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Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Telling Christina Goodbye in Books
Jan 23, 2020
Original Review posted at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2013/02/review-telling-christina-goodbye-by-lurlene-mcdaniel.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Original Rating: 3.5
*Formatting and image(s) have been lost due to copy and pasting.
I hate commenting about how much the synopsis gives away. I don't find much joy in reading the book when the synopsis gives spoilers away. And I hate giving it a lower rating because of that synopsis. But as much as I want to like this book, I'm gonna have to give it a facepalm. The synopsis practically gave away EVERYTHING. From the synopsis, cover AND title, the book already gives these things away (I don't think this counts as spoilers since the synopsis already says it):
~Trisha, Christina, Cody, and Tucker are Seniors.
~Best friends, Trisha and Christina are having a great year.
~Trisha is dating Cody. Christina is dating Tucker.
~Trisha doesn't get along with Tucker.
~Christina receives a scholarship from University of Vermont.
~Tucker is controlling of Christina and wants her to stay.
~They get into a car crash after a basketball game. Trisha is injured, Cody's in a coma and Christina's dead. Yet Tucker is all injure-less.
Not to mean it in a bad way, but that gives practically the entire plot and some other stuff. Maybe even the entire book. Besides some things, such as (those who read it would know the answers already, but I'm speaking from the reader's perspective of just examining the book at the bookstore and reading the synopsis and such):
~Does Cody wake up from the coma?
~Do those effected by Christina's death find the courage to move on and heal?
~Do Trisha and Tucker get along later?
~Etc, etc. One can only know the answers to their many questions when fully reading a book.
But despite the synopsis giving so much away, Ms. McDaniel still leaves the reader, regardless of whether just staring at it at the bookstore or anyplace or have to read it due to required reading, with many questions. Props for not giving the full story away, especially the ending. And while some of us may love spoilers to the point of actually spilling beans, some of us just like to keep things detailed yet vague on what's happening because we just love the suspense building up. It would've been a triple facepalm if the synopsis gave any more away (kinda explains the meme).
If you're still thinking I'm being a bit negative, the only part I found pretty bad was how the synopsis gave it all away (I'm that person who hates too much spoilers and end up predicting and being right majority of the time. I kinda like my dose of keeping me guessing...).
In many good parts (of the pie or something good), Ms McDaniel manages to narrow in with an emotional story while weaving in the meaning of losing a cared one and to not take life fully for granted, because you never know when it will all end and it may be someone or something very close to you. (Kinda reminds me of a sad song...)
Original Rating: 3.5
*Formatting and image(s) have been lost due to copy and pasting.
I hate commenting about how much the synopsis gives away. I don't find much joy in reading the book when the synopsis gives spoilers away. And I hate giving it a lower rating because of that synopsis. But as much as I want to like this book, I'm gonna have to give it a facepalm. The synopsis practically gave away EVERYTHING. From the synopsis, cover AND title, the book already gives these things away (I don't think this counts as spoilers since the synopsis already says it):
~Trisha, Christina, Cody, and Tucker are Seniors.
~Best friends, Trisha and Christina are having a great year.
~Trisha is dating Cody. Christina is dating Tucker.
~Trisha doesn't get along with Tucker.
~Christina receives a scholarship from University of Vermont.
~Tucker is controlling of Christina and wants her to stay.
~They get into a car crash after a basketball game. Trisha is injured, Cody's in a coma and Christina's dead. Yet Tucker is all injure-less.
Not to mean it in a bad way, but that gives practically the entire plot and some other stuff. Maybe even the entire book. Besides some things, such as (those who read it would know the answers already, but I'm speaking from the reader's perspective of just examining the book at the bookstore and reading the synopsis and such):
~Does Cody wake up from the coma?
~Do those effected by Christina's death find the courage to move on and heal?
~Do Trisha and Tucker get along later?
~Etc, etc. One can only know the answers to their many questions when fully reading a book.
But despite the synopsis giving so much away, Ms. McDaniel still leaves the reader, regardless of whether just staring at it at the bookstore or anyplace or have to read it due to required reading, with many questions. Props for not giving the full story away, especially the ending. And while some of us may love spoilers to the point of actually spilling beans, some of us just like to keep things detailed yet vague on what's happening because we just love the suspense building up. It would've been a triple facepalm if the synopsis gave any more away (kinda explains the meme).
If you're still thinking I'm being a bit negative, the only part I found pretty bad was how the synopsis gave it all away (I'm that person who hates too much spoilers and end up predicting and being right majority of the time. I kinda like my dose of keeping me guessing...).
In many good parts (of the pie or something good), Ms McDaniel manages to narrow in with an emotional story while weaving in the meaning of losing a cared one and to not take life fully for granted, because you never know when it will all end and it may be someone or something very close to you. (Kinda reminds me of a sad song...)
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated The Conduit (The Gryphon Series) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
I am making progress in the 2014 TBR Pile Challenge and cleaning out my Kindle. Of course, the latter will take quite a long time, but... I'll get there. ;) *rubs hands together as though ready to make an evil potion*
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SQb9SIzFTks/U0LIMksTnDI/AAAAAAAAC9Q/SY6SL5DMywI/s1600/I+Put+a+Spell+on+You.gif"; height="144" width="320">
Celeste Garrett just wants to be a normal teenager getting ready to go to college. But shortly after she and her siblings move to a small town in Tennessee with their Grandmother, strange things start happening to them. They later found out about a deal one of their ancestors made with a mythical creature called "the Gryphon" and that Celeste is the Chosen One to stop a war from happening.
The Conduit is a really fun book lots of LOL moments, and a bookwyrming confession: It's really hard to make feel things crying, laughing, etc when it comes to writing. Speaking's another story, and that is exactly how I got the name Giggles back in 6th grade (vocal variations, come on! Some people make things sound funny, okay?!). At least for me it is.
