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Pete Wareham recommended Baba Ramdev by Musafir in Music (curated)

 
Baba Ramdev by Musafir
Baba Ramdev by Musafir
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"In 2000, I went into the shop and I bought some jazz that I knew I wanted to get, and I said to the guy, "what else can I get?", and he pointed out this album with camels on it. I thought, I'll give that a try, and it was this Nubian music, which I got really into and also I bought another one, which was an Algerian CD. I listened to that for a bit and then I just kind of stopped and didn't really listen to world music for 10 years. Ali Hussan Kuban was the doorway to all the rest of them. I heard that in 2011 and I've basically been searching ever since for anything else that feels that way. A few years later, one of the things I found was this track 'Baba Ramdev'. It's just so incredibly joyful and it feels like an epic adventure. There's something absolutely epic about it, to me. It sounds like they're outside. How you seen any of those YouTube videos of the Gypsies of Rajasthan, the colourful dresses they wear and the dances they do? It's pretty incredible. And they're always in some really remote-looking rocky outcrop, somewhere in the desert. And the cover of this album as well, the guy with the amazing moustache. I love that whole spirit, really wild and free - that's what the song feels like to me."

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"I’d heard ‘Starman’ on the radio before going to school, and as most lads are, I was interested in football and outer space. Something about his voice and the opening line, just that thing he’d tapped into, and it was me he was suggesting to look out the window. It’s hard to comprehend the impact he had when he came out. I turned 13 in the May of ’72 and it was such a special time and gave my life magical class. I grew up in Norris Green, skint, and what he did was give the gift of inspiration. He changed the world in loads of ways and was probably the last great special person to do that. It was head and shoulders above anything else. To come out looking like that he could have had the biggest backlash. If you ever want to see star quality watch that Top Of The Pops clip, which is what gave me the idea that you need stage presence – you don’t just need it on stage, you need it in life. I missed those years of myself, in how naïve I was, and how un-laddy I was. I was into footy and stuff, but through the Bunnymen I found my own confidence. I was thinking of getting some bangles – thank God I didn’t. The thing about Bowie is that no-one else could have pulled it off. He was hardly ever on telly, and he never went on and mimed. It was just everything about it. People who missed it must’ve been stupid. I remember after Top Of The Pops going to school and asked my mates if they’d seen it and they said, “yeah – the fucking queer.” I didn’t even see that. I didn’t see it as a sexual thing, I wouldn’t have minded if I had have done. It made some sense because I was probably more androgynous than him through my teenage years – girls would ask me if I was a boy or a girl. I’d always tell them they could put their hands down me kecks and find out. When Bowie shaved his eyebrows off I knew something was up. That’s how you can pinpoint when Ziggy ends. His hair started to change and that’s when he stopped being so from-outer-space. I’m very exact on it, because it almost broke my heart. Without Bowie, obviously I’d have been centre-forward for Liverpool. It wouldn’t have been a bad career playing for Liverpool. I was a goal-hanging bastard. Fantastic shot, but I didn’t particularly like going into the 50-50s, the life-threateners. And my eyesight went to shite when I was 13."

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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Child in Books

Jan 21, 2018  
The Child
The Child
Fiona Barton | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.3 (15 Ratings)
Book Rating
As a worker tears apart an old house under construction in London, he makes an unsettling discovery: tiny bones. The police believe they belong to a baby who was buried years earlier. The story catches the eye of journalist Kate Waters, who immediately wants to determine the child's identity. Her research leads her to a missing child from several decades in the past: a stolen baby, who was never found. Kate finds herself drawn into the missing baby's case and the lives of several women: Angela, a mother who had her baby stolen many years ago; Emma, who once lived on the block where the baby's bones were found; and Jude, Emma's mother.

I really enjoyed Barton's previous novel, The Widow, and I have to say that THE CHILD did not disappoint. It's hard exactly to describe her books, but they have some sort of power over you, drawing you into their narrative and making it difficult to come back to reality until you've reached the end. Much like THE WIDOW, we're presented with a cast of disparate characters-not all of whom are particularly likeable. I hadn't realized, for some reason, that THE CHILD would feature Kate again--a journalist we previously met in Barton's earlier book. I found Kate a much more engaging protagonist this time around: she came across as more human and flawed.

Otherwise, the novel focuses on timid, depressed Emma and her difficult relationship with her mother, Jude, who kicked Emma out of the house at the sixteen. Each woman has a turn at the narration, as does Angela, who is still reeling from having her baby stolen from the hospital (and never found). Barton does a skillful job weaving their stories together. Everything unfolds in bits and pieces as the tale progresses in the eyes of each of our narrators. For me, it was extremely riveting: just as one shocking piece came out, another one would fall into place.

