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Anna Steele (111 KP) rated Noteworthy in Books

Jun 28, 2018

Noteworthy

Riley Redgate | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry

8.3

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

Singing Sharp and Mending Broken Hearts

Riley Redgate is an up-and-coming author and recent graduate of Kenyon College. In her second novel, her main character goes to an arts school and has never been cast in a show. To keep herself on her toes with competition, she goes undercover and auditions for an all-male a capella group. She never expected it to go so far. It reminds me of the anime Oran High School Host Club, with Jordan being a scholarship kid masquerading in an all-male group. I wasn’t sure if a capella would stand as well on the page as it did on the silver screen, but Redgate’s prose throughout the novel sparked my imagination so much that I wasn’t worried about missing the actual notes. Striving for a sense of belonging in an artistic and scholastic setting really hits home with me, as an acting major in college.

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David McK (3495 KP) rated The Hobbit in Books

Jan 28, 2019

The Hobbit

J.R.R. Tolkien | 1937 | Children

8.4

(144 Ratings)

Book Rating

JRR Tolkiens classic children's(?) tale of Bilbo Baggins, and his journey to the Lonely Mountain in the company of Gandalf the Wizard and 12 Dwarves who are seeking to reclaim their inheritance from the dragon Smaug.

(According to the preface in the edition I read), this was written before his Magnum Opus of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Tolkien later going back and revising key portions of this - namely, the Riddles in the Dark sequence where Bilbo encounters Gollum, and finds the Ring of Power - to bring it more in line with those sequels.

Like The Lord of the Rings, while this may be (is) a good story, the prose can also be a little bit on the dry side - I did find myself occasionally skimming through some of the chapters. Not as dry, however, as I remember The Lord of the Rings to be!