Play – Cannonball Read 11

I would have less rage watching this, because I would not have to experience the awful stage directions!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany

November 17, 2018 by crystalclear 2 Comments

I’m a big Harry Potter fan. I went to the midnight book and movie releases, I have Harry Potter merch, I know what house I’m in. (Gryffindor who wants to be a Hufflepuff, in case you were wondering.) So I bought this when it first came out. Did I read it? No. And I don’t have very high expectations going into it. Because I’m the Harry Potter fan who reads fanfiction. I’ve been reading fanfiction for over 10 years. And in those 10+ years, I’ve come across some truly awesome stuff. People pour their heart and soul into these journeys […]

11/17/2018 crystalclear's CBR10 Review No:50 |

A dream deferred might dry up like a raisin in the sun

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry

November 15, 2018 by Sophia Leave a Comment

I picked up A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry because it was on my list of 50 Books Every Woman Should Read Before she Turns 40. It was a quick read for me while I was on my epic backpacking trip this summer. A Raisin in the Sun is an award-winning play that debuted on Broadway in 1959. According to Wikipedia, it was unique at the time for having an almost all-black cast that performed for the primarily white, Broadway audiences. It also drew more black people to the traditionally, mostly white theater audiences. Even though I knew nothing about the plot of […]

11/15/2018 Sophia's CBR10 Review No:40 |

Everything okay, even the Armadillo

But Not the Armadillo by Sandra Boynton

October 10, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

I really adore Sandra Boynton’s work. Her whimsical, quirky and bright illustrations and delightfully charming text has many memories of reading to children or just experiencing it with the eyes of a child well into my adulthood. When I saw that she had a new book coming out I was overjoyed! But perhaps I was expecting too much. Perhaps I just had too high hopes for it, but when I read But Not the Armadillo it did not live up to expectations. Sadly, it just fell a bit flat for me. All the usual elements of her work are there: […]

10/10/2018 BlackRaven's CBR10 Review No:378 |

An Old theme told again

Pink Is for Boys by Robb Pearlman

July 31, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

Pink Is for Boys has a theme (all colors are for everyone as well as flowers, rainbows, etc.) that is obvious from the time you look at the cover of the book. You see both a boy and girl painting with all the colors, and of course, pink is being colored by the boy and blue by the girl. By the end of the book the theme has become almost repetitive. The illustrations are nice and simple but have details, too. What you need (the color and the text explaining what is happening) is all there. I must admit […]

7/31/2018 BlackRaven's CBR10 Review No:289 |

The Play’s the Thing

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Play a Play by Richard R. George and Roald Dahl

July 10, 2018 by BlackRaven Leave a Comment

The edition of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: Play a Play I read is no longer in print. Hopefully this new edition is just a new cover and has not changed the work of Richard R. George . Roald Dahl introduces the play with a short introduction of how it was sent to him. The end of the play has staging, lighting and other ideas of how you can perform this version yourself. The middle is the play. It follows the movie closely in areas (with many of the “Hollywood” details obviously taken out) and since I have never read […]

7/10/2018 BlackRaven's CBR10 Review No:256 |

Good news everyone! Oscar Wilde’s reputation is still well deserved!

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

February 3, 2018 by yesknopemaybe 1 Comment

I always feel weird reviewing classics. It’s like, what am I going to say about Oscar Wilde that hasn’t already been said? Surprise, surprise, Oscar Wilde’s work is still perfect. Surprise, surprise, Oscar Wilde was super witty and reading his work is a complete joy. Surprise, surprise, Wilde’s life ended in tragedy and I still wonder what other magnificent works we could have had from him if it hadn’t been for the awful societal prejudice of his time. Obviousness aside, I do really recommend the L.A. Theatre Works dramatized audio version I listened to while reading. Even with plays I’m […]

2/3/2018 yesknopemaybe's CBR10 Review No:17 |

Turns out I’m not boring! I just play boringly.

Play: How it shapes the brain, opens the imagination, and invigorates the soul by Stuart Brown

February 3, 2018 by tillie 2 Comments

“The opposite of play isn’t work. It’s depression.” Stuart Brown’s book on play promises a lot; it’s not just a description of play, but play’s role in society and necessity in social and cognitive development. He traverses the animal kingdom to make his points in the first half and in the last half he veers off track and becomes totally anecdotal. First of all the whole animal thing could be science sure, whatever, but there is no way of telling, because there are LITERALLY NO SOURCES IN A BOOK WRITTEN BY AN ACADEMIC. *breathes* Okay, so Brown should just have […]

2/3/2018 tillie's CBR10 Review No:5 |

Will the Real Inspector Hound please stand up?

The Real Inspector Hound and Other Plays by Tom Stoppard

December 15, 2017 by crystalclear Leave a Comment

When faintingviolet told me that the next book club topic was going to be plays, I immediately thought of The Real Inspector Hound. I had never read it, but I had seen it performed in college, and it was by far one of the better plays I had seen. I remembered that it was funny and entertaining, and on the lighter side as well. (And luckily for people who are not all that terribly fond of reading plays, on the short side!) So, if you didn’t like it, I suppose you can place a lot of the blame on me […]

12/15/2017 crystalclear's CBR9 Review No:31 |

Classic on Not as Good as ChristieYup the cover is really nice. It seems a lot of reviewers weren't into this one.
Classic on See Into the Beast👍🏽
Scootsa1000 on “I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it’s there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.”I suggest the following plan of attack: have a few feel-good books ready for when you finish Sadie. I jumped right into the new Christina...
faintingviolet on “I wish his darkness lived outside of him, because you have to know it’s there to see it. Like all real monsters, he hides in plain sight.”My brother bought this for me for Christmas and I'm super excited it keeps getting positive reviews. I tried to read the articles about the...
Tracy on See Into the BeastJust popped by to say I also loved Vincent :-)