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Plastic Sucks! You Can Make a Difference
Plastic Sucks! You Can Make a Difference
Dougie Poynter | 2019 | Children, Education, Science & Mathematics
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Just wow! What an inspiring book. This book is aimed at young people and it is written perfectly for them. The language is set at just the right level. It tackles difficult aspects at a level kids will understand. It includes information boxes to explain some science, which are simplified yet accurate (I'm a science teacher and vouch for them 😉). The best part of this book, I think, is the part of ways you can swap plastics out in different rooms of your house. I am definitely inspired. I also liked the section that described the different types of plastics and how easy or difficult they are to recycle. However, I do feel that the cluster of interviews towards the end may seem a little tedious for the target audience. When, nearer the beginning of the book, the interviews were scattered I feel that children will be more likely to read them. I know it must be hard to have so many inspirational people that have so many amazing things to say and include them all, and they really did say some amazing things. I'm hoping I can get a copy of this for the school library as soon as!

What will you swap out?
  
Violin and Orchestra by Morton Feldman
Violin and Orchestra by Morton Feldman
2013 | Classical
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This is what I'm listening to most right now. Feldman is on constant rotation, but his series of pieces he wrote throughout the 70s for a solo instrument and orchestra is what I'm continually listening to. This version of Violin and Orchestra that the Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt did I'm obsessed with. I've been listening to it everyday for a little over a year. It’s one of my favourite pieces because of the forces that he’s implying but it does not sound like an orchestra piece. He’s so keenly aware of sound. He turns his eye to a different way of way of composing that makes it something that can’t easily be reduced into some formula. You can just get wrapped up in it. It’s mysterious and kind of unknowable. But it’s really compelling - I’m moved by how his mind works. He does away with very basic principles of orchestral writing, an understanding of chord progressions and melody and harmony, even rhythm. He develops the piece in a way that shows he’s clearly operating with another set of variables, like in the way he resolves a chord. You don’t feel the familiarity of that way of operating within Western music."

Source
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2346 KP) rated Murder in the Piazza in Books

Sep 10, 2022 (Updated Sep 10, 2022)  
Murder in the Piazza
Murder in the Piazza
Jen Collins Moore | 2020 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder in Rome
Maggie White’s husband has been sent to Rome for two years for his job, and she’s gone along with him. After a few months of living the life of leisure, she has found a job working for Masterpiece Tours, a specialty tour company that offers painting lessons and tours of some of the museums and famous locations in the city. She’s barely started and she’s already fantasizing about ways to kill her boss, Lord Phillip, an English expat. However, she is shocked to find him shot in his office one evening. The police don’t seem that interested in figuring out what happened, so Maggie starts investigating. Can she figure out what is going on?

This was a good travel themed mystery. It brought Rome to life in such a way that I felt I was there with Maggie. Unfortunately, the pacing of the mystery was off early on, but I did appreciate how everything came together at the end. We met many of the characters in a group setting, but they became distinct people as the story progressed, so it wasn’t really an issue. If you are looking for a virtual visit to Rome with a side of murder, this is the book for you.
  
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Veiled ( Releasing the Magic 4)
Maya Riley | 2023
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
134 of 235
Kindle
Veiled ( Releasing the Magic 4)
By Maya Riley
⭐️⭐️⭐️

What do you do when your past takes you back?

The years I’d spent growing up were the darkest of my life, even with counting the rotter outbreak. Then I gained my freedom, met some guys who refused to leave, and even got some of my siblings back. Then my past came for me.

Now I spend my days watching, biding my time, waiting for my chance to escape while also trying to keep my sanity. During this time, I’m forced to endure their experiments. Some will test me, and some could possibly break me. What I learn, though, could change everything I thought I’d ever known to be true. I will fight my way out for my freedom.

I did it before, I can do it again.

Nobody will knock me down for good.

Not even the monster in the pearl necklace.

I really like this series it’s a different twist on a zombie apocalypse mixing it with a bit of magic. It’s a light fun read with a bit of a reverse harem going on. This was a little rushed in parts but still enjoyable for a quick read.
  
The Misadventures of Margaret Finch
The Misadventures of Margaret Finch
Claire McGlasson | 2023 | Fiction & Poetry
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Don’t let this book fool you like it did me. When I read the title and saw the cover, I was expecting something entirely different to what I got - and I wasn’t disappointed at all!

