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Soul Survivor: A Biography of Al Green
Book
The bestselling author of Shakey: Neil Young's Biography presents the first in-depth biography of...
Music biography
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed the World in Books
Oct 12, 2017
Clearly, we only know a fraction of our minds
We know that the field of behavioral economics is a kind of the wild west of the sciences, filled with speculation, outlaws, and not a little shenanigans. And yet it is by far one of the most fascinating and controversial sciences on the popular stage.
This story is almost like a love affair between two visionary scholars, Daniel Kahneman and the late Amos Tversky. Their shared admiration and respect for one another, and opposite personalities, led them across the world from Israel, in the pursuit for knowledge.
The author notes the halo effect in which people see favourable attributes and let that impression impact the assessment of other attributes. Kahneman and Tversky later refer to this as Representativeness involving premature characterisation of an object or an individual.
While this is less plot driven than the author's other works The Blind Side, Moneyball, and The Big Short, it is still an endearing tale.
This story is almost like a love affair between two visionary scholars, Daniel Kahneman and the late Amos Tversky. Their shared admiration and respect for one another, and opposite personalities, led them across the world from Israel, in the pursuit for knowledge.
The author notes the halo effect in which people see favourable attributes and let that impression impact the assessment of other attributes. Kahneman and Tversky later refer to this as Representativeness involving premature characterisation of an object or an individual.
While this is less plot driven than the author's other works The Blind Side, Moneyball, and The Big Short, it is still an endearing tale.
After a few pages, you forget they’re actually bees...
This is set in a Bee hive. Yes, really it is. I thought it would be in the style of Watership Down, but it's definitely a book for the grown ups. It's a bit scary in the respect that everything in these bees lives is regulated by the Sage level of Bee (there are various types of Bees, named after a particular plant. They all have their pre-ordained role in life, which they know how to carry out as soon as they hatch out of their final stage of growth). If you step out of line, you are destroyed. Kind of like the more hard-line societies around the world. And that's where it gets you. You start off reading about a bee hive, and you end up realising that people have lived like this in the past, live like this now, and will probably live like this in the future.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2171 KP) rated Iced Under in Books
Mar 9, 2018
It’s a cold, quiet February in Busman’s Harbor until Julia’s mom gets a mysterious package in the mail. Inside is a necklace, a family heirloom worth seven figures, that disappeared in the 1920’s. What happened to it all those years ago? And who sent it today?
This is definitely a different plot for a cozy, but I really loved it. Yes, there is a murder, but it comes in later and the mystery of tracking down family and the story behind the necklace takes center stage. Honestly, I like the break from the familiar formula. The characters are fun as always, especially the new ones. And I might have cried (in a good way) through the last couple of chapters. Fans of the series will appreciate this one best, but they will love it.
Note: I received an ARC of this book.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/12/book-review-iced-under-by-barbara-ross.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
This is definitely a different plot for a cozy, but I really loved it. Yes, there is a murder, but it comes in later and the mystery of tracking down family and the story behind the necklace takes center stage. Honestly, I like the break from the familiar formula. The characters are fun as always, especially the new ones. And I might have cried (in a good way) through the last couple of chapters. Fans of the series will appreciate this one best, but they will love it.
Note: I received an ARC of this book.
Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/12/book-review-iced-under-by-barbara-ross.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2171 KP) rated Hearse and Buggy (An Amish Mystery, #1) in Books
Mar 9, 2018
After her divorce, Claire has settled into the town of Heavenly, Pennsylvania, thanks to her aunt. She’s begun to make friends among the Amish and even opened a store that sells the items her new friends make. However, the potential peace of her new life is shattered when a man is found murdered outside her store. He left town recently after being accused of stealing from the Amish. Even though murder is not in their beliefs, might one of Claire’s new friends killed him?
The characters in this book are already fully developed and alive. They drew me into the story and made me care about several sub-plots that do slow down the mystery early on. Still, once the mystery takes center stage, it is well plotted with clues and red herrings along the way.
Read my full review at <a href"http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/02/book-review-hearse-and-buggy-by-laura.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
The characters in this book are already fully developed and alive. They drew me into the story and made me care about several sub-plots that do slow down the mystery early on. Still, once the mystery takes center stage, it is well plotted with clues and red herrings along the way.
Read my full review at <a href"http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/02/book-review-hearse-and-buggy-by-laura.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
CJ (8 KP) rated The Bookshop (2017) in Movies
Sep 11, 2018 (Updated Sep 11, 2018)
Woman vs. town.
Based on the novel of the same title by Penelope Fitzgerald, it tells the story of widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) who opens a bookshop in an abandoned home in a small English village. Unfortunately, she does so against the wishes of some of the locals who try to get her removed from her shop. However, she does not find herself without allies and friends.
I was thoroughly delighted by the scenery and costumes in this movie. The stage was set very well. I’m a fan of Bill Nighy as a rule, but I can honestly say that this is the best role I’ve seen him in.
This isn’t a particularly feel good movie. If you’re looking for a Hallmark ending, keep looking. But it does have a few laughs, in that British small-town movie way, and I found it well worth my time. Especially in regards to Emily Mortimer’s and Bill Nighy’s performances.
I was thoroughly delighted by the scenery and costumes in this movie. The stage was set very well. I’m a fan of Bill Nighy as a rule, but I can honestly say that this is the best role I’ve seen him in.
