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Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House
Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House
Michael Wolff | 2018 | History & Politics
6
5.8 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book is incredibly difficult to read if like me you are from the UK and don’t know much about the finer points of US Politics. However, if you persevere it gives us an inside look at Trump and the team behind him who are apparently the brains behind the clueless man himself. It really is a rather frightening read as it’s real life and if it is to be believed then an imbecile is in charge of the most powerful country in the world. I’m not sure what to make of it - I really don’t want to believe it as it is nightmare inducing but a lot of it rings true. Michael Wolff paints a very concerning picture of what is happening within the White House.
  
Viticulture Essential Edition
Viticulture Essential Edition
2015 | Economic, Farming
Viticulture: Essential Edition Review
Viticulture: Essential Edition is one of the most polished, professional board game packages I’ve ever seen. From the perfectly sized box to the phenomenal graphic design to the most succinct and clear rulebook I have ever read, Stonemaier games have gone above and beyond to provide a quality product.

Beyond the beautiful presentation lies a fantastic worker placement game that is a lot more interesting than its closest popular peers–Stone Age and Lords of Waterdeep. While perhaps a half-step more complicated than those two games, Viticulture has the advantage of being more thematically cohesive.

Original Rating: 8/10
Reviewer: Marc Davis
Read the full review here: http://thethoughtfulgamer.com/2017/06/02/viticulture-essential-edition-review/
  
Troyes
Troyes
2010 | Dice Game, Economic, Medieval
Now for Something Really Old: Troyes
I love this game. Let’s get that out of the way. I know a lot of people are claiming JASE (Just Another Soul-less Euro) with this one, and it certainly does not have that wonderful thematic feeling that some are looking for in their games. But, for me, it provides scads of really interesting decisions and strategies, while including dice (which I love when done well) and a variability that really amps up the replayability. I adore the art, on the cards as well as the board, and it scales well for player number.

Reviewer: Lucas Hedgren
Read the full review here: https://opinionatedgamers.com/2012/03/05/now-for-something-really-old-troyes/
  
Space Alert
Space Alert
2008 | Electronic, Real-time, Science Fiction, Space
Any regular reader of Board Game Quest probably knows by now my love for cooperative board games. Much likes playing the game of Craps in the casino, it’s a lot of fun to have a group of people working together towards a common goal. You win together, you lose together. Thus, enter the newest cooperative board game to get reviewed here: Space Alert.
It also has the honor of being, spoiler alert, my absolute favorite cooperative board game on the market today. Space Alertcombines chaotic real time game mechanics with cooperative game play for what amounts to a really fun experience.

Original Rating: 4.5/5
Reviewer: Tony Mastrangeli
Read the full review here: https://www.boardgamequest.com/space-alert-board-game-review/
  
Oliver and the Seawigs
Oliver and the Seawigs
Sarah McIntyre, Philip Reeve | 2014 | Children
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Oliver's parents are retiring from exploring, and Oliver is looking forward to living a life in one location and making friends. However, they haven't even spent one night in their new home when his parents set off to explore some islands before they and the islands disappear.

This is a transitional book from easy readers to chapter books, and it's a lot of fun. The illustrations are great, the story is fast moving, and the characters are fun and creative. In other words, it's perfect for the target 2-5 grade audience.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2014/07/book-review-oliver-and-seawigs-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
This book keep my interest throughout the whole book. I love how it tell that Evan travels to figure out his trouble and learns along the way. I really love it that it took him back to where his family had kin. It really tell me that Evan started to understand and grow up. Though he lost his first love it really was not real love that he was thinking of.

Claire learn to trust and not judge. She raises her little brother Ian. She makes some decision to marry and move with Evan back to his farm. She has lot to learn as well. There are few things that happens that make me want to have her understand. She does something that threaten her marriage.
  
51st State
51st State
2010 | Card Game, City Building, Economic, Science Fiction
I thought this game was really well done. There is a lot of resource managing, and what you don't spend a the end of the round is put back in the communal pool, so there is some trickiness to that, but I think this helps keep the game even. I like that each faction has its own strengths to help that person win the game. The theme is done well and is really carried through the entire game. The game is played in rounds. Each person takes one action until everyone has passed. In the beginning of the game, the rounds go quickly as there aren't many options, but as the game progresses, you accumulate resources and actions to go with them.
  
This book had a lot of very insightful articles on the US-Mexico border and the borderlands. I always find it fascinating to see the different points of view about the border--specifically how the United States sees it as opposed to how Mexico sees it. This book has six articles that I had to read for my film class about the borderlands. Seeing how specifically films deal with issues involved in immigration is very interesting. I enjoyed being shown examples throughout history to see how culture adapted and changed their views on immigrants and border policy. I think the most insightful article, for me, was "The Celluloid Immigrant" by Victor Alejandro Sorrell because it hits on many of the issues we still see today.
  
OL
On Liberty and Other Essays
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I am not a fan of reading essays. Though they give interesting views, they are not entertaining in the slightest. I was more intrigued by the last essay out of all of them which is called "The Subjection of Women." It seems as if he is a feminist of the Victorian era, which is very cool to be able to see. He has a lot of good ideas in there that are still very relevant today. Out of all of these essays, I would recommend this one out of all of them.

The one thing I didn't like about any of these essays is that they are all very repetitive. They seem to say the same thing over and over again which gets very boring, very quickly.
  
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
Despicable Me 3 (2017)
2017 | Animation, Comedy
An unnecessary sequel
It's getting to be a shame that they keep making these films. The first one was great, the second alright and the standalone Minions film was terrible. Sadly this third film is nothing to write home about.

It's not terrible, it's just missing the magic from the original film. Bratt is admittedly a fun bad guy and the 80s theme is actually quite entertaining. It's just a shame that the rest of the film is a little lacklustre and almost boring. There's not a lot of humour, and the minions aren't featured as much as they used to which is a bad move. It's just an entirely unnecessary sequel, and I really wish they had just left it after the first film.