But let's just say my very first worry after reading the prologue was the last few sentences:
<blockquote>Gainesboro, Tennessee. Thats where it all happened. Thats where I learned the truth. Thats where everything changed. Thats where my destiny found me. And now, its where I would die.</blockquote>
NOOOOO. Want to know why I was worried? Take a look *points to a particular book* Yeah. THAT book. When you hear the word die, you get worried. Very worried. Of course, in that other case, it was a bomb.
The characters go really great together Celeste (I've been wondering how to pronounce her name CORRECTLY, and even though I have a guess, I'm not 100% sure) and her siblings Gabe and Kendall are like the 3 Stooges. I even had to be really careful not to wake up my mom because of those random scenes that just pop in and made me laugh.
<blockquote>I was cold, tired , confused , scared, overwhelmed, and I kind of had to pee.</blockquote>
And that, my friends, is the perfect time to toss in those TMI moments. All so serious and then tossing in something completely random and sort of out of whack. Maybe I'm just a weird person. :p
Even Grams was a fun character in her own way, though she actually reminded me of a certain Super Bowl commercial from Taco Bell with those old people dancing (and partying) my speech teacher showed to us in class while talking about persuasion. She's like a teenager stuck in the wrong age or something. (Eye candy! *oggles* at Zeke Crosse)
---------------
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
This Review and more posted on <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-the-conduit-by-stacey-rourke.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gi5Rk5yLloA/UtliaUbdL3I/AAAAAAAACbE/J27z92_qrYU/s1600/Official+Banner.png"; /></a>
<img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SQb9SIzFTks/U0LIMksTnDI/AAAAAAAAC9Q/SY6SL5DMywI/s1600/I+Put+a+Spell+on+You.gif"; height="144" width="320">
Celeste Garrett just wants to be a normal teenager getting ready to go to college. But shortly after she and her siblings move to a small town in Tennessee with their Grandmother, strange things start happening to them. They later found out about a deal one of their ancestors made with a mythical creature called "the Gryphon" and that Celeste is the Chosen One to stop a war from happening.
The Conduit is a really fun book lots of LOL moments, and a bookwyrming confession: It's really hard to make feel things crying, laughing, etc when it comes to writing. Speaking's another story, and that is exactly how I got the name Giggles back in 6th grade (vocal variations, come on! Some people make things sound funny, okay?!). At least for me it is.
But let's just say my very first worry after reading the prologue was the last few sentences:
<blockquote>Gainesboro, Tennessee. Thats where it all happened. Thats where I learned the truth. Thats where everything changed. Thats where my destiny found me. And now, its where I would die.</blockquote>
NOOOOO. Want to know why I was worried? Take a look *points to a particular book* Yeah. THAT book. When you hear the word die, you get worried. Very worried. Of course, in that other case, it was a bomb.
The characters go really great together Celeste (I've been wondering how to pronounce her name CORRECTLY, and even though I have a guess, I'm not 100% sure) and her siblings Gabe and Kendall are like the 3 Stooges. I even had to be really careful not to wake up my mom because of those random scenes that just pop in and made me laugh.
<blockquote>I was cold, tired , confused , scared, overwhelmed, and I kind of had to pee.</blockquote>
And that, my friends, is the perfect time to toss in those TMI moments. All so serious and then tossing in something completely random and sort of out of whack. Maybe I'm just a weird person. :p
Even Grams was a fun character in her own way, though she actually reminded me of a certain Super Bowl commercial from Taco Bell with those old people dancing (and partying) my speech teacher showed to us in class while talking about persuasion. She's like a teenager stuck in the wrong age or something. (Eye candy! *oggles* at Zeke Crosse)
---------------
Original Rating: 4.5 out of 5
This Review and more posted on <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/05/review-the-conduit-by-stacey-rourke.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Gi5Rk5yLloA/UtliaUbdL3I/AAAAAAAACbE/J27z92_qrYU/s1600/Official+Banner.png"; /></a>
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Happy Girl Lucky (The Valentines, #1) in Books
Feb 3, 2020
<a href="https://diaryofdifference.com/">Blog</a>; | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diaryofdifference/">Facebook</a>; | <a href="https://twitter.com/DiaryDifference">Twitter</a>; | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diaryofdifference/">Instagram</a>; | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/diaryofdifference/pins/">Pinterest</a>;
#1 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2685992062">Happy Girl Lucky</a> - ★★★★★
<img src="https://gipostcards.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/book-review-title.png?w=636"/>;
<b> I am hosing a GIVEAWAY on my instagram page, ending on 22nd February 2019. Enter for a chance to win 5 signed copies with 5 pop sockets! </b>
Happy Girl Lucky is the first book from The Valentines Series. This is a story about a famous family, The Valentines, who have been Hollywood stars for ages. Hope is one of the daughters of the famous couple, but she grows up without all that paparazzi attention and hype. It is a family rule not to involve their children into the famous world until they are sixteen. Hope can’t wait to turn sixteen and start living this amazing life.
Hope spends her teenage years as a normal girl – she steals clothes from her sisters and makes movie scenarios in her head. She reads her horoscope every day and knows what the magazines say is true. She is naive and funny and so unique. And when one day, her horoscope says she is on her way to finally meet her true love, she has to make everything possible to make this come true.
And when she meets this boy, we follow Hope’s adventures from touring London, to travelling to the US, to making decisions she never thought she could make. I loved how we are with Hope every minute of her journey and we watch her slowly grow and make us giggle.
Even though Hope gives the life of this story, and makes us all want to be friends with her, all of the other characters have their own little unique spark, which I loved so much.
