Changes

Book Reviews From The Bookbag (view source)

Revision as of 11:46, 3 May 2016

605 bytes removed , 11:46, 3 May 2016

no edit summary

'''Read [[:Category:Features|the latest features]].'''

{{newreview

|author=John Lloyd, John Mitchinson and James Harkin

|title=1,411 QI Facts To Knock You Sideways

|rating=4.5

|genre=Trivia

|summary=Handsome is as handsome does. And you know what else benefits from being curt and succinct, alongside old housewives' saws like that one? Trivia. I always thought the QI books such as this one to be handsome things – perfectly presenting trivia, four (on rare occasion, three) statements to the page, in a very nice little cubical hardback. Now they're being represented in paperback, but you know what? They're still handsome things.

|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0571329845</amazonuk>

}}

{{newreview

|author=Jonathan Meres

|genre=Teens

|summary= I'm hardly the first person to comment on the saturation of the young-adult fiction market in recent years. I've several friends who love YA so much they seem to exclusively read this genre, and here's the thing – I really want to like it, too. I know there's good stuff out there, but it seems like the more I look the less I find. I've slogged my way through dozens – maybe even hundreds, who knows – of formulaic, samey and often downright repetitive books which didn't inspire any of that passion in me.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1783443812</amazonuk>

}}

~~{{newreview~~

~~|author=Tarjei Vesaas, Torbjorn Stoverud and Michael Barnes (translators)~~

~~|title=The Birds~~

~~|rating=4.5~~

~~|genre=General Fiction~~

|summary=We're somewhere in rural Scandinavia, on the shores of a large lake, but in a community relying on the farmland that is scattered in amongst the woods. Our chief concerns are brother and sister – Mattis and Hege. He, Mattis, is what the other villagers call 'simple' – sure, he knows a few things about life, and what makes a clever person and what makes a well-turned phrase, and how to talk to girls and when to not stare at them, but he is definitely not quite as the others would wish. Those others include his sister, who is seeing her life waste away in listening to his chatter, knitting jumpers to make ends meet, and regretting in her own small way what has got her to middle-age in this situation. But from this galling introduction, you should take away the bigger picture – even if there is no way out, the life in this countryside is brilliantly conveyed, full of sun as well as shade, of labour and of idleness, and wit and charm as much as hardship. I defy you to read this and think this corner of Scandinavia bleak.

~~|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0914671200</amazonuk>~~

}}

Sue

Bureaucrats, Administrators

132,812

edits