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The Wife Upstairs
The Wife Upstairs
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A page-turning re-look at a classic

Jane is a dog-walker in the glamorous Thornfield Estates subdivision. Until she meets Eddie Rochester. Widowed, Eddie is Thornfield's most talked about resident. His wife, Bertha "Bea" Rochester--founder of the Southern Manor line of furniture and accessories--died in a boating accident with her best friend, though Bea's body was never found. As Jane gets to know Eddie, she can't help but fall for him: he's rich, handsome, and protective. He can offer her a life of security and love that she's never had. But she's also fascinated by the tale of Bea, who built herself up from nothing through her company. Can she ever compare to Bea--and win Eddie's heart? And what really happened the night Bea and Blanche died?

"...and later, I'd look back at that moment and wonder if I somehow knew what was going to happen. If everything in my life had been leading me to that one spot, to that one house. To him."

I read this book solely because it's billed as a loose retelling of Jane Eyre, which is one of my absolute favorite books. Loose is definitely the right word for it, but this also a gloriously fun read with some exciting twists and turns.

The Wife Upstairs is a page-turner that kept me frantically reading. Yes, parts of it are somewhat predictable, but Eddie is a fascinating rogue and Jane a mysterious lead. Who is telling the truth, what happened in the past, and what on earth is going on now--you'll find yourself swirled up in all these questions as you flip the pages.

Overall, this a foreboding and enjoyable thriller, with plenty to entertain its readers. 3.5 stars.

I received a copy of this novel from St. Martin's Press and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.
  
Rivers of London: Body Work
Rivers of London: Body Work
Ben Aaronovitch, Lee Sullivan, Andrew Cartmel | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
7
5.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great book for urban fantasy lovers
I enjoyed reading this one as it featured a main character who wasn’t your typical anti-hero - which we seem to have a lot lately. I’m glad to see Peter was just your average good guy who’s doing his best to be a policeman until he comes across supernatural things in which his whole life changes.


Peter’s relationship with Nightingale is pretty much a mentor/student one. Nightingale has his own secrets though and a few are revealed but there’s more to him that you think - I hope there’s more information about him in the later books to come. There are other supporting characters; I do like Leslie because she’s got the wit (possible love interest, maybe) and she’s a perfect sidekick to Peter. Molly is another interesting character that I would love to know more about. Again this is the first book in the series so I’m hoping more character development will eventually come forth in later books.

The world building is pretty good and Peter does a good job also explaining how things are in London (I admit I had to google a couple of things as I didn’t know who or what Punch and Judy were) but it gives you information on the city and events that are common there to actually make you feel as if you are following Peter around as he tries to solve the case and becomes an apprentice.

The plot was well done and I liked how the different story arcs come together in the end into one large circle. It may seem confusing at first but once you have everything laid out and you know who is who everything comes to a close and it’s a great closing. It obviously leaves room for more books coming so one can look forward to what is next for Peter.

(The Riot scene though? Holyyyyy sheeeeeee what the……)

It’s a good read, those who are into urban fantasy mysteries will likely like this type of book. Looking forward to book two!
  
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Sean Astin recommended Patton (1970) in Movies (curated)

 
Patton (1970)
Patton (1970)
1970 | Classics, Drama, War

"With Patton, understanding the second World War is required spiritual learning for anyone born in the later 20th century going forward. You know, I could list 50 films, but that one… There’s something about the mantle of celebrity, mixed with a really good rendering of military tactics, and finally, George C. Scott’s performance… I mean, really, if you look at them, it’s Ben Kingsley and George C. Scott that have me put them on the list, because they make those portraits feel so authentic. This idea that, “I’ve been here in countless guises before,” this hint at reincarnation, if you will, and destiny. This questing for destiny is something I feel in my life. I’m put here at this moment, in this time, when social media is doing what it’s doing, and filmmaking has reached this kind of new zenith, and I feel like everything I’ve been born and raised and taught and experienced has put me here for a particular reason, and I just know it’s gotta be something. The fact that Patton feels that, this quest for destiny, that he’s supposed to be doing something… You know, the actual morality of war… Karl Malden’s character, who’s nowhere near the forceful personality and couldn’t probably whip a battalion into shape in the way that Patton does — you need both guys. But ultimately when it goes on, Patton doesn’t know when to stop, and I love that they dramatize that. He’s being interviewed and he talks about the Russians, that he should just keep going and fight the Russians — “We’re going to have to fight that war sooner or later” — and oh, guess what? In the news today is this Crimea issue, and you sort of go, “Boy, what does that mean? How are we going to relearn that lesson?” So there’s just so much stuff wrapped around it that’s relevant and interesting, and it’s a story well-told. Just the way they set up the conflict and everything, I love it, love it, love it."

