Gifted!

Advantages: Just brilliant in every way
Disadvantages: None

...a joy to read from start to finish, and really had me sitting and thinking as I turned the final few pages. It is really a moral story, with a bit of magic thrown in to cheer it up, but come the ending everything comes together in a quite shocking ending which really made me sit up and reread what I had just read! Ahern seems to have the ability to create a magical world on paper which you can visualise yourself so deeply that you are thrown so deeply into the story, you want to keep reading right until the end all in one go! The shiny snowflake cover allows this book to be a great Christmas gift as well as a book that is going to be great to bring out for Christmas again and again. I borrowed by copy from the library but will getting myself a copy as soon as its out in paperback. Highly recommended, I absolutely loved it - this is one book...

mummy2harry 15.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Gift - Cecelia Ahern

The Gift

Advantages: Very Well Written.
Disadvantages: Start is a bit confusing.

...This is the third novel of Cecelia Ahern's that I have read and, while PS I Love You was probably my favourite, this is still a very good book. This book is about Lou Suffern, a workaholic who seems to put his work, meetings and colleagues before anything else. His family seem to be way down at the bottom of his priorities. On his way into work one day, he stops to speak to Gabe, a homeless man and he becomes intrigued as Gabe seems to know more about what is happening in his own office than he does. He thinks it would be useful to have Gabe around, so finds him a job within his company. However, when Gabe manages to be everywhere in the office at one time, Lou starts to become suspicious and resentful of Gabe - he wonders if Gabe is out to get his job. This book is set around Christmas time, when people put family first...

jules.34 16.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Gift - Cecelia Ahern

The Twelve GIFTS of Christmas

Advantages: I want, I want, I want!
Disadvantages: Two hopes, and the other one's Bob

...Forgive me for what I am about to do. Cheat, and cheat badly! I know this is meant to be a Top 10 Gifts, but I felt the need to work in a Christmas list based around ?The 12 Days of Christmas?. As an admirer of the parodying style of ?Weird Al? Yankovic, this was just too good an opportunity to let pass me by. Besides, I'm feeling in a silly mood! So, all I need to do now is sit back, relax and wait for all those NU?s to flood in from those Ciaoers who haven?t yet got into the Christmas spirit (or, in Jo1l's case, the drinks cabinet) as this op doesn?t stick rigidly to the criteria outlined in the title. And ?Bah, Humbug!? to every last one of you! So, here goes, the biggest cheat on Ciao, not counting plagiarism. And now you all know. If you?re looking for a cheat, who you gonna call? OK, own up! Who shouted...

Soho_Black 03.12.2002 · Read review
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Review of Top 10 Gifts I'd Like to Receive

A great gift of a book

Advantages: An adventure from start to finish.
Disadvantages: Lots of description and detail.

...THE GIFT *************** The Gift is the first book in Alison Croggon's Pellinor series, which begins with The Gift and ends with The Singing. This tetralogy (or quartet, as Croggon herself refers to the books), is aimed at young adults, and is a very descriptive account of the adventures of a young girl called Maerad. The story takes place in the world of Edil-Amarandh, and the books are based on ?The Riddle of the Treesong?, or ?Naraudh Lar-Chanë? in Annaren, the language spoken in Annar, which is a region in Edil-Amarandh. THE AUTHOR ************** Alison Croggon was born in the Transvaal in South Africa, and her parents moved to England before settling down in Australia when Alison was seven years old. Alison was a poet and playwright before she became a fantasy author, publishing The Gift in 2003. On her website (see below) you...

Nienke 26.10.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Gift - Alison Croggon

Looking a Gift Horse...

Advantages: Good acting by Mr Reeves and Cate Blanchet
Disadvantages: Story line a bit flat

...I often wondered if I was missing something after seeing this film and having read all the reviews and heard all the exclamations of wonder that seemed to be directed at this 2002 film. It was okay, I suppose, but I felt it had been done many times before and that I was wise to everything that was going to happen. Directed by Sam Raimi, of Spiderman and Evil Dead fame, The Gift tell the story of a woman with ESP who is requested to search for a young lady who has gone missing. Annie (the lady in question), who is played well by the lovely Cate Blanchett, is one of these village fortune-tellers, loved by many and hated by others. One of these people who hate her is the wife-beating Donnie Barksdale (Keanu Reaves). Mother of three, and a widow, Annie is menaced by Reaves. During her investigation and her consequent 'visions...

