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A Nutcracker Nightmare
5.0
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Perfect for fans of Joanne Fluke and Laura Childs, when twin sisters Hanna and Alex help out at the...
ClareR (6001 KP) rated The Memory of Animals in Books
Jun 8, 2023
I’m completely braised. I love Claire Fullers writing, I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her and The Memory of Animals is no exception. And the fact that this could be described as a dystopian or even an apocalyptic novel made it even more fascinating. I love this genre - even though it usually enters my dreams and makes for an interesting nights sleep!
This is a pandemic novel - but not our pandemic, not Covid. This is a dropsy-type disease, where those infected swell up, their brains swell up too, they forget - and more often than not, they die.
Neffy (Nefeli) and a group of young people volunteer to be vaccinated against, and then infected by, the virus. Something goes wrong, and it looks as though Neffy and four other test volunteers are the only ones who are alive and well. But they can’t leave the building they’re in and the food is running out.
Neffy is a Marine Biologist, an Aquarist, and my favourite parts were her letters to ‘H’ as well as her flashbacks to childhood and pre-pandemic.
This isn’t *just* a speculative, science fiction book, it’s a story about the human condition, about the human drive to survive against the odds, regret, loss, grief, memory, love and above all, hope.
I could go on and on about this. I would never have expected a novel like this from Claire Fuller after reading her previous novels, but that’s what makes it even better. I actually read this twice (unheard of for me, actually). I finished it and immediately started reading again.
So yes, I would most definitely strongly recommend this book!
This is a pandemic novel - but not our pandemic, not Covid. This is a dropsy-type disease, where those infected swell up, their brains swell up too, they forget - and more often than not, they die.
Neffy (Nefeli) and a group of young people volunteer to be vaccinated against, and then infected by, the virus. Something goes wrong, and it looks as though Neffy and four other test volunteers are the only ones who are alive and well. But they can’t leave the building they’re in and the food is running out.
Neffy is a Marine Biologist, an Aquarist, and my favourite parts were her letters to ‘H’ as well as her flashbacks to childhood and pre-pandemic.
This isn’t *just* a speculative, science fiction book, it’s a story about the human condition, about the human drive to survive against the odds, regret, loss, grief, memory, love and above all, hope.
I could go on and on about this. I would never have expected a novel like this from Claire Fuller after reading her previous novels, but that’s what makes it even better. I actually read this twice (unheard of for me, actually). I finished it and immediately started reading again.
So yes, I would most definitely strongly recommend this book!
This was a very interesting idea - the notion of someone with extreme schizophrenia being able to use his distinct personalities in order to gain knowledge he didn't have (or didn't know he had).
This appealed to me greatly - showing how someone with true photographic memory might deal with it by pretending to themselves that something they had read years ago and somehow memorised were actually the input from experts in that field (who are dreamt up out of necessity) - so the madness actually arises in order to stay sane!
The book was quite short for my liking, it felt a little like Sanderson dipping his toe to test the waters in the real world.
A really interesting concept, not given the time and effort it might have merited.
This appealed to me greatly - showing how someone with true photographic memory might deal with it by pretending to themselves that something they had read years ago and somehow memorised were actually the input from experts in that field (who are dreamt up out of necessity) - so the madness actually arises in order to stay sane!
The book was quite short for my liking, it felt a little like Sanderson dipping his toe to test the waters in the real world.
A really interesting concept, not given the time and effort it might have merited.
Sue (5 KP) rated Cut, Crop & Die (Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-n-Craft Mystery, #2) in Books
Apr 23, 2018
book description:
All it took was one scone. When the hot-tempered (and widely hated) hobbyist Yvonne Gaynor eats a tainted pastry at Kiki's scrapbooking crop party, it triggers an allergy that leads to Yvonne's death. Even worse, the police suspect foul play when they realize that someone tampered with the treats and swiped the victim's allergy medication.
An expert at stealing design ideas, Yvonne had enough enemies to fill a memory album. Soon, the scrapbooking community pins her murder on Kiki's friends and our ace scrapper finds herself dealing with anti-Semitic threats at the shop, a quarrelsome pre-teen daughter at home, a meddlesome mother-in-law, and constant financial pressure. Despite help from the handsome yet annoyingly coy Detective Detweiler, Kiki has her work cut out for her in solving the crime.
All it took was one scone. When the hot-tempered (and widely hated) hobbyist Yvonne Gaynor eats a tainted pastry at Kiki's scrapbooking crop party, it triggers an allergy that leads to Yvonne's death. Even worse, the police suspect foul play when they realize that someone tampered with the treats and swiped the victim's allergy medication.
An expert at stealing design ideas, Yvonne had enough enemies to fill a memory album. Soon, the scrapbooking community pins her murder on Kiki's friends and our ace scrapper finds herself dealing with anti-Semitic threats at the shop, a quarrelsome pre-teen daughter at home, a meddlesome mother-in-law, and constant financial pressure. Despite help from the handsome yet annoyingly coy Detective Detweiler, Kiki has her work cut out for her in solving the crime.
Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Altered Carbon in TV
Mar 3, 2018 (Updated Mar 3, 2018)
Disappointing
There were a lot of aspects of this sci-fi thriller that I wanted to love, but the constant hyper-specialisation of women's bodies became irritating.
Similar to Blade Runner in terms of the setting, this dystopian series follows Takeshi Kovacs, after his downloaded self is put into a new body 250 years later, and he is forced to solve the murder of a man who has no memory of what happened to him in his last moments. In the future, humans have 'sleeves' and can officially never die but just get put back into a new body.
