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Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Blood Red Road (Dust Lands, #1) in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Blood Red Road has a searing pace, a poetically minimal writing style, violent action, and an epic love story. Moira Young is one of the most promising and startling new voices in teen fiction.
Blood Red Road completely took over my life for the few hours I was reading it. I found myself physically excited from reading. It was one of those books where you forget how long you've been reading and you look up to discover it's four hours later than it was five minutes ago, and the book is almost over. Dang. Then someone calls you to do chores and you get upset because you can't stop reading now!
Blood Red Road has everything a book should have: Immediately developed characters, tension the whole time, a multi-layered plot, and conflict around ever turn.
It seemed that one thing just naturally led to another—and that's the way it should be. Things don't always go as planned, people don't always do as you tell them to, and we're not always honest with ourselves about our feelings and motives. There were so many different layers, so many different things that influenced the book, that it felt real.
The writing was interesting. It was written the way the characters spoke. "Aks" instead of "Ask," "Thinkin" instead of "Thinking," "Fer" instead of "for," and a lot of slang like "kinda" and "ain't." At first it was really annoying, but then I got used to it and it didn't bother me. It slowed down my reading a little, but it didn't interfere with the pacing of the book (just my reading speed). It greatly added to the characters.
People betray us. People change. People fall in love. They argue with each other, they hate and they love at the same time, they put up with crap and they pitch fits. And that's what happens, so that's the way the characters were. I loved the change in Saba and Emmi's relationship (Emmi is her little sister) and I loved the growth, tearing down, tension, and forgiveness in the relationship between Saba and Jack.
Of course it wouldn't have been complete without a love story. Saba is so totally against outside help, so against Jack's attention (or maybe just terrified of it), that it causes an annoying and infuriating love story that gave me flashbacks to Mortal Instruments. (Only much better, because Jack is much more of a man than Jace. They both flirt about as often, though...)
I liked everything about this book except that it's only 512 pages. I didn't want it to end. I even like the cover. I saw it and thought "Oh I'm going to like that book." Saba looked like a kick-ass heroine. She is. I like her a lot (when she's not being a smart-aleck to Jack, and a jerk to her little sister).
And now I wait. This happened to me when I read The Hunger Games, Birthmarked, and Magic Under Glass, too. I read it first (either the day it was released, or I read the ARC), then had to wait longer than everyone else to get the sequel because I read it before they did. It stinks. Luckily, Blood Red Road doesn't have the horrible cliff hanger endings that Suzanne Collins, Cassandra Claire, and Jaclyn Dolamore have in their books. However, you can bet I will be holding my breath for the next one. Moria Young is going on my "auto-buy" list.
Content: Some violence, but not gore. I don't remember if there was any minor language, but there was so strong language. No sex. Ages 14+
Blood Red Road completely took over my life for the few hours I was reading it. I found myself physically excited from reading. It was one of those books where you forget how long you've been reading and you look up to discover it's four hours later than it was five minutes ago, and the book is almost over. Dang. Then someone calls you to do chores and you get upset because you can't stop reading now!
Blood Red Road has everything a book should have: Immediately developed characters, tension the whole time, a multi-layered plot, and conflict around ever turn.
It seemed that one thing just naturally led to another—and that's the way it should be. Things don't always go as planned, people don't always do as you tell them to, and we're not always honest with ourselves about our feelings and motives. There were so many different layers, so many different things that influenced the book, that it felt real.
The writing was interesting. It was written the way the characters spoke. "Aks" instead of "Ask," "Thinkin" instead of "Thinking," "Fer" instead of "for," and a lot of slang like "kinda" and "ain't." At first it was really annoying, but then I got used to it and it didn't bother me. It slowed down my reading a little, but it didn't interfere with the pacing of the book (just my reading speed). It greatly added to the characters.
People betray us. People change. People fall in love. They argue with each other, they hate and they love at the same time, they put up with crap and they pitch fits. And that's what happens, so that's the way the characters were. I loved the change in Saba and Emmi's relationship (Emmi is her little sister) and I loved the growth, tearing down, tension, and forgiveness in the relationship between Saba and Jack.
