Category: Uncategorized
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Review: The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve
Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review. My rating: 5 out of 5 I first read Anita Shreve almost 20 years ago with A Pilot’s Wife, too long ago to remember the details, but not that long too forget that I enjoyed it. The Stars are Fire has similar themes: a family wrecked by…
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Review: The Silver Dish by Saul Bellow
My rating: 5 out of 5 Saul Bellow’s The Silver Dish has been on my to-read list for at least a year. Ethan Canin, a guest on Brian Koppelman’s The Moment podcast, praised it so heavily that it seemed rude not to give it a shot. It’s just a shame it took so long to…
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Review: A Horse Walks into a Bar by David Grossman and Jessica Cohen
Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review. My rating: 5 out of 5 It’s rare to find uniqueness in fiction, we’ve been making up stories for thousands of years after all, but David Grossman’s A horse Walks into a Bar squarely hits the mark. The story is framed around Dovaleh G’s stand-up routine in…
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Violence: A Writer’s Guide Second Edition by Rory Miller
My rating: 5 out of 5 Rory Miller comes across as a good guy, but I wouldn’t want to bump into him a dark alley. Many of the examples in this writer’s guide come from his experiences; he’s been a prison guard, tactical police officer and a host of others, so he knows what he’s…
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Don’t Shoot the Dog!: The New Art of Teaching and Training by Karen Pryor
My review: 5 out of 5 Karen Pryor’s Don’t Shoot the Dog! is an interesting read for anyone, not just for dog owners, or dolphin owners, or the owners of children! Her background is in sea life training, and many of the anecdotes are based around those experiences, but a large part of the training…
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Review: The Summer of Impossible Things
The Summer of Impossible Things by Rowan Coleman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review. I did struggle to get into Rowan Coleman’s The Summer of Impossible Things. I love the time travelling concept; I’ve recently finished Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time, and I adore Audrey Niffenegger’s…
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Review: Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back
Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back by Matthew d’Ancona My rating: 5 of 5 stars Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review. Trump, for all his faults, is gold dust for the entertainment industry. He’s petrol on the flames of satire, and the butt of countless books and articles…
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Review: Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World
Popular: The Power of Likability in a Status-Obsessed World by Mitch Prinstein My rating: 4 of 5 stars Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review. Mitch Prinstein’s Popular is an interesting read. It addresses all aspects of popularity – why it’s important, how it evolved, and where it can lead. I did enjoy it,…
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Review: The One
The One by John Marrs My rating: 4 of 5 stars The concept behind The One is interesting – match.com with DNA profiling. I was expecting a book that would explore whether likability or sexual attraction could be predetermined by something so scientific as a double helix. Some of the themes could’ve tackled the viability…
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Review: Option B
Option B by Sheryl Sandberg My rating: 5 of 5 stars Book supplied by Netgalley for an honest review. I remember reading about the death of David Goldberg when it happened. He was holidaying in Mexico with his wife, Sheryl Sandberg (COO of Facebook), and suffered some form of heart attack in the hotel’s gym.…