I have to admit that originally I bought it as a 2-for-1 audible credit sale, but I'm very glad I did.
TUplifting, intriguing and sad at the same time.
I have to admit that originally I bought it as a 2-for-1 audible credit sale, but I'm very glad I did.
This book needed to be written (for a long time) and it needs to be read.
The shifting of the focus is constant and sudden, which makes it not very well balanced altogether, but everything that's written is valid and heartfelt. ...more
After the incredible BOOK HIGH Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli: The Epic Story of the Making of The Godfather gave me, I found it hard to let go of the Godfather phenomenon. While I was actually checking if The Godfather was available for me on Audible (sadly, it isn't, b/c of copyright stuff, I guess), I came across this Audible Original - Paramount Podcast on the topic which is included in the Plus Catalogue, so I grabbed it.
After the previously mentioned book, some of the topics were a bit repetitive, but I still found it interesting and there were definitely some new aspects this offered (though I wonder if Francis Ford Coppola still feels optimistic about the world and where its politicians are steering it towards with Trump and Musk running amok?!).
Journalist Rebecca Keegan takes a look again at the Godfather phenomenon and offers interviews with its actors, director with movie critics, influencers, university teachers, movie bluffs and fans of the movies/book for whom this all has been a game changer in their lives.
At 2 hours 30 minutes I found this way too short to learn anything more than I already knew of this topic.
It may serve as an intro, but obviously hisAt 2 hours 30 minutes I found this way too short to learn anything more than I already knew of this topic.
It may serve as an intro, but obviously historian Alexander Mariotti is seriously limited by time to do more than a little surface-scratching, which is a pity.
I also felt that the least info was given exactly about those who should have been centrally featured: the gladiators themselves, so I was not at all satisfied with what I was given.
It was OK, but insufficient.
Currently included in the Audible US Plus catalogue. ...more
On one hand, I'm grateful that this audiobook is currently included in the Plus Catalogue, on the other, I think I would have appreciated it 3,5 stars
On one hand, I'm grateful that this audiobook is currently included in the Plus Catalogue, on the other, I think I would have appreciated it more in print. Not that the narrator was bad, although her waxing lyrical was a bit odd at times. But I wonder whose decision it was to have all proper names (like Huitzilopochtli & Ixtlilxochitl) spelled out loud at every occasion. I found it as irritating and patronising as it was disruptive and unnecessary.
But I digress. Camilla Townsend's book was an interesting reading experience and I owed it to myself to finally read a book about the history of the Mexica and other Nahuatl-speaking peoples as I have learned to call them. Yes, I admit that until now I have not known that they never considered themselves as "Aztecs" and this - as so much else - came from the outside, together with the European POV and treatment.
I really appreciated that what we are offered is the history that uses the sources of the indigenous people, though it was quite complex and not always easy to follow in its presentation. But it helps us to see that their history was a long process, running parallelly to others and the arrival of the Spanish conquerors was just one event among the many that shaped their history.
The book also helps breaking the chains of the European stereotypes as well as debunking the myths the Spaniards had set up a long time ago....more
I picked it up rather unsuspectingly for a [image]
Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika
OH MY GOD! This book!!! This book!!
I'm absolutely awestruck and speechless.
I picked it up rather unsuspectingly for a reading challenge prompt: read a book set in South Africa. I had a feeling I’d go with non-fiction, but I had no idea I’d be striking gold. Five minutes into the audiobook, I was hooked—and I stayed hooked all the way through to the closing speech.
I’ve always enjoyed non-fiction, especially history, but only a few books have truly taken up permanent space in my heart—books that make me elated, teary, and deeply moved.
It is that best of "docu-drama" that makes you feel that you are right there in the midst of all with the people the story is about, totally immersed in the narrative.
You don't need to know anything much about rugby (like I don't) or care for sports in general (like I don't), because while it is a vital element of the book, it is not what ultimately the book is about. It is about one man and many people: about fear, hatred, cruelty, suffering, heartbreak, about forgiveness (and boy, how much forgiveness was needed), about looking past ideologies and seeing human beings, about inhuman efforts to do so, about forging all the fear and hatred into something so much more.
Very good narration by Saul Reichlin.
If you're into nonfiction that moves you, teaches you, and stays with you long after you finish—this is one of those reads. I can’t recommend it enough....more
The blandest of writing, generic, unimpressive characters, run-of-the-mill UF stuff, not for me, so not wasting my time trying to see it throJust no.
The blandest of writing, generic, unimpressive characters, run-of-the-mill UF stuff, not for me, so not wasting my time trying to see it through.
When I find that the description of actual human suffering bores me, then I know that either the writing is seriously bad or I'm missing the necessary book chemistry.
Thankfully it is included in the Audible Plus catalogue for free....more
Despite liking the book very, very much, I think it's 4 stars only.
All the usual Dunnett ingredients are there: fascinating historical details based Despite liking the book very, very much, I think it's 4 stars only.
All the usual Dunnett ingredients are there: fascinating historical details based on thorough research, an almost flawless mixing of real historical persons in the fictional narrative, an intriguing plot, BUT.... I still felt in a way that it was too long and that Dunnett was mostly building up steam to eventually launch the last book of the Niccolo series.
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