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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy by Kanye West
2010 | Rhythm And Blues
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I love every album by Kanye, and I covered part of "Heartless" from the 808s & Heartbreak album [in]. But if I had to pick just one, I would pick My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I remember listening to it for the first time, and it was like a proper, physical shock. It still feels really modern. It sums up everything I love about Kanye: excess, the production, memory, the future. It's comic, it's tragic, it's extravagant—and at the centre there's this one voice, and it's an angry man battling his demons. It's very much an album in format, as well—I wouldn't choose just one song. It's an experience. Sometimes I forget about this album, voluntarily, and I go back to it and discover something else. It's like a hydra, with a hundred heads."

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Beth Orton recommended Still Bill by Bill Withers in Music (curated)

 
Still Bill by Bill Withers
Still Bill by Bill Withers
1972 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I love Bill Withers and this is my favourite Bill Withers record. Again, it's about the rhythm section. It has the most beautiful songs, but also the most incredible rhythm. This is just a particularly good selection of songs - you've got 'Use Me' on there, which is a classic, and that would be the first song I'd ever heard by him, when I was really young, like 12, in the clubs in Norwich - [adopts Norfolk accent] "excuse me, have you got 'Use Me'?". But now 'Kissing My Love' is pretty much my favourite song on that record. It's just beautiful, beautiful music: a beautiful, beautiful man, incredible singing, but also something you can actually have a dance too. What more can you ask than that? It covers all bases."

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Pete Fowler recommended Sailor by Steve Miller in Music (curated)

 
Sailor by Steve Miller
Sailor by Steve Miller
1968 | Rock
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This was the point where Steve Miller set up his own studio and started recording in his own time. He lost himself in that process. I love his take on music – it's his own brand of psychedelia. It's very blissful on one hand, very groovy on the other. He created his own musical world and almost ends up referencing himself rather than taking influences from other people. I love it when an artist has a feedback loop to their own music. The first track, 'Song For Our Ancestors', is the one for me. It's soundtrack-y, incredibly evocative. It starts with a giant foghorn and this beautiful tremolo guitar that seems to emerge from the mists. Again, it's taking you somewhere, imagining this other world, albeit rooted in history rather than just imagination."

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Rachel Unthank recommended Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens in Music (curated)

 
Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens
Illinoise by Sufjan Stevens
2005 | Country
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"This could possibly be my favourite ever album. I first heard it through Adrian's dad, who's a massive music…I was going to say "freak", but let's say "fan" [laughs]. He's one of those people whose passion for music is relentless. This reminds me of the early days of the band being together, and we all fell in love with it together. And what I love most about it is that every time I go back to it, it's like I haven't finished with it. It's so layered in its music and its storytelling – there's so much going on. I feel like I'm going on a different adventure every time I listen to it. It's like this ever-changing kaleidoscope of colours to get lost in. That's a perfect record to me.
"

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Destiny Binds (Timber Wolves #1)
Destiny Binds (Timber Wolves #1)
Tammy Blackwell | 2019 | Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A decent read
Scout Donovan is a girl who believes in rules, logic, and her lifelong love of Charlie Hagan. Alex Cole believes in destiny, magic, and Scout. When Alex introduces Scout to the world of Shifters, men who change into wolves or coyotes during the full moon and Seers, women who can see your most private thoughts and emotions with a mere touch, the knowledge changes everything and everyone Scout thought she knew.

<strong>A decent read</strong>

This was Twilight without the vampires only better written. Don't get me wrong I like the twilight books but this just had the edge. It felt a little but rushed in places but for a first in the series it definitely made me want to continue reading.

Love triangle that ends in tragedy!

⭐⭐⭐



  
    Gold by Dr Hook

    Gold by Dr Hook

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Album

    Crimson presents Dr. Hook 'Gold', the only Dr. Hook compilation you'll ever need. Formed in New...

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Veronica Pena (690 KP) rated Thirteen Reasons Why in Books

Jan 6, 2020 (Updated Jan 31, 2020)  
Thirteen Reasons Why
Thirteen Reasons Why
Jay Asher | 2009 | Children
10
8.4 (49 Ratings)
Book Rating
I first read this novel almost 7 years ago, I think. Maybe 8. Either way, it's been a decent amount of time since I last read this book and to be honest, I've been really nervous to revisit it. I know that there is a lot of controversy about it, and even more when it comes to the show, and ever since I first read the book, I've always been very protective of this story, these characters, this novel, all of it.

I find it incredibly amusing to read reviews of the show and the book of people that hate it and don't understand Hannah and think she just blamed everyone else and never took responsibility for her actions, and I partially understand. I can see why they think that but I think what makes this book so special and this story so special is how relatable it is. I think that unless you've been in Hannah's shoes, in her mindset, in that place than you can't understand. I think what people are most afraid to admit is that when someone dies by suicide, they do it for a culmination of reasons, and a lot of them are because of people - what they said, what they did or didn't do, what they say behind another person's back, etc. You hear stories in the news all the time about kids dying by suicide because they were bullied or because a bunch of people told them too, over and over and over again. People are mean and cruel and they do things that affect other people and it resonates. Each of the 13 people on her tapes all played a part. You can say she was blaming them or whatever you so please, but each of their actions created the circumstances for her to feel like she had nowhere else to go.

Again, I love this book. I love these characters, I love this plot, I love how real it is. I love the show, I love everything about it. I'm sure there are people who disagree with me. I'm sure there are people who vehemently protest this novel and its corresponding series, but I think this is a book that I will forever love, reread, and protect.

In a lot of ways, I am Hannah Baker. I think everyone is a little bit.
  
Twilight (Twilight, #1)
Twilight (Twilight, #1)
Stephenie Meyer | 2005 | Paranormal, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
7
6.8 (160 Ratings)
Book Rating
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Fantasy, Paranormal, Fiction, Supernatural.

Type: Book one (1) of the Twilight Saga

Audience/ Reading Level: 14+

Interests: Vampires, Supernatural, Fantasy, Romance, Action.

Point of View: Third Person

Promise: A love story between a pair of star-crossed lovers whose forbidden relationship ripens against the backdrop of small-town suspicion and a mysterious coven of vampires.

Insights: I did a buddy read for a reread through of Twilight with a good friend of mine and boy, am I glad I reread it! I’ve always loved The Twilight Saga. But rereading it as an adult, really made me appreciate it a bit more. Yes, there were some grammatical errors that took away from the surrounding text and there were some parts that I found a bit of a bore. All in all, I fell in love with the love story between Edward and Bella again and really grew to appreciate the Cullen’s as a family.

I was surprised that I had quite a few different favorite parts that weren’t my favorite parts before. And I’m tremendously surprised that some of the parts that I loved when I first read Twilight, were actually still my favorite parts. It goes to show that a novel can be appreciated many years later, even though your opinions and tastes change.

Favorite Quotes: “I’d never given much thought to how I would die – though I’d had reason enough in the last few months – but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.”

“You don’t care if I’m a monster? If I’m not human?”

“About three things I was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was part of him and I didn’t know how potent that part might be – that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

“He looks at you like… like you’re something to eat.”

“No coffins, no piled skulls in the corners; I don’t even think we have cobwebs… what a disappointment this must be for you.”

“Could you believe that, despite everything I’ve put you through, I love you, too?”

What will you gain?: A love story with a bite!

Aesthetics: I’ve always loved the simple and minimalistic cover on Twilight. The story was also a very easy read to get into and I enjoyed the love story (and action!) that took place throughout the novel.

“You are only human after all.”