#bookreview — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #bookreview, aggregated by home.social.
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Dick Winters never called himself a hero. This memoir shows why real leaders don't need to.
#books #bookreview #DickWinters #WWII
https://smpl.is/amter -
I picked up _Saoirse_ by Charleen Hurtubise after reading @alicemcalicepants's review of it, and it was great! It was a really captivating and human story about a teenager fleeing to Ireland on a stolen passport and then building up a life that threatens to come tumbling down a few years later. There were really good characters (and some awful ones). I found it was very good at making you turn the pages to find out what would happen without turning into a high stakes suspense kind of thing.
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Six months late to The Pie and Mash Detective Agency, and honestly... I wish I'd stayed late. Cozy start, messy middle, and an ending that took a hard left turn. 2 stars on this one. Full review on Views She Writes. #CozyMystery #BookReview #Audiobook
https://viewsshewrites.com/the-pie-and-mash-detective-agency/
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Want a fast, sharp, and powerful read? Grab Thirteen: The Apollo Flight That Failed today. It’s history. It’s human. It’s unforgettable.
#books #bookreview #Apollo13 #BooksWorthReading #ReadMoreBooks
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/apollo-13-mission-failure/ -
Jesus taught. Paul taught too. They weren’t at odds. They were on the same road. Maybe not in the same sandals, but heading the same way.
#books #bookreview #JesusAndPaul #ScriptureStudy
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/the-gospel-according-to-paul/ -
257 years ago today, #AlexanderVonHumboldt was born. The Invention of Nature is a delightful biography that paints a lively portrait of this ever-restless polymath, showing he was a force of nature.
https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2025/02/11/book-review-the-invention-of-nature-the-adventures-of-alexander-von-humboldt-the-lost-hero-of-science/#Books #BookReview #Bookstodon #Biography #HistoryOfScience #ScienceHistory #HistSci #Scicomm @andrea_wulf
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My Heart Belongs in an Empty Big Mac Container Buried Beneath the Ocean Floor by Homeless
Surrealism and existentialism mix into a straightforward humor story which speaks to the problems of today.
The post My Heart Belongs in an Empty Big Mac Container Buried Beneath the Ocean Floor by Homeless appeared first on Independent Book Review.
https://independentbookreview.com/2026/09/14/my-heart-belongs-in-an-empty-big-mac-container-buried-beneath-the-ocean-floor-by-homeless/ -
Book Review: https://73pctgeek.com/floating-hotel-by-grace-curtis/
Floating Hotel by Grace Curtis
As the Grand Abeona Hotel moves on its annual circuitous route from planet to planet, system to system, it pampers a constant stream of guests, both new and returning.
The concept intrigued me, but I found the execution disappointing. This is not a cosy, found family story set in space à la Becky Chambers at all. While the writing was fine, this was not the book for me, I just didn’t like it very much.
So many characters, and I didn’t care for a single one. The story dragged pointlessly, never seeming to properly start, and the reveal at the end was.… not one? If it was meant as a twist, it was painfully obvious, and if not, the flourish with which it was uncovered felt a bit silly. In retrospect, I think I was supposed to find it full of small mysteries, but it definitely didn’t come across that way, and not a single one of them was particularly interesting. ★★☆☆☆
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Want a book that blends art, science, and pure wonder? Read Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson. A true story of a man who never stopped learning.
#books #bookreview #ReadMoreBooks #LeonardoDaVinciBiography
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/leonardo-da-vinci/ -
Full Cirles by Kenneth D. Thompson Sr.
A poignant reflection on parental absence and how deep a wound can go
The post Full Cirles by Kenneth D. Thompson Sr. appeared first on Independent Book Review.
https://independentbookreview.com/2026/09/14/full-cirles-by-kenneth-d-thompson-sr/#bookreview #AtmospherePress #bookblog #indieauthor #indiebookreview
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He fought at Bastogne. Then he prosecuted the man who killed RFK. One life, two battles.
#books #bookreview #BandOfBrothers #WWII
https://smpl.is/amteo -
A thousand Taliban fighters waited on that ridge. A small Special Forces team climbed it anyway. This book tells you why.
#books #bookreview #Afghanistan #SpecialForces
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/lions-of-kandahar/ -
A CIA officer betrayed his country. Then he trained his own son to do the same.
