Booklikes-opoly 5/28 roll

Current Bank: $22.00

So, I finished my first book for this game yesterday, but today is my roll day. I'm finally getting around to rolling and it turned out to be more complicated than I thought, but also loads of fun. :)

 

Moving 8 spaces takes me to the Robot space where I pocket the card and roll again.

             

 

Moving 7 spaces takes me to Free Parking. 

 

Roll 2 dice.
A 2 or a 3, sends you to the robot;
4, 5, or 6, go to the race car;
7,8 or 9, go to the Scottie dog;
10, 11, or 12 takes you to the cat

 

     

 

The 9 takes me to the Scottie Dog where I pocket the card and roll again.

            

 

 

Moving 5 spaces takes me to Space #34

 

 

 

 

 

Wow. That was a bit crazy. Anyway, I used my kitty marker to show the spaces I landed on. I now have the Robot card and the Scottie dog card in my pocket in case I need them later. :) And now I'm looking for a time travel or historical fiction book.

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1893436/booklikes-opoly-5-28-roll

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman

Review:

 

Audience: Middle Grade

Format: e-Book/Library copy

 

 

Talking to you was always easy, Rukku. But writing's hard.

- opening sentences

 

This book is written in the form of a letter from Viji to her sister Rukku. In the first couple of chapters, we find out that Viji & Rukku's father is abusive to their mother and mean to Rukku (who is developmentally disabled). But when their father turns his violence on the girls, eleven-year-old Viji decides they have no choice but to run away. She believes it's the only way to protect Rukku from their father. Homeless, Viji & Rukku are alone in a dangerous and uncaring world. Luckily, they find shelter on an abandoned bridge with two young boys and they become a family.

 

Venkatraman tackles issues of religion, social justice, and the meaning of family as she gives us a glimpse into the heart-wrenching life of India's homeless children. Her writing transported me to the streets of India - it wasn't hard to imagine the smells and the slime of the trash heaps the kids had to wade through. The kids face danger and hardships every day, but amidst their struggle to survive, the four children become a family and find love, support, courage, and hope together.

 

This is a must-read book that touched my heart, broke it, and put it back together again. 

 

I read this for the Booklikes-opoly Silk Road railroad space. It has 160 pages making it worth $2.00.

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1893425/the-bridge-home-by-padma-venkatraman

Bring Me Back

Review:

Audience: Adult

Format: Hardcover/Owned

 

 

We were on our way back from skiing in Megève.

- first sentence

 

Layla is missing, maybe dead... or is she? That's the central mystery here. It has been more than 10 years since Layla disappeared and now Finn is receiving clues that she is back. But these "clues" might be a trick. Finn is engaged to Layla's sister, Ellen and we aren't sure exactly what part he played in Layla's disappearance. 

 

Finn's attitude towards women sucks and he isn't very likable. He treats Ellen like crap most of the time and seems ready to drop her for Layla. But I enjoyed the book overall and it kept me guessing.

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1892789/bring-me-back

Different Seasons by Stephen King

Review:

 

Audience: Adult

Format: Audiobook/Owned

 

Overall I gave this book 3.5 stars. I loved The Shawshank Redemption & The Body, but Apt Pupil & The Breathing Method brought the overall score down.

 

 

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption 4.5/5 stars

Book

This is an inspiring story with strongly developed characters and a distinct sense of time. This one of my favorites of King’s novellas. But, and this is quite unusual I know, the movie is just as good, if not better.

 

Movie

I’ve always loved this movie – no matter how many times I watch it. Tim Robbins is the perfect Andy Dufresne and Morgan Freeman is just amazing. The image of Andy after he crawls out of the sewer pipe, pulling his shirt off in the rain is striking. And of course, the unforgettable phrase, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

 

Apt Pupil 2/5 stars

Book

I don’t remember the first time I read this one or how it affected me. But this time, it made my skin crawl. I don’t know if it was because I was listening to the audio or it was just the story. I found this one extremely difficult to get through. I didn’t like any of the characters – though I don’t think we are supposed to like them. But it wasn’t just that I didn’t like them, they disgusted me. I couldn’t bear to listen to it for any length of time and it took me a while to get through it. After I finished, I took a break for 2 days before I could listen to Muller’s voice again.

 

Movie 

They made major changes from the book to the movie. Todd was more passive and Dussander was more in control. In the book, Todd is more of a psycho and takes more lethal action against people. I’m guessing they wanted the audience to have someone in the movie that they thought might be redeemable.

 

The Body 4.5/5 stars

Book

I love this story and the audio version only made it better. It reminded me a bit of the kids in It (but this story has very little action). These kids come from different backgrounds with various degrees of difficulties in their home lives. Gordy barely exists to his parents now that his brother is dead, and the others deal with abusive fathers or violent older brothers. This is a prime example of a coming of age story and King did an excellent job putting the reader inside the mind of a 12-year-old boy. I enjoy the way King wraps this one up and allows Gordy to tell us what happened to each of the four boys.

 

Movie

This is a great movie and follows the book pretty closely. This is one of my favorite movies adapted from King’s books. The young actors all gave amazing performances and the story is very touching.

 

The Breathing Method 2/5 stars

This one was just okay for me. I didn’t look forward to listening to it, but I didn’t dread it like Apt Pupil either. It was fairly creepy but not in a way that interested me. This story made the least impression on me and I thought it was far outmatched by the others in this book.

 

I finished this book in March, but I wanted to watch the movies for comparison, so the reviews ended up taking a while. 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1892752/different-seasons-by-stephen-king

Booklikes-opoly 5/20 roll

It has been a busy week. But I managed to find time on Monday to roll the dice. Now I'm finally able to create a post.

 

 

 

Landed on:

 

I found a book set in India:

The Bridge Home by Padma Venkatraman

 

This book came out in February and I've been meaning to read it, so that works out. And I was able to borrow a copy from the library - so win-win!

 

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1891873/booklikes-opoly-5-20-roll

Trench by Steve Alten

Review:

 

Audience: Adult

Format: Audiobook/Owned

 

 

 

This is book 2 in the Meg series. It was very similar to the first book. Not a bad killer shark story but I still had issues with the way the author characterized the women in the book.

 

I won't be continuing the series. 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1888148/trench-by-steve-alten

Booklikes-opoly 2019 - the real estate spaces

Reblogged from: Moonlight Reader

Here we go, people!

 

 

School's Out for Summer - spaces 1, 3, & 4

 

 

The Stay-Cation - spaces 6, 7 & 9

 

 

Beach Week - spaces 10, 11 & 13

 

 

Mountain Cabin - spaces 15, 16 & 18

 

 

At the Lake House - spaces 19, 20 & 22

 

 

Summer Blockbuster - spaces 25 & 27

 

 

Summer Romance - spaces 28 & 30

 

 

European Vacation - spaces 33, 35 & 36

 

 

 

 

 

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1888146/booklikes-opoly-2019-the-real-estate-spaces

Other squares

Reblogged from: Obsidian Blue

The railroads:

 

 

The questions

 

 

The novelty squares:

 

We are doing something completely different with the novelty squares this year. If you land on any of the following four squares, you put the card in your pocket to play later and roll again immediately to move to a reading square. 

 

If you land on a square that you just can't come up with something to read, and you have one of these in your pocket, you can play it at any time regardless of what the square prompt says.

 

The Scottie Dog:

 

 

The race car

 

 

The robot:

 

 

The cat

 

 

 

Spin the Wheel Decide

 

Original post: readingismyescape.booklikes.com/post/1888145/other-squares