I only read the first third of this book. I normally find King books to be superb storytelling — but too long.

I quit at the point where the ghost story started to get too weird and violent.

Bag of Bones is a 1998 horror novel … about an author who suffers severe writer’s block and delusions at an isolated lake house four years after the death of his wife. …

He decides to confront his fears and moves to his vacation house on Dark Score Lake, known as “Sara Laughs”.

On his first day, he meets Kyra, a 3-year-old girl and her young widowed mother, 20-year-old Mattie Devore.

Mattie’s father-in-law is Max Devore, an elderly rich man who will do anything to gain custody of his granddaughter. He was the bad guy when I quit the book.

Pierce Brosnan plays the writer in the TV mini-series.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

All the Light We Cannot See (2014) is a war novel by American author Anthony Doerr.

… set during World War II. It revolves around the characters Marie-Laure LeBlanc, a blind French girl who takes refuge in her great-uncle’s house in Saint-Malo after Paris is invaded by Nazi Germany, and Werner Pfennig, a bright German boy who is accepted into a military school because of his skills in radio technology.

It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Overall, I was disappointed.

Too long. Poor storytelling. It rambled too much.

There were dozens of scenes that could have been left out — leaving the core story stronger.

WHY have 4 diamonds? That added nothing but unnecessary pages.

I’m astonished that the Pulitzer judges were impressed.

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The mini-series — 4 episodes — is MUCH BETTER.

Don’t listen to the critics who gave it only 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.

I commend the screen writers for improving so much of the messy book.

Werner Pfennig is a much stronger character on screen.

Hugh Laurie is excellent as the World War I veteran suffering from PTSD.

Marie-Laure is played by Aria Mia Loberti who is legally blind. She responded on a whim to an All The Light We Cannot See open global casting search posted online. An amateur. Well cast.

I’d agree with critics that the NAZIs are cliche in the TV series . No nuance.

That was my biggest complaint with the mini-series.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

You don’t need to like nor know anything about Chess to enjoy this TV series.

It’s 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

On October 28, 2020, it was the most watched series of the day on Netflix.

The Queen’s Gambit is an American drama television miniseries based on Walter Tevis‘s 1983 novel of the same name.

I read the book, as well. Excellent.

Though written long ago, it still feels contemporary.

Themes of adoption, feminism, chess, drug addiction and alcoholism.

Bruce Pandolfini, a US chess master, consulted on the chess positions prior to the book’s publication.

… a fictional story that follows the life of an orphan chess prodigy named Beth Harmon from the age of eight to twenty-two during her quest to become the world’s greatest chess player while struggling with emotional issues, with drug and alcohol dependency. The story begins in the mid-1950s and proceeds into the 1960s.

The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.
— Michael Ondaatje (cover of Vintage paperback edition, 2003)

All the acting is good in the TV show.

I probably enjoyed Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Benny Watts best.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Fool Me Once is a British television series … adapted from the 2016 Harlan Coben novel of the same name.

… As of 12 March 2024 it is the eighth most viewed English language Netflix series of all time …

Michelle Keegan as Maya Stern carries the show.

Adeel Akhtar as DS Sami Kierce is excellent. A memorable performance.

All of the cast is good, actually.

A newly single mom is grieving her husband when, just two weeks after his funeral, she sees him appearing alive and well — on her nanny cam.

Was he actually murdered?

Or are there darker powers at play?

Reviews are mixed. But my only major complaint is too frequent use of flashbacks.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.