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Why Therapy Works: Using Our Minds to Change Our Brains

Louis Cozolino

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Book

That psychotherapy works is a basic assumption of anyone who sees a therapist. But why does it work?...

ClareR (5879 KP) rated Hamnet in Books

Sep 26, 2020

Hamnet

Maggie O'Farrell | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry

8.4

(5 Ratings)

Book Rating

I think this has probably made it to the top of my favourite books of the year. How can this possibly be topped by anything else?

Hamnet is an imagining of what could have happened to Shakespeare’s son - even in the parish records it doesn’t say what his cause of death was. Maggie O’Farrell makes this version completely plausible though: plague should have been a real threat at this time. It killed indiscriminately: young and old, rich and poor, weak and strong. They were all vulnerable to illnesses with no cures. I’m something of an emotional reader at the best of times, but as Agnes, Hamnet’s mother, was preparing her son for burial, I was crying in to my breakfast. My 16 year old son looked at me over the top of his bacon butty and said:”Another sad bookthen, Mum?”, and shook his head. To read of a mother and her dead son, and see my 13 and 16 year old sons merrily tucking in to their bacon sandwiches, may not have been the ideal time to be reading this.

This is the kind of book that makes you really look at how precarious life was in those times, and how lucky we are today to have so few worries on this scale (Covid-19 aside!).

The writing is so beautiful, so descriptive and emotive: it picks you up and sets you down squarely in Elizabethan Stratford, making you feel exactly how Agnes must have felt. Honestly, it broke my heart to read of her pain.

If you haven’t read this yet, you’re in for a treat. This deserves ALL the awards.

Kudos

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Releasing The Gods (The Titan's Saga #1) in Books

Jan 11, 2021

This review and more can be found at my blog

https://aromancereadersreviews.blogspot.com

A Romance Reader's Reviews

This has been borrowed from the Kindle Unlimited Library.

So this has a pretty quick start. Maisy is celebrating her twenty first birthday with her work colleagues on the beach and is double dared to go up the cliff to the haunted cave at its top, cutting her hand on a sharp rock on the way up. Tripping as she enters the cave, her bloody hand presses against the rock wall and the wall opens to reveal an almost seven foot mountain of a man - Cronus, a Titan - who's been imprisoned for the last 1000 years. After freeing the Titan she now finds herself with a complicated life bond connecting them together meaning they can't be more than five feet apart without agonizing pain which leads to some fun scenes.

I like how the authors integrated social media into this. It is a very big thing in the world today so to see a character who uses it regularly and wants to use it to become famous was rather realistic but I have to admit the self proclaimed hashtag queen used far too many hashtags mentally for me.

Also I think Maisy's name changes how it's spelt somewhere in this book. According to the description above it's spelt Maisy but I couldn't truly tell you if it begins like that and changes to Maisey but since about the 50%-ish mark that's how I've noticed it's been written.

I enjoyed this despite the #hashtags and will be continuing the series when more have been released.

Kudos

Troll Face Quest TV Shows

Games and Entertainment

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App

The ultimate pranking game is back with a new victim of choice: TV shows! With more than 50 million...

The Keepers - Season 1

8.3 (29 Ratings) Rate It

TV Season Watch

From director Ryan White (The Case Against 8, Good Ol’ Freda) comes The Keepers, a riveting...

True crime crime documentary

Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Look Away (2018) in Movies

Sep 1, 2020

Look Away (2018)

2018 | Thriller

5.3

(3 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Maria appears to be a bit of a loner and very quiet with low self confidence and no friends. Fairly soon into the movie, whilst pleasuring herself (which I thought made no sense to have in the movie) she notices her reflection is seemingly alive. This freaks her out but she brushes it off and goes about her life. Eventually her reflection Airam calls out to her and they engage in conversation, nothing overly interesting and Maria goes about her life again, by this time I was ready to give up on the movie as nothing interesting was happening. There are a few more exchanges between Maria and Airam, and we soon discover just how controlling Maria's dad is when he offers her plastic surgery! Seriously, who does that to their child!? Eventually Airam makes Maria realise what the people in her life are really like and offers to take away her pain. Finally after almost an hour into the movie, the main plot of the story happens. Maria and Airam switch places, and Airam seeks revenge on all who hurt Maria.
It wasn't a terrible film, it just took way too long to start properly. you kind of route for Airam and understand why she does the things she does, to be honest I did feel sorry for her. At the same time though there's not much to go on. We know Airam was left to die because of her deformity, but I was hoping for an explanation from their dad, or for mum to realise it wasn't Maria anymore, but again nothing whatsoever and the ending gave more questions than answers.