After a while, this just bordered on ridiculous (more so than your average sci-fi), and there are far too many storylines happening at the same time. I began tuning out after a while.
Similar to Blade Runner in terms of the setting, this dystopian series follows Takeshi Kovacs, after his downloaded self is put into a new body 250 years later, and he is forced to solve the murder of a man who has no memory of what happened to him in his last moments. In the future, humans have 'sleeves' and can officially never die but just get put back into a new body.
After a while, this just bordered on ridiculous (more so than your average sci-fi), and there are far too many storylines happening at the same time. I began tuning out after a while.
Kristin (149 KP) rated The Unbelievable Story of How I Met Your Mother in Books
Dec 7, 2018
Disclaimer: I received an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
This is such a quick and cute story. Although it makes me never want to go to a restaurant again, it just goes to show how a crazy turn of events (or several, in this case) can change the course of someone's life.
At the start, Daniel's on a mission to complete a goal he's promised in memory of his mother. Then all sorts of accidental and zany happenings occur, and we truly get an "unbelievable" story. It's one of those "so crazy it MUST be true" types of stories, and it definitely had me laughing and thoroughly involved until the very end. I'd love to read more stories like this from the author.
5 stars
This is such a quick and cute story. Although it makes me never want to go to a restaurant again, it just goes to show how a crazy turn of events (or several, in this case) can change the course of someone's life.
At the start, Daniel's on a mission to complete a goal he's promised in memory of his mother. Then all sorts of accidental and zany happenings occur, and we truly get an "unbelievable" story. It's one of those "so crazy it MUST be true" types of stories, and it definitely had me laughing and thoroughly involved until the very end. I'd love to read more stories like this from the author.
5 stars
Sue (5 KP) rated Cut, Crop & Die (Kiki Lowenstein Scrap-n-Craft Mystery, #2) in Books
Aug 13, 2018
book description:
All it took was one scone. When the hot-tempered (and widely hated) hobbyist Yvonne Gaynor eats a tainted pastry at Kiki's scrapbooking crop party, it triggers an allergy that leads to Yvonne's death. Even worse, the police suspect foul play when they realize that someone tampered with the treats and swiped the victim's allergy medication.
An expert at stealing design ideas, Yvonne had enough enemies to fill a memory album. Soon, the scrapbooking community pins her murder on Kiki's friends and our ace scrapper finds herself dealing with anti-Semitic threats at the shop, a quarrelsome pre-teen daughter at home, a meddlesome mother-in-law, and constant financial pressure. Despite help from the handsome yet annoyingly coy Detective Detweiler, Kiki has her work cut out for her in solving the crime.
All it took was one scone. When the hot-tempered (and widely hated) hobbyist Yvonne Gaynor eats a tainted pastry at Kiki's scrapbooking crop party, it triggers an allergy that leads to Yvonne's death. Even worse, the police suspect foul play when they realize that someone tampered with the treats and swiped the victim's allergy medication.
An expert at stealing design ideas, Yvonne had enough enemies to fill a memory album. Soon, the scrapbooking community pins her murder on Kiki's friends and our ace scrapper finds herself dealing with anti-Semitic threats at the shop, a quarrelsome pre-teen daughter at home, a meddlesome mother-in-law, and constant financial pressure. Despite help from the handsome yet annoyingly coy Detective Detweiler, Kiki has her work cut out for her in solving the crime.
Sara Cox (1845 KP) rated In Every Moment We Are Still Alive in Books
Aug 13, 2018
This is not a book I would normally pick up to read. But when I started to read it I was engulfed by the raw feelings of the main character (which I later discovered was in fact the author as this is autobiographical).
There are parts throughout the book where it jumps in time, sometimes it is a relevant memory, but other times I found it hard to reason as to why this "tidbit" had been inserted.
I think I would have liked to have known more about the process the main character had to go through for his daughter, as a lot of the book it about how the system doesn't always work, but I was intrigued as to the details of how it all worked out in the end.
There are parts throughout the book where it jumps in time, sometimes it is a relevant memory, but other times I found it hard to reason as to why this "tidbit" had been inserted.
I think I would have liked to have known more about the process the main character had to go through for his daughter, as a lot of the book it about how the system doesn't always work, but I was intrigued as to the details of how it all worked out in the end.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Sorry to Bother You (2018) in Movies
Jan 16, 2019
Boisterous, anarchic satire with absurdist elements, concerning the socio-political awakening of a young African-American man. Cash Green (it's not always subtle) discovers a talent for telemarketing, but only while he uses his 'white voice' (the actor is ostentatiously dubbed at these moments). Success beckons, but can he overlook the moral consequences of the things his employers do?
Scatter-gun satire is mixed in with some not-especially-profound commentary on the nature of American society and economics; luckily the film is filled with enough energy and ideas to stay interesting and entertaining throughout. Comes a bit unravelled towards the end, but still features some of the funniest, most provocative scenes in recent memory. Very good performances from Stanfield and Hammer in particular. A passionate, vibrant, very inventive film.
Scatter-gun satire is mixed in with some not-especially-profound commentary on the nature of American society and economics; luckily the film is filled with enough energy and ideas to stay interesting and entertaining throughout. Comes a bit unravelled towards the end, but still features some of the funniest, most provocative scenes in recent memory. Very good performances from Stanfield and Hammer in particular. A passionate, vibrant, very inventive film.
