The books of December 2013

Peace out, 2013!

Crafts:

I can post these since they were (finally) given as gifts. Sadly, I didn't always get a final picture where it's nice and framed, but you get the idea.

I have a friend who loves Bender, so I used part of weelittlestitches pattern from her blog to make him one and used one of Bender's many quotes:

He majored in Bending and minored in Robo-American Studies.

Next up was part of a themed gift. I found this one in kanitted's etsy shop:

 I wonder if there were Renaissance Ninjas...

One friend and I had a moment a while back discussing Bell Biv Devoe, so she ended up with this gem from stephXstitch's etsy store:

Now you know...

Another friend loves Disney. I found a retro tribute to Disney in the SatsumaStreet etsy store and made it for her:

It's a small world, after all.

Last, but definitely not least, I took a picture of a painting my friend made from her website, used a pattern creator, and made this for her:

It just makes you happy looking at it.

Movies: 

Despite making gifts and traveling home, I did manage to go see a few movies in December.

Anchorman 2 was really, really funny. It was silly, and occasionally borderline stupid, but I loved it anyway. I laughed so hard I made myself cry...twice. Definitely something I'll buy when it comes out because I will need to see the news anchor battle scene again :)

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug was, to me, better than the first Hobbit installment. Smaug was awesome...he looked very cool and Benedict Cumberbatch's voice was perfect. I'm not sure how I felt about Legolas being there...I can't say that I remember that happening in the book, but it's been forever...and it's not like he was busy. His Elven dad, Lee Pace, was great...as usual. The story felt like it moved faster, but it was about the same length as the last one. Overall, I'd say good show.

American Hustle was fantastic. Stop reading. Go watch it. Christian Bale's stomach, combover, and glasses are insane. And Bradley Cooper's hair? OMG. Him wearing those little perm rods in it will never not make me laugh.

47 Ronin...yes, I saw it. Right now, haters are hating on this movie. I actually liked it. The story pulled me in and Keanu was Keanu, you know. He was earnest and you felt for him and he did a good job. It also had a dragon. So for me, it was a win-win. It was entertaining and I would watch it again.

Last one this month was Saving Mr. Banks. This movie is lovely and makes you cry buckets of tears. It probably doesn't need to be a big-screen see, but definitely rent it when it comes out...and keep plenty of kleenex handy!

Books:

This month I read Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich, Out to Lunch by Stacey Ballis, Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, Dangerous Dream: A Beautiful Creatures Story by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl, and Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I started the month by re-reading Dracula by Bram Stoker.

The last time I read Dracula, I was in high school. At some point between then and now, my memory of the story was only that in the Coppola movie. It very much is NOT the same as the movie. And actually, given the time in between and the current re-read, I think I like the movie better. The story in the book is extremely similar, but I felt like Mina was more just used and discarded instead of a super-integral part of Dracula's story. Also in retrospect, I think that Keanu Reeves did a better job than I originally thought...Jonathan Harker as a book character might be the most boring person in the universe. At least in the movie he had some life to him...well done, Keanu. I was surprised at how much I didn't enjoy reading this book again. 

Takedown Twenty was the usual Stephanie Plum adventure, but this time with more giraffe. There seemed to be less things blowing up this time, but maybe the giraffe distracted me. She's still torn between Morelli and Ranger, still fairly predictable, but still entertaining. A very fun read and super welcome after plodding through Dracula.

Out to Lunch is another fine tale from Stacey Ballis. I had been looking forward to this one for a while...I pre-ordered it and it appeared (MAGIC!) on my Kindle, I jumped right in to the story. It started off pretty sad, but I liked that the sad thing had to happen for the story to take place at all. The main character's growth and challenges were very fun to read about (hint: it involves food and cooking, hurrah!) and by the end, Ballis once again made me wish these people were real and that I knew them and hung out with them. 

Remember that most of my friends didn't like Wolf Hall, but I did? Well, Bring Up the Bodies is part two. One friend mentioned that she thought this one was better. I thought that the pronouns were more explained...sometimes unnecessarily so given the way the last book was written...which probably helped her enjoy it more. I really like Mantel's take on what's happening in Cromwell's brain and the world around him. Each character was written in a way that you think maybe each got what was coming to him or her...which given Anne Boleyn's end, that might be mean to say. The court that Mantel describes is terrifying at times with its level of intrigue and backstabbing. I know that there's one more book in this trilogy and I am looking forward to seeing how Cromwell takes his own ending.

