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Jan. 10th, 2012 10:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tvordljSnow!
Mind you, i hope it doesn't last too long or it will be a pain getting home later today. I've also made plans to go to a movie tonight. Some friends are going to see the TinTin movie and I thought, why not? A nice relaxing movie on "cheap" night. It's in 3D which is a bit of a bore but oh well. I really don't find the 3D adds anything to a movie. It's a trend and a fad and I hope it passes. I reckon so many are made because the tv industry is trying to sell the 3D tvs and the dvds of this 3D movies will sell better.
Have any of you Canadians ever watched CBC's Republic of Doyle? I often though i'd try it but never got round to it. This week's season opener has Russel Crowe on as a guest star as he's friends with the producer whom he knows through Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle. I figure there will be a surge of new viewers watching because he's on it and I will probably watch too. I may even stick with it if i like it and find the back episodes. Thoughts?
The next group of finished books this year were actually finished and fairly good ones.
2. Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner - Diana Gabaldon
Again another wonderful book by my favourite Author. The only thing that would give this a higher rating is if it had been a Jamie and Claire book but it's been an excellent book altogether anyway. This is one of the Lord John spinoff mysteries. I've read some of them and I do like them but this was better than the others because Jamie Fraser is a large part of it.
This takes place around the middle of the same time period her third book, Voyager, covers. Jamie has been paroled to Helwater in the Lake District and working in the stables and his secret son, William has been born and is a small boy. It is just before the reign of George II ends, 1759/60 and another Jacobite Rising may be forming in Ireland. Lord John Grey has been asked by his brother to retrieve an army officer who has gone to Ireland. He must face court martial charges of treason and he is suspected of being involved in the potential uprising. Jamie is brought to London to help translate a poem written in the Irish (as opposed to Scottish) form of Gaelic, a poem found in the officer's papers. An old aquaintance of Jamie's also makes contact and wants Jamie to help the uprising.
He is coerced into accompanying John to Ireland. Does Jamie support John's quest or does he support the Jacobites? He already knows the conspiracy isn't going to work because of the knowledge he's gained from Claire who has gone back to the future. He may get the chance at freedom but will he be able to leave Helwater and his son? The book follows Jamie and John's adventures and we see how their relationship starts to head towards a friendship.
3.Moll Flanders - Daniel DeFoe
It is the fictional story of Moll Flanders, a pseudonym because of the scandalous life she'd led. She is a 17th century woman who was born in Newgate prison where her mother was incarcerated. Raised in orphanages, she made a life for herself as best she could by latching on to various families and men, marrying several times, not always legally. With one of her husbands, she sailed to Virginia where she had two children and then discovered that her mother-in-law was in fact her mother and her husband was her brother. She was also, at various times of her life, a prostitute and later in her life she became a notorious thief, escaping capture many times aside from once.
The style of writing is of course 17th century so does not flow as easily as modern fiction and i found the second part of the book where she became a thief more interesting than the first. There was apparently a movie made of it but for the most part is bears little resemblence to the book. It could be a good romp if made into a short series.
4. Cemetery club - J. G. Faherty
This is a horror novel and it put me in mind of something reminscent of Stephen King. The premise is a small town with a hive of shadowy creatures called Shades that rise up every so often throughout the history of the town. The Shades can inhabit people and the people then become zombie-like, attacking and eating humans. They also thrive on fear and negative energy. There seems to be no predictions as to which humans will be posessed and which merely get eaten.
20 years ago, four teens who hung out in a cemetery, raised these creatures and managed to banish them by using holy water and religion. One of the four was accused of the murders that the "zombies" did and spent the next 20 years in an asylum. He's out now but something has raised the Shades again. The four reunite to try to contain the horde but they're bigger and stronger than ever.
While I don't normally read horror novels too often, this was a "win" from Library thing for a review and it sounded ok. I enjoyed the book which is well written. I liked the main characters. Their history is also introduced so you can get some background into each. The only thing i found started to get redundant is the many scenes that described the murders. After awhile, it was just more of the same. A few of those could have been taken out and you would still get the idea that the murders were spreading further and further through the town.
