Currency Converter Plus
Finance and Travel
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*** Currency Converter Plus has now been downloaded more than 1 000 000 times. We are getting great...
The Watercolourist
Beatrice Masini, Oonagh Stransky and Clarissa Ghelli
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Winner of the Premio Selezione Campiello prize and the Premio Alessandro Manzoni award for best...
Predynastic Egypt
Games and Education
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***Localizations: English, Русский, 中文, Español, Deutsch, Français, Italiano,...
The Essay Film: Dialogue, Politics, Utopia
Elizabeth Astrid Papazian and Caroline Eades
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With its increasing presence in a continuously evolving media environment, the essay film as a...
Front Lines: Soldiers' Writing in the Early Modern Hispanic World
Book
In Front Lines, Miguel Martinez documents the literary practices of imperial Spain's common...
Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Night Falling in Books
Dec 17, 2018
The Night Falling by Katherine Webb is a historical novel with a romantic theme. The story is told from the perspective of two people: Clare, a middle class wife from England, and Ettore, a poor Italian "peasant". Set in Puglia in the summer of 1921, the two characters meet when Clare and her step-son, Pip, are forced to accompany Boyd to Italy where he is going to be working for Leandro, Ettore's uncle.
Clare and Ettore's relationship become more involved as they try to avoid their complicated feelings surrounding their other family members. Not only do they have their personal issues, there is antagonism between the rich and the poor. The so called "peasants" with their lack of food and jobs are fed up with the way they are treated by the rich authorities. Strikes have been unsuccessful so their only other plan is an uprising.
As well as the hostile environment story line there are many secrets that begin to be uncovered. Obviously Clare is keeping Ettore secret from her husband but she is unaware of the secrets and dangers he harbours.
It was interesting to see the contrast between the two classes of characters. Unlike England where the lines are slightly blurred between upper, middle and lower classes, Italy in the 1920s the differences were very clear cut.
In all honesty I did not think much of this book. I found it hard to get into and it did not get any easier as it progressed. Although I understand the storyline I found it a little bit boring and took me a while to get through.
Theorizing Art Cinemas: Foreign, Cult, Avant-Garde, and Beyond
Book
The term "art cinema" has been applied to many cinematic projects, including the film d'art...
The Moment of Caravaggio
Book
This is a groundbreaking examination of one of the most important artists in the Western tradition...
Murder on the Steel Pier (A Tess Mancini Time Travel Mystery #1)
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Greetings from the Nifty Fifties… The morning after a blowout birthday celebration in Atlantic...
Historical Mystery Time Travel
David McK (3562 KP) rated Assassin's Creed: Renaissance in Books
Jan 28, 2019
To date, I've played pretty much all of those games (or, atl least, those released for the PS3 and PS4), with the exception of Assassin's Creed: Unity. I'm also a heacvy reader, and have also seen to so-so Assassin's Creed movie (starring Michael Fassbender) that made the - in my eyes, wise, - decision to introduce a new character and historical period.
As such, I think it's fair to say I know enough about the series itself.
Of that series, the most enjoyable game (IMO) have been those set in the Renaissance period; those starring Ezio Auditore - the protaganist of this novel. Unfortunatley, however, this is a virtual retreading of the plot of the game, complete with passages where Ezio learns how to blend in (C'mon! It makes sense in the game, but not exactly an exciting narrative) or has to race hios accomplices from points A to point B (again, gives the player something to do in the game, but not exaclt exciting to read about).
It also doesn't help that this liberally mixes modern-day English and expressions with Italian phrases throughout (that require constant look-up to the glossary), nor that the author seemingly manages to make an entertaining game and compelling central character(s) into a bit of a chore to read through. On the plus side, it does away with all the modern-day Desmond sections from the game ...
Overall, however, I'm not impressed (sadly).