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    The Kingdom

    The Kingdom

    Jo Nesbo

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    #1 New York Times best-selling author Jo Nesbø delivers an electrifying stand-alone novel about a...

The 5th Wave: Book 1
The 5th Wave: Book 1
Rick Yancey | 2013 | Children
2
8.0 (42 Ratings)
Book Rating
I really wanted to like <i>The 5th Wave</i>. The synopsis sounded fantastic, it's becoming a movie – the book just sounded like one of those that I would probably read quickly, enjoy it, demand the second book (in other words, snag it straight off Lupe's shelf), read through that quickly, and pretty much have another favorite book this year (there's really only two so far that are special).

I didn't even last thirty pages. <i>Thirty</i> pages, which says <i>a lot</i>, because while I may give up on books more often now, I don't usually give up THAT early.

The premise wasn't what made me give up reading <i>The 5th Wave</i> – characters trying to fight for survival? Sounds like <i>Hatchet</i>, only with the "aliens" attacking with "waves."

I only stopped because of Cassie. Cassie, short for Cassiopeia, the main character of the book. I couldn't stand her for the life of me.

She's materialistic – in a world when the world is literally falling apart around you, who <i>cares</i> about hygiene being top priority? It's great she cares (because you can't just walk to a job interview smelling like horse poop), but by the whatever wave that's past the first, I'm pretty sure you're too busy making surviving the <i>day</i> your priority.

She's rude – if there's one thing I don't like, it's texting while in a conversation simply because you're bored. Then, she says, "Oh, and in case you're an alien reading this? BITE ME."

Totally. I'm totally willing to bite Cassie... in a review, that is.

Basically, there was a vibe about her I didn't like early on. But with all of the flashbacks at literally every chapter, I not only got to know the world <i>before</i> the 1st Wave, I got to know Cassie as a person. And Cassie probably tops the list of the most annoying characters I've ever come across in a book.

Someone please tell me I'm not the only one who couldn't stand Cassie. If I am, I'm willing to cry in a little corner alone with my lonesome self...

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/dnf-review-the-5th-wave-by-rick-yancey/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Dane Cook: Vicious Circle (2006) in Movies

Dec 5, 2020 (Updated Dec 6, 2020)  
Dane Cook: Vicious Circle (2006)
Dane Cook: Vicious Circle (2006)
2006 | Comedy
DANEgerous Edition

Less a stand-up show and more an event where you get to watch a manic cokehead scream at the top of his lungs and convulse around a small circular stage in front of a packed, sports-arena-esque crowd for nearly 2 hours and 15 minutes - one of the most breathless and impossible-to-look-away-from things I've ever seen. Say what you will about him, but he'll die before he loses your attention - it felt like *I* burned calories after watching him writhe, sweat, and shriek about for this long. Before Chappelle's similarly hit-or-miss 𝘚𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘴 & 𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴, this was arguably the most divisive stand-up special out there - most people either swore by it as one of the greats, or lambasted it as a stain on the legacy of comedy itself. It's hard to remember, but there was a time Cook was a megastar - the same year this special aired he was listed in TIME Magazine's "Top 100 Most Influential People In the World" alongside industry titans Meryl Streep and George Clooney. Outside of maybe Bam Margera I don't think any other sole entertainer represented the crass ode to reckless debauchery that was the mid-2000s quite like this guy; it's beguilingly bizarre almost solely as a piece of a pop culture time capsule alone. Though on its own merits this shockingly holds up a lot more than expected, not always funny (does some cringe 2006 shit like having two women make out on stage while Dane watches for no reason and a rather uncomfortable segment where he seemingly makes a young lady flash her breasts onstage) but home to a satiable amount of hearty chuckles and an exuberant energy that can't be denied even well past the two hour mark. Laden with dead-on observations, colossal vulgarity, intense (and super idiosyncratic) physicality, oddly cerebral camerawork + editing, and guttural cries unlike any other set I've seen... then after all that he comes back on the stage with an acoustic guitar to fucking *sing* - this is the human body being put to its endurance test as a comedic performer. A great time even if some of the jokes get drawn out way past the point of repair - what I can only describe as unforgettable, often really fucking funny, spastically aroused hyperspecificity. Nearly top-to-bottom infectious in spite of its whiffs.
  
Glow (Pleasure Seekers #3)
Glow (Pleasure Seekers #3)
Kristian Parker | 2024 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
There are sparks flying, right from that first meeting in the men's locker room!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This is book 3 in the Pleasure Seekers trilogy, but it can be read as a stand alone. BUT, people?? READ the other books, OK?? Cos they set the scene for Scott to be the last man standing, and that man falls fast and hard and he never saw it coming!

Scott is looking for love, but his latest date was another washout. He really feels left out now Tyler and Eddie are loved up. A theft at work brings him face to face with Prin, from the IT department. Then Scott must stay focussed or he might not see the one thing he has been looking for, is right under his nose.

I loved Thrill, and I really liked Kicks, but I think Scott and Prin might be my favourite couple!

There are sparks flying, right from that first meeting in the men's locker room, and they fly through the whole book, even when Scott messes up (accidentally!) and puts Prin in a difficult position. This is really the only drama between these two, and that's why I tagged it low angst.

There is a good deal of other drama though! The theft and who is doing it, Prin's friend Colin and what's happening to him, and we also get to catch up with Tyler and Eddie and their other halves. At this point, they are all just about living together in the shared flat, so it's hard not to catch up with them!

But I loved what happens at the end. Prin gets some closure with his family. He needed that, he really did.

It's always sad to see a series end, especially one I've thoroughly loved. But hey, maybe Parker will write a follow up, kind of an epilogue in a whole book, just so we can see how the guys are getting on!

5 full and shiny stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere