Torn...
Onyesonwu is a child of rape (outcast) with magical powers that must go on an epic quest to stop the genocide of her mother's people. This book has some very touching moments as well as some very meaningful ones. However, this book contains TONS of triggers such as vividly describing rape and mutilation scenes as well as other tender subject matters. I personally was not prepared for these as I try not to read reviews of books before I pick them up from my personal library. I fear that it taints the review that I end up writing and I want to have my thoughts clear and my own. I found the story to be a little cliche even though the setting was amazing and fresh. Set in post-apocalyptic Africa as sort of a cyberpunk world, this was definitely something new and surprising to me and something that I really enjoyed about the book. But the story itself is your typical "chosen one", "prophecy" and "epic quest" story. The ending absolutely fell flat for me. I felt, as the reader, that I received no justice by the ending of this book for all the atrocities that I had lived through while reading it. It almost made me feel like I was wronged by this book. I don't want to give too much detail away, suffice it to say that for a 400+ page book that deals with such serious subject matters that can be applied to the real world, the ending could have been written better. In closing I will say that I appreciate what the author of this book was trying to do and the things that she was trying to convey. I appreciate this book for the simple fantasy novel that it is but for the real world issues that this book touches on quite heavily, I felt it there just should have been more to it.
1 Comment
Outstanding...
Learning to focus on the negative may cause some to raise an eyebrow. Accepting your failures and even having a sort of relationship with death can be downright scary for others. But Burkeman takes your hand and lightly leads you through the ideals of Stoicism using many examples along the way and many different principles from around the world. In this book you will discover how positive thinking can actually be damaging for some people. This is got to be one of my most favorite self-help books of all time! And looking at other reviews I understand that a lot of the information contained in this book may be rehashed from previous sources. However for a lot of these ideas and techniques, this is my first time reading about them, and I consider them to be shiny and new! 🤩 I'm not going to lie a lot of the techniques are a little shocking. I mean who wants to focus on the worst case scenario of your situation right? But as the book explains, by doing such exercises are we allowing ourselves to come to grips with just how are rational our fears really are. This and more is what you will learn about in this book. The author tends to ramble a little bit towards the end chapters but still gives very good points and references. I think that this is a wonderful introductory book to Stoicism and I would very much like to research more on the subject because of this book. If the positive thinking mantra is not your thing, I would most definitely recommend reading this book for a different outlook and indeed a different path to happiness. Great concept, but...
Six for Hicks is the perfect reality TV show starring the Hicks family. With father Hicks as the town preacher, the family seems to glow with godly light. All except Essie who is 17 and just found out she's pregnant. The first few chapters were very intriguing but after that, things slowed to a crawl. There are sections and even chapters that could be completely taken out of the book and have it not hinder the story one bit. The writing itself was good but just WAY too much fluff. The characters didn't seem real to me at all which may very well have been what the author was going for as they are a televised family. But for dealing with issues this serious, I felt that I needed a bit more emotion than what I was given. I mean when you put this many cliche teen-drama scenarios all into one book, you'd expect a lot more... drama. Instead it seemed to come up short and I found myself yelling at the characters more than anything. They just did not react realistically to their situations in my opinion. This book has a great concept(s) but I just don't think it was executed quite right. I feel like there's too many unanswered questions and too many things that just didn't make sense because they were never fully explained. Again, the story (along with the characters) seemed very one-dimensional, which is wild considering how much fluff there is in this book. Weird right? Oh well, I digress. Can't say I'd recommend this one. I don't know what I was expecting when I first picked up this book. I guess I wanted a little more backstory on the Manson Family and on Manson himself. This book only focuses on the murders, the investigation and the court case.
This book is EXTREMELY detailed. Like the author describes the dimensions of knives that were used on the scenes. However, I have come to learn that for those who lived through this trauma during this time, information like that felt completely necessary. While interviewing a few of these individuals I have learned that details like this have given them some sort of closure. I also was unaware of the fact that this book was actually written by the prosecutor in the case when I picked up this book for the first time. That certainly accounts for the insane amount of detail. Please don't get me wrong, this book is not bad in any way but it does go into great detail to the point where the gore is almost too much even for the most seasoned readers. Perhaps because it is a true story it makes it so the details are that much more frightening. This and the fact that it just wasn't what I was looking for makes me give it a lower rating. If you're looking for a true crime novel that has pretty much every detail of the case recorded, this is definitely your book! However if you're looking for more background information, as I was, this probably isn't the right book for you to turn to. Well done...