A wonderfully written story, but also a very meaningful one. Holly Smale managed to perfectly capture some of the issues that some teenage girls are facing today. Living their own reality while their family lives a completely different world is not so uncommon, and girls need to know this. Sometimes, we wake in a reality we don’t know and think we are the ones to blame, but there is nothing wrong with you. All you ladies out there, you need to hear this. There is nothing wrong with you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You are unique, and you should believe in what you are, who you are, and what makes you truly happy. And through Hope’s story, we can understand this so well, and I am forever grateful!
A fun and entertaining story, meant to capture all the teenage hearts out there. This is definitely a must-read for every girl out there, to find her true self and be happy for what she truly is.
<a href="https://diaryofdifference.com/">Blog</a>; | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diaryofdifference/">Facebook</a>; | <a href="https://twitter.com/DiaryDifference">Twitter</a>; | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diaryofdifference/">Instagram</a>; | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/diaryofdifference/pins/">Pinterest</a>;
#1 <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2685992062">Happy Girl Lucky</a> - ★★★★★
<img src="https://gipostcards.files.wordpress.com/2019/02/book-review-title.png?w=636"/>;
<b> I am hosing a GIVEAWAY on my instagram page, ending on 22nd February 2019. Enter for a chance to win 5 signed copies with 5 pop sockets! </b>
Happy Girl Lucky is the first book from The Valentines Series. This is a story about a famous family, The Valentines, who have been Hollywood stars for ages. Hope is one of the daughters of the famous couple, but she grows up without all that paparazzi attention and hype. It is a family rule not to involve their children into the famous world until they are sixteen. Hope can’t wait to turn sixteen and start living this amazing life.
Hope spends her teenage years as a normal girl – she steals clothes from her sisters and makes movie scenarios in her head. She reads her horoscope every day and knows what the magazines say is true. She is naive and funny and so unique. And when one day, her horoscope says she is on her way to finally meet her true love, she has to make everything possible to make this come true.
And when she meets this boy, we follow Hope’s adventures from touring London, to travelling to the US, to making decisions she never thought she could make. I loved how we are with Hope every minute of her journey and we watch her slowly grow and make us giggle.
Even though Hope gives the life of this story, and makes us all want to be friends with her, all of the other characters have their own little unique spark, which I loved so much.
A wonderfully written story, but also a very meaningful one. Holly Smale managed to perfectly capture some of the issues that some teenage girls are facing today. Living their own reality while their family lives a completely different world is not so uncommon, and girls need to know this. Sometimes, we wake in a reality we don’t know and think we are the ones to blame, but there is nothing wrong with you. All you ladies out there, you need to hear this. There is nothing wrong with you. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You are unique, and you should believe in what you are, who you are, and what makes you truly happy. And through Hope’s story, we can understand this so well, and I am forever grateful!
A fun and entertaining story, meant to capture all the teenage hearts out there. This is definitely a must-read for every girl out there, to find her true self and be happy for what she truly is.
<a href="https://diaryofdifference.com/">Blog</a>; | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diaryofdifference/">Facebook</a>; | <a href="https://twitter.com/DiaryDifference">Twitter</a>; | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diaryofdifference/">Instagram</a>; | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/diaryofdifference/pins/">Pinterest</a>;
Lee (2222 KP) rated Wolfwalkers (2020) in Movies
Oct 12, 2020
Wolfwalkers is the latest animated offering from Irish based studio, Cartoon Saloon. I’m actually ashamed to say that before watching Wolfwalkers, I was pretty unfamiliar with their previous Irish folklore offerings - The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014) - but having seen this latest animated feature, it’s a mistake that I will be looking to correct as quickly as possible.
Wolfwalkers is set in Kilkenny, Ireland (which is also the home of Cartoon Saloon!) during the 17th century. Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) has moved from Yorkshire with her father, Bill (Sean Bean) to the walled town, where Bill has been tasked by the rather menacing Lord Protector (Simon McBurney) to clear the surrounding forest of wolves. Once the forest is clear, the woodsmen can fell the trees and the farmers can start working the land.
There are signs everywhere, throughout the town and pinned to trees in the forest, showing a snarling wolf with a red cross drawn over it. A wolf attack on some woodsmen early on shows us just how dangerous the wolves are, and also introduces us to the Wolfwalkers that walk among them. With blazing eyes and fiery red hair, the Wolfwalkers are able to communicate with and control the wolves, calling them off their attacks on the humans. They also appear to possess magical healing abilities, using them to heal a wolf scratch on the chest of one of the men.
Robyn has dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a hunter as she practices her crossbow skills. So rather than work all day in the scullery, she decides to slip past the guards at the outer gate (no children are allowed beyond the town walls) and secretly follow her father out into the forest, watching him as he sets traps for the wolves. When she comes face to face with a wolf, it’s much smaller and a lot cuter than the ones we’ve seen before, and Robyn learns that it is, in fact, a young Wolfwalker named Mebh.
Robyn forms a bond with Mebh and discovers that when the Wolfwalkers sleep, they assume the body of a wolf, leaving their human body to sleep until they return in order to wake it up. Mebh is worried because her mother has been asleep for some time and her wolf form has not yet returned. Robyn learns that the Wolfwalkers are simply trying to defend the animals from the modern world that is encroaching on their forest and Robyn vows to help find her mother. A difficult task when the Lord Protector has given her father 2 days to clear the forest of wolves, and he isn’t listening to his daughter as she pleads with him to stop.
I found Wolfwalkers to be simply wonderful, with a captivating story full of twist and turns for both kids and adults to enjoy. It’s beautiful to look at too, utilising a watercolour style with rough pencil sketches visible in most of the characters and scenery only adding to its visual appeal. I was completely taken by surprise and just couldn’t fault it.
