Matt Smith’s books on Goodreads (1,335 books) (original) (raw)
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| | # | cover | title | author | isbn | isbn13 | asin | pages | rating | ratings | pub | (ed.) | rating | my rating | review | notes | | comments | votes | count | started | read | added
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| title The Poppy War(The Poppy War, #1) | author Kuang, R.F. * | isbn 0062662597 | isbn13 9780062662590 | asin 0062662597 | num pages 545pp | avg rating 4.17 | num ratings 316,785 | date pub May 01, 2018 | date pub edition May 01, 2018 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Nov 11, 2024 | date read not set | date added Nov 11, 2024 | owned | format ebook | actions view | | | |
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| title Medici Heist | author Schneiderhan, Caitlin * | isbn | isbn13 | asin B0C997N9KK | num pages 421pp | avg rating 3.64 | num ratings 484 | date pub Aug 06, 2024 | date pub edition Aug 06, 2024 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jan 12, 2024 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view | | | |
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| title Ruthless Vows(Letters of Enchantment, #2) | author Ross, Rebecca * | isbn 1250857457 | isbn13 9781250857453 | asin 1250857457 | num pages 420pp | avg rating 4.03 | num ratings 282,884 | date pub Dec 26, 2023 | date pub edition Dec 26, 2023 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jan 08, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title Divine Rivals(Letters of Enchantment, #1) | author Ross, Rebecca * | isbn 1250857430 | isbn13 9781250857439 | asin 1250857430 | num pages 357pp | avg rating 4.18 | num ratings 541,052 | date pub Apr 04, 2023 | date pub edition Apr 04, 2023 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jan 08, 2024 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood | author Ryan, Maureen * | isbn 0063269279 | isbn13 9780063269279 | asin 0063269279 | num pages 348pp | avg rating 3.87 | num ratings 2,867 | date pub Jun 06, 2023 | date pub edition Jun 06, 2023 | Matt's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review It's really remember the things that Ryan describes as "positive" and "uplifting" when the truly grotesque saturates every corner of this book. It is It's really remember the things that Ryan describes as "positive" and "uplifting" when the truly grotesque saturates every corner of this book. It is unflinching but wholly necessary. There might never be a full reckoning of the sociopathy that so often comes with having power, especially when the powerful make lots and lots of money for the slightly more powerful (who are also morally fungible).Burn It Down is unique in that it focuses on the entertainment industry and thusly the art and artists that make up the culture we all partake in. The things we love can't ever seem to escape this gravitational force. We should demand better though. Reckon with what the perpetrators have done, ensure they never do it again, and work really hard to fight against abuses like this in the future. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Sep 02, 2023 | date read Sep 25, 2024 | date added Sep 02, 2023 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title The Two Towers(The Lord of the Rings, #2) | author Tolkien, J.R.R. | isbn | isbn13 | asin B007978PKY | num pages 448pp | avg rating 4.49 | num ratings 1,019,544 | date pub Nov 11, 1954 | date pub edition Jun 2022 | Matt's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review It’s nice to have a book where things happen, but the entire structure here is just abysmal. The Treebeard introduction chapter (which, tbf, includes It’s nice to have a book where things happen, but the entire structure here is just abysmal. The Treebeard introduction chapter (which, tbf, includes the entire Entmoot) is twice as long as the *entirety* of the Helm’s Deep chapter (which covers the departure from Rohan all the way through Gandalf’s arrival on the third day).Honestly, that Frodo and Sam make up a full half of this book is real, real overkill.2.5 stars (rounded up because I’m feeling generous) ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Aug 09, 2023 | date read Aug 21, 2023 | date added Aug 09, 2023 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows(Harry Potter, #7) | author Rowling, J.K. | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 759pp | avg rating 4.62 | num ratings 3,845,156 | date pub Jul 21, 2007 | date pub edition Jul 21, 2007 | Matt's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review There's a line in Firefly. The crew is going to rescue Mal from Niska. Wash is piloting Serenity into Niska's space station. Zoe describes it as "hitt There's a line in Firefly. The crew is going to rescue Mal from Niska. Wash is piloting Serenity into Niska's space station. Zoe