This isn’t a particularly feel good movie. If you’re looking for a Hallmark ending, keep looking. But it does have a few laughs, in that British small-town movie way, and I found it well worth my time. Especially in regards to Emily Mortimer’s and Bill Nighy’s performances.
ClareR (5686 KP) rated Melmoth: A Novel in Books
Nov 2, 2018
A gothic, spellbinding novel.
A dark, gothic story, of a woman living an austere life in Prague, set in winter - which makes it all the more foreboding!
Melmoth is omnipresent throughout the novel. Helen, the main character, seems to have something in her past that she is punishing herself for. She makes sure that she has no enjoyment in her life: from food to clothes, to friendships. She does have some friends, though: Thea and Karel.
Karel finds some documents about Melmoth the Wanderer, and so an obsession begins.
For a dark, depressing novel, there is a lot of hope in it too. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It got to the stage where I was sure I could see a dark shadow in my peripheral vision - could it be Melmoth looking for company in her lonely wanderings?
This is a compelling read - once started, I really didn't want to stop. I enjoyed the historical detail in Karel's documents too.
Another great story from Sarah Perry.
Melmoth is omnipresent throughout the novel. Helen, the main character, seems to have something in her past that she is punishing herself for. She makes sure that she has no enjoyment in her life: from food to clothes, to friendships. She does have some friends, though: Thea and Karel.
Karel finds some documents about Melmoth the Wanderer, and so an obsession begins.
For a dark, depressing novel, there is a lot of hope in it too. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It got to the stage where I was sure I could see a dark shadow in my peripheral vision - could it be Melmoth looking for company in her lonely wanderings?
This is a compelling read - once started, I really didn't want to stop. I enjoyed the historical detail in Karel's documents too.
Another great story from Sarah Perry.
LilyLovesIndie (123 KP) rated The Long Winter (Little House, #6) in Books
Nov 5, 2018
Not one of my favourite in the Little House series, I must admit. We follow the family through a VERY long winter full of repetition and worry that eats away at the reader as much as it must have done poor Laura to live through it! (I must add, I read this during a period of bad snow ehere I had nothing to live off for several days but bagels, and as much as I love them, you don't half get fed up of blooming bread!)
One lovely highlight of this book is the loser interaction between the Wilder boys and the Ingalls family, even if, at this stage, it is just limited to Pa! It's nice to see the gradual steps towards what we already know occurs, and it's written well!
Not a bad read, drags a little and at times is like a plaster, you just need to whip it off and get on with it!
One lovely highlight of this book is the loser interaction between the Wilder boys and the Ingalls family, even if, at this stage, it is just limited to Pa! It's nice to see the gradual steps towards what we already know occurs, and it's written well!
Not a bad read, drags a little and at times is like a plaster, you just need to whip it off and get on with it!
David McK (3372 KP) rated The Painted Man (the Demon Cycle, Book 1) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
First in "The Demon Cycle", this is very much what I would term a dark fantasy novel: not urban fantasy (like The Dresden Files), not heroic fantasy (David Gemmell) and not high fantasy (Lord of the Rings).
This is set in a world where Demons rise through the ground every night to terrorise/slowly cull the few remaining humans, the novel follows three seperate survivors of such attacks. It's pretty obvious that they are, eventually, going to meet up, which only happens in the latter porion of the book, by which stage one of the survivors has become The Painted Man (i.e. covered in magical wards, which the demons can't stand) of the title.
An enjoyable enough read, but I did find this to be occassionally hard going. I also picked it up when Waterstones had it on sale for about £3: for that price, I'm happy enough, but I also wouldn't be looking for the sequels at full price either.
This is set in a world where Demons rise through the ground every night to terrorise/slowly cull the few remaining humans, the novel follows three seperate survivors of such attacks. It's pretty obvious that they are, eventually, going to meet up, which only happens in the latter porion of the book, by which stage one of the survivors has become The Painted Man (i.e. covered in magical wards, which the demons can't stand) of the title.
An enjoyable enough read, but I did find this to be occassionally hard going. I also picked it up when Waterstones had it on sale for about £3: for that price, I'm happy enough, but I also wouldn't be looking for the sequels at full price either.
David McK (3372 KP) rated Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command in Books
Jan 30, 2019
This is now part of the Star Wars 'Legend's (i.e. non-canon stories) following Marvel's acquisition of Lucasfilm; however - in many respects - I also feel that this is/was a strong candidate for remaining as part of the lore (or, like Grand Admiral Thrawn, being integrated into it).
This is set between the events of "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope" (or, if I was to place it as part of the lore now, between Sith and Rogue One), and sees Vader - who, at this stage, is still lamenting his loss of Padme - charged with hunting down and recovering Grand Moff Tarkin's son, who has disappearaed in the relatively unexplored Atoan Ghost Nebula.
Maybe a wee bit choppy, I still fouind this to be an interesting look into Vader's psyche - I also have to say that the opening panels, with Vader's limbs being, umm, 'reattached' may well have influenced a similar scene in Rogue One!
This is set between the events of "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope" (or, if I was to place it as part of the lore now, between Sith and Rogue One), and sees Vader - who, at this stage, is still lamenting his loss of Padme - charged with hunting down and recovering Grand Moff Tarkin's son, who has disappearaed in the relatively unexplored Atoan Ghost Nebula.
Maybe a wee bit choppy, I still fouind this to be an interesting look into Vader's psyche - I also have to say that the opening panels, with Vader's limbs being, umm, 'reattached' may well have influenced a similar scene in Rogue One!