User Profile

(2022 review reposted from dead bookwyrm instance)

Even though the subtitle promised me 30 unforgettable journeys, I was still unprepared for how many overnight trains the authors had unearthed, nor for how far they went (think Arctic Circle).

A bit breathlessly cheerleader, this book is still one I'll keep for the next time I need a novel trip idea.

(2022 review reposted from dead bookwyrm instance)

The house from the Thriller video. Abandoned missile control sites. The graves of Carole Lombard and Clark Gable… and their lovers. The steps down which Laurel and Hardy dropped a piano.

This is not your Fodor's L.A. With lots of offbeat sites - A street steeper than Lombard! Dine with cops! A fiberglass chicken! - there's something in here to interest any L.A. unbeliever.

Worth the trip? Don't know. But the book got me thinking seriously about whether L.A. could be fun, and that's a 5-star lift.

(2021 review resposted from dead bookwyrm instance)

Tyson is the most objectionable writer I've encountered all year. I'd like to fill in my science knowledge gaps, in an entertaining way, but he's picking fights with the New York Times (over Pluto as planet) and J.R.R. Tolkien (over the plural form of "dwarf"). It's tiring and self-centered. It's a very bad year when I give out two one-star reviews, but this is a very bad year.

I normally take weeks to get through a book. I devoured this one in days. It pushed a Kleenex box in front of me just often enough that I couldn't set it down. These are two profoundly flawed women, yet also practically perfect in every way. Through it all I just wanted to wrap them in blankets, bring them tea and cookies, smooth their hair by the fire.

The jacket blurb already gives away more than I would prefer. And you know how it ends. But the journey is an E-ticket ride and worth every penny. You might not want to read it at the coffeeshop though.

I have whole web properties where the players are known only as the something or other.

don't mind me, just perusing wikipedia's reminder of what critics said about wicked, and seething again. gonna read this book again. the critics continue to slight the material, while being careful to praise the performances of (this time round) ariana grande and cynthia erivo

don't freaking listen to old critics. which is all of them.

<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(musical_album)en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicked_(musical_album) href="https://sfba.club/hashtag/328" data-mention="hashtag">#Reception

'AllMusic rated the score three out of five stars, deeming it "tuneful and the lyrics often witty"… concluded that the music was "craftsmanlike and certainly efficient for this somewhat questionable project."'

'Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Lawrence Frascella gave the album a negative rating of C+, expressing that it was "fresh evidence that Broadway needs a new, galvanizing musical direction." Frascella lambasted the songs as "a dreary melange of Disney and Sondheim", though he praised the "lushly produced CD" and the performances of Chenoweth and Menzel.'