This is a biography on Rev. Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple. The Temple's mass suicide in 1978 in South America hit world news and is known throughout the world as one of the most tragic instances in history. I'd like to say that this book was a hard one to read due to the subject matter. However, I believe that because of the way it is written it made it a much easier pill to swallow. This book is written as a biography not as a run of the mill true crime novel. There is nearly no police procedure and/or police jargon in this book. It is all written in a very straight forward manner but as if the author were telling the reader a story. The story of Jim Jones is presented to the reader starting with his parents and ending with the aftermath of his death. The facts are presented to the reader in a non-biased way although the author does sprinkle in his opinion from time to time throughout the book. But for the most part, the way this book is written allows the reader to come to their own conclusions about the case and about Jones himself. Throughout this book different newspaper and magazine articles as well as websites are mentioned. In looking up these sources myself while reading this book, I found that the information there is factual and complete damn near to the letter. I was most pleasantly surprised. This author definitely did his homework on this subject and it shows. BRAVO! In this book the author doesn't just describe Jim Jones but also the times, places and people that he touched throughout his life whether for the good or the bad. He is able to describe to the reader and make you aware of Jim Jones's surroundings throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s and to paint a picture for the reader of the world that Jim Jones lived in. The ending was heart wrenching. Even though we all may know what happened, reading about it in such vivid detail really brings it that much more to life. The author does a very good job with this. There is also an insert booklet accompanying the text of this book with black and white pictures not only of Jim Jones and his family but of the crime scene itself in 1978, which apparently no longer exists today. In summary, this is a great book with a lot of very incredible information that I would definitely recommend to anyone interested in the subject. ***SPOILERS AHEAD***
A wild ride... This book is about the dastardly plan to kill the emperor of the seven worlds and place the blame on the barbarian king Lord Valeron of Branarius. As the back cover describes "Villainy most foul." Okay so right off, this book obviously takes place in a spin-off world of Robert E. Howard's Conan universe. That was in the beginning... However as you read you find very peculiar things are going on in this universe. In the time and place of the story apparently we (now) are the ancient race that had perished long before their time. When they talk of the Kings arriving on ships I was thinking like Viking long ships. NO! Not at all. They meant SPACEships!!!! And as hard as the author tried to explain how it is that they come to use these spaceships, his explanation seemed to falter a bit as it came up short for the reader that these people are able to maneuver these ships but not know how they are doing it. They just press buttons. Have you ever seen the movie Krull? It's a lot like that. Ah, but I digress. The story was pretty typical of a barbarian epic fantasy, which is a point that I definitely loved. The beginning sucked me right in but I have to say that the ending was a little less than satisfactory. And while the fighting scenes were very well described, some other scenes, such as the romantic exchanges, were lacking very much in detail. Some just cut clean to the chase without any detail at all. As surprising as it was, this still was a very fun read for me and I would be happy to recommend it to those who enjoy epic fantasies and adventure stories. A wonderful book...
A symposium, I have come to learn, is actually a gathering of guests with the intent on dining and drinking together. This book takes place during that symposium where a few members of higher society gather together and each take turns giving speeches on the subject of love. I am reading the Oxford World's Classics edition of this book and like the introduction to this book proposes I suggest that you sit and read this book in its entirety in one sitting. It's not very long. It's about 70 pages. But in reading it in one sitting you are really able to grasp the speeches and their differences and similarities. You know that story that you have probably heard in a movie or have heard somebody recant to you where humans actually started off as one single sex and how we were split down the middle and now are forever seeking our other half to become whole again? Well that story actually originated from this book. And what makes the story so profound and impactful is that it is told with utter sincerity from the comedian of the group. It is a very beautiful story. The other speeches that we get in this book are extremely insightful and indeed make you look at and even question things regarding love and it's different aspects. You are able to see through these five speeches the immense power that love has over us all and the miraculous wonders that it can achieve. I like what Socrates says toward the end of the symposium, "It's (why) today, and everyday, I do all I can to praise Love's power and courage." This book is an absolute classic of Western literature and I highly recommend it to everyone! Terrifyingly real...
This book takes you on a journey through the centuries to explore perpetrators of the most heinous crimes of all time. Eye-catching and terribly stunning as these notorious men and women are brought to life in vivid color through woodcarvings, mosaics, paintings and portrait photos. This book starts off every section with a photo of the subject including dates and a small biography. But this book covers so much more as well. In it you will also find short introductions to things like the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the falls of empires & different conflicts, the Nuremberg trials, the American mafia and much, much more. This is one of those books that you would not necessarily read through completely in one sitting but instead use it as a reference guide. The book is also equipped with a detailed table of contents in the front and an index in the back to make it easier for you to casually look subjects up as you please. If you are a lover of history or simply tend to read more on the dark side, like myself, I would definitely recommend adding this book to your library. Okay first off this is an erotica book which is going to have a lot of sex. However as much as there was sex in this novel there wasn't a lot of what I thought was very important to the core story which is getting to know Sloane and her mental illness. There's not a lot of explanation to her mental illness and I had a little trouble pinpointing it at first. For those who are familiar with BPD (Borderline Personality Disorder) her actions will come as no surprise. Although I think that it would have been good for the author to, as I said, go more in-depth on her mental illness and explain it a bit better so that people who are not familiar with it would understand why she does the things that she does. This was something very key that I felt the book lacked.
However the rest of the book is written well and it is an enjoyable read. The characters are well-written and relatable in most cases. The romance and sex scenes were also very well written. Very steamy! I would recommend this book to anyone who likes reading a good steamy erotica novel. Just before Kyler's 16th birthday, she is sexually assulted by members of the high school football team. Now she must deal with the grueling after effects of having been raped by classmates. But as a young boy named Ian comes into the picture, perhaps Kyler will learn that not all men are bad.
The very first thing that you encounter with this book is the Trigger Warning and telephone numbers for Crisis Care centers related to different issues and topics that are touched on in this book. This is absolutely fantastic and I honestly think that more books that touch on subjects that are so provocative and triggering should do this. Bravo to the author! The story itself is very well written and the characters are well-developed and relatable. They really seem real to the reader. Any rape survivor would say, "this book really hit home." There were many tears while reading this book, some good and some bad. I remember having to put this book down for a while and come back to it. This book is an emotional roller coaster for sure even for those who may not have suffered like Kyler suffered. The shame, the guilt, the self-doubt... it is all very real. This is a wonderful book with a great message that I would be happy to recommend to those who heed the trigger warning. |
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