describes it as "hitting a bullseye six thousand miles away."More than not, this is how I always think about endings. When you begin, you fire the shot, and when it ends you hope that it lands exactly where you want it to. The more complex the story, the more complex it becomes to hitting a bullseye. And ending a single novel is hard. Giving it a suitable ending and a fantastic climax is really, really difficult. Now add two novels to that. Now you need four endings, a suitable ending for each novel and an ending for all three collectively. And doing that is really hard. Suzanne Collins couldn't do it. Veronica Roth sure as shit couldn't do it.And it's hard for a TV show. I'm a massive LOST fan, and I think hitting that ending as hard as they did, from as far away as they did, is next level writing. They had entire elements of the show they couldn't use (Mr. Eko is the best example), things that couldn't happen, plans that 100% changed and meant guessing at a different version of their already guessed ending.And it's hard for this, the final(ish) installment of the Harry Potter series. Seven books. Minimum eight endings (I'd argue it's nine ...). Tons of characters to say goodbye to... a gigantic mythology to wrap up.... And Rowling, being the insanely ambitious, amazing writer that she is, basically goes completely off the reservation here. Hogwarts doesn't show up until the third act. The entire middle of the book is essentially a camping trip around England. The first act (even from page one) shifts the entire book into a status quo none of us really, actually, truly anticipated. AND THEN halfway through the she goes and introduces a completely new branch of the mythology around which the whole climax of the novel pivots.It is, to say, the sort of thing that probably shouldn't work. I love how much the last installment is the "light-it-on-fire, go-for-broke" installment, but this is literally the stuff of absolute legend. And Rowling pulls it off. She pulls it off she pulls it off she pulls it off with finesse and grace, giving the ultimate capstone to what is probably the single most influential storytelling event in western pop culture since Star Wars.It is, to put it simply, basically perfect.It's hard to describe how much I love this book. I adore this book. If I had to pick a Harry Potter book that best shows off why I love the series, this would be it. It's a fucking masterpiece. Watching all of the elements come back once again (noticing every single nostalgia reference is easier once you've had time to absorb it for a while), seeing her weave and out in a victory lap tour of the series, seeing how well she treats every single character who she could possibly squeeze into this book, the continued awfulness of Umbridge, the redemption of Percy, the delicateness with which she treats Severus Snape, the coming-around of Dudley, the hubris of Voldemort.... It is.... so perfect.Truly, this is the book that has everything, only let down by the fact that Harry and his friends don't go to Hogwarts for another year. But after Half-Blood Prince what is there left to do at Hogwarts? How would they be expected to defeat a fully empowered adult wizard without acting like fully empowered and independent adults? It has two massive heist sequences, a thrilling as all hell chase scene, a chapter that's basically as taut a thriller as I've ever seen her write (Malfoy Manor), one of the best extended flashback sequences I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, a brand new mythology that it's easy to forget SHE MADE UP FROM SCRATCH (Three Brothers), a massive war story on the Hogwarts grounds.... It has the origin story of Albus Dumbledore (providing the layers to his character that make him my favorite character in the series)... It has the best thing J.K. Rowling has ever written (The Forest Again).It is a novel about generational divides, a beacon of progress and humanity, a statement that the old must pass that the new might inherit the earth, because whatever current generation is on top can't save the world. All things change and evolve. The world can only be saved and shaped by those who will inherit it. The last image is of even the next generation who will take over once Harry and his friends are done and dusted.Deathly Hallows is about the best thing you could hope for at the end of a series. It has heartbreak, it has laughs, it has moments of sheer badassery, it has entire chapters that makes us all weep. It is devastating, it is empowering, it sees Harry torn to his utter lowest point and then built up into the hero we all knew he would eventually become. It is massive and epic and yet impossibly small and understated, with gigantic moments flying by as personal and quick in the blink of an eye and feeling impossibly mythic just a few pages later. It ends with a magic trick and its ultimate victory is