Barton also gives us an excellent look into the journalism business, with a focus on how Kate writes her stories, with a strong emphasis on real (face-to-face, non-Internet-based) research. We see firsthand how the current social media craze is affecting the newspaper world. It's refreshing, as we get to basically see a crime/story solved, yet not necessarily through the lens of a typical police drama.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. I figured out parts of it as it went along, but found it to be a very compelling read. Definitely worth picking up.
  
Unfaithful: The Deception of Night
Unfaithful: The Deception of Night
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
As I look back at Unfaithful, all I can think is wow. This book had some unexpected twists and turns, that leave you breathless and riddled with anxiety. It was a nice continuation from the first book with some real anxiety ridden situations. I loved that we got to see more of the others: Ginerva, Simon, and Drake. I loved getting to know these character more. However, I found that not everything as it seems to be. I guess that is to be expected when you are dating an Angel of Death. I also enjoyed learning more about how the Evan and his brothers are created and chosen. There was so much information in this book, that at times it was hard to absorb it all, while continuing the story without pausing to take a moment to think about what you just read.

Let me first discuss Evan. Though we don't see a whole bunch from his point of view this time around, it was definitely nice to learn about his past and how his kind works. Although, I wished we could have had more of him in the book, it was nice to learn more about the others in his family. I think I really enjoyed learning about how he met each member in his family after his death. I also very much enjoyed learning about how each member had an impact on the others. Seeing how he was saved by a Witch, Ginerva, who was with Simon, was amazing to see. I also enjoyed him explaining how the forbidden fruit that Eve ate was the same that gave Evan and his kind the nutrition they needed to stay alive and how without consuming it they would just end up dead, instead of becoming the angels they were destined to become to pay their way into Eden.

Evan had even explained some of his family to Gemma, which helped shed a new light on them. I believe what little information was given, really helped give these characters a better feel. It made you feel sorry or sad for how things had come to be. To even see how close to Gemma that they had grown to be, was a pleasant sight to see. It made the character intertwine together better than before. However, with Drake's crazy antics and the ever threatening danger around the corner, you can't help but wonder what was really going on.

At one point, you are introduces to Eden and the details to describe it left you breathless. I can't help but wonder if my imagination even done it justice. I believe the details were amazing and definitely breathtaking. However, I think even with the details, that I would have loved to see more of it. Though it was very hard to believe such a place could exist, after all it is supposed to be our Heaven, I think I would have definitely needed to see more to be satisfied. This is on of the things in the book that made me want more of it, knowing I may never be able to visit it again.

--This next part is a spoiler so please read at your own risk.--

I have to say that the ending with Evan dying has me extremely upset. I am not sure what happened and even now I am sitting her unsure of what happened. I had cried out in frustration. It was definitely not a satisfying ending. With what Gemma tells Evan as he dies, and what happens with their supposed threat, I can't help but count down the minutes until I can start the next book. This book definitely gave me lots to think about. For example, how nothing is certain in life. There are many things, people and situations that can lead you to the wrong conclusions or paths to take. I feel this book had given so many things to be processed and though about, that people could easily lose themselves in thought, just from the situations, like deception, and ideas of places unseen by us alone.

Overall I would rate this book five stars out of five stars. It was breathtaking, detailed, and kept you in suspense. There were a few very sweet moments that made you long for romance like that in your personal life, but kept everything in the right perspective. I definitely think that I learned that I should live to the fullest, for you never know when death is waiting for you. I think this series has been amazing so far and can't wait to finish it. It definitely makes you want more and with and ending that doesn't answer the important questions, it definitely feels like the cliffhanger at the end of your favorite show to keep you waiting for the next season to figure out what the next thing is going to be.
  
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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Katerina in Books

Mar 18, 2021  
Katerina
Katerina
James Frey | 2018 | Biography, Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A muddled faux memoir posing as fiction
This is the eleventh book in my #atozchallenge! I'm challenging myself to read a book from my shelves that starts with each letter of the alphabet. Let's clear those shelves and delve into that backlist!

Jay leaves college, determined to become a writer, and heads to Paris. There he meets a young model, Katerina, and falls in love. Twenty-five years later, Jay is a writer--famous and rich--but he's lost his way. Then he receives a message from a lost love. The message draws him back to memories of his old life and his old loves.

Years ago, James Frey dazzled me with A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard. I loved those books so much, and while I was aware of some of the controversy surrounding Pieces, I don't think I fully grasped it. Katerina is a strange book--a memoir type story hidden as a novel that loosely covers Frey's life, including the time he wrote a novel that was sort of a memoir. Following? Confused? Me too.

I thought Katerina was a book, fiction, but it's really Frey's retelling of his life, trying to cast himself as a sympathetic character (I think? Jay doesn't exactly come across as all that likeable.). It did intrigue me enough to read up more on the past controversies of his life and truly, the end result was that I didn't care for Katerina all that much, and I felt disillusioned about Pieces, a book I really enjoyed. Sigh.

Katerina uses the same stream of consciousness writing style from Pieces, and if you don't want your writing filled with profanity and sex, I wouldn't go near Katerina with a ten-foot pole. There's drinking--so much drinking here--that it physically pained me at times. It's an emotional read--Frey excels at that--and there are some twists. I won't lie, I found it interesting at times, and narcissistic and boring at others. Jay is hard to like in the past and present (the book splits it time between the two), but I do not think Frey cares, and it covers Frey's scandals lightly disguised as Jay's.

It's a beautiful love letter to Paris; the descriptions of the city are wonderful. There's no real characterization of Jay's beloved Katerina (the person), though, and many descriptions are just repetitive. The ending comes up quickly, as well.

Overall, while I found pieces of this novel engaging, I was disappointed overall. Honestly, I'll probably never be able to capture the magic I found in Frey's early works. 2.5 stars.
  
Knock Knock (2015)
Knock Knock (2015)
2015 | Thriller
Keanu Reeves (1 more)
Great sex scene
Too extreme or not extreme enough? (0 more)
Contains spoilers, click to show
Much like when you slow down and look at a car accident to see if you can see any carnage is the same way you feel when watching a film directed by Eli Roth. Whether it's Cabin Fever, the Hostel films or the depraved The Green Inferno, you always know you will be watching something like you have never seen before.
The much-maligned Keanu Reeves actually holds his own not being in control and saving the world for once being the victim of circumstance and his own poor decisions. The new acquaintances he lets into his life certainly take advantage of the situation and make him understand the consequences of his decisions. In comparison to his other films, this one seems subdued with no hacking or entrails on display, just a sadistic duo hellbent on lesson-giving. Some of the twists approach and exceed the ridiculous; however, I found the film entertaining which a film like this has set out to do. Some of the dialogue and motivations stretch in the plausibility or cohesion as well, but you are not watching Citizen Kane here.
I have certainly utilized 99 minutes in worse ways.
  
Donuts and Disaster
Donuts and Disaster
Amber Crewes | 2018 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry
6
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Donuts and Disaster - other than making me feel extremely peckish throughout I surprised myself by enjoying this short book. I was having a spout of 'I want to read, but nothing is holding onto my interest' when I found this on my #tbr shelf. It's number 4 of a series of Sandy Bay Cozy Mysterys. Meghan runs a bakery and finds herself (yet again apparently) tangled up with a murder. The story was quick paced and a lot happened in a short space of time. If I were to offer a criticism I would say that the murder should happen sooner for such a short book. The murder did not happen until half way through, which means there was only a little time in the short book for it to be solved. But as a quick and easy read after a long day at work - definitely a winner. I like that you can read it as a standalone and not need to know what happened in the previous books. The discovery of a killer disappointed me a little as very little investigative work went into it - I was expecting more Jessica Fletcher than accidental confession/discovery.
  
Wings Like a Dove
Wings Like a Dove
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow…

This book was so thought provoking. I really enjoyed getting to know all these characters. They were very well developed and Camille Eide really wrote a great background for the characters. There were so many tough subjects covered in this book from racism, prejudice, preconceived notions and religious persecution. Camille Eide incorporates all these subjects seemingly effortlessly to help make this book a very compelling read and one I found hard to put down. I especially liked how everything pointed back to Gods provision in our lives.
The book did start off a little slow, but once I got into it, I really did enjoy learning about the time period and the characters in the story. The plot was great, it had some great ups and downs and got my emotions readily involved.

Overall, I give this story a 4 out of 5 stars for the great characters, the very compelling storyline and for Camille Eide’s way in dealing with some heavy subjects. I recommend adding this book to you must read pile.

*I did receive this book in return for my honest feedback. The thoughts and opinions expressed within are my own.
  
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Will Young recommended Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell in Music (curated)

 
Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell
Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell
2000 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I chose Both Sides Now because it was reworkings of some of her songs, and I only came across it after watching a documentary on the radio. It brought me to some songs I'd never heard before but then I fell in love with, such as 'A Case Of You', which is just amazing. I think it really made me revisit her lyrics. There's something about taking your songs and revisiting them and yet still being true to the songs - many others have tried to do it, but sound shit. Hers were equally as beautiful. So I chose that record as a fulcrum in my Joni Mitchell journey, as I first liked her more almost obscure albums, those that were in my parents' collection, such as Chalk Mark In A Rain Storm and Dog Eat Dog, and then I found Blue, The Hissing Of Summer Lawns and Court And Spark. But I like this album because it took me there, and as an artist, it shows the measure of her songs. Where she can make that sort of record and still make me want to hear the others, and love them too."

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