Wolfwalkers is set in Kilkenny, Ireland (which is also the home of Cartoon Saloon!) during the 17th century. Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) has moved from Yorkshire with her father, Bill (Sean Bean) to the walled town, where Bill has been tasked by the rather menacing Lord Protector (Simon McBurney) to clear the surrounding forest of wolves. Once the forest is clear, the woodsmen can fell the trees and the farmers can start working the land.
There are signs everywhere, throughout the town and pinned to trees in the forest, showing a snarling wolf with a red cross drawn over it. A wolf attack on some woodsmen early on shows us just how dangerous the wolves are, and also introduces us to the Wolfwalkers that walk among them. With blazing eyes and fiery red hair, the Wolfwalkers are able to communicate with and control the wolves, calling them off their attacks on the humans. They also appear to possess magical healing abilities, using them to heal a wolf scratch on the chest of one of the men.
Robyn has dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a hunter as she practices her crossbow skills. So rather than work all day in the scullery, she decides to slip past the guards at the outer gate (no children are allowed beyond the town walls) and secretly follow her father out into the forest, watching him as he sets traps for the wolves. When she comes face to face with a wolf, it’s much smaller and a lot cuter than the ones we’ve seen before, and Robyn learns that it is, in fact, a young Wolfwalker named Mebh.
Robyn forms a bond with Mebh and discovers that when the Wolfwalkers sleep, they assume the body of a wolf, leaving their human body to sleep until they return in order to wake it up. Mebh is worried because her mother has been asleep for some time and her wolf form has not yet returned. Robyn learns that the Wolfwalkers are simply trying to defend the animals from the modern world that is encroaching on their forest and Robyn vows to help find her mother. A difficult task when the Lord Protector has given her father 2 days to clear the forest of wolves, and he isn’t listening to his daughter as she pleads with him to stop.
I found Wolfwalkers to be simply wonderful, with a captivating story full of twist and turns for both kids and adults to enjoy. It’s beautiful to look at too, utilising a watercolour style with rough pencil sketches visible in most of the characters and scenery only adding to its visual appeal. I was completely taken by surprise and just couldn’t fault it.
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated American Idiot by Green Day in Music
Nov 2, 2017
Soda Pop & Ritalin
For some reason people like to slag Green Day, they are the butt of a lot of punk music jokes and to be honest I do get why. I understand why people see their use of makeup and their whole zany persona as a farce and don’t take them seriously, but no matter what you think of them in general, it is hard to deny that their seventh album, ‘American Idiot,’ perfectly captured the zeitgeist at the time, especially in the US. The album was an unexpected maturation of any of the band’s previous efforts and capitalised on their potential. When Billie Joe Armstrong wrote the album, he chose to channel his feelings into a cast of various characters and use a concept album format to display the emotions he and his peers felt at the time. I would argue the fact that American Idiot is definitively a concept album, as it doesn’t actually tell a cohesive story with a beginning, middle and end, instead opting for the approach of latching on to a certain feeling, whether it be rage or love and assigning that to a specific character and then throwing all of these characters into the mixing pot together. We hear the album from the perspective of the protagonist in the story, Jesus Of Suburbia, a young man who is sick of a broken system and feels disillusioned and uninspired by everything that he sees around him. The reason that so many people felt this way at the time of this album’s release, 2004, was due to the Bush administration’s misguidance and outright lies and due to the fallout from the 9/11 terrorists attacks that has never really gone away in America since the incident occurred. So, fed up of his suburban, dead end town Jesus leaves home and begins a quest of self discovery that involves a great deal of substance abuse, which ends up leading to the creation of an alter ego residing in Jesus’ mind who calls himself Saint Jimmy. Think Tyler Durden in fight club, but if he had a Mohican and ear stretchers. Jimmy leads Jesus on the thinly veiled path to revolution, which simply turns out to be a path to self destruction and eventually when Jesus hits rock bottom, (just like Fight Club,) he forces Jimmy to commit suicide and rids his mind of him. At the end of the album though Jesus’ fate is left ambiguous, but what is clear is that his journey has taken its toll on him, which is signified by the fact that he forgets the name of the girl that he fell in and out of love with during his spiritual quest. This album perfectly captured the mindset of a generation of kids forgotten by the system that was put in place to help them grow. American Idiot gives the man on the street a well informed, unified voice and actually injects some form of leadership into the political and social landscape at the time, even if it probably isn’t the form of leadership that your parents had in mind, or the government had put in place for you. A wake up call that is essential and still relevant today, this album and its story and character carries the important message that we shouldn’t settle for any less than what we deserve and what we deserve is often a lot better than what we end up getting. This album is pretty much the American version of Never Mind The Bollocks.
Eilidh G Clark (177 KP) rated Nasty Women in Books
May 13, 2017
Nasty women is hard-hitting, eye-opening, and unashamedly honest.
‘Sometimes the role model you need is not an example to aspire to, but someone who reflects back the parts of yourself that society deems fit.’ -
Becca Inglis
Nasty Women, published by 404 ink, is a collection of essays about what it is, and how it feels to be a woman in the 21st century. When I first picked up the book, I assumed, like I think most readers would, that it would be an easy book to just pick up and put down whenever I had a spare ten minutes. Wrong, I was sucked into this book right from the beginning, and read it all in a day. That doesn’t mean it was an easy read, or perhaps easy is the wrong word – it isn’t a comfortable read - and it isn’t meant to be. Nasty women is hard-hitting, eye-opening, and unashamedly honest.
The book opens with ‘Independence Day’ by Katie Muriel. A story of mixed race and identity in Trump’s America, Muriel discusses her experience of inter-family racism, heightened by political differences, ‘This is not the first, nor is it the last family divide Trump will leave in his wake, but I refuse to think of him as some deity who stands around shifting pieces on a board in his golden war room.’ The anger in this piece is clear, but it is the rationalism and clarity of the writer that speaks volumes. Race, racism and xenophobia, is a prominent feature in these stories. Claire L. Heuchan, for example, talks about ‘Othering’ a term that readers will see repeatedly in this book, ‘Scotland,’ she writes, ‘is a fairly isolating place to be a black woman.’
