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(Description en français plus bas.) Draw along with Stella and Sam in this fun new art app. Pick a...
Caffeinated Fae (464 KP) rated V for Vendetta in Books
Jul 10, 2018
I picked up V for Vendetta because my book club wanted to read it. I will admit, graphic novels are not my usual flavor, but every now and then it is nice to have something new. I tend to like reading books without having to analyze the photos. I like having more detail in the writing itself. With graphic novels, the pictures are the details. This can be great and I love the additional media but I found it a little lacking.
<blockquote> ÛÏEverybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody.Û </blockquote>
Ultimately, I want to read the details and not have to scour a picture for them. The artwork was beautiful in a grungy way. David LloydÛªs talent really did captivate me. But, I also found the artwork frustrating at times. When reading/viewing this graphic novel I found that the facial expressions were sometimes too similar to pick out. Someone could be crying in despair or screaming in rage, and it looked nearly identical. Also, there were some characters that just seemed to blend together. I discussed this book with the rest of the book club and we all tended to agree that the characters were too similar in their appearance. One member blended two characters together. Looking back at the novel, I definitely understand where he was coming from. I even had some problems interpreting one of the characters. I actually thought that one of the wives was the mother. I was quite surprised (I almost spit out my coffee) when there was a sexual scene between the mother and the sonÛ_ luckily, I went back in the novel and realized that she was the wife.
<blockquote> ÛÏThey made you into a victim, Evey. They made you into a statistic. But thatÛªs not the real you. ThatÛªs not who you are inside.Û </blockquote>
What I really liked about V for Vendetta was the fact that it was different from my typical books. The book was very political. I found it fascinating to see MilgramÛªs study discussed along with the concept of happiness. There were many times that I took a picture of the page so that I wouldnÛªt forget a certain passage. I also really loved the concepts of the book. I found myself enthralled by the thoughts and ideas in regards to social standing, political ideas, and the dystopian ideals that were present. I do wish that they would have continued with some of them. One amazing member of the Denver Coffeehouse Book Club summed up my frustrations about this beautifully: ÛÏThatÛªs a great conceptÛ_ *Shrug*Û. It seemed like every time Alan Moore and David Lloyd came up with a great idea they just shrugged and left it hanging in the air, leaving the reader with the hope that they might revisit it laterÛ_ *Spoiler* later never came.
<blockquote> ÛÏHappiness is the most insidious prison of all.Û </blockquote>
All in all, I enjoyed V for Vendetta and I will most likely read it again. ItÛªs like a cup of gas station coffee that you add a cinnamon stick to in hopes that the flavor may change. I liked the plot, the ideas, the concepts, but I do wish that the concepts were more flushed out. It seemed that they had great ideas that they just didnÛªt follow through with. Perhaps that was part of their ultimate concept. They could have wanted the reader to explore their own thoughts and draw their own conclusions. Ultimately, I found the graphic novel form fascinating, beautiful, and at times quite frustrating. It was great, just not my usual flavor.
<blockquote> ÛÏEverybody is special. Everybody. Everybody is a hero, a lover, a fool, a villain. Everybody.Û </blockquote>
Ultimately, I want to read the details and not have to scour a picture for them. The artwork was beautiful in a grungy way. David LloydÛªs talent really did captivate me. But, I also found the artwork frustrating at times. When reading/viewing this graphic novel I found that the facial expressions were sometimes too similar to pick out. Someone could be crying in despair or screaming in rage, and it looked nearly identical. Also, there were some characters that just seemed to blend together. I discussed this book with the rest of the book club and we all tended to agree that the characters were too similar in their appearance. One member blended two characters together. Looking back at the novel, I definitely understand where he was coming from. I even had some problems interpreting one of the characters. I actually thought that one of the wives was the mother. I was quite surprised (I almost spit out my coffee) when there was a sexual scene between the mother and the sonÛ_ luckily, I went back in the novel and realized that she was the wife.
