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The Road to Ruin: The Global Elite's Secret Plan for the Next Financial Crisis
Book
The New York Times bestseller that reveals how investors can prepare for the next financial panic -...
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated The F**k-It List (2020) in Movies
Oct 14, 2020
Something explodes, but we don't see what it is. Teenagers are stood watching, one doesn't even flinch so obviously had something to do with it, but what did he do and why? As we are thrown back 24 hours earlier, we are about to find out.
To be honest not much happens leading up to the event. Brett's friends throw a party in his garden without his prior knowledge whilst his parents are away, and afterwards finds out he is accepted into 7 colleges, oh and he accidentally blows up the school when a senior prank goes wrong,which is what we saw at the start of the movie.
Around half an hour in he creates a video which lists everything he wants to do and accidentally publishes it for everyone to see worldwide which attracts hundreds of likes and comments. Coupling this and the explosion, Brett is told he would not be graduating from school thus ruining his chances of attending college. As a rebellion he invites everyone to burn their school books in the shape of a certain gesture and shares it online gaining him thousands of followers. He is eventually contacted by someone who wants to turn his fame into a money making scheme, the more followers he can get, the more money he will receive.
All this dragged out for a whole hour of the movie and I felt the storyline was pretty rubbish. I expected it to be a guy attempting to tick off things on his list with the help of his friends, but the list was only really mentioned once or twice. Very disappointing.
To be honest not much happens leading up to the event. Brett's friends throw a party in his garden without his prior knowledge whilst his parents are away, and afterwards finds out he is accepted into 7 colleges, oh and he accidentally blows up the school when a senior prank goes wrong,which is what we saw at the start of the movie.
Around half an hour in he creates a video which lists everything he wants to do and accidentally publishes it for everyone to see worldwide which attracts hundreds of likes and comments. Coupling this and the explosion, Brett is told he would not be graduating from school thus ruining his chances of attending college. As a rebellion he invites everyone to burn their school books in the shape of a certain gesture and shares it online gaining him thousands of followers. He is eventually contacted by someone who wants to turn his fame into a money making scheme, the more followers he can get, the more money he will receive.
All this dragged out for a whole hour of the movie and I felt the storyline was pretty rubbish. I expected it to be a guy attempting to tick off things on his list with the help of his friends, but the list was only really mentioned once or twice. Very disappointing.
A Dismal Harvest
9.0
Rate It
Book
It's autumn on the Sonoma Coast, and Claudia Simcoe is sure that the gourmet harvest dinner being...
Lioness: Golda Meir and the Nation of Israel
Book
The definitive biography of the iron-willed leader, chain-smoking political operative, and...
biography history
The Warren Buffett Philosophy of Investment: How a Combination of Value Investing and Smart Acquisitions Drives Extraordinary Success
Book
See the world's number 1 investor like never before - and learn how you can replicate his success....
Data Mining for Business Analytics: Concepts, Techniques, and Applications with JMP Pro
Galit Shmueli, Nitin R. Patel, Peter C. Bruce and Mia L. Stephens
Book
Data Mining for Business Analytics: Concepts, Techniques, and Applications with JMP Pro(R) presents...
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated The Unforgettables in Books
Jan 23, 2020
<b><i>I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.</i></b>
Meet Felicia, AKA a piece of fictional me out in the bookish world: awkward, anti-social, and kind of an outcast. It is no wonder why I immediately beeline towards cute contemporary novels (I always make a point to mention <a href="http://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-imperfect-chemistry-by-mary-frame"><em>Imperfect Chemistry</em></a> by Mary Frame because that book! Is! Cute! Cue exclamation points and squealing.).
Side note: I haven't reviewed in months. I will probably be as boring and undirectional as 15-year-old me.
<i>The Unforgettables</i> is a story of two fabulously adorable nerds who find out they are neighbors and bond over a set of comic books. Paul and Felicia click over a chance encounter in the summer over the comic books that theyre huge fans of, thus beginning a friendship that wouldnt be forgotten. At least until it becomes more than friendship.
