Search

Search only in certain items:

40x40

Erika (17788 KP) created a video about track Winter Marches On by Duran Duran in Notorious by Duran Duran in Music

Jun 16, 2019 (Updated Jun 16, 2019)  
Video

Duran Duran - Winter Marches On

  
Good start to a new historical mystery series. Recommended by Sharon Kay Penman too! Set in the English/Scottish marches in the dying years of Elizabeth's reign.
  
TG
The Grace of Silence: A Family Memoir
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I won this book on Goodreads First Reads.
This book caught my eye because I'd taken a Civil Rights course one summer while in college at CMU. The class facinated me. I learned what I thought was a great deal about the civil rights movement...from freedom marches, to sit ins we talked about it all. Or so I thought!
Michelle Norris's book told me otherwise. The day to day struggles of real families from this era of American history goes largly unnoticed. This book looked at one family & how things that were considered taboo, & therefore never talked about, effected generations of her family. It took an in-depth look at how "normal" people were the cornerstone of the movement & to this day go largly unhearlded for their efforts.
The memoir was well written & read more like a novel than a true account of someone's family. This was an unexpectedly great book!
  
Being a part of the Gothic subculture I have followed these events since they happened. I have donated to the charity and I have joined marches through Plymouth in memory of Sophie. This collection of poems truly moved me, it did not matter that the poetry wasn't written in a style I'm more used to, I still very much enjoyed them and believe more people should read them. The subject matter brought tears to my eyes and the last poem made my heart ache. After recently becoming a mum myself I can not even begin to imagine the pain her family felt when she slipped away from them. Even though I did not know Sophie I still feel connected to her and am unbelievably sad that she was taken from this world in such a brutal and disgusting way...just because she and her boyfriend were different.
This is a beautiful collection, handled in a very sensitive way, I hope for this to reach more people as things need to change.
Rest in peace beautiful Sophie.
  
The Book of Eli (2010)
The Book of Eli (2010)
2010 | Action, Sci-Fi
6
7.4 (24 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Next time watch it with subtitles. (0 more)
Whisper Whisper Whisper
The Book of Eli- is a good post apocalyptic movie. The only problem most of the movie is whispering from all of the character's. So i had no idea what the charcter were saying. Probley should of watched it with subtitles. The problem is i dont have the dvd. So i would have to watch it again once the libary's open. In the meantime, i love post apocalyptic movies and settings and this one was good. I love denzel's character. It has good action. And Gary oldman was good as the villian.

The plot: Thirty years after war turned the world into a wasteland, a lone warrior named Eli (Denzel Washington) marches across the ruined landscape, carrying hope for humanity's redemption. Only one other man (Gary Oldman) understands the power of what Eli carries, and he is determined to take it for himself. Though Eli prefers peace, he will risk death to protect his precious cargo, for he must fulfill his destiny to help restore mankind.

I suggest if you watch it, watch it with subtitles. Cause its mostly whispering.
  
40x40

Guy Garvey recommended Laughing Stock by Talk Talk in Music (curated)

 
Laughing Stock by Talk Talk
Laughing Stock by Talk Talk
1991 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It's no more complicated than Spirit. It's interesting what happened after the war with music and arts… In Europe [during the war], arts and music were used to further ideals, that the artists and musicians didn't share. There were people forced to make state marches, forced to glorify ideals they didn't really hold true, and the power of bullying had its most epic day. Post that, the album saw everybody throwing all the rules out. In that period of experimentation, classical music went through a very interesting walk, and when it came back, it seized on a different kind of experimentation, all of western art became more generous, and the most generous music is the stuff that rewards the listener the most. And I haven't found the same heart in any record other than those last two Talk Talk albums. They need to be listened to loud and they need to be listened to over and over again. And I'm stunned every time. How they make me feel is because of the generosity of spirit, it's like weaving spiders' webs from scraps. So delicate, so precious, but not a note or tone is uneventful."

Source
  
The Stable Boy of Auschwitz [Audiobook]
The Stable Boy of Auschwitz [Audiobook]
Henry Oster, Dexter Ford | 2023 | History & Politics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have read a few books about the Holocaust during World War II but I have never listened to one before and, let me tell you, I found this audiobook just as powerful and heart-wrenching listening to William Hope's excellent narration.

Each book I have read about the Holocaust and World War II has provided another piece of history I was not fully aware of and The Stable Boy of Auschwitz is no different. It charts the remarkable life of Henry Oster before, during and after the war.

