Thorn by Intisar Khanani
A retelling of The Goose Girl story. Princess Alyrra has not has a happy life. Growing up in fear of her brother and trying to stay on her mother’s good side....
24 November 2013
The Fox and the child dir. by Luc Jacquet
There isn’t really all that much plot to this film. A ten year old girl on her way to school one morning encounters a wild fox. She has never been so...
8 September 2013
Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein
It is 1944 and American pilot Rose Justice is working in England, she has joined the ATA and is hard at work transporting planes for the RAF, and occasionally flying important...
13 August 2013
The dollmaker by Harriette Arnow
The world is at war, and the army is stealing away the men, and those that are left are being hauled off to work in the factories in order to assist the war effort. In rural Kentucky Gertie is lucky enough to still have her husband around, he drives the coal truck, but knows that this situation cannot last. He has his date with the army already lined up. But she is preparing as best she can. She has been saving her money and almost has enough to offer on a nearby farm. Without having to pay half what they earn on rent Gertie and her family will be able to plan for the future. But on the eve of her plans coming to fruition all is ruined and she must uproot her family and follow her husband to the city of Detroit.
11 May 2013
Rise of the planet of the apes dir. by Rupert Wyatt
Okay, so we all know what is going to happen in this film. Don’t we? I mean, we all have heard of Planet of the Apes and pretty much every one,...
28 August 2011
The chimps of Fauna Sanctuary by Andrew Westoll
A true story of resilience and recovery
In Fauna Sanctuary Gloria Grow rescues animals. There are dogs, horses, swans, a donkey, and of course the chimpanzees. Most were retired from research facilities where they were the subjects of medical research into Hepatitis, HIV, and the like. There are a few who were circus chimps. Some of them started life as pets, cute little chimps to dress up and play with, until they grew too big and strong and dangerous. Anyone who heard of Travis and his attack on Charla Nash knows that a chimp is not to be taken lightly. And yet people continue to try and keep them as domestic pets.
In this book Westoll spent a year working in the Fauna Sanctuary. He gets to know not only the people who work there but also the chimpanzees themselves, and their horrific lives spent as test subjects, being knocked out, biopsied, infected, and isolated.
30 July 2011
A monster calls by Patrick Ness
Every night Conor O’Malley has the nightmare. Every night. But tonight something is different. Tonight there is a new monster. A new nightmare. And Conor isn’t sure if this is a dream or not. But either way, this is the monster he was fearing. This monster, the yew tree, tells him that it will tell him three stories. And then Conor will tell the monster a story. A true story. And if he doesn’t, then the monster will eat him alive.
15 May 2011
The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
ISBN: 9781406310252 LibraryThing ; Wikipedia[1] Chaos Walking # 1 I wasn’t too convinced that I was going to like this book when I first started reading it. The first chapter didn’t...
6 January 2010
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell
ISBN: 9780552772884 This book I loved. Loved. But I should have guessed, I’ve loved most of Russell’s books. I wasn’t hugely fond of part of Children of God, as I recall,...
14 August 2009
A Little Princess [based on the book] by Frances Hodgson Burnett dir. by Alfonso Cuarón
based on book by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
Sara Crewe lives a spoiled life in India with a devoted, doting father, until World War I intervenes, and he enlists, sending Sara off to boarding school in New York to keep her safe. There she must adjust, whereas before she had free rein to do as she pleased, now she must submit to rules and regulations that she doesn’t understand. And, most difficult for her, she must keep her imagination in check. But Sara isn’t a selfish, “poor little rich girl”, she is bright and kind, and soon makes friends with most of the other girls, from those in her class to the scullery maid. She is also the only one who can really get through to Lottie as they have both lost their mothers.
29 July 2007
We3 by Frank Quitely, Grant Morrison
ISBN: 1401204953 I heard about this comic over at The Woolamaloo Gazette, and when I took a look on the forbiddenplanet site it was quite cheap around nine euro I think,...
6 July 2005
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay
ISBN: 0061056219 Loved this book. Pretty much devoured it in one day, and it isn’;t the shortest of books. The version I read was published by EOS and is categorised as...
7 July 2004
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