Reviews by Raven

There's a comment on the back of the novel that says it's remarkable. I tend to agree although it's not remarkable in the sense you would say a book is. It's not remarkable in the writing style, the character work, the story line. Remarkable to me is 1984 and this is no 1984. Yes I'm aware that I'm comparing a non fiction to a fiction but I honestly can't think of any remarkable biographies.
What is remarkable about this novel is how it came into being. You can't help but think about this man lying there being unable to move except for one eyelid. You have more of a tendency to appreciate his every word and the effort that went into it knowing how he dictated it. For those that don't know about Bauby, he had Locked in Syndrome and was only able to communicate via blinking which is how he "wrote" this book. By blinking through the alphabet (or his version of the alphabet) to someone who would take down every letter.
That's pretty much what is remarkable about this book.

Apart from there being no clear definition between subject changes making it not flow through properly this was a great story. Ruth Ritchie is an entertaining writer who has you laughing, crying and being angry and disgusted at others behaviour along with her throughout the novel. It makes for a very emotional read but easier to get through thanks to the dark humour. Of course you’ll also get to find out why the title waterlemon, which I think turned out to be not only a great title but the way it came to be kinda cute…

Not since Lord Of The Rings have I read such a tightly woven compact fantasy. It was great. If all that happens in the first novel I can't wait to see what happens next. I admit that it could get a bit exhausting at times reading all the things that certain characters had to go through to try and get somewhere and the spelling mistakes were a joke (missed words, misspelled words, extra words) but I didn't care! I hardly noticed it at times. There were no lulls, the characters weren't boring and unlike a lot of fantasy novels it didn't purely rely on the magic factor to get it through. Although there was a bit of cheese towards the end, the story line was great and interesting enough for me not to think twice about it. Also it had a map. I love my fantasy novels or series to have maps and this one did which made my day.
I really only have good things to say about this novel come to think of it. Obviously it's my new favourite!

I don't really care for action books usually. Especially when it involves some sort of military action. I really don't care to read the detail of it and would prefer to watch it but there is something about Reilly that keeps me reading and I haven't figured out what. I've read one other novel by Reilly that I enjoyed and I have to say I was putting this off because of his over use of the word snapped in that one. Luckily he hardly used the word (someone must of told him) although a couple of times he did come close to using other words too much but I think someone bought him a thesaurus...
I read this and enjoyed it to an extent so it is quite possible that action lovers would enjoy this as well. Even so there was something that really annoyed me about it but I can't quite figure that one out either.

After looking through this book I can understand why some images were banned in certain places. This series is probably some of the most risque work Royo has done or at least that I've come across. It's till beautiful art but I'd recommend it only for the die hard fans and then even if you are a die hard have an open mind. If you're not a die hard fan but are interested in Luis Royo and want to check out his books I recommend perhaps starting with one of his earlier series because this one could possibly turn you off.
In saying that I still loved it myself and want to get the whole series now.

I read this at a time when I was lost and still hadn't come to terms with what was happening. Unlike a lot of people with ME/CFS I did not find this as helpful as a lot of others. Leigh Hatcher is a great person but I couldn't identify with his book as much as I would've liked to at the time. Even though I couldn't identify with it I still recommend it. I found it to be rather a relief that someone out there was having a rough time and being treated like something they weren't but at the same time I found it to be extremely frustrating because he didn't delve into his symptoms that much or mention much about brain fog or pain.

I'm not really a fan of modernised fantasy novels but I actually really enjoyed this. For a fantasy novel set in present time and for a young adult novel to boot it really was an enjoyable read. I was surprised at how enjoyable. In fact I can't decide if I want to rate it 8/10 or 9.
I think it made a difference that some of the characters were about real people that had existed at some point in time and the fact that it's told by day rather then over a period of time makes it more interesting. Just goes to show how much can happen in one day. I'm interested enough to see how the next one in the series pans out.

I must be having a good run with books because this is another one I couldn't seem to put down. I was glued to it. It was so well written and the story still has a place in this day and age.
My only problem with it was the part where the "book" came along. That wasn't exactly boring but it was enough to make me want to go to sleep (or perhaps it was just late at night and I'd literally been reading for hours) and yet I think that the story couldn't have done without it, well for some people anyway. In any case it didn't last long and the book carried on perfectly as it had prior to it. Even the ending was well done.

This is about the Stolen Generation. I completely agree what the Australian Government did to these people was atrocious and that the apology took far too long to happen. In saying that this sort of bored the crap out of me.
It's basically one of the Stolen Generation telling a story and although that is what's happening it's also an old guy rambling on for an hour. It might seem a bit harsh and perhaps a lot of people wouldn't comment on this but seriously that's what it is. Don't get me wrong, I learnt something from it and I think it's an important doco to watch not only because he is sharing his story but he has some good points but by the end of it I just wanted to go to bed. I'm not too sure if it was his delivery or something else but I found it so hard to focus.
So if you can handle listening to an old fella for an hour watch this but if you're like me and can't focus that long perhaps having it on anyway will do you some good and maybe you'll pick it up subconsciously. Here's hoping.

I usually don't care for chick flicks and avoid them but this one I actually enjoyed. Sure it doesn't exactly make for pleasurable viewing when the subject matter is a bit too close for home but I'm still glad I watched it. To be honest I wouldn't have even bothered if it hadn't of been on tv in the first place.
I thought it would be something quite cheesy and stupid like a lot of hollywood chick flicks but unlike a lot of them this isn't about some love story between a pathetic couple to roll your eyes at (another reason why I watched it).
The acting wasn't that bad, the story line was pretty good, there was character growth (not depth, growth) and the cheese factor was pretty low. All in all I think the makings for a good chick flick.