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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2165 KP) rated Murder at the Mena House in Books

Apr 2, 2020

Deadly Trip to Egypt

Jane Wunderfly, a war widow, is accompanying her aunt Millie on a trip to Egypt in 1926. She has always dreamed to seeing the Great Pyramids, so this trip is a dream come true. The only hiccup might be her aunt’s not so subtle attempts at matchmaking. That is, until she has some run ins with Anna Stainton, a beautiful socialite who has decided Jane is a rival. When Jane finds Anna’s dead body, the local police think Jane has a good motive for murder. Reluctantly teaming up with the mysterious Mr. Redvers, Jane begins to hunt for the real killer. Can she figure out what happened?

This book is fun, and it captured me from the first couple of sentences. Jane, Redvers, and the rest are a delight to spend time around. I definitely laughed at some of Jane and Redvers’s scenes together. Yet the characters do have layers, and I enjoyed seeing those emerge as the book progressed. I was having so much fun, it took me a while to see the plot was a little weak. While there are clues and twists, it felt like we could have used a few more of them. Still, the writing kept the pages turning, and the climax was suspenseful. I enjoyed this debut, and I’m very curious to find out where Jane goes next.

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Making Amulets Christian: Artefacts, Scribes, and Contexts

Theodore de Bruyn

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Book

Making Amulets Christian: Artefacts, Scribes, and Contexts examines Greek amulets with Christian...

Antony and Cleopatra

Adrian Goldsworthy

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Book

The epic story of one of the most famous love affairs in history, by the bestselling author of...

Saudi Arabia: A Kingdom in Peril

Paul Aarts and Carolien Roelants

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Book

The Saudi royal family has survived the events of the Arab Spring intact and unscathed. Any major...

David McK (3372 KP) rated X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) in Movies

Apr 26, 2019

X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

2016 | Action, Sci-Fi

6.6

(72 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Third entry in the 'new' X-men series (that started with the 60s set First Class, then had the cross-generational Days of Future Pay bringing both sets of X-men into the one film), so probably about sixth overall (or seventh if you included the spin offs), this is set in an alternate 1980s and is actually surprisingly unengaging.

Unlike the time travel shenanigans of the previous film (and the Sentinels), Wolverine only makes a cameo in this while the 'big bad' is actually the worlds first mutant who - in the prologue - gets buried in ancient Egypt.

Unlike the Marvel universe films, however, Quicksilver survives in this!

Kudos

Erika (17788 KP) rated The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution in Books

Feb 16, 2020

I wasn't sure what to expect of this book. Was it a memoir of the author? A history of the Arab Spring? A history of archaeology in Egypt?
Well, it was all of the above, and I'm not sure I dug it. I minored in archaeology, so that was the main reason I read it. I knew somewhat of the Geo-political situation in that area of the world, but I avoid a lot of current events.
Don't get me wrong, Hessler is a great writer. However, I didn't sign up for a memoir.
It was an interesting mesh of all three subjects, I'm not sure it strictly worked.