short book 1 of 4
This first instalment in the Drakon book sees a mysterious figure, Da-Ren, appear at a monastery looking for salvation, and then follows his memories of his coming-of-age journey as a 12 year-old boy. Dragged from his bed in the orphans camp of his tribe and thrown into The Sieve - a 6 week long trial to weed out the weakest of the tribe, he and his fellow tribe members are forced to stand barely clothed in the freezing field - if they don't fall they get the luxury of clothes and meat; otherwise its porridge. The story flows really well and only seems to drag in a couple of chapters - quite a feat considering the daily drudge being described!
This first part is very short indeed and I can't help but wonder why. I think the overall page count of the full 4 "book" series is about 1500 - so cutting it in to 4 sections seems a little far. This book is about 250 pages. While it tells the full story of Da-Ren's time in the sieve and concludes with his final rating (the role he will perform for the tribe for the rest of his life) I think more of the present story (the monastery) could have been added on the end. A story featuring flashbacks should absolutely not finish in the flashback - showing that this is not really a standalone book at all.
I will read the rest of the series in due course as I loved the storytelling, the world built and am intrigued as to what is next.
This first part is very short indeed and I can't help but wonder why. I think the overall page count of the full 4 "book" series is about 1500 - so cutting it in to 4 sections seems a little far. This book is about 250 pages. While it tells the full story of Da-Ren's time in the sieve and concludes with his final rating (the role he will perform for the tribe for the rest of his life) I think more of the present story (the monastery) could have been added on the end. A story featuring flashbacks should absolutely not finish in the flashback - showing that this is not really a standalone book at all.
I will read the rest of the series in due course as I loved the storytelling, the world built and am intrigued as to what is next.
Darling Days
Book
I WAS BORN, SEPTEMBER 1985, IN THE VORTEX OF THE LOWER EAST SIDE OF NEW YORK: THERE WERE FEW RULES...
HI
Harold Innis and the North: Appraisals and Contestations
Book
Harold Innis is widely understood as the proponent of the "Laurentian school" of historiography,...
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
Book
In the vein of Isabel Allende and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a mesmerizing debut set against the...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2084 KP) rated Mermaid Mysteries in Books
Mar 15, 2020
Go Under the Sea for this Novella Collection
This collection contains three mystery novellas that take the reader under the sea for stories starring three mermaid sisters, the daughter of the leader of their community of Sirenia. Up first, Zoe finds a mystery after she rescues a diver at a shipwreck she loves to explore. Next, Kyra discovers something strange happening at the vault of cultural treasures. Finally, Ava must step into leadership earlier than expected when someone kidnaps Mother.
Each of the three novella is only 90 pages each, so they are easy reads, but they are delightful. They are part coming of age tales, and watching the sisters grow is remarkable. We get to see the other characters from three sets of eyes, so it is fun to see how the different sisters view those around them. The undersea world is brought to life with a delightful attention to detail; there are many elements that made me smile, and I’d love to dive in for a visit if I could only breath underwater. The mysteries themselves are good and compelling. One ended a bit abruptly, but that was a minor complaint. If you want to try something different with your mysteries, this collection is for you.
NOTE: The novellas were originally released individually as ebooks before being combined into this electronic and print collection. Make sure you aren’t buying the same content a second time, but by all means, buy it once.
Each of the three novella is only 90 pages each, so they are easy reads, but they are delightful. They are part coming of age tales, and watching the sisters grow is remarkable. We get to see the other characters from three sets of eyes, so it is fun to see how the different sisters view those around them. The undersea world is brought to life with a delightful attention to detail; there are many elements that made me smile, and I’d love to dive in for a visit if I could only breath underwater. The mysteries themselves are good and compelling. One ended a bit abruptly, but that was a minor complaint. If you want to try something different with your mysteries, this collection is for you.
NOTE: The novellas were originally released individually as ebooks before being combined into this electronic and print collection. Make sure you aren’t buying the same content a second time, but by all means, buy it once.
How to Build a Girl
Book
What do you do in your teenage years when you realise what your parents taught you wasn't enough?...
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Booksmart (2019) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
A raunchy but extremely funny teen-sex comedy.
A panda’s eye view of teenage life.
I tend to struggle to find a really good comedy to add to my top 10 of the year. Last year it was “Game Night” that made my list. One that is definitely heading there this year is “Booksmart”.
A retread on a well-travelled tyre.
The coming of age school comedy has been rehashed multiple times. These include films as varied as “Napoleon Dynamite”, “Superbad”, “Easy A”, “Mean Girls”, “Never Been Kissed” and “10 Things I Hate About You”. In tone, “Booksmart” is probably closest to “Superbad”, but it manages – under the direction of actress Olivia Wilde, in her debut feature – to establish a quirky likeability all of its own. An instant classic in the making.
Not for the prudish.
The story concerns two BFF’s – Molly (Beanie Feldstein, sister of Jonah Hill) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever). They have both spent their young lives trying to score A’s at school in lieu of all other distractions. On the eve of their graduation, Molly realises that this was not a binary option. Her school companions have managed to get all of the success without any of the self-sacrifice! She calls “Malala”! And the duo proceed on a drink and drug-fuelled night to catch up on all the school social life they have missed out on!
