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Organizations: A Very Short Introduction
Book
Most of us recognize that organizations are everywhere. You meet them on every street corner in the...
Joelene Marie (28 KP) rated The Black Witch in Books
Jul 23, 2017
ALL. THE. FEELS!!
This is hands down the best book I have read so far this year, maybe ever. I absolutely LOVE it. Literally got me in all the feels. The author's storytelling ability is amazing. There's so much I could say about this book (I have posted reviews in several places already lol) but I encourage everyone to read it for themselves, it really is just that damn good.
Side note: For those who check out book ratings and reviews on Goodreads before making a decision to read a book (like me lol) please do NOT let the rating fool you. Read the reviews and you will see that most have loved the book. There's been a bit of controversy surrounding the material and one certain blogger's negative review instructed her minions to give it a low rating based on her opinion alone, without actually reading the book themselves. So please don't let that affect your choice to read it!
Side note: For those who check out book ratings and reviews on Goodreads before making a decision to read a book (like me lol) please do NOT let the rating fool you. Read the reviews and you will see that most have loved the book. There's been a bit of controversy surrounding the material and one certain blogger's negative review instructed her minions to give it a low rating based on her opinion alone, without actually reading the book themselves. So please don't let that affect your choice to read it!
Haley Mathiot (9 KP) rated Hearing from God Each Morning: 365 Daily Devotions in Books
Apr 27, 2018
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Joyce Meyer shares personal experiences and examples from scripture that give you a daily dose of inspiration and peace. Every morning devotion starts with a Bible verse, then there is a few paragraphs to meditate through. It concludes with a short and sweet piece of advice or something to remember throughout the day. This is a wonderful source of encouragement, thought-provoking, and easy to read.
My only complaint about this book is that there isn’t quite enough Bible in it for me. There is one verse per day—and I need a little more than that. It would be nice if there was recommended reading, or a Bible-in-a-year plan or something.
Recommendation: Any age. This is a great side-tool to go with your daily devotions. I would recommend reading the whole chapter referenced in the devotion (for the sake of both context and more than a verse a day), reading the devotion, and journaling your thoughts about it.
Joyce Meyer shares personal experiences and examples from scripture that give you a daily dose of inspiration and peace. Every morning devotion starts with a Bible verse, then there is a few paragraphs to meditate through. It concludes with a short and sweet piece of advice or something to remember throughout the day. This is a wonderful source of encouragement, thought-provoking, and easy to read.
My only complaint about this book is that there isn’t quite enough Bible in it for me. There is one verse per day—and I need a little more than that. It would be nice if there was recommended reading, or a Bible-in-a-year plan or something.
Recommendation: Any age. This is a great side-tool to go with your daily devotions. I would recommend reading the whole chapter referenced in the devotion (for the sake of both context and more than a verse a day), reading the devotion, and journaling your thoughts about it.
Villainous Vee (53 KP) rated They Both Die At The End in Books
Feb 13, 2019
Great Characters (2 more)
Thought provoking
Original
What would you do if you were told you would die within the next 24 hours?
You didn't know how or when it would happen just that it was inevitable and would happen before midnight?
Would you spend your time at home with friends and family, just being together and enjoying that time?
Would you go out and do things you had never done before and pushed the boundaries of your bravery?
This is where Mateo and Rugus find themselves. One 17 and the other 18 and today they are dying.
But rather than sit around and wait for death they find each other and start one last grand adventure on their End Day.
This book really makes you think, makes you assess your life and if you are living it to its full potential. It doesn't leave you feeling sad that these two characters know they are dying, it makes you feel happy and uplifted that for their last day they lived it to the fullest possible.
You didn't know how or when it would happen just that it was inevitable and would happen before midnight?
Would you spend your time at home with friends and family, just being together and enjoying that time?
Would you go out and do things you had never done before and pushed the boundaries of your bravery?
This is where Mateo and Rugus find themselves. One 17 and the other 18 and today they are dying.
But rather than sit around and wait for death they find each other and start one last grand adventure on their End Day.
