booksny's Reviews (332)

 

Reviewed for a free copy

Ross Dinwiddy’s Danyrogof Deep is a coming-of-age story set in a world of magic, fantasy and adventure. Jake Darrow is just another unassuming kid with big dreams and a quirky, but weak talent for ventriloquism when his life is torn apart by tragedy. Scared and angry after the violent and fiery deaths of his family, he isolates himself from the world, with only a ventriloquist dummy as a friend. Matters worsen when his theories about the explanation behind his family’s deaths are met with skepticism and ridicule, leaving him vulnerable to violent bullying. It is after one such bullying attempt gone wrong, however, that he falls (literally) into the strange new world deep underground. Bewildered but brave, Jake attempts to navigate the treacherous politics and violent wars that are tearing this world apart, and in the process of helping his new friends, he slowly unravels the mystery of his family’s deaths and grows into his own as a leader.

Dinwiddy’s Danyrogof Deep is, in a word, brilliant. Dinwiddy’s strength lies in his absolute mastery in world building - the underground realm that Jake explores is utterly, delightfully alien in every aspect. The smallest details were intriguing, from the attic shaped like a witch’s hat to the sinister grandfather clock with its thirteen hands. Droll humor was often injected at unexpected, but welcome times. The only bit which took some getting used to for me was how fast paced the plot was - initially, I felt like I was given barely any time to take in Jake’s grief or see the characters develop properly. The bullies, for example, were evil in a very two-dimensional fashion and even the characters we were supposed to be sympathetic to, like Jake’s Nan and his friend Rhodri, were somewhat stilted. However, as the story progressed, I grew used to its style and increasingly invested in the characters. I mourned when I saw the good guys die and grinned when a little romance unexpectedly popped up for a couple of funny side characters.

Reviewed for a free copy

Ray White’s Connecting Happiness and Success: A Guide to Creating Success Through Happiness is an interesting self-help guide on how to reassess your life and change it for the better. White poses the compelling argument that we should focus upon happiness rather than success as, contrary to what many assume, happiness does not follow success. As most people’s definition of success is heavily flawed, we spend far too much time toiling after unattainable goals of wealth and fame and end up discontented and unhappy with our current lot in life. White proposes that to combat this we should instead realize that success follows happiness, and so appreciate and enhance the various facets in our lives which are vital to happiness.

Just the act of reading Ray White’s Connecting Happiness and Success will make you feel motivated to turn your thoughts and actions around to be more positive. While the concepts and practices that White lays out are nothing new, the various academic studies researching the subject of happiness that he references are fascinating - they certainly show that he knows his material well and lend much credence to his arguments on the need for people to redefine their assumptions relating to success and happiness. I also found the many anecdotes that he relates highly entertaining, as they gave his book a nice personal touch. The book further includes many interactive activities and suggestions which will give you a helpful boost in making happiness and thereby success a part of your life. All in all, it was an insightful read. 

 Reviewed for a free copy
If you have a passion for culinary undertakings, a desire for an interesting career, or a simple curiosity to see what following your dreams could bring you, Irena Chalmers’ Great Food Jobs 2: Ideas and Inspirations for Your Job Hunt is the perfect book for you. Great Food Jobs 2 is a comprehensive guide to the many and varied types of occupations which can be linked to food, ranging from the common ones like chefs and dishwashers to the atypical ones such as food anthropologists and recipe tasters. Indeed, even the common jobs are made interesting through Chalmers’ descriptions; one compares, for example, the challenges of being a military cook to the glamour of succeeding as a celebrity chef. Chalmers is persuasive in her conviction that there is a good side to every job; even the work of a waiter, which is widely (and often justifiably) held to be a tough and thankless job for many people, is showcased as a job rife with possibilities. 

No stone is left unturned in her quest to reveal the startlingly rich world of food jobs and the wonderful array of opportunities available to anybody who just makes a little effort to be versatile and to think outside the box. You’ll come away from reading Great Food Jobs 2: Ideas and Inspirations for Your Job Hunt feeling like literally any line of work can be successfully modified to include dealing with food. As a bonus, interspersed between the descriptions of food jobs are mouthwatering accounts of gastronomic delights, humorous culinary anecdotes, little-known food facts, etc. Chalmers clearly knows her field very, very well. The result, thus, is a wholly informative, interesting, and inspiring read. 

Took a trip down memory lane and reread this old favorite - it has the quintessential Roald Dahl humor and fun Quentin Blake illustrations

I remember reading this as a child and enjoying it enough to give it a 4*. Read it again and it's still a lovely easy read with a typically absurd Dahl premise, though I'm more conscious now of how sketchy Mr Hoppy is - can't say it made a significant dent on my childhood morals so happy to leave that rating as is

A surprisingly enjoyable melodramatic mystery. The characters do a lot of unnecessary things e.g. Kit is an emotionally overwrought blabbermouth, Audrey is a poor friend and judge of character. And yet, they're strangely likable. My favorite characters were Merrivale and Benson; they were the funniest/most competent out of the lot.

The book started off slow and I wasn't particularly invested in Buddy with the band, so it took a while for me to get absorbed. I really enjoyed the second half though - Death is such a fantastic character and Susan's observations of him were touching. Ridcully was also pretty interesting, though I didn't quite understand the role that wizards were playing in the storyline, especially in the end - their perspective felt a tad superfluous 

The writing was beautiful - very fairytale setting and lyrical prose about nature. The main character, Diamond, was very much a Gary Stu; liked him but he felt quite unreal. The North Wind character is very similar to the grandmother in Macdonald's Princess and the Goblin/Princess and Curdie i.e. a beautiful giant woman with supernatural knowledge and powers

Really enjoyed reading this; took so many notes, and look forward to discussing it with other friends reading it! I really appreciated the self-reflection Elizabeth Day exhibits and the way she words her thoughts; it made me think of my own friendships and myself in new and interesting ways.

Appreciate the help Bork is giving to aspiring screenwriters. I wasn't always clear on what Bork was trying to communicate e.g. he mentions towards the end that he keeps a document on his computer grouping thought fragments he might want to write about, and one of those groups is "arenas or worlds of activity". Wasn't sure what that meant, so couldn't take that advice.

Speaking from the POV of an audience member, I was also not keen on some of the generalizations made on what audiences want or don't want e.g. he mentioned that "audience don't like bleak". I personally don't like bleak, but there's definitely some successful shows which are majorly bleak. I tried to get past those by reminding myself that his interpretation might differ and it was his main message which I should be focusing on, but it was difficult to connect to the message when I kept stumbling on glib points like that. 

All in all, it might be the right book for others, but I don't think it was for me.