These are some of my favorite new adult fantasy books, many of which are part of ongoing series.
Dreams of Gods and Monsters (Daughter of Smoke and Bone, #3)
7.9
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By way of a staggering deception, Karou has taken control of the chimaera rebellion and is intent on...
Days of Blood and Starlight
8.0
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Book 2 in a trilogy, preceded by Daughter of Smoke and Bone and followed by Dreams of Gods and...
Night of Cake & Puppets (Daughter of Smoke & Bone, #2.5)
8.7
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In this stand-alone companion to the New York Times bestselling Daughter of Smoke & Bone series...
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
8.9
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DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE is a book unbounded by genre but located at a magical crossroads where...
and 9 other items
Entertainment Editor (1988 KP) created a video about Cold Feet - Season 7 in TV
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Nov 16, 2017
Buffy The Vampire Slayer
8.4
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Sarah Michelle Gellar takes on the role of Buffy Summers in this TV version of "Buffy the Vampire...
The Haunting of Hill House
8.4
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Based on the novel The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson.
Game Of Thrones
8.9
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TV Show Watch
Summers span decades. Winters can last a lifetime. And the struggle for the Iron Throne continues. ...
and 15 other items
Andy K (10821 KP) created a video about John Q (2002) in Movies
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BookblogbyCari (345 KP) rated The News: A User's Manual in Books
Aug 5, 2018
Despite having the title “The News: A User’s Manual”, the book reads like a wish-list of how de Botton wants news journalists and media editors to present and publish the news. Furthermore, if it was intended to be read by the layperson, de Botton must have had the dual intention of increasing the lay reader’s vocabulary. Several of the words I looked up in my offline dictionary app weren’t to be found.
I liked how his views were presented though - this short book is split into 8 main topics: politics, world news, economics, celebrity, disaster, consumption and a conclusion. Each topic is split into further sub-topics, and each of the points being made in these sub-topics is numbered and lasts about a page. This organization doesn’t disrupt the fluidity, however, and the way that points are made in such small sections provides the perfect opportunity to pause and reflect on each point made.
It presents the author’s views on what the news should ideally be and how it can enrich us. He made numerous valid points, but for the purposes of this review, I will concentrate on those I consider to be the most important. The book is written for a British audience, using several British news story excerpts to highlight de Botton’s points. His points are all well put and I didn’t really want to have to paraphrase them for this review for that very reason.
Firstly, the perception that political news is boring is not a minor issue. Often there is an important matter which fails to engage us, and we can react more strongly to matters which affect very few people.
Another valid point is how the process of the reader developing views on serious issues on which so little information is actually conveyed, makes us feel like we are being ruled by crooks and idiots who seem to be ignoring logical solutions. The news fails to explain why difficult decisions are so difficult.
On celebrity news, de Botton portrays hero worship as childish and demeaning, a sign that we find ourselves inadequate. He argues that celebrity news should be used as a self-improvement tool, focusing on what we can learn from the individual.
De Botton believes that the purpose of dramatic tragedies should be so we can compare ourselves to the villain, that the stories read like fables and imparted a moral statement. We are a hideously flawed species, he says, and the criminals need to be humanized if we are to learn anything from these kinds of stories.
And on that note, I shall say I have learned something from this book. The contrast de Botton demonstrates between how the news is portrayed and how it ought to be to best enrich us, will ensure I will take his comments into consideration when I read/watch the news or am deciding on my personalization of news received on news apps. The purpose of the editors may be to sell advertising space, but my intention in perceiving the news is to obtain a fair and accurate perspective of the world around me.