This book really makes you think, makes you assess your life and if you are living it to its full potential. It doesn't leave you feeling sad that these two characters know they are dying, it makes you feel happy and uplifted that for their last day they lived it to the fullest possible.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Behind the Curve (2018) in Movies
Feb 24, 2019 (Updated Feb 24, 2019)
Engaging and humane look at what has always been a byword for fruitcake pseudoscience, and more specifically the people who promote these theories. Quite sensibly the film doesn't bother trying to explain to Flat Earth adherents why their beliefs are incorrect, but examines their culture from a not-unsympathetic sociological and psychological point of view; as a result the Flat Earthers are elegantly given more than enough rope to debunk themselves.
Still, with some of the personalities involved, the film can't help but be entertaining, and it does make some important points about the dangerous results of excluding and isolating people, and the importance of education rather than mockery. Has already been denounced as a hatchet job by people in the Flat Earth community, but then you could probably have guessed that. Highly entertaining and thought-provoking; possibly worth watching just for the scenes showing the reactions of Flat Earthers when their painstaking experiments to prove the world has no curvature predictably give the opposite result. You can't win 'em all, guys.
Still, with some of the personalities involved, the film can't help but be entertaining, and it does make some important points about the dangerous results of excluding and isolating people, and the importance of education rather than mockery. Has already been denounced as a hatchet job by people in the Flat Earth community, but then you could probably have guessed that. Highly entertaining and thought-provoking; possibly worth watching just for the scenes showing the reactions of Flat Earthers when their painstaking experiments to prove the world has no curvature predictably give the opposite result. You can't win 'em all, guys.
Erika Kehlet (21 KP) rated The Dead Lands in Books
Feb 21, 2018
***NOTE: I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review***
The Dead Lands is at its core a story of survival in the face of apparently insurmountable obstacles - survival not just of a few individuals, but of humanity itself.
The story starts out in Sanctuary, and then hops back and forth between there and the group of escapees who have set off in the hopes of discovering something better. Each member of the scouting party has his or her own personal reason for fleeing Sanctuary. For some, the struggle with their decision to leave causes them almost as much grief as the monsters, inhospitable climates, and other people they meet along the way.
This book had both the horror-road-trip feel of The Talisman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and the find-other-survivors-and-keep-the-human-race-going vibe of The Passage, by Justin Cronin. (Both of which I highly recommend if you have not already read them!) It was a suspenseful, thought-provoking tale and I really enjoyed it.
The Dead Lands is at its core a story of survival in the face of apparently insurmountable obstacles - survival not just of a few individuals, but of humanity itself.
The story starts out in Sanctuary, and then hops back and forth between there and the group of escapees who have set off in the hopes of discovering something better. Each member of the scouting party has his or her own personal reason for fleeing Sanctuary. For some, the struggle with their decision to leave causes them almost as much grief as the monsters, inhospitable climates, and other people they meet along the way.
This book had both the horror-road-trip feel of The Talisman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and the find-other-survivors-and-keep-the-human-race-going vibe of The Passage, by Justin Cronin. (Both of which I highly recommend if you have not already read them!) It was a suspenseful, thought-provoking tale and I really enjoyed it.
Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Good Sister in Books
Jul 22, 2018
A very thought-provoking, interesting and challenging read about a very real and current situation.
Written from the two perspectives of the father and daughter, Sofia and Abraham, makes this book flow extremely well with the pace being good. Both Sofia and Abraham are believable and definitely grow on you as the book progresses; I do admit that I didn't particularly like them at the start but the more their inner-workings are explored, the greater the understanding of their motives which resulted in me becoming fully invested in their stories and completely engrossed in their respective journeys.
The book comes across as pretty authentic ... whether it is or not I would only know if I was in Sofia and Abraham's situation which is highly unlikely .... but I do wonder how and where the author got the information for the book from and how accurate it is because, as I said, it feels pretty authentic.
Thank you to Jellybooks for giving me the opportunity to read something a bit different.
Written from the two perspectives of the father and daughter, Sofia and Abraham, makes this book flow extremely well with the pace being good. Both Sofia and Abraham are believable and definitely grow on you as the book progresses; I do admit that I didn't particularly like them at the start but the more their inner-workings are explored, the greater the understanding of their motives which resulted in me becoming fully invested in their stories and completely engrossed in their respective journeys.