Dangerous Dream was a short story from the Beautiful Creatures series. This story focused on Riley (the bad caster, cousin to Lena the good caster) and her journey to avoid her true feelings. It looks like this takes place after the last Beautiful book and is the pre-cursor to a spin-off series that will have Riley as the main character. I'm not sure if I'll read them, but it was nice to briefly revisit the characters and see what they were all up to after graduation.

The book I finished on the next to last day of the month was Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park. Much like my paragraph about her Fangirl book, I'm not going to be able to do the story justice. I know that there was some hub-bub about her doing a reading of this book somewhere...protesting and all that. I get that it's a young adult novel and that some of the themes are dark and scary. But the writing covers the darkness and frights with love and caring...and comics and 80s music. The fact that Eleanor so readily felt that the Smiths were a part of her at first listen said more about her to me than 50 pages of reading...it told me how sad she was...how alone she felt...and how that first time of hearing how you feel in a song is powerful. The fact that Park could've been awful to Eleanor, but chose to share his comics...and later his life...with her is a strong testament to his character...however many times he feels shallow, deep down, he and his family represent more than nice...they represent caring and goodness...and it possibly why he feels so strongly about the X-Men, the Watchmen, and Batman...people who are flawed, protecting others like and unlike themselves at all costs. It made me laugh and it made me cry and I lost some sleep because I couldn't put it down. You might not like it, but this is a very good book.

Well, that's it. Hope everyone is ready for a good new year! Happy 2014!

The books of November 2013

I can not believe November is done! Heck, I can't believe the year is almost done! Crazy. I didn't read too much last month cause I was trying to finish up Christmas gifts. Gifts that I can't post pictures of until after the holidays. Oh well.

One thing for sure, it's definitely winter now. Cold - check. Snow - check. Ice - sigh...and check.

Movies:
I saw a few good movies this month. Ender's Game wasn't too bad. Not too long ago, I remember thinking Harrison Ford had possibly lost his mind, but he seemed ok in this. If they make the others in the series, I'll consider seeing them.

Thor: The Dark World was AWESOME! I loved everything about it, I mean, except Natalie Portman. I liked her when she was young, but pretty much since Star Wars, I've not enjoyed her (minus Black Swan...she was very good in that). This installment in the Marvel universe franchise was very funny. I like how open it ended...possibly leaving room for a Loki spin-off...man, they would be stupid not to do that. Tom Hiddleston is basically the world's boyfriend at this point. The charm in that one is strong :)

I tend to see movies with Michael Fassbender. 12 Years a Slave was no exception. It was brutal and he played a crazy man. But it was well done. It makes you uncomfortable and long for the ending. I held it together through the kidnapping, the horror, the whippings, the torture, the emotional abuse...and then when things were finally resolving, I lost it. I recommend watching this one alone at home with a box of tissues.

Hunger Games: Catching Fire was really good. I read the books a while ago and didn't refresh my memory, but I think it followed well? I liked it a lot and if you like the stories, you should see it. It's worth the money for Effie's costumes alone!

Books:
Like I said earlier, not a lot of reading this month. But I managed a few: The King's Deception by Steve Berry, Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding, The Tudor Plot by Steve Berry, The Confession by John Grisham, and The Silver Linings Playbook: A Novel by Matthew Quick.

I know I've said it before, but I really enjoy Steve Berry's political thrillers. This was another with Cotton Malone as the main character. (NOTE: kind of spoiler-ish...if you want to read it, I'm sorry...there's no way around the description). The King's Deception goes back to Tudor England and supposes that Queen Elizabeth wasn't actually Elizabeth. The deception was that Henry was to visit Elizabeth, but she had been very ill and died and no one told the king. In order to save the lives of those who cared for her, a young relative was recruited to pretend to be the young girl. Only it was a young boy who took on the role...and played it through the queen's death. The repercussions of such a ruse would've nullified many of the actions that had been sanctioned by the queen, including the annexation of so much of Ireland. In order to avoid legal issues and possibly war, the current administrations would stop at nothing to hide any proof of the child switch. This book was a great read. Taking place all over London and other parts of England, I became engrossed in the scenery as well as the history. Enough so that I bought Bran Stoker's Famous Imposters, a book that covers the possible switch.

