Owain Glyndwr: The Story of the Last Prince of Wales
Book
If it had not been for Owain Glyndwr's 15-year struggle against overwhelming odds, the Welsh would...
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Searching (2018) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
At the beginning we see a montage of clips and photos from the Kim family's life where we learn that the mum (pam) passes away from cancer. Fast forward a few years later and Margot - pam and David's daughter- is all grown up and everything seems to be going fine, that is until Margot goes missing.
David starts frantically searching on social media only to discover he didn't know Margot as much as he thought he did, and finds out some unusual information about her.
For a one time watch I did enjoy this movie, it shows how things can develop online from parent blaming to people pretending to be the missing persons friend, and writing 'heartfelt' messages. It also shows the hidden dangers of the online community such as how easy it is to obtain information. It was very gripping and kept me glued right to the twist at the end which I was not at expecting.
The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade
Frank Miller, Brian Azzarello and John Romita JR (art)
7.0
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Book
Frank Miller, along with co-writer Brian Azarrello and artist John Romita Jr., revisit the gritty...
Batman
Consumed by Fire (Fire, #1)
6.0
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Book
Evangeline Morrissey remembers the last time she saw her husband: it was during their honeymoon,...
romantic suspense romance
A Sliver of Sunset
8.0
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Book
From one-night stand to nurse and patient—is it crazy to expect more? Angelo has somehow...
MM Paranormal Romance Novella
Jay leaves college, determined to become a writer, and heads to Paris. There he meets a young model, Katerina, and falls in love. Twenty-five years later, Jay is a writer--famous and rich--but he's lost his way. Then he receives a message from a lost love. The message draws him back to memories of his old life and his old loves.
Years ago, James Frey dazzled me with A Million Little Pieces and My Friend Leonard. I loved those books so much, and while I was aware of some of the controversy surrounding Pieces, I don't think I fully grasped it. Katerina is a strange book--a memoir type story hidden as a novel that loosely covers Frey's life, including the time he wrote a novel that was sort of a memoir. Following? Confused? Me too.
I thought Katerina was a book, fiction, but it's really Frey's retelling of his life, trying to cast himself as a sympathetic character (I think? Jay doesn't exactly come across as all that likeable.). It did intrigue me enough to read up more on the past controversies of his life and truly, the end result was that I didn't care for Katerina all that much, and I felt disillusioned about Pieces, a book I really enjoyed. Sigh.
Katerina uses the same stream of consciousness writing style from Pieces, and if you don't want your writing filled with profanity and sex, I wouldn't go near Katerina with a ten-foot pole. There's drinking--so much drinking here--that it physically pained me at times. It's an emotional read--Frey excels at that--and there are some twists. I won't lie, I found it interesting at times, and narcissistic and boring at others. Jay is hard to like in the past and present (the book splits it time between the two), but I do not think Frey cares, and it covers Frey's scandals lightly disguised as Jay's.
It's a beautiful love letter to Paris; the descriptions of the city are wonderful. There's no real characterization of Jay's beloved Katerina (the person), though, and many descriptions are just repetitive. The ending comes up quickly, as well.
Overall, while I found pieces of this novel engaging, I was disappointed overall. Honestly, I'll probably never be able to capture the magic I found in Frey's early works. 2.5 stars.
Judge Sewall's Apology: The Salem Witch Trials and the Forming of a Conscience
Book
The most evocative and richly contextualised account of the Salem Witch trials in print. The Salem...
Leningrad: Tragedy of a City Under Siege, 1941-44
Book
On 8 September 1941, eleven short weeks after Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, his brutal...
Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Apple Tree Yard in Books
Jun 24, 2019
The narrative of this book is quite unique, being recalled as an account from the past. Yvonne, the narrator, often refers to "now" and unknown events that have yet to take place in the story. This definitely builds the suspense a lot.
Yvonne takes us through the development of her extramarrital relationship with the unknown "you" (or "X" as she refers to him in her letters). Later, we will learn the identity of Yvonne's lover, but throughout the book we are given only speculations about his life that Yvonne theorises to be accurate.
This affair is, I suppose, both shocking and familiar at the same time. Yvonne is a successful, loved wife and mother with a safe home and good career. She loves her husband and her children. Her affair is, in this respect, unexpected and outrageous. But at the same time, as Yvonne summarises at the end of the novel, her "one-off" offence falls perfectly into the typical category of people like her. People who do not cheat on their partners because they don't love them. Unline "you", who cheats repeatedly for the excitement of it.
Most of the book is dedicated to the devlopment of the relationship, with other details of Yvonne's life and comments about the present included here and there. Yvonne is eventually sexually assaulted by a coworker/acquaintance. Amazingly, this event leads to Yvonne being on trial for murder.
The court case is described fantastically, with plenty of detail about all the little things that really set the scene. The narrative throughout the book is also fantastic - it really has the 'feel' of a middle-aged woman. 3.5 stars.
The Mother of Black Hollywood
Book
From her more than three hundred appearances for film and television, stage and cabaret, performing...