It is, as you can imagine, a very difficult book to read/listen to but it is also very powerful and inspirational and shows one boy's exceptional journey of survival from freedom, to the ghetto, to Auschwitz, on the forced marches, to Buchenwald and, finally, freedom again and is a story that should be shared as all survivors accounts should be.

I must thank Bookouture Audio and NetGalley for enabling me to listen to and share my thoughts of The Stable Boy of Auschwitz and for continuing to ensure that these stories continue to be published so they are not forgotten.
  
40x40

David McK (3251 KP) rated Britannia in Books

Jan 28, 2019  
Britannia
Britannia
Simon Scarrow | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
14th entry in [a: Simon Scarrow|60636|Simon Scarrow|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1240832197p2/60636.jpg]'s Roman Army series of novels (that began with [b: Under the Eagle|578428|Under the Eagle (Eagle, #1)|Simon Scarrow|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1315349321s/578428.jpg|565359] and which, initially all had that word (Eagle) somewhere in their title), this concerns yet another attempt by the Romans to wipe out the Druidic cult that is responsible for most of the opposition to their conquest after the defeat of Caratacus.

With Macro injured early on and left behind to hold the fort (literally) while Cato marches off, under orders from his legate, to capture the Druid stronghold of the Isle of Mona, the novel is perhaps unusual in that the two main characters are apart for a large part of the read. Things, of course, do not go to plan, with the tail end of the novel (for some reason) reminding me quite strongly of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow ...

it is, of course, always the curse(?) of the literary hero to be in the thick of the action; to act (perhaps) out of character in relation to certain situations and threats - let's face it, it would be a pretty boring read otherwise! With that in mind, I can quite easily forgive the, perhaps, more flagrant examples of throwing the hero in the midst of things simply for the sake of doing so - the prime example being the rescue of the sailors from the shipwreck.
  
40x40

ClareR (5603 KP) rated The Nine in Books

Jul 29, 2021  
The Nine
The Nine
Gwen Strauss | 2021 | Education, History & Politics
9
9.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Nine is the true story of nine women who escaped a German-led Death March at the end of WWII - and it makes for compelling reading.

I had heard of death marches, but in a very vague way. The Nine gives a face and a story to one of the many groups of people who were forced to march until they died of exhaustion, starvation, dehydration and exposure. This was thought to be easier than shooting them.

These nine women escaped and walked to freedom - but it wasn’t easy. They encountered many dangers, not least the ordinary Germans who thought that they must be criminals, or worse still, Jews. These women had skills though: they were Resistance fighters, and some were multi-lingual. The fact that they could speak many languages, and in particular German, is what helped them on their journey. These were determined, brave and resourceful women, and their escape to freedom used all of their collective strength.

I really liked that the story didn’t end at the point where they reached US soldiers. Gwen Strauss was able to find out what the women’s lives were like after the end of the war. How what had happened impacted on their personal lives.

It’s such a well-researched, fascinating read. It’s only through learning about the history and horrific treatment of the many people targeted by the Nazis, that we will hopefully remember and learn that these acts can never be allowed to happen again.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this book.
  
40x40

ClareR (5603 KP) rated The sentence in Books

May 1, 2022  
The sentence
The sentence
Louise Erdrich | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I don’t envy whoever has to narrow down the books on the Women’s Prize 2022 from the long list to the shortlist this year. The books I’ve read so far I’ve enjoyed all equally.

The Sentence is, amongst other things, a book about books. It’s also a book about Tookie, who works in a bookshop and is haunted by a deceased customer. Tookie has a colourful past, which involves imprisonment after it was discovered she had smuggled drugs over county lines, strapped to the corpse of a friends boyfriend. She didn’t know about the drugs, but she certainly knew about the dead body! Prison gave her plenty of time to read, and she leaves prison with a huge knowledge of literature.

On release Tookie gets a job in a Native American bookshop, and marries the Police officer who arrested her. Like her, he is also Native American.

This is a book of two halves: before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ghost of the customer, Flora, remains in the bookshop for most of the book, whilst Minneapolis sees a lot of important things going on: the death of George Floyd, Black Lives Matter marches, the Covid-19 epidemic, isolation from friends and family, illness, near death experiences and the importance of heritage.

I loved this book. Like I’ve said, I’m just glad that I won’t have to decide the Women’s Prize winner. I still have some books to read from the long list, which I still want to read even though the shortlist has been announced - so watch this space!