August 1 2008: Reviews In Ten Words: July 2008
Filed under Reviews
Non-Fiction
- Alex Boese - Hippo Eats Dwarf (A Field Guide To Hoaxes And Other B.S.): Details common modern scams, playing havoc with existing belief systems.
- Editors & Dean Christopher - Discover’s 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Everything: Excellent one paragraph factoids suitable for instigating dinner party conversation.
- Daniel Gottlieb - Letters To Sam: Tear-jerking letters from grandfather to grandson, both with ‘differences’.
- Ian Kelly - Cooking For Kings (The Life of Antonin Careme, the first celebrity chef): Complete with easy-to-follow contemporary recipes, study of history of gastronomy.
- Wendy Northcutt - The Darwin Awards II (Unnatural Selection: More bizarre true stories of how dumb humans met their maker): Hilarious tales of idiots sacrificing themselves to Social Darwinism theory.
- Steven D. Price - 1001 Funniest Things Ever Said: Seemingly drawn entirely out of online databases of amusing quotes.
- Gordon Ramsay - Humble Pie A true life manual. The man, his brashness, his determination.
Fiction
- V.C. Andrews - Secrets in the Shadows: Rife with teenage romantic angst, like all other Andrews novels.
- Louise Candlish - The Double Life of Anna Day: Reminder that it’s never worth sacrificing true self for partner.
- Susan Holloway Scott - Duchess, A Novel of Sarah Churchill: Interesting re-imagining of a rarity - an influential common-born woman.
- Susan Holloway Scott - Royal Harlot, A Novel of the Countess of Castlemaine and King Charles II: Not as strong as her debut novel, though very salacious.
- Fidelis Morgan - Fortune’s Slave: Easy blending of history and fiction in case of whodunnit.
- Rosa Mundi - Vocational Girl: Exploration of bipolarity, leaves reader confused as to who’s real.
- Kathleen O’Reilly - The Diva’s Guide To Selling Your Soul: Believable ten step program to becoming the Devil’s favourite acolyte.
- James Pearson - James Bond, The Authorised Biography: What if the sexiest spy alive was a real person?
- Eirin Thompson - The Undercover Mother: Diary-style ramblings in style of BJD, devoid of personal pronouns.
Movies
- The Dark Knight (2008): Just as amazing as everyone’s saying. Sheer poetry on screen.
- Diamonds Are Forever (1971): Widely acknowledged as one of the better Bond films. Agreed.
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989): Ford, Connery, Nazis, and an elusive cup = rollicking family fun.
- Thunderball (1965): Amusingly cliched, like all Bonds. Babes, bombs, and apocalypses galore.
I adore Virginia Andrew novels, her books always give me goose bumps.
The Dark Knight, oh it was just mind blowing.
Belinda on August 1 2008 #
I liked The Dark Knight; the good acting was definitely NOT limited to Heath Ledger — Gordon and Two Face were also great. I found the movie to be a tad long, though… that’s my only complaint :P
Robmarie on August 2 2008 #
I really want to see TDK but lately I’ve noticed that I don’t have the patience to watch a long movie, let alone sit in a cramped movie theatre for hours. :P
Yara on August 2 2008 #