Survival is a key trope in Nasty Women. Mel Reeve, in ‘The Nastiness of Survival,’ talks about being a survivor of rape and emotional abuse, ‘I do not fit the ‘right’ definition of someone who has been raped.’ This statement alone is filled with irony.
I was particularly drawn to Laura Waddell’s essay, ‘Against Stereotypes: Working Class Girls and Working Class Art.’ Laura talks about the difficulty of both gender and class inequality, and, in particular, the lack of working class writers and working class fiction being published, ‘I have read a lot of fiction’ she says, ‘I have read almost none from housing estates such as the one I grew up on. These stories are missing, from shelves, and from the record.’ As a Scottish fiction writer from a working-class background myself, these words resonate deeply.
Alice Tarbuck’s ‘Foraging and Feminism: Hedge-Witchcraft in the 21st Century’, is almost fun to read in a deeply devastating way. There is a desperate tone in this piece, and a desperate need to escape society. ‘There is beauty and bounty around us if we look for it, and perhaps that is all the magic we need. Or perhaps, what we need is real magic, whether that comes in the form of resistance and community or the form of blackthorn charms and skullcap tinctures, and howling to the moon.
I loved this book. This book gives women a voice. And it is loud! Well done 404 Ink, and all the contributors, for bravely breaking the silence.
Becca Inglis
Nasty Women, published by 404 ink, is a collection of essays about what it is, and how it feels to be a woman in the 21st century. When I first picked up the book, I assumed, like I think most readers would, that it would be an easy book to just pick up and put down whenever I had a spare ten minutes. Wrong, I was sucked into this book right from the beginning, and read it all in a day. That doesn’t mean it was an easy read, or perhaps easy is the wrong word – it isn’t a comfortable read - and it isn’t meant to be. Nasty women is hard-hitting, eye-opening, and unashamedly honest.
The book opens with ‘Independence Day’ by Katie Muriel. A story of mixed race and identity in Trump’s America, Muriel discusses her experience of inter-family racism, heightened by political differences, ‘This is not the first, nor is it the last family divide Trump will leave in his wake, but I refuse to think of him as some deity who stands around shifting pieces on a board in his golden war room.’ The anger in this piece is clear, but it is the rationalism and clarity of the writer that speaks volumes. Race, racism and xenophobia, is a prominent feature in these stories. Claire L. Heuchan, for example, talks about ‘Othering’ a term that readers will see repeatedly in this book, ‘Scotland,’ she writes, ‘is a fairly isolating place to be a black woman.’
Survival is a key trope in Nasty Women. Mel Reeve, in ‘The Nastiness of Survival,’ talks about being a survivor of rape and emotional abuse, ‘I do not fit the ‘right’ definition of someone who has been raped.’ This statement alone is filled with irony.
I was particularly drawn to Laura Waddell’s essay, ‘Against Stereotypes: Working Class Girls and Working Class Art.’ Laura talks about the difficulty of both gender and class inequality, and, in particular, the lack of working class writers and working class fiction being published, ‘I have read a lot of fiction’ she says, ‘I have read almost none from housing estates such as the one I grew up on. These stories are missing, from shelves, and from the record.’ As a Scottish fiction writer from a working-class background myself, these words resonate deeply.
Alice Tarbuck’s ‘Foraging and Feminism: Hedge-Witchcraft in the 21st Century’, is almost fun to read in a deeply devastating way. There is a desperate tone in this piece, and a desperate need to escape society. ‘There is beauty and bounty around us if we look for it, and perhaps that is all the magic we need. Or perhaps, what we need is real magic, whether that comes in the form of resistance and community or the form of blackthorn charms and skullcap tinctures, and howling to the moon.
I loved this book. This book gives women a voice. And it is loud! Well done 404 Ink, and all the contributors, for bravely breaking the silence.
Terror by Night: the true story of the brutal texas murder that destroyed a family, restored one man’s faith, and shocked a nation.
by Terry Caffey with James H. Pence
Genre: True Crime, Christian, memoir
Rating: 5
My summary: Terry woke up one night and saw his daughter’s ex-boyfriend standing in front of him with a gun. Charlie shot him several times, killed his wife, then him and his friend brutally killed his two sons. They set the house on fire, thinking everyone was dead. Terry managed to escape by God’s life-preservation alone, and made the long trek through the woods to the neighbor’s house. All Terry wanted was to die and live in Heaven with his family. But he stayed alive through sheer will-power and God’s grace. He made it to the neighbor’s house, identified the killer, then colapsed, hoping never to wake up again.
He woke up.
and He has to live with what happened for the rest of his long life.
Terry suffers from suicidal thoughts and depression, overdoses on his drugs, and can’t sleep at night because of his fear.
But God can take any situation and turn it around… Terry went back to where his house was to have a heart-to-heart with God. Terry found something there that was preserved through weeks of rain and wind, and yet was still readable. It was a page from James Pence’s novel Blind Sight (though he didn’t know it at the time) and the first lines he read were these: “I couldn't understand why You would take my family and leave me to struggle along without them. And I guess I still don’t totally understand that part of it. But I do believe that You’re sovereign; You’re in control.” Terry eventually found out through some hard hunting that the character in the book who was speaking had lost his wife and children. It was as if that book was written about him.
Terry’s life changed drastically. He went into ministry, he got re-married… and he learned what unconditional love, forgiveness, and trusting God really meant.
