Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?
Alyssa Mastromonaco and Lauren Oyler
Book
If your funny older sister were the former deputy chief of staff to President Barack Obama, her...
Essays Politics
The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896
Book
The Oxford History of the United States is the most respected multivolume history of the American...
History Politics
Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion #1)
Book
A space princess on the run and a notorious outlaw soldier become unlikely allies in this...
A Dangerous Place (Maisie Dobbs #11)
Book
Maisie Dobbs returns in a powerful story of political intrigue and personal tragedy: a brutal murder...
Dagger's Destiny (Curse of Clansmen and Kings #2)
Book
A Celtic warrior princess accused of treason for aiding her enemy lover must win back her father’s...
Historical Fantasy
Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Riot Days in Books
Sep 26, 2017
This is an intriguing diary of political activist and Pussy Riot member Maria Alyokhina. It is heartfelt and almost despairing at times when Alyokhina describes the squalid conditions that she has to be imprisoned in after protesting in a church in Russia. However, her heroic efforts in jail even allowed her to gain some small victories, which makes her an activist through and through. From hunger strikes to taking prison guards to court, her determination should be lauded.
The copy that I received was unformatted making it a little difficult to follow new threads, but reading it as a journal definitely makes more sense as there are small blocks of personal day to day meanderings and quotes.
Maddie (37 KP) rated An Alchemy of Masques and Mirrors in Books
Nov 30, 2017
The writing was wonderful, I was sucked in and finished the book in less than a few days (with my busy schedule, that really is a feat!). The villains were not so easy to identify, making the tale of political intrigue that much more interesting.
If you're looking for a story of magic and a rebel heroine, then look no further. I cannot wait for the sequel!
Micah Ulibarri (79 KP) rated Hari Kondabolu: Warn Your Relatives in TV
May 10, 2018
It's important to know going in that his stand up is pretty heavily political and definitely left-leaning. That in and of itself didn't bother me. In fact, I found quite a bit of that part hilarious (the Trump bit and the Universal healthcare bit). However, I discovered that a solid hour+ of that material does start to feel heavy handed. Especially when the last 15 minutes or so feel more like a sermon and less like a stand up.
If you lean that way or are an American immigrant, you will probably enjoy it much more than me. For me it was a bit much by the end.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Troy (2004) in Movies
Mar 26, 2019
Whole thing is handled in broad strokes and there are quite a few divergences from the traditional legend (the Trojan war lasts about a fortnight, not ten years, and you can forget any notion of Brad Pitt's Achilles being into, er, Greek-style romance, if you know what I mean), but overall this is fun, rousing stuff. Looking back on it now the various bits of political subtext not-so-subtly inserted into the film seem amusingly quaint more than anything else. A well-staged, classy blockbuster.
ClareR (6054 KP) rated The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air, #2) in Books
Apr 21, 2019
This is such a good series, and I have a year to wait for the last instalment!!
Many thanks to Readers First for my copy of this book, and for feeding the Faerie land addiction!