Of course it wouldn't have been complete without a love story. Saba is so totally against outside help, so against Jack's attention (or maybe just terrified of it), that it causes an annoying and infuriating love story that gave me flashbacks to Mortal Instruments. (Only much better, because Jack is much more of a man than Jace. They both flirt about as often, though...)
I liked everything about this book except that it's only 512 pages. I didn't want it to end. I even like the cover. I saw it and thought "Oh I'm going to like that book." Saba looked like a kick-ass heroine. She is. I like her a lot (when she's not being a smart-aleck to Jack, and a jerk to her little sister).
And now I wait. This happened to me when I read The Hunger Games, Birthmarked, and Magic Under Glass, too. I read it first (either the day it was released, or I read the ARC), then had to wait longer than everyone else to get the sequel because I read it before they did. It stinks. Luckily, Blood Red Road doesn't have the horrible cliff hanger endings that Suzanne Collins, Cassandra Claire, and Jaclyn Dolamore have in their books. However, you can bet I will be holding my breath for the next one. Moria Young is going on my "auto-buy" list.
Content: Some violence, but not gore. I don't remember if there was any minor language, but there was so strong language. No sex. Ages 14+
Becs (244 KP) rated A Raisin in the Sun in Books
Oct 2, 2019
They honestly need more books like this. When my husband found out that I was getting A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry, he grew excited and he never does that unless it’s a science-related book. That was when I knew I was going to like this beautiful novel. When I started to read it, I rushed through it. Not in a “I just want to finish this book” way, more like “I FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK AND I DON’T EVER WANT IT TO END” way. That says something, right?
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Genre: Literary Classic, Play, Drama, Fiction
Synopsis: First produced in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and hailed as a watershed in American drama. Not only a pioneering work by an African-American playwright – Lorraine Hansberry’s play was also a radically new representation of black life, resolutely authentic, fiercely unsentimental, and unflinching in its vision of what happens to people whose dreams are constantly deferred. In her portrait of an embattled Chicago family, Hansberry anticapted issues that range from generational clashes to the civil rights and women’s movements. She also posed the essential questions – about identity, justice, and moral responsibility – at the heart of those great struggles. The result is an American classic.
Audience/Reading Level: Middle School +
Interests: Plays, dramas, literary classics, racial segregation, women’s movement, 50s era.
Point of View: Third Person Omniscient
Difficulty Reading: Not at all, I rushed through it because I loved it so much! As in some of Shakespeares plays, you don’t get stuck on the general language of the era it was written, as it’s written close to a book you would get from this era.
Promise: “Award-winning drama of the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America–and changed American theater forever.” – It did. 🙂
Insights: I love reading plays as it’s a way to step out of a comfort zone of reading Young Adult novels. It gives me a chance to dip into my theater/acting side and use what I’ve learned from theatre classes. A Raisin in the Sun is a well-written American classic that honestly should be read in every school from middle school and up. The lessens that are taught throughout the play are subtle yet obvious which creates a background that we can use in our every day life.
Ah-Ha Moment: The moment that Beneatha came into the picture and was a total feminist. Man, she’s my favorite character besides Mama (Lena Younger) and her little plant.
Favorite Quotes: “Beneatha: Love him? There is nothing left to love. Mama: There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. (Looking at her) Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and for the family ’cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning – because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ’cause the world done whipped him so! when you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”
“Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t acept. It’s not important. I am not going out and commit crimes or be immoral because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it. It’s just that I get so tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only Man, and it’s he who makes miracles!”
What will you gain: A haunting yet revealing play that will be as fresh of a read today, as it was in the 50’s.
Aesthetics: The entire play. The cover. The characters. The underlying meaning beneath it all. The era it was written and is based off of. Just everything about this little book.
“I want to fly! I want to touch the sun!”
“Finish your eggs first.”
