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Jan. 11th, 2011 12:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljI've recorded the debut of the American version of Shameless and downloaded the first of the new season of UK Shameless. I may have to have a Shameless marathon later tonight. A UK tv writer, Ian Wylie, someone who's opinion i do respect, thinks the US version is pretty good. I remain doubtful but i'll watch it anyway. Willliam H. Macy just doesn't seem to me to be "Frank" from the show. Apparently they're using the scripts or mostly from the UK shows. I reckon the kids will be ok and i actually think Emmy Rossum as Fiona will be good too. Frank is what really makes the show, though. I think Joan Cusak is cast as the nutjob that Frank eventually (in the UK at least) gets together with, Sheila. I usually like her so hoping she'll be as full out as the UK Sheila was. Time will tell. Expect more of a review once i've watched it.
2011 books
2. Fall of Giants - Ken Follett (ebook)
This is the first of a trilogy. As such, it doesn't really "end". It feels more like the end of another chapter and you could easily turn the page for more. Having said that, it doesn't end on a "cliffhanger" either so you aren't going to sit in suspense waiting for the next of the three books.
Fall of Giants follows the ups and downs of a number of characters from various classes and countries and will, I expect, follow them and the subsquent generations through the next 100 years since this is the "Century Trilogy". It opens in the years before World War I and most of the book covers the war, it's events and it's politics as seen by officers, regular soldiers, women and traces the rise of the Soviets and the Russian Revolution.
We see life from the viewpoints of the poor in Russia and a mining village in Wales where an Earl and his family also live. We see the lives of the upper class British, a middle class man from the USA and another from Germany. All of the people that start the book off as struggling working poor work themselves up a bit by the end in various ways, mainly through politics, some by luck and the seat of their pants.
The book is heavy on politics from the "inside" (Britain, Germany, Russia and military) which might be a bit dull for some people who aren't into history, and light on romance though there is a bit of that, too. The characters seem very well thought out and drawn out and you get a very good feel for life in the various locations at that time. I have to admit that i skimmed through some of the war and battle scenes but thought that my father would have enjoyed it all. I did find the politics behind the Russian Revolution quite interesting and learned a few things about how WWI really started.
I did like the book, but it won't be to everyone's taste. If you like politics and/or history, you will enjoy it. If you like historical romance with a little bit of the above, you probably won't
2011 books
2. Fall of Giants - Ken Follett (ebook)
This is the first of a trilogy. As such, it doesn't really "end". It feels more like the end of another chapter and you could easily turn the page for more. Having said that, it doesn't end on a "cliffhanger" either so you aren't going to sit in suspense waiting for the next of the three books.
Fall of Giants follows the ups and downs of a number of characters from various classes and countries and will, I expect, follow them and the subsquent generations through the next 100 years since this is the "Century Trilogy". It opens in the years before World War I and most of the book covers the war, it's events and it's politics as seen by officers, regular soldiers, women and traces the rise of the Soviets and the Russian Revolution.
We see life from the viewpoints of the poor in Russia and a mining village in Wales where an Earl and his family also live. We see the lives of the upper class British, a middle class man from the USA and another from Germany. All of the people that start the book off as struggling working poor work themselves up a bit by the end in various ways, mainly through politics, some by luck and the seat of their pants.
The book is heavy on politics from the "inside" (Britain, Germany, Russia and military) which might be a bit dull for some people who aren't into history, and light on romance though there is a bit of that, too. The characters seem very well thought out and drawn out and you get a very good feel for life in the various locations at that time. I have to admit that i skimmed through some of the war and battle scenes but thought that my father would have enjoyed it all. I did find the politics behind the Russian Revolution quite interesting and learned a few things about how WWI really started.
I did like the book, but it won't be to everyone's taste. If you like politics and/or history, you will enjoy it. If you like historical romance with a little bit of the above, you probably won't
