'Little Bee' or 'The other Hand ' you choose it the same book!

Advantages: Well written interesting book with a lot of food for thought
Disadvantages: I'm not sure I liked the ending

...?The other Hand? by Chris Cleave ISBN 978-0340963425 Published by Sceptre; Paperback Edition ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chris Cleave was born in London in 1973 and was brought up both in Cameroon and Buckinghamshire and went to Oxford University where he studied Psychology. He has written two novels, ?Incendiary? which was published in twenty countries and made into a film starring Ewan MacGregor. His second novel is the one I am reviewing ?The Other Hand? as it is known in the UK but in the USA and Canada it is published under the name ?Little Bee? and this book was published in 2008 over here but 2009 in the USA and Canada. Apparently this is due to be made into a film with Nicole Kidman starring in it so I will be looking out for this with interest. BACKGROUND TO THE BOOK: Chris Cleave says that the novel is not a true story but it is...

catsholiday 13.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Other Hand - Chris Cleave

The Other Other Boleyn Girl

Advantages: A great central performance from Natalie Portman.
Disadvantages: Wishy-washy characterisation and weak writing.

..." screenwriter Peter Morgan is probably the weakest aspect of the production. The film is after all based on Philippa Gregory's novel of the same name which, if it is anything like her other books, will concentrate on the sibling rivalry of the two sisters, rather than the political implications of their actions. To my mind this diminishes the scope of the film, making it a soapy romance rather than an historical drama. The characterisation feels overly simplistic as the two leads are such polar opposites and the contrast is too great to feel natural. Anne is dark physically and emotionally; calculating and conniving. Her sexuality is more overt and she understands the power it gives her over men. That being said, she doesn't quite know how to control it, leading to her downfall. Mary, the "milk and honey" sister is pale and pure, coming across as...

afy9mab 11.04.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Other Boleyn Girl (DVD)

SCARY OTHERS

Advantages: Excellent film
Disadvantages: none

...The others, is a film starring Nicole Kidman as Grace a woman whose husband has gone to fight in the war. She is caring for her two children who both suffer from a severe form of 'photophobia'. With which when subjected to any stronger light than a gas lamp, they get covered in blisters and sores. But all is not what it seems in this ghostly tale, which devotes the whole film (bar the last few minutes) to just seven people. Firstly we have Grace herself, portrayed to perfection by Nicole Kidman. She is with her two children a girl named Ann (played by Alakina Mann) and her brother Nicholas (played by James Bentley). Three house workers soon join them: whom Grace readily employs. These are in the form of: Fionnula Flanagan as the housekeeper/nanny, Elaine Cassidy as the mute dogsbody, and the comical Eric Sykes, playing it dead...

dabmim 16.11.2001 · Read review
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Review of The Others (DVD)

A Book Lover

Advantages: Well-drawn characters. Creative use of words.
Disadvantages: A little difficult to adjust to the changing style of writing

...War, it is difficult to imagine that a new novel could be unusual ? yet ?The Book Thief? manages to be just that. It is unusual and unique. The narrator of the story is death. Other books have used death as a narrator before ? Terry Pratchett springs to mind for one however I can think of none for the subject of World War. Zusak said recently at the Hay Festival that War and Death are like best friends so to find death hanging around during World War II would not be unusual. Death is omnipresent and throughout the novel Zusak gives us odd glimpses of the universal tragedies of the War. On the whole though, Zusak remains focused on Liesel and her fellow occupants of Himmel Street. Zusak states that he has approached the book from a personal angle. He recalls two main stories told by his mother: one about the bombing of Munich and how...

MAFARRIMOND 03.06.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

Lording it over other books on Troy

Advantages: Good characters, an interesting take on Troy and its heroes
Disadvantages: The romance element

...?Lord of the Silver Bow? is the first book in a trilogy about Troy and was one that I had thought about reading for a while. Having finally picked it up in the library, I?m certainly glad I did. I found this a very readable book and very enjoyable. It was easy to get into despite the subject matter being based on the classic tale of the Iliad and the stuff of legend. Gemmell switches between different characters and so the story is never seen from only one viewpoint. The book begins before the war and the siege of Troy by the Greek states and so acts as a scene setter ? we are shown the various characters of the nations involved. Troy is shown to be an ostentatious place, wealthy beyond belief and very strong in its alliances. However, Priam, the king of Troy, is not well liked among his subjects and peers and is constantly thwarting...

mogdred1 04.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of Troy: Lord Of The Silver Bow - David Gemmell

