Tagged: 8 Stars

Books

Victory of eagles by

Author: Naomi Novik
Temeraire series #5

I hesitated before starting this book, wondering if I should reread the others in the series, it has been a while after all. But I have so many books waiting to be read that I decided to jump straight in and hope that it would all come back to me. And it did, almost the second I started reading the first page the whole world of Temeraire came back to me and I remember just how enjoyable these books are.

For those of you who have never read any of these books the first thing you need to know is that they are set in Napoleonic Europe, England. And have dragons. It is like Sharp meets Pern. Only better.

19 May 2010
Books

Burn me deadly by

Author Alex Bledsoe
An Eddie LaCrosse novel #2

This book takes place around a year, maybe more I can’t recall, after the first one, The sword-edged blonde and since then Eddie and Liz have become a couple. Apart from that nothing much has changed for Eddie. He is still a sword-jockey for hire, and returning one night from a job he almost runs over a blonde woman who is about to mess up his life.

14 May 2010
Books

The sword-edged blonde by

Author: Alex Bledsoe
An Eddie LaCrosse novel #1
Eddie LaCrosse is a sword jockey, or private detectives in this fantasy world. He is also a man with a past. And that past is coming back to haunt him. I really loved parts of this book

14 May 2010
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Whip it! [based on the book] by dir. by

Dir: Drew Barrymore
Writ: Shauna Cross, based on her novel

Bliss Cavender works at a typical American diner, under her mother’s guidance she does pageants, and she goes to school. It isn’t an ideal life. She wants out. One day, while out shopping she sees some local roller derby girls and wants to investigate. Herself and best friend Pash pretend to be going to see the local football team but instead head for the roller derby, and before you know it Bliss is trying out for a team.

Can I just say that I loved this film. It was teh awesome!

22 April 2010
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Kick-ass dir. by

Dir:Matthew Vaughn
Writ: Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn based on the graphic novel by Mark Millar & John Romita Jr.
With all the people out there who love comic books, with all those millions of people who love superheroes, why hasn’t anyone ever tried it. That’s what Dave Lizewski wonders. It isn’t that he thinks it is sensible, but surely it stands to reason that someone, somewhere will try it? Or has tried it? Well, why not him. So he goes online and buys a scuba diving suit, and low and behold, Kick-ass is born. Things do not go well for him. He’s a weedy teenager out on his own trying to fit the bad guys. He gets his ass kicked, on more than one occasion, but he also gets famous. And comes to the attention of Big Daddy and Hit-Girl, two real superheroes who know enough about their job to keep themselves totally secret. Did I mention that Hit-Girl is like eleven or something?

22 April 2010
Books

Whose body? by

The body of a stout man is found in a bathroom, naked but for a gold pince-nez. At the same time, a prominent banker goes missing. Is the dead man the missing Mr. Levy? And if so, how did he manage to end up in Mr. Thipps’ bathroom? And was he murdered?

This is the first book Sayers wrote to feature Lord Peter Wimsey. He is the second son of an ancient English house, his elder brother is the Duke of Denver. And his hobby is criminology. Already he has solved the case of some missing emeralds, now he is on two cases at once; to find the missing Levy & to figure out the who, why and where concerning the mystery body.

2 April 2010
Books

The game by

Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes have returned home to Sussex in order to enjoy the new year, but soon enough they travel to London to visit Holmes’ brother, Mycroft, whose health is not the best. While there he suggests that perhaps they might look into a case for him. A possibly-missing person. In India.

Of course they head off, and the person they are looking for, none other than Kimball O’Hara, known to many from Rudyard Kipling’s Kim.

28 March 2010
Books

A good dog by

We’ve been on a bit of an “animal-human relationship” kick at work lately. I chose this one at random one afternoon. It is the second book that the author Jon Katz wrote about his life after meeting Devon/Orson, the border collie. he has many others detailing his life with other dogs. But Orson was his “once in a lifetime” dog. The one that changes your life.

26 March 2010
Books

Wedlock by

Mary Eleanor Bowes was born in 1749. Her father was extremely wealthy and, unusually for the time, had her well educated. A most eligible young woman, not least because she was the richest heiress in C18th Britain. Her first wedding was nothing unusual for the time. Pretty loveless and to an older man it wasn’t a romantic love match. Her second, to a dashing young soldier, was. Mary Eleanor probably hadn’t intended to marry Andrew Robinson Stoney, but upon hearing that he had fought a duel for her honour and was laying on his deathbed wishing for nothing but her hand in marriage… well, who could resist that romance!

4 March 2010
Moving Pictures / Reviews

Alice in Wonderland dir. by

Ever since I saw the trailer for this with the wonderful character design I wanted to see it. Plus, Wonderland as seen through Tim Burton’s eyes! And Johnny Depp! And the fact that it is 3D. Of course with all those positives there was always the chance for expectations being far too high and the film itself being a disappointment.

This isn’t really an adaptation of Carroll’s book, instead we have a 19 year old Alice, and all the characters in Wonderland, or the Underland, are wondering if she is the right Alice, especially as she doesn’t seem to remember being there before. They need Alice to be their champion and fight the jabberwock and so defeat the Red Queen. But if she isn’t the Real Alice can she do it?

1 March 2010
Books

Living with the dead by

The plot of Living with the dead revolves around the character of Robyn; recently widowed she has moved to LA and taken a job in PR with Portia Kane, a Paris Hilton-type celebrity. Or wannabe celebrity. But when Portia is murdered Robyn finds herself the main suspect and in her confusion makes a break for it. She is helped out by her best friend, Hope Adams, and her boyfriend, Karl Marstsen.

25 February 2010
Books

Frostbitten by

It has been ages since I’ve read any of Armstrong’s books. I think I sorta faded away from them with Broken. But that was way back in 2006, she’s had four more books in the series out since then, as well as some YA books in the ‘verse, not to mention the ooodles of short stories. And while these books are pretty far removed from the cannon there is something so enjoyable about them.

23 February 2010
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