#AmReading + #AmWatching + #AmListening - #Reviews For December 19th 2019

A book is a dream that you hold in your hand.
~Neil Gaiman

Welcome to this week's weekly media shares and reviews post!

*Disclaimer: no matter what's being reviewed, all opinions in this post are entirely my own, and I reserve the right to have them, regardless of who may or may not share them. Feel free to express your own in the comments, but please respect my right - and the rights of other commenters - to have opinions that might differ from yours, and to express those opinions too.

Also, please remember that I read/watch/listen to things in a variety of genres, and for all ages, so you should make sure you check that the book/movie/show/song is suitable for the intended audience before reading/watching/listening to it, especially if children are involved. I take no responsibility for anything which may happen as a result of failing to do so.

If you want to know more about the book, or the author, click on whichever it is you want to learn more about, and it will take you to the appropriate page on Goodreads. Clicking on my rating should take you to my actual Goodreads review for the book in question. Please bear in mind that the format I've reviewed on Goodreads may not be the format I actually read.

Alternatively, if it's a movie or TV show you want to know more about, just click on the title to go to a page where you can find out more details about the movie or TV show in question; the title links will usually take you to a page on IMDB.

Unless otherwise stated, all music videos are via YouTube.

OK, so... Let's see what I've been reading, watching, and listening to, shall we?

This week I read... A lot. I ended up finishing four books. I didn't expect to do so; I expected to not be finishing the last book until this weekend. But... Well, read its review, and you'll understand. Also, for those interested: I've now completed my 2019 reading challenge, since I've read more than 104 books. Anyway...

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It took me a bit to get in to this book, because the way it's written takes away a lot of the plot tension and the thrill of their fight against the zombies. However, it was a pretty good read over all, and once I got in to it I started enjoying hearing the stories of the diffrrent characters, and their experiences during and immediately after the war.

Whispers of the Past by Roberta Eaton Cheadle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As always seems to be the case with anthologies by multiple authors, I enjoyed some of the stories in this collection more than others. All were well-written, with fascinating - and sometimes quite chilling - plots, and interesting characters. It's just that some appealed to me more than others, while a couple of the stories were difficult for me to get in to and enjoy due to my personal tastes in reading materials. So, I've given this book four out of five stars, which is lower than a couple of the stories deserve, but higher than I would have rated others had I read them on their own.
*NOTE: I was given a free review copy of this book by the author of one of the stories. This fact has in no way influenced either my opinion of the stories - or the collection as a whole - nor the contents of this review.

Preparing For My First Cockatiel: A Beginner's Guide to Starting Your Life with the World’s Most Popular Pet Cockatoo by Laurel A. Rockefeller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is a well-written, excellent and informative read. It's very obvious the author has done her research well, and cares a lot about birds. Not only that, but it's also presented in such a way as to make it easy to follow, regardless of how old you might be; if you're old enough to be responsible for the care of a pet like a Cockatiel, you're old enough to be able to read and understand this book. I would highly recommend this book to anyone thinking of getting a Cockatiel, or those who - like me - are simply interested in what goes in to the proper care of a pet Cockatiel.
I would also like to add that I listened to the audio version of this book, and think the narrator was an excellent choice, since he has a wonderful and clear voice, which is both easy to understand and pleasant to listen to.
*NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book by the author. This fact has in no way influenced either my opinion of the book - or its narrator - nor the contents of this review; all opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Allegiance by Nicholas Sansbury Smith
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
You know those books that have you staying up past the time you know you really should be sleeping, just so you can read a little more? Yeah, this was one of those for me. It's an awesome addition to the series, and an amazing read in its own right. The action, the feels, the relatable characters even in situations you can't imagine ending up in yourself and even so find yourself hoping against hope you never will while reading about them... It has all those things, and more! Seriously, if you're a fan of apocolyptic fiction that's set way after the initial event, and can handle gory details in your books, you should be reading this series, and if you're not, I seriously recommend you fix that as soon as possible. Also, the next book is coming soon, right? *looks hopeful*

As for what I've been watching this week...

I watched two DVDS during the past week, both of which were from "The Big Bang Theory" (I've now finished all of the first six seasons). I also watched a couple more episodes of "Rugrats" on Amazon Prime. Plus, I watched a new to me Christmas movie on Sky Cinema Christmas, so the review for that is below.

The Family Stone (2005 movie):
To be honest, I didn't think much of this movie. It felt like everyone was just going out of their way to be mean to each other through most of it, and then all of a sudden, in the last five minutes, things come together. I don't mind movies where things aren't working out, but in the end they do, or even the other way around. But I didn't feel like this one even showed the progression of things changing. I need to see that, and don't feel like I did. Did I miss something? If I did, it was something quick, and left until pretty close to the end to happen, so if I missed something, it was too little too late to save this movie in my eyes. So, I'm sorry, but I can't give this one a high rating, because I just didn't enjoy it at all. So, with that in mind, I give this movie two out of five stars.

Last, but not least, this week I've been listening to...

More Christmas music! One of my favourite Christmas songs is "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" - regardless of who's singing it. So, as my music share for this week, I'm going to share a wonderful version of it for your listening pleasure.