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Gilded Palace of Sin by The Flying Burrito Brothers
Gilded Palace of Sin by The Flying Burrito Brothers
1969 | Rock
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"It's such a beautiful record. What can I say? Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman from The Byrds did these soul songs like 'Do Right Woman', which was originally recorded by Aretha Franklin and they played it like a country rock song. Also, they took like 'Dark End Of The Street', which was written by Dan Penn, originally for the soul singer James Carr on Goldwax, a Memphis label, which they also recorded in the style of a country rock song. Country rock is often a dirty term, but to turn that into something else, that transformation was incredible. Gram's gentle, soulful voice completely slays me every time! I'm in love with Gram Parsons. I feel like I know him. When I hear him sing, his voice fills me up and makes me feel loved. Admitting that you're broken and sad that a woman left you, feeling vulnerable was rare in music, apart from maybe soul and blues. But rock music was so macho. Gram turned up and wrote these beautiful original songs. It's okay to admit you're weak, it's okay to admit you have a broken heart. A huge influence on me and Primal Scream. Also, when I got married to my wife Katy England, I had Alexander McQueen design for myself and my wife a suit with satin lapels and hemmed embroidery in the trousers and jacket with roses, in tribute to Gram Parsons."

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No Rest for the Living (Death in a Northern Town #2)
No Rest for the Living (Death in a Northern Town #2)
Peter McKeirnon | 2014 | Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Humor & Comedy
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
115 of 250
Kindle
No Rest for the Living ( Death in a Northern Town book 2)
By Peter McKeirnon

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

"My name is John Diant. Father, brother, head of the anti-mayonnaise society and slayer of the living dead. It’s now over a day since I last updated this journal. Over a day since my daughter Emily, her boyfriend Jonathon and my retro friend 80s Dave and I made it to my brother's house. After fighting the undead population of Runcorn to get here, we thought we'd be safe but nothing could have prepared us for what came next."

Death in a Northern Town continues with No Rest for the Living. Journal entries from survivor John Diant bring you the zombie apocalypse from his perspective whilst chapters bring you tales from the town and the struggles that survivors continue to face.

Absolutely brilliant again! I had to stop myself laughing my head off at 3am in case I woke my husband. These books are so funny,gory and well written. This one was a bit more serious than the first poor Jonathan being killed that way to was not good I’m sad to see him go but I do love an author that doesn’t hold back when finishing characters off not matter the length of time in the book.
I’m really looking forward to the next book.
  
Tortured with Love is the sad yet horrible story of how a children's nurse gives up everything she has and becomes a killer, all for love.

Ray was married but his wife and children were in Spain. Martha was divorced with two children and felt old. Her life changed when her friend signed her up for a correspondence dating agency and Ray wrote to her. He was already scamming women at this point and Martha was next in line.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Martha Beck was an innocent. No, I think she knew perfectly well what she was doing. It's just her love and infatuation with Ray was too much and she would do anything for him.

I thoroughly enjoyed every word of this book. Written in such a way as to be educational and informative, it was such a gripping story I read it in one sitting. The thing I love about J.T. Hunter's books is he doesn't just go for the 'glory' story. Instead, every book I have read by him has been thoroughly researched, giving the reader more information about whichever subject he is talking about. This one is no different.

A fantastic True Crime read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

* 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!
  
Yakuza Moon: The True Story of a Gangster's Daughter
Yakuza Moon: The True Story of a Gangster's Daughter
Sean Michael Wilson | 2011 | Comics & Graphic Novels
8
8.3 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book tells a story of Shoko Tendo, and it was a manga version of her memoir. Her life was pretty brutal and filled with bad decisions, drugs and sex. She got mixed with the wrong crowd at a very young age, and that got her into drugs, countless horrible and abusive relationships, mostly with married men. I didn’t like Shoko at all, she continuously made poor decisions in her life, and it all started with her being “Know it all” in her young days.

The narrative of this novel is filled with violence, and it got sadder and more miserable as I was reading through this book. This book is a great example of how poor decisions can ruin one’s life. Even though it was a sad book, I absolutely loved the illustrations used to portray this story. I found this novel quite educational, I learned how people were getting by in Japan in 1990ies, especially women.

This book is quite nerve-racking and upsetting, and the chapters are quite long, but it is a one-sitting read and pages just fly by. The ending of this book rounded up the story very nicely, but I wanted a different ending for Shoko.

So, to conclude, it was an unusual and shocking journey for me, but at the same time an invaluable experience gained throughout the pages, and I would strongly recommend it to everybody.
  
Hank Brodt Holocaust Memoirs: A Candle and a Promise
Hank Brodt Holocaust Memoirs: A Candle and a Promise
Deborah Donnelly | 2017 | History & Politics
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
For me, it is always incredibly sad to read holocaust memoirs or any memoirs related to concentration camps. The amount of suffering it has brought to the innocent people, it is hard to comprehend.

The description of this book is pretty accurate. This book is a story of a poor polish- Jewish boy called Hank, and how he survived the Holocaust. The story starts with Hank’s childhood to post survival activities. After being taken to the concentration camp, Hank did not stay for long in one place, he was transported many times to different camps, and he shared the events he had to endure and people he met.

The book is accompanied by plenty of photos of different events, different concentration camps which Hank was transported to, and also pictures of Hank’s family. I loved the short chapters, and I finished this memoir in one sitting. For me it was gripping and I really wanted to find out what happened next after each chapter. So, to conclude, I am very happy that Hank had a chance to survive and shared his experiences with all the readers. It was a horrible period in human history, and I believe that it should not be left forgotten. So, if you into WWII books, give this book a go, it is a chilling read, filled with pain and sorrow, but it shows, that even in the worst of times, some people can still keep their kindness.
  
This story was heartbreaking and maddening, horrific and unbelievable, sad and disturbing. I don't usually read books that are based on real events - something about knowing it's true turns me off, but I wanted to give this a try. It's still not something I found particularly enthralling, but it was definitely an interesting read.
Honestly, I can't decide who I despise more, Shelly or Dave! Both did horrendous things, but Dave's obvious disregard for what happened, turning a blind eye to what he witnessed and *still* insisting that there was no abuse, denying that there could have been anything wrong happening while being a partial participant, his refusal to face the facts seriously pissed me off. As for Shelly, how a person can do such things to another human being, let alone her own children, baffles me and makes me sick. Spout off as much as you want about her having a mental illness, I don't care, what she did was disgusting and I don't think she'll spend nearly enough years in prison. My heart goes out to the sisters. I dealt with abuse from my mother when I was young, but certainly not to this degree, and I can't imagine how painful it was for them (not just physically, but mentally and emotionally). The ending, knowing that each woman was healing and moving on, creating their own happiness, put a big smile on my face!