richardtheref
Well-Known Member
The Rise of the Magicks - Nora Roberts 2/5
The 1st 2 in the series were very good but this was nonsense.
The 1st 2 in the series were very good but this was nonsense.
Reading Challenge 2022
- Thread starter RobMCFC
- Start date
JRockBlues
Well-Known Member
Big Machine by Victor LaValle
When Ricky receives a bus ticket to Burlington, Vermont and a letter telling him it’s time to honour a promise he made several years earlier, he walks out of his latest in a line of dead-end jobs to do just that. At journey’s end he finds other misfits and they are put to work looking for clues to the existence of the paranormal. Just what a cult-surviving junkie needs. After some time finding his feet Ricky is selected for a field mission and that’s where things really start to get weird.
This novel fits somewhere in the bracket of if Murakami wrote noir or Chandler wrote magical realism. Even though the reader doesn’t really know what’s going on until late into the story it’s still a fascinating read. The narrator of the tale has an interesting turn of phrase and is more than likeable enough. The writer mixes things up quite well, playing with your emotions throughout where one minute you’re on a downer but a few paragraphs later you’re laughing again. There are some big themes examined along the way with race, religion and cults at the forefront but the story is never compromised and even with a slowish start it’s never less than entertaining. 4★
When Ricky receives a bus ticket to Burlington, Vermont and a letter telling him it’s time to honour a promise he made several years earlier, he walks out of his latest in a line of dead-end jobs to do just that. At journey’s end he finds other misfits and they are put to work looking for clues to the existence of the paranormal. Just what a cult-surviving junkie needs. After some time finding his feet Ricky is selected for a field mission and that’s where things really start to get weird.
This novel fits somewhere in the bracket of if Murakami wrote noir or Chandler wrote magical realism. Even though the reader doesn’t really know what’s going on until late into the story it’s still a fascinating read. The narrator of the tale has an interesting turn of phrase and is more than likeable enough. The writer mixes things up quite well, playing with your emotions throughout where one minute you’re on a downer but a few paragraphs later you’re laughing again. There are some big themes examined along the way with race, religion and cults at the forefront but the story is never compromised and even with a slowish start it’s never less than entertaining. 4★
1. Winter - Len Deighton - 7/10
2. The Last Great Mountain - Mick Conefrey - 6/10
3. Pegasus Bridge - Stephen E. Ambrose - 6/10
4. The Dead of Jericho - Colin Dexter - 7/10
5. Agent Sonya - Ben MacIntyre - 7/10
6. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - 9/10
A story telling how a young German girl is given up by her mother to be fostered by a couple living in a Munich suburb at the start of WWII. She experiences a lot of pain and suffering including the death of her younger brother as they travel to Munich, and the separation from her mother.
She forms an immediate, strong bond with her foster father (she never knew her own father). Her foster mother was loving in her own way, but she has a strange way of demonstrating it, being a strict disciplinarian.
The girl develops an affinity with books, so much so that she is compelled to obtain more books by any means possible - hence the book title. We share many adventures of the young girl and her friends and new family through the first years of the war. She plays football with the boys. She fights with the toughest of them. Her best friend lives next door to her, and he wants nothing more than to kiss her. Her family shelters a Jewish man, despite the dangers. They are compassionate towards the Jews, again with disregard for their own personal safety.
The book is narrated by Death, who takes away her friends, her associates, her family, quite indiscriminately, until only the book thief is left. We learn that she survives the war and lives to old age. The sheltered Jew ends up in a concentration camp, but he also survives the war.
It is a poignant book, one which I will remember for a long time.
As an aside, my wife and I look after a book swap in a repurposed telephone box near to our house. I spotted a copy of this book in there last week. I returned today to photograph it for this review. It was gone, but I was pleasantly surprised to see in it's place, a copy of a book written by my mother-in-law!
2. The Last Great Mountain - Mick Conefrey - 6/10
3. Pegasus Bridge - Stephen E. Ambrose - 6/10
4. The Dead of Jericho - Colin Dexter - 7/10
5. Agent Sonya - Ben MacIntyre - 7/10
6. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - 9/10
A story telling how a young German girl is given up by her mother to be fostered by a couple living in a Munich suburb at the start of WWII. She experiences a lot of pain and suffering including the death of her younger brother as they travel to Munich, and the separation from her mother.
She forms an immediate, strong bond with her foster father (she never knew her own father). Her foster mother was loving in her own way, but she has a strange way of demonstrating it, being a strict disciplinarian.
The girl develops an affinity with books, so much so that she is compelled to obtain more books by any means possible - hence the book title. We share many adventures of the young girl and her friends and new family through the first years of the war. She plays football with the boys. She fights with the toughest of them. Her best friend lives next door to her, and he wants nothing more than to kiss her. Her family shelters a Jewish man, despite the dangers. They are compassionate towards the Jews, again with disregard for their own personal safety.
