Tag Archive | book review

Book Reviews: Addicted to technology? Who us?

It’s interesting writing a review for a blog about a book that in its opening chapters includes the comment:

“It made me sad when I caught myself pretending that everybody out there in cyberspace cared about what I thought, when really nobody gives a sh*t. And when I multiplied that sad feeling by all the millions of people in their lonely little rooms, furiously writing and posting to their lonely little pages that nobody has time to read because they’re all so busy writing and posting, it kind of broke my heart.”
Nao, A Tale for the Time Being.

And perhaps that’s the reason this particular review has taken so long to write? More likely is that in recent weeks Elldrew have found themselves wrapped up in 3 novels, all of which coincidentally are a blighting condemnation of the virtual world and the extent to which the internet is rapidly dominating our lives.

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Captive Prince

captive_princeFor anyone that enjoyed reading ‘The Song of Achilles’ by Madeline Miller, then you are in for a treat with the ‘Captive Prince‘ series by S.U. Pacat.

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The Song Of Achilles

Take two lovers, from seemingly different backgrounds, add a disapproving parent, follow the struggles as both lovers not only come to terms with their blossoming relationship, but the hardships of trying to live up to expectation and gain approval for what just seems so natural and right…

Now take one of Greek mythologies most famous sons – Achilles – the great warrior and hero of the Trojan War, immortalised by the Greek poet Homer in the Iliad, but instead of a beautiful maiden, introduce the well speculated affair with his male lover Patroclus, and you have an interesting read in the novel The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller.

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The Hundred-Year-Old Man…

“The idea had barely taken hold in the old man’s head before he opened the window of his room on the ground floor of the Old People’s Home in the town of Malmkoping and stepped out – into the flowerbed. This manoeuvre required a bit of effort, since Allan was one hundred years old. On this very day in fact.”

And so begins the rip rollicking adventure of ‘The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared’. What an adventure it is; jumping between past and present, the story of Allan Karlsson’s life before and after he climbed out the window is a hysterical tale of coincidence, calamity and vodka set against a backdrop of the changing global political arena of the 20th century. As a holiday read Elldrew struggled to put the book down, only occasionally surfacing from its covers for a refreshing dip in the pool or to whip up a batch of croissants or banana cake.

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A Trio of Books Reviewed for Summer

With one thing and another Planet Elldrew have had a busy few weeks so have not really had time to comment and critique the selection of books we have devoured during the smidgens of downtime we’ve managed to sneak in. Taking the opportunity to correct that, here’s Elldrew’s reviews of some great (and not so great) summer reads…hopefully getting this out there so you have time to pick up one or two of our recommendations at the departure lounge. The 3 books in question: Before I Go To Sleep by S J Watson; The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson and Rules of Civility by Amor Towles.

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Going Out by Scarlett Thomas

I’ve been a fan of Scarlett Thomas since I first read The End of Mr Y, so was rather excited when I came across a new book of hers whilst seeking out a new read. Alas, once I was sitting comfortably in Planet Elldrew and peeled back the cover my excitement faded to disappointment as I realised it was a new edition of an old book I had read back in 2002 when first published. Fortunately I couldn’t quite recall the detail of the story so figured that now the spine was bent I ought to persevere.

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Fish, The Middle East and Pizza in the Cinema

At our last villa stay the previous guests had generously left behind a copy of Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a book I had long wanted to read. Over the course of a week two of us read, giggled and grimaced our way through the amusing political satire about a naïve fish expert and his government cajoled attempt to encourage salmon to run the wadi’s of the Yemen.

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The Making of Gucci

the making of gucci

There are some great coffee table books out there, and regardless of your taste, there is something special about flipping through pages of a truly iconic brand…that also knows how to take a mean photo.

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