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Liz Phair recommended Beloved in Books (curated)

 
Beloved
Beloved
A.S. Byatt, Toni Morrison | 2006 | Fiction & Poetry
6.9 (7 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Toni Morrison’s miraculous prose is a show-stopper in this novel. It is the first time I remember being awestruck by an author’s talent. The blunt, colloquial dialogue punctuating a more nimble and filigreed narration style is a rhythm I have borrowed from heavily in my own work. Her ability to embrace the supernatural while never straying far from the familiar imbues the story with a fairy-tale quality in the old school sense, where horror shadows everyday life and wonder awaits you just around the corner. I grew up in Cincinnati, and my grandparents’ home in Indian Hill had a false wall for harboring men and women fleeing slavery in Kentucky. I felt deeply connected to this book, as if I were reading it as a member of Sethe and Denver’s troubled household in their tightly woven African-American community."

Source
  
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ClareR (5841 KP) rated The Figurine in Books

Nov 20, 2023  
The Figurine
The Figurine
Victoria Hislop | 2023 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I do love Victoria Hislop books, and in The Figurine I was transported back to Greece in the 1960’s with dictators ruling and a young girl, Helena, visiting her affluent grandparents on her own. Her grandfather is authoritarian, aloof, and never really connects with his granddaughter, but her grandmother clearly adores her. Through these summer visits, Helena grows to love Greece, even if she never manages to form a relationship with her grandfather.

As she gets older, Helena goes to university, meets a man who convinces her to go on archaeological digs on Greek Islands, and she then discovers antiques in her grandparents flat after their deaths - antiques that should not be owned by a private collector at all. These antiques are not acquired under legitimate means, and just how they were acquired soon becomes very clear to Helena. With the help of some Greek friends she is able to start the process of returning the valuable antiques to their rightful owners - the Greek people.

There is still the matter of a dodgy, antique smuggling boyfriend to deal with, and to do so involves the help of friends in London. So this story goes between London and Greece - and believe me when I say that Greece is painted in a much more favourable light than London. Everything seems grey and cold in London, and Greece is all sunshine and warmth. I know where I would rather be.

I love how Hislop writes about Greece: she’s clearly a Hellenophile, and why wouldn’t she be?! It’s a beautiful country. And when the matter of an ancient figurine comes up (that of the title of the book), we see how important even the smallest piece of Greece’s history is to the country as a whole.

Another gorgeous book from Victoria Hislop - a good one to read during the dull winter months that we have coming our way!

Read on The Pigeonhole.
  
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Lou Grande (148 KP) rated Grandfather's House in Books

May 15, 2018  
Grandfather's House
Grandfather's House
Jon Athan | 2018 | Horror
7
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Like VC Andrews with a flamethrower
I enjoyed this book. Although it was a quick read, it was a disturbing one. Like THE ABUSE OF ASHLEY COLLINS, GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE deals with subject of child abuse. The focus, though, is on character rather than out and out violence, and it's a better novel because of it. It felt much more realistic, which gives it a stronger impact.

Our protagonist isn't especially likeable at the beginning of the story, but he's a teenager. Teenagers aren't likeable in the first place. But his grandparents are so disturbing right off the bat that you're immediately behind him. Athan takes the stereotype of the sweet grandparent and flips it on its head. There's a good amount of tension throughout the book from beginning to end--and while this is definitely horrific, I wouldn't classify it as extreme horror because more attention was paid to characterization than ripping people apart. GRANDFATHER'S HOUSE was like a V.C. Andrews book on speed.
  
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Joe Julians (221 KP) rated Daddy's Home 2 (2017) in Movies

Feb 6, 2018 (Updated Feb 6, 2018)  
Daddy's Home 2 (2017)
Daddy's Home 2 (2017)
2017 | Comedy
3
7.1 (39 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
The first Daddy's Home was hardly a comedic masterpiece. It was sub par for the most part and only really borderline enjoyable thanks to a cast that seemed enthusiastic and game to play a part in it. For the sequel, like Bad Mom's (a franchise where it's first movie was actually great) it has decided to bring in the grandparents. That didn't work out well for A Bad Mom's Christmas and it doesn't work for Daddy's Home 2 either.

There's nothing wrong with the performances in this one as such. Nobody is all that great, but they do the best they can with the material. The material however is the problem. This script is dire. It's a comedy without any jokes, a christmas movie without any heart and a family story where almost everyone is unwittingly unlikeable. I can't think of a single joke, a single moment that made me laugh and when a film contains Farrel, Wahlberg, Gibson and Lithgow- that's unforgivable.
  
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Mayhawke (97 KP) rated Who Let the Gods Out? in Books

Feb 13, 2018  
Who Let the Gods Out?
Who Let the Gods Out?
Maz Evans | 2017 | Children
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Eliot, the troubled boy and his anarchic, dysfunctional foster-Gods...
Eliot is a boy with problems. A mum who is suffereing from crippling depression and mental health problems, a farm that is running to ruin since his grandparents died, and a school where the teachers know nothing about any of it. Facing repossession of his home and the looming threat of Social Services and being separated from his mum Eliot needs help: what he gets is a bunch of retired Greek Gods, minor deities and Zodiac characters who have spent millennia bickering over the small print and red-tape of running the Universe , or kicking their heels in cosy retirement.

After one of the Zodiac council crash-lands in his cowshed Eliot suddenly finds himself pulled into a quest to find power stones and defeat a wicked demon. Can he succeed, and can his squabbling new friends help him save his home & family?

A really engaging read for parents and kids.