Svalbard (Spitsbergen): With Franz Josef Land and Jan Mayen
Roger Norum and Andreas Umbreit
Book
The Bradt guide to Svalbard (Spitsbergen), including Franz Josef Land and Jan Mayen, is a unique,...
Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Society of Imaginary Friends (The Conjurors Series #1) in Books
Nov 14, 2018
Growing up, many children have imaginary friends. This story introduces Valerie, a girl bounced around foster homes. Helping her survive foster care is Cyrus, her imaginary friend. After ValerieÕs ÒpowersÓ become too much for her to handle on Earth she is transported to the Globe, a magical world. Here, Valerie realizes imaginary friends are real people with special powers which allow them to be seen by children on Earth and help them navigate their troubles. Of course, the Globe is not utopia and a fraction exists that wants to go back to Earth.
Most YA novels portray the heroine as perfect but Pham shows that Valerie is flawed. Doctors have diagnosed her as schizophrenic and, because of her ÒepisodesÓ her life is not easy. It is because of her difficult life that she is able to survive and help others.
I would read the rest of the series and would recommend the series for tweens, for people who enjoy YA fantasy, and especially middle school aged girls.
Essentially a comic-book-brought-to-screen, the movie iteself was incredibly violent (but enjoyable), with ridiculous amoutns of blood and body parts splattered across the screen, and with more nudity than I was expecting alongside the whole sub-plot of King Leonidas wife getting the Spartans to march.
An entire sub-plot that is not in the source material at all.
I also have to say that the violence in this - while still there - is actually toned down quite a bit from what I was expecting, with several of the panels virtually lifted from the pages and put on to the screen.
The story, for anyone who doesn't already know, is centred around King Leonidas' view of Thermopylae - or 'The Hot Gates' - , a narrow pass defended by the 300 Spartans of the title (plus miscellaneous other Greeks, although you'd be forgive for thinking they weren't there the way this, and the legend, is told!) to the death, and which was immortalised by the poet Simodides as follows on an epigram placed on theri burial mound:
"Go tell the Spartans, you who passeth by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie."
(see: http://www.poetryatlas.com/poetry/poem/1458/go-tell-the-spartans.html)
The Last Days of Stalin
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A gripping account of the months before and after Stalin's death and how his demise reshaped the...
Flying Man: Hugo Junkers and the Dream of Aviation
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Hugo Junkers (1859-1935) was a German engineer and aircraft designer generally credited as the...
Gangsters to Governors: The New Bosses of Gambling in America
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As legalized gambling continues its march across America, governors are in the curious position of...
![Black Hat Briefings, Europe 2007 [Audio] Presentations from the security conference.](/uploads/profile_image/5bd/b04e9fb6-bc46-4bad-b65f-3421e2d575bd.jpg?m=1522362059)
Black Hat Briefings, Europe 2007 [Audio] Presentations from the security conference.
Podcast
Past speeches and talks from the Black Hat Briefings computer security conferences. Black Hat...
Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: Restoring Wildflowers to the Countryside
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A traditional meadow full of wild flowers is a rare sight today, but it is not too late to restore...
Just a Minute: Classic Sheila Hancock: Sheila Hancock Classics
Sheila Hancock, Full Cast, Nicholas Parsons and B.B.C. Radio
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Four specially selected episodes of the much-loved BBC Radio 4 panel game chaired by Nicholas...
Red Velvet
Book
It's like being at a crossroads - a point of absolute, unequivocal change. It makes the blood rush....