<blockquote> ÛÏThey made you into a victim, Evey. They made you into a statistic. But thatÛªs not the real you. ThatÛªs not who you are inside.Û </blockquote>
What I really liked about V for Vendetta was the fact that it was different from my typical books. The book was very political. I found it fascinating to see MilgramÛªs study discussed along with the concept of happiness. There were many times that I took a picture of the page so that I wouldnÛªt forget a certain passage. I also really loved the concepts of the book. I found myself enthralled by the thoughts and ideas in regards to social standing, political ideas, and the dystopian ideals that were present. I do wish that they would have continued with some of them. One amazing member of the Denver Coffeehouse Book Club summed up my frustrations about this beautifully: ÛÏThatÛªs a great conceptÛ_ *Shrug*Û. It seemed like every time Alan Moore and David Lloyd came up with a great idea they just shrugged and left it hanging in the air, leaving the reader with the hope that they might revisit it laterÛ_ *Spoiler* later never came.
<blockquote> ÛÏHappiness is the most insidious prison of all.Û </blockquote>
All in all, I enjoyed V for Vendetta and I will most likely read it again. ItÛªs like a cup of gas station coffee that you add a cinnamon stick to in hopes that the flavor may change. I liked the plot, the ideas, the concepts, but I do wish that the concepts were more flushed out. It seemed that they had great ideas that they just didnÛªt follow through with. Perhaps that was part of their ultimate concept. They could have wanted the reader to explore their own thoughts and draw their own conclusions. Ultimately, I found the graphic novel form fascinating, beautiful, and at times quite frustrating. It was great, just not my usual flavor.
CN Coloring
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Introduce CN Coloring application. CN Coloring is coloring application for Cartoon Network fans. ...
Anne (15117 KP) rated This Tender Land in Books
Nov 4, 2019
Thank you to Libro.fm and Recorded Books for letting me listen and review this book. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and it has a lot to digest from it. I've been thinking about it to try to formulate a review for a couple of days since I finished it.
This story is about 4 orphans on a life-changing journey during the era of the Great Depression in 1932.
In Minnesota, they are at a horrible place called The Lincoln School, where Native American children that have been separated from their families are sent to get an education. It's also where Odie is, who is the MC/one of the 4 orphans in this story. After getting in a lot of trouble and gaining the school superintendent's attention and wrath, Odie, his brother, Albert, their friend, Mose, and Emmy all run away together in a canoe they stole, going to the Missippi and to find a place of their own.
What follows is the telling of their journey during the summer, an adventure where they meet others who are wandering and on their own journeys as well. They meet all types of people like pig farmers, faith healers and others who are lost and trying to find their own way in life and to their own places to call home as well.
It's a coming of age tale, where they come across and are deciding and figuring things out for themselves like religion, belief in God, first crush/love, what's right and wrong, how to treat others with respect and love and so many things.
This story kept sucking me back in whenever I listened to it so I felt like I was there on the banks of the river watching their story or in the school or in the faith revival tents or towns along the way. I was a bit overwhelmed at times from the bigger picture they were showing and talking about along the way, but it also resonated with me a lot and reminded me a lot of Mark Twain's writing with his books about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer that I remember loving and connecting with when I was younger.
The only thing that bothered me some was that if like me you try to go for clean reads, there's a little bit of language throughout the book, but other than that it was a really good story and the audio was great.
This story is about 4 orphans on a life-changing journey during the era of the Great Depression in 1932.
In Minnesota, they are at a horrible place called The Lincoln School, where Native American children that have been separated from their families are sent to get an education. It's also where Odie is, who is the MC/one of the 4 orphans in this story. After getting in a lot of trouble and gaining the school superintendent's attention and wrath, Odie, his brother, Albert, their friend, Mose, and Emmy all run away together in a canoe they stole, going to the Missippi and to find a place of their own.
What follows is the telling of their journey during the summer, an adventure where they meet others who are wandering and on their own journeys as well. They meet all types of people like pig farmers, faith healers and others who are lost and trying to find their own way in life and to their own places to call home as well.
It's a coming of age tale, where they come across and are deciding and figuring things out for themselves like religion, belief in God, first crush/love, what's right and wrong, how to treat others with respect and love and so many things.
This story kept sucking me back in whenever I listened to it so I felt like I was there on the banks of the river watching their story or in the school or in the faith revival tents or towns along the way. I was a bit overwhelmed at times from the bigger picture they were showing and talking about along the way, but it also resonated with me a lot and reminded me a lot of Mark Twain's writing with his books about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer that I remember loving and connecting with when I was younger.
