Category: Impressions
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What Were the Crusades? (Fourth Edition) by Jonathan Riley-Smith: Dot Points
The best thing about this book is that it is succinct, engaging and easy to read, not dry or heavy at all.
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12-21 by Dustin Thomason: Dot Points
The writing in this book is good, not great, and the characters and tropes are a trifle cliché, but I enjoyed this book nonetheless.
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We Wish To Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch: Dot Points
This is a must read for anyone interested in history, international politics or human rights, and I would venture to recommend it, even to those with no interest in these subjects.
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The Pelican History of Medieval Europe by Maurice Keen: Dot Points
Some chapters were easier to read than others, but overall this was a rather heavy read.
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Review: Ash Road by Ivan Southall
Ash Road by Ivan Southall is an Australian Young Adult (YA) novel set in country Victoria. First published in 1965, Ash Road tells the story of two separate groups of children and their various reactions to adversity. Wallace, Graham and Harry are a group of teenage boys on their first foray into the world without…
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5 Things I’m Watching on Netflix
So, I’ve been watching a few shows on Netflix recently. Well, if I’m being honest, my daughter has been watching them, and I’ve been caught up in the shows while attempting to work on my laptop. Here are some of the shows we’ve been watching. Oh, by the way, there will probably be spoilers, so…
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River Canyon Restaurant
Last year we had a bit of cash saved up and decided to go out for Christmas dinner instead of cooking at home. After looking around to see who was open, we ended up deciding on the River Canyon Restaurant in Parramatta. River Canyon is located at 96 Phillip Street in Parramatta, NSW and is…
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Redfern Now
Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney located about 3 kilometres south of the CBD. At one point in time, Redfern had a bad reputation but this was, in my opinion, mainly due to prejudice towards housing commission residents. In recent years, the area has been subject to extensive redevelopment by the state government, to increase the…
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Brief Thoughts on My December Reads (2013)
*WARNING! MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!*
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Fallen
Fallen by David Maine is a vivid retelling of the old, familiar stories of Adam & Eve and Cain & Abel. Beginning with the final days of Cain and moving back in time to Adam and Eve’s banishment from the Garden, this book portrays the dusty old Bible stories in a brand new light. Breathing…
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Blogging for Fame and Fortune by Jason R. Rich
Just about everybody has a blog these days. They are so prolific that it can be difficult to stand out from the crowd. Yet this is exactly what you must do if you wish to make money from your blog. Blogging for Fame and Fortune will show you how to do just that. Packed with…
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The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
The Dispossessed is an excellent example of extreme culture shock. How well could a man raised in an anarchist society (even one considered a rebel and a traitor) function in a capitalist society? This is the catalyst that Le Guin uses to highlight the faults and follies of our society. The story begins on the…
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‘Don’ts for Husbands’ & ‘Don’ts for Wives’ by Blanche Ebbutt
In 1913, women were expected to wear smotheringly hot full length dresses in order to be considered decent. Most women did not work outside of the home, being expected to be happy in their role as wife and mother. In most of the world, women didn’t even have the right to vote. Surely any marital…
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Beside the Sea by Veronique Olmi
Beside the Sea is a translation of a French book Bord de Mer, the first novel from acclaimed dramatist Véronque Olmi. First published in 2001, this novel has been translated into all major European languages. On the surface, this seems to be a sweet story about a mother taking her children on a trip to…
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My Story, My Tudor Queen, The Diary of Eva De Puebla, London 1501-1513 by Alison Prince
Synopsis: 4th November, 1501 I hardly like to make a mark on the beautiful, blank pages of this book, but I must. Mama gave it to me as a parting present so that I could write about this journey from Spain to England. “Don’t waste it.” she said. “Just write the important things.” I’m sure…
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The Princess Bitchface Syndrome by Michael Carr-Gregg
Opening Sentence:I think I would call her the stranger who arrived to replace the other person we knew – we now have the both of them living with us in one person happily. Synopsis:In this hard-hitting book, Michael Carr-Gregg focuses on the special trials of raising adolescent girls today: what to do when your previously…
