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Book Review: It by Stephen King

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
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In Derry a dark force has awoken, named It.

Seven children battled It twenty seven years before and almost beat it. This monster wakes every twenty seven years and murder, dismember and feed on children. It has the ability to change its form, to become the things that individual children fear and likes to take the form of Pennywise the clown.

Then following a big event were It reaches its peak of activity, then the monster sleeps. This cycle has been repeating since before records began, but nobody likes to talk about it or write about it. It’s like all the citizens of Derry have willful blindness.

It tells the story of Bill (Big Bill), Eddie, Richie, Bev, Ben, Stan and Mike. Their battle with It as children and their return to Derry as adults to face It again.

As adults will they have the same magic that they had as children to beat It? And this time, will they be able to finish what they started twenty seven years ago?

This book is way too long. It has 1,166 pages and the reader will find themselves counting down the pages. The plot is simple, most of the book is character development, rather than storytelling. Whole sections of this book could be cut without any interfering with the plot and would still have give the reader a good sense of each individual character. The description was overly wordy at times.

There are some iconic horror scenes that will stay with the reader long after they have read the book. These scenes would lend themselves brilliantly to film, which is why it is no surprise that it was recently made into a film.

Overall what made It mildly enjoyable was getting to know the characters. The plot lacked any captivating moments, twists or turns. This story could easily have been told in a standard novel size, rather than this massive book. Inadequate editing and seemingly no harsh cutting let this book down.

It is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Review soon,

Antony

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Wonderful Websites – Shopping

By Amazon, Shopping, The WebNo Comments
wonderful-websites-image This is the third blog post in a series titled Wonderful Websites. The first focused on general health and can be read here. The second post focused on mental health and mental illness and can be read here.

This post lists websites for shopping.

1. Ebay has a wide range of products for sale by a wide range of sellers. You can buy practically anything legal on ebay. Items are usually low cost but high quality. Items are posted and arrive quickly.

Ebay beats Amazon to number one as recently Amazon has gone downhill. Amazon has started having delays in dispatching items, App delivery notifications can’t be relied upon and more than once Amazon Logistics have lost ordered items.

I have to say that Amazon’s customer service has been good at sorting out problems, but in the past I never had any of these problems. As a non-Prime member I feel that I’m not as important to Amazon as a customer that is a member of Prime. I’m sad to write that I am loosing confidence in Amazon.

2. Amazon sells anything and everything. Their website is easy to use and has a great search function. I like that Amazon provides reviews for products written by Amazon customers.

3. Waterstones sells books and stationary. I love all things books and stationary. Waterstones is great as they have book shops you can actually go into in real life.

4. ASDA sell groceries, home ware, books, DVDs, accessories, TVs, almost everything these days. But if an item is out of stock in store you can order the item from their warehouses on their website. You can have the item delivered to your home or delivered to your local store for free.

5. IKEA is a Swedish company that sells furniture and home wear. Ideal if you’re moving home, redecorating a room or just have a passion for flat pack furniture.

6. Argos sells a wide variety of products.

7. Staples sell all things stationary and office. Handy if you need pens, notebooks, flip charts, etc.

8. Steam Store is where I buy most of my games for my iMac or Windows 10 Laptop.

9. Groupon is a website I’ve never used. But apparently you get good deals and offers on there.

10. IWOOT (I Want One Of Those) has some cool gift ideas on their website.

11. Not on the High Street has some good gift ideas on it, but also a lot of rubbish (to be polite) products that you have to scroll through.

Have I missed any great shopping websites? If so, please let me know via comment below.

In my next Wonderful Website post I’ll look at wonderful websites for money.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Book Review: The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
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The Signature of All Things is the magnificent novel by the delightful writer Elizabeth Gilbert.

The Signature of All Things is set over the lifetime of Alma Whittaker, a woman of means in the early eighteenth century, who is obsessed with the study of moss, unlucky in love, boggled by the altruism of her adopted sister and always on the search for answers in the natural world.

Alma’s journey is wonderful, fascinating and captivating. Alma’s journey and that of her father before her takes the reader around the globe transporting them to: London, Philidelphia, Tahiti, Peru, Tenerife, Hawaii and many places in-between.

Gilbert should be praised for her superb factual research within this novel and her ability to weave it subtly into her work of fiction.

Everything about The Signature of All Things is exquisite and exotic, yet bound together in familiarity by the experience of emotions that all human beings share.

Gilbert’s writing voice is engaging, warm and at times exciting. Gibert’s description brings the readers imagination fully to life. The reader can actually imagine being there alongside their new friend Alma.

The plot is intriguing, brilliantly plotted and has lots of very clever twists. The reader wont have read such cleverly plotted novel as The Signature of All Things in a number of years (I certainly hadn’t!). The expert unravelling of the plot and twists makes readers find it tough to put the book down.

Gilbert’s pacing is suitable for the plot and The Signature of All Things has 580 pages, so is slightly longer than the average novel.

The Signature of All Things is a priviliage to read, nothing less than exceptional and life enhancing.

The Signature of All Things is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Book Review: The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
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In the late 1960s, as children, four siblings visit a mystic who tells them when they will die. The exact date. But she doesn’t tell them how they will die.

The Immortalists tells the fantastically imagined and written stories of siblings Simon, Klara, Daniel and Varya.

How will they live their lives, knowing exactly when they will die? How will they decide on what’s important in their life? What will be their life’s purposes? How far will get in completing their life purposes, especially with other events that life brings along with it.

One becomes a dancer, another becomes an illusionist, another a doctor and one a researcher of longevity.

The Immortalists is a delightful read. The first chapter in any book should captivate the reader and reel them in. However the first chapter in this book had the opposite effect.

Benjamin appeared to be trying too hard in the first chapter. She made the characters appear unrelatable.

But I implore readers to read on, as they are rewarded with a simple but genius idea, a fairly predictable plot with the odd charming twists, great description, characters that readers come to care about and a perfectly paced tremendous read.

Benjamin lacked a distinctive writers voice, although to be fair The Immortalists is only her second book.

The Immortalists is an addictive, easy, relaxing, engaging, captivating, heartwarming read and the perfect book to read holiday. You will throughly enjoy The Immortalists.

The Immortalists is available to buy on Amazon and at all good book shops.

Review soon,

Antony

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I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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