unabashedly a celebration (and bittersweet) but undeniable in its euphoria.It is perfect children's literature. It is everything I could possibly want from an ending or final installment. And it only gets better every single time, which, in a final installment, shouldn't happen. Harry Potter Rankings 1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows2) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix3) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince4) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban5) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire6) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets7) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.Merged review:There's a line in Firefly. The crew is going to rescue Mal from Niska. Wash is piloting Serenity into Niska's space station. Zoe describes it as "hitting a bullseye six thousand miles away."More than not, this is how I always think about endings. When you begin, you fire the shot, and when it ends you hope that it lands exactly where you want it to. The more complex the story, the more complex it becomes to hitting a bullseye. And ending a single novel is hard. Giving it a suitable ending and a fantastic climax is really, really difficult. Now add two novels to that. Now you need four endings, a suitable ending for each novel and an ending for all three collectively. And doing that is really hard. Suzanne Collins couldn't do it. Veronica Roth sure as shit couldn't do it.And it's hard for a TV show. I'm a massive LOST fan, and I think hitting that ending as hard as they did, from as far away as they did, is next level writing. They had entire elements of the show they couldn't use (Mr. Eko is the best example), things that couldn't happen, plans that 100% changed and meant guessing at a different version of their already guessed ending.And it's hard for this, the final(ish) installment of the Harry Potter series. Seven books. Minimum eight endings (I'd argue it's nine ...). Tons of characters to say goodbye to... a gigantic mythology to wrap up.... And Rowling, being the insanely ambitious, amazing writer that she is, basically goes completely off the reservation here. Hogwarts doesn't show up until the third act. The entire middle of the book is essentially a camping trip around England. The first act (even from page one) shifts the entire book into a status quo none of us really, actually, truly anticipated. AND THEN halfway through the she goes and introduces a completely new branch of the mythology around which the whole climax of the novel pivots.It is, to say, the sort of thing that probably shouldn't work. I love how much the last installment is the "light-it-on-fire, go-for-broke" installment, but this is literally the stuff of absolute legend. And Rowling pulls it off. She pulls it off she pulls it off she pulls it off with finesse and grace, giving the ultimate capstone to what is probably the single most influential storytelling event in western pop culture since Star Wars.It is, to put it simply, basically perfect.It's hard to describe how much I love this book. I adore this book. If I had to pick a Harry Potter book that best shows off why I love the series, this would be it. It's a fucking masterpiece. Watching all of the elements come back once again (noticing every single nostalgia reference is easier once you've had time to absorb it for a while), seeing her weave and out in a victory lap tour of the series, seeing how well she treats every single character who she could possibly squeeze into this book, the continued awfulness of Umbridge, the redemption of Percy, the delicateness with which she treats Severus Snape, the coming-around of Dudley, the hubris of Voldemort.... It is.... so perfect.Truly, this is the book that has everything, only let down by the fact that Harry and his friends don't go to Hogwarts for another year. But after Half-Blood Prince what is there left to do at Hogwarts? How would they be expected to defeat a fully empowered adult wizard without acting like fully empowered and independent adults? It has two massive heist sequences, a thrilling as all hell chase scene, a chapter that's basically as taut a thriller as I've ever seen her write (Malfoy Manor), one of the best extended flashback sequences I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, a brand new mythology that it's easy to forget SHE MADE UP FROM SCRATCH (Three Brothers), a massive war story on the Hogwarts grounds.... It has the origin story of Albus Dumbledore (providing the layers to his character that make him my favorite character in the series)... It has the best thing J.K. Rowling has ever written (The Forest Again).It is a novel about generational divides, a beacon of progress and humanity, a statement that the old must pass that the new might inherit the earth, because whatever current generation is on top