Review: Terror by Night was an absolutely stunning book in every sense of the word. The awful things that happened to Terry, and how God restored him, are amazing. Terror by Night is like Job all over again. God took everything away from Terry—his family were dead and his house was charcoal. Terry suffered tremendously, but God restored him. God used him to restore other people. And God blessed him and gave back what he had taken away.
This book is a testimony of how God can take anything and turn it around for good, how everything that happens is His will, and how He is the one and only thing we can always trust.
A powerful message, an amazing testimony, a picture of forgiveness, uplifting, encouraging, and brutally beautiful, Terror by Night will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Content: 100% clean
Recommendation: I whole-heartedly recommend Terror by Night to everyone over the age of 14. Terror by Night is extremely emotional, several times I had to stop and put it down. There were also some disturbing images of how the children were killed. It would probably make you cry if you read it in one sitting. However, I still think everyone should read it.
by Terry Caffey with James H. Pence
Genre: True Crime, Christian, memoir
Rating: 5
My summary: Terry woke up one night and saw his daughter’s ex-boyfriend standing in front of him with a gun. Charlie shot him several times, killed his wife, then him and his friend brutally killed his two sons. They set the house on fire, thinking everyone was dead. Terry managed to escape by God’s life-preservation alone, and made the long trek through the woods to the neighbor’s house. All Terry wanted was to die and live in Heaven with his family. But he stayed alive through sheer will-power and God’s grace. He made it to the neighbor’s house, identified the killer, then colapsed, hoping never to wake up again.
He woke up.
and He has to live with what happened for the rest of his long life.
Terry suffers from suicidal thoughts and depression, overdoses on his drugs, and can’t sleep at night because of his fear.
But God can take any situation and turn it around… Terry went back to where his house was to have a heart-to-heart with God. Terry found something there that was preserved through weeks of rain and wind, and yet was still readable. It was a page from James Pence’s novel Blind Sight (though he didn’t know it at the time) and the first lines he read were these: “I couldn't understand why You would take my family and leave me to struggle along without them. And I guess I still don’t totally understand that part of it. But I do believe that You’re sovereign; You’re in control.” Terry eventually found out through some hard hunting that the character in the book who was speaking had lost his wife and children. It was as if that book was written about him.
Terry’s life changed drastically. He went into ministry, he got re-married… and he learned what unconditional love, forgiveness, and trusting God really meant.
Review: Terror by Night was an absolutely stunning book in every sense of the word. The awful things that happened to Terry, and how God restored him, are amazing. Terror by Night is like Job all over again. God took everything away from Terry—his family were dead and his house was charcoal. Terry suffered tremendously, but God restored him. God used him to restore other people. And God blessed him and gave back what he had taken away.
This book is a testimony of how God can take anything and turn it around for good, how everything that happens is His will, and how He is the one and only thing we can always trust.
A powerful message, an amazing testimony, a picture of forgiveness, uplifting, encouraging, and brutally beautiful, Terror by Night will stay with you for the rest of your life.
Content: 100% clean
Recommendation: I whole-heartedly recommend Terror by Night to everyone over the age of 14. Terror by Night is extremely emotional, several times I had to stop and put it down. There were also some disturbing images of how the children were killed. It would probably make you cry if you read it in one sitting. However, I still think everyone should read it.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated All I Ever Wanted in Books
Mar 20, 2019
Fun, enjoyable book with great characters
Callie Grey is turning thirty, and her life simply isn't going as planned. She's not married--or even dating--and now her boss, Mark, whom she's loved for years, is marrying Muriel, a perfect specimen from California. Even worse, Muriel is honing in on Callie's territory at the advertising agency where she works. Her mother runs the family business: a funeral home, where Callie's thirtieth birthday was held (sharing space with a wake). Her father, meanwhile, is trying to win her mother back, despite the fact that she hates him for cheating on her--when Callie was eight. Hester, her sister, despises all men due to said cheating incident. And no matter how hard she tries, Callie can't get over Mark and the five weeks they "dated." Still, it seems like maybe that could change when she meets Ian, the town's new sulky but handsome veterinarian. But can Callie put the past behind her to find her own happiness? And is Ian ready to move on himself?
So, as part of my reading goals for 2019, I'm going to try to read more books that I own. I've been "practicing" a bit here at the end of 2018, and ALL I EVER WANTED was part of that. I read two of Higgins' recent releases lately and really loved them, so decided to go with this one. While I didn't find it quite as modernly witty and wonderful as those two (a few scenes describing characters' weight and a few other things rubbed me a bit wrong), it was still a really enjoyable read.
Well, I read another romance recently and while it was good, I just couldn't fall fully for the characters. Not the case here. While I worried a bit early on that Callie would be too much of a whiner, she grew on me quickly. Higgins is just so good with the slow build of her characters and storylines. You get the gruff but charming Ian and all these wonderful scenes that make you smile. Her books have just the right balance of sweet and funny (there always seems to be a classic dinner party scene that makes me laugh out loud). There's a great moment where Callie and Ian are on a hike, and a wonderfully humorous time where Callie dates someone who is, yes, a human hair artisan.
The point is, we really get to know the characters--their flaws and foibles plus their good sides--and it just helps make the story. I care about them. I know Callie's family (a great cast of ancillary characters, including her grandfather and nieces), I know her backstory, and we even get to know Ian's tale. The book deals, deftly, with some complicated emotions and heartache along with the fun and fluff. (And well, there's an incident with a wild turkey that's pretty awesome.) And because we get these two fleshed out characters--even if we know they are probably destined to get together--we're invested along the way to find out how and why. That's what I love about Higgins. It's not just some token scenes along the way to an inevitable conclusion. There's real meat and depth, along with humor. And I really enjoyed the ending, too.
Overall, this is just a fun, enjoyable book with some depth to back itself up. The characters are interesting, and parts of it will make you laugh out loud. I recommend it, and I'm glad I picked it up off my bookshelf!