The book is narrated by Death, who takes away her friends, her associates, her family, quite indiscriminately, until only the book thief is left. We learn that she survives the war and lives to old age. The sheltered Jew ends up in a concentration camp, but he also survives the war.
It is a poignant book, one which I will remember for a long time.
As an aside, my wife and I look after a book swap in a repurposed telephone box near to our house. I spotted a copy of this book in there last week. I returned today to photograph it for this review. It was gone, but I was pleasantly surprised to see in it's place, a copy of a book written by my mother-in-law!
RobMCFC
Well-Known Member
I remember reading this many years ago, around the time it came out. I also remember being disappointed by it, but can’t for the life of me remember why. It’s clearly highly regarded so I guess it must be me.1. Winter - Len Deighton - 7/10
2. The Last Great Mountain - Mick Conefrey - 6/10
3. Pegasus Bridge - Stephen E. Ambrose - 6/10
4. The Dead of Jericho - Colin Dexter - 7/10
5. Agent Sonya - Ben MacIntyre - 7/10
6. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak - 9/10
A story telling how a young German girl is given up by her mother to be fostered by a couple living in a Munich suburb at the start of WWII. She experiences a lot of pain and suffering including the death of her younger brother as they travel to Munich, and the separation from her mother.
She forms an immediate, strong bond with her foster father (she never knew her own father). Her foster mother was loving in her own way, but she has a strange way of demonstrating it, being a strict disciplinarian.
The girl develops an affinity with books, so much so that she is compelled to obtain more books by any means possible - hence the book title. We share many adventures of the young girl and her friends and new family through the first years of the war. She plays football with the boys. She fights with the toughest of them. Her best friend lives next door to her, and he wants nothing more than to kiss her. Her family shelters a Jewish man, despite the dangers. They are compassionate towards the Jews, again with disregard for their own personal safety.
The book is narrated by Death, who takes away her friends, her associates, her family, quite indiscriminately, until only the book thief is left. We learn that she survives the war and lives to old age. The sheltered Jew ends up in a concentration camp, but he also survives the war.
It is a poignant book, one which I will remember for a long time.
As an aside, my wife and I look after a book swap in a repurposed telephone box near to our house. I spotted a copy of this book in there last week. I returned today to photograph it for this review. It was gone, but I was pleasantly surprised to see in it's place, a copy of a book written by my mother-in-law!
Fred_Quimby
Well-Known Member
I am a bit of an American Civil War 'fan'. On the last book of Bruce Catton's Centenary Trilogy - Never Call Retreat; a good informative read, different from the marvellous Shellby Foote trilogy which concentrated on the battles, whereas Bruce goes more into the politics of both sides as well.
I measure my enjoyment against The Lies Loche Lamora, which you recommended. WWII is one of my favourite genres though, and I'm often popping back for a biography or fiction from that era. I am inclined to look for something about post-war Germany, to learn a little about how the country recovered after the atrocities of Hitler.
JRockBlues
Well-Known Member
Dreams of Sex and Stage Diving by Martin Millar
Elfish and Mo were in a band together but after their relationship crashed and burned then so did the band. Mo is putting a new band together and to spite Elfish is going to use the name Queen Mab for it as he knows she wants that too. Elfish in desperation agrees to a contest with the winner earning the right to the name. She has to learn a 43 line speech from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and recite it prior to the live debut of Mo’s new band. She has a week. Good job she has no scruples and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
This is my least favourite of the author’s works I’ve read so far. The main character is a hedonistic narcissist who lies and cheats her way though life with the rest of the characters just being there for her to abuse. Despite this, the “story” is not as appalling as it sounds. It’s a slice-of-life tale about a struggling wannabe musician in ‘90’s Brixton. It’s fast-paced and told in short chapters as Elfish careens from one disaster to the next. I did kind of end up rooting for her in the end. 3★'s
Elfish and Mo were in a band together but after their relationship crashed and burned then so did the band. Mo is putting a new band together and to spite Elfish is going to use the name Queen Mab for it as he knows she wants that too. Elfish in desperation agrees to a contest with the winner earning the right to the name. She has to learn a 43 line speech from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and recite it prior to the live debut of Mo’s new band. She has a week. Good job she has no scruples and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.
This is my least favourite of the author’s works I’ve read so far. The main character is a hedonistic narcissist who lies and cheats her way though life with the rest of the characters just being there for her to abuse. Despite this, the “story” is not as appalling as it sounds. It’s a slice-of-life tale about a struggling wannabe musician in ‘90’s Brixton. It’s fast-paced and told in short chapters as Elfish careens from one disaster to the next. I did kind of end up rooting for her in the end. 3★'s
kevin horlocks wand
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 12 Mar 2016
- Messages
- 9,648
i gave up on sixteen horses .
if your thing is killing and cutting up animals then fine but not for me.
bloody weird
Just finished Black Hearts Rising, thought it was great. Really enjoyed it. Taking a break before reading last one in the trilogy. Downloaded Doug Beattie book An ordinary soldier. Looking forward to this as I also come from Northern Ireland and been following Doug's political career for while