Oscar Wilde's obsession with books

Advantages: Full of fascinating information about Wilde's life and love of books
Disadvantages: None really, except maybe best enjoyed by those with some prior knowledge of Wilde

...The controversial Victorian playwright and poet Oscar Wilde, so the introduction to this book tells us, ?devoured and luxuriated in books?. He had a lifelong thirst for reading, so it?s not surprising to find that his house in Chelsea was packed with them. Not only was he an avid collector, but he was also an accomplished speed reader with a remarkable ? and to some extent photographic ? memory which helped him to absorb and recall instantly vast amounts of prose and verse. As a reviewer for the Pall Mall Gazette, he could master a book's content, plot or argument in minutes. (If only ciao had been around in those days as well). Maybe it is only fair to get the one major chink in his armour out of the way quickly. Once, when he was preparing a lecture on the poet Chatterton, most of his notes were made up of entire pages and paragraphs...

JOHNV 24.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Oscar's Books - Thomas Wright

Best for books, okay for other stuff

Advantages: Great range, great service, great delivery times.
Disadvantages: Expensive, and having to pay extra for postage sucks!

...actually means something! They also do a VERY handy "reccomendations" service. Based upon your previous purchases, they reccomend a variety of items which may interest you. Unlike some places' reccomendation services, Amazon's actually works! You can also rate or exclude items, either ones you've bought or ones they've reccomended. But, that comes at a price. Amazon, as well as being one of the best designed shops, is also one of the most expensive. The books and music sections are priced reasonably well, but the Video and DVD section are rarely more than a couple of pounds below high street prices, and well above other online retailers. Plus, Amazon charge separately for shipping, adding a per-order charge AND a per-item charge, which really ramps up the costs. But at least for the money you get very fast, well-packaged delivery. Even...

JimThorley 02.02.2001 · Read review
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Review of Amazon.co.uk

Tweenies Book

Advantages: children will enjoy it
Disadvantages: none unless your child wants you to read it about 10 times a day

...I got this book from a book club for my eldest and now my youngest likes to look at it. It's a hard back book with each page inside being double thin card so that the pull out pictures are fitted in the middle of them. The book is called 'Come Back Colours' because Doodles (The red dog) has lost its colour and so have all the Tweenies toys. The front cover has a picture of the youngest Tweenie Jake and the colourless Doodles, when you open the book you see a picture of the other Tweenies (Milo, Bella and Fizz) on the opposite page is Jake with his special cape opening his arms to the colourless Doodles. The story starts ' One day, Jake put on his special coloured cape.' His job was to look after the colours but where have Doodles colours gone? Jake comes to the rescue waves his arms and says 'Colours come and colours go...

rojm 26.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of Tweenies: Come Back Colours - BBC Books

Others

Advantages: Very well set out story, full of twists and turns
Disadvantages: Cant think of any

...Believe it or not I read this one from start to finish on a beach in Jamaica and I got so immersed in it that I practically lost 2 days of my holiday, I could just not put it down. It does start off sort of weird but you soon forget about that as you end up practically getting inside the main characters head and experiencing the events from his perspective. I wont spoil it for you because to give you anything other than the vaguest outline of the story would really give the game away but I will tell you that the book was inspired by an elderly friend of James Herbert who used to work at a hospital in London. She apparently entered an unmarked ward and was confronted with numerous cots containing very badly deformed babies but nobody could give her any explanation as to who they were or what happened with them. The book goes on to...

Mickm9 17.12.2000 · Read review
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Review of Others - James Herbert

The life of a "frog"* and other stories.

Advantages: Great stories based on the animal kingdom
Disadvantages: Some difficult words | Not as much humour as The Just-So stories.

...messages hidden within the stories. ---The Scouting Connection--- Lord Baden Powell based Cub Scouts on The Jungle Book (Cub Scouts are aged between 8 and 10), and gave the leaders names from the stories. The pack leader is known as Akela (for obvious reasons) and the assistant leaders take other names from the book. I, myself, took the name Kaa. The ideal of cubs is too be as alike to brave, respectful and responsible Mowgli as possible, and never be like the irresponsible Bandar-log. ---My opinion--- This is truly a classic book, filled to the brim with tales of animal life. I first read this when I became an Assistant Cub Scout leader, as I believed it would help me to understand a little more of the theology behind Baden-Powell's vision for the cubs. But it soon became a well-loved book, and although some of the language is...

sandemp 26.04.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling