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Captive (Beautiful Monsters #1)
Captive (Beautiful Monsters #1)
Jex Lane | 2016
10
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<strong>4.5 stars</strong>

This has left me wanting so much more. And I really want Tarrick to be lying about not caring for Matthew. You can't make me want them to be a couple and then break my heart like that. I mean, I know Tarrick was a bit of an arse in how he treated Matthew but come on..?!

I have to agree with some other reviewers about having M/F sex scenes when I thought this was going to be M/M. I don't really like it happening but I didn't mind it too much.

I also can't wait to read more of this series and might have to splash out on book two just to see what happens next.
  
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Courtney (149 KP) rated Manifest in TV

Aug 19, 2019  
Manifest
Manifest
2018 | Crime, Mystery
Thought provoking (3 more)
Keeps you guessing
Brilliant cast
Not your usual storyline
Absolutely brilliant, could not recommend more!
I find with a lot of shows that it's easy to predict what the story is leading up to, but not with this one. It is unlike any other series I have watched and keeps you on your toes. Multiple times I thought I'd figured out where it was going but OH NO, another twist gets thrown in.

I cannot wait for the next series after the cliff hanger series 1 ended on. I'm sure it will be just as thought provoking and exciting as the first.

(If you like to read, I think people who like Manifest would enjoy reading 'The Three' by Sarah Lotz)
  
The Monstrous Child
The Monstrous Child
Francesca Simon | 2016 | Children
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I finished this on Tuesday but have had some technical problems, which is why I'm posting it now. (Sorry.)

Apparently this is book #3 in the Mortal Gods series - but I read it believing it to be a standalone novel and really enjoyed it like that. It's another short, new YA book, which a pretty large font to fill up more space. I never used to like short books, but I've found some I've really enjoyed recently, including this one.

One of Loki's (monstrous) children is Hel, a girl with a perfectly normal human body... except her legs are dead. Like, full-on decaying dead. Still, she's a goddess, even if she's never treated as one.

Hel has learned to just deal with what she's got in life and carry on. But when she's kidnapped and taken to Asgard - the home of the gods - she finds an unexpected light of hope. His name is Baldr, and he's the only one who's ever treated her like she's normal. The only problem is that he's married.

And then, just to make matters worse, Hel is literally thrown into the underworld, sentenced to be the queen of Nifelheim for all of eternity. It's cold, smelly, and soon enough, full of dead people. She's alone, plotting her revenge on the gods, with no chance of escape - but at least it's hers. She can build her own fortress without anyone guiding her; she can order the dead around however she pleases. And she can have a high seat ready, beside hers, for when Baldr inevitably comes for her.

What she wasn't planning was a third seat...

Anyway, Hel has created Hel for the dead, the End of Days is drawing nearer, and dear old Dad has dropped by for a favour. All very... fun. 

I thought this was a really different kind of book. The narrative voice is really sarcastic and youthful, pretty funny too, as well as still sounding like a Norse goddess. She also sounded somewhat modern, too - which I suppose would be the case if you were immortal. Sometimes I found her to find a little too sarcastic and bitter, a little too chatty and "different". I don't know, it just didn't sound all that natural sometimes.

The whole Norse theme was refreshing - not some paranormal YA romance that you see everywhere - and really well told. Hel was a really interesting character, too; modern enough to relate to yet still believably a Norse goddess.

As I said, I read this without realising there were other books before it in the series. I didn't realise that at all while reading - I didn't feel like I was missing anything and still enjoyed it plenty. I'm going to say 3.5 to 4 stars for The Monstrous Child. I'll have to look out for the other books.
  
Animal Planet Baby Animals
Animal Planet Baby Animals
Dorothea DePrisco | 2017 | Children
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Animal Planet: Animal Bite, Baby Animals by Dorothea Deprisco, Animal Planet is a book about various animal species family life. It talks about live and egg birth, how long babies stay with their parents, what they eat, where they live, how they travel and more.

The photos in this book are vibrant. They are close that you feel as if you can touch the animals.

There are some special sections on that side of the page that that include cool animal facts, simple infographics, and illustrated maps of the Earth and the habitats as well as the short bits on "All Grown Up". The special sections will invite discussion and further investigation. They even have bits on "Just like Humans" where they show how human families interact in some of the various topics.

