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ClareR (5589 KP) rated The Leviathan in Books
Feb 3, 2023
It’s 1643 and Thomas Treadwater has returned home injured from the Civil War. His father’s farm is in Norfolk, and his sister sent Thomas a letter, accusing their maidservant of bewitching their religious father. When Thomas arrives on the family land, it is to the sight of dead livestock, a sick father (a stroke), and a servant held responsible for both occurrences by way of witchcraft. Thomas doesn’t believe in witchcraft though, and decides to investigate what has happened for himself.
This beautiful story really does evoke the time: how women were regarded as witches if they knew too much, looked to beautiful, looked too ugly, or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I enjoyed reading about their thoughts on religion, philosophy and how the law worked. There was even a part for John Milton himself.
There are secrets galore, a shipwreck and a real leviathan. The menace seems to be constantly radiating off the page in this dark (and it felt to me) grey and damp time!
Recommended.
This beautiful story really does evoke the time: how women were regarded as witches if they knew too much, looked to beautiful, looked too ugly, or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. I enjoyed reading about their thoughts on religion, philosophy and how the law worked. There was even a part for John Milton himself.
There are secrets galore, a shipwreck and a real leviathan. The menace seems to be constantly radiating off the page in this dark (and it felt to me) grey and damp time!
Recommended.
https://diaryofdifference.com/2018/04/04/the-canadian-alternative-cartoonists-comics-and-graphic-novels-dominick-grace-editor-eric-hoffman-editor-review/
A huge thanks to the author for sending me this book for an honest review through Netgalley.
I started read this book with no knowledge about the background of comics, especially for Canada. I have always loved comics, but never really read anything that speaks behind the scenes of how it started, what is the philosophy behind it.
I expected this book to teach me a lot of new things, and help me see the world in a different point of view, and I wasn’t disappointing at all. This is not a book that will deprive you from your sleep at night – in fact, it is one of those books where you read to learn, and it might seem boring at times, but that is only because it is full with information at all times. Wonderful read.
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A huge thanks to the author for sending me this book for an honest review through Netgalley.
I started read this book with no knowledge about the background of comics, especially for Canada. I have always loved comics, but never really read anything that speaks behind the scenes of how it started, what is the philosophy behind it.
I expected this book to teach me a lot of new things, and help me see the world in a different point of view, and I wasn’t disappointing at all. This is not a book that will deprive you from your sleep at night – in fact, it is one of those books where you read to learn, and it might seem boring at times, but that is only because it is full with information at all times. Wonderful read.
<a href="https://diaryofdifference.com/">Blog</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/diaryofdifference/">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://twitter.com/DiaryDifference">Twitter</a> | <a href="http://innahcrazy.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a> | <a href="https://www.instagram.com/diaryofdifference/">Instagram</a> | <a href="https://www.pinterest.co.uk/diaryofdifference/pins/">Pinterest</a> |
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Marylegs (44 KP) rated Call Me By Your Name in Books
Aug 14, 2019
So I heard lots of good things about this book. It was being (has been) made into a film. So I thought I'll give this a go. And after the effort it was to read this book, all I can say is, meh.
The were elements I really enjoyed, where I started to go "Ooo its starting to get good" and then I would be dragged back into really abstract ways to describe the scene. I honestly don't mind a bit of well done descriptions of visuals of feeling etc. But this just felt pointless. I think its a very, arty, type of writing and honestly its just not my cup of tea.
The story as a whole, is interesting and would normally be my cup of tea. Over a beautiful hot summer in Italy a young professor finishing off his philosophy book and the son of the people housing him in Italy begin a romantic affair in secret. The concept of the story brilliant and refreshingly new. The execution... honestly, not my style and the writing style really stopped me following the story easily. I just like a bit more instant gratification from my books.
The were elements I really enjoyed, where I started to go "Ooo its starting to get good" and then I would be dragged back into really abstract ways to describe the scene. I honestly don't mind a bit of well done descriptions of visuals of feeling etc. But this just felt pointless. I think its a very, arty, type of writing and honestly its just not my cup of tea.
The story as a whole, is interesting and would normally be my cup of tea. Over a beautiful hot summer in Italy a young professor finishing off his philosophy book and the son of the people housing him in Italy begin a romantic affair in secret. The concept of the story brilliant and refreshingly new. The execution... honestly, not my style and the writing style really stopped me following the story easily. I just like a bit more instant gratification from my books.
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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Long War in Books
Nov 20, 2019
Taking up the story a generation after the events in The Long Earth, this book investigates the impact of human expansion on the races that already inhabit the stepwise worlds, in particular the Trolls and Beagles.
As with human colonisation throughout history, mankind has embraced the Long Earth and made the assumption that it is 'theirs' to do with as they want. And as history shows, this usually doesn't end well for the existing natives.
This then is an exploration of this in the context of the Long Earth, the potential for conflict arising from both mankind and the other sentient races and raising questions about how to co-exist. The title is a little misleading as there is no war as such, but it does set the tone.
As with the first book, the main interest in this is with the investigation of the different Earths that can be conceived, and how sentient races could be very different from us not only physically but also in their social norms, philosophy and ambitions.
This didn't measure up to the first book but it's not a bad sequel by any means
As with human colonisation throughout history, mankind has embraced the Long Earth and made the assumption that it is 'theirs' to do with as they want. And as history shows, this usually doesn't end well for the existing natives.
This then is an exploration of this in the context of the Long Earth, the potential for conflict arising from both mankind and the other sentient races and raising questions about how to co-exist. The title is a little misleading as there is no war as such, but it does set the tone.