#books #bookreview #Espionage #TrueCrime
https://smpl.is/amtel -
🎭 Ah, another thrilling dive into the riveting world of ancient languages! Because surely, everyone was just dying to know when God decided Greek was the language of choice. 🙄 Spoiler alert: the book's about the #Septuagint, but don't worry, no one's going to quiz you on it at the next dinner party. 📚
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/of-gods-and-languages-on-when-god-spoke-greek/ #ancientlanguages #Greekliterature #bookreview #languageenthusiast #HackerNews #ngated -
Life with Others: Pete Mladinic’s Review of Carla, Swept Away by Casey Robb
Life with Others: A Review of Carla, Swept Away by Casey Robb
Taken as a whole, this collection of ten stories takes readers on a journey through imagination, through places and times that reflect the world author Casey Robb and her readers live in. Stories of lived lives—they keep readers on edge, turning the page to find out what happens next. A reader comes to the end of any one of these stories thinking, yes, that really happened to people I know or to me. Detailed settings, complex characters, suspenseful plots, and well-crafted sentences make these stories memorable. Diverse in mood- funny, sad, filled with drama- they rank among the best short stories in contemporary fiction.
There’s a lot of darkness in “Carla, Swept Away,” the title story, with its dark ground and dark sky. The reader follows the story from a rural Texas coastal town to the seawall in Galveston, where it ends. It begins with a young girl, Sarah, outside her home during a storm that, to Sarah, is more exhilarating than threatening.
The storm is blowing in all black and swirly. I am dancing in the street, twirling, like the clouds. Carla has arrived. Her wind lashes my back, my yellow slicker flapping like a feral thing. Her skies let go. Heavy drops hammer my cheeks like marbles. The distant ditch is spilling dark water across the county road. The murky stream steals up our street and drowns our lawn.
The story revolves around the death of Sarah’s younger sister, Allie, killed close to home by a hit-and-run driver. At the end, in Galveston, Sarah’s father swims offshore and rescues her mother, who has gone out too far. While the family’s grief is at the heart of the story, the writer, who has been there, brings it to life. Her protagonist, Sarah, takes the reader back to the early 1960s, to her region of Texas, to the roadside ditch where Allie lost her life.
Whether Rusty will ever get out of the cave alive is the big question in “The Devil’s Grip.”
He could go no farther. His reaching arms were stuck, and his legs stretched way down, unable to push or pull. His sweating hands twisted and turned, but couldn’t dislodge his chest. The earth had him in a vise.
He had gone into the cave to retrieve a barrette that Sissy, Rusty’s older brother Tate’s girlfriend, had lost there on a previous venture into the cave, Rusty’s “special” place. The central scene, Rusty alone in the cave, is the story’s climax, the height of its conflict. It is then and there that Rusty gains an inner strength that will allow him to go further in life and will take him to Sul Ross State University to fulfill his aspirations of becoming a geologist, and consequently urge Tate, an auto mechanic, to study to be what he wants to be, an engineer. The cave, The Devil’s Grip, is the metaphor of motivation in Rusty’s journey.
In “He’s a Rebel,” Sarah and her friend Angela want to be Cher, the singer, half of the duo Sonny and Cher. Angela, tall and dark, even looks like Cher. She has Cher’s bangs and, slightly older than Sarah, a boyfriend. At school, she urges Sarah to meet a guy, Frankie, whose allure vanishes the moment Sarah enters his dirty, unkempt house, where he lives with his often-absent mother. Unbeknownst to Sarah, Frankie has a girlfriend. She arrives at his house with four other girls, and she and Sarah fight. Sarah thinks Frankie planned it all so trouble would happen. He is not a nice guy, and he lives in a bad home. At the end of the story, in her own home, she says:
“Well, I’m only going to say one thing.” I shook my head. “I’m glad I have a dad.” He gave me a puzzled smile. “And a mom.” “Wow,” Mom said.
Sarah’s epiphany is that the person she wants to be is herself.
Other stories are equally rewarding. “Baba Yaga at the Toy Store” is about a young girl’s encounter with a survivor of the Holocaust. “The Rabbit Trap” involves racism in the Deep South. “The Piano Man” is set against the backdrop of the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti. In “Tiger, Tiger,” the protagonist, a Vietnam vet, has guilt-filled flashbacks on a plane during a storm. “The Fruit Dish Finds Nandi” takes readers down to the Yucatán in Mexico. “Valentine’s Day” is a romantic comedy of errors. “You Takin’ Me to Paisley, or What? ” is a story about a young woman who is a hippie hitchhiker and an elderly man, recently widowed, who lives in a travel trailer, and it ends with an ironic twist. Each story is a journey, one readers will want to take, and take again.