can't save the world. All things change and evolve. The world can only be saved and shaped by those who will inherit it. The last image is of even the next generation who will take over once Harry and his friends are done and dusted.Deathly Hallows is about the best thing you could hope for at the end of a series. It has heartbreak, it has laughs, it has moments of sheer badassery, it has entire chapters that makes us all weep. It is devastating, it is empowering, it sees Harry torn to his utter lowest point and then built up into the hero we all knew he would eventually become. It is massive and epic and yet impossibly small and understated, with gigantic moments flying by as personal and quick in the blink of an eye and feeling impossibly mythic just a few pages later. It ends with a magic trick and its ultimate victory is unabashedly a celebration (and bittersweet) but undeniable in its euphoria.It is perfect children's literature. It is everything I could possibly want from an ending or final installment. And it only gets better every single time, which, in a final installment, shouldn't happen. Harry Potter Rankings 1) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows2) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix3) Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince4) Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban5) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire6) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets7) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 2 | votes 10 | # times read 2 | date started Jul 14, 2016 not set | date read Jul 21, 2016 not set | date added Jul 28, 2023 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Wrong Place Wrong Time | author McAllister, Gillian * | isbn 0063252341 | isbn13 9780063252349 | asin 0063252341 | num pages 416pp | avg rating 3.99 | num ratings 372,427 | date pub May 12, 2022 | date pub edition Aug 02, 2022 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added May 29, 2023 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title The Maid(Molly the Maid, #1) | author Prose, Nita * | isbn | isbn13 | asin | num pages 304pp | avg rating 3.76 | num ratings 610,039 | date pub Jan 04, 2022 | date pub edition Jan 04, 2022 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added May 29, 2023 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title The Paris Apartment | author Foley, Lucy * | isbn 0063003058 | isbn13 9780063003057 | asin 0063003058 | num pages 360pp | avg rating 3.65 | num ratings 597,677 | date pub Feb 22, 2022 | date pub edition Feb 22, 2022 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added May 29, 2023 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title The Fellowship of the Ring(The Lord of the Rings, #1) | author Tolkien, J.R.R. | isbn | isbn13 | asin B007978NPG | num pages 432pp | avg rating 4.39 | num ratings 2,888,257 | date pub Jul 29, 1954 | date pub edition Jun 2022 | Matt's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Hard to judge considering that this is only a third of the story, but I gotta say Tolkien could use more women AND more drama because this is rather t Hard to judge considering that this is only a third of the story, but I gotta say Tolkien could use more women AND more drama because this is rather turgid. Not that it's not without merit. I totally understand why this ripped open an entire genre and inspired basically everything that came after it and still casts a shadow we all live in today.... but my god did Peter Jackson do excellent work making this into... I don't know... a compelling narrative. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 1 | # times read 1 | date started May 10, 2023 | date read Jun 28, 2023 | date added May 29, 2023 | owned | format Kindle Edition | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Ultimate Comics Spider-Man, Vol. 1 | author Bendis, Brian Michael | isbn 0785157131 | isbn13 9780785157137 | asin 0785157131 | num pages 136pp | avg rating 4.26 | num ratings 5,239 | date pub unknown | date pub edition Aug 14, 2012 | Matt's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 2 | date started not set not set | date read not set not set | date added Apr 11, 2023 | owned | format Paperback | actions view | | | |