A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
Genre: Literary Classic, Play, Drama, Fiction
Synopsis: First produced in 1959, A Raisin in the Sun was awarded the New York Drama Critics Circle Award and hailed as a watershed in American drama. Not only a pioneering work by an African-American playwright – Lorraine Hansberry’s play was also a radically new representation of black life, resolutely authentic, fiercely unsentimental, and unflinching in its vision of what happens to people whose dreams are constantly deferred. In her portrait of an embattled Chicago family, Hansberry anticapted issues that range from generational clashes to the civil rights and women’s movements. She also posed the essential questions – about identity, justice, and moral responsibility – at the heart of those great struggles. The result is an American classic.
Audience/Reading Level: Middle School +
Interests: Plays, dramas, literary classics, racial segregation, women’s movement, 50s era.
Point of View: Third Person Omniscient
Difficulty Reading: Not at all, I rushed through it because I loved it so much! As in some of Shakespeares plays, you don’t get stuck on the general language of the era it was written, as it’s written close to a book you would get from this era.
Promise: “Award-winning drama of the hopes and aspirations of a struggling, working-class family living on the South Side of Chicago connected profoundly with the psyche of black America–and changed American theater forever.” – It did. 🙂
Insights: I love reading plays as it’s a way to step out of a comfort zone of reading Young Adult novels. It gives me a chance to dip into my theater/acting side and use what I’ve learned from theatre classes. A Raisin in the Sun is a well-written American classic that honestly should be read in every school from middle school and up. The lessens that are taught throughout the play are subtle yet obvious which creates a background that we can use in our every day life.
Ah-Ha Moment: The moment that Beneatha came into the picture and was a total feminist. Man, she’s my favorite character besides Mama (Lena Younger) and her little plant.
Favorite Quotes: “Beneatha: Love him? There is nothing left to love. Mama: There is always something left to love. And if you ain’t learned that, you ain’t learned nothing. (Looking at her) Have you cried for that boy today? I don’t mean for yourself and for the family ’cause we lost the money. I mean for him: what he been through and what it done to him. Child, when do you think is the time to love somebody the most? When they done good and made things easy for everybody? Well then, you ain’t through learning – because that ain’t the time at all. It’s when he’s at his lowest and can’t believe in hisself ’cause the world done whipped him so! when you starts measuring somebody, measure him right, child, measure him right. Make sure you done taken into account what hills and valleys he come through before he got to wherever he is.”
“Mama, you don’t understand. It’s all a matter of ideas, and God is just one idea I don’t acept. It’s not important. I am not going out and commit crimes or be immoral because I don’t believe in God. I don’t even think about it. It’s just that I get so tired of Him getting credit for all the things the human race achieves through its own stubborn effort. There simply is no God! There is only Man, and it’s he who makes miracles!”
What will you gain: A haunting yet revealing play that will be as fresh of a read today, as it was in the 50’s.
Aesthetics: The entire play. The cover. The characters. The underlying meaning beneath it all. The era it was written and is based off of. Just everything about this little book.
“I want to fly! I want to touch the sun!”
“Finish your eggs first.”
Pete Wareham recommended Baba Ramdev by Musafir in Music (curated)
jd2105 (10 KP) rated Star Realms in Tabletop Games
Feb 24, 2020 (Updated Feb 24, 2020)
Reviewing this game as a whole.
First of all I'd like to say I am reviewing this game as a whole I am not specifying to any particular core for expansion. Star Realms is one of my favorite deckbuilding games. It is best with two players, however you can play with more. I personally do not like playing with any more than 3 players, as the game does slow down when more players are added. Aside from deck building the combinations that are possible in this game are through the roof and I absolutely love that part of this game. This was the first deck building game I played that introduced defense to a deck building game for me. I'm sure there are plenty of others that have defense in them however this is the one I was first introduced defense. Most of the deck building games I have played before was simply deck build, collect points, and/or destroy the other players.
Suggs recommended The Psychomodo by Cockney Rebel in Music (curated)
Hazel (2934 KP) rated Dance with the Enemy (The Enemy #1) in Books
Apr 5, 2020
Yet another of the books from my "to be read" pile and, once again, why oh why did I leave it so late to read this ... what an absolute scintillating read this is!