The book comes across as pretty authentic ... whether it is or not I would only know if I was in Sofia and Abraham's situation which is highly unlikely .... but I do wonder how and where the author got the information for the book from and how accurate it is because, as I said, it feels pretty authentic.
Thank you to Jellybooks for giving me the opportunity to read something a bit different.
Sarah (7799 KP) rated Love...and Sleepless Nights in Books
Aug 13, 2018
Fun and lighthearted
Whilst Nick Spalding will never win any literary prizes for this series of books, he really does well to sum up real life situations and emotions. The writing is good but what really makes this story entertaining is the characters. Laura and Jamie are a very relatable couple and their diary/blog entries are so down to earth and realistic. I doubt anyone could read this book (or any others in the series) and not find a handful of comments, thoughts or situations that they’ve experienced in their own life. This story is also pretty funny and I found myself laughing out loud on many occasions.
It may not be the most thought provoking or insightful of reads, but this is a great fun and lighthearted story that is refreshingly short - I finished it in less than 2 hours so it’s one you can easily get through. One I’d recommend trying if you’re stuck with a fairly long commute - I may leave books 3 and 4 for my next long distance train journey for work!
It may not be the most thought provoking or insightful of reads, but this is a great fun and lighthearted story that is refreshingly short - I finished it in less than 2 hours so it’s one you can easily get through. One I’d recommend trying if you’re stuck with a fairly long commute - I may leave books 3 and 4 for my next long distance train journey for work!
Awix (3310 KP) rated Three Identical Strangers (2018) in Movies
Dec 6, 2018 (Updated Dec 6, 2018)
Typically arresting so-weird-it-must-be-true documentary from the distributors of Blackfish, Dinosaur 13 and Life Animated. In 1980 a young man from New York arrives at college to be told he is the spitting image of someone who was there the year before: it turns out they were both adopted and share the same birthday - long lost brothers! The publicity turns up a third identical brother. The triplets instantly become minor celebrities on the NYC scene, but darker questions about their story soon surface...
A remarkable story, told by the surviving participants - lighter moments of uplifting human interest are soon subsumed by the stuff of an X-Files episode (well, close enough). You could very well argue that the film's narrative is rather selectively framed for maximum impact, and its attempts to address wider issues such as the question of nature vs nurture aren't really as effective as the story of the triplets. But still a gripping, thought-provoking, rather unsettling story that deserves to be better known.
A remarkable story, told by the surviving participants - lighter moments of uplifting human interest are soon subsumed by the stuff of an X-Files episode (well, close enough). You could very well argue that the film's narrative is rather selectively framed for maximum impact, and its attempts to address wider issues such as the question of nature vs nurture aren't really as effective as the story of the triplets. But still a gripping, thought-provoking, rather unsettling story that deserves to be better known.
Sarah (7799 KP) rated Men at Arms (Discworld, #15; City Watch #2) in Books
Oct 28, 2019
Wonderfully wacky
I dare anyone to read a Discworld book and not smile at least once (if not multiple times). There's something about the wonderfully wacky world of Ankh-Morporkh that makes it so entertaining and delightful to read. Not only are the Discworld books well written, they're also full of flawed yet well developed and loveable characters.
Men at Arms is no different. The City Guard are a rather motley crew of loveable misfits, and every single one from Vimes to Carrot to Detritus has their moment or moments in this book. Some of the interactions and conversations between characters in this book are hilarious, especially those involving Detritus and Cuddy, or the conversations between Vimes, Carrot and Vetinari. Not only does Pratchett manage to fill the book with humour and fantasy, he also throws in a lot of real world problems like racism and species-ism (probably not a word) in such a manner that it's both thought provoking, meaningful and still funny. Pratchett really knows how to work his magic with these books.
Men at Arms is no different. The City Guard are a rather motley crew of loveable misfits, and every single one from Vimes to Carrot to Detritus has their moment or moments in this book. Some of the interactions and conversations between characters in this book are hilarious, especially those involving Detritus and Cuddy, or the conversations between Vimes, Carrot and Vetinari. Not only does Pratchett manage to fill the book with humour and fantasy, he also throws in a lot of real world problems like racism and species-ism (probably not a word) in such a manner that it's both thought provoking, meaningful and still funny. Pratchett really knows how to work his magic with these books.