jacey | Mar. 15th, 2020

Mar. 15th, 2020

This could almost be Fisherman's Friends meets Brassed Off with added uniforms. A bunch of military wives form a ragtag choir for mutual support while their husbands/wives/partners are away in Afghanistan. There are the usual personality clashes, sad interlude, shameless tear-jerking, abject failure and ultimate triumph. It's a sweet movie with a few nice songs, but will probably slip easily from memory within a few days.

If I'm honest I've never been a great fan of Kristin Scott Thomas. She seems to specialise in playing stiff, brittle, unlikeable women, and Kate in this movie was largely unlikeable, though you did see the contributing factors

I'm left with one lingering question... I want to know how the choir leader manages to give the ladies a new song to learn ON THE WAY to the big gig, and have them all be word perfect without so much as a rehearsal. Oh yeah, that's a neat trick if you can do it..

<select ... ><option ... >Detect language</option><option ... >Afrikaans</option><option ... >Albanian</option><option ... >Amharic</option><option ... >Arabic</option><option ... >Armenian</option><option ... >Azerbaijani</option><option ... >Basque</option><option ... >Belarusian</option><option ... >Bengali</option><option ... >Bosnian</option><option ... >Bulgarian</option><option ... >Catalan</option><option ... >Cebuano</option><option ... >Chichewa</option><option ... >Chinese (Simplified)</option><option ... >Chinese (Traditional)</option><option ... >Corsican</option><option ... >Croatian</option><option ... >Czech</option><option ... >Danish</option><option ... >Dutch</option><option ... >English</option><option ... >Esperanto</option><option ... >Estonian</option><option ... >Filipino</option><option ... >Finnish</option><option ... >French</option><option ... >Frisian</option><option ... >Galician</option><option ... >Georgian</option><option ... >German</option><option ... >Greek</option><option ... >Gujarati</option><option ... >Haitian Creole</option><option ... >Hausa</option><option ... >Hawaiian</option><option ... >Hebrew</option><option ... >Hindi</option><option ... >Hmong</option><option ... >Hungarian</option><option ... >Icelandic</option><option ... >Igbo</option><option ... >Indonesian</option><option ... >Irish</option><option ... >Italian</option><option ... >Japanese</option><option ... >Javanese</option><option ... >Kannada</option><option ... >Kazakh</option><option ... >Khmer</option><option ... >Korean</option><option ... >Kurdish</option><option ... >Kyrgyz</option><option ... >Lao</option><option ... >Latin</option><option ... >Latvian</option><option ... >Lithuanian</option><option ... >Luxembourgish</option><option ... >Macedonian</option><option ... >Malagasy</option><option ... >Malay</option><option ... >Malayalam</option><option ... >Maltese</option><option ... >Maori</option><option ... >Marathi</option><option ... >Mongolian</option><option ... >Myanmar (Burmese)</option><option ... >Nepali</option><option ... >Norwegian</option><option ... >Pashto</option><option ... >Persian</option><option ... >Polish</option><option ... >Portuguese</option><option ... >Punjabi</option><option ... >Romanian</option><option ... >Russian</option><option ... >Samoan</option><option ... >Scots Gaelic</option><option ... >Serbian</option><option ... >Sesotho</option><option ... >Shona</option><option ... >Sindhi</option><option ... >Sinhala</option><option ... >Slovak</option><option ... >Slovenian</option><option ... >Somali</option><option ... >Spanish</option><option ... >Sundanese</option><option ... >Swahili</option><option ... >Swedish</option><option ... >Tajik</option><option ... >Tamil</option><option ... >Telugu</option><option ... >Thai</option><option ... >Turkish</option><option ... >Ukrainian</option><option ... >Urdu</option><option ... >Uzbek</option><option ... >Vietnamese</option><option ... >Welsh</option><option ... >Xhosa</option><option ... >Yiddish</option><option ... >Yoruba</option><option ... >Zulu</option></select>

