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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2464 KP) rated The Fly on the Wall in Books

Apr 6, 2024  
The Fly on the Wall
The Fly on the Wall
Tony Hillerman | 1971 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
When a Reporter Becomes the Story
John Cotton is working late one night at his job as a political reporter at the state capital when another reporter comes in bragging about having just gotten a huge story. Just a few minutes later, that other reporter is dead. John begins trying to figure out what the story might be, but when another reporter is killed, he can’t help but wonder if the story he’s pursuing is deadly.

Those most familiar with Tony Hillerman because of his books set on the Navaho reservation will find this political thriller is quite a departure. Heck, it isn’t even set in the southwest, although we do get a memorable scene there. As a thriller, it took a bit to get going, but once we did, I was hooked with several edge of your seat scenes. John is the only character we truly get to know; it would have been nice to get to know some of the others better. The book originally came out in 1971, and it shows. Parts are definitely dated. None of these complaints are reasons to skip the book. If you pick it up and give it a chance, you’ll find yourself enjoying it.
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2464 KP) rated Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer in Books

Oct 10, 2025 (Updated Oct 10, 2025)  
Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer
Lady Darling Inquires After a Killer
Colleen Gleason | 2025 | Mystery
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Hunting a High Society Killer
While Lady Darling, a rich widow of a certain age, enjoys her life in the country, she agrees to spend the season in London to be chaperone for a friend’s daughter. But when their host turns up dead at the first dinner party they attend, Lady Darling decides to investigate. Can she find the killer?

Having enjoyed some other books this author has written, I was looking forward to this one. I felt the book was over written, which is often the case with the author, but it was a bit more than some of her others. The story took a little time to get going, but once it did, I enjoyed it and was along until we reached the logical end, although it did feel like there was a leap or two. Lady Darling is lots of fun and I did enjoy getting to know the rest of the cast. My biggest issue was something in Lady Darling’s backstory. I can understand the justification for it, but it still didn’t sit right with me. Plenty of people are enjoying this book, so if the time and place appeal, give it a chance and see what you think for yourself.
  
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Cee-Lo Green recommended De La Soul Is Dead by De La Soul in Music (curated)

 
De La Soul Is Dead by De La Soul
De La Soul Is Dead by De La Soul
1991 | Alternative, Hip-hop, Rap
7.1 (8 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I love Three Feet High And Rising as well - I could have taken up two slots! De La Soul are just one of my all time favourite groups, and happen to be personal friends of mine as well. Three Feet High... was a more manic album, there were all kind of little bits and pieces of things that I love, and songs like 'Can You Keep A Secret'. But De La Soul Is Dead was a reaffirmation; they were typecast as hippies and they resented that, similar to how the Goodie Mob were typecast as being country - we may have been Southern, but we weren't country. There's something defiant about it. This is when they were concentrated, and not random and manic like Three Feet..., which is great as well - but this is streamlined, but still just as alternative and experimental. And a lot more effective."

Source
  
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David McK (3676 KP) rated The Martian (2015) in Movies

Jun 14, 2020 (Updated Feb 1, 2025)  
The Martian (2015)
The Martian (2015)
2015 | Sci-Fi
6
8.0 (93 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Ridley Scott's adaptation of Andy Weir's book of the same name, following the trials and tribulation of botanist astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) after the rest of his crew take off and abandon him on Mars, believing he is dead.

While - of necessity - a large part of the screen time is devoted to Watney and his time alone on the planet, the film (and book) also cuts between his colleagues on the spacecraft home (and how they react once they find out he is alive), and various NASA personnel, most of whom are only given the broad strokes of characterisations

As a Ridley Scott film, you know you're going to get impressive visuals and world building (it's one of the things he excels at), while Damon actually proves surprisingly well cast as Watney. I don't remember the final section of the film being in the book though ...