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Sarah Betts (103 KP) rated The Phantom of the Opera in Books

Dec 31, 2019

The Phantom of the Opera

Gaston Leroux | 1987 | Fiction & Poetry

7.0

(10 Ratings)

Book Rating

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I love this book so much. It's got a little bit of everything and the story (kinda based on actual events?) plays out superbly.

Poor Christine has no idea that the Angel of Music she's being so thoughtful tutored by is the dreaded Opera Ghost.

The dashing Raoul determined to save his childhood friend.

The OG (you probably know his name but let's let that be a surprise for those that don't know!) who feels destined to wander the opera house.

It all starts with a hanging man, a man whose noose mysteriously disappears.

This story has been told many tests and I don't want to sound like a snobby purist but I honestly think this is the best version.

Kudos

Rufus Wainwright recommended The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill in Music (curated)

"Yes, that's the one. I know both recordings, and the movie too, but I think the one I listened to mostly was the later one. In a lot of ways Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, and this piece in particular, represent what I'd ultimately like to do as an artist: bringing opera together with popular music; classical singing with everyday life. I've written a couple of operas, I've worked with Shakespeare's sonnets, I've made pop records, and I have this folk background, and I feel that Kurt Weill with The Threepenny Opera was the pinnacle where all of the elements that he was influenced by joined together to create this other animal. Lotte Lenya was the one who interpreted that. It's a really good touchstone to keep in mind in terms of what I do in the pop world and the theatre world."

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Rise of the Gladiator (Forbidden Planet #1)

Cheree Alsop

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

When Captain Nova Ardis acquires the services of a dangerous, tattooed gladiator, she knows she’s...

Space Opera Science Fiction Young Adult

Anne (15117 KP) rated One Day in December: A Christmas Love Story in Books

Nov 4, 2019

DNF - Disappointed with the little bit that I read. I had hoped for something else something better but it was looking like a soap opera when I was hoping for more like a meet cute/hallmark romance story. I also didn't feel like reading more after the F bombs started. Oh well, I'll do read Christmas by Accident instead because that sounds much better to me.

Kudos

Uzo Aduba recommended A Tale of Two Cities in Books (curated)

A Tale of Two Cities

Charles Dickens | 1859 | Fiction & Poetry

7.3

(22 Ratings)

Book Favorite

"Whoa! From the very beginning, it is the original soap opera, and I loved every second of the drama! To watch a writer like Dickens yet again (I had already read “Great Expectations,”) weave so many characters’ storylines together with one another… This book required you to pay attention to every character and every word and served to remind this: no person or thing is insignificant."

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Amy Fine Collins recommended The Innocents (1961) in Movies (curated)

The Innocents (1961)

1961 | Horror

8.0

(4 Ratings)

Movie Favorite

"This is literary kismet, with screenwriter Truman Capote channeling Henry James—and with a child lead bearing the name of my own daughter, Flora. The story, which takes full measure of the spookiness and unknowability of children, has worked in every format—first James’s novella The Turn of the Screw, then the chamber opera of the same name, and finally this liminal black-and-white film."

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Sloane Crosley recommended Far from the Madding Crowd in Books (curated)

Far from the Madding Crowd

Thomas Hardy | 2013 | Fiction & Poetry

6.5

(4 Ratings)

Book Favorite

"… But I knew I should pick out a book book as well, so I grabbed the Thomas Hardy to balance it out. I remember trying to read it, highlighting all the words I didn’t understand. I gave it another crack a decade or so later and found it engrossing. Like a soap opera with sheep. Turns out there were woodland creatures in that one too."

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