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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Children of Hurin in Books
Nov 11, 2019
One of the key things that makes The Lord of the Rings so enduring is that it sits on thousands of years of history and stories all plotted in detail by Tolkien before he even conceived of his epic trilogy. This is one of those stories, an outline of which appears in the Silmarillion, and familiarity with that book is advised before reading this one.
Set in Beleriand at a time when Morgoth ruled over the land from his fortress of Angband, this is a tragedy on the scale of Hamlet. Principally telling the tale of Túrun son of Húrin it follows his life as he becomes the leader of an outlaw band leading the fight back against Morgoth, the elves and dwarves having essentially retreated to their core lands and given up. His actions motivate the races into action and give hope that Morgoth can be defeated.
But this comes at a cost. Túrin is cursed and doomed to ultimate failure. The last third of the book is pretty grim as everything he has worked for and everything he holds dear is destroyed by his own actions, taken in good faith at the time. There can be no happy ending.
The tone, therefore, is a shade darker than the darkest passages of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's deep knowledge of his invented folklore is still to the fore and it is good to see how the world of elves looked in its prime rather than the faded and jaded view we get in the tales of the War of the Ring. It is not an easy read by any means, but it is a worthwhile one for anyone who wants to know more about the tales of Beleriand.
Set in Beleriand at a time when Morgoth ruled over the land from his fortress of Angband, this is a tragedy on the scale of Hamlet. Principally telling the tale of Túrun son of Húrin it follows his life as he becomes the leader of an outlaw band leading the fight back against Morgoth, the elves and dwarves having essentially retreated to their core lands and given up. His actions motivate the races into action and give hope that Morgoth can be defeated.
But this comes at a cost. Túrin is cursed and doomed to ultimate failure. The last third of the book is pretty grim as everything he has worked for and everything he holds dear is destroyed by his own actions, taken in good faith at the time. There can be no happy ending.
The tone, therefore, is a shade darker than the darkest passages of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's deep knowledge of his invented folklore is still to the fore and it is good to see how the world of elves looked in its prime rather than the faded and jaded view we get in the tales of the War of the Ring. It is not an easy read by any means, but it is a worthwhile one for anyone who wants to know more about the tales of Beleriand.
TA
The Art of Fiction
Book
James Salter's exalted place in American letters is based largely on the intense admiration of other...
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated The Lost Girls of Paris in Books
Feb 3, 2020
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In the 1940’s, with the world at war, Eleanor Trigg leads a mysterious ring of secret female agents in London. Twelve of these women are sent to Paris to aid the resistance.
<b>They never return home!</b>
Shortly after the war ends, passing through New York’s Grand Central Station, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase beneath a bench. The case is filled with a dozen photographs, each of a different woman.
Setting out to find the women in the pictures, Grace is drawn into the mystery of the lost girls of Paris, their fierce friendship, unthinkable bravery – and, ultimately, the worst kind of betrayal.
Eleanor is a woman that men fear and women hate. Wherever she goes, fear follows. However, in a world of men who lead and men who are in war, she starts a programme in London where she recruits women, prepares them and deploys them to help in the war. The women have to aid the man, transmit radio messages and blend in with the french people. Eleanor makes sure they are prepared for every possible scenario, and she would’ve joined them, if they let her. As much as she seems cruel, she loves her girls like her daughters, and when things go horribly wrong, she blames herself.
Marie never imagined she would be recruited by Eleanor. Leaving her daughter behind and going into the unknown, she is deployed in Paris for a very dangerous mission. But can friendships so easily made survive the dark days of war? And what happens when Marie is one of those twelve women that disappear without a trace, never to be seen again…
And then Grace finds the suitcase full of photos of women and she can’t help but wonder what happened to them. The paths of these three women will indirectly cross over, leaving us, readers, with an amazing story to follow.
The writing is incredible and it transports you right in the 1940’s. Feelings and emotions are overflowing. I am not completely sure how I felt with the ending, as it ended too predictable for my taste, with a lot of unrealistic scenes and no character development, really.
