Search
Search results
Volcano Street
Book
'What would Germaine do?' This is the mantra that Skip and Marlo Wells turn to as they navigate...
GS
George Szell: A Life of Music
Book
This book is the first full biography of George Szell, one of the greatest orchestra and opera...
Grammar School Boy: A Memoir of Personal and Social Development
Book
This memoir covers the first twenty years of the life of the author, a retired university professor,...
Sourdough Suppers: A Year in the Life of a Wild Yeast Culture
Book
An exquisite collection of moreish meals created around handmade breads and simple seasonal...
The Plant-Based Journey: A Step-by-Step Guide for Transitioning to a Healthy Lifestyle and Achieving Your Ideal Weight
Howard Jacobson, Lani Muelrath, T. Colin Campbell and Neal Barnard
Book
It's been proven that a plant-based diet is good for your weight, health, budget, and the...
Rules for Mavericks: A Manifesto for Dissident Creatives
Book
Rules for Mavericks: A Manifesto for Dissident Creatives by Phil Beadle is a guidebook to leading a...
Footprints in Stone: Fossil Traces of Coal-Age Tetrapods
Ronald J. Buta and David C. Kopaska-Merkel
Book
The Steven C. Minkin (Union Chapel) Paleozoic Footprint Site ranks among the most important fossil...
Hazel (2934 KP) rated Silent Night in Books
Nov 8, 2020
This is the second book featuring the British Sign Language interpreter, Paige Northwood, and the second I have read and although you don't particularly have to have read the first (The Silent House), it does help.
Here we have a complex story of the murder of a teacher and the disappearance of one of his pupils; the police employ Paige as the interpreter but she soon becomes embroiled in the investigation whilst she is also having to deal with a lot of angst in her own life and herein lies the problem for me. The story already covers a lot of themes; the deaf community, bullying, coercion, domestic abuse, relationships and that's before we get to the murder and the missing child! On top of all this, there is a lot of time taken up about Paige and, I felt, it was just too much and I found it became more and more tedious, repetitive and annoying so by the end, it had an impact on my enjoyment of the book. I am sure however that there are many out there who will find this focus on the main character and her story appealing as opposed to the crime itself but it just spoiled it a bit for me I'm afraid.
Putting that aside, the twists and red herrings were excellent and I was constantly trying to guess who-done-it. The characters were well developed and interesting. The pace was a little slow to begin with but picked up in the second half/final third. The look into the frustrations experienced by the police when witnesses/suspects don't cooperate and withhold vital information was infuriating and probably pretty accurate!
Overall, a pretty solid book but just a bit too much focus on the main character for me.
Thank you to Avon Books UK via NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in return for an unbiased review.
Here we have a complex story of the murder of a teacher and the disappearance of one of his pupils; the police employ Paige as the interpreter but she soon becomes embroiled in the investigation whilst she is also having to deal with a lot of angst in her own life and herein lies the problem for me. The story already covers a lot of themes; the deaf community, bullying, coercion, domestic abuse, relationships and that's before we get to the murder and the missing child! On top of all this, there is a lot of time taken up about Paige and, I felt, it was just too much and I found it became more and more tedious, repetitive and annoying so by the end, it had an impact on my enjoyment of the book. I am sure however that there are many out there who will find this focus on the main character and her story appealing as opposed to the crime itself but it just spoiled it a bit for me I'm afraid.
Putting that aside, the twists and red herrings were excellent and I was constantly trying to guess who-done-it. The characters were well developed and interesting. The pace was a little slow to begin with but picked up in the second half/final third. The look into the frustrations experienced by the police when witnesses/suspects don't cooperate and withhold vital information was infuriating and probably pretty accurate!
Overall, a pretty solid book but just a bit too much focus on the main character for me.
Thank you to Avon Books UK via NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy in return for an unbiased review.
BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Hiding Place / The Taking of Annie Thorne in Books
Sep 24, 2020
The protagonist in this book is Joe Thorne, a teacher, who has very serious gambling problems. He comes back to his little hometown because of several reasons, and that is where history starts to repeat itself. I really enjoyed Joe’s character, he is incredibly witty and sarcastic and made me laugh on multiple occasions. I really liked the way the author portrayed the atmosphere of this little town and the people living there. I loved how the characters in this book were developed, and how interesting and intriguing they were.
When I started this book, I thought it is going to be a crime mystery, and was really pleasantly surprised to find it to be a horror story. The narrative travels between present and past, explaining many events which are influencing the present, and I really liked this way of storytelling. The author used a single perspective in this novel, and I think it worked very beautifully. The topics discussed in this book were bullying, gambling, school life and wish to fit in, etc.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style of this book, I think all the twists and turns were in the right places, and it was a true page turner for me. The chapters had very decent length and were just flying by for me. I have to throw in a disclaimer, there are some severe and nasty cases of bullying in this book, which might upset some readers. The ending rounded the story very nicely, and I really liked the way the author wrote it.
So, to conclude, it is an incredibly well-written horror story, that is dark, creepy, and gave chills down my spine. It is filled with a great variety of characters and unexpected plot, which held me on the edge of my seat throughout the book. I strongly recommend to read this book, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
When I started this book, I thought it is going to be a crime mystery, and was really pleasantly surprised to find it to be a horror story. The narrative travels between present and past, explaining many events which are influencing the present, and I really liked this way of storytelling. The author used a single perspective in this novel, and I think it worked very beautifully. The topics discussed in this book were bullying, gambling, school life and wish to fit in, etc.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style of this book, I think all the twists and turns were in the right places, and it was a true page turner for me. The chapters had very decent length and were just flying by for me. I have to throw in a disclaimer, there are some severe and nasty cases of bullying in this book, which might upset some readers. The ending rounded the story very nicely, and I really liked the way the author wrote it.
So, to conclude, it is an incredibly well-written horror story, that is dark, creepy, and gave chills down my spine. It is filled with a great variety of characters and unexpected plot, which held me on the edge of my seat throughout the book. I strongly recommend to read this book, and I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Super Size Me (2004) in Movies
Sep 20, 2020
Look, no shit eating at McDonald's for 30 days straight with bare minimum activity is unhealthy - but this is still one of the most fun documentaries ever made and it's not like that's the only ace-in-the-hole this has anyway. Holds up even after three watches, Spurlock's nonchalant, breezy energy towards making himself a human test subject for such a ludicrous experiment in and of itself is entertaining. But couple that with his goofy gravitas and cavalcade of hilarity then this just becomes even more of a blast to watch. Undeniably this was instrumental in shaping the fast food world of today, but contrary to popular belief this is also still very informative with a lot of those type of facts that just make you disappointed in the human race. And even though so much has changed since then that this should theoretically be obsolete, it isn't - because not only does much of this still unfortunately hold true to this day, but it's beyond interesting as a time capsule of a time that seems like forever ago even though it was just in recent history, one that you can consistently compare to today's take on the subject. The blend between fast food hit piece and McDonald's diet journey is immaculate, and as with even the weakest of Spurlock docs it's clear that a chief goal here is to just create a movie that you can have a really good, memorable, and unique time watching. We watched this for health class in seventh grade and - to be frank - we were all a bunch of juvenile little shit-heads so this would have sated our appetitive for celebratory immaturity on its own; but then the teacher let us basically commentate on the movie *as* we watched it and that was one of the greatest school days I've ever had. Forever one of my favorites.