<b>What I Liked:</b>
<i>Cliches can have nerds and outcasts too! Also nerds can be well-liked.</i> - One of the big reasons why Im always weary of contemporary novels is how I somehow never relate to the characters. There is always something off about them - they all fit in, theyre popular, yada yada yada. (And sometimes there is something off... period.) <i>The Unforgettables</i> has both. Felicia is none of those. She isnt popular, she doesnt fit in - in fact, shes the outcast and basically keeps to herself. Paul is well liked - he fits in, and hes certainly not an outcast.
Another side note: Can Paul be an actual human being? I feel like we can be best friends, even if Im not a comic book fan. (Plus, if most guys I come across were as decent as Paul is, the world would be better for awkward me.)
<i>
</i> <i>The serious amount of diversity involved.</i> - Felicia is Haitian. Paul is biracial. Theres an interracial relationship. I am a happy little reader. That is not the only reason why I am a happy little reader.
<i>
</i> <i>Helloooo reality.</i> - The relationship life is as awkward as it is heartbreaking, and I love how those obstacles are portrayed throughout the book instead of making it seem like a cakewalk. The amount of awkwardness involved as Paul and Felicia venture into territory beyond friendship just makes it all the better. (I am all for awkward within reason.) Plus, its reassuring to find that Im not the only one awkward in the romance department. All the other books make it seem heartbreakingly easy.
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A crush equaled no assembly required. There were no broken promises or hurt feelings outside of the fact you werent with them. And if you didnt let them in, the mere thought of them made you smile.</blockquote>
<i>The Unforgettables</i> is the classic story of girl meets boy next door with perks and bonuses that will even capture the attention of the cliche-disliker.
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A little geekery never hurt anyone.</blockquote>
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-unforgettables-by-gl-thomas/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Meet Felicia, AKA a piece of fictional me out in the bookish world: awkward, anti-social, and kind of an outcast. It is no wonder why I immediately beeline towards cute contemporary novels (I always make a point to mention <a href="http://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-imperfect-chemistry-by-mary-frame"><em>Imperfect Chemistry</em></a> by Mary Frame because that book! Is! Cute! Cue exclamation points and squealing.).
Side note: I haven't reviewed in months. I will probably be as boring and undirectional as 15-year-old me.
<i>The Unforgettables</i> is a story of two fabulously adorable nerds who find out they are neighbors and bond over a set of comic books. Paul and Felicia click over a chance encounter in the summer over the comic books that theyre huge fans of, thus beginning a friendship that wouldnt be forgotten. At least until it becomes more than friendship.
<b>What I Liked:</b>
<i>Cliches can have nerds and outcasts too! Also nerds can be well-liked.</i> - One of the big reasons why Im always weary of contemporary novels is how I somehow never relate to the characters. There is always something off about them - they all fit in, theyre popular, yada yada yada. (And sometimes there is something off... period.) <i>The Unforgettables</i> has both. Felicia is none of those. She isnt popular, she doesnt fit in - in fact, shes the outcast and basically keeps to herself. Paul is well liked - he fits in, and hes certainly not an outcast.
Another side note: Can Paul be an actual human being? I feel like we can be best friends, even if Im not a comic book fan. (Plus, if most guys I come across were as decent as Paul is, the world would be better for awkward me.)
<i>
</i> <i>The serious amount of diversity involved.</i> - Felicia is Haitian. Paul is biracial. Theres an interracial relationship. I am a happy little reader. That is not the only reason why I am a happy little reader.
<i>
</i> <i>Helloooo reality.</i> - The relationship life is as awkward as it is heartbreaking, and I love how those obstacles are portrayed throughout the book instead of making it seem like a cakewalk. The amount of awkwardness involved as Paul and Felicia venture into territory beyond friendship just makes it all the better. (I am all for awkward within reason.) Plus, its reassuring to find that Im not the only one awkward in the romance department. All the other books make it seem heartbreakingly easy.