But even despite all that, it warmed my heart and made me rethink my life decisions. The Lost Girls of Paris is a book about women who are brave and loyal. Women who are not afraid to stand up and fight. Women who have everything to lose and nothing to regret. A tale of pure emotion.
Thank you to the team at HarperCollins – HQ, for sending me a paperback ARC copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.
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<img src="https://i2.wp.com/diaryofdifference.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Book-Review-Banner-3.png?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1"/>;
In the 1940’s, with the world at war, Eleanor Trigg leads a mysterious ring of secret female agents in London. Twelve of these women are sent to Paris to aid the resistance.
<b>They never return home!</b>
Shortly after the war ends, passing through New York’s Grand Central Station, Grace Healey finds an abandoned suitcase beneath a bench. The case is filled with a dozen photographs, each of a different woman.
Setting out to find the women in the pictures, Grace is drawn into the mystery of the lost girls of Paris, their fierce friendship, unthinkable bravery – and, ultimately, the worst kind of betrayal.
Eleanor is a woman that men fear and women hate. Wherever she goes, fear follows. However, in a world of men who lead and men who are in war, she starts a programme in London where she recruits women, prepares them and deploys them to help in the war. The women have to aid the man, transmit radio messages and blend in with the french people. Eleanor makes sure they are prepared for every possible scenario, and she would’ve joined them, if they let her. As much as she seems cruel, she loves her girls like her daughters, and when things go horribly wrong, she blames herself.
Marie never imagined she would be recruited by Eleanor. Leaving her daughter behind and going into the unknown, she is deployed in Paris for a very dangerous mission. But can friendships so easily made survive the dark days of war? And what happens when Marie is one of those twelve women that disappear without a trace, never to be seen again…
And then Grace finds the suitcase full of photos of women and she can’t help but wonder what happened to them. The paths of these three women will indirectly cross over, leaving us, readers, with an amazing story to follow.
The writing is incredible and it transports you right in the 1940’s. Feelings and emotions are overflowing. I am not completely sure how I felt with the ending, as it ended too predictable for my taste, with a lot of unrealistic scenes and no character development, really.
But even despite all that, it warmed my heart and made me rethink my life decisions. The Lost Girls of Paris is a book about women who are brave and loyal. Women who are not afraid to stand up and fight. Women who have everything to lose and nothing to regret. A tale of pure emotion.
Thank you to the team at HarperCollins – HQ, for sending me a paperback ARC copy of this book, in exchange for my honest review.
<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>;
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Overlord (2018) in Movies
Feb 6, 2019 (Updated Feb 6, 2019)
War Is Hell
Overlord is yet another movie released in late 2018 that I am just getting around to seeing and I am glad that I got to check this one out. I have been looking forward to seeing this one ever since seeing the trailers last year as I am a huge fan of the Wolfenstein series, which the trailers for this really reminded me of.
The movie opens with a fantastically shot plane crash sequence that manages to convey a sense of extreme intensity as Private Boyce jumps out the exploding plane that was carrying his squad and plummets to the ground below. This sequence also does a brilliant job of setting the tone of the movie that the audience can expect going forward.
Surprisingly, the Nazi zombie stuff doesn't actually make an appearance until about 1/3 into the movie and the first act is spent telling a more traditional and realistic war story and setting up the relationships between the characters that we are following. Even when we do start to see some of the weirder stuff taking place, it is fairly reserved in comparison to what you might be expecting. This isn't Dead Snow or Wolfenstein. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's underwhelming, the few amount of monstrosities that we actually get to see are impactful and feel genuinely threatening.
The cast are serviceable in their roles, even if they are fairly stereotypical. The stand out is Pilou Asbaek, who may know as the evil Euron Greyjoy from Game Of Thrones. Here, he plays the dastardly, villainous Nazi with a venomous snarl that really tells you everything that you need to know about his character and his intent.
The one negative I had with the movie were the few telegraphed jump-scares that the filmmakers threw in to remind us that this is supposed to be a horror movie, but thankfully there aren't too many of these present throughout the film.