The only thing that bothered me some was that if like me you try to go for clean reads, there's a little bit of language throughout the book, but other than that it was a really good story and the audio was great.
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Beckie Shelton (40 KP) rated Copycat in Books
Oct 6, 2017
OMG!!!! I bloody loved Copycat By Alex Lake. It was one of those books that when you pick it up it's practically impossible to put back down.
And this is what actually happened to me, I decided to read the first couple chapters at midnight to get a feel for it and Wham!!! that was it, I finished in the early hours of the morning, couldn't put it down, it was such addictive reading. a real page-turner.
So the story is about Sarah Havenant a doctor married to Ben, British and a lawyer living in Maine with their three adorable children, the picture-perfect life.
So Sarah gets a friend request from a girl she used to go to school with and she asks Sarah which is her real facebook profile.
Transpires there is another Sarah Havenant using pictures of her children, her husband and from her own house seriously weird and scary.
As events escalate it turns out this is only the start as Sarah's whole world implodes, people around her including her husband start to doubt her sanity.
Sarah and Ben's marriage buckle's under the strain and poor Sarah has no idea who to trust and where to turn when even her own husband is doubting her.
So this is the sort of Psychological mindtwist I adore and Copycat kept me guessing throughout.
I had absolutely no idea who was stalking Sarah and only just guessed right before the shocking reveal.
And to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement, what a conclusion.
sorry for the vagueness I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free.
I would definitely recommend this to my fellow psychological thriller lovers, this one is super fast, its excellently written and the story just flows brilliantly, with never a dull minute to be had here.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an arc of Copycat By Alex Lake, this is my own honest unbiased opinion.
And this is what actually happened to me, I decided to read the first couple chapters at midnight to get a feel for it and Wham!!! that was it, I finished in the early hours of the morning, couldn't put it down, it was such addictive reading. a real page-turner.
So the story is about Sarah Havenant a doctor married to Ben, British and a lawyer living in Maine with their three adorable children, the picture-perfect life.
So Sarah gets a friend request from a girl she used to go to school with and she asks Sarah which is her real facebook profile.
Transpires there is another Sarah Havenant using pictures of her children, her husband and from her own house seriously weird and scary.
As events escalate it turns out this is only the start as Sarah's whole world implodes, people around her including her husband start to doubt her sanity.
Sarah and Ben's marriage buckle's under the strain and poor Sarah has no idea who to trust and where to turn when even her own husband is doubting her.
So this is the sort of Psychological mindtwist I adore and Copycat kept me guessing throughout.
I had absolutely no idea who was stalking Sarah and only just guessed right before the shocking reveal.
And to say I was gobsmacked is an understatement, what a conclusion.
sorry for the vagueness I'm trying to keep this spoiler-free.
I would definitely recommend this to my fellow psychological thriller lovers, this one is super fast, its excellently written and the story just flows brilliantly, with never a dull minute to be had here.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with an arc of Copycat By Alex Lake, this is my own honest unbiased opinion.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady in Books
Feb 15, 2019
I took a chance on <b>The Revenge of Radioactive Lady</b>, it's not my usual read, but the cover and synopsis caught my eye and decided to give it a try. I was rewarded by a quirky story with neurotic, yet realistic, characters that was compulsively readable. Each chapter is told by a different person, Marylou/Nance and everyone in the Witherspoon family.
Though not as humorous as led to believe by the various quotes on the cover, the most amusing of it happened in the first chapter and nearer the end, the rest of the book is filled with many dramas that had unusual, and not quite so grim, outlooks to them. The book flows nicely and the descriptions were easy to visualize, so I could clearly picture the settings. The characters each have their individual voices that make it easy to separate each of them from the others; I found everyone to be interesting in how they acted, reacted and dealt with the situations that popped up in the story. I both sympathized and hoped they could better themselves by the end. The author tackles some tough subjects (pedophilia, murder, adultery, creating a model nuclear reactor) in a light, yet respectful manner, and who also incorporates some Cold War history into the story too. I had no idea that around 800 unsuspecting pregnant women were given radioactive 'cocktails' (iron) to see how it would effect their fetus. Further information can be found in [b:The Plutonium Files: America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War|212087|The Plutonium Files America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War|Eileen Welsome|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172741136s/212087.jpg|205297], which I am now interested in finding out more about this and other unethical testing, thanks to the author. Overall, the book is a quick and easy read, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it.