As with the first book, the main interest in this is with the investigation of the different Earths that can be conceived, and how sentient races could be very different from us not only physically but also in their social norms, philosophy and ambitions.
This didn't measure up to the first book but it's not a bad sequel by any means
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Star Trek Adventures in Tabletop Games
Apr 26, 2020
The latest in a very long line of Star Trek role-playing games is also one of the best. You too can don the velour jumpsuit of a Starfleet officer, explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilisations, etc. Not a good choice if you are looking for a generic science fiction roleplaying experience, as the game is specifically designed to replicate the feel and philosophy of classic Star Trek - phasering the opposition into submission is unlikely to work, using your brains and working together should produce better results.
The basic system is sound and relatively straightforward, with players and GMs having a number of ways to influence the action. However, some of the more complex mechanics and systems do take a little bit of effort to get your head around (it's generally worth it though), and I wouldn't want to embark upon even a simple ship-to-ship combat engagement without everyone involved having some kind of cheat sheet to hand. I'm not sure how many people will be looking for a 'classic' Star Trek role-playing experience, but for those who are, this is a very good bet.
The basic system is sound and relatively straightforward, with players and GMs having a number of ways to influence the action. However, some of the more complex mechanics and systems do take a little bit of effort to get your head around (it's generally worth it though), and I wouldn't want to embark upon even a simple ship-to-ship combat engagement without everyone involved having some kind of cheat sheet to hand. I'm not sure how many people will be looking for a 'classic' Star Trek role-playing experience, but for those who are, this is a very good bet.
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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Upgrade (2018) in Movies
Feb 25, 2021
Probably the most interesting of the three here by some way, Upgrade comes at the angle of cybernetic amendments to human capability in an almost, but not quite, original way. It postures and ponders a lot of pseudo-science and cod philosophy before getting to the bits people are going mad for: the fight scenes, which are indeed jaw dropping, feel new and are brutally graphic enough to amuse even the most hardcore gamer. Trouble is… this makes it almost a torture-porn movie, because the only real thrills are in the grossness of the violence. The acting is of negligible importance, because character and plot are not that important to the success of Upgrade as a spectacle. It feels cheap and B movie grade in places, which of course it is. If you enjoy seeing impressive things done with less than a premium budget then this could be worth watching. But… there is a nastiness and a somewhat teenage / pothead vibe to it that ruins anything remotely good. It is also shamelessly derivative. Not bad then, but by no means good, or properly recommended.
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Dana (24 KP) rated The Consolation of Philosophy in Books
Mar 23, 2018
This is more of a 3.5 than just a 3.
This was a very insightful book about how people of this time period worked through their thinking processes as well as how they dealt with the concepts of God.
While reading this in tandem with Dante's Inferno, I was able to understand Inferno a lot more than if I had read it on its own.
Boethius explains many difficult concepts relatively clearly. (These concepts were made even more clear by my professor of Italian 150 [The Divine Comedy] rooting the concepts in examples from today)
Many of the concepts are repeated often, so they are driven home, but this also means that they get a bit boring. I found myself wanting to skim more as the book went along because it was saying the same thing for what seemed the millionth time.
I enjoyed how each Prose section has a brief blurb about the main concepts it was going to talk about. This made it easier to prepare myself for the upcoming reading.
The characters, Boethius and Lady Philosophy, felt a little too preachy for me at times, but they were talking about religion, so I guess it worked.
Overall, it was very insightful and interesting to read.
This was a very insightful book about how people of this time period worked through their thinking processes as well as how they dealt with the concepts of God.
While reading this in tandem with Dante's Inferno, I was able to understand Inferno a lot more than if I had read it on its own.
Boethius explains many difficult concepts relatively clearly. (These concepts were made even more clear by my professor of Italian 150 [The Divine Comedy] rooting the concepts in examples from today)
Many of the concepts are repeated often, so they are driven home, but this also means that they get a bit boring. I found myself wanting to skim more as the book went along because it was saying the same thing for what seemed the millionth time.
I enjoyed how each Prose section has a brief blurb about the main concepts it was going to talk about. This made it easier to prepare myself for the upcoming reading.
The characters, Boethius and Lady Philosophy, felt a little too preachy for me at times, but they were talking about religion, so I guess it worked.
Overall, it was very insightful and interesting to read.
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) created a post
Mar 5, 2021
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Karl Hyde recommended Tripper/Springer by Efterklang in Music (curated)
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LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Irrational Man (2015) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
Murderous Woody Allen >> Romantic Woody Allen. Not quite sure why this monstrously clever rush is relegated as slight while just cute fluff like 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴 gets BP noms but hey, more for me. I was initially turned off by this movie's writerly cynicism but soon realized that it was necessary to play into the whole, and reflexively appreciated it more immediately upon realization. Found this to get more and more lusciously beguiling as it went along, pretty much everything you'd want from a story about a philosophy professor who gets embroiled in a crime plot - complete with all of the knowingly self-satisfied dialogue and exploratory (but ultimately [intentionally] bullshit) ethical/moral dilemmas one could hope for. Phoenix and Stone are next level and this is rich with atmosphere without ever being even the slightest bit gaudy. Mainly just an incredibly good idea with a proper execution to back it up, I'm sure I'm alone in this one but this pretty much had my heart pounding more and more with anxiety as it went along - including multiple prolonged sequences where it wanted to burst right out of my chest the whole time - allowing me only to breath a sigh of safe relief upon the first sting of the end credits. Adored it, no doubt one of Allen's best.