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Wild Guide - Devon, Cornwall and South West: Hidden Places, Great Adventures and the Good Life (including Somerset and Dorset)
Tania Pascoe, Daniel Start and Joanna Tinsley
Book
This compendium of adventures features the best wild places to visit in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset...
Tree
Book
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary...
Lost Lanes: 36 Glorious Bike Rides in Southern England (London and the South-East)
Book
LOST LANES will take you on 36 meandering tours of the most beautiful and hidden destinations in...
The Gift of the Magpie
8.0
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Book
The 28th book and the seventh Christmas mystery in the Meg Langslow series, The Gift of the Magpie...
The Secret
Book
Regarded as a life-changing read by many readers, The Secret by Rhonda Byrne is a self-help book...
Melanie Caldicott (6 KP) rated The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake in Books
Apr 29, 2021
I loved the concept of this books and as soon as I heard about it I was intrigued and wanted to read it. I read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake in a couple of days, which with 3 children rarely happens, so I continued to find it intriguing and compelling throughout.
However, I found the narrative elusive and shadowy which was often frustrating. Whilst I understand that Bender was creating a narrative largely written from the perspective of a child, from whom many things were hidden and secret, I still found that as a reader you were constantly trying to grasp what she was describing and failing. I found this made the book less plausible and destroyed the intrigue turning it into annoying gameplay.
I have read other novels with narratives from the perspective of a child such as The Earth Hums in B Flat, The Book Thief, Mister Pip, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Room etc and found these all to be written far more skillfully than Bender manages here. It is an art to realistically write through the eyes of a child but reveal things to an adult reader through the child's naive perspective of the world. If this is failed to be achieved it can leave the reader feeling frustrated and disillusioned through being led on a journey that is over-constructed and inauthentic.
However, I found the narrative elusive and shadowy which was often frustrating. Whilst I understand that Bender was creating a narrative largely written from the perspective of a child, from whom many things were hidden and secret, I still found that as a reader you were constantly trying to grasp what she was describing and failing. I found this made the book less plausible and destroyed the intrigue turning it into annoying gameplay.
I have read other novels with narratives from the perspective of a child such as The Earth Hums in B Flat, The Book Thief, Mister Pip, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Room etc and found these all to be written far more skillfully than Bender manages here. It is an art to realistically write through the eyes of a child but reveal things to an adult reader through the child's naive perspective of the world. If this is failed to be achieved it can leave the reader feeling frustrated and disillusioned through being led on a journey that is over-constructed and inauthentic.
Wild Guide Lake District and Yorkshire Dales: Hidden Places and Great Adventures - Including Bowland and South Pennines
Book
Imagine a summer spent swimming in mountain waterfalls, exploring lost ruins and caverns, and...
A good and extremely informative read about the female computers at NASA who were behind a lot of the theory behind space flight, and were integral to getting rockets into space and to the moon.
I did enjoy reading about these women, but I did find some of it extremely heavy going with a lot of the information being around maths and science. But it was a lovely read to find out more about the women who have been hidden for so long and not had the credit and recognition that they deserve in the history books.
I will say, that this may be one of the only times that I have actually preferred the film to the book. And I think that might have been because it flowed better as a story rather than how Margot Lee Shetterley presented the facts. I think the film showed just how much the women had to endure with segregation and made it a lot more shocking than reading it in the book. While it was shocking in the book the extent of things, I don’t think it quite hit as hard as seeing it on screen.
But overall, a very interesting book if you want to learn more about how these women helped shape space travel as we know it today.
I did enjoy reading about these women, but I did find some of it extremely heavy going with a lot of the information being around maths and science. But it was a lovely read to find out more about the women who have been hidden for so long and not had the credit and recognition that they deserve in the history books.
I will say, that this may be one of the only times that I have actually preferred the film to the book. And I think that might have been because it flowed better as a story rather than how Margot Lee Shetterley presented the facts. I think the film showed just how much the women had to endure with segregation and made it a lot more shocking than reading it in the book. While it was shocking in the book the extent of things, I don’t think it quite hit as hard as seeing it on screen.
But overall, a very interesting book if you want to learn more about how these women helped shape space travel as we know it today.
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Pandomus ( Pandomus chronicles book 1) in Books
Dec 5, 2022
217of 230
Kindle
Pendomus ( Pendomus chronicles book 1 )
By Carrissa Andrews
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A secret hidden in plain sight. A devastating attack. And a world hanging in the balance.
