Boyd's Void

Advantages: Good read which is more than just a story
Disadvantages: None

...The curiously named "Armadillo" is William Boyd's eighth novel. Born in Ghana and brought up there and in Nigeria, Boyd has had a successful career as a novelist, short-story and screenplay writer and as a journalist. His novels have won critical and popular acclaim. The Ice-Cream War was nominated for the Booker Prize and the superb Restless won the Costa (previously Whitbread) Award for Best Novel in 2006. What is "Armadillo" about? Boyd helpfully gives us a pointer that small, scaly animals are not necessarily going to be involved by providing a frontispiece to the novel proper where he defines the origin of armadillo as being from Spanish "diminutive of armado armed man, so literally 'little armed man'". Actually it is not a pointer, it is a whacking big clue to understanding the main character, Lorimer Black. It seems a strange...

JoePoirot 04.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of Armadillo - William Boyd

FREE DVDs

Advantages: Free trial, large choice, post included,new realeases
Disadvantages: see review

...I like movies and I like freebies, so when you get offered both in one swoop you?re bound to accept! I used my two week free trial with this company and remained with them for a couple of monthsbefore moving on to try many other companies free trials (and winning a new DVD player on Tesco DVD rental site on their free trial offer). I then had an email from DVDs 365 asking me to go back, and offering me a free DVD if I did so. I had just left Tesco (with my new DVD player) so I chose to go back with them. ∆◊◊ THE SERVICE THEY OFFER ∆◊◊ Basically it?s like going to a video shop and hiring films on DVD, except you don?t pay for each film you chose ? rather a monthly fee for which you can watch as many movies as you can fit in, for us this is usually around 8 a month (2 a week usually weekends...

dabmim 15.11.2004 · Read review
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Review of dvds365.com

Surprising Picture Quality - Panasonic DVD-S54

Advantages: Incredible picture quality when compared to my old non-upscaling player with a scart lead
Disadvantages: Sometimes disc drive can be really noisy when DVD's initially load.

...At first I wasn't convinced by up-scaling DVD player technology but was persuaded after reading an article in "What Hi-Fi? Sound and Vision" magazine. Unable to afford a Blu-Ray player my sister and I bought the Panasonic DVD-S54 to match our parents brand new Panasonic TX-32LZD80 LCD television as their Christmas 2008 present. Admittedly it was a slightly selfish purchase as we both live at home and wanted to watch DVDs on the big new TV ourselves! We bought the player from the electrical retailer Comet for about £100 just before Christmas so there were no discounts applied. On Christmas day when opened we found a relatively small box tightly packed with the player in polystyrene packaging. All the components such as cables, remote and manuals were well presented in their own protective plastic bags, to keep them protected. The player...

bobbacon985 12.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Panasonic DVD-S54

This made me a bit Restless

Advantages: Eva's storyline
Disadvantages: Ruth's storyline

...work as an English Foreign Language teacher. The interaction with her various students can be amusing as can her exchanges with her young son Jochen. The only interesting part of the 1970s storyline was the mystery of why Eva was finally revealing all this information to Ruth. Eva is shown to be a very manipulative person and is using her past as a way to get Ruth to do things for her. Eva is portrayed as being quite cold towards her daughter and is also shown to be very paranoid. She is constantly looking over her shoulder and Ruth comes to realise why as she continues to read her mother's story. I felt that the more modern storyline was quite dull and was really only a vehicle for Eva's story and to keep the tension up. Boyd would build up a situation with Eva and then leave the reader wanting more by switching back to Ruth's storyline...

mogdred1 14.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Restless - William Boyd

Found Father

Advantages: good story, interesting characters, well told
Disadvantages: minor flaws

...Fischer into her father?s unlikely account. The exotic setting, the out-of-the-ordinary characters, their passions as well as the description of the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, which serves as historical background, made me turn the pages eagerly. The novel has no profound ideas (besides the one that there is such a thing as undying love), it does not enlighten the reader, after finishing the last page I wasn?t wiser than before I started reading. William Boyd is just a great storyteller and since our ancestors sat around the fire in their caves, sable-tooth tigers prowling outside, brilliant storytellers have been able to enchant and distract their listeners . What I like about Boyd is that he does his homework but never gets on the readers? nerves with the knowledge he?s accumulated. The information on the Spanish...

MALU 14.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Blue Afternoon - William Boyd

Chronic Chaos

Advantages: good story, good characters, good style
Disadvantages: none

...easy for William Boyd to write well on Africa as we was born in Accra, Ghana, (in 1952) and attended school in Ghana and Nigeria, but if this were true, we would all be able to write brill novels about our home countries which, sadly, we're not. No, Boyd is just a born storyteller, he likes what he's doing and it shows. "I do enjoy writing. I know some writers enjoy the invention but find writing an endless night of the soul. I don't. I think, if you can earn your living writing fiction, it's very agreeable." Boyd got the Whitbread Literary Award and the Somerset Morgan Award for his debut novel A Good Man in Africa, a good decision if you ask me (often it's wise to stay away from award-winning literature). He's published sixteen more books since then of which I've read Brazzaville Beach, Restless and Armadillo; he's extremely versatile...

MALU 07.12.2008 · Read review
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Review of A Good Man in Africa - William Boyd

Are you Restless?

Advantages: A good read, good story
Disadvantages: Characters not well developed, heavy in parts

...This is another book from the Richard and Judy Book Club 2007. I read this book while I was on holiday; it is the third book that I have read from the Richard and Judy selection and the first I have read by William Boyd. ~ The Author ~ William Boyd was born in Accra, Ghana, on 7 March 1952. He has written many novels and won many awards. His other work includes, ?An Ice-Cream War?, ?A Good Man in Africa? and ?Brazzaville Beach?. Restless is his latest novel, published in 2006. ~ The Book ~ This novel is about a female spy in World War II. Eva Delectorskaya was recruited for the British Secret Service by an Englishman named Lucas Romer, when she was 28 years old. Eva received excellent training as a spy and worked with the British Secret Service in America during WWII. After working for the British Secret Service, Eva moves...

bluejules 18.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of Restless - William Boyd

YAMAHA DVD-S 557 this is THE DVD player of all time.

Advantages: Brilliant DVD player, perfect quality
Disadvantages: cant think of any

......

plainpaul 22.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Yamaha DVD-S 557

FREE DVDS

Advantages: up to date dvds, four weeks free hire with 3 dvds at a time,
Disadvantages: see review

...My recent quest for FREE DVD hire I visited and many DVD web sites that offered a free trial. Now call me tight (no that wasn?t an invite), but I like bargains and freebies and am not ashamed to say so. My quest took me to enough sites to hire DVDs for about four months so far (with plenty to come too). My latest free DVD site also happens to be the best I have tried for several reasons (see rest of op); the site in question is Blockbuster.co.uk. Other sites that I have had free rentals from and then cancelled have all been similar, two weeks free trial with two DVD?s per time ? which in effect gives you about four free DVD?s. With Blockbuster?s things are different slightly ? which add a great deal of benefit to us the customer. Firstly, you get FOUR whole weeks free rental, which equates to at double the length of time most...

dabmim 18.06.2004 · Read review
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Review of blockbuster.co.uk

lISTEN TO TOMMY BOYD

Advantages: GOOD
Disadvantages: NOT THAT GOOD

...I don?t want to be critical on Talk sport, but I don?t think it can ever reach Radio 5 live, it can try but never reach them. The cricket coverage was good, it was made interesting but I think that was more down to Geoffrey Boycott that anyone else. But, other than that their sport is much inferior to Radio 5 live. The fact that Radio 5 have the rights to air live premiership matches gives them the edge, but with football being the main sport in England, if you haven?t got it you will suffer. So Talk sport haven?t so they do. However, I have to be fair and balanced so Talk sport have the best radio presenter ever, in Tommy Boyd wow he?s ace. You have to listen to him from Friday to Sunday from 10pm to 1am. Try him, he?s so good, that words won?t do justice. He?s the best presenter they have and I am surprised they don...

WAD1-2-3 19.12.2000 · Read review
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Review of Talk Sport