Carla, Swept Away is available on Amazon ($12.99 paper, $3.99 Kindle).
Copyright © 2026 Peter Mladinic
All Rights ReservedPeter Mladinic was born and raised in New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1973 and earned an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Arkansas in 1985. Professor emeritus at New Mexico Junior College, where he was a member of the English faculty for 30 years. During that time, he was a board member of the Lea County Museum and president of the Lea County Humane Society. An animal rights advocate, he lives in Hobbs, New Mexico, USA. Peter Mladinic’s most recent book of poems, Maiden Rock, is available from UnCollected Press.
Submit to MasticadoresUSA and subscribe for more great reads!
#BookPromotion #BookReview #CaseyRobb #MasticadoresUSA #PeteMladinic #TreasuredContributor -
Masticadores Philippines: Editor: Michelle Ayon Navajas @masticadoresphilippines.wordpress.com@masticadoresphilippines.wordpress.com ·«Sweetbriar» A Book Review by Maggie Watson
«Sweetbriar» A Book Review by Maggie Watson
For a debut, Rowena Suarez has set the bar
with this stunning collection of poetry.
Without artifice, the poet has bared her soul.In Sweetbriar: The Serenade of a Weathered Rose, you may find yourself among her
verses as I did.The book is divided into four parts.
Part 1:The Shadows
Part 2:The Storm
Part 3:The Ascent
Part 4:The LightI found it truly beautiful to see Rowena reclaim her life.
The metaphors throughout this collection are striking, leaving the reader with no doubt as to the depth of her suffering. I admire Rowena for her courage and honesty.In “The Doom” (Part 1), she writes,
Lost in the blackness
I asked myself
What should I do?
Where do I go from here?In “Bottled Emotions” (Part 2), Rowena describes how she suffered in silence
and the destruction caused by trying to be strong.In “Swimming Against the Current” (Part 3), her determination to claw her
way out of the dark is inspiring.
And in “Metamorphosis “ (Part 4), we see the writer emerge from the shadows and
rise.I look forward to reading more of Rowena’s empowering verses and recommend this
book with 5 stars.Maggie Watson is an Indie Author and Poet from Scotland. Her latest collection of poetry, «Ephemeral Encounters: Her Book of Words», was published last September. Gypso Philazine, Glass Gates Publishing, Edge of Humanity, and Spillwords have all published her work. She has also been in three anthologies, including an all-female collection ( Sacred Feminine Open Skies).
Maggie works voluntarily for a children’s charity when she is not writing.Amazon Purchase Link
#BookReview #MasticadoresPhilippines #Poetry -
What if changing one moment in the past could erase an entire family from the future?
Return to Yesterday's Tomorrow by Bryan Prosek is a clever, puzzle-driven techno thriller filled with altered timelines, emotional stakes, corruption, and steadily increasing suspense.
Read my four-star review, featured today with iRead Book Tours.
https://ginaraemitchell.com/return-to-yesterdays-tomorrow-book-review/
#iReadBookTours #TimeTravel #ScienceFiction #TechnoThriller #BookReview@BryanKProsek…
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What if changing one moment in the past could erase an entire family from the future?
Return to Yesterday's Tomorrow by Bryan Prosek is a clever, puzzle-driven techno thriller filled with altered timelines, emotional stakes, corruption, and steadily increasing suspense.
Read my four-star review, featured today with iRead Book Tours.
https://ginaraemitchell.com/return-to-yesterdays-tomorrow-book-review/
#iReadBookTours #TimeTravel #ScienceFiction #TechnoThriller #BookReview@BryanKProsek…
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What if changing one moment in the past could erase an entire family from the future?
Return to Yesterday's Tomorrow by Bryan Prosek is a clever, puzzle-driven techno thriller filled with altered timelines, emotional stakes, corruption, and steadily increasing suspense.
Read my four-star review, featured today with iRead Book Tours.
https://ginaraemitchell.com/return-to-yesterdays-tomorrow-book-review/
#iReadBookTours #TimeTravel #ScienceFiction #TechnoThriller #BookReview@BryanKProsek…
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What if changing one moment in the past could erase an entire family from the future?
