Tony Talbot's Blog

      A small event in the battered life of Rose Madder makes her reach a decision: Leave her violently abusive husband of fourteen years, or stay until he kills her King rates this as one of his least favourite books, for some reason. I didnt see that at all. Much as Rose does, Continue reading "Review: Rose Madder"

    Four novellas of revenge from Stephen King: 1922 A farmer murders his wife who threatens to sell his land. Big Driver A murder-mystery writer is raped and left for dead. Fair Extension A man bargains for his life at a cost. A Good Marriage A woman discovers an Continue reading "Review: Full Dark, No stars"

    Guy Montag burns books for a living, those heretical, contradictory, awful things that encourage people to think The thing with the Ray Bradburys Ive come across: They arent really novels, or stories. Bradbury writes dense, metaphorical blank prose, and the story and everything else is dragged along behind it. There really isnt any Continue reading "Review: Fahrenheit 451"

It’s been a good few yearsfor women in movies. There was Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel for a start, and the super-smart Shuri from The Black Panther films. I liked her! Wonder Woman was especially praised for having that rarest of things – a female director in a mainstream movie. But back in 1986, before … Continue reading "Movies: Jumpin’ Jack Flash (1986)"

Just for fun, I thought I’d review an old favourite of mine today: You’ve got mail. Along with disaster movies, I have a soft spot for rom-coms. You’ve got mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan is one that resonates with me, because I met my wife online through an AOL chatroom (as the … Continue reading "A tale of two movies: You’ve got mail (1998)"

Civilisation blows itself apart in a nuclear war, and a small party of survivors begin their new life in an isolated Swiss hotel. Only one of them may be a murderer… Reading a premise like that, you’d think this was a murder-mystery. Reading reviews on the back that say this is like … Continue reading "Review: The Last"

The place is a suburb of Munich and the time is World War Two. Watching the small life of young girl Liesel Meminger is Death, but it’s not her he’s here to collect… This was a re-read from 2012, and I’m confused as to why I rated it four stars last time. Death … Continue reading "The Book Thief"

Commuting to and from a fictional workplace on the same train every day, Rachel gets to know the backs of the homes she passes and has time to imagine the people who live in them. She even names them and gives them lives…but then reality comes back with a crash when one … Continue reading "Review: The Girl on the Train"

Coerced into accompanying thirteen dwarves on an adventure to kill a dragon and grab some treasure, the home-loving Hobbit Bilbo Baggins eventually has the adventure of his life… Well, it’s taken me a while to get around to this one, hasn’t it? Most people read this as children, and I’m forty-six right now … Continue reading "Review: The Hobbit"

At the age of ten, Daniel Sempero is taken to a “forgotten cemetery of books” in Barcelona and told to choose one. It starts him on a quest that comes to determine the rest of his life… I believe Stephen King said somewhere that he considers a story a promise to the reader: … Continue reading "Review: The Shadow of The Wind"