Borg 02.10.2001 (25.11.2007) · Read review
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Review of Gift, The

Gifts from the Kitchen

Advantages: See Review
Disadvantages: See Review

...Gifts from the Kitchen ? Ann Kleinberg: I have a thing for cookbooks, I have loads of them and I love nothing more than snuggling up on the sofa and just looking through them. This particular book was a birthday present from my Mum last January and now that Christmas is here, (woohoo), it has been getting plenty of use. Gifts from the Kitchen is a very pretty and girly hardback book from marks and Spencers. It is styled in a very kitsch way with lots of pretty pictures, pink and gingham! It is the sort of cookbook that instantly makes me want to a don a pinny and morph into a 1950s house-wife! The theme of pink and pale green flows throughout the book and teamed with the beautiful photography it works perfectly to get you into the mood to make lovely edible gifts which is, of course, the theme of the book. There are forty recipes in...

donnabroom 23.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Gifts from the Kitchen - Parragon Book Service

The Best Gift From Cecelia Ahern So Far!!

Advantages: Brill book
Disadvantages: it ended

...The Gift by Cecelia AHurn??. The Gift is the latest novel from Cecelia Ahurn and I do believe one of her best. I have read all of Ahurns works to date but felt that P.S I Love You, her first novel, was always the best. However since reading this latest edition to her collection have quickly changed my mind. The book is on sale now for around the £7 region in Woolworths or Tesco and it looks just like a little Christmas present as it comes with a detachable red ribbon and the front and back covers of the book are printed just like silver Christmas wrapping paper. Just looking at the book makes you want to buy it!!! The story is of a hardworking businessman called Lou and his everyday struggle to get to one meeting in time for the next. He was such a hard worker and wanted people to see him as someone fit for promotion! He...

newby2 18.11.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Gift - Cecelia Ahern

Unusual gifts at Christmas......

Advantages: Wonderous Gifts
Disadvantages: As if there could be.....

...I hope all you readers out there enjoyed your Christmas and New Year celebrations. I know I did, well, after a fashion. Christmas was great, but I had to work for New Year. Anyway, on with the op........ For Christmas 2004, I got some unusual gifts from my Husband Shayne, the light and love of my life..... so in true style, this is what they were....... We Three Kings of Orient are, bearing gifts, we travel afar, field and fountain, moor and mountain, following yonder star......O' Star of wonder, star of light, star with royal beauty bright, Westward leading, still proceeding, guide us to thy perfect light.... And Balthazzar spoke....... Born a King on Bethlehem Plains, Gold I bring to crown Him again, King forever, Ceasing never, Over us all to reign...... My first unusual gift was a Star. Not just any star, but...

Aussieme1106 02.01.2005 · Read review
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Review of Everything that starts with U ...

Sam Raimi's The Gift

Advantages: see review
Disadvantages: see review

...If you have seen Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of movies then you might be expecting something a little different than what The Gift has to offer you. This shows a more mature Raimi, showing that he can indeed cut it in the world of 'serious' film-making, as opposed to hilarious schlock horror. The Gift however benefits from his directorial talents but unfortunately even he can not pull it up from being a simple painting by numbers thriller. The wonderful Cate Blanchett plays Annie, a psychic in a small southern town. Her husband died a few years previously and the only money she has to survive on is the small amount she gets from his life insurance and the money she gets from offering psychic readings to the townsfolk. Amongst her clientel is Valerie Barksdale(Hilary swank), wife of abusive husband Donnie(Keanu Reeves) who frequently...

wampyrii 06.10.2001 · Read review
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Review of Gift, The

not the perfect gift

Advantages: good acting by well-known stars
Disadvantages: poor plot line that drags on a little too long

.... Although she does not have a huge part, she does bare more of her flesh than usual. There are no real twists in the film, and the ending is pretty predictable. Overall, my opinon of the film is that it is not right cracking. With all the acting ability available, it does not make the most of it. The film is boring in more parts than one and drags on alot, with little excitment. If you like exciting and tense thrillers - you should give 'The Gift' a miss. Some could call it a psychological thriller, not sure if I would agree or notIt is neither tense or exciting. The film overall is a real miss and I believe it does not live up to my expectations. Thanks for reading my op and all comments and reviews are welcome. Thanks. Rob :)...

RobStead 06.11.2002 · Read review
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Review of Gift, The