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ClareR (5950 KP) rated Antiemetic for Homesickness in Books

Nov 28, 2020  
Antiemetic for Homesickness
Antiemetic for Homesickness
Romalyn Ante | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I don’t often review poetry, because I just don’t have the experience to do so effectively, I think. But I do like to read poetry, and listen to it being read. This book of poems centres around the poets lived experience - leaving the Philippines as an older teenager and coming to live in the UK with her mother, a nurse in the NHS, and the rest of her family. As it says in the title of the book, there is a real feeling of homesickness and guilt of having left family behind. The wish to hold on to her heritage comes across strongly as well. At the same time, Ante’s life and work as a nurse in the NHS is in many of these poems - the hard work, the racism she encounters and the care she takes of her patients.

I really enjoyed the glimpses into life in the Philippines, and I made good use of the ‘Boodle Fight of Words and Terminologies’, the notes and Google translate (it’s the linguist in me 🤷🏼‍♀️) It sounds like hard work, doesn’t it - but it wasn’t. This will be a book that goes on my poetry shelf (yes, I have one!) that I will revisit often, I think.

Thank you to Vintage Books for sending me this book - it’s always worth entering the competition because sometimes I do win!!
  
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Pat Healy recommended The Night of the Hunter (1955) in Movies (curated)

 
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
1955 | Drama, Mystery
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Robert Mitchum stars in his signature role as the demonic preacher Harry Powell. The great actor Charles Laughton’s only work as a director is a horrifying fable about the loss of innocence and the darkness barely contained beneath the veneer of American pastoral life. It’s a one-of-a-kind movie. There’s nothing like it. Powerful, beautiful, darkly funny. Visually stunning. Both expressionistic and harshly realistic. It’s an American fever dream that I don’t think was equaled until David Lynch launched Blue Velvet into an unsuspecting Reagan-era public three decades later. The disc features Charles Laughton Directs “The Night of the Hunter,” a deconstruction of the film featuring outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage that enhances the experience of an already perfect film in ways unimaginable. Compiled by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, it’s a special feature as good as the film itself."

Source
  
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Hazel (2934 KP) rated Cold Christmas (Antonia Hawkins #4) in Books

May 10, 2020  
Cold Christmas (Antonia Hawkins #4)
Cold Christmas (Antonia Hawkins #4)
Alastair Gunn | 2017 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is yet another book off my now decreasing "to-be-read" pile and another book that I am left asking myself, why did I leave it so long to read it?

Cold Christmas is the fourth in the Antonia Hawkins series but only the second I have had the pleasure of reading. I read the first in the series, The Advent Killer, and found that to be very satisfying and it has been nice to catch up with DCI Hawkins and her team and although I think this works well as a standalone, in order to appreciate the main characters, I do think reading at least one of the previous books would be a good idea because although you get some of the backstory, you don't truly appreciate or understand DCI Hawkins motivations without previous insight.

From the cover and the title, you might think this would be a Christmas story but you would be wrong ... what we have here is a dark thriller written at good pace with intrigue abound and excellent characters. The method used by the killer to murder his victims is ingenious and not one I have come across before which made a nice change and with a good mix of investigation into this complex case and into the equally complex personal life of DCI Hawkins, this is, once again, a satisfying read ... well, that is until the end ... oh Mr Gunn you are mean!

Despite this, I will be reading more from this author and I want to thank Penguin UK - Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my copy in return for an honest review.
  
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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated The Empire's Ghost in Books

Sep 6, 2017  
The Empire's Ghost
The Empire's Ghost
Isabelle Steiger | 2017 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Good worldbuilding (1 more)
Well-rounded characters
Too many points of view (0 more)
An alright debut novel
So I’ve had pretty good luck with debut novels, overall. This one was good – not what I’d called spectacular, like those three, but good. If the sequel was out now, I’d read it. Knowing my reading habits, I probably won’t, because by the time the sequel does come out, I’ll have forgotten too much of this first book. (I strongly dislike only reading the first book in a series and then having to wait.)

What I really liked was how the author painted every character. Even the would-be Emperor, who is probably the closest to evil any character is in this book, was interesting and had clear motivations that made sense. I wouldn’t even call him evil, just ambitious. His assassin shows a different side in part of the book that also removes him from the “evil” category. I’m impressed that Steiger manager to set up several factions at odds with each other without making any of them evil. Wrong, perhaps, misguided perhaps, but not evil. Which is unusual in high fantasy.

What I disliked was there was a point in the middle where I had to set aside the book for real life – and I almost never picked it up again. Three days later, I finally did, but to me, that means I wasn’t invested in the characters or the story. I could have moved on to a different book, and I almost did. I liked most of the characters – but without liking any of them enough to truly care what happened. I also wish the pacing was a little faster, but that’s a victim of too many viewpoints, I think.

So I could go either way on this book. It was well-written but a little slow and didn’t just GRAB me the way some books do.

See all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.wordpress.com