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Looking for the Outsider: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic
Book
The Outsider is a rite of passage for readers around the world. Since its publication in France in...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2322 KP) rated Al Dente’s Inferno in Books
Feb 26, 2020
Nell’s Move Comes Complete with Murder
Nell Valenti has turned her love of food and her training as a chef into a career helping establish farm to table cooking schools. When she is offered a job setting up a school for Chef Claudio Orlandini in Tuscany, she jumps at the chance. Not only is she looking for some changes in her life, but Chef Claudio is her culinary idol. However, Nell is shocked upon her arrival to discover that the villa Chef Claudio owns is in worse disrepair than she expected, meaning the transformation is going to be more work than she’d expected. Then comes the news that a kick off dinner with some local dignitaries is scheduled for the next evening. Even worse, the dinner ends with some of the guests dead and Chef Claudio missing. What has Nell gotten herself into?
I picked up this book with high hopes. It’s fun to see a cozy in a new setting, and Tuscany appealed to me. Unfortunately, the language barrier made the book hard to get into initially. Yes, we need bits of Italian, and not all of the characters are going to speak English, but it felt like too many Italian words and phrases were thrown out, and we had to wait for the translation to appear or figure out what was meant in context. While it took a bit longer to be hooked than I would have liked, it did happen once the plot kicked into high gear. We are treated to a great mystery with plenty of suspects. As Nell pieces things together, I was in awe of just how well the clues were laid out for us. Nell is a good main character, and the core cast also comes to life for us as well. There are some laugh out loud funny scenes here, and, of course, we get a delicious sounding recipe at the end. The characters, plot, and setting make this a fun debut.
I picked up this book with high hopes. It’s fun to see a cozy in a new setting, and Tuscany appealed to me. Unfortunately, the language barrier made the book hard to get into initially. Yes, we need bits of Italian, and not all of the characters are going to speak English, but it felt like too many Italian words and phrases were thrown out, and we had to wait for the translation to appear or figure out what was meant in context. While it took a bit longer to be hooked than I would have liked, it did happen once the plot kicked into high gear. We are treated to a great mystery with plenty of suspects. As Nell pieces things together, I was in awe of just how well the clues were laid out for us. Nell is a good main character, and the core cast also comes to life for us as well. There are some laugh out loud funny scenes here, and, of course, we get a delicious sounding recipe at the end. The characters, plot, and setting make this a fun debut.
Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary
Reference and Education
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FREE PREVIEW Full wordlist and sample entries are available to preview the dictionary content and...
Meditations
Marcus Aurelius, Diskin Clay and Martin Hammond
Book
Originally written only for his personal consumption, Marcus Aurelius's Meditations has become a key...
Dark Stories
Games and Entertainment
App
ATTENTION! THIS GAME IS MEANT TO BE PLAYED WITH FRIENDS IN PERSON. IF YOU ARE ALONE YOU CANNOT...
Islamic Dua - 40 Rabbana Duas from Al Quran, 100 Dua’s of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ( Islam )
Education and Reference
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Dua (supplication) is one of the most excellent forms of worship in Islam, one of the deeds most...
Bible Reina Valera
Book and Lifestyle
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Bible in Spanish RV (Reina Valera) Version: Reina Valera - Offline do not need an internet...
Cristy Amanda (87 KP) rated Children of Blood and Bone: Book 1 in Books
Sep 28, 2019
A hidden wonder!
Contains spoilers, click to show
This was a "desperation" book buy. I happened to be in my local WHSmiths buying my toddler some books and wanted something new to read myself. I picked this up off the shelf, took a cursory glance at the blurb and decided why not - at the very least it will give me something to read for a few days.
This book was totally captivating and eclipsing! Within the first 5 pages I was hooked and could not put it down. Not consciously hooked straight away as I sometimes am, but in the sense of I literally couldn't make myself stop reading yet didn't know why. Within a day and a half I had finished and was thoroughly torn up to discover I couldn't even get the sequel yet. (So I now have to make do with re-reading it almost continuously which is no hardship!)
The clever descriptive writing soon sucks you into the world of the storyline and convinces you it is not only plausible but very real. The charactors felt as though they were my very own family and I was totally invested in their futures.
Whilst the reason for the book being written is heartwrenching in itself, the story line is so cleverly written to portray the social issues and paradigms of the modern world in an intelligent yet disconnected way. I have never felt such an emotional rollercoaster as I did reading this book. Each time it looked as though they would succeed in restoring magic, my own heart soared with hope. And each time the plans didn't pan out, I personally felt like a candle in the night had been extinguished. The social caste differences and brutal violence were traumatic in their own right, yet to illustrate the point with the demise of some charactors who were pivotal to the aim of the protagonists, really drove home the risks, suffering and sacrifices of the charactors in the story, as well as further illustrate the point of the novel. The ending was totally unexpected and soul-destroying and I am somehow both excited and apprehensive to read the next book upon its release. I don't think any amount of time can prepare me for the adreneline building heartwrenching rollercoaster still to come. I 100% recommend this novel to everyone and commend such an inspirational, thought provoking and clever interpretation and translation of modern day societal issues into fantasy fiction.
This book was totally captivating and eclipsing! Within the first 5 pages I was hooked and could not put it down. Not consciously hooked straight away as I sometimes am, but in the sense of I literally couldn't make myself stop reading yet didn't know why. Within a day and a half I had finished and was thoroughly torn up to discover I couldn't even get the sequel yet. (So I now have to make do with re-reading it almost continuously which is no hardship!)
The clever descriptive writing soon sucks you into the world of the storyline and convinces you it is not only plausible but very real. The charactors felt as though they were my very own family and I was totally invested in their futures.
