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The Midnight Library
The Midnight Library
Matt Haig | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry
8
7.9 (12 Ratings)
Book Rating
Thought-provoking but predictable
I really enjoy Matt Haig's writing, both his fiction and his non-fiction, and I couldn't wait to read The Midnight Library - a sci-fi-esque, life affirming story about books is right up my street. And overall, this was worth the wait.

Nora is an endearing and relatable protagonist whose life hasn't turned out the way she wanted, and her list of regrets could fill a whole book (literally as we find out). She decides to end her life and winds up in the Midnight Library, a place that allows her to visit an unending number of alternative lives that resulted from her making different decisions. Now who hasn't wished they could change their past, make a different decision and wonder where they would've ended up? This book is definitely for those that have ever wished this and it's a dream I enjoyed reading.

The problem is that it's very predictable. I knew exactly how this was going to end from the very beginning and whilst the ending is heartwarming and very life affirming, it's a tiny bit of a let down. Which is a shame as the journey through Nora's lives is actually quite interesting.

There's a good message in this about living and appreciating your own life, but I just wish this wasn't so predictable.
  
The Summoner’s Sins (Sandal Castle Medieval Thrillers #3)
The Summoner’s Sins (Sandal Castle Medieval Thrillers #3)
Keith Moray | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Summoner’s Sins is a really engaging historical fiction set in the 14th century. I really liked that real historical people were used in the narrative, and the attitudes of medieval people towards religion and witchcraft always fascinates me. The average medieval person was a very superstitious type - which I suppose was an understandable way to make sense of the world without science. Curses shouted out from the gallows abound in this story, and there are plenty of rebels in the background who are only too happy to make it look as though they are curses that have come true.
Richard Lee is a reasoned and logical man, and able to tell a curse from an actual murder - and thank goodness for him! I really liked the characters that Keith Moray has written in to this story, and Richard and Hubert are great lead characters. Richard is a god-fearing man, but he doesn’t let religion get in the way of the truth. Hubert is ever faithful to Richard and their pursuit of the truth.
I really very much enjoyed this book - I do like historical fiction (you’ve probably guessed this by now!) and I enjoy a good mystery. This delivered in spades on both counts.
Many thanks to Sapere Books for providing me with an e-ARC.
  
Scenes from the Second Storey by The God Machine
Scenes from the Second Storey by The God Machine
1993 | Alternative, Rock, Punk
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"They're an incredible band, on Fiction and maybe even slightly discovered by The Cure. They were Americans but lived in London and were involved in the Camden scene with Silverfish, Ligament and all these kind of bands. It's almost metal, but it's also really bleak. A wonderful band, they made two records and then the bass player died so I never got to see them live. Martin our drummer saw them play. When we started Mogwai they were one of the bands we all bonded over. We were all big God Machine fans and actually used to do a couple of covers of their songs. The records have definitely held up and stood the test of time. I think I found them, you're about the same age as me so you'll remember this, but whenever a major label like Fiction tried to punt a new band they're pretty much give the records away, so you'd get singles and 7" for 49p. You could try out a lot of bands. When I moved my records a few years ago I had so many 7" of horrible bands that are just cataclysmically awful that I bought just because they were 50p. But that's how I discovered The God Machines and they're a big Mogwai band, there's no argument about that."

Source
  
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
The Battle of Algiers (1966)
1966 | Classics, Drama, War
7.4 (8 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The notion of making a fiction — meaning you look at it and you think it’s all documentary footage, but it’s all shot. And the reality factor of that is something that makes you able to escape into the film; the fabric of that fiction is so believable and completely knitted together that you buy the proposition of the film — even when you see people getting shot and there’s no blood coming out of their bodies or whatever. There’s something about shooting something [in black and white] — and I’m talking about two movies that are in black and white, we should say, except for the part [in Andrei Rublev] where they show the color of the fresco of the Russian icons. I really like movies that are in black and white, because you feel like you are watching a movie. We associate it with things that were filmed at that time, that would have been filmed in black and white. So there are different concessions and commitments to make to a limited palette for a reason. When I make a movie like Miral, there’s a kind of reversal stock that I’m using outside and sometimes it really feels like Technicolor, like a movie like Exodus, and there are other moments when it’s rougher and it feels like The Bad Lieutenant, or something like that."

Source
  
Been There, Married That
Been There, Married That
Gigi Levangie Grazer | 2020 | Contemporary
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
‏I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.

Agnes Murphy Nash has the perfect Hollywood life...or so she thought until arriving home to find the gates and doors locked and is prevented from entering her own house. What ensues is a humorous look at divorce, the stupid things people do while divorcing, and how badly we can act.

Gigi Levangie Grazer could have written Been There, Married That as a Debbie Downer book especially when discussing Agnes having to still cohabitate with her husband during the divorce. Anyone who had to endure cohabitating knows there is not much to laugh about. Grazier focuses on the negative but writes it with such style you are guaranteed to laugh.

I do not usually read "women's fiction" or "chick lit" but, after reading its description, I figured I would give it a try. I am so glad I chose this novel. I will continue with my norms (mystery, YA, SciFi) but will not shun women's fiction immediately from now on. I will probably still avoid romances but Been There, Married That is not a romance novel.

I also heard part of the audiobook. The narrator, Amy McFadden, did a fabulous job and really brought this novel and its humor to life.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 5/23/20.