fatherroderick's reviews
596 reviews

Rather mediocre conclusion to the story, expected something a bit more exciting, but it's more of the same. The description of teenage romance is cringeworthy (like "his/her face was so close to mine that our lips almost touched" repeated time and again). The plot feels spun out.

Quick read, jumps through time quite a bit, so not much character development. A couple of fun future predictions that came true (this book was written in the fifties), like how in the future there would be so much content to watch on our screens that large parts of the population would turn into media-consuming zombies that didn't care to be creative themselves anymore. The ending is emotionally unsatisfying.

I'm a big fan of Louis Theroux's documentary style. The book is an interesting peek behind the scenes of the life and work of this film maker. The book has some pacing issues; some chapters drag on a bit too much while in other chapters we rush through certain periods of his career without much substance. The self-deprecating humor that characterises his documentaries is present in the book too, and the audiobook is read by the author, which really enhances the experience.

A very imaginative fairy tale by J.R.R. Tolkien that starts of with a wizard and a small dog and is followed by a wild adventure to the far side of the moon and into the depths of the ocean. Written for kids with a lot of heart and humour.

I'm a bit puzzled by this fairy tale. It doesn't seem to have much purpose to it, the story-arc is simple, and yet, there seems to be more to this story than meets the eye. It is the last story Tolkien wrote, and according to him, it was not written for children. Is it an allegory? Is it autobiographical? Does the passing down of the 'star' that gives access to the faerie world evoke Tolkien passing on the gift of fantasy to the generation that will follow in his footsteps? A lot to think about..