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The Cat's Table
The Cat's Table
Michael Ondaatje | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
With a style that floats like a cloud in the spring sky, Ondaatje brings us yet another beautiful piece of writing. The story of a boy traveling by ship from Sri Lanka to England. You can read my full review here https://tcl-bookreviews.com/2015/01/25/21-days-on-an-ocean-liner-with-an-11-year-old-boy/
  
Three Years (Gypsy Brothers, #5)
Three Years (Gypsy Brothers, #5)
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
3.5 stars, mainly because I missed Jase for a lot of this book and having to read about Dornan and his special brand of retribution *gips* wasn't pretty.

I am so intrigued by what will happen next with Jase and Julz, though, that I'm going to read book 6 as soon as I finish writing this review
  
Man on a Ledge (2012)
Man on a Ledge (2012)
2012 | Drama, Mystery
9
7.5 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Wow. That's all I can say. I had never seen this movie before. This was fantastic. It's absolutely brilliant. The writing of this film was superb and the casting of this film was great. Not to mention that the characters had very believable chemistry with each other on-screen. Loved this film and will definitely watch it again!
  
    Calligraphy 2017

    Calligraphy 2017

    Lifestyle and Education

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

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    Discover the World of Calligraphy and learn how to improve your Penmanship with this fabulous...

Late Night (2019)
Late Night (2019)
2019 | Comedy, Drama
Late Night is a well-written comedy about a non-white female hired to add diversity to the writing staff of a late night talk show. Katherine Newbury (Emma Thompson showing the comic skills developed during her university days as Hugh Laurie's girlfriend) is a older sophisticated woman who hosts a show whose audience is dying off, literally in some cases and figuratively. If things do not improve, she will no longer be host of her eponymous talk show. So, in an unexpected but obvious hiring decision, Molly Patel is hired to join the writing staff. At first, seen as an interloper with little comedy or writing experience, Molly uses her Mindy Kaling charm to win over her co-workers and her boss. As Katherine starts to see a way to take advantage of her uniqueness and the youth of Molly, she challenges the status quo of late night.
The movie is charming. The characters are developed and not cardboard cutouts of caricatures thanks to the writing, Max Casella, Reid Scott, Denis O'Hare, Hugh Dancy, Amy Ryan, and John Lithgow have backstories and motivations. However, the movie never really goes after the boys' club landscape that late night television inhabits nor does it go after the concept of diversity hires. It simply turns Molly into some sprite who sprinkles enthusiasm into the mundane lives of the people she encounters. Late Night also begins the campaign for John Lithgow as this year's Best Supporting Actor, Not for this role as the mentor for Molly's transformation to strong woman and devoted husband of Katherine who learns the meaning of karma, but for his role later this year as Roger Ailes.
  
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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated The Last Piece of My Heart in Books

Aug 26, 2019 (Updated Sep 3, 2019)  
The Last Piece of My Heart
The Last Piece of My Heart
Paige Toon | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
7
9.0 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Paige Toon has always been an author I'll buy. I've pretty much read all of her books apart from her last two or three--which I own but haven't gotten around to reading yet. I always tend to find Toon's books easy to get through and once I start, it's a case of full steam ahead.

So Bridget is a travel journalist who is also writing a blog about reclaiming the pieces of her heart that she lost to past boyfriends who she fell in love with, flying all over the world to meet up with them and asking for the pieces back. At the same time, she's been tasked with finishing writing a sequel to a bestselling novel after the author died suddenly half way through writing it.

It was interesting to read the authors journals and to see that a lot of her story was based on her own experiences when she was younger. I enjoyed Bridget's time getting to know Nicki--the author who had sadly passed away--through the stories told in notebooks and from her husband, Charlie.

Then there's Nicki and Charlie's baby daughter, April. I've got a serious weakness for cute babies/children in stories. She's used as a pretty focal character in the book and I think, like Bridget, that we start to fall in love with her from early on.

I think Toon did a good job of writing a grieving husband (and other family members) and the tenderness of finding new love after such a big loss.

I'm looking forward to reading those other books I mentioned above.
  
The Lord of the Rings
The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien | 1954 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.5 (64 Ratings)
Book Rating
A good core story (2 more)
Some of the characters
World-building
The songs (2 more)
The overfocus and over wordiness of the battle scenes
Writing style left me cold
A classic, but not my favorite fantasy by a long shot.
I have reread these and enjoyed them more the second time around, mostly because I felt justified in skipping bits about battle details and the songs (and most of anything to do with the humans, really)

I know that Tolkien was a linguist, and even made up a usable language for the elves, so it rather baffles me that the writing seems so flat. I can only conjecture that it is matter of perfecting language rather than using it as a tool for evoking something in the reader. I am guessing it is just a difference of preferences.
  
Halo: Last Light
Halo: Last Light
Troy Denning | 2015 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
9
9.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Writing Style (2 more)
Engaging Characters
A Good Mix of Combat, Crime and Mystery
Reveal of the Criminal was Anticlimactic (0 more)
Definitely Worth the Read
Definitely worth the read, I enjoyed the style of writing and the characters were very engaging. I haven't read a Halo book yet that has disappointed so I have high hopes for the next one on my list. What I liked about this one was that it wasn't just solely about combat it actually had an element of mystery and crime to it which made it interesting. I felt the reveal of the criminal was anticlimactic which was a little disappointing for me but I enjoyed the ending none the less. It was an enjoyable read, I'd recommend it to sci-fi readers and crime fic readers alike.