Return to Yesterday's Tomorrow by Bryan Prosek is a clever, puzzle-driven techno thriller filled with altered timelines, emotional stakes, corruption, and steadily increasing suspense.
Read my four-star review, featured today with iRead Book Tours.
https://ginaraemitchell.com/return-to-yesterdays-tomorrow-book-review/
#iReadBookTours #TimeTravel #ScienceFiction #TechnoThriller #BookReview@BryanKProsek…
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What if changing one moment in the past could erase an entire family from the future?
Return to Yesterday's Tomorrow by Bryan Prosek is a clever, puzzle-driven techno thriller filled with altered timelines, emotional stakes, corruption, and steadily increasing suspense.
Read my four-star review, featured today with iRead Book Tours.
https://ginaraemitchell.com/return-to-yesterdays-tomorrow-book-review/
#iReadBookTours #TimeTravel #ScienceFiction #TechnoThriller #BookReview@BryanKProsek…
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The same tight circle that saved Europe fed the mistakes in Vietnam. Isaacson and Thomas show both sides without flinching.
#books #bookreview #TheWiseMen #ColdWar
https://smpl.is/amtei -
SUMMER IN THE ESTONIAN COUNTRYSIDE becomes a season of reinvention for a woman trying to make sense of her life after a shattering breakup. Beautiful prose, vividly captured landscape sustain a delicate interiority. A MINUS
https://worldeditions.org/product/the-cut-line/
#book #Books #bookreview #bookreviews #bookstodon #fiction #novel #novels #Estonia #Estonianwriters #SmallPressSunday
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Biblio File column!
“Babylon Must Fall: Children Of Heremone Trilogy, Book 3”
Please subscribe to my free "Barnetto" newsletter: barnetto.substack.com
https://dielbee.blogspot.com/2026/09/babylon-must-fall-children-of-heremone.html
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This isn't a journalist's account. Kalugin ran the operations. He names the cases, the methods, and the failures nobody talks about.
#books #bookreview #OlegKalugin #ColdWar
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/spymaster/ -
After twenty years of war, America left Afghanistan much as we found it. The Taliban rules again. Tomsen warned us in 2011. His book reads like prophecy now. Some books age well. This one hurts.
#books #bookreview #AfghanWithdrawal #ForeignPolicyHistory #bookclub
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/wars-of-afghanistan-review/ -
How did German tanks catch the Allies off guard in 1944? This book lays it out step by step.
#books #bookreview #BattleOfTheBulge #History
https://smpl.is/amtef -
#BookReview for "No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State" by Glenn Greenwald
Not bad!
It is a bit one-sided, focusing on the high-stakes adventure of the journalist meeting and reporting on Edward Snowden (in some cases sounding like a spy thriller). But it's a good perspective on how important it is to share what the government is doing - and how hard it can be to do that. -
Shot. Blown off a cliff. Alone in the mountains. Luttrell kept moving because stopping meant dying. That's the whole book right there.
#books #bookreview #MarcusLuttrell #LoneSurvivor
https://smpl.is/amtec -
けんぐゎい (Kengwai) by 朝倉かすみ (Asakura Kasumi), 2026
I liked the story in concept up to a certain point, but not the execution and style. Very repetitive and inconsistent, plus some plot points felt a bit too convenient. One conflict in particular should have been resolved in one way or another, but it wasn't. There was great potential especially in the more drastic scenes, however.
⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
#Bookstodon #Books #Reading #Japanese #Literature #Bookreview #日本文学 #読書 #読了
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けんぐゎい (Kengwai) by 朝倉かすみ (Asakura Kasumi), 2026
I liked the story in concept up to a certain point, but not the execution and style. Very repetitive and inconsistent, plus some plot points felt a bit too convenient. One conflict in particular should have been resolved in one way or another, but it wasn't. There was great potential especially in the more drastic scenes, however.
⭐️⭐️☆☆☆
#Bookstodon #Books #Reading #Japanese #Literature #Bookreview #日本文学 #読書 #読了
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Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price
This Viking history book breaks the raider stereotype wide open. Farmers and traders take the stage too.
