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ClareR (6230 KP) rated Cloud Cuckoo Land in Books

Oct 29, 2021

Cloud Cuckoo Land

Anthony Doerr | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Cloud Cuckoo Land will be VERY high in my favourite books of the year, I have no doubt whatsoever. It grabbed my attention from the first page, and wouldn’t let go - and frankly, I didn’t want it to.

There are three main timelines, four characters, and an ancient text that connects them all.

Anna lives in Constantinople just before the Ottomans bring down the wall and claim it as their own. Omeir is one of those Ottomans, a reluctant cog in their war machine.

We go forward 500 years to a hostage situation in a US town library, where a disillusioned teenager, has planted a bomb on the bookshelves. An old man, an ex-soldier who has taught himself Ancient Greek, has translated a very old book and turned it into a play. He is upstairs in the same library.

Then, on to the future where a girl, her family and a number of other scientists, explorers and volunteers, are all on a spaceship at the start of a long voyage that they know they’ll never see the end of. And disaster strikes.

I didn’t want this book to end. I had a huge book hangover when this ended, and I’m very certain that I will need to read this again. It’s perfection.

Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this.

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Health through Breath - Pranayama

Health & Fitness and Medical

(0 Ratings) Rate It

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Stressed? Balance your life and experience a relaxed meditative state to relieve your daily stresses...

Erika (17789 KP) rated Annihilation (2018) in Movies

Feb 25, 2018 (Updated Feb 25, 2018)

Annihilation (2018)

2018 | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

7.0

(72 Ratings)

Movie Rating

I don't know what I was expecting out of this film. I'm on a very long wait list to borrow the book from the library. As always, I'm sure the book is probably better, but I'll have to wait to make that judgment.
So, Alex Garland's Ex Machina was my favorite movie of 2014, so I was expecting a lot from the director. Again, I'm not familiar with the source material, so I'm not sure how well it was, or wasn't translated. The story was interesting, but there was a lot of tense silence. Yeah, it worked in the movie, Drive, but I don't think it worked here. The visuals were stunning, so it was interesting to watch from that aspect.
Now, the cast... I'm not sure how/why Jennifer Jason Leigh gets roles, because she is not a great actress (sorry, not sorry). Oscar Isaac was completely wasted. Tessa Thompson's character... she had glasses, so she must be smart??
The only interesting part of the movie, where any sort of tension was present, was the end in the lighthouse. Whatever that was... It gave me Pale Man vibes (see Pan's Labyrinth) vibes, which completely and totally freaked me out. I have serious heebie-jeebies after that, and even right at this moment...
Overall, it was an alright scifi movie, but, I'm glad I have moviepass so I legit didn't pay for it.