I was planning on my 1st trip to Dubai and Oman in March 2026.
For hiking and cycling.
Craggy peaks and rugged terrain, empty deserts and a long picture-perfect coastline, ancient castles and forts–that’s what draws adventure cyclists to Oman. …
The Shut Eye (2016) is unpredictable. The characters three dimensional and fascinating.
Belinda Bauer spent seven years as a screenwriter before writing her first novel at age 45.
She really knows how to make a story come to life.
DCI John Marvel is an asshole — but a relentless and successful murder investigator.
The plot follows two parallel investigations that eventually collide: the personal quest of a grieving mother and the professional obsession of a cynical detective ➙ Marvel haunted that he never solved the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl.
Anna Buck, whose four-year-old son, Daniel, vanished from their home after her husband, James, accidentally left the front door open.
Anna is suicidal and going mentally ill after 4 months.
Desperate for answers that the police cannot provide, Anna turns to Richard Latham, a psychic known as a “shut eye”—someone who genuinely believes they have supernatural abilities. This decision strains her already fractured marriage and leads her to believe she is experiencing her own psychic visions
The “Shut Eye”: In psychic argot, this refers to a person who genuinely believes in their own psychic powers, distinguishing them from “open eyes” who are deliberate frauds.
Great book — but I was confused by the ending. You could call it unresolved.
It follows the characteristic “McFadden style” with short, bingeable chapters and multiple high-stakes plot twists.
Plot Overview
The story centers on Abby Adler, a woman who has spent years and a fortune on failed infertility treatments and a heartbreaking adoption attempt that fell through at the last moment. Her life seems to turn around when her personal assistant, Monica, makes a seemingly selfless offer to act as her surrogate.
Suspicious Ties: Abby begins to notice strange connections between Monica and her husband, Sam.
Sony Pictures acquired the film adaptation rights to Freida McFadden’s psychological thriller, The Surrogate Mother, in December 2025.
Project Hail Mary is an international effort to send a crew to Tau Ceti is a suicide mission hoping to find a solution to stars dimming throughout the universe.
… as Grace approaches Tau Ceti, he sees an alien spacecraft. …
The ship’s pilot is a rock-like, five-legged alien …
I should read more historical fiction. This book is very good.
The novel is a departure from his early contemporary “suburban thrillers” and is based partly on his own family history in New York City’s garment industry.
Plot Summary
The story follows three brothers—Morris, Sol, and Harry Rabishevsky—growing up in poverty on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1920s and 1930s.
Morris: The driven youngest brother, he apprentices in a clothing factory at age twelve and eventually builds a successful garment business, Raab Brothers, with Sol.
Sol: The bookish brother who becomes an accountant and manages the business’s finances.
Harry: The troubled middle brother who falls into the world of organized crime, eventually working as a “button man” (hitman or enforcer) for the notorious mobster Louis “Lepke” Buchalter.
The brothers’ lives collide when Buchalter and the Jewish mob—including real historical figures like Dutch Schultz and Jacob Shapiro—attempt to take over the garment unions through violent shakedowns.
Morris must decide whether to yield to the mob’s demands or risk everything by assisting Special Prosecutor Thomas Dewey in bringing them down.
Ellis van Jason had a film and drone permit to shoot in the locations featured in the video, including permission to drive off-road in Serengeti, and that he worked directly with Tanzania National Park Authority under the supervision of professional guides and conservationists in shooting the video.
Without a permit, Drones are strictly prohibited in Tanzania. I didn’t even take one as they are sometimes confiscated on arrival at the airport.
The Wedding People (2004) is funny. But a black comedy, dealing with suicide.
Unsurprisingly, it ends up life affirming.
Phoebe Stone, a newly divorced literature professor who checks into a luxury Newport, RI, hotel intending to take her own life.
Mistaken for a wedding guest, she becomes unexpectedly close to the bride, Lila, ultimately finding a reason to live through new connections, honest conversations, and a chaotic, week-long wedding party.
If you like making fun of rich people, this book’s for you. 😀
Premise: Phoebe arrives at the Cornwall Inn with no luggage, reeling from a failed marriage, IVF, and her cat’s death, intending to die in a place she once hoped to visit with her ex-husband.
The Unlikely Bond: Lila, the bride, discovers Phoebe’s intent and, desperate to keep her perfect wedding from being ruined, gets involved with her. Their candid conversations, filled with unexpected humor and emotional depth, bring them together.
The Wedding Transformation: Phoebe is drawn into the wedding festivities, eventually acting as a sort of reluctant confidante and maid of honour to Lila, who is facing her own anxieties about her marriage to a man named Gary.
Themes: The novel balances the dark themes of grief, suicide, and loss with the light, chaotic energy of a destination wedding, focusing on themes of resilience, self-discovery, and second chances.
TriStar Pictures is adapting Alison Espach’s bestselling 2024 novel, The Wedding People, into a feature film.
… an architectural and social movement promoting the reduction and simplification of living spaces.
Tiny homes have been promoted as offering lower-cost and sometimes eco-friendly features within the housing market, and they have also been promoted a housing option for homeless individuals. …
Rick McCharles 