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A crush equaled no assembly required. There were no broken promises or hurt feelings outside of the fact you werent with them. And if you didnt let them in, the mere thought of them made you smile.</blockquote>
<i>The Unforgettables</i> is the classic story of girl meets boy next door with perks and bonuses that will even capture the attention of the cliche-disliker.
<blockquote class="tr_bq">A little geekery never hurt anyone.</blockquote>
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/arc-review-unforgettables-by-gl-thomas/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Mandy and G.D. Burkhead (26 KP) rated Kushiel's Dart (Phèdre's Trilogy, #1) in Books
May 20, 2018
Shelf Life – Kushiel’s Legacy, the Naamah Trilogy, and How Jacqueline Carey Ruined My Ability to Be Impartial About Them
Contains spoilers, click to show
I can honestly say that the nine books that comprise these three trilogies are among the best fantasy available today as well as nine of my all-time favorite books I’ve ever read.
The Spoiler-Free Overview
If you want the shorter, less spoilery answer for what I think of these books: holy crap, yes, they’re as good as everyone says they are. Jacqueline Carey has a way of making me just…feel stuff like no other author can. Plenty of books have caught and held my interest enough that I didn’t want to put them down, but few have made the act of putting them down anyway so torturous. More than once, I hit a point in these stories where I had to drop whatever else I was gonna do that day (that I could realistically drop) just because I had to keep reading to make sure the characters were going to be okay.
This is character-driven fiction at its finest, with people in the pages who come alive and subtly win your heart. More than once, I’ve found reading about their ordeals to be worrying, a little bit painful, and a little bit infuriating (all in a good way, though), and I had to stop and remind myself that these weren’t real people that I was so concerned over and angry for. So if you ever wanted to be really, really invested in the story you’re reading and the people in it, Terre d’Ange is the place to go. All of the eroticism that everyone talks about is just a really nice bonus.
If you want an even shorter answer: do you watch Game of Thrones? Have you read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books? Have you at least heard of the fan hype around these stories? The Kushiel and Naamah books are like that, except sexier and with deeper court intrigue. And a lot less incest.
If you want the long answer…
A Dizzying Amount of Adventure Mileage
One thing that has to be said for Kushiel’s Legacy and the Naamah trilogy is that you definitely get your money’s worth of story out of each book. There’s a pattern that I’ve noticed with each of them, which is that you’ll follow the heroine/hero through a massive tribulation, see them endure their hardships and take their small victories where they can, then finally watch matters come to a crux, a climax, and a satisfying resolution…only to realize that you’re only a third of the way through the full page count.
Where most books are content to have one major conflict, Carey packs hers with about three each. The best part is that they’re not laid out in rigid sequence like a series of video game side quests – fight this problem, win, check it off the list, leave it behind and find a new one to fill the word count. No, each new adventure in the same book arises completely organically from the story overall. It makes you realize just how huge a scope these characters’ destinies really are, and just how incredibly wearying it can be and how much seemingly inhuman endurance it takes to be one of the gods’ chosen.
For instance, the first book to kick everything off, Kushiel’s Dart, begins slowly and simply enough. Phedre is an unwanted child who is basically sold into indentured servitude, then trained to be a spy and courtesan while we’re introduced to Terre d’Ange through her eyes over the next couple hundred pages, learning more about the politics and the players in time to watch the drama around them steadily unfold and escalate.
And then her wise mentor gets killed (as wise mentors tend to do), she and her bodyguard companion are betrayed, and the both of them get sold into full-on slavery to the vikings of Skaldia. Plenty of conflict and hardship and planning later, they make their escape and flee into harsh, snowy mountain terrain, falling in love for good measure while they fend off the deadly cold and the pursuit from their enemies. Finally, they make it back to their homeland and clear their names.
This is where most books would be content to stop and maybe leave further contentions for a sequel. Kushiel’s Dart would have been well within its rights to do so as well, and I wouldn’t have complained if it did. But no, it reminds readers, we’re not done yet. There’s a war coming, remember? We talked about this. Catch your breath for a moment, but then we gotta go rally our armies.