Overall, this is a fun action/horror movie set against the backdrop of the Second World War that is a blast to sit through. There is plenty of cringe-inducing violence and gore created by mostly practical means that will scratch the horror itch that some audience members may be looking for and although this wasn't quite the movie that I was expecting going in based on the trailers, I can't say that I came away disappointed.
The movie opens with a fantastically shot plane crash sequence that manages to convey a sense of extreme intensity as Private Boyce jumps out the exploding plane that was carrying his squad and plummets to the ground below. This sequence also does a brilliant job of setting the tone of the movie that the audience can expect going forward.
Surprisingly, the Nazi zombie stuff doesn't actually make an appearance until about 1/3 into the movie and the first act is spent telling a more traditional and realistic war story and setting up the relationships between the characters that we are following. Even when we do start to see some of the weirder stuff taking place, it is fairly reserved in comparison to what you might be expecting. This isn't Dead Snow or Wolfenstein. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that it's underwhelming, the few amount of monstrosities that we actually get to see are impactful and feel genuinely threatening.
The cast are serviceable in their roles, even if they are fairly stereotypical. The stand out is Pilou Asbaek, who may know as the evil Euron Greyjoy from Game Of Thrones. Here, he plays the dastardly, villainous Nazi with a venomous snarl that really tells you everything that you need to know about his character and his intent.
The one negative I had with the movie were the few telegraphed jump-scares that the filmmakers threw in to remind us that this is supposed to be a horror movie, but thankfully there aren't too many of these present throughout the film.
Overall, this is a fun action/horror movie set against the backdrop of the Second World War that is a blast to sit through. There is plenty of cringe-inducing violence and gore created by mostly practical means that will scratch the horror itch that some audience members may be looking for and although this wasn't quite the movie that I was expecting going in based on the trailers, I can't say that I came away disappointed.
The Complete Short Stories: Volume One: Volume one
Book
The Complete Short Stories of Roald Dahl in the first of two unsettling and sinister volumes. 'They...
ClareR (5874 KP) rated Not Speaking in Books
Jun 14, 2019
Another great book chosen by The Pigeonhole (seriously, this app is ridiculously addictive). Norma Clarke tells us the story of her family. She grew up in the East End of London, the second eldest of six siblings, in a tiny flat. Her mother and father met in Greece at the end of the Second World War, and Rena came back to England after marrying Bill in Greece, and being able to speak very little English. It must have been really difficult for her.
There’s more to this than a family history though. Norma takes us through some of the social history of East London, Greek mythology (which explains some of her mother’s mindset, I think), and links some of he places she visits to her favourite authors.
It’s just such an interesting book. I wanted to know what happened to all of these people, why they weren’t speaking for one thing! It was truly a delight to read. She writes so descriptively: one minute you can’t believe that her mother can be so blunt and seemingly unfeeling (and therefore I rather disliked her for it), and the next minute, you realise she is as she is, and feel empathy for her. And during all of this, there is the rest of the family. They have their disagreements, yes, but ultimately they are family and they’re always there for one another when they are needed.
I really enjoyed this book. Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, and to Norma Clarke for reading along with us and answering questions.
There’s more to this than a family history though. Norma takes us through some of the social history of East London, Greek mythology (which explains some of her mother’s mindset, I think), and links some of he places she visits to her favourite authors.
It’s just such an interesting book. I wanted to know what happened to all of these people, why they weren’t speaking for one thing! It was truly a delight to read. She writes so descriptively: one minute you can’t believe that her mother can be so blunt and seemingly unfeeling (and therefore I rather disliked her for it), and the next minute, you realise she is as she is, and feel empathy for her. And during all of this, there is the rest of the family. They have their disagreements, yes, but ultimately they are family and they’re always there for one another when they are needed.
I really enjoyed this book. Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, and to Norma Clarke for reading along with us and answering questions.
Life Of Caesar
Podcast
On the 19th August, 14 CE, 767 years after the founding of Rome, nearly exactly 2001 years ago, the...
Jakob's Colours
Book
Inspired by the lost voices of the Romany Holocaust this heartbreaking and tender novel will appeal...
Rural and Regional Futures
Anthony Hogan and Young Michelle
Book
Agriculture, mining and related rural industries have been central to the development of Australia's...