Part of this catching up includes sex, and with Amy as a naive wannabe lesbian, in awe of tom-boy skateboarder Ryan (Victoria Ruesga), coming out has never seemed so painful.
I first saw this on a plane and guffawed so much that I went out to buy the DVD for a family viewing. Watching it again though, it is really very, very rude. If you were to categorize it, I think “sex comedy” would be a primary tag. A clumsy but realistic scene between Amy and the “hot girl” Hope (Diana Silvers… who really is) is excruciatingly hard to watch. This can therefore prove an uncomfortable co-watch for ‘young folks’ who – despite all the obvious evidence! – assume their parents / in-laws have done nothing in the past other than hold hands!! 🙂
In a great ensemble cast, Kaitlyn Dever is a revelation.
Kaitlyn Dever has cut her teeth with supporting roles on a few B-grade movies this year including “Beautiful Boy” and “The Front Runner“. But here she takes centre stage and is an absolute revelation as the sexually bemused teen. While Beanie Feldstein has the more obvious comic lead role, it is Dever who continually grabbed my attention with her acting skills. This young lady is added to my “one to watch” list.
This is not to decry the rest of the cast. For this is a great ensemble performance from a pretty unknown cast. The only familiar faces are Lisa Kudrow and Jason Sudeikis, but they only have bit parts.
The only role that didn’t quite work for me was that of the kooky drugged out hippie Gigi (Billie Lourd). It was all a bit too over-the-top for me in a movie that didn’t really need that sort of manic angle. (However, this did set up a Marwen-style drug scene that made me snort… with laughter).
As a comedy, will this by the whole you think it is?
I think this will prove to be a firm young person’s favourite for many years to come. Whether you will find it funny or not will probably depend on the setting of your ‘crudometer’ and your resilience to bad language on screen.
For me, personally, I am clearly still 17 on the inside! I loved it. Not only do I think it a good comedy. It is also a feel-good movie about best friends; a coming of age lesbian adventure; and a film that treats the multi-coloured spectrum of modern sexual variety as something entirely normal and to be celebrated.
I tend to struggle to find a really good comedy to add to my top 10 of the year. Last year it was “Game Night” that made my list. One that is definitely heading there this year is “Booksmart”.
A retread on a well-travelled tyre.
The coming of age school comedy has been rehashed multiple times. These include films as varied as “Napoleon Dynamite”, “Superbad”, “Easy A”, “Mean Girls”, “Never Been Kissed” and “10 Things I Hate About You”. In tone, “Booksmart” is probably closest to “Superbad”, but it manages – under the direction of actress Olivia Wilde, in her debut feature – to establish a quirky likeability all of its own. An instant classic in the making.
Not for the prudish.
The story concerns two BFF’s – Molly (Beanie Feldstein, sister of Jonah Hill) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever). They have both spent their young lives trying to score A’s at school in lieu of all other distractions. On the eve of their graduation, Molly realises that this was not a binary option. Her school companions have managed to get all of the success without any of the self-sacrifice! She calls “Malala”! And the duo proceed on a drink and drug-fuelled night to catch up on all the school social life they have missed out on!
Part of this catching up includes sex, and with Amy as a naive wannabe lesbian, in awe of tom-boy skateboarder Ryan (Victoria Ruesga), coming out has never seemed so painful.
I first saw this on a plane and guffawed so much that I went out to buy the DVD for a family viewing. Watching it again though, it is really very, very rude. If you were to categorize it, I think “sex comedy” would be a primary tag. A clumsy but realistic scene between Amy and the “hot girl” Hope (Diana Silvers… who really is) is excruciatingly hard to watch. This can therefore prove an uncomfortable co-watch for ‘young folks’ who – despite all the obvious evidence! – assume their parents / in-laws have done nothing in the past other than hold hands!! 🙂
In a great ensemble cast, Kaitlyn Dever is a revelation.
Kaitlyn Dever has cut her teeth with supporting roles on a few B-grade movies this year including “Beautiful Boy” and “The Front Runner“. But here she takes centre stage and is an absolute revelation as the sexually bemused teen. While Beanie Feldstein has the more obvious comic lead role, it is Dever who continually grabbed my attention with her acting skills. This young lady is added to my “one to watch” list.
This is not to decry the rest of the cast. For this is a great ensemble performance from a pretty unknown cast. The only familiar faces are Lisa Kudrow and Jason Sudeikis, but they only have bit parts.
The only role that didn’t quite work for me was that of the kooky drugged out hippie Gigi (Billie Lourd). It was all a bit too over-the-top for me in a movie that didn’t really need that sort of manic angle. (However, this did set up a Marwen-style drug scene that made me snort… with laughter).
As a comedy, will this by the whole you think it is?
I think this will prove to be a firm young person’s favourite for many years to come. Whether you will find it funny or not will probably depend on the setting of your ‘crudometer’ and your resilience to bad language on screen.
For me, personally, I am clearly still 17 on the inside! I loved it. Not only do I think it a good comedy. It is also a feel-good movie about best friends; a coming of age lesbian adventure; and a film that treats the multi-coloured spectrum of modern sexual variety as something entirely normal and to be celebrated.