bobblybear Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 I have the DVD of IT and The Stand. Love The Stand, even though it got a bit of flack (I think they are remaking it as well), but I remember being really creeped out by IT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 I don't "do" horror which is why I haven't seen many films or read anything before this year! I have Stand By Me on DVD to watch though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 (edited) The Shawshank Redemption is one of the best films of all time. Only based on a short story though, interestingly! That's pretty much as far as my Stephen King discussion goes, other than a few of his 'lesser-known' (if that's possible with King) books coming to my attention. I've read Blaze, Cell and Duma Key but have really yet to tackle his main novels (despite a large number awaiting me on Mount TBR). Oh and I've seen the film adaptation of Carrie which seems suitably horrific to me... PS: I've also seen The Green Mile. Not sure how I forgot about that one - excellent film. Edited November 12, 2014 by Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobblybear Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Stand By Me is a wonderful film! Hope you enjoy it, Alexi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted November 13, 2014 Share Posted November 13, 2014 Just caught up on many months' worth of your great reviews. Glad you had a great time overseas. I particularly liked this part of your P&P review: The first few chapters are a bit of a struggle but in the end I felt myself rushing to get to the end to find out what happened, then when I got to the end I was disappointed it was over - always the hallmark of an excellent novel in my opinion! P&P is probably the only book I've read where I've actually skipped over sections to get to another bit (Darcy and Elizabeth's meetings). Of course I then immediately went back and read the rest, but I just couldn't help myself! And yes, I was disappointed when it ended too. I think the only criticism I have of Jane Austen is that her books end too abruptly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 16, 2014 Author Share Posted November 16, 2014 Thanks Kylie I definitely want to read another Austen in 2015, Emma I think. She is one of those authors that thoughtfully hasn't made it that hard to read everything she's ever written, but when the books are so good it doesn't feel like much of an advantage! Thanks for all the Stephen King recommendations, both in film and book form! I loved The Shawshank Redemption so I must look out the short story it's based in I think. Stand By Me and The Green Mile seem good next ones as well. Argh, I need to live forever so I can get through my books/film lists. Or give up work and have someone pay me to do it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 Argh, I need to live forever so I can get through my books/film lists. Or give up work and have someone pay me to do it... This is a common problem . How about.. becoming a vampire or inventing a cure to aging or putting your brain into a computer ? I hope you will be able to read lots of good books and see good films, in your lifetime . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anna Begins Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 (edited) I loved The Shawshank Redemption so I must look out the short story it's based in I think. Stand By Me and The Green Mile seem good next ones as well. Look for Different Seasons. It is a collection of 4 novellas, but Shawshank and The Body (which became Stand By Me) are both in there (and are not horror). Also included are Apt Pupil which you would probably like, intriguing and creepy. I can't for the life of me remember The Breathing Method though. They all went pretty fast for me. They are about 100- 200 pages long each. Edited November 16, 2014 by Anna Begins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 22, 2014 Author Share Posted November 22, 2014 Definitely will look for that one next then, thanks Anna! I am currently reading The Gathering by Anne Enright. It won the Man Booker Pirze in 2007, which is presumably what the style of this was designed to do. It's really quite pretentious and I don't like the way the author describes sex at all, makes it seem most unpleasant (!). However, I am enjoying the plot so I will keep persevering through the style. I am behind on reviews again as well. Sigh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 #53 Past Mortem by Ben Elton Synopsis: With old friends like these, who needs enemies? It's a question mild mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself when, in romantic desperation, he logs on to the Friends Reunited website in search of the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of take back '88 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more. Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, and failing comprehensively to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again. Pretty standard Elton fare this, but I do enjoy his books. It feels a bit dated now - does anyone still use Friends Reunited? - but it's a good yarn anyway. Underdog hero Newson is our detective, trying and failing to solve some murders but you know he'll get there in the end. Complicating matters are his love for his subordinate Natasha, plus romantic (?!) encounters with two of his old school friends. It's funny in places, with some disastrous sex, old school personalities re asserting themselves and some genuinely comic dialogue. We all recognise the school group from our own childhoods too, and the bullying mentioned is uncomfortable because we've probably all at some point experienced it, done it or known it is going on but some nothing about it. I saw the so,union to the murder case coming a mile off but somehow it didn't really spoil things. It's an easy read, and an entertaining, rip roaring plot. Enjoyable. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 #54 Unctouchables by Michael Gillard and Laurie Flynn Synopsis: With Scotland Yard in the dock, now more than ever the public needs to know why the police cannot be trusted to investigate their own corruption. Untouchables, a five year investigation which the Yard tried to stop, provides the essential context to the phone hacking and other scandals currently engulfing Britain's most powerful police force. Republished after seven years, it was the first book to question the cosy relationship between the Yard and sections of the media, to explain why cops are incapable of investigating themselves and to expose the lack of independence in the new police watchdog. From the 1983 Brinks Matt robbery, through the murders of Daniel Morgan, David Norris, Stephen Lawrence, Jill Dando and Damilola Taylor to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, Untouchables reveals the cover ups, double standards and miscarriages of justice during the Yard's phoney war on corruption. Sunday Times journalist Michael Gillard and TV producer Laurie Flynn expose how the discredited use of supergrasses in the war on corruption has re-emerged in the new wars on terror and crime, with the same disastrous effects: prosecution misconduct, collapsed trials, huge bills for the taxpayer, victims left without justice and the guilty walking free. Thoughts: Wow, this is scary. I've never had much faith in the police due to racism I've witnessed first hand, but this takes it to a whole new level. It's packed with information from interviews and investigative journalism, and covers Scotland Yard corruption from the late 1980s to the present day. There is a big focus on Stephen Lawrence, but the bigger focus is on the fact that when complaints are made, or injustice is discovered, the institution is trusted to investigate itself. Officers who may have been involved in corruption in the past are left investigating their mates. I wonder what could possibly go wrong?! Very informative and had a nice style to it. However, it is long and the number of names involved (and how they pop up again and again in various guises!) meant it got a bit confusing in the last two thirds. Recommended reading for anyone with even a passing interest in the UK police or justice system. 3.5/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian. Posted November 28, 2014 Share Posted November 28, 2014 Untouchables sounds like a very interesting book and rather fitting given the recent scandals? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 28, 2014 Author Share Posted November 28, 2014 I don't know why my review says present day - it definitely only really covers til around 2004. However, it was really interesting and certainly pertinent in light of recent scandals - we appear to have learnt absolutely nothing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 #55 The Gathering by Anne Enright Synopsis: The nine surviving children of the Hegerty clan gather in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother Liam. It wasn't the drink that killed him - although that certainly helped - it was what happened to him as a boy in his grandmother's house, in the winter of 1968. The Gathering is a novel about love and disappointment, about thwarted lust and limitless desire, and how our fate is written in the body, not in the stars. This novel won the Booker Prize and is listed on the 1001 books list, and coupled with the fact I do enjoy a rich family drama I was looking forward to this. What a waste of reading hours I will never get back. This was clearly written in a style designed to appeal to worthy award givers - I can't imagine why else these confused ramblings of a self absorbed woman would be anyone's idea of a pleasant read. This novel is told entirely though the eyes of Middle aged Veronica, unhappy with her lot in life - a husband she is forcing apart from and two children. Entirely a selfish character, she wades through memories of Liam and herself from down the years. Memories are confusing and do jump around, but that's why most books aren't written as such, because they are difficult to follow, and leave the reader in a total spin. There is barely a plot here, what happens to Liam is written as a cliche and barely explored except through the reaction and effect it has on our narrator, who I could quite happily have launched into the sea herself and attended her wake with a smile on my face. She talks constantly about her large family but we never get to know them, they are written as mere shadows that revolve around her boring life. Awful, and I was so glad to put it down. I kept waiting for the story to spark and it never did. Wish I had abandoned. 1/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 #56 The Woman in Black by Susan Hill Synopsis: Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor, is summoned to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, the sole inhabitant of Eel Marsh House, unaware of the tragic secrets which lie hidden behind the shuttered windows. The house stands at the end of a causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but it is not until he glimpses a wasted young woman, dressed all in black, at the funeral, that a creeping sense of unease begins to take hold, a feeling deepened by the reluctance of the locals to talk of the woman in black - and her terrible purpose. I saw the play of this years ago and was very creeped out by it - it was very well staged, and the woman in black moved through the audience. More recently, I saw the film which left me completely cold. So, which way would the book go? I am pleased to report it was nothing like the film - which even changed the bloody ending so why even bother?! Kylie used the word atmospheric, and that's a perfect way to describe this book. Read alone in the house, in the dark, it very much gave me the creeps! It doesn't succumb to the temptations of ghosts and supernatural, there is no bloody violence, just a creepy, well-plotted ghost story. Arthur is a likeable character, despite his descriptions of superstitious country folk - and he is soon disabused of that notion! The descriptions are beautifully written and really add to the story, especially of the marshes and weather, which can turn from calm to terrifying in the same way as emotions can. What I realy loved was the descriptions of Arthur assuming the emotions of the woman in black, of total evil and despair. Brilliant stuff. 4/5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I have The Woman in Black on my TBR, great review ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janet Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Fantastic review, Alex. It's a great book! I chose it for Book Club quite a few years ago and then later our group went to see it in the Theatre Royal in Bath. Initially, when I read my programme, my heart sank when I saw the cast list (I won't say exactly why for spoiler reasons, but I'm sure you can guess) because I was sure it wouldn't do the story justice, but I was so pleased to be proved wrong - it was great. Like you, the film left me cold - and I was really cross with the ending too. If I were Susan Hill I'd have been hopping mad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted November 30, 2014 Author Share Posted November 30, 2014 Thanks both! Totally agree on the film Janet - I understand books have to be adapted for screen, but if you change the ending you might as well just write an entirely different screenplay and create something new. Pointless producing something which isn't the same story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kylie Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Great