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| title The Hobbit(The Lord of the Rings, #0) | author Tolkien, J.R.R. | isbn | isbn13 | asin B0DN8P5BQF | num pages 366pp | avg rating 4.29 | num ratings 4,165,633 | date pub Sep 21, 1937 | date pub edition Aug 15, 2002 | Matt's rating liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Terrific for children, but has very much aged as time has gone on. Fantasy has really moved on, and the tone is wildly all over the place. It's clear Terrific for children, but has very much aged as time has gone on. Fantasy has really moved on, and the tone is wildly all over the place. It's clear Tolkien wants to tell something bigger and more sweeping, but skips over large swaths of narrative for the sake of page count. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Feb 16, 2023 | date read May 09, 2023 | date added Feb 16, 2023 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Wonder Woman: The Rebirth Deluxe Edition, Book 2 | author Rucka, Greg | isbn 1401280935 | isbn13 9781401280932 | asin 1401280935 | num pages 296pp | avg rating 4.24 | num ratings 285 | date pub Jul 2018 | date pub edition Jul 17, 2018 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Dec 20, 2022 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title Nona the Ninth(The Locked Tomb, #3) | author Muir, Tamsyn * | isbn 1250854113 | isbn13 9781250854117 | asin 1250854113 | num pages 480pp | avg rating 4.34 | num ratings 45,044 | date pub Sep 13, 2022 | date pub edition Sep 13, 2022 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Dec 10, 2022 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | author Tarantino, Quentin | isbn 0063112523 | isbn13 9780063112520 | asin 0063112523 | num pages 400pp | avg rating 3.88 | num ratings 20,276 | date pub Jun 2021 | date pub edition Jun 29, 2021 | Matt's rating it was amazing | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review Adaptation is an art. It's not exactly easy taking something that exists and having to get ruthlessly efficient, willing to get everything from a scal Adaptation is an art. It's not exactly easy taking something that exists and having to get ruthlessly efficient, willing to get everything from a scalpel to a machete to reshape something from its "natural" container and into something that functions entirely differently. And because we live in the era of adapting IPs from cheap (paper) media into expensive (frames!) ones, it really is worth it to look at how this artform works. The two that immediately come to mind are the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the adaptation of George R.R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire and Fire and Blood. There's moments of tremendous success. Something like "The Winter Soldier" is a brilliant way of adapting something that could really only work in comics into something that works as a film of its own context. The episode where (for me) Game of Thrones really came together involve the three scenes that open episode seven of the series. Two of those (the scene where Tywin not-so-subtly field dresses a stag and then the scene where Littlefinger educates his prostitutes how to prostitute better) are wholly woven from wholecloth, serving merely to setup two major characters within the new context of the madness that's about to descend in the imminent death of Robert Baratheon. (The third is the scene where Ned confronts Cersei on Joffrey's parentage, which is lifted almost entirely intact from the novel.) There's also moments where adaptations flat out do not work. See M. Night Shyamalan's adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender or... well... the last season of Game of Thrones. Naturally, this all ties into Quentin Tarantino's own novelization of his most recent (and final?) film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, a film I absolutely adored when I first saw it and never really revisited despite never really being able to get it out of my head. And this book really just cements how good Tarantino is and why he's one of the best storytellers of his generation.Having read this, I find myself in awe of him and the... restraint he shows. But it doesn't feel like he's restrained. It doesn't feel like this is a guy who is holding himself back from going full Manson murders. No, this only underlines just how incredible this particular story is, with these particular characters, set in this particular fantasy land. This is even more of a swing than the film was, muted as it was and keeping away from the sort of lurid violence and adult content Tarantino is known for. Oh sure it's there, but it's there as he's interested in it, not in what feels... salacious.That's the thing about this. About halfway through I started texting my usual suspects of friends who are into this movie and positing my own wild theories about how this is the first story Tarantino has put out in his entire career that he doesn't feel... compelled or obligated or hungry or inspired to make. No. This is a story that he really wants to tell, one that bubbles up from the deepest longings of his soul as he transports himself to a time period he's obsessed with. Hollywood in 1969 is a playground, Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory for working artists of all kinds. Be these artists successful, has-beens, on the way out, rising, trying to break in, bitter, grateful, craftsmen, workhorses, broken... and anything and everything in