#books #bookreview #aff #ads #Vikings #History
https://www.amazon.com/Children-Ash-Elm-History-Vikings/dp/B08BH3PHQL?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.nwDdinTUsPq5KdI_PQF37mItRi_u9AuIHGJBQnj5Kh8FboC1BCKZYVg8dI9fYPseks4lG-MGd5mWFCYIlgusow.fzJX_atenT9nO1z8H3fzwihOvXc5LTrIC0BlqpNQv6Q&dib_tag=se&keywords=Children+of+Ash+and+Elm%3A+A+History+of+the+Vikings+by+Neil+Price&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1787557627&sr=8-1&gaOptInStatus=true&linkCode=ll2&tag=mfa24003-20&linkId=02373834e5ffe14b2363432c855a2934&language=en_US&gaOptInStatus=true&ref_=as_li_ss_tl -
Book Review: https://73pctgeek.com/daggerbound-by-tkingfisher/
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher
Learned Edmund, tasked with transporting relics, contemplates leaving his order when he is set upon. An unlikely rescuer comes to his aid.
I obviously wasn’t in the right mood for the second book in the Swordheart (/swordheart-by-t-kingfisher/) trilogy, because I didn’t enjoy it very much. Usually I find Kingfisher’s books delightful, often with pragmatically enchanting characters, but I was left a bit wanting by this one.
While I did quite like the Dervish and Large Francis I didn’t particularly enjoy any of the others characters, old familiar ones aside. I found it hard to stay interested in the story, and am left feeling a bit ambivalent to the book as a whole. ★★★☆☆
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3 of 5 stars for A Sorceress and Scones (Of Mist and Magic Book 1), by Allie Leigh
https://lordofthemoon.com/bookreviews/a-sorceress-and-scones-of-mist-and-magic-book-1/
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‘Death of a Democracy’: Exploring the rise and fall of Weimar Germany
“Berlin has been defiled – shame on a people that considers itself among the world’s civilized.” This was…
#Germany #DE #Europe #EU #Europa #AdolfHitler #Berlin #bookreview #History #literature #magazine #Nazi #Weimar #worldwari #worldwarii
https://www.europesays.com/germany/90298/ -
Rituals – a folk journey through the seasons by Tim Downie (ARC review)
This is a review of an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Ebury/Penguin.
Not quite what I was hoping for, this was nevertheless an engaging tour of the country and the calendar, dipping into various rituals and traditions. It’s not all guising in blackface, but there is quite a bit of that, and no real explanation for the sooting up.
The book itself, or the facsimile of it I had in the Netgalley app, was beautifully designed, with lovely typography and illustrations. That cover, though: you see so many books with a similar design, your eyes are likely to just skate over it.
There are quite a lot of these rituals that seem to involve frightening levels of violence and danger, as in the mob football games or the tar barrels. If not mob football, then huge scrums of men chasing veils or bottles/barrels.
Many of the rituals are modern revivals of older ceremonies, with modern elements added, to keep them alive. There’s mention towards the end of the orange rolling in Dunstable, which I remember from my own childhood, but which was eventually discontinued—largely due to large scrums of violent men.
I mentioned ‘dipping in’ above, and that’s about the level, with the history and tradition behind the rituals dispatched in short, efficient order. It’s not superficial, but it’s also not terribly detailed. The author, Tim Downie, is an actor, and it really comes across as a personal journey rather than an academic exericse. He does travel: west to Wales and Devon/Cornwall, south to Sussex and Kent, North to Scotland and Northumberland. He even visits Glastonbury, which comes across a place to avoid if you are allergic to charlatans and bearded men with no shoes.
Made me nostalgic for that big ol’ Reader’s Digest encyclopaedia of Folklore, Myths and Legends.
#bookReview #bookReviews #Books #fiction #Folklore #history #nonFiction #rituals -
Rituals – a folk journey through the seasons by Tim Downie (ARC review)
This is a review of an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Ebury/Penguin.
Not quite what I was hoping for, this was nevertheless an engaging tour of the country and the calendar, dipping into various rituals and traditions. It’s not all guising in blackface, but there is quite a bit of that, and no real explanation for the sooting up.
The book itself, or the facsimile of it I had in the Netgalley app, was beautifully designed, with lovely typography and illustrations. That cover, though: you see so many books with a similar design, your eyes are likely to just skate over it.
There are quite a lot of these rituals that seem to involve frightening levels of violence and danger, as in the mob football games or the tar barrels. If not mob football, then huge scrums of men chasing veils or bottles/barrels.
Many of the rituals are modern revivals of older ceremonies, with modern elements added, to keep them alive. There’s mention towards the end of the orange rolling in Dunstable, which I remember from my own childhood, but which was eventually discontinued—largely due to large scrums of violent men.