So, as part of my reading goals for 2019, I'm going to try to read more books that I own. I've been "practicing" a bit here at the end of 2018, and ALL I EVER WANTED was part of that. I read two of Higgins' recent releases lately and really loved them, so decided to go with this one. While I didn't find it quite as modernly witty and wonderful as those two (a few scenes describing characters' weight and a few other things rubbed me a bit wrong), it was still a really enjoyable read.
Well, I read another romance recently and while it was good, I just couldn't fall fully for the characters. Not the case here. While I worried a bit early on that Callie would be too much of a whiner, she grew on me quickly. Higgins is just so good with the slow build of her characters and storylines. You get the gruff but charming Ian and all these wonderful scenes that make you smile. Her books have just the right balance of sweet and funny (there always seems to be a classic dinner party scene that makes me laugh out loud). There's a great moment where Callie and Ian are on a hike, and a wonderfully humorous time where Callie dates someone who is, yes, a human hair artisan.
The point is, we really get to know the characters--their flaws and foibles plus their good sides--and it just helps make the story. I care about them. I know Callie's family (a great cast of ancillary characters, including her grandfather and nieces), I know her backstory, and we even get to know Ian's tale. The book deals, deftly, with some complicated emotions and heartache along with the fun and fluff. (And well, there's an incident with a wild turkey that's pretty awesome.) And because we get these two fleshed out characters--even if we know they are probably destined to get together--we're invested along the way to find out how and why. That's what I love about Higgins. It's not just some token scenes along the way to an inevitable conclusion. There's real meat and depth, along with humor. And I really enjoyed the ending, too.
Overall, this is just a fun, enjoyable book with some depth to back itself up. The characters are interesting, and parts of it will make you laugh out loud. I recommend it, and I'm glad I picked it up off my bookshelf!
Amanda (96 KP) rated The Tattooist of Auschwitz in Books
May 29, 2019
“If you wake up in the morning, it is a good day.”
So I thought about it, and I’ve decided to write my review for this book. I’ve never read books that center around The Holocaust. I never thought I would, because I’ve seen several movies and just the sheer graphics of it alone made me sad. I know this was supposed to be based on a true story, but I went into it with the mindset that it wasn’t true, because most times, some of those stories are fabricated for drama purposes. I’ve read that even Heather Morris added some things to the story for that reason, so again, I saw it as just another story.
The story centers around Lale who is transferred to Auschwitz, but is given the job as a tattooist. From the descriptions, he has to use a really awful needle and has to press down hard enough for the numbers to be seen and never removed – a highly painful process that he has to perform even on children. Then one day, he tattoos a lady that catches his eye, Gita, and from then on he plans to love her and marry her WHEN they get out of Auschwitz.
Off the bat, something about the writing kind of bothered. I couldn’t quite pin point what it was. I read somewhere that this book was originally written as a screen play and I think that was it. To me, the style had a vagueness to it that made it feel like some parts I was reading something from an old story book from when I was in high school. I’m not saying that style was terrible. This particular writing style is not my favorite to read.
I liked the premise of the story. I can’t begin to imagine what it was truly like in those camps. I can’t comment on it either, but like I said, I also didn’t go into this book thinking it was all a true story about these two people. So, there were some bits of the story that I had a hard time believing, but then again, I’m not sure if it was a true part or a fabrication part.
All in all, the story wasn’t bad. I felt so horribly for Lale having to have that job, but he survived, and Gita. The remembering of their families and wondering if they are alive or dead struck me a bit. I know I’ve said this, but I can’t imagine that kind of pain. I feel horrible whenever Lale thought of his mother.
“His mother he can see perfectly. But how do you say goodbye to your mother? The person who gave you breath, who taught you how to live?”
You can’t, that’s the answer.
The book didn’t live up to the hype, in my opinion, but Morris wrote a nice and moving story in the end. I know there are some other stories like this. One of my Twitter friends recommend the Librarian of Auschwitz, so perhaps I will see about that book.
I don’t believe I’ll be seeking out the sequel to this book. I do hope it’s better than the first, but the story is still good.
So I thought about it, and I’ve decided to write my review for this book. I’ve never read books that center around The Holocaust. I never thought I would, because I’ve seen several movies and just the sheer graphics of it alone made me sad. I know this was supposed to be based on a true story, but I went into it with the mindset that it wasn’t true, because most times, some of those stories are fabricated for drama purposes. I’ve read that even Heather Morris added some things to the story for that reason, so again, I saw it as just another story.
The story centers around Lale who is transferred to Auschwitz, but is given the job as a tattooist. From the descriptions, he has to use a really awful needle and has to press down hard enough for the numbers to be seen and never removed – a highly painful process that he has to perform even on children. Then one day, he tattoos a lady that catches his eye, Gita, and from then on he plans to love her and marry her WHEN they get out of Auschwitz.
Off the bat, something about the writing kind of bothered. I couldn’t quite pin point what it was. I read somewhere that this book was originally written as a screen play and I think that was it. To me, the style had a vagueness to it that made it feel like some parts I was reading something from an old story book from when I was in high school. I’m not saying that style was terrible. This particular writing style is not my favorite to read.
I liked the premise of the story. I can’t begin to imagine what it was truly like in those camps. I can’t comment on it either, but like I said, I also didn’t go into this book thinking it was all a true story about these two people. So, there were some bits of the story that I had a hard time believing, but then again, I’m not sure if it was a true part or a fabrication part.
All in all, the story wasn’t bad. I felt so horribly for Lale having to have that job, but he survived, and Gita. The remembering of their families and wondering if they are alive or dead struck me a bit. I know I’ve said this, but I can’t imagine that kind of pain. I feel horrible whenever Lale thought of his mother.