between. This is a love letter to them and the magical world of cinema and those who spend their lives to add to its beautiful culture."Once Upon a Time In Hollywood" is not some badass Sergio Leone western. It is a fairy tale of just how wonderful the world actually is as viewed through the eyes of someone who's built his entire career on showing humanity at its absolute worst. This is a Tarantino who (like Dickens in Great Expectations) has gotten softer, older, more wistful. This is a guy who looks back on his life and doesn't have regret, but who has certainly gone impossibly soft. There is a beauty here, and a wonderful take at adapting a story that is so meaningful to him. More people are going to see the movie, and while I do prefer it to this (mostly because film is a medium Tarantino was born to play in), giving him another swing at this allows him to even more doughy and soft in ways I wasn't expecting. Maybe a lot of this is me reacting to the last scene, a scene that he apparently shot but didn't even try to fit into the movie because it's such an incredible, stunning ending on its own and the movie has nowhere to go after that. And that last scene really does bring the entire novel together in one smooth motion. It crystalizes this whole story in a way that ripples backwards through the entire narrative, re-coloring and enhancing everything we just went through. But that's the power of adaptation. It gives Tarantino the ability to better emphasize what it is he was trying to say, doing so in a way that can be more esoteric and still so rewarding in an entirely different way. Adapting one's own work. Tarantino makes it look easy. And it rarely works out this good. But when a brilliant artist is so completely in tune with what he wants to do, it's hardly a surprise that we get something so wonderful. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 1 | date started Dec 07, 2022 | date read Dec 31, 2022 | date added Dec 07, 2022 | owned | format Paperback | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks | author Keefe, Patrick Radden | isbn 0385548516 | isbn13 9780385548519 | asin 0385548516 | num pages 368pp | avg rating 4.01 | num ratings 17,148 | date pub Jun 28, 2022 | date pub edition Jun 28, 2022 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Nov 17, 2022 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution | author Mystal, Elie | isbn 1620976811 | isbn13 9781620976814 | asin 1620976811 | num pages 270pp | avg rating 4.58 | num ratings 4,257 | date pub Mar 01, 2022 | date pub edition Jan 11, 2022 | Matt's rating really liked it | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review I slammed the first half of this really fast, but the last half took way way longer. Mostly because this book was just absolutely no fun. Sometimes it I slammed the first half of this really fast, but the last half took way way longer. Mostly because this book was just absolutely no fun. Sometimes it's cool to look into the bleak abyss of how colossally fucked up our society is. Other times, less so. This is one of those. It's really wild to watch someone as brilliant and clever as Mystal completely shred all the things completely broken and inherently cancerous within our constitution. It's not totally dire. There's plenty of fixes and hopes Mystal puts into this book, he goes out of his way to point out the good things we've amended into the constitution. Still, it's not enough. And to read this in the wake of Dobbs and the most reactionary, right wing Supreme Court in a century is impossibly disheartening. Certainly recommended, but buyer beware. ...more | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 1 | # times read 1 | date started Sep 03, 2022 | date read Sep 28, 2022 | date added Sep 03, 2022 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view (with text) | | | |
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| title Thrawn: Treason(Star Wars: Thrawn, #3) | author Zahn, Timothy * | isbn 1984820982 | isbn13 9781984820983 | asin 1984820982 | num pages 333pp | avg rating 4.29 | num ratings 23,512 | date pub Jul 23, 2019 | date pub edition Jul 23, 2019 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jul 21, 2022 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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| title Thrawn: Alliances(Star Wars: Thrawn, #2) | author Zahn, Timothy * | isbn 052548048X | isbn13 9780525480488 | asin 052548048X | num pages 342pp | avg rating 3.96 | num ratings 31,347 | date pub Jul 24, 2018 | date pub edition Jul 24, 2018 | Matt's rating | my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves | review None | notes Notes are private! | comments 0 | votes 0 | # times read 0 | date started not set | date read not set | date added Jul 21, 2022 | owned | format Hardcover | actions view | | | |
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