I mentioned ‘dipping in’ above, and that’s about the level, with the history and tradition behind the rituals dispatched in short, efficient order. It’s not superficial, but it’s also not terribly detailed. The author, Tim Downie, is an actor, and it really comes across as a personal journey rather than an academic exericse. He does travel: west to Wales and Devon/Cornwall, south to Sussex and Kent, North to Scotland and Northumberland. He even visits Glastonbury, which comes across a place to avoid if you are allergic to charlatans and bearded men with no shoes.
Made me nostalgic for that big ol’ Reader’s Digest encyclopaedia of Folklore, Myths and Legends.
#bookReview #bookReviews #Books #fiction #Folklore #history #nonFiction #rituals -
Rituals – a folk journey through the seasons by Tim Downie (ARC review)
This is a review of an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Ebury/Penguin.
Not quite what I was hoping for, this was nevertheless an engaging tour of the country and the calendar, dipping into various rituals and traditions. It’s not all guising in blackface, but there is quite a bit of that, and no real explanation for the sooting up.
The book itself, or the facsimile of it I had in the Netgalley app, was beautifully designed, with lovely typography and illustrations. That cover, though: you see so many books with a similar design, your eyes are likely to just skate over it.
There are quite a lot of these rituals that seem to involve frightening levels of violence and danger, as in the mob football games or the tar barrels. If not mob football, then huge scrums of men chasing veils or bottles/barrels.
Many of the rituals are modern revivals of older ceremonies, with modern elements added, to keep them alive. There’s mention towards the end of the orange rolling in Dunstable, which I remember from my own childhood, but which was eventually discontinued—largely due to large scrums of violent men.
I mentioned ‘dipping in’ above, and that’s about the level, with the history and tradition behind the rituals dispatched in short, efficient order. It’s not superficial, but it’s also not terribly detailed. The author, Tim Downie, is an actor, and it really comes across as a personal journey rather than an academic exericse. He does travel: west to Wales and Devon/Cornwall, south to Sussex and Kent, North to Scotland and Northumberland. He even visits Glastonbury, which comes across a place to avoid if you are allergic to charlatans and bearded men with no shoes.
Made me nostalgic for that big ol’ Reader’s Digest encyclopaedia of Folklore, Myths and Legends.
#bookReview #bookReviews #Books #fiction #Folklore #history #nonFiction #rituals -
Rituals – a folk journey through the seasons by Tim Downie (ARC review)
This is a review of an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Ebury/Penguin.
Not quite what I was hoping for, this was nevertheless an engaging tour of the country and the calendar, dipping into various rituals and traditions. It’s not all guising in blackface, but there is quite a bit of that, and no real explanation for the sooting up.
The book itself, or the facsimile of it I had in the Netgalley app, was beautifully designed, with lovely typography and illustrations. That cover, though: you see so many books with a similar design, your eyes are likely to just skate over it.
There are quite a lot of these rituals that seem to involve frightening levels of violence and danger, as in the mob football games or the tar barrels. If not mob football, then huge scrums of men chasing veils or bottles/barrels.
Many of the rituals are modern revivals of older ceremonies, with modern elements added, to keep them alive. There’s mention towards the end of the orange rolling in Dunstable, which I remember from my own childhood, but which was eventually discontinued—largely due to large scrums of violent men.
I mentioned ‘dipping in’ above, and that’s about the level, with the history and tradition behind the rituals dispatched in short, efficient order. It’s not superficial, but it’s also not terribly detailed. The author, Tim Downie, is an actor, and it really comes across as a personal journey rather than an academic exericse. He does travel: west to Wales and Devon/Cornwall, south to Sussex and Kent, North to Scotland and Northumberland. He even visits Glastonbury, which comes across a place to avoid if you are allergic to charlatans and bearded men with no shoes.
Made me nostalgic for that big ol’ Reader’s Digest encyclopaedia of Folklore, Myths and Legends.
#bookReview #bookReviews #Books #fiction #Folklore #history #nonFiction #rituals -
Rituals – a folk journey through the seasons by Tim Downie (ARC review)
This is a review of an ARC from Netgalley and publisher Ebury/Penguin.
Not quite what I was hoping for, this was nevertheless an engaging tour of the country and the calendar, dipping into various rituals and traditions. It’s not all guising in blackface, but there is quite a bit of that, and no real explanation for the sooting up.