On the top of the page there are activities, further resources and an extensive Glossary.
  
The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz
6
7.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
"If only we had a song to sing that would help us on our way", said the Scarecrow ...

Or something similar, anyway, in the Audible Audiobook version of this story that I listened to: a bit of a sly dig, maybe, at the famous "We're off the see the wizard …" song from the Judy garland movie?

Talking about differences, in this it's magical silver shows that Dorothy wears (not ruby red), with the story making great play and numerous mentions of her having committed murder and being celebrated for the same (which is surprisingly messed up for a kids story) …

like, I'm sure, most of the rest of the population, I'm more familiar with that movie version than the original, so it's entertaining and informative to see just how close the two versions are, with the movie version (perhaps necessarily) taking in less events than this story does.
  
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Saoirse Ronan recommended Taxi Driver (1976) in Movies (curated)

 
Taxi Driver (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
1976 | Thriller

"[Taxi Driver is] a film that really kind of struck me on an emotional level and as somebody who works and can kind of appreciate how films are made. I remember when I saw Taxi Driver for the first time, and I saw the creativity and the imagination that went into the shots that Scorsese chose, and to really kind of capture a very particular kind of New York. I thought it was really wonderful. You know, you can watch certain films and there are certain things that will stick out for you. It can be a great character or a performance or an ensemble performance or whatever, but when everything seems to come into play, it’s always really impressive, I think, when every single cast member is very strong. So I felt like with this film, cinematically, it just kind of ticked all those boxes for me."

Source
  
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
1975 | Drama, Horror, War

"This is one of the most beautiful movies ever made. Even with the atrocities and torture, it has real texture and an aesthetic aspect to it. Even the shit looks special. Pasolini is a very dear person for me. You have people who are Christian filmmakers or left-wing filmmakers or liberal filmmakers, but then you have a person like him, just a gay leftist who made the best Bible movie ever. I think that says something about how he could catapult himself into these big political discussions in a way that not everyone can do. If Paul Greengrass made this movie, you would get something that would be interesting politically, but you wouldn’t get any kind of texture or beauty. So that’s what I really admire about Pasolini, that in the midst of all this torture and sadism the movie is still very beautiful and very unique."

Source
  
Stardust Memories (1980)
Stardust Memories (1980)
1980 | Comedy, Drama

"Alright, my next one on my list is Stardust Memories, Woody Allen. It’s really amazing, and it didn’t do very well at the time. It wasn’t a huge film for him, but it’s loosely autobiographical and arguably super self-indulgent. I f—ing love it and there’s just something about the cage of celebrity that he put together in this film which is pretty on the money. To a degree, I identify with the character in the film. I feel like it’s a really great blend of story-telling and film-making and avant-garde, self-indulgent artsy-ness — without being too far in that direction. And it’s conscious of its own attempts at being incredibly avant-garde and almost pokes fun of itself for that. To me, it’s one of my favorite films of his, and he’s one of my favorite filmmakers, period. That one … It’s f—ing good."

Source
  
Otherworld (Otherworld, #1)
Otherworld (Otherworld, #1)
Jason Segel | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.4 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Really 3.5 Stars, but I feel badly rating it a 3.

I struggled to decide how I feel about this book because though it was enjoyable (eventually) it wasn't particularly well written. I actually didn't enjoy the book at first and was afraid that it was going to end up being a much lower rating. The story took a while to get going and it wasn't until we were really immersed in Otherworld that the plot became interesting.

I liked some of the characters, but I wasn't a huge fan of any of them. For me, personally, I usually need to relate to one of the characters in some way to form more of a connection to the book. Otherwise, it's just a book. It's the stories that hit you hard and you feel like you're living them with your favourite characters that make a mark. This book is not one of those stories.

In the end, I was more intrigued (and horrified) by the world of Otherworld that the authors built than the characters or the mission that they were on. I wish the various "lands" were more vividly described because I felt like there was something missing. I wanted to see more of the world than we were exposed to. I hope that there is more development of the world in the second book.

Overall, it was an interesting book but not a favourite.