M.L. Sparrow's Blog, page 36

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood   Blurb:   The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire – neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs.       This book has been on my to-read list forever, and then I got it for Christmas and couldn't wait to start reading it. I'll admit that it

London Eye and The Phantom of the Opera

  Yesterday, my best friend and I went up to London for the day. We'd booked tickets to go on the London Eye and to see The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty's Theatre.    Firstly, the London Eye... I've already been, but my friend hadn't and to be honest we both found it a bit boring. It's great to look at, for a while.... but it takes half-an-hour to go around and really there's not that much to see, except Big Ben, Parliment and Buckingham Palace, just grey dirty buildings and equally

Cirque du Soleil - Amaluna

Yesterday, a couple of friends and I went up to London to see Cirque du Soleil at the Royal Albert Hall. Tickets were quite expensive and we didn't exactly have great seats, but it was well worth the money we spent.    Both my friends had seen several of the DVDS - though they'd never gone live - but I honestly didn't really know what to expect and I absolutely loved it. I had a huge smile on my face all the way through! My favourites were the arialists and the bits they did in the water, I also

Glass Geishas

Glass Geishas, by Susanna Quinn      Blurb:    Every girl has her price . . . To Steph, working as a bar hostess in Japan sounds too good to be true. Friends say she can earn a fortune simply by flirting with drunk businessmen, and there's no sex involved - honest. Old friends, Julia and Annabel, are earning piles of cash in Tokyo and say hostessing is perfectly safe. But once in Japan, Steph realises Julia is a shadow of her former self and Annabel has disappeared. No one cares that Annabel's

The 5th Wave

I went to see The 5th Wave today in the cinema - it was a toss up between this a Joy, but the apocolypse film won. Starring Chloe Grace Moretz and several other lesser know actors, like Nick Robinson from Melissa & Joey, it was really well acted and I just have to give a mention to the little guy who played Sam, he was so, so cute!    The story was good with some great twists, which I didn't actually guess, and I'm definately running off to buy the books right now. All I can say is, they better

The King's Concubine

The King's Concubine, by Anne O'Brien   Blurb:    One marriage. Three people. Proud king. Loving wife. Infamous mistress. 1362.   Philippa of Hainault selects a young orphan from a convent. Alice Perrers, a girl born with nothing but ambition. The Queen has a role waiting for her at court.    ‘I have lifted you from nothing Alice. Now you repay me.’   Led down the corridors of the royal palace, the young virgin is secretly delivered to King Edward III – to perform the wifely duties of which

EH Shepard: An Illustrator's War

So yesterday, my Nan and I went up to London to visit the House of Illustrations to see the An Illustrator's War exhibition, which features the war art done by EH Shepard, the illustrator of Winnie-the-Pooh and Wind in the Willows, which had only recently been discovered once Shepard died and it was found in his loft.    Firstly, let me just say that this place was an absolute B**ch to find. It was in a nice little arty area (Granary Square) which I never previously knew existed, but the sign

Xiaobai Fantasy Tattoo Art

I got this great book from a friend for Christmas - she knew I loved the work of Xiaobai, since I have a piece hanging on my wall and have been raving to her about how good this artist is, and got this book. I'm not usually much of an art fan to be honest, but I love this womans art work, especially 'Painted Skin', 'Red Roses' and 'Dream'. I'm not sure I'd get any of them tattooed on myself, but they're great to look at.   It is a really nicely presented book; it's a hardback and the pictures

Crossed

Crossed, (Matched Trilogy, Book 2), by Ally Condie   Blurb:   The Society chooses everything. The books you read. The music you listen to. The person you love. Yet for Cassia the rules have changed. Ky has been taken and she will sacrifice everything to find him. And when Cassia discovers Ky has escaped to the wild frontiers beyond the Society there is hope. But on the edge of society nothing is as it seems... A rebellion is rising. And a tangled web of lies and double-crosses could destroy

The Snow Queen Ballet

  Yesterday, my mum and I went to see The Snow Queen Ballet at the Dome Theatre in Brighton. I've never been to the ballet before and I wanted to try it out. It was a good show, though a little slow in places and I'm glad I read the story before hand otherwise I think I probably would have gotten a little lost.   I'm no dance expert, but to me the dancing looked really good and as far as I could see there were no mistakes. The costumes were beautiful and the backgrounds were simple but