The book itself, or the facsimile of it I had in the Netgalley app, was beautifully designed, with lovely typography and illustrations. That cover, though: you see so many books with a similar design, your eyes are likely to just skate over it.
There are quite a lot of these rituals that seem to involve frightening levels of violence and danger, as in the mob football games or the tar barrels. If not mob football, then huge scrums of men chasing veils or bottles/barrels.
Many of the rituals are modern revivals of older ceremonies, with modern elements added, to keep them alive. There’s mention towards the end of the orange rolling in Dunstable, which I remember from my own childhood, but which was eventually discontinued—largely due to large scrums of violent men.
I mentioned ‘dipping in’ above, and that’s about the level, with the history and tradition behind the rituals dispatched in short, efficient order. It’s not superficial, but it’s also not terribly detailed. The author, Tim Downie, is an actor, and it really comes across as a personal journey rather than an academic exericse. He does travel: west to Wales and Devon/Cornwall, south to Sussex and Kent, North to Scotland and Northumberland. He even visits Glastonbury, which comes across a place to avoid if you are allergic to charlatans and bearded men with no shoes.
Made me nostalgic for that big ol’ Reader’s Digest encyclopaedia of Folklore, Myths and Legends.
#bookReview #bookReviews #Books #fiction #Folklore #history #nonFiction #rituals -
These tech builders failed — a lot. But they kept going. Isaacson shows how passion and grit matter more than genius alone.
#books #bookreview #TheInnovators #computerhistory
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/digital-revolution-pioneers-book-review/ -
One general. 100 days. A world that said no. My full review of Shake Hands With the Devil is live now.
#books #bookreview #RomèoDallaire #genocide
https://smpl.is/amt9e -
𝙒𝙖𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙧: "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙮" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 "𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨" 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙙 -
𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄:
Foundational
Ethics-Driven
Intricate𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲:
In what ways are the works of Classical Greece advancements or dilutions of Hesiod's narrative?
#bookreview #literature #books #book #reading #frictionalreading #hesiod #theogony #worksanddays #ancientliterature #ancientgreece #mythology #morality #philosophy
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𝙒𝙖𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙧: "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙮" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 "𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨" 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙙 -
𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄:
Foundational
Ethics-Driven
Intricate𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲:
In what ways are the works of Classical Greece advancements or dilutions of Hesiod's narrative?
#bookreview #literature #books #book #reading #frictionalreading #hesiod #theogony #worksanddays #ancientliterature #ancientgreece #mythology #morality #philosophy
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𝙒𝙖𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙧: "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙮" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 "𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨" 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙙 -
𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄:
Foundational
Ethics-Driven
Intricate𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲:
In what ways are the works of Classical Greece advancements or dilutions of Hesiod's narrative?
#bookreview #literature #books #book #reading #frictionalreading #hesiod #theogony #worksanddays #ancientliterature #ancientgreece #mythology #morality #philosophy
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𝙒𝙖𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙧: "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙮" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 "𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨" 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙙 -
𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄:
Foundational
Ethics-Driven
Intricate𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲:
In what ways are the works of Classical Greece advancements or dilutions of Hesiod's narrative?
#bookreview #literature #books #book #reading #frictionalreading #hesiod #theogony #worksanddays #ancientliterature #ancientgreece #mythology #morality #philosophy
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𝙒𝙖𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙇𝙚𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙧: "𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙤𝙜𝙤𝙣𝙮" 𝙖𝙣𝙙 "𝙒𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘿𝙖𝙮𝙨" 𝙗𝙮 𝙃𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙙 -
𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲-𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄:
Foundational
Ethics-Driven
Intricate𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲:
In what ways are the works of Classical Greece advancements or dilutions of Hesiod's narrative?
#bookreview #literature #books #book #reading #frictionalreading #hesiod #theogony #worksanddays #ancientliterature #ancientgreece #mythology #morality #philosophy
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Stepford Wives meets Big Little Lies in this twisty thriller that uncovers the untruths, petty grievances, and local school politics underneath a seemingly quaint small town. Find out why this book is a hard NO for me. #BookThreads #BookSky #VAlleyoftheMoms #Netgalley #BookReview
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In the South African bush, 2 sisters reunite to bury a family secret once and for all, but when they’re stranded among the wild animals, they find a predator far more dangerous waiting for them. #BookThreads #BookSky #TheNightHunter #Netgalley #ARCReview #BookReview #Mystery
