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John Irving recommended Giovanni's Room in Books (curated)

 
Giovanni's Room
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin | 2007 | Essays
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"I was still too young to drive a car when I read James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room. The concept of a devastating and doomed love story - one that was also modern ' hadn't occurred to me. I thought nothing would ever compare to Romeo and Juliet, but Baldwin's story of "the night that is leading me to the most terrible morning of my life" became the saddest love story I know."

Source
  
The Aeronauts (2019)
The Aeronauts (2019)
2019 | Adventure, Drama
1860's period action/drama piece, starring Eddie Redmayne (I still associate him more with Newt Scaramander) and Felicity Jones (who I still associate more with Rogue One), told pretty much in 'real-time' and charting an attempt by a Royal Society meteorologist James Glaisher to ascent in a hot air balloon to study the weather in a period when nobody believed this was possible, and when the sky was still largely unknown

That much is fact.

The character of Amelia Wren, however? Completely made up - I only discovered this afterwards, when I read a bit more into it!

Predictably light-weight, and released (early?) on Amazon Prime - due to the current global pandemic - I'm happy enough to have seen this one, but am also happier that I didn't have to pay to do so in the cinema!
  
Where Every Man (Inspector James Given #4)
Where Every Man (Inspector James Given #4)
Charlie Garratt | 2020 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Where Every Man by Charlie Garrett is set in rural France at the beginning of the second World War. James Given has retired from the police force back in England and has moved with his wife Rachel, to work on a farm. He seems happy with the work, and their plan is to move south with the good weather. This looks increasingly less likely as time progresses because of the approach of the German army towards France’s borders. Regardless, James and Rachel love their lives in the small French town, and consider staying anyway. Rachel teaches local students to play the violin, and it’s one of these students who draws James back in to his role as an investigator when the local librarian dies unexpectedly. The local policeman believes its merely a cycling accident, but it increasingly looks like it’s murder. When James looks further in to the accident, it appears there is a German spy in the village. Before he can do anything about it, the spy disappears. Did the spy have anything to do with the death of the librarian?

This mystery played out so well, and I loved the interactions between James and the violin student. She wants to work as a police officer when she leaves school - much to her fathers disapproval. The students role in the story was a really good way of showing how James approached the task of solving a murder.

I have to say, I read a lot of this with a feeling of mild panic, especially when James goes to visit his uncle and his family nearby. It showed the vulnerable position he and his family were in as Jews in France. Even though James and Rachel have forged passports that showed that they were Christians, there was still that worry for them and their family - and the spectre of the Nazis is hanging over this whole story.

I always enjoy these James Given books, and I’m intrigued to see what comes for him next as war approaches.

Many thanks to Sapere Books for a copy of this book to read and honestly review - I really enjoy this series (I bought books 2 and 3 myself, if that’s anything to go by!)
  
    Bible with EGW Comments

    Bible with EGW Comments

    Reference and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    This Bible app using Authorised King James Version from www.bibles.org that comes with Ellen G....

Fang (Maximum Ride, #6)
Fang (Maximum Ride, #6)
James Patterson | 2010 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.8 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
Well, this was such an easy read, I read it in a day.
I just love the easy flow that James Patterson writes with. I also love the view of the world through a teenagers view, in the throes of young teenage love and angst.
However the writing is slighty young for my tastes now...obviously as this is for teenagers, but I still enjoyed the read and I cant wait to read Angel....I hope Max does save the world.
  
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David McK (3562 KP) rated Quantum of Solace (2008) in Movies

Dec 31, 2019 (Updated Aug 20, 2023)  
Quantum of Solace (2008)
Quantum of Solace (2008)
2008 | Action, Drama, Mystery
The second of Daniel Craig's outings as 007, in which James Bond tracks down the organisation that led to the death of his lover Vesper Lynd in the previous movie (Casino Royale): this is thus, I believe, one of the very few (if not the only) direct sequels in the James Bond franchise.

And, I have to say, I still can't warm to Craig's portrayal of Bond: to me, these are now no longer Bond movies so much as they are just very average by-the-number Spy films that owe a heavy debt to the Jason Bourne films.

Definitely could have done with more time in the oven, so to speak: a result of the writers strike of the time means that this is a somewhat muddled mess.