So Phedre and Joscelin set off to the wild and secluded island nation of Alba on the other side of an enchanted strait, a body of water where a vengeful, divine power known as the Master of the Straits lives and for some reason prevents almost all contact between the two nations. Arriving safely enough, they find that Alba is also war-torn at the moment, and the armies they had hoped to rally are busy defending their land from another foe. More plotting and intrigue ensues, alliances and promises are made, and with our heroes’ help, the two sides clash in a decisive battle that gains the side we’re rooting for victory as well as gives them their rightful sovereignty back. Now Phedre has the army she needs. After a sudden and unexpected stop at the Master of the Straits’ island, where they learn the secret of his power and guarantee indefinite safe passage between the nations in return for Phedre losing her closest friend, our heroes finally make it back to their homeland again with their army in tow.
Finally! After all of that struggle, we get a happy ending after all. But wait, not yet you don’t, the chunk of pages left at the end remind you. All you did was get your forces together. Good for you. Now you still gotta go actually fight the war with the Skaldi invaders to determine the fate of your entire nation.
So they do. And only after an awesome last-stand battle (the excitement and careful strategy of which will take you completely by surprise if you first entered this book expecting little more than kinky sex scenes) is the story allowed to wrap up in earnest, our heroes finally earning their long-deserved rest. The dangerous and cunning warlord is defeated, the invading army has been pushed back, the new Queen has ascended the throne, Terre d’Ange has been saved, and Phedre and Joscelin are free to finally be together – with the only little niggle being that the real mastermind behind all of their problems is still loose and taunting them. But we can get to that in the next book. Or five.
The Spoiler-Free Overview
If you want the shorter, less spoilery answer for what I think of these books: holy crap, yes, they’re as good as everyone says they are. Jacqueline Carey has a way of making me just…feel stuff like no other author can. Plenty of books have caught and held my interest enough that I didn’t want to put them down, but few have made the act of putting them down anyway so torturous. More than once, I hit a point in these stories where I had to drop whatever else I was gonna do that day (that I could realistically drop) just because I had to keep reading to make sure the characters were going to be okay.
This is character-driven fiction at its finest, with people in the pages who come alive and subtly win your heart. More than once, I’ve found reading about their ordeals to be worrying, a little bit painful, and a little bit infuriating (all in a good way, though), and I had to stop and remind myself that these weren’t real people that I was so concerned over and angry for. So if you ever wanted to be really, really invested in the story you’re reading and the people in it, Terre d’Ange is the place to go. All of the eroticism that everyone talks about is just a really nice bonus.
If you want an even shorter answer: do you watch Game of Thrones? Have you read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books? Have you at least heard of the fan hype around these stories? The Kushiel and Naamah books are like that, except sexier and with deeper court intrigue. And a lot less incest.
If you want the long answer…
A Dizzying Amount of Adventure Mileage
One thing that has to be said for Kushiel’s Legacy and the Naamah trilogy is that you definitely get your money’s worth of story out of each book. There’s a pattern that I’ve noticed with each of them, which is that you’ll follow the heroine/hero through a massive tribulation, see them endure their hardships and take their small victories where they can, then finally watch matters come to a crux, a climax, and a satisfying resolution…only to realize that you’re only a third of the way through the full page count.
Where most books are content to have one major conflict, Carey packs hers with about three each. The best part is that they’re not laid out in rigid sequence like a series of video game side quests – fight this problem, win, check it off the list, leave it behind and find a new one to fill the word count. No, each new adventure in the same book arises completely organically from the story overall. It makes you realize just how huge a scope these characters’ destinies really are, and just how incredibly wearying it can be and how much seemingly inhuman endurance it takes to be one of the gods’ chosen.