Aside from that, though, I found the book well written and it kept me wanting to know what happened next, how were the four going to defeat the Horde? Will there be any fatalities among our stalward Shade-fighters? The ending and final confrontation was exciting and satisfying. Overall, quite a good read
Mind you, i hope it doesn't last too long or it will be a pain getting home later today. I've also made plans to go to a movie tonight. Some friends are going to see the TinTin movie and I thought, why not? A nice relaxing movie on "cheap" night. It's in 3D which is a bit of a bore but oh well. I really don't find the 3D adds anything to a movie. It's a trend and a fad and I hope it passes. I reckon so many are made because the tv industry is trying to sell the 3D tvs and the dvds of this 3D movies will sell better.
Have any of you Canadians ever watched CBC's Republic of Doyle? I often though i'd try it but never got round to it. This week's season opener has Russel Crowe on as a guest star as he's friends with the producer whom he knows through Great Big Sea's Alan Doyle. I figure there will be a surge of new viewers watching because he's on it and I will probably watch too. I may even stick with it if i like it and find the back episodes. Thoughts?
The next group of finished books this year were actually finished and fairly good ones.
2. Lord John and the Scottish Prisoner - Diana Gabaldon
Again another wonderful book by my favourite Author. The only thing that would give this a higher rating is if it had been a Jamie and Claire book but it's been an excellent book altogether anyway. This is one of the Lord John spinoff mysteries. I've read some of them and I do like them but this was better than the others because Jamie Fraser is a large part of it.
This takes place around the middle of the same time period her third book, Voyager, covers. Jamie has been paroled to Helwater in the Lake District and working in the stables and his secret son, William has been born and is a small boy. It is just before the reign of George II ends, 1759/60 and another Jacobite Rising may be forming in Ireland. Lord John Grey has been asked by his brother to retrieve an army officer who has gone to Ireland. He must face court martial charges of treason and he is suspected of being involved in the potential uprising. Jamie is brought to London to help translate a poem written in the Irish (as opposed to Scottish) form of Gaelic, a poem found in the officer's papers. An old aquaintance of Jamie's also makes contact and wants Jamie to help the uprising.
He is coerced into accompanying John to Ireland. Does Jamie support John's quest or does he support the Jacobites? He already knows the conspiracy isn't going to work because of the knowledge he's gained from Claire who has gone back to the future. He may get the chance at freedom but will he be able to leave Helwater and his son? The book follows Jamie and John's adventures and we see how their relationship starts to head towards a friendship.
3.Moll Flanders - Daniel DeFoe
It is the fictional story of Moll Flanders, a pseudonym because of the scandalous life she'd led. She is a 17th century woman who was born in Newgate prison where her mother was incarcerated. Raised in orphanages, she made a life for herself as best she could by latching on to various families and men, marrying several times, not always legally. With one of her husbands, she sailed to Virginia where she had two children and then discovered that her mother-in-law was in fact her mother and her husband was her brother. She was also, at various times of her life, a prostitute and later in her life she became a notorious thief, escaping capture many times aside from once.
The style of writing is of course 17th century so does not flow as easily as modern fiction and i found the second part of the book where she became a thief more interesting than the first. There was apparently a movie made of it but for the most part is bears little resemblence to the book. It could be a good romp if made into a short series.
4. Cemetery club - J. G. Faherty
This is a horror novel and it put me in mind of something reminscent of Stephen King. The premise is a small town with a hive of shadowy creatures called Shades that rise up every so often throughout the history of the town. The Shades can inhabit people and the people then become zombie-like, attacking and eating humans. They also thrive on fear and negative energy. There seems to be no predictions as to which humans will be posessed and which merely get eaten.
20 years ago, four teens who hung out in a cemetery, raised these creatures and managed to banish them by using holy water and religion. One of the four was accused of the murders that the "zombies" did and spent the next 20 years in an asylum. He's out now but something has raised the Shades again. The four reunite to try to contain the horde but they're bigger and stronger than ever.
While I don't normally read horror novels too often, this was a "win" from Library thing for a review and it sounded ok. I enjoyed the book which is well written. I liked the main characters. Their history is also introduced so you can get some background into each. The only thing i found started to get redundant is the many scenes that described the murders. After awhile, it was just more of the same. A few of those could have been taken out and you would still get the idea that the murders were spreading further and further through the town.
Aside from that, though, I found the book well written and it kept me wanting to know what happened next, how were the four going to defeat the Horde? Will there be any fatalities among our stalward Shade-fighters? The ending and final confrontation was exciting and satisfying. Overall, quite a good read