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Cats Creep the Fire to Art by Matthew Ward
Opening Sentence: Slit scars across your wrists must mean you tried. Synopsis: N/A Genre: Poetry Rating: @@@@ Pages: 132 BCID: xxx-6265782 ISBN: 978-1-934209-22-6 Year: 2008 Format: Paperback Comments: Cats Creep the Fire to Art is a collection of the works of Australian poet, Matthew Ward. According to Ward, “The poems contained within these walls were…
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Australia: A History in Photographs by Michael Cannon
Opening Sentence: The camera is like most human beings: it sometimes distorts reality, but it usually tries to tell the truth. Synopsis: Over two centuries a great nation has emerged from the most unlikely beginnings. Millions of incidents on that road of turmoil and triumph have been fixed in time by the camera. Australia –…
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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne
Opening Sentence: One afternoon, when Bruno came home from school, he was surprised to find Maria, the family’s maid – who always kept her head bowed and never looked up from the carpet – standing in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of the wardrobe and packing them in four large wooden crates, even…
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The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
Opening Sentence: In 1630 Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony took a small group of men and women from the old England to the new. Synopsis: November 17, 1752 I pray that with this record you will understand, and come to forgive me for what I did… Sarah Carrier Chapman Sarah Carrier has always…
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Darkness Creeping by Neal Shusterman
Opening Sentence: History tells of a man named Pavlov. Synopsis: Imagine being trapped forever in someone else’s nightmare, with no means of escape. Or caught on one of the most terrifying roller coasters of all time, when suddenly the tracks ahead just disappear. Enter the world of Darkness Creeping, where hollow-eyed skulls arrive in the…
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Innocent Traitor by Alison Weir
Opening Sentence:It is over. Synopsis:Lady Jane Grey was born into times of extreme danger. Child of a scheming father and a ruthless mother, for whom she was merely a pawn in a dynastic power game with the highest stakes, she lived a life in thrall to political machinations and lethal religious fervor. Jane’s astonishing and…
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Marquis De Sade: The Genius of Passion by Ronald Hayman
Opening Sentence:‘To explain evil,’ said Baudelaire in his Journaux intimes, ‘we must always go back to Sade – that is to normal man. Synopsis:The Marquis de Sade and his works – widely banned until the late 1960s – still have the power to shock. He has been vilified and cast as a rapist, misogynist and…
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Animal Farm by George Orwell
Opening Sentence:Mr Jones, of the Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. Synopsis:’It is the history of a revolution that went wrong – and of the excellent excuses that were forthcoming at every step for the perversion of the original doctrine,’ wrote Orwell…
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A Rose for the ANZAC Boys by Jackie French
Opening Sentence:At 10 a.m. the street was empty. Synopsis:It is 1915. War is being fought on a horrific scale in the trenches of France, but it might as well be a world away from sixteen-year-old Midge Macpherson, at school in England learning to be a young lady. But the war is coming closer: Midge’s brothers…
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Patience & Sarah by Isabel Miller
Opening Sentence:One way Martha wanted me out of her kitchen, but another way she didn’t want me burning wood to keep just myself warm. Synopsis:Set in the Housatonic Valley of Connecticut in 1816, this is the beautifully told story of the love between two young women, Patience White and Sarah Dowling. Patience and Sarah have…
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The Unschooling Unmanual by Nanda Van Gestel, Jan Hunt, Daniel Quinn, Rue Kream, Earl Stevens, Kim Houssenloge, John Holt & Mary Van Doren
Opening Sentence:Why did you choose unschooling rather than some other form of homeschooling? Synopsis:”It is part of the mythology of childhood that children hate learning and will avoid it at all costs. Of course, anyone who has had a child knows what an absurd lie this is. From infancy onward, children are the most fantastic…
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Fiend: The Shocking True Story of America’s Youngest Serial Killer by Harold Schecter
Opening Sentence:Dressed in the street clothes they had given him – a shabby grey suit, it’s baggy pants supported by galluses; a rumpled white shirt, its collar too small to button; an old silk tie that dangled halfway down his chest; and a grotesque, checkered cap that sat on his head like an enormous mushroom…
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‘What Do I Do Monday?’ by John Holt
Opening Sentence:This is a book for teachers, for parents, for children or friends of children, for anyone who cares about education. Synopsis:John Holt, the famous author of How Children Fail, How Children Learn, and The Underachieving School, explores new means of making learning creative and exciting for children. His book bursts with ideas for making…
Rafferty's Rules is Closing Down 