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Bang in the Middle

Robert Shore

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Book

A book to put the Midlands back on the map. Everyone knows what they think of the North and South of...

Munnu: A Boy from Kashmir

Malik Sajad

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Book

A beautifully drawn graphic novel that illuminates the conflicted land of Kashmir, through a young...

Through the Ages

Games

10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

App

The official adaptation of Vlaada Chvátil’s strategy classic, the second best board game ever...

Boardgames BoardGameApp GreatGames

Merissa (12061 KP) rated Billionaire's Muse (The Billionaire’s Playground #3) in Books

Jul 13, 2021 (Updated Jul 17, 2023)

BILLIONAIRE'S MUSE is the third book in The Billionaire's Playground series but can be read as a standalone, as I did. This book revolves around Marcus, a famous photographer, and Fin, a university history student.

Fin is special - in that he doesn't have a filter and is a literal thinker. This has led to some less than satisfactory 'dates'. Marcus finds Fin completely refreshing and wants to treat him the way he should be, not the way he has been. Throw in two mums who have their own views of the world, add a cheeky nanna, and you have a book to lose yourself in.

This was a great book. The way Fin takes everything so literally made me realise just how much we say without it really meaning anything. I loved that Marcus found the situation funny without laughing or undermining Fin himself.

Marcus and Fin are helped (and sometimes hindered) by a wonderful supporting cast. This is book three and it really makes me want to read books one and two -- if only to see what Nanna gets up to!

A fantastic story that I thoroughly enjoyed and definitely recommend.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jul 13, 2021

Kudos

Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Toto's Tale in Books

Apr 27, 2018

Everyone knows the story of The Wizard of Oz... but since Toto couldn't talk, he never got his chance to tell the story. Now Toto tells what really happened in Oz after the windstorm that changed magical history. Toto becomes the main character in this story, and his mission is to save his pet girl and get her back to Kansas.

Toto's Tale was absolutely adorable. I fell in love with Toto right away. He has a wonderful personality and is very intelligent. Hays and Weidman did a very good job capturing the interior monologue of a dog who could not talk until this point. He was funny and a little quirky, and thought himself a lot bigger than he really was. But it only added to his charm.

Hilariously, Toto has a much better language than humans, and some of their words don't translate to dog-talk, so some of the human's dialogue is replaced with funny words that rhyme, or just the word "something." Along the way, they meet a straw man who says he needs some "trains," a Metal Man who needs a "cart," and a Big Cat who needs some "Porridge". They swallow the jello brick road to find the Lizard who will send them home.

The illustrations were adorable too. They were basic pen and ink drawings, one ever few chapters, displaying a lot of character. The supporting characters in the story like Happy the evil-turned-good Wolf, the bugs that Toto talks to, the Not-really-a-wizard, and the flying monkeys were quickly established and fun to read. As mentioned earlier, some of the dialogue of humans doesn't' translate to dog-talk, and the "something something"s got a little annoying after a while, but all in all I greatly enjoyed reading Toto's tale.

I loved Toto's tale and am going to get my little brother to read it when I go home for Christmas. It was a fast fun read.

Recommended for ages 6-14, and fun-loving teens and adults as well! A great Christmas gift for dog-lovers or Oz-lovers.

Review by Haley Mathiot, copyright 2010. Do not copy without permission. See policy, disclosure, and source at my blog (http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com) and full review here: (http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com/2010/12/review-and-tour-toto-tale.html)

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Peterloo (2018) in Movies

Nov 9, 2018 (Updated Nov 9, 2018)

Peterloo (2018)

2018 | Drama

6.3

(3 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Inescapably worthy costume drama sheds some light on a half-forgotten landmark in British political history, but in the process kind of comes across as Barry Lyndon as written by Jeremy Corbyn. Decent, heroic, possibly slightly naive reformers campaign to reform society; greedy and self-serving politicians, magistrates and businessmen unite to stop them; in the end the troops are sent in.

Not quite as punishingly didactic as it sounds, but this may not have been intentional: what may also have been an accident is how close the film frequently comes to being actually quite funny. There are some spectacular wigs and hats, startling accents, and very broad performances from most of the cast - it almost feels like a parody of a bad costume drama in places. There's a scene where a family of semi-literate mill-workers pause to discuss the economic effects of the Corn Laws in some detail, mostly for the audience's benefit, while another scene arguably recycles a Monty Python gag. Casting someone from Blackadder as the Prince Regent was probably a misstep, too.

Still, it all reeks with conviction and moral outrage, and in the end the Peterloo massacre itself is staged quite well - though I still think it could have been handled slightly more cinematically. This is the movie equivalent of someone who hands out the Socialist Worker in the street: the intentions are so laudable that you kind of feel obliged to indulge the earnest lack of self-awareness. Looks quite good too.