For instance, the first book to kick everything off, Kushiel’s Dart, begins slowly and simply enough. Phedre is an unwanted child who is basically sold into indentured servitude, then trained to be a spy and courtesan while we’re introduced to Terre d’Ange through her eyes over the next couple hundred pages, learning more about the politics and the players in time to watch the drama around them steadily unfold and escalate.
And then her wise mentor gets killed (as wise mentors tend to do), she and her bodyguard companion are betrayed, and the both of them get sold into full-on slavery to the vikings of Skaldia. Plenty of conflict and hardship and planning later, they make their escape and flee into harsh, snowy mountain terrain, falling in love for good measure while they fend off the deadly cold and the pursuit from their enemies. Finally, they make it back to their homeland and clear their names.
This is where most books would be content to stop and maybe leave further contentions for a sequel. Kushiel’s Dart would have been well within its rights to do so as well, and I wouldn’t have complained if it did. But no, it reminds readers, we’re not done yet. There’s a war coming, remember? We talked about this. Catch your breath for a moment, but then we gotta go rally our armies.
So Phedre and Joscelin set off to the wild and secluded island nation of Alba on the other side of an enchanted strait, a body of water where a vengeful, divine power known as the Master of the Straits lives and for some reason prevents almost all contact between the two nations. Arriving safely enough, they find that Alba is also war-torn at the moment, and the armies they had hoped to rally are busy defending their land from another foe. More plotting and intrigue ensues, alliances and promises are made, and with our heroes’ help, the two sides clash in a decisive battle that gains the side we’re rooting for victory as well as gives them their rightful sovereignty back. Now Phedre has the army she needs. After a sudden and unexpected stop at the Master of the Straits’ island, where they learn the secret of his power and guarantee indefinite safe passage between the nations in return for Phedre losing her closest friend, our heroes finally make it back to their homeland again with their army in tow.
Finally! After all of that struggle, we get a happy ending after all. But wait, not yet you don’t, the chunk of pages left at the end remind you. All you did was get your forces together. Good for you. Now you still gotta go actually fight the war with the Skaldi invaders to determine the fate of your entire nation.
So they do. And only after an awesome last-stand battle (the excitement and careful strategy of which will take you completely by surprise if you first entered this book expecting little more than kinky sex scenes) is the story allowed to wrap up in earnest, our heroes finally earning their long-deserved rest. The dangerous and cunning warlord is defeated, the invading army has been pushed back, the new Queen has ascended the throne, Terre d’Ange has been saved, and Phedre and Joscelin are free to finally be together – with the only little niggle being that the real mastermind behind all of their problems is still loose and taunting them. But we can get to that in the next book. Or five.
Fooled Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets
Book
Fooled by Randomness is a standalone book in Nassim Nicholas Taleb's landmark Incerto series, an...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2474 KP) rated Worlds Apart in Books
Apr 9, 2018
I Can’t Imagine the Possibility of Fans Being Disappointed by this Book
With the fictional and non-fictional worlds now separate, Owen finds he has lost his imagination, not that he can imagine how that would be a problem. However, when Kara shows up and takes him 5 years into the future, he sees how things have devolved. Meanwhile, Bethany’s fictional half is enjoying her new life until her father is shot by a mysterious ray gun. What is Nobody’s plan doing? Can Owen and Bethany stop him?
If this isn’t making sense to you, don’t jump in here. This is the final book in the series, and it builds on everything that came before it. However, fans who have read the previous four books in the series will be delighted. We get another wild, fast paced ride. Almost all the characters we’ve met along the way are back for this book as well, and I loved seeing them all again. The climax is wonderful and wraps up the series well. Along with the fun and some meta laughs, we get some interesting thoughts on the importance of both imagination and reality.
If this isn’t making sense to you, don’t jump in here. This is the final book in the series, and it builds on everything that came before it. However, fans who have read the previous four books in the series will be delighted. We get another wild, fast paced ride. Almost all the characters we’ve met along the way are back for this book as well, and I loved seeing them all again. The climax is wonderful and wraps up the series well. Along with the fun and some meta laughs, we get some interesting thoughts on the importance of both imagination and reality.