Margaret has escaped her controlling stepmother by working for the Mass Observation project in Blackpool. She becomes involved with the Vicar of Stiffkey (he was a big deal in the late 1930s - and no! She wasn’t involved like that!), and starts to observe him and his sideshows as part of her work.

Margaret is very good at what she does. She’s an expert at staying on the periphery, invisible, but I don’t think this does her any good in the long run. She starts to feel lonely and separate from everyone else, and she doesn’t know how to deal with it.

I though Margaret was fascinating, and her boss James, was lovely. The vicar was only interested in his own life and problems, which isn’t really something I’d expect from a vicar.

Oh, and my advice for reading this: DON’T GOOGLE ANYTHING! Really, you’ll spoil it for yourself.

It’s a fabulous book - you really should read it! Thanks to The Pigeonhole and to Claire for reading along with us.
  
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ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Valkyrie in Books

May 30, 2023  
The Valkyrie
The Valkyrie
Kate Heartfield | 2023 | Fiction & Poetry, LGBTQ+, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What a fantastic book! Myth, strong women, magic - what’s not to like?!

I’ll own up now. This was a NetGalley book, and it kind of got left behind. So I listened to the audiobook on Xigxag audiobooks. And I’m SO glad that I did.it came to life for me, and where some reviews have said that they were sometimes a little confused as to whose chapter it was, either Brynhild the fallen Valkyrie or Gudrun, Princess of Burgundia, I had no such issue. The narrators, Eleanor Jackson and India Shaw-Smith WERE Brynhild and Gudrun. And they were both self-assured, strong leaders who would take no nonsense.

What did surprise me was how forgiving Brynhild was of Sigurd lies. If you already know the myth, then you’ll know! Otherwise, my lips are sealed, because you really have to read this for yourself!

Oh, and the Germanic history was the icing on the cake for me. And there’s loads of extra information about both the Norse mythology and the German history, both in relation to the book, on Kate Heartsfields website - chapter by chapter! I’ve had the BEST time on there!

So, yes, this is very much a recommended book!
  
Rejected Mate (Shifter World: Royal-Kagan #5)
Rejected Mate (Shifter World: Royal-Kagan #5)
Nancy Corrigan | 2015 | Paranormal, Romance
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
In book 1 of the Kagan Wolves series, we meet Nic and Riley. Nic is the alpha's son, primed to take over as Alpha when his father steps down. Riley is an honorary pack member as she is wholly human. She is also the Pack's Doctor, although she will treat any shifter that turns up.

I loved the twist in this book - that Nic the human loved and wanted Riley, but Nic the wolf saw her as weak because she couldn't give him pups! The frustration felt by Nic was tangible as you read through. Riley is a strong character and I honestly don't know if I could do what she did! I think I would have run at the first opportunity, but that's why the book isn't about me! lol

I enjoyed seeing Sean and Jenna again, and how they both helped Riley and Nic. This is what friends do for each other, even if you don't always agree with their decisions.

Very well written, with no editing or grammatical errors that I found, this was a wonderful full-length read into the world of the Kagan Wolves. Definitely recommended.

* Verified Purchase on Amazon *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
May 9, 2016
  
David Mitchell, the comedian.

NOT David Mitchell, the author of "Cloud Atlas" (never read it).

I know the comedian best from his involvement in various TV panel gameshows, most noticeably BBCs "Would I Lie To You?", as well as as from the sitcom "Upstart Crow", where he plays William Shakespeare.

In all cases, his persona is of an uptight, repressed, middle aged man.

So I had a good idea what to expect of this, especially as I knew the audiobook was narrated by none other then he himself - indeed, the only reason I picked up the ebook version over the audiobook version is simply because the ebook was on sale (plus I find I can read faster than I listen).

Billed as 'Horrible Histories for Grownups' (as an aside, anyone remember the Horrible Histories with the links by Stephen Fry?), this is actually both quite entertaining and educational, with Mitchell taking it chapter about to tell the story of England's various Kings and Queens, from their earliest days and right up until the reign of Elizabeth I.

OK, the humour may be a bit, ummm, ribald (and sweary) in certain places, but if you go in knowing what to expect (as I did) ...