From start to finish, I was on the edge of my seat ... it's engaging, exciting, thrilling, fast-paced and totally entertaining. Logan is a brilliant character; flawed and damaged but brave and loyal; I was completely drawn into his story and can't wait to read the second instalment, Rise of the Enemy.
If you like Jason Bourne, you will love this and with plenty of action, violence and scenes of peril with a little bit of love interest thrown in, this is a book that won't disappoint.
Belated thanks go to Clink Street Publishing and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
From start to finish, I was on the edge of my seat ... it's engaging, exciting, thrilling, fast-paced and totally entertaining. Logan is a brilliant character; flawed and damaged but brave and loyal; I was completely drawn into his story and can't wait to read the second instalment, Rise of the Enemy.
If you like Jason Bourne, you will love this and with plenty of action, violence and scenes of peril with a little bit of love interest thrown in, this is a book that won't disappoint.
Belated thanks go to Clink Street Publishing and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
Katie Guinn (34 KP) rated A Deadly Éclair (A French Bistro Mystery, #1) in Books
Dec 7, 2018
A Deadly Eclair is the first book in a cozy mystery series. The main character, Mimi Rousseau, runs a small B&B and a French bistro in California’s wine country. As the story opens, she’s planning to host the wedding of a famous talk show host, but plans are derailed when the bride’s uncle (and Mimi’s financial backer) is found dead on the bistro patio, an eclair stuffed into his mouth. Mimi has to find the culprit before she’s hauled off to jail for murder. First of all, you should know that I love punny titles like this one. I also love cozy mysteries that feature food and/or chefs. Even if the constant descriptions of food makes my mouth water. I enjoyed the quirky supporting characters, and found myself laughing out loud several times. Did I find the frequent food facts unnecessary? Yes. Did I enjoy them anyway? Darn right I did. Ms. Gerber walked the fine line between too little description and too much like a gymnastic pro, and I will happily follow Mimi through her future adventures
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A new state, a new city, a new high school. Mike's father has already found a new evangelical church...
Bullying Death and Dying
Rachel Maria Berney (114 KP) rated The Greatest Showman (2017) in Movies
Dec 7, 2018
A musical for non-musical fans
I hate musicals, I avoid them like the plague. My daughter decided to put this on and I ended up sitting and watching the whole thing by myself, she wandered off to play.
This is a musical that even the haters of musicals I think would enjoy. The only reason I can see why I didn't mind and actually liked some of the songs is the irony and sarcasm that was inherent in the songs and in the acting whilst they were singing. Normally, the people singing, whether it's a happy or sad song, have those insane asylum grins plastered to their faces, which make you feel uncomfortable. The songs were catchy, warning, they stay with you for days.
The story line was good, I enjoyed it. The acting was very good and the singing not that bad. I was surprised to find out Hugh Jackman was the leading man, I didn't recognise him at all at first. Took me a while to figure our that it was Zac Effron supporting too.
The costumes and make-up were fantastic and the actual shows were really good to watch. I would love to know what they would've been like at the real Barnum circus, as well as what the real relationships were within the troupe. Intrigued me enough that I am going to put my history at uni to use and research it.
I think if you take a chance and watch this, you will be pleasantly surprised.
This is a musical that even the haters of musicals I think would enjoy. The only reason I can see why I didn't mind and actually liked some of the songs is the irony and sarcasm that was inherent in the songs and in the acting whilst they were singing. Normally, the people singing, whether it's a happy or sad song, have those insane asylum grins plastered to their faces, which make you feel uncomfortable. The songs were catchy, warning, they stay with you for days.
The story line was good, I enjoyed it. The acting was very good and the singing not that bad. I was surprised to find out Hugh Jackman was the leading man, I didn't recognise him at all at first. Took me a while to figure our that it was Zac Effron supporting too.
The costumes and make-up were fantastic and the actual shows were really good to watch. I would love to know what they would've been like at the real Barnum circus, as well as what the real relationships were within the troupe. Intrigued me enough that I am going to put my history at uni to use and research it.
I think if you take a chance and watch this, you will be pleasantly surprised.