Respect Yourself Reviews
Respect Yourself
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Reckless (Free Preview)
Free Preview of the First Seven Chapters: Beyond the mirror, the darkest fairy tales come alive. . . For years, Jacob Reckless has been escaping to another world--a world behind the mirror, where witches haunt the forests and fairies and dwarfs roam. A world for treasure hunts and magnificent quests--but also a world locked in a deadly war. Jacob's secret seems safe, until one day his younger brother Will follows him, to disastrous consequence. Faced with a curse that is quickly turning Will to stone, the Reckless brothers are thrust into a race against time to find a cure before one of them is lost forever. Inspired by the Brothers Grimm, master storyteller Cornelia Funke introduces a lush, enchanting landscape of fairy tales and legends re-imagined as never before. Reckless is a thrilling adventure and a tale of heroism, filled with danger, mystery, and above all, magic.
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January 29th, 2011 - 00:30
Not your dad’s Huey Lewis and the News…,
While Huey Lewis and the News’ version of “Respect Yourself” can’t beat the original by the Staple Singers, it certainly is worth listening to. (It definitely beats the Bruce Willis cover of the song.
Huey’s version relies heavily on an unnamed female soloist, solid background vocals, and some hoppin’ instrumental work. If you like the the three Motown cover albums done by Michael McDonald over the past few years, you’ll enjoy this freebie from Amazon. Thanks, Amazon, for providing us Classic Rockers with a “bone” now and then like this!
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|January 29th, 2011 - 01:15
Huey Lewis at his finest – absolutely MASTER CLASS!,
I don’t know why the reviews are not all five stars! If you have ears then listen up because it has been a long time since music spoke to me like this. Every single note from the horns to the keys and drums could not be any better. The vocals…OMG the backup singers are hitting home runs constantly and Huey is at his prime on this style of music. Every now and then an album comes along that stands out head and shoulders above the rest and Soulville is just that. I can’t get enough of it and all I have to say is WOW!
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|January 29th, 2011 - 01:25
Not Always The News,
It has been nearly a decade since anything new came from Huey Lewis & The News. While they honestly haven’t had that midas touch that made them so strong back in the 80′s, they’ve still made music that they enjoy for their fans. For their latest single, their cover of Respect Yourself from their covers’ album Soulsville, isn’t really a driven cover song to call their own. It just didn’t feel like the sound that made them so strong from their classics like Perfect World, Stuck With You, or Do You Believe In Love. I really wasn’t very driven into the song at all. While I do love Huey Lewis & The news, and what they have in great music, I’ll just stick to listening to their classics from their glory days. It just feels more something you can deeply respect.
Song: C
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|January 29th, 2011 - 01:39
Spectacular New Series,
Being one of the few people left in the world who has not yet read anything by Cornelia Funke, I’m going to have to start this review by simply saying “Wow! – and wow again!” I can only imagine what I’ve been missing. From beginning to end, Reckless is an absolutely wonderful read and I am feeling kind of giddy at the prospect of reading, not only the future books in this series, but everything else this talented storyteller has written.
Reckless is the story of Jacob Reckless, his brother Will and a fairy tale land that exists beyond a mirror in their missing father’s study. Having discovered the world when he was quite young, Jacob has been traveling there for years, losing himself in the dangers and adventures to be had there. Always careful to hide the truth about his double life, he’s now cursing himself for a moment of recklessness that enabled Will to follow him into the Mirrorworld. There, Will is clawed and cursed and is now slowly turning to stone. Unless Jacob can find a way to break the curse – and soon – Will will become a gargoyle (Goyl). Complicating matters is that fact that Will is turning, not to some ordinary stone, but to jade. And there is – wouldn’t you know it? – a legend about a Jade Goyl and the power such a being will wield. This makes Will a person of interest, so to speak, to some unsavory characters.
In Reckless, Cornelia Funke has created a complex world woven from myths and legends, many of which will be familiar to lovers of fairy tales and to those who have read the collected stories of the Brothers Grimm. The arcing story, however, is her own. She has populated her well-imagined world with interesting characters and has given them an engrossing plot. There is danger and suspense, mystery, love and hate, jealousy, bravery, sacrifice and revenge. Funke never once talks down to her readers and doesn’t make the mistake of over-describing the Mirrorworld or the many beings found there. I appreciate that she provides me with enough material to point me in the right direction and then allows my own imagination to fill in the details. In addition, her pacing is excellent and the story builds beautifully. I simply could not set the book aside until I’d finished it. And now I want to read it all again, taking my time to savor all the delicious little things Funke gave us that make the world so real and the characters so believable.
One of my favorite aspects of Reckless was the slow reveal of Jacob’s past in the Mirrorworld. I find myself very intrigued by Jacob and am confident that, in future books (Funke is planning 2 or 3 more), we will learn a lot more about him, his past and his relationships with other characters. He has some nicely murky bits, some shades of grey – characteristics I tend to appreciate in protagonists. I’m also really looking forward to learning more about Fox, whose past is so entwined with his.
Reckless is a dark story with blood, death and some disturbing images. (For example, Sleeping Beauty, never awoken by her prince, still lies in her tower, faded and, according to Jacob, dead. The thorns have grown thick around the tower and in them hang the corpses of those who were either trying to rescue her or to cash in on the value of her bed.) I mention this only because I know that a lot of young children are big fans of Funke’s earlier books. Since I haven’t read those books, I don’t know how the violence level compares, but parents might want to read Reckless before giving it to children under the suggested age of 10. (If your child made it all the way through the Harry Potter series, I don’t think Reckless will prove too disturbing for them.)
I wouldn’t want to live in the Mirrorworld, nor would it be a safe place to linger for too long. But I am definitely looking forward to visiting it again in the books to come.
Very highly recommended.
Heads up to Kindle readers: I part read/part listened to this book on Kindle. The first page of each chapter contains artwork along with text. That text is TINY on the Kindle (and I mean TINY) and doesn’t change when you adjust the font size. In addition, when you switch to text-to-speech, Kindle apparently ‘reads’ those same pages as pictures because the reader skips right over them. Because there are a lot of chapters in this book, this quickly became pretty annoying. After seeing the hardcover edition of the book, I felt the black and white illustrations added a very nice element. For that reason, and to address the Kindle problem, I ordered a hardcover for my re-read and to place in my collection.
ETA: Currently, Reckless doesn’t seem to be available on Kindle (I pre-ordered mine some time ago and received it in the wee hours of the morning on release day just as expected). Perhaps Amazon is aware of the problem and has temporarily pulled the Kindle version while they address it?
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|January 29th, 2011 - 01:44
Yearning To Read Review,
Jacob Reckless hasn’t felt at home in our world for twelve years. His haven in found beyond the mirror in his father’s study; where people live in little villages and cottages, monsters are common talk amongst the town-folk, stone men rule and push for power, fairies are dark and deceptive, and the Empress of Austry is a treasure-hunter. Jacob himself is a treasure-hunter, often working for Her Majesty to find her desires – a wishing table, a glass slipper, a golden ball. Jacob lives here most of the time, lying to his brother that he is going on vacation, a business trip, a trip to see a friend in need. He loves his brother, but too much pain lies outside of the mirror, where both of his parents are dead and his life is falling apart. And all is well on this side of the mirror. It is dangerous, yes, but Jacob has nothing to lose… Or so he thinks. Because of a simple mistake, Jacob’s brother Will has followed him over. And what’s worse is Will has been clawed by a stone man, a Goyl, and now Will’s skin is slowly turning to stone. Jacob must do everything he can before his kind and gentle brother turns completely into a stone man, heart and all.
I’ve loved Cornelia Funke’s books ever since I read Inkheart “that fateful day” a few years ago. Since then, I’ve read everything of hers I can get my hands on. Almost every book has been absolutely incredible; only one has been a disappointment (Dragon Rider). I preordered Reckless six months ago, hoping it would be another classic like the Inkbooks…
In a way it was wonderful, and in a way it was not. I’ll list the bad first.
First thing: I didn’t love the translation. I wish wish wish Anthea Bell had translated this one (she translated the Inkbooks), but it was Oliver Latsch. I like his stuff, but sometimes his wording is funny and doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. Second thing: Cornelia’s books may be labled as “children’s books”, but don’t believe it. I can’t imagine letting my child read this book. I think a good age to start at is 15. For one this is a very dark story (much of it is derived from the Grimm’s fairytales); it also has some sensual scenes invovling men and the fairies they have fallen in love with. The fairies, as stated before, are dark and deceptive, but also very seductive. Jacob and the king of the Goyl love two different fairies, both of whom aren’t always faithful.
And then comes the good…
Cornelia is a master at weaving a great story, from start to finish. She draws power from folklore and her favorite stories, but she is also incredibly original. Reckless was just so. While it could have been a terrible retelling of Grimm’s fairytales (what it was built on and after), it was a wonderful example of taking from the classics without copying them. Another very good aspect of Reckless is that Cornelia is not afraid to give her characters pain. It is what real stories are made of, and this author definitely knows how to toy with her reader’s emotions for the characters by making them endure hardship. This is much of what kept me into the book the whole time. Sacrifice and hardship make books so much more real.
So, in all, I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading the next one (she plans on writing at least two more books about Jacob Reckless and his world beyond the mirror). And while this is a novel worth reading (although not a classic in my opinion), it is not for everyone, especially not for children.
yearningtoread DOT wordpress DOT com
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|January 29th, 2011 - 02:32
Takes a bit to get into it.. 150 pages or so,
Good story.. but not great. I think it would have been stronger for me if there I could have felt more of a connection with the main character, Jacob, sooner in the story. It felt like it took half the book before you could really start to care about anyone in the story. That being said, I did like the book.. it had a bit of a Narnia vibe for me. I loved how all the classic fairy tales were woven throughout the main story. I will read the next books in the series once they are released, because even though it took longer then I would have liked to connect with the characters, I did eventually fall for the distant and Self-deprecating Jacob and look forward to joining him on his next adventure.. maybe to find his dad??
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