Modeling and Simulating Software Architectures: The Palladio Approach
Ralf H. Reussner, Steffen Becker, Jens Happe and Robert Heinrich
Book
Too often, software designers lack an understanding of the effect of design decisions on such...
A Brief History of the Spanish Language
Book
Since its publication in 2007, A Brief History of the Spanish Language has become the leading...
Free Jazz/Black Power
Philippe Carles, Jean-Louis Comolli and Gregory Pierrot
Book
For the first time in English, the classic volume that developed a radical new understanding of free...
Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated The Boy Who Fell To Earth in Books
Jun 24, 2019
Okay, it's nearly midnight and I need to be up early so I'm going to have to keep this one rather short.
Lette writes from the point of view of Lucy, who's son has been involved in a serious car accident. She recaps her time with him, telling us her story of love, loss and difficulty.
This novel is written in an honest voice, with sarcasm and humour on every page. It tells the tale of parenting, divorce, finding and losing love, and even coping with the world's way of dealing with special needs. Like I said, it's brutally honest and does not exclude any of the less favourable thoughts or feelings.
It is quite clear that this is aimed at an older generation of readers, but I must say that I did really enjoy it, far more than I anticipated. It isn't a fantasy or an action novel, and it does have a slightly cheesy happy ending, but I do think a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised by how easy this is to read.
If I was a bit older I would probably adore this, but as it is I can't say it's quite a favourite of mine. But I'm definitely happy to have read it, so 4 stars.
Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process
10.0
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The long-awaited guide to writing long-form nonfiction by the legendary author and teacher Draft...
Essays Writing
A Column of Fire
9.0
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The saga that has enthralled the millions of readers of The Pillars of the Earth and World Without...
Fiction
Deadhouse Landing
Book
Returning readers to the turbulent early history of what would become the Malazan Empire, the second...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2346 KP) rated Around the World in 80 Days in Books
Apr 11, 2022
I’d heard about this book for years and was finally inspired to read it. I found it mixed, at least to what I am used to these days. The journey itself is uneven, with some areas more prominently featured than others, like the time spent in America. My biggest problem was the characters, who are paper thin. As a result, it took me a while to really get invested. Unfortunately, the thinnest of the lot is the sole woman in the book. There are a couple of complications that today’s readers will view as dated stereotypes, but they were real issues the world was dealing with at the time (or at least one of them was something that happened consistently, unfortunately). I did get caught up in the story at times, and I appreciated how the climax was set up early on. I’m glad I’ve finally read it, but the end result was only average.
Between a Flock and a Hard Place
8.0
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Readers will flock to New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews's next installment in the...
Hadley (567 KP) rated The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek in Books
Jan 21, 2020
When you read this novel by two of the most well-known YouTube personalities (Rhett and Link of Good Mythical Morning), be sure you have plenty of time to spare because this is a book you won't want to put down. The novel follows three best friends of a small town in North Carolina in the early 1990's, when one of them gets sent to a infamous reform school for an accident, they start to uncover mysterious deaths that have taken place there, and begin to fear that their friend is going to be a victim of one.
In 'The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek,' the main characters, Rex, Leif and Alicia, make their debut at a pig roasting to raise funds for a church, whose copper organ pipes had been stolen days before. It's here we learn that the three are making a film called PolterDog, which leads to Alicia getting sent away after a near-deadly accident with the owner and headmaster of the local Whitewood Reform School.
Soon after, Rex and Leif run into an escapee from the school (Ben), who tells them that their friend's life is in danger while she's at Whitewood. While the three come up with a plan to rescue Alicia, a woman who's visiting the town of Bleak Creek, who is trying to film a documentary about kidney stones, becomes a valuable part of their rescue mission.
Not only do we get to see from Rex and Leif's point of view, but we also get to see from inside the Whitewood Reform School from Alicia's view. This view point is much needed to help readers experience the abuse that goes on inside the school (and to realize that Ben was telling the truth) and also to help readers root for the main characters' success in their rescue mission. Even though the majority of the story is the main characters getting everything together for this mission, the writing was done so well that all of it makes sense leading up to the end.
To not give too much away about this book, I have to cut my review short of it. The writing is really good, with the pace continuously keeping the reader going and wanting more.This story also encompasses everything that makes a great novel: best friends trying to save another, small town mysteries, well-placed humor and murder. I found all of the characters likable, and the situations they found themselves in made complete sense in the story. This will be one that readers can pick up more than once and enjoy it each time they read it. As a horror book, this story is high on my scale with scenarios happening that I couldn't see coming.