review of The Woman in Black, Alexi. I haven't seen the movie (yet), but I can't believed they changed the ending! The ending (in the book) was awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 (edited) Haven't updated for a while but I'm still reading. Hugely busy in the run up to Christmas - while all my friends are winding down my industry ramps up! Still, I've booked a week off from the 28th which I'm hugely looking forward to, and my days off that week fall on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so can't complain too much! Back in for Boxing Day though I'm currently reading Game of Thrones, which I'm surprised to find I am thoroughly enjoying. My boyfriend made me read this, and I am going to have to eat humble pie and buy the rest of the series I suspect. Sigh. I've got a while to go yet though, I'm only 200 pages in out of 800. Reviews, reviews.... #57 Diary of a Country Prosecutor by Tawfik Al-Hakim Synopsis: Who shot Kamar al-Dawla Alwan? Was it a crime of passion? What was the role of the beautiful peasant girl Rim? Is the mysterious Sheikh Asfur as crazy as he seems? Diary of a Country Prosecutor is an Egyptian comedy of errors. Partly autobiographical, it takes the form of a journal of a young public prosecutor posted to a village in rural Egypt. Imbued with the ideals of a European education, he encounters a world of poverty and backwardness where an imported legal system is both alien and incomprehensible. Thoughts: This counted for Egypt in my World Challenge. A public prosecutor in rural Egypt is charged with solving a murder, alongside his regular duties of handing out justice to a peasant population who can't read or write, never mind understand a legal system conceived in urban Europe. This is advertised as a whodunnit, and it is anything but. We never find out the identity of the murderer, but instead we are taken on a week or so long journey with the prosecutor, who has to please his big city bosses. Mostly satire, this is at times hilarious. It's far more important to have at least 20 pages of report writing than to solve the crime, while peasants must jump through hoops for a justice system that simply doesn't apply to them. Appeals must be done in a very precise way that is never explained to them, and they can't read or write, and they must be present - and being held in prison doesn't count as an excuse. It's partly funny, partly sad because this is based on the author's life. It did give me a good flavour of rural early 20th century Egypt, a solid read but not outstanding. 3/5 Edited December 13, 2014 by Alexi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 (edited) #58 The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman Synopsis: Wonderfully sardonic and slyly humorous, the writings of landmark American feminist and socialist thinker Charlotte Perkins Gilman were penned in response to her frustrations with the gender-based double standard that prevailed in America as the twentieth century began. Perhaps best known for her chilling depiction of a woman's mental breakdown in her unforgettable 1892 short story 'The Yellow Wall-Paper', Gilman also wrote Herland, a wry novel that imagines a peaceful, progressive country from which men have been absent for 2,000 years. Both are included in this volume, along with a selection of Gilman's major short stories and her poems. Bit of an odd synopsis, that, Amazon.... Anyway. This is a short novella, coming in at just 27 pages, but the author packs in a lot and what emerges is a chilling tale of a woman descending into madness, representing how trapped many Victorian women were by the bounds of marriage. Gilman does this metaphorically, symbolised through the frightening yellow wallpaper, and explicitly - her husband decides whether she is well enough to do the most basic of things and she is left by herself for long stretches of time to "rest" in the bedroom. The descriptions of the wallpaper are excellent, how it can change overnight, be frightening or absurd by turns, and how a woman lies trapped in the paper as our protagonist succumbs slowly to madness. It's an excellent read, very ahead of time I imagine and it really made me think. Recommended. I do wonder if Gilman was married, and what her husband/father/friends made of her work! 4/5 Edited December 13, 2014 by Alexi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexi Posted December 13, 2014 Author Share Posted December 13, 2014 #59 Undone by Cat Clarke Synopsis: Jem Halliday is in love with her gay best friend. Not exactly ideal, but she's learning to live with it. Then the unspeakable happens. Kai is outed online ... and he kills himself. Jem knows nothing she can say or do will bring him back. But she wants to know who was responsible. And she wants to take them down. After I finished this, I felt emotionally drained. I picked up a young adult read without checking the synopsis for an "easy read". Instead, the author picked me up, span me round and left me in tears by the end of this. It was fantastic. Jem feels isolated when Kai commits suicide and decides she will give herself one year to find his "killers", before killing herself. Kai wrote her 12 letters, one a month for the year after he died and she decides to stick around just long enough to open them all. When an anonymous note reveals the identity of those who drove Kai to his death, Jem sets about infiltrating their circle to bring them down and make them suffer. Knowing the synopsis, you know you're in for an emotional one. The character of Jem is very well drawn, and while I liked her and sympathised with her she is a teenager and did make me want to bang my head against a wall! The supporting cast are less fleshed out, but the dialogue is great and rings true. The first half is excellent, and although the book loses its way slightly in the middle, the last few chapters are right back on form. Its young adult, but there is plenty here for grown ups too. Kleenex* may be required. 4/5 *other brands are available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marie H Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 Good review Alexi , and I'm now intrigued by the book, whereas I would't probably looked at this book before (as being a YA genre). Kleenex* may be required.*other brands are available Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athena Posted December 14, 2014 Share Posted December 14, 2014 I'm glad you're enjoying your reading. Great reviews ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pontalba Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I'm pretty sure I read The Yellow Wallpaper some years ago....I'll have to find and (re)read it! Great reviews all around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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