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The Mother and the Whore (1973)
The Mother and the Whore (1973)
1973 | Drama, Romance
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"It’s a movie from 1973, directed by Jean Eustache, and it’s a three hours and thirty minutes movie based on his personal life. He tried to do a documentary about his relationship with his girlfriend and his lover and how they tried to have a threesome, and he was noting everything that was going on while it was going on and he was noting the dialogue, he was taking notes. And then he decided he wanted to do a documentary of his emotional, personal life just after it happened, and it’s the best depiction on screen of dysfunctional passion that I’ve ever seen, because it’s so true, everything that he said. He put all his closest friends and ex-lovers in the movie. His wife was next to the camera where they were shooting with Bernadette Lafont playing his wife, and they shot the movie is in his girlfriend’s house. But the whole movie concept is so good, because the end the movie is really emotional. It’s all about three people who cannot manage to love each other, and drama, drama, drama. It’s so close to watching his experience in life, that how could he manage to do this? He was obsessed with shooting the scenes of him and his lover in the real location where he had his relations with his lover. But it was great doing a documentary about his life with actors playing his part and his girlfriend and his lover’s part, but also his ex-lovers who were playing the part. The whole concept of the movie is such a puzzle. And he was someone who was very tormented since he was young, and he ended up committing suicide some years later. But, that movie actually is very hard to find, because for rights reasons it’s kind of in the closet, but you can find it on the net sometimes. I watched one year ago, I watched it three times in a row. I’m obsessed with that movie. When people say to go to an island, which movie would you bring, I guess I would bring 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Mother and The Whore, and Un Chien Andalou. That’s an absolute masterpiece that should be rediscovered, like transferred to 4K or Blu-ray. It’s one of the biggest movies that I know that is not being released as it should nowadays."

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The content; illustrations; summary of plays; readability; userfriendly; able to comprehend material easily; easy to enjoy; includes brief overview of Shakespeare’s life (0 more)
I wish it included a short story of ALL plays; however, it does include a 1-page summary of a handful of the plays it doesn’t provide a full short-story of, so all of his plays are included in the book. (0 more)
MY FAVORITE USBORNE BOOK!
This book is absolutely breathtaking! In most schools, children are not introduced to Shakespeare until at least late middle, if not high-school, and by then, it’s in his original language. By providing children, and adults even, with a book such as this, in a readable language relavent to today, we are able to fully enjoy Shakespeare’s stories in a way that we can comprehend before diving into his original works. By providing books such as these, our children will better appreciate his work when they approach it in school in later years because they will already be familiar with his plays. Each play is labeled as a comedy, tragedy, or historical play, and then provided with a one-page synopsis of the play, along with beautiful illustrations of the characters and how they relate to the other characters. Then you’ll dive into 7-8 pages of text that are written in plain-English that relay the story! This is brilliant! There are a handful of his lesser-popular works that are provided in a simple one-page summary with illustrated characters, but they are still included, as well as a brief section of Williams Shakespeare’s life. This book is also hard bound with extra padding to protect the cover, and a ribbon bookmark to save your place. It will definitely be a treasured book in your family’s library for years to come! My 6yo daughter has absolutely fallen in love with is works because of this...and I must say.....she’s SIX and already knows Shakespeare!!!! All thanks to Usborne Books and More! This is why I do what I do! You can find this book on my website at: https://k6798.myubam.com for only $24.99 and it’s well worth it! Happy reading!
  
Central Intelligence (2016)
Central Intelligence (2016)
2016 | Action, Comedy
5
6.9 (22 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Great poster. So-so film.
“Saving the World Takes a Little Hart and a Big Johnson”. I doubt I have ever passed a film poster before and dissolved into paroxysms of mirth, so this film at least wins one award with me.
The story is pretty inconsequential, and used as a framework to build set pieces around. Kevin Hart (“Ride Along”) plays Calvin Joyner – the life and soul of his high school and the guy voted ‘Most likely to succeed’. He’s also a nice guy, sensitively covering the modesty of overweight loser Robbie Wheirdicht (a good Dwayne Johnson lookalike actually played by internet wedding-dance sensation Sione Kelepi) after he’s been ridiculed by bullies in front of the whole school.

But sometimes life doesn’t go to plan and twenty year’s later Calvin may have married his high school sweetheart Maggie (Danielle Nicolet) but has ended up in a low-level forensic accountancy job and not where he wants to be.

Robbie on the other hand has transformed his life and physique to become Bob Stone (Dwayne Johnson), a man with a ‘certain set of skills’ and, as it turns out, a rogue CIA operative. Bob is on the trail of financial codes to help identify the location of the traitorous ‘Black Badger’ who killed his long-term partner Stanton (Aaron Paul). But the Black Badger could be anyone, and the CIA lead (Amy Ryan) suspects it might actually be Stone. With the stakes rising the inept Joyner needs to make a decision on who to trust and who to fear.

The comedy lead Kevin Hart previously impressed with “Get Hard” and raises a few laughs in this one, notably with his attempt at his signature flip twenty years later than he should have attempted it! Johnson’s character is written to be just plain weird and with Johnson’s limited acting range (think Arnie in “Jingle All The Way”) it’s a performance that is on the outlandish side of bizarre. Together the duo make for a likeable pair but this is a very lightweight comedy and is generally a smile-along rather than a laugh-along. It is also uneven in tone, occasionally straying into highly un-comedic territory: a throat-ripping out scene anyone?

The director is Rawson Marshall Thurber who previously directed the better comedy “Dodgeball” and the far worse “We’re the Millers”. So that should set your expectations.

A fairly ho-hum comedy which might entertain you on a long plane flight but is not worth forking out much cash to rent.