There are a lot of things I wish I'd known earlier - but three top my "wow, she was naive" list.
First, there are others on Pendomus. Second, a prophecy is in motion, and I hold the key to the survival of literally everything. Third, I'm being hunted by a madman who is desperately trying to wipe me from existence.
So yeah, no pressure.
I wasn’t sure for most of this book I feel like I missed a pre novella or something. It just plunges you in without any real idea of what’s happening. But as it goes on it’s worth sticking with the story has so much potential and is quite interesting especially towards the end. Worth sticking with I think.
Edit: there is a novella 0.5 called Tragectory
Kindle
Pendomus ( Pendomus chronicles book 1 )
By Carrissa Andrews
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A secret hidden in plain sight. A devastating attack. And a world hanging in the balance.
There are a lot of things I wish I'd known earlier - but three top my "wow, she was naive" list.
First, there are others on Pendomus. Second, a prophecy is in motion, and I hold the key to the survival of literally everything. Third, I'm being hunted by a madman who is desperately trying to wipe me from existence.
So yeah, no pressure.
I wasn’t sure for most of this book I feel like I missed a pre novella or something. It just plunges you in without any real idea of what’s happening. But as it goes on it’s worth sticking with the story has so much potential and is quite interesting especially towards the end. Worth sticking with I think.
Edit: there is a novella 0.5 called Tragectory
Rachel King (13 KP) rated The Virgin Cure in Books
Feb 11, 2019
I loved Ami McKay's first book, The Birth House, so I was eager to read this one without even knowing the synopsis. This book did not really live up to the quality of the first book, but I did still enjoy it. While the title conveys the idea that the focus of the book is this social problem of the myth of the "virgin cure", in reality the book was really about the life of the main character, Moth. The virgin cure only plays a part in two small events, and serves better as a footnote to Moth's life.
Moth is quite an interesting girl from the start, having the maturity of a much older person as she deals with her mother's methods of making money along with her drinking habits, even as she finds her own ways of survival. Despite being of such a young age, she is aware of the struggles of the people around her and knows enough to recognize what a better life would look like for herself - even beyond the trappings of wealth. While sold by her own mother for the price of a sack of coins, Moth still longs to impress her and return to her. From there, she encounters one horror after another, many hidden behind a veneer of wealth and privilege. Her desires propel her to take on a different name in an effort to change her very identity into the kind of person she longs to be.
Dr. Sadie's intervention into Moth's life provides a nice contrast to what Moth lived with day-to-day. As McKay's original protagonist, she provided another appealing way of life other than one of wealth and privilege. Her journal entries in the book also showed how Moth appeared to others. Despite the struggles that Dr. Sadie endured as a female physician, I liked the part she played in Moth's life and the things she showed Moth.
As for the format of the book, I found it a bit strange sometimes. The pages often held side notes that had little to do with the plot, and were better at serving as distractions, plus chapters often began with poems or quotes that were vague at best and required some intelligent deciphering to figure out how they contributed to the book. The journal entries of Dr. Sadie that peppered the book held the most valuable writing, as it fit in with the timeline of the plot. I think the book would have fared better with less distractions, more plotting, and a better title.
Moth is quite an interesting girl from the start, having the maturity of a much older person as she deals with her mother's methods of making money along with her drinking habits, even as she finds her own ways of survival. Despite being of such a young age, she is aware of the struggles of the people around her and knows enough to recognize what a better life would look like for herself - even beyond the trappings of wealth. While sold by her own mother for the price of a sack of coins, Moth still longs to impress her and return to her. From there, she encounters one horror after another, many hidden behind a veneer of wealth and privilege. Her desires propel her to take on a different name in an effort to change her very identity into the kind of person she longs to be.
Dr. Sadie's intervention into Moth's life provides a nice contrast to what Moth lived with day-to-day. As McKay's original protagonist, she provided another appealing way of life other than one of wealth and privilege. Her journal entries in the book also showed how Moth appeared to others. Despite the struggles that Dr. Sadie endured as a female physician, I liked the part she played in Moth's life and the things she showed Moth.
As for the format of the book, I found it a bit strange sometimes. The pages often held side notes that had little to do with the plot, and were better at serving as distractions, plus chapters often began with poems or quotes that were vague at best and required some intelligent deciphering to figure out how they contributed to the book. The journal entries of Dr. Sadie that peppered the book held the most valuable writing, as it fit in with the timeline of the plot. I think the book would have fared better with less distractions, more plotting, and a better title.