<select ... ><option ... >Afrikaans</option><option ... >Albanian</option><option ... >Amharic</option><option ... >Arabic</option><option ... >Armenian</option><option ... >Azerbaijani</option><option ... >Basque</option><option ... >Belarusian</option><option ... >Bengali</option><option ... >Bosnian</option><option ... >Bulgarian</option><option ... >Catalan</option><option ... >Cebuano</option><option ... >Chichewa</option><option ... >Chinese (Simplified)</option><option ... >Chinese (Traditional)</option><option ... >Corsican</option><option ... >Croatian</option><option ... >Czech</option><option ... >Danish</option><option ... >Dutch</option><option ... >English</option><option ... >Esperanto</option><option ... >Estonian</option><option ... >Filipino</option><option ... >Finnish</option><option ... >French</option><option ... >Frisian</option><option ... >Galician</option><option ... >Georgian</option><option ... >German</option><option ... >Greek</option><option ... >Gujarati</option><option ... >Haitian Creole</option><option ... >Hausa</option><option ... >Hawaiian</option><option ... >Hebrew</option><option ... >Hindi</option><option ... >Hmong</option><option ... >Hungarian</option><option ... >Icelandic</option><option ... >Igbo</option><option ... >Indonesian</option><option ... >Irish</option><option ... >Italian</option><option ... >Japanese</option><option ... >Javanese</option><option ... >Kannada</option><option ... >Kazakh</option><option ... >Khmer</option><option ... >Korean</option><option ... >Kurdish</option><option ... >Kyrgyz</option><option ... >Lao</option><option ... >Latin</option><option ... >Latvian</option><option ... >Lithuanian</option><option ... >Luxembourgish</option><option ... >Macedonian</option><option ... >Malagasy</option><option ... >Malay</option><option ... >Malayalam</option><option ... >Maltese</option><option ... >Maori</option><option ... >Marathi</option><option ... >Mongolian</option><option ... >Myanmar (Burmese)</option><option ... >Nepali</option><option ... >Norwegian</option><option ... >Pashto</option><option ... >Persian</option><option ... >Polish</option><option ... >Portuguese</option><option ... >Punjabi</option><option ... >Romanian</option><option ... >Russian</option><option ... >Samoan</option><option ... >Scots Gaelic</option><option ... >Serbian</option><option ... >Sesotho</option><option ... >Shona</option><option ... >Sindhi</option><option ... >Sinhala</option><option ... >Slovak</option><option ... >Slovenian</option><option ... >Somali</option><option ... >Spanish</option><option ... >Sundanese</option><option ... >Swahili</option><option ... >Swedish</option><option ... >Tajik</option><option ... >Tamil</option><option ... >Telugu</option><option ... >Thai</option><option ... >Turkish</option><option ... >Ukrainian</option><option ... >Urdu</option><option ... >Uzbek</option><option ... >Vietnamese</option><option ... >Welsh</option><option ... >Xhosa</option><option ... >Yiddish</option><option ... >Yoruba</option><option ... >Zulu</option></select>

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Maybe I shouldn't have started at Book 2 in the series, but I had this from Netgalley and the first book wasn't available. This is a police procedural blended with fantasy and a secondary world gritty urban setting. It features the most unpopular inspectors in the Maradaine Constabulary: exposed fraud Satrine Rainey, and Uncircled mage Minox Welling. Rainey and Welling get the job of solving the murder of a foreign dignitary while the diverse neighbourhood rapidly approaches flashpoint. Rainey is coming to terms with her previous life and her unconventional entry into the force, while looking after her family – in particular her disabled husband, a former officer. Welling is an untrained magician who barely understands the power burning through him. Between them they have to not only solve a murder, but also to stop a civil war.

Police procedurals, even fanytasy ones, are not usually my thing, but this had good characters (primary and secondary) and a well-built world. I'd like to read more about Maradaine.

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I was worried that I was slipping into an alternate universe at first, there were so many Les Miserables references. Then I checked back to the book's blurb and found that it was described as 'Les Misérables meets Six of Crows.' Fair enough. It's supposed to be an alternate Paris of 1828. The French Revolution has failed and the citizenry is trapped between merciless royalty and nine criminal guilds, together known as the Court of Miracles. Nina (Eponine) Thénardier has run away from her brutal father and joined the Thieves Guild. She's a talented cat burglar, but her life is complicated by her naïve adopted sister, Ettie (Cosette), too beautiful to be safe in this underbelly of a world. Nina has already lost one drug-addled sister to the Tiger – the ruthless lord of the Guild of Flesh – so she's determined not to lose another. Her vow could mean setting off a war between the guilds, which nobody wants. I confess I'm not a great fan of Les Miserables, but I'm a big fan of Leigh Bardugo's Six Of Crows. It didn't live up to that promise, but it was very readable. It looks like this is the first book in a trilogy, but it works well as a standalone.

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I'm trying to get into audiobooks, so listening to a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading, seemed to be a good way to start. I read The Lies of Lock Lamora in 2013 and loved it. Locke Lamora ragged orphan too clever for his own good has become an accomplished thief and con artist. He and his group of Gentleman Bastards are constantly trying to stay one step ahead of the authorities and two steps ahead of Capa Barsarvi, head of thieves guild that the Bastards pay lipservice to. My review in 2013 said, Thoroughly absorbing. Interesting characters who are changed by events. Great backstory, twisty plot in the front-story leading to nail-biting tension. Highly recommended. You can read my whole review here: https://jacey.dreamwidth.org/269793.html

This works well as an audiobook. The narrator, Michael Page (English accent) has a lot of audiobooks to his credit and he reads well, delineating different characters without turning them into caricatures. He made one of my favourite books come alive. I thoroughly enjoyed listening.

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jacey

Jacey Bedford

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Movie of the Week: Military Wives
Booklog 11/2020: Marshall Ryan Maresca: An Import of Intrigue – Maradaine Constabulary #2
Booklog 12/2020: Kester Grant; The Court of Miracles
Booklog 13/2020: Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora – Gentlemen Bastards #1 –Audiobook

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Jacey Bedford's Journal

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Mar. 15th, 2020

Mar. 15th, 2020

Movie of the Week: Military Wives

Booklog 11/2020: Marshall Ryan Maresca: An Import of Intrigue – Maradaine Constabulary #2

Booklog 12/2020: Kester Grant; The Court of Miracles

Booklog 13/2020: Scott Lynch: The Lies of Locke Lamora – Gentlemen Bastards #1 –Audiobook

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March 2026

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