The Xi Jinping Era: His Comprehensive Strategy Toward the China Dream
Cheng Liu, Xingwang Ying, Xingwang Zhou and Huosheng Tan
Book
China's development has entered a new phase since the era of Mao and Deng Xiaoping. Its GDP has...
You Were Never Really Here
Book
A hammer was Joe's favourite weapon. He was his father's son, after all Soon to become a film...
NYPD Green: The True Story of an Irish Detective Working in One of the Toughest Police Departments in the World
Book
'Luke Waters had more than 20 years on the job. What he saw, what he heard and what he did will make...
ClareR (5864 KP) rated Tall Bones in Books
Apr 6, 2021
Abi and Emma are best friends, and when Emma leaves Abi, at Abi’s request, at a party at the Tall Bones, she expects to see her the next day. Except she doesn’t. Abi goes missing, seemingly without a trace. Everyone and no one is suspected of her disappearance. After all, her father, Samuel, is a thug and a bully, her mother is clearly beaten regularly, as are her children - why wouldn’t she run away?
To be honest, after reading this I couldn’t understand why any of the young people stayed in Whistling Ridge - unless their world view is like that of their, largely speaking, bigoted parents.
This book is shocking - a real kick in the guts type of story. And it’s not a one off kick. I hated 99% of the characters by the end: and this is the bit where I say how much I enjoyed reading it. Yes, here we are again with my love of the horrible characters. It’s easy to like nice characters, not so easy to get enjoyment out of the dark and evil types (or is it?!😈).
Either way it’s an atmospheric, dark, fascinating novel. And I loved it.
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole for serialising this fabulous novel.
Felony Blues by Jaime Wyatt
Album Watch
The title of Jaime Wyatt's newest release Felony Blues is a nod to records like David Allan Coe's...
country
A Burning
Book
A girl walks through the slums of Kolkata holding an armful of books. She returns home smelling of...
L.A. Noire
7.8
Rate It
Video Game Watch
Amid the post-war boom of Hollywood's Golden Age, Cole Phelps, an LAPD detective is thrown headfirst...
Action Adventure
Bootleggers
8.0
Rate It
Tabletop Game
It's January 1921. Prohibition has been in effect for a year, and it looks like the 18th Amendment...
Boardgames MafiaGames ProhibitionGames
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Freak Show ( Harem of Freaks book 1) in Books
Jan 27, 2022
Kindle
Freak Show ( Harem of Freaks book 1)
By Crystal Ash
Who knew cages and freaks would set me free?
Growing up in trailer trash hell, the carnival was my only happy memory as a child. I held onto the magic of that memory until I could finally escape. And like Alice down the rabbit hole, I entered a world beyond my wildest dreams. A world with a shiny, colorful exterior, but filled with rot and corruption underneath.
But no matter what these people put me through, I can’t go back to my life before.
The man with the biggest secret is the only one I can trust. He’s dangerous, but he’s safety to me. He’s broken, but he put me back together. I’ll keep his secret. My heart hopes he’ll keep me. But in a hall of mirrors, how do you know what’s real or an illusion?
Every grueling night onstage is building up to a final show: The Wolf Man. Is he real or a hoax? Why do I feel such a pull to find out his truth?
Care to join me on this wild ride? Step right up.
I love this author she always manages to make me smile while reading. This was set in a carnival environment which I also love reading it had an unlikely hero that came through despite his disability a plucky heroine and some werewolf action what’s not to love? Definitely recommend it took me an hour to fly through as I couldn’t put it down.
Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao in Books
Oct 29, 2017 (Updated Oct 29, 2017)
Labelled 'a masterpiece' by critics, the book follows the life of Oscar de Leon, or as some know him as Oscar Wao, from the perspective of the people that know him. From the title you can expect something interesting happened to him to reduce his lifespan and this definitely is the case.
Through his friend Yunior and sister Lola's accounts, they delve into the history of the Dominican Republic where they were originally from before settling in New York. Fuku or a curse, plays a big role in this book, as the de Leon family believed they had faced many misfortunes over the generations and ghetto nerd Oscar was no exception. In between the chaos of murder and corruption, were several love stories that went awry.
And while some of it was interesting, and you need a good grasp of Spanish, the footnotes became irritating filling several half pages to explain the historical context. To be honest, apart from the grandmother La Inca, and sister Lola, most of the characters were unlikable - the idiotic things they'll do for love are astounding. The language was rich, but the structure seemed slightly convoluted, as if the writer had attempted to keep a scheme in place but it still leaked everywhere. While some of it is engaging, I'm really not sure how this won the Pulitzer.