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Swimming Lessons
Swimming Lessons
Claire Fuller | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
6
6.8 (9 Ratings)
Book Rating
Great series of letters let down by monotony
Claire Fuller's writing is poetic and haunting in this novel especially as we read a series of letters left by a wife who has been missing for 12 years.

The story surrounds Ingrid, and her horribly destructive relationship with her writer husband Gil. Her youngest daughter Flora has to come to terms with these revelations, after idolising her father for so long.

My only concern is while the back and forth narrative between Ingrid's letter and the present day is well laid out, the story itself becomes lacklustre and the epilogue is a little misleading leaving a question mark over her death. Good writing but plot could be more rich.
  
Based on a True Story
Based on a True Story
Delphine de Vigan | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A clever psychological thriller
How many books do you trust to be actually based on reality and are non fiction books completely factual? These are some of the questions that arise in this descriptive, slick psychological thriller. It follows the journey of a novelist with writer's block who seems to have been befriended by a woman who takes a lot of interest in her. The woman is enigmatic and secretive and who knows how much of her is real. It is written in the perspective of the writer and so it shows in detail how her mind unravels and is manipulated.

It leaves you pondering whether the protagonist actually imagined the entire thing?
  
Ghostbusters (2016)
Ghostbusters (2016)
2016 | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
The cast is fine (0 more)
The writing (2 more)
The non-stop barrage of missed opportunities
It ultimately compares unfavorably to movies like RIPD, which it actually resembles more than Ghostbusters
A waste of itself
Why couldn't they have just made the film a sequel About the granddaughters or something of the original cast? It needlessly tries to reboot the whole idea, and does so in the most tedious ways possible. Just to be clear, I wanted to love the movie, and was excited about the all female cast. But everyone really needs to realize at last that Paul Fieg isn't that great of a writer or a director. He was a bag choice, in movie full of bad choices.
  
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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Just Kids in Books

Aug 17, 2017  
Just Kids
Just Kids
Patti Smith | 2014 | Biography
10
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Mesmerising memoir of the 1970s art scene
I was worried that this was another overhyped autobiography of another self-congratulating artist. But I was proved totally wrong. Patti Smith is truly unique and interesting, having had a life of hardship living on the streets to living with a partner equally mixed up, to engaging in a world that was the founding of America's modern art scene. More than the meandering, wonderful, dark tales is her liquid prose. She's not only an inspired poet but a fantastic all-round writer. She was known for all of her relationships with famous men, but this is about the one man who mattered the most. Well worth all of the awards.
  
This book was really interesting, and I enjoyed reading it. I had trouble reading some of the history stuff (but that's probably because I just don't have a lot of patience). I kept thinking "okay, I believe you, now show me how!

The instructions were rather clear, but I would have liked more drawings. I felt like the whole book was history and information--which is important--but that only a little bit of it was actually instructional. It would have been easier to read it if the information had been better mixed in to the instructional.

On a side-note, as a sci-fi/fantasy writer, this book makes an excellent inspiration/source for writing about the supernatural!
  
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Erika (17789 KP) rated The Disasters in Books

Mar 19, 2019 (Updated Mar 19, 2019)  
The Disasters
The Disasters
M.K. England | 2018 | Young Adult (YA)
1
1.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This book solidified my decision to never read a modern YA book ever again.
The synopsis sounded great, I was anticipating this book before it was even released.

I could have lived my entire life without reading this book. If the main character Nax was more interested in solving the problems at hand, and not who he was going to get off with, it would have cut probably 50 pages out. I felt like the entire focus was on that, rather than the cool plot the synopsis promised. The characters various back stories just seemed to be there for a checklist of 'See, look, I'm a diverse writer'. Gag me with a spoon.
  
This was a quick novella. The writing was very well done. The images were written beautifully and I loved "seeing" how everything looked in the story. A writer is amazing when they can write their imagery and make you see it how they wanted you to see it. I love when that happens. Kate was amazing.. the last mermaid who makes amazing jewelry and falls in love with a man who is dying. This tale is told from both of their pov's and it is interesting to see what is happening from both characters. I was rooting for them from the start and I am so glad this was a hea. Very good read
  
Paperback
Paperback
2014 | Card Game, Print & Play, Word Game
It's like a deck building Scrabble! Picked this up for my collection a few months ago and I really enjoy it. It's an easy to learn deck builder where your goal is to use your deck to spell words, earning points to purchase more letters, and so on, until game end where the best "writer" wins. Being an avid reader, its concept is a lot of fun for me, and I really do enjoy the gameplay whenever I can talk my husband into playing with me. I've only played with two people so far, though I'm sure it would be much more fun at 3 or 4. 8/10 overall for me!
  
Call for the Dead
Call for the Dead
John Le Carre | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry
10
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Story (2 more)
Length
Characters
One of the finest debuts of all time...
One of the finest debuts of all time, and thanks to John le Carré, a fine writer and real life secret service employee, one of the most realistic spy novels written.

Not only is this an excellent debut from le Carré, but an introduction to one of the greatest fictional spies, George Smiley, best known from "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy".

This may seem a strange one, but the book is quite short, which is a good thing. I enjoy books short and long, but this is excellent for some light reading, and the best place to start with le Carré's books is definitely at the start!
  
The Scarlet Letter
The Scarlet Letter
Nathaniel Hawthorne | 1850 | Fiction & Poetry
9
6.8 (24 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is one of those books that I feel like everyone reads in high school but my English teacher never had us read it. I will admit that I have been interested in reading it ever since I saw Easy A starring Emma Stone (Such a fun movie). I found myself really enjoying the story. It was deeper than I anticipated, and I loved the language and characters, especially Hester and Pearl. My only real struggle with the book was the first two hours were the author rambling before the story even started! But this book also gets bonus points because Hawthorne was friends with Ralph Waldo Emerson, a writer and transcendentalist, who I was named after.