“His mother he can see perfectly. But how do you say goodbye to your mother? The person who gave you breath, who taught you how to live?”
You can’t, that’s the answer.
The book didn’t live up to the hype, in my opinion, but Morris wrote a nice and moving story in the end. I know there are some other stories like this. One of my Twitter friends recommend the Librarian of Auschwitz, so perhaps I will see about that book.
I don’t believe I’ll be seeking out the sequel to this book. I do hope it’s better than the first, but the story is still good.
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
Jun 5, 2019
Good Enough - Monsters Fighting Each Other
I grew up in the 1960's watching old monster movies on Saturday afternoons on an old black and white TV in the home I grew up in. A staple of these Saturday afternoon movies was the Godzilla monster movies from Japan, featuring such great monsters as Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan and Ghidorah. So, imagine my excitement when I realized that they all would be in the same film.
And...that film...GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS...delivers the goods just fine. Sometimes you go to the movie theater looking for laughs, sometimes you are looking to cry, sometimes you are looking to have your mind stimulated with interesting thoughts and ideas and sometimes you just want to watch giant monsters battling it out over the remnants of Fenway Park in Boston.
The 3rd in the "Monarch Series" of films from Warner Brothers (following the surprisingly good 2014 GODZILLA film and the fun KONG: SKULL ISLAND movie of 2017), GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS follows Monarch as they find (and in some instances, re-awaken) giant monsters - TITANS as they are called - the Titans attempt to take over the planet from the humans (there's a "save the planet" message that is being used as the excuse)...but here comes good ol' Godzilla to save the day.
Besides the monsters, there are quite a few humans along for the ride...Kyle Chandler and Vera Famiga as a dysfunctional couple (who also happen to be experts in Monsters) who are trying to keep in check their daughter, Millie Bobbie Brown (STRANGER THINGS). Ken Watanbe, Sally Hawkins and Jason Strahairn reprise their roles as members of MONARCH from the 2014 GODZILLA film, 2 veritable "that person" actors, Thomas Middleditch & Aisha Hinds as other members of Monarch along with Ziya Zhang and O'Shea Jackson, Jr. - all of these actors are "serviceable" to the plot and machinations, reacting appropriately to the green screen carnage and monsters that they are pretending to react to. Only Bradley Whitford (as a Monarch Scientist) rises above things with a goofy, "almost too over the top" performance that captures the spirit of the proceedings. Add into this good ol' Tywin Lannister himself (Charles Dance) as a shadowy, non-feeling bad guy that seems to have an inexhaustible supply of men and material - kind of like Tywinn Lannister - and the "human side" of this movie is fun...enough.
But, make no mistake about it, this film - and the reason I came to see it - is to watch giant monsters fighting each other and destroying everything in their wake and this film delivers the goods. Director Micheal Dougherty ( KRAMPUS) does a "serviceable" job keeping the action moving and coherent while avoiding (for the most part) the headache-inducing "quick-cut" editing sequence. There's nothing much new or innovative in his approach to showing us monsters fighting and creating massive destruction, but he doesn't take away from the spectacle of the action on the screen so that's a good thing..
There are 2 more Godzilla films currently "on the books" to be produced - including next year's KONG vs. GODZILLA - which will keep me coming back to the IMAX in the multiplex for years to come...and that's just fine with me.
Letter Grade: a solid B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
And...that film...GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS...delivers the goods just fine. Sometimes you go to the movie theater looking for laughs, sometimes you are looking to cry, sometimes you are looking to have your mind stimulated with interesting thoughts and ideas and sometimes you just want to watch giant monsters battling it out over the remnants of Fenway Park in Boston.
The 3rd in the "Monarch Series" of films from Warner Brothers (following the surprisingly good 2014 GODZILLA film and the fun KONG: SKULL ISLAND movie of 2017), GODZILLA - KING OF THE MONSTERS follows Monarch as they find (and in some instances, re-awaken) giant monsters - TITANS as they are called - the Titans attempt to take over the planet from the humans (there's a "save the planet" message that is being used as the excuse)...but here comes good ol' Godzilla to save the day.
Besides the monsters, there are quite a few humans along for the ride...Kyle Chandler and Vera Famiga as a dysfunctional couple (who also happen to be experts in Monsters) who are trying to keep in check their daughter, Millie Bobbie Brown (STRANGER THINGS). Ken Watanbe, Sally Hawkins and Jason Strahairn reprise their roles as members of MONARCH from the 2014 GODZILLA film, 2 veritable "that person" actors, Thomas Middleditch & Aisha Hinds as other members of Monarch along with Ziya Zhang and O'Shea Jackson, Jr. - all of these actors are "serviceable" to the plot and machinations, reacting appropriately to the green screen carnage and monsters that they are pretending to react to. Only Bradley Whitford (as a Monarch Scientist) rises above things with a goofy, "almost too over the top" performance that captures the spirit of the proceedings. Add into this good ol' Tywin Lannister himself (Charles Dance) as a shadowy, non-feeling bad guy that seems to have an inexhaustible supply of men and material - kind of like Tywinn Lannister - and the "human side" of this movie is fun...enough.
But, make no mistake about it, this film - and the reason I came to see it - is to watch giant monsters fighting each other and destroying everything in their wake and this film delivers the goods. Director Micheal Dougherty ( KRAMPUS) does a "serviceable" job keeping the action moving and coherent while avoiding (for the most part) the headache-inducing "quick-cut" editing sequence. There's nothing much new or innovative in his approach to showing us monsters fighting and creating massive destruction, but he doesn't take away from the spectacle of the action on the screen so that's a good thing..
There are 2 more Godzilla films currently "on the books" to be produced - including next year's KONG vs. GODZILLA - which will keep me coming back to the IMAX in the multiplex for years to come...and that's just fine with me.
Letter Grade: a solid B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)