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The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie
The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie
2016 | Pop, Rock
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"Who hasn't had the discussion of favourite Bowie albums? And I always go for this one. There's so much behind it in terms of knowing that just weeks or months before it, Bowie had met Mick Ronson and you know that this is a very new relationship and what Bowie had just come from. And it's kind of like the birth of The Spiders From Mars. It's quite complex in a way and I feel everything around it and the importance of that record. I guess that at the time this must have been quite a mental album for people to hear; it must have been quite insane. You know, like: 'What the fuck has Bowie done?' It's this really dark, fucked-up record and that plays a massive part in how I feel about it. I feel the same way about 2001: A Space Odyssey which I saw again the other day for the first time in about 15 years. And I wonder how it must've been for people when they saw it first time around. Sci-fi back then was kind of cheesy, low-budget B-movie shit and suddenly this movie comes out that's a complete change in direction with this seriousness, and gravitas, and coldness and it's not very inviting. And that's how I feel about The Man Who Sold The World. It was Bowie's 2001 at a time when people weren't used to that or ready for that. There's the darkness and the depth and, of course, there's the beauty. 'After All' is a beautiful song and very tender. It's like the birth of so much really."

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Marc Riley recommended Hunky Dory by David Bowie in Music (curated)

 
Hunky Dory by David Bowie
Hunky Dory by David Bowie
1971 | Folk, Rock, Singer-Songwriter
8.6 (19 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is a period of transition, which all of those early albums were. If you look at Bowie between 1967 and 1970/1 there was no constant in his life, whether he was a mod, whether he was going through his Dylan period with Space Oddity, God knows what The Man Who Sold The World is… it's like a prog heavy metal album really… He was changing the whole time. But if you look at Hunky Dory, I think he just thought that his future was as a songwriter as well as a performer, because I've also heard that The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars was his last crack at [becoming famous]. And the amazing thing about this album was two weeks after he finished it he was back in the studio doing Ziggy Stardust. There was a two week gap between the studio visits for those two records and they're so radically different from each other. So I think Bowie just thought, 'Right I'm having one last crack at being a pop star and I've written all these great songs.' And they are great songs on this album, 'Bewlay Brothers', 'Quicksand', 'Life On Mars'… When he wrote this song he'd just put in to write the lyrics for 'My Way' for Frank Sinatra and he got rebuffed and was really pissed off about it. So he wrote that song to say, 'This is what I can do.' And it is a great song: one of the greatest songs ever. I think he wrote it genuinely thinking that one day someone like Frank Sinatra would record a version of it."

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Tower Of Dawn
Tower Of Dawn
Sarah J. Maas | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.1 (23 Ratings)
Book Rating
Badass Women (2 more)
Big Birds
Acceptance
Vlag Ladies (2 more)
Giant Spiders
Spies
Uncovered Secrets
With the sixth book in the Throne of Glass series we come find there is more to the Vlag than what was originally thought to be. Chaol and Nesryn both discover pieces of the puzzle as well as parts of themselves through the healer, Yrene Towers, and Prince Sartaq in an attempt to raise an army to move North and to have his back healed.

Once more Mass had me caught up in the pages of her book and it was kind of bizarre to be captured by a ToG novel, yet the focus is on the Hand of the King and the newly appointed Captain of the Guard rather than Aelin, which I was glad for. I don't believe if EoS and ToD were combined as planned it could not have conveyed important plot points, character growth, and development of new characters and plots as well as being two separate books. In ToD we're able to see Chaol progress not only with his injury, but within himself as he deals with the horrors from QoS. We're able to read through how Yrene is unwillingly to work with Chaol to how she realizes it is within herself. Nesryn is able to find herself, her actual self she was not able to express in Adarlan., Even the royal family here makes progress, tiny steps to better themselves. Combined that with what is found about the Vlag as well as a certain few people and Tower of Dawn is another successful ToG book.


So if you're a fan of the others then go find a copy. If you've been wanting to read the series then it is a good time to start as the end is getting closer.
  
OK
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This was a cute little romance that I enjoyed the character that was all its own. There was nothing new about the plotline, a female wants to prove she’s just as capable as one else (especially me) while her knight in shining armor tries his best to protect her from everything from highwaymen to assassins to spiders crawling in her shoes. It was just like any other romance about a knight falling in love with a maiden, and yet, Lathom added her own little touch of style to it to make it unique.

The story starts out with Anne Kendall masquerading as a woman of high society to save said women from being assassinated for information she knows. An organization called the League of the Blade considers Anne’s protection as one of their many duties for the betterment of the kingdom. Meanwhile, Sir Philip Clifford is acting like a pouting brat because he was not asked to join the League, which has been his lifelong goal. He first meets Anne at her mistress’s house and they begin to become…acquainted with each other even though Philip does not bed Anne, much to her humiliation. He tries to forget her as just a passing interest, and she tries to forget her feelings for him because she realizes she was just a skirt to him. Or so they think.

When Philip runs into her again masquerading as the widowed Lady Rosamond Wolsingham, they realize they that, basically, they still want in each other’s pant. After creeping into the window of her inn room, Philip doesn’t really give her a choice in whether he travels with her in her journey to the king. Adventure ensues.

While I didn’t find this novel particularly fascinating, it was still enjoyable.
  
Behind Her Eyes
Behind Her Eyes
Sarah Pinborough | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.9 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
I received an ARC of Sarah Pinborough’s new novel, Behind Her Eyes, from FlatIron Books to spread anticipation for the upcoming release. My thoughts on this book, in a nutshell? Absolute, addictive, insanity. Considering the only other Pinborough book I’ve read involved giant spiders that use humans as breeding vessels, triggering a horrific arachnid apocalypse, I didn’t really know what to expect from this one. It was billed as a psychological thriller, which is pretty generic these days; everything is a Gone Girl wannabe. But this thriller is seriously like no other thriller I’ve ever read, with twists that you wouldn’t see coming if you were Professor X.

The novel is told from multiple viewpoints, which has the danger of becoming confusing, but each character’s voice is so clear that it’s not hard to keep them straight. The plot at first doesn’t seem that interesting, you think it’s the standard love triangle, a married man attracted to his secretary, yawn. But there are clever twists from the very beginning and you’re constantly left questioning who you can trust, whose version of events to believe. In fact, it’s really hard to discuss this book at all without giving anything away.

Which makes it very difficult to explain the one thing I didn’t like. This is an entirely personal opinion, I’m definitely not trying to discourage you from reading this book, it was amazing. Having said that, ambiguity always makes me uncomfortable, especially in endings, which I prefer straight-forward, just, and (ideally) happy. But I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time watching rom-coms, and couldn’t sleep after any Mentalist episode involving Red John. So make of that what you will.