The Secret River

Advantages: Great descriptions of the times, Australia
Disadvantages: None

...The Secret River London 1806 - William Thornhill, happily wedded to his childhood sweetheart Sal, is a waterman on the River Thames. Life is tough but bearable until William makes a mistake, a bad mistake for which he and his family are made to pay dearly. His sentence: to be transported to New South Wales for the term of his natural life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is the book of the month at our book club and is probably not a book I would have chosen for myself but is an extremely interesting portrail into life for people in that age and of the two countries. This story is basically in two parts, Will's London life and then his Australian life. The two are most definitely linked to each other but in terms of Will's and Sal's feelings and adventures they are worlds apart, or you could say continents apart. The story...

Spottydog11 18.11.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Secret River - Kate Grenville

Secrets secrets secrets!

Advantages: characters well written
Disadvantages: slow

...secrets which I wont go into detail about so as not to spoil it but it shows why they are holding back a little. The story shows how Tess adjusts to living this different life away from London and as part of a house sitter for a man who is not often there yet she is always thinking about. It shows how she makes new friends and tries to do the best for her daughter. What I really liked about it was the fact that the characters are very well formed, you do feel as though you know them well and would know how they react. However, the book is very slow. It is as though Freya North is trying to really get across her characters personalities so much so that there are lots of pages just full os description about how Joe and Tess are feeling and very little dialogue or action. It makes it a very slow read. It is meant to be quite a touching...

lorriellah 06.09.2009 · Read review
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Review of Secrets - Freya North

A world of magic and Secrets!

Advantages: exciting, gifts, Sabrina, magic, memories
Disadvantages: price, rare

...When you're seven years old and taking a trip to the dentist, it's not exactly the most thrilling of experiences. It's not as if you can give a child a sweet to cheer them up either - that really would not go down well with the dentist! Now I am personally not a believer in giving children toys and gifts just to keep them happy - some things like trips to the doctor's or the dentist's just has to be done, and no reward is needed unless they have been really brave and it is not just a regular checkup. However my Mam clearly saw different when I was a child, and I was bought a magazine. But it was not just any magazine, it was an exciting, attractive, girlie fun magazine. "Sabrina's Secrets". Around this time, we're talking 1999, I was slowly becoming obsessed with American show 'Sabrina the Teenage Witch'. I have always loved...

Amy69 07.12.2009 · Read review
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Review of Sabrina's Secrets

Secrets and Lives

Advantages: Writing is beautiful and poetic, Story becomes increasingly compelling as you read
Disadvantages: In places spills over into melodrama, Dr Grene's entries often feel superfluous

...The Secret Scripture Sebastian Barry 320pp, Faber & Faber £7.99 paperback / £3.84 Amazon.co.uk An English teacher once suggested to me that the definition of a good book is one where you want to know what happens to the characters after the story ends. While that is not exactly true of Sebastian Barry's novel "The Secret Scripture" - I was rather bemused that it had been a Booker nominee to be honest - the nature of the story certainly left a considerable impression on me after I finished reading it, and I did spend quite some time thinking about the characters and the setting of the story. The themes and histories the book visits are certainly not new territory to Irish writers of either fiction or memoir, but this book seems to bring a new voice on them, presenting things that have become less shocking from their familiarity in a way...

Collingwood21 16.07.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Secret Scripture - Sebastian Barry

* Discover The Secrets *

Advantages: Actors , Special Effects ,Exciting
Disadvantages: Moaning Myrtle!

...Harry Potter is back , and this time he is about to start his second year at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But there's just one thing ? Why is Dobby the house elf so concerned about Harry and why is he telling Harry he will be in serious danger if he goes back to Hogwarts ? Watch Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets to find out! Harry Potter and The Chamber Of Secrets was released in the United Kingdom on 15th November 2002. The film was directed by Chris Columbas. This is my favourite Harry Potter movie. It was also my favourite book out of the whole series. I enjoyed the first film (Philosopher Stone) so I was quite excited when this movie was released ; and this film is so much better than the first! I think the main difference between the first movie and this one , is how the three main characters...

xdonzx 21.10.2008 · Read review
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Review of Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets (DVD)

I have a Secret!