Whilst the reason for the book being written is heartwrenching in itself, the story line is so cleverly written to portray the social issues and paradigms of the modern world in an intelligent yet disconnected way. I have never felt such an emotional rollercoaster as I did reading this book. Each time it looked as though they would succeed in restoring magic, my own heart soared with hope. And each time the plans didn't pan out, I personally felt like a candle in the night had been extinguished. The social caste differences and brutal violence were traumatic in their own right, yet to illustrate the point with the demise of some charactors who were pivotal to the aim of the protagonists, really drove home the risks, suffering and sacrifices of the charactors in the story, as well as further illustrate the point of the novel. The ending was totally unexpected and soul-destroying and I am somehow both excited and apprehensive to read the next book upon its release. I don't think any amount of time can prepare me for the adreneline building heartwrenching rollercoaster still to come. I 100% recommend this novel to everyone and commend such an inspirational, thought provoking and clever interpretation and translation of modern day societal issues into fantasy fiction.
Al-Quran Bahasa Indonesia
Reference and Book
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Assalamu alaikum to everyone. Do you recite the Holy Quran Sharif regularly? If it’s yes, then we...
Ross (3284 KP) rated Season of Storms in Books
Apr 23, 2018 (Updated Apr 25, 2018)
2-d characters (2 more)
fantasy-by-numbers
Frequent incongruent Latin/French phrases
More a set of short stories than a novel in its own right
* I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review. Formatting issues (many) have not been factored into the review *
To my knowledge, the books of The Witcher are split into the short story collection prequels (one of which I have read) and the full books (which I have not read). This book is somewhere in between being neither strictly a collection of short stories nor a focussed standalone novel in its own right. Chronologically, this book falls in between the stories contained in The Last Wish) though it is impossible to say quite where it falls (as mention of the stryga is made near the end, which begins the Last Wish I have to assume it comes after the flashback stories from that tome but before the overarching story linking them all).
It may be because I haven't read the full novels, but I find the Witcher to be a thoroughly bland and unexciting character and I have no connection with him. He has next to no personality and contributes nothing to the dialogue of the book. Similarly, all other characters are very disposable - they are either supposedly strong-willed sorceresses (who smell of flowers and throw themselves at the Witcher and are bedded instantly) or they are otherwise instantly forgettable.
I think Sapkwoski was trying to give the sorcerers a sense of academic snobbery but they frequently use Latin phrases, which just gets irritating very quickly. Similarly French words and phrases are thrown in willy-nilly without translation which gets annoying as well. This seems even more unusual when you realise the story was written in Polish and translated into English, with some parts kept in French or Latin. And then further when it is meant to be in a different world where French wouldn't be a thing.
The story essentially follows Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher) who loses his swords and goes on a quest to get them back, and just happens along the way to meet people who need his skills (like on Neighbours where one character leaves and another comes in through the door at exactly the same moment). This aspect makes me think this was meant to be a series of short stories stitched together. But unfortunately here those short stories are not finished up within themselves and you have a number of unsatisfying loose ends in the back of your head throughout.
As with The Last Wish, I found the ending very confusing and had no idea what had happened. It may be that other works fill in the gap and I will have that filled in time, but if so that makes this not a satisfying read in its own right.
Overall, I don't mind Sapkowski's writing in general, other than a few irritating bad habits and I like the overriding idea of the stories but find the execution, character development and overall world-building somewhat clumsy and throw-away. But as I say, this may be because (I think) I have read these in chronological order, rather than published order. I will fill in the gaps and work out if that is the case.
To my knowledge, the books of The Witcher are split into the short story collection prequels (one of which I have read) and the full books (which I have not read). This book is somewhere in between being neither strictly a collection of short stories nor a focussed standalone novel in its own right. Chronologically, this book falls in between the stories contained in The Last Wish) though it is impossible to say quite where it falls (as mention of the stryga is made near the end, which begins the Last Wish I have to assume it comes after the flashback stories from that tome but before the overarching story linking them all).
It may be because I haven't read the full novels, but I find the Witcher to be a thoroughly bland and unexciting character and I have no connection with him. He has next to no personality and contributes nothing to the dialogue of the book. Similarly, all other characters are very disposable - they are either supposedly strong-willed sorceresses (who smell of flowers and throw themselves at the Witcher and are bedded instantly) or they are otherwise instantly forgettable.
I think Sapkwoski was trying to give the sorcerers a sense of academic snobbery but they frequently use Latin phrases, which just gets irritating very quickly. Similarly French words and phrases are thrown in willy-nilly without translation which gets annoying as well. This seems even more unusual when you realise the story was written in Polish and translated into English, with some parts kept in French or Latin. And then further when it is meant to be in a different world where French wouldn't be a thing.
The story essentially follows Geralt of Rivia (The Witcher) who loses his swords and goes on a quest to get them back, and just happens along the way to meet people who need his skills (like on Neighbours where one character leaves and another comes in through the door at exactly the same moment). This aspect makes me think this was meant to be a series of short stories stitched together. But unfortunately here those short stories are not finished up within themselves and you have a number of unsatisfying loose ends in the back of your head throughout.
As with The Last Wish, I found the ending very confusing and had no idea what had happened. It may be that other works fill in the gap and I will have that filled in time, but if so that makes this not a satisfying read in its own right.
Overall, I don't mind Sapkowski's writing in general, other than a few irritating bad habits and I like the overriding idea of the stories but find the execution, character development and overall world-building somewhat clumsy and throw-away. But as I say, this may be because (I think) I have read these in chronological order, rather than published order. I will fill in the gaps and work out if that is the case.