Jarvis Cocker recommended B52s by B52s in Music (curated)
Education Entertainment Recreation by New Order
Album
Recorded live on 9th November 2018 (their only UK show of 2018), 'education entertainment...
Poly Bridge
Games
App
Poly Bridge, the hit indie bridge-building physics title with dozens of hours of gameplay. "A must...
Life's Captivity
4.5
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Book
TWO-TIME AWARD WINNER: First Place "Religious Fiction" Next Generation Indie Book Awards, 2010 and...
Flash Point: Fire Rescue
8.1
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Tabletop Game
A wild cooperative game in the same light as the popular Pandemic. You are fire fighters takes with...
Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated The Rest of Us Just Live Here in Books
Jun 24, 2019
The theme of this novel was basically what if you're not the Chosen One? As in, what if you aren't the one who slays the vampires, or exorcises all the demons? What if you don't fall in love with a Goddess or an angel? What if you're just a regular kid, like Mike?
At the start of each chapter, there's a short summary of what's happening in the "main story" - the indie kids fighting the Immortals, saving the world and that kinda thing. But that's all we get of their story; the rest is dedicated to Mike and his friends and family, struggling to lead happy, normal lives.
Each character is so unique and realistic. This is the important bit. There are characters with OCD, alcoholic parents, eating disorders. All of them are so well developed and relatable (expect perhaps Jared, who happens to be 1/4 God of Cats). I just love how their lives are normal lives, and how that doesn't mean they don't get a book written about them. Okay, Henna and Mikey nearly die, Jared can heal people and they encounter blue-eyed creatures a few times, but for the most part they aren't the heroes. They are just people.
I loved how you could compare the normal lives of the gang to what's happening with the indie kids. You can see how certain things affect each group of people differently, and how everything changes what they do. Such as the ending with Finn #2, which decides Jared's fate and alters the indie kids' story completely.
The writing is sometimes a little simplistic, like the kind of thing you read when you're a pre-teen or something. But it's easy to read, and really does draw you in. I have a few other Ness books I'd like to read, and I really am loving his work so far.
As you may or may not know, I'm a sucker for books featuring mental health problems. Anxiety, OCD, anorexia... They need to be addressed! It's great seeing how Mike and his sister get on with their lives despite the problems they're facing, and how they get involved without being judged based on their issues. Like I said, this is a really honest book, which we really need! I'd say 4 stars for this; I love it, but it's not quite in my favourites.
Traveler, Scholar, Political Adventurer: A Transylvanian Baron at the Birth of Albanian Independence - The Memoirs of Baron Franz Nopcsa
Book
The Austro-Hungarian aristocrat of Transylvanian origin, Baron Franz Nopcsa (1877-1933), was one of...