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Call Me By Your Name
Call Me By Your Name
André Aciman | 2007 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+
10
6.6 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
I loved this book and then I hated it and then I loved it again. Let me back up. I love everything about the way this book was written. I think that if I were going to write a book in a similar fashion, it would look a lot like this. The way Elio thinks and sometimes overthinks is very similar to my own. I think that it's very obvious that this book is written about a European boy in the way that he talks and thinks about love and sex and the grand scheme of life. At one point in the novel, Oliver asks him if he's always been this wise and Elio shrugs and says he knows nothing and I think that is so far from the truth. You would never find an American 17-year old that talks and thinks about love and sex and life in the way that Elio does - at least I don't think - and I loved that. I read a lot of American and English authors and novels and it's nice to be transported to a different place - the very serene cottage that Elio's family lives in - and live vicariously through him and Oliver.

The parts that I didn't like in this novel have nothing to do with the characters or the dialogue or anything pertaining to the story really. I think the trouble of writing a novel from this specific perspective is that Elio's thoughts can get away from him, especially at good parts where you just want the story to keep progressing. Overall though, they always find a way of meaning something and bringing you back in.

Finishing this novel left me with these mixed emotions of euphoria and heartbreak. I love the way that Elio talks about Oliver and frames him to be the great love of his life, essentially, and Oliver does the same thing years after their last encounter together. I find the way that Elio thinks about him and loves him to be magical and all-encompassing and I think if you've ever experienced that overwhelming feeling of love and desire of another person in every way, you can just put yourself in Elio's shoes and you're transported back to that feeling and it's really magical. I think that's what books should do for you.

I was also surprised at how much I enjoyed the time jumps that happen at the end of the novel. Sometimes I think that they are unnecessary and just annoying because you want to think about the characters having lived this certain way and when it's given to you, it can sometimes be disappointing but I didn't feel that with this novel. I appreciated them, I liked where they went, and I liked that there was and probably always will be this unspoken deep, unresolvable love between Elio and Oliver.

This novel is written almost as if Elio is dying and someone asked him about the love of his life and he remembers it so vividly and with so much love that he's lying back and telling this story and just reminiscing and falling in love with Oliver all over again - at least that's how I read it. I loved this novel. The last paragraph just really pulls it out of you and I just. It's great. I'm not sure what else to say other than it's great.
  
Lake Placid (1999)
Lake Placid (1999)
1999 | Action, Comedy, Horror
Good cheese (2 more)
So bad it's good
Betty White is 96!
CGI meh (0 more)
Sometimes you are just in the mood for a crocodiles eating people movie and not that stupid Sharknado crap. This movie actually has a great cast including Bridget Fonda, Bill Pullman and Oliver Platt and has some genuine funny/scary moments.

You could do a lot worse in this genre with other lesser films.


I quite enjoy this one and HAPPY 96TH BIRTHDAY TO BETTY WHITE!


  
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Dana (24 KP) rated Panic in Books

Mar 23, 2018  
Panic
Panic
Lauren Oliver | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I listened to the audiobook as I was driving to visit my friends. I actually really enjoyed this book. Lauren Oliver is great at creating a very vivid world and a creepy vibe.

The characters were not as well developed as some of her other books, but I still found them interesting.

The plot itself went along at a nice pace. It was quick but not so fast that you don't know what is happening.

Overall, it is a great read!
  
    The City of Scenes

    The City of Scenes

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Podcast

    In celebration of Tribeca Film Festival’s 15th year, The City of Scenes is a series of candid...

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Jesse Ventura recommended JFK (1991) in Movies (curated)

 
JFK (1991)
JFK (1991)
1991 | Drama, History, Thriller

"I have had a passion for it and I think Oliver Stone’s editing between now and then was done remarkably well. The film had great flow to it. He threw all the mud on the wall and he allowed you to sift your way through it and choose what you wanted to believe and what you didn’t. I thought the acting in it was just outstanding with the full array of all the characters. It’s a marvelous cast and done very accurately."

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Adam Silvera recommended Liesl & Po in Books (curated)

 
Liesl & Po
Liesl & Po
Lauren Oliver | 2011 | Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
(0 Ratings)
Book Favorite

"Okay, so I knew Lauren Oliver was a good writer, but damn! They weren't kidding when they compared this book to "The Tale of Desperaux" (which I also loved!) or "The Graveyard Book" (which I didn't finish, but found a scene very similar to the opening - it involved Bod Fading/Vanishing). Oliver's just a great storyteller, I had just gotten the book early morning at BEA and found that while waiting on line, I kept searching through my multiple tote bags to find this one so I can take advantage of the reading time instead of mingling with other fans on line. This hadn't happened to me for the two days I was there. My favorite characters were easily Liesl, Po, BUNDLE! and Will - who are the four obvious go-to-characters to have as your favorites, but their narratives were great. Different to Oliver's other novels, she wrote in third person and covered other characters beside her main, going so far to write about a guard named Mo (short for Molasses since he's so slow) and Mrs. Snout, owner of Snout's Inn and Restaurant. I'm excited to put this in the hands of my middle-grade peeps come this October, but any other lover of Lauren Oliver or YA will appreciate this story just as much. It has heart, deals with grief, and delivers questions about the Other Side as Oliver freshly explores it. "On the third night after the day her father died, Liesl saw the ghost." You'll ineffably thank me for recommending this. It's hands-down one of my favorite middle-grade stories and I'm already desperately eager to reread it."

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