Though not as humorous as led to believe by the various quotes on the cover, the most amusing of it happened in the first chapter and nearer the end, the rest of the book is filled with many dramas that had unusual, and not quite so grim, outlooks to them. The book flows nicely and the descriptions were easy to visualize, so I could clearly picture the settings. The characters each have their individual voices that make it easy to separate each of them from the others; I found everyone to be interesting in how they acted, reacted and dealt with the situations that popped up in the story. I both sympathized and hoped they could better themselves by the end. The author tackles some tough subjects (pedophilia, murder, adultery, creating a model nuclear reactor) in a light, yet respectful manner, and who also incorporates some Cold War history into the story too. I had no idea that around 800 unsuspecting pregnant women were given radioactive 'cocktails' (iron) to see how it would effect their fetus. Further information can be found in [b:The Plutonium Files: America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War|212087|The Plutonium Files America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War|Eileen Welsome|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172741136s/212087.jpg|205297], which I am now interested in finding out more about this and other unethical testing, thanks to the author. Overall, the book is a quick and easy read, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it.
Peter Shephard (2822 KP) rated Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2nd Edition) in Tabletop Games
Jun 4, 2019
Classic, awesome, brilliant RPG system
Where can I start with 2nd Edition....
For about 10-15 years, 2nd edition D&D was THE game for role playing. For many thousands of people, it is still THE game for role playing.
Dont get me wrong, there are some elements which can seem counter-intuitive; the best armour class is a negative value (so, a normal person standing in normal clothes is AC 10. A fully plate-armoured knight, with a shield, is AC1, but may be 0 or a negative value). But, when you look at the wider picture, it starts to make sense - the main attack measure is THAC0 (To Hit Armour Class 0) and starts at 20, and drops at a varying rate depending on the class. So a level 1 fighter would need to roll a 10 to hit the person mentioned earlier (AC10). To hit the knight, at AC1, the fighter would need to roll a 19.
2nd Ed, for me, is the last D&D which doesnt have a computer game feel. The Proficiency system, which is optional, is one of my favourite bits - it acknowledges that people (even heroes) aren't going to be skilled at everything, and even something mundane like reading would not be necessarily be a common skill.
The plethora of resources available for 2nd Ed is amazing; from the jungles of Chult, to the sprawling Sword Coast, to the stars with Spelljammer, to a homebrew campaign - all you need are three books; the Players Handbook, the DM guide, and the Monstrous Manual, and even that is optional. It is totally possible to play an absence-of-magic settling, and have all players and enemies being humans, or all dwarves, or anything else.
I have heard people say that the latest edition (5th) is all the best bits from 2nd, 3.5, and 4th, but from what I have seen, it might shine a candle to 2nd ed, but it will not claim the crown.
For about 10-15 years, 2nd edition D&D was THE game for role playing. For many thousands of people, it is still THE game for role playing.
Dont get me wrong, there are some elements which can seem counter-intuitive; the best armour class is a negative value (so, a normal person standing in normal clothes is AC 10. A fully plate-armoured knight, with a shield, is AC1, but may be 0 or a negative value). But, when you look at the wider picture, it starts to make sense - the main attack measure is THAC0 (To Hit Armour Class 0) and starts at 20, and drops at a varying rate depending on the class. So a level 1 fighter would need to roll a 10 to hit the person mentioned earlier (AC10). To hit the knight, at AC1, the fighter would need to roll a 19.
2nd Ed, for me, is the last D&D which doesnt have a computer game feel. The Proficiency system, which is optional, is one of my favourite bits - it acknowledges that people (even heroes) aren't going to be skilled at everything, and even something mundane like reading would not be necessarily be a common skill.
The plethora of resources available for 2nd Ed is amazing; from the jungles of Chult, to the sprawling Sword Coast, to the stars with Spelljammer, to a homebrew campaign - all you need are three books; the Players Handbook, the DM guide, and the Monstrous Manual, and even that is optional. It is totally possible to play an absence-of-magic settling, and have all players and enemies being humans, or all dwarves, or anything else.
I have heard people say that the latest edition (5th) is all the best bits from 2nd, 3.5, and 4th, but from what I have seen, it might shine a candle to 2nd ed, but it will not claim the crown.