This book has had me in its grips for the last few days. It was a bit slow near the beginning (I could have done without the character with all the war stories) but picked up pace as the book progressed. I felt like I couldn’t put the book down and had to read the book quickly to reach the end before the ship sank mirroring what was happening in the book. If you want a page turner try this.

This isn’t the first time I’ve listened to this record. I owned the CD back in college when “Clint Eastwood” came out. I was living in a sorority house at the time and I played this quite a bit since I liked all the other songs too. Something happened and I lost the CD so hadn’t listened to it for years. Recently I acquired the CD again and revisited it and I think I like it better now than I did during our first time together.

3 is a return to the formula that brought Nouvelle Vague international attention on their first eponymous album. There are many excellent covers of new wave classics. This time Nouvelle Vague adds a little bit of country to the mix, which works amazingly well with the bossa nova. I was impressed with their versions of “Heaven” (Psychedelic Furs) and “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” (Soft Cell).

I really enjoyed this book. Not only was the mystery plot first rate but as the earlier comment stated the characters are superbly drawn. In addition Atkinson writes here and there with tongue in cheek and gave me a lot of chuckles. A rare combination. I look forward to When Will There Be Good News and will very likely mourn the ending of this trilogy.

This is a perky little bubble bar, very fresh natural scents. Although I did think it smelled like Sambuca! I didn’t find it to be as bubbly as some of the other bars I used, they mostly faded away before I had finished bathing (maybe I should have used more of the bar?). Pleased to see another charitable product from Lush and approve of Lush supporting the ban on fox hunting. Glad that I can help in such an easy and enjoyable way :)

Generic Hollywood ‘disaster movie’ fare. Despite the special effects and the sounds, the movie is not moving, not engaging, not thrilling – not even a bit.

I recommend this book only if you have visited the House on the Rock in Spring Green, Wisconsin, and you (like me) need some explanation for the psychotic, bizarre scenes you saw there. This book is fairly interesting and not badly written, but probably not worthwhile if you haven’t personally been damaged or at least shaken up by the House on the Rock.

My headphones were only working in my right ear for most of the album. I would highly recommend listening to this compilation in stereo.

I picked up Victoria and the Rogue at a discount book fair for +/- 1€ as a “why not, in case I’m in the mood for something light during my holidays or something”. It turned out I liked it better than I expected, I wish I had picked up some more of Meg Cabot’s stuff. It was fun to read, albeit somewhat predictable. The character of Victoria is really what made this novel ‘worth consuming’ for me, she was well drawn out and I loved her attitude. I doubt that everything was historically correct though, the time they spent alone and the language between man & women seemed a lot more modern than say, in a Jane Austen story, but who cares, in this case it was more fun.

This book is one of few Amish books that I think really gets it. By it, I mean it allows the reader to enter the Amish world, yet does not try to push Amish beliefs on them, does not paint the Amish lifestyle as ideal or makes the world feel as if you’re living in a bubble. I really enjoyed this book for the realistic way the Amish and the English worlds are portrayed.

This book talked a lot about subjects that I have never read in Amish fiction before. The one that stood out the most was the medical issues. This book mentioned a great deal about birth defects and other medical problems that stem from communities that continue to live in close proximity and only marry within that community. This is something I have never read in any other Amish book I have picked up and is a topic that I have always wondered about due to the circumstances of who someone can marry. Therefore kudos to Marta Perry for bringing this up. It may be a sore subject that no one wants to talk about but to deny that it exists because it makes the community look not so ideal is not helping anyone either. Honestly I feel like other authors don’t bring it up because it breaks the bubble of the image that they are trying to portray of making Amish lifestyle appealing.

I thought I was going to have problems with Daniel due to comments he made early in the book but after finding out about his background, I understood him a lot better. His family’s past was unique to the typical Amish storyline and even more so by the way he handled the situation. As for Johnny, I really liked the way his storyline played out. Everyone (for the most part) ends up where they want to be.

Honestly this is one of the most refreshing Amish novels I have ever read. I didn’t feel as if this book was unrealistically portrayed and the outside world is seen in a positive light for once. If the rest of the series continues to be written in the same manner and tackles difficult but necessary subjects, it might possibly rank as one of my favorite Amish books. That being said, if you want a dose of reality with your Amish fiction, pick up this book.