Advantages: Great shops, bras, creams etc
Disadvantages: None

...Victoria's Secret is one of my favourite beauty stores and my guilty pleasure whenever I am in the States. Unfortunately they do not have any stores here yet selling the bras although they do have an outlet in Heathrow Terminal 5 selling their creams and lotions. A little bit of history - Victoria's Secret was founded in 1977 by a man who felt embarrassed buying women's underwear and felt the need for something easier. It has now turned into a billion dollar company with sales surpassing $7billion in 2006. They are mainly know for their lingerie but also do a fabulous range of perfumes, creams and make up. Like I said Victoria's Secret are mainly know for their fabulous bra range. Walking into one of their stores is like walking into a sensual French boudoir. The walls are wallpapered with stripy pink wallpaper and there is black...

Spottydog11 19.02.2009 · Read review
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Review of Victoria Secret

The Secret History

Advantages: Fantastically well written book with great characters
Disadvantages: Occasionally too much Latin or Greek being discussed

...Richard loses contact with most of the other students at the college as this study involves giving up all the other courses and only contact with this new small group. However initally he is kept at arms length by this inner santum . Leaving him lonely and isolated. So he begins to try and uncover their secrets and understand them allowing him to join their activities. He manages to do this to a point but soon realises he is not told the whole truth and strange things are still happening around him. They are still lieing to him and trying to cover their tracks. But why? Their protected and safe world however is torn apart by the murder of Bunny, as a terrible set of events take place that change their lives forever. Richard supports his elite group in a way that is surprising but also understandable as he seeks to cement his place...

CPTDANIELS 05.01.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Secret History - Donna Tartt

SECRET WINDOW

Advantages: Stephen King book so bound to be good
Disadvantages: None, it's a great film

...Flicking through the sky movies channels last night we came across the film "Secret Window" just about to start. I got excited immediately as I had seen the adverts for this when it came out and I knew it was based upon a Stephen King book called "Secret Window, Secret Garden". I am a fan of Stephen King but haven't read all of his books yet and this was one of them, so I was really eager to watch this as I had no preconceptions of the story or obviously knew what would or should happen in the film. ##THE STORY## Mort Rainey is a published author, who's currently living alone in a remote cabin in the woods. Going through a divorce, after finding his wife, Amy, with another man has left him feeling angry and fairly desolate when it comes to his relationship, and this in turn is delaying him from signing the divorce papers. Out...

wendybull 16.03.2006 · Read review
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Review of Secret Window (DVD)

The Summer of Secrets

Advantages: A brilliant read
Disadvantages: A little far fetched in places

...The Summer of Secrets has been written by Martina Reilly, who has previously written books under her name, Tina Reilly - those books include Flipside, The Onion Girl, and Is This Love. This is the first of her books that I have written and I found it an excellent read, I had trouble putting it down! Hope Gardner seems to have trouble keeping jobs and after being fired from another one, she decides to take herself away for a holiday alone, much to the concern of her close friends Adam and Julie. Unfortunately, Hope's plane crashes, and she is one of the few survivors. Adam and Julie rally round and book a cottage in Ireland, close to where Hope grew up. They all go there for three months of summer. Hope goes to therapy while there, as she suffers from post traumatic stress after the accident, and she has other issues from...

jules.34 23.08.2009 · Read review
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Review of The Summer of Secrets - Martina Reilly

What Secret?

Advantages: The basic advice is 'good'
Disadvantages: Pretentious, not movitational or inspirational, repetitive, boring, not worth the paper it's printed on

...What?s The Secret? Well, it?s not actually a secret. Although great effort has gone into creating a book that looks as though it?s going to reveal some substantial mystery, this is actually a sub-average self-help book that simply reiterates advice that has been doing the rounds for at least twenty years. The only difference is that it?s presented as some esoteric information that the reader should consider themselves lucky to be party to. Linking her advice to Einstein, Beethoven, Edison and Galileo is all very intriguing, but gives Rhonda Byrne?s book more than a whiff of pretentiousness. These great men all knew The Secret not because it was only available to the most intelligent elite, but because it?s rooted in common sense. To be fair, let?s assume that that?s the point Byrne is making: that The Secret is not actually...

DoubleFantasy11 14.08.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Secret - Rhonda Byrne