The latest in the Bridget Jones series was, to me, a letdown. I loved the first one...tolerated the second one...and barely pushed myself to finish this third one. It would've been a fine story if it hadn't been characters I knew so well. I believed the parts with Daniel Cleaver. I didn't like that Shazzer wasn't there at all. And I hated what happened to cause the story to take place. I don't want to spoil it for you, so I'll stop there. Like me, you may just want to know what happens anyway, but be aware that it will make you sad and mad and not feel like Bridget ever grew at all through any of the books.

The Tudor Plot is a short story that takes place several years before The King's Deception. It provides the background alluded to in the new book. It was packed full of intrigue and again, covered a lot of scenery and history about Great Britain. I liked it a lot and it explained some of the antagonism in the next book. It would've been a good idea to read it first, but in the end, it didn't matter. It was just another good story in the Cotton Malone series.

I started Grisham's The Confession last July while on vacation. I don't read Grisham usually...this book didn't persuade me to read more. Justice wasn't served until much too late. The characters weren't overly engaging. I just never really got into it...but, I will say that having put it down for over a year, I never forgot what was going on, which means it stayed with me. It was about an innocent man on death row, the man who should've been on death row, and the people who became involved. It was sad and read fairly slowly.

The Silver Lining's Playbook is very similar to the movie, although not quite the same. I truly enjoyed it though. Since I've seen the movie, I had the movie stars in my head as the characters. I was sad the Chris Tucker character didn't play as big of a role, but it was still a very nice, quick read. If you liked the movie, I'd recommend this as well.

That's it. Time to back into the other room and try to stay warm while watching TV. Happy December!

The books of October 2013

Crazy, crazy, crazy month...glad it's over. See ya, October!

Crafts:
I can finally post some things I made! A friend decided to not work where I work anymore, so I gave him a pattern from DefiantDamsel:

<knock...knock...knock> Penny?

It was another friend's birthday, so part of her gift was a tinymodernist reminder of future travel:

"London calling at the top of the dial..."

And another friend got a little black kitty from CrossStitchforYou on etsy for her birthday:

Superstitions aside, this is too cute.

Oh! And I forgot to post the stephXstitch one I made for a friend's birthday/return to living in the same town:

"Ice is back with my brand new invention..."

Movies:
I was only able to make it to a couple of movies this month. Sadly I can't admit that they were the best movies ever.

Don Jon looked like it would be pretty funny. And, I mean, sure, it was kind of funny. But mostly, I felt like my friend and I had accidentally gone to see as close to a porno as you can get without going to a completely different kind of theater. It's worth a watch to see Scarlett Johanssen be that uptight and Jersey...and it is kind of funny...just...don't watch it with anyone else around ;)

The Counselor was an interesting one. I don't think it's had great reviews (although, I don't read those unless I'm super curious), but I enjoyed most of it. It started off a little awkward (again, you probably want to be alone watching this part) and then went into to full on HOLY CRAP mode. I will never, ever look at Cameron Diaz the same again. Her role was way over the top and really well done...I didn't think she had that in her. Michael Fassbender and Javier Bardem are still good at whatever they do. Was it too much murder and not enough intrigue? Probably. But, like any story that captures your attention, you still think about it later, which made me like it more than most.

Books:
This month I feel like I didn't read as much as usual, but like I said at the beginning, it's been crazy. I did manage to read: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by Malcolm Gladwell, The Bride Wore Size 12 by Meg Cabot, The Wolves of Midwinter by Anne Rice, Seven Deadlies: A Cautionary Tale by Gigi Levangie, and The Coat Route: Craft, Luxury, and Obsession on the Trail of a $50,000 Coat by Meg Lukens Noonan.

Fangirl was my first read by Rainbow Rowell, despite having a different title on my Kindle. This book is about twin sisters who go their separate ways once they get to college. One writes fan fiction for their world's Harry Potter, "Simin Snow". She isn't happy to be without her twin, but slowly comes into her own, dealing with her issues, making friends with her roommate, having a misguided crush on her writing partner, and eventually finding a boyfriend by being her fanfic writing self. Her sister becomes a party girl who can't handle her partying and eventually realizes that having a twin who knows you inside and out isn't a burden, it's a strong bond that she should be grateful to have. As the two find each other again, they manage to sort out their lives while dealing with their parents and going to classes and keeping Simon Snow's fanfic world hanging on their words as to what happens next. This was a fun read and I'm looking forward to reading the other Rowell book I have.

You know, I do like Malcolm Gladwell, but I think this book sorted out what it is I like about him. I generally don't enjoy the themed books, but I do enjoy reading the individual essays. I liked this one well enough, but I'm glad I got it from the library instead of buying it. My favorite so far has been What the Dog Saw, mainly because there is no overarching theme to all of the essays. If you like his writing, you will like the book. I think I'll wait for the next random collection before trying him again though (it's also possible that I was overly excited to read it and set myself up for a let down, so maybe you should ignore me and read it yourself).

The Heather Wells series from Meg Cabot is just fun. Heather Wells was a tween pop star who lost all of her money when her mom ran off with her manager while her dad was in prison for fraud (or tax evasion or something like that). He pop star boyfriend dropped her for the next tween sensation and her label (owned by the boyfriend's dad) dropped her because she didn't want to sing songs written by other people for tweens. She ended up moving in with her ex-boyfriend's brother (black sheep of the family because he wanted no part of the pop scene and ended up becoming a private detective) and doing his accounts while also working at the college so she could attend classes for free. Every book includes a murder in the dorm where she works. Each one of these books has been highly entertaining...sometimes covering a darker theme, sometimes not. Mostly, it's just a fun read and would make a pretty fun tv series. This particular one is about planning her wedding and how it gets a little derailed by a foreign prince, her returning mother, and her crazy job at the Death Dorm (more murder). A happier ending than you usually get from a murder mystery...and the brief inclusion of Lizzie Roberts, another of Cabot's heroines from a different series (Queen of Babble).

The Wolves of Midwinter is the second in the Anne Rice series, The Wolf Gift Chronicles. I had broken up with Anne Rice somewhere around book 5 of the vampire series. The Wolf Gift brought us back together as she didn't try to cram her beliefs down my throat as badly as she had been doing. This second book in the series has made us break up again. Ugh. The wolf people were SUPER annoying. So much angst. So much theoretical questioning of existence. Again, I felt that she was trying to create an ideal world for a specific group to justify what she's thinking is correct for her own religious thinking at this time. Here's the thing...if I want to read religious philosophy, I'll get a book on that. Not a book about werewolves. Just no, Anne Rice. No.

Seven Deadlies was ok. I really liked The Starter Wife by her, so I was willing to give this one a shot. It was told from a teen's viewpoint as her college essay. It was not fantastic and I felt like it ended very oddly...and not totally in sync with the rest of the stories. The teen wrote about her babysitting jobs for the rich and famous and apparently worthless. She classified each story as one of the seven deadly sins. It was just ok. Probably wouldn't take a chance on another one like this though. No one was a character that you felt like you wanted to know more about, so I was glad it was short.

And now, a contender for best read of 2013, The Coat Route. I loved, loved, LOVED this book. A woman (journalist), Meg Lukens Noonan, reads about a man having a $50,000 coat tailored for him and is perplexed. Why in the world would you spend that much on one coat? You wouldn't even wear it every day. How could it cost that much? She set off to answer the hows and whys. The book is divided into the parts of work/labor that go into such a garment: fleece from the mountains in South America, buttons from old factories in London, hand designed silk from Italy, bespoke shops on Seville Row, the last of a long line of tailors from Sydney, and much more. The journey she makes is incredible. And I find myself thinking about this book a lot, even though I've been done for a while and have read other things. The market for hand made garments shouldn't be dwindling to nothing, but we are allowing it to do so with the ease of mass consumption of goods. It's cheap and easy to buy something in the Gap or Old Navy...it's even easy but not cheap to buy something couture. But in the end, those items weren't made specifically for you by someone who knows you and your shape and makes something to make you look and feel your best. It makes me sad to think about the apprenticeships and work study programs dying out in an effort to standardize and mass produce everything. I can't afford $50,000 for a coat, but I feel like it's a dream that shouldn't die. Read this book. It is really good. If you don't read it, there's a good chance that I'm getting it for you at Christmas...and I might quiz you later ;)

The books of September 2013

I think it was fall for a day or two, then it felt like summer again. Sigh. Just come on already!

Movies:

I made it to four movies in September. The first one was Mortal Instruments: City of Bones. I had the book on my Kindle, but decided to wait to read it until I had the characters in my head from the movie stars playing them. It was a good choice. The movie was quite entertaining...Jonathan Rhys Meyers is always a good choice for a villain (which is why I'm really looking forward to NBC's Dracula that starts this month!). I didn't find it to be as angsty as it could've been, which is a plus...but I was more than a little disturbed by one of the storylines. It was fun overall.

The Family is about a mob family that have to go into witness protection for turning against the mob. Only they're really bad at not being a mob family and keep getting moved around. The movie takes place in a small town in France, their latest relocation. It's not just the dad who does bad deeds, it's the mom, the son, and the daughter. How do you respond to criticism in the grocery store? Blow up the store of course. How do politely tell a boy you're not interested in them? Beat him to a pulp with a tennis racket? Sure. It was really funny and good to see Michelle Pfieffer in something again. 

I saw Despicable Me 2 again. It was still hilarious. Can't wait to own it.

Last movie of September was Rush. Not Rush the band. Not Rush the movie from the early 90s. This one was about the Formula 1 driver rivalry in the mid-70s between James Hunt and Nikki Lauda. It was fantastic! The guys playing the main characters even looked like the real drivers. I used to watch Formula 1, but it was about 10 years after this...although one of the names I recognized showed up on the leader boards at some point. I just found this to be a great story and all of the high speeds and occasional crashes made it really exciting. The only down side was that the traffic leaving the theater was very slow and I wanted to go fast like the movie drivers.

Books:

This month I read all of the currently published Mortal Instruments books: City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass, City of Fallen Angels, and City of Lost Souls, all by Cassandra Clare, Lookaway, Lookaway by Wilton Barnhardt, The Life of Cesare Borgia by Rafael Sabatini, and Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (technically finished in October).

The Mortal Instruments series is pretty good. A girl, Clary, wakes up one birthday and finds that she can see people who aren't appearing to others, leading her to see a murder in a club. But it's not what it seems. She, and the killers, are really Shadowhunters: Half-angels who protect humanity from all sorts of demon-types. Clary's mother left that world behind to escape her late husband and had a magician alter Clary's memories so she'd never know about it. At 16, it's too late and it all comes crashing in...she sees the murder, meets the Shadowhunters, her mom is kidnapped, she learns her father is still very much alive and very evil, and she falls in love with a Shadowhunter that turns out to be her brother. As the books progress, her best friend becomes something else (since the movie didn't cover it specifically, I'm not spoiling it), her family issues get both better and worse, her mom's longtime friend turns out to be a werewolf, she meets the Faerie Queen...and so much more. The first three books are very strong (book 1 and book 3 being the best...book 2 is just a plot movers with some revelations). Book 3 could've ended differently and made this collection only a trilogy, but it didn't...which made me sad because book 4 was really tedious. Book 5 was much better. Book 6 comes out in May. Sigh. I hate when I get sucked into these sets of things, but this was good enough to keep my attention for a good solid couple of weeks.

Lookaway, Lookaway was read in the middle of Mortal Instruments book 4 to alleviate all that teen overload I was feeling. This one is the story of a generational southern family. It was interesting, but the mom was so manipulative that it was shocking to see her survive the whole story...especially with how unhinged everyone was with that many civil war reenactment firearms around the house. It was sometimes funny. Everyone had lots of demons. But in the end, they were still family. I don't know...I wouldn't read it again, but it definitely helped get me out of the Shadowhunter world for a bit.

The Life of Cesare Borgia has been something I've read in the background for a couple of months. After watching Borgias (Canal+ on Netflix) and The Borgias (Showtime), I found myself wanting more, so I turned to actual history as opposed to filmed fiction based on history. Cesare was the second son of the Pope. His life ended early, but it was pretty amazing. Not as sensational as filmed by either series, but really not that far off. The author tried to be fair, reporting facts alongside rumor and debunking myth where he could. It was a very interesting read. He was a cardinal in the church (in the Vatican, really) but his soul was that of a warrior. He could plan battles and win with minimal to no bloodshed. He had a sharp mind and was essentially fearless. He also killed many who opposed him (although not as many as rumor supposed). The family as a whole has been put up as the most dysfunctional family in history, but after reading some of the rumors and the facts, I'm not so sure. They were powerful and influential, but I don't know that they were so many of the terrible things that have been reported.  I might try to find more and continue reading. That family is just fascinating in both fact and fiction.

Finally, I read Doctor Sleep. This is King's long-awaited sequel to The Shining. I read The Shining in high school or college, so it's been a while. Of course, I remember the movie and the TV version, but the book itself was something that never was fully captured on film. I opened this new one and was immediately back with Danny (Doc), only now he's a grown up with a lot of problems (duh). Being an alcoholic just seems par for the course for him. He moves around trying to settle down and ends up in a small town with people who can help him...and, people he can help with his shine. He meets a girl who has even more of a gift than he does and the two pair up to destroy the True Knot - a group of what were once people who travel in RVs and kill children who have the shine (they call it steam) to survive. Some of them are hundreds of years old and they. are. evil. I didn't want to put this book down. If you read (or saw) The Shining and liked it at all, this book is worth reading. The things he tied together stunned me. It was definitely my favorite read of the month.

I've already read the first book of October...I hope I remember enough to write about it next month! Happy October...let's cross our fingers that the weather turns to autumn for real!

The books of August 2013

Every year, I overbook my August. This was no exception. It's like I do all the things I normally do, times two. The thing that suffers is the sleep. Hopefully I can have more sleep this month...I'm crossing my fingers for it. I did go through a few of the fall magazines (Vogue, In Style, Marie Claire)...even when it's 90+ degrees outside, but you can still appreciate the loveliness of the fall and winter clothes. 

Movies:

I managed to make it to three movies: Elysium, Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters, and Lee Daniels' The Butler.  

Elysium was from the same guy who did District 9, so I expected violence, but maybe not in this magnitude. I think it bothered me more because in District 9, they look like monsters, but in Elysium, everyone is human. Also, the premise that the Earth's resources are just gone and all of the rich people take off to a new place and leave the poor to suffer didn't seem completely implausible. So it got to me a little. I liked it, but it's not one I need to see again. As usual, despite my natural dislike of Matt Damon, he did a fine job with his role...and Jodie Foster was awesome and awful at the same time.

I have a soft spot for the Percy Jackson movies, so I warn you, I'm biased. I enjoyed the movie a lot. It was not a great movie by any means, but there were several shout outs to Whedonverse fans (most notably to Buffy and Firefly fans) and that thrilled me. I didn't even mind them recasting Pierce Brosnan...because they used Anthony Stewart Head...GILES!  They also added Stanley Tucci as Dionysus and Nathan Fillion as Hermes. Seriously?! With that kind of cast, I knew I would be entertained...and I was. Unfortunately, the "kids" in the movie are beginning to look older than me and the sea of monsters itself was less monstery than I would like. Overall, this isn't one I expect people to see, but I still found it a fun watch.

The Butler was awesome. Just go see it. They start with slavery and end with Obama. It's a lot of history and it was very interesting to see it from a different viewpoint going over all that time. Everyone did a great job playing these known characters. That said, Robin Williams will never be any president other than Teddy Roosevelt because of the Night at the Museum movies. It took me a while to figure out who was playing Johnson. And Cusack as Nixon was awesome. He totally nailed the role...which is disturbing in a way. This is the first one to be getting Oscar buzz, so check it  out.

Books:

The library came through again! This month I read: The White Princess by Philippa Gregory, The Perfume Lover: A Personal History of Scent by Denyse Beaulieu, The Passion of the Purple Plumeria by Lauren Willig, Turn Around Bright Eyes: The Rituals of Love and Karaoke by Rob Sheffield, The Omega Project by Steve Alten, Private Entrance by Kathryn Harvey, This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith, and The Dinner: A Novel by Herman Koch. I also read more of The Life of Cesare Borgia by Raphael Sabatini (it's on my Kindle and I'm reading it in between other things), and tried to read two more books about perfume, but I gave up on those. 

The White Princess was yet another entry into the Cousins War series. At this point, I can hardly remember who's who...I mean, I think this is the fifth book. I the main character was the same main character as book three...or was it two? I don't know anymore. It picks up pretty much where that one left off...Richard is dead and his lover is now re-betrothed to the man who caused his death, Henry. The forced marriage between them, even when it's going ok, is never a thing of happiness. There is a little more about the boys in the tower because they were the princess's brothers, but not much. True to history, Gregory leaves it a mystery, but pulls in all the gossip of the time to show you how her characters are thinking about what happened and how it tempers some of their actions. They keep trying to end the Cousins War through different marriages and allegiances, but it's still there...none of them ever trust each other, even when it seems like they should. I'm feeling pretty done with the series at this point, but I know if she writes another one, I'll read it. I just like the time period.

The Perfume Lover was a surprisingly good read. Denyse Beaulieu met up with a master perfumer and they recreated one of her passionate memories from her youth through smell. The final scent, Seville a l'Aube (letter accents not included), can be bought from L'Artisan Parfumeur. She talks about how they layer all the different notes to form her memories. It's pretty interesting. She also talks about other perfumes she's worn and how they smelled in the bottle and on her skin. It actually made me go give a few perfumes another chance, leading to a purchase, so, well done.

Lauren Willig continues her fantastic spy series, but this time, another mystery is forming in the present day. They talk of lost jewels that were smuggled to England through the spy network and how they were kept by the Pink Carnation's relatives, but no one ever found them. Once again, I found myself completely engaged in both time periods, excited about where they story was leading. Willig wrapped up both stories nicely and left me still wanting to know more about other spies and about the current day graduate student and her boyfriend who are caught up in all of it. She's really a fun writer.

Rob Sheffield writes for Rolling Stone magazine. His first book, Love Is a Mix Tape, was the story of his love and heartbreak when his college sweetheart died suddenly early in their marriage. His next book, Talking to Girls About Duran Duran, took us back to his less sad past where he learned to bond over music and try to get dates. The newest book, Turn Around Bright Eyes, takes us back to after his wife died and how he wasn't living. He moved to New York and continued to not actually live while still working and simply being. It's on a short trip back to Virginia that he truly comes alive again, listening to a DJ on the radio. He meets the DJ and over the course of time, he falls in love again and learns to live again, expressing a lot of his feelings through the songs of others by trying to sing them. His praise of the karaoke culture will make you want to straight out and embarrass yourself. I've always believed that music can heal you...and this is a sweet example of it. I'm hoping that future books will have a bit more joy to them as the author finds more to be happy about every day.

I'm not really sure I recommend The Omega Project to people. I checked this book out because I've not read anything by Alten this isn't about gigantic, mythical, sea creatures...mostly megaladons, but plenty of other things that he feels live in the deepest parts of the oceans. This book didn't disappoint in creatures...and it was certainly an interesting science fiction premise. I didn't dislike it and I did (and do) keep thinking about it. He ties religion and science together very well in this book. The alternative, nearer future he describes really doesn't seem that far-fetched: we run out of oil and while looking for alternatives, plunge the Earth into turmoil and it's pretty much The Walking Dead, only there are no zombies. The scientific projects are interesting...some of them too out there to believe, some of them I would actually expect to see in the time frame suggested. But the asteroid that hits the moon and therefore throws the Earth into a complete formation panic is kind of wild. Not that it couldn't happen, but I doubt that the scientist is frozen and wakes to go through more creation ages so many millions of years in the future (for starters, wouldn't the atmosphere have changed?). But that was the part with the cool morphology of current day animals and insects. I love that the octopus turns into a land-dwelling creature that has all of the best qualities of humanity and can communicate through touch and a bit of telepathy. Some of the other creatures...and definitely some of the hybrid-human-clone-with-animal-parts were too much. Overall, just not most people's cup of tea, but something I found interesting to read and think about. But I do wish he'd write another megaladon book. I heart sea monsters! 

Private Entrance is listed as the third book of the Butterfly Trilogy by Kathryn Harvey. I reread the first two books earlier this summer in preparation for reading this one. It was completely unnecessary. This book actually had nothing to do with the other two, minus one mention of Butterfly and its demise. However, the story was very much in line with the other books. Woman treated poorly early in life; woman rises above and creates place people want to be (with escort-type services provided); woman solves mystery of her past, while putting herself and her best friend in harm's way; woman and handsome man save themselves, the bad guy is killed, and everyone else lives happily ever after, the end. An easy, fast read...just like the other two in the trilogy.

This Is What Happy Looks Like is very sweet. It is definitely a feel good kind of read, much like Smith's earlier The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. I read Statistical Probability in one sitting, not putting it down. It was about two teens who find each other and learn about each other and fall for each other. This is the same thing, only it starts with a mistaken email address. The boy emails the girl by accident, asking her to walk his pet pig, Wilbur, while he is running late. He's in California and she's in Maine, so walking the pig can't happen. They keep in touch and learn a lot about each other and when the movie shoot location falls through for the boy's latest picture, he pushes the team toward the girl's hometown so he can meet her (she doesn't know he's a famous actor). It's just a really cute book and takes a long evening to read. Thoroughly enjoyable.

The Dinner started slow for me. Two couples (the men are brothers) meet at a restaurant to discuss a problem with their children. As I got more into it, it struck me that this story would be an excellent play/movie. Much like the movie Carnage. Although the children in Carnage were also having a bullying problem, this goes far beyond what we expect to find for how civilized the book starts. The memories of the man telling the story seem whiny at first, but he does get to the point. And when action is needed, he's integral to the planning. It's a horrible train-wreck of a scene that you can't look away from...the storytelling is excellent though. This one will stay in my head for a while.

That's it for now. Have a great September!

The books of July 2013

Is it just me or has this month completely flown by insanely fast? I can't believe it's August...time for all the back-to-school issues of magazines. I used to love those. Now I think it's more just about Vogue's September Issue (also an excellent movie)...which I am anxiously awaiting to see. I did some crafts at the beginning of the month, but since they're gifts, I can't show them right now. I went home for about a week and hung out with family. Also, I had some crazy allergic reaction to a combination of things that resulted in a trip to the doctor and my swearing off of chia seeds forever.

Movies:
July was a good movie month. I started with Despicable Me 2. I love, love, LOVED it. I can not wait until it comes out on DVD. The storyline is cute and the minions are awesome. If you didn't see it, rent it when it comes out.

When I was a kid, I used to watch reruns of The Lone Ranger on TV on the weekends. I remember always liking it...the music and the catch phrase made me very happy. Turns out, those two things also made me very happy when I saw the movie last month. I imagine if I'd never seen the original, this would've been a strange movie...a western with loads of explosives and Jack Sparrow from the Pirates movies, only he was wearing weird make-up and a bird on his head. But since I knew the characters already, I found this highly enjoyable. It was more violent than I expected, especially for a Disney flick.

I know a lot of people didn't like this one, but I liked Pacific Rim quite a bit. Idris! Idris! Idris! That's really all it needed, but it also had giant sea monster aliens and giant robots. Clearly, I would find this to be a winning combination. It was very much like old Godzilla movies, only without the stomping of buildings. The monsters and the robots pretty much destroyed everything in their fighting, not by stomping. I wouldn't recommend this to all of you, but if you enjoy things like this, go for it. It's totally fun!

Champaign finally got Much Ado About Nothing. Which means I got to see it. I really like the Kenneth Branaugh one that came out years ago. After watching this and also really liking it set in modern times, I think that maybe this could be my favorite Shakespeare offering. The story can clearly translate, but what's great is how the dialog, given the actors' intonations, can seem so very now. Everyone did a great job...and of course, any time Joss Whedon is involved, I'm going to love it. I think the biggest surprise was figuring out that Borachio was the kid from Gladiator.

Lastly, I saw Wolverine. WOLVERINE! The whole experience started out great...there was a guy at the theater dressed up like Wolverine, adamantium "claws" and all. The storyline was ok, but the fighting and everything was pretty awesome. Hugh Jackman really owns this character. The wee preview at the end of the movie makes me super excited to see the next X-Men movie!

Books:
Looking at my book list, I'm guessing I spent a lot of time on my couch again.The library really came through on some of my early requests for newer titles.

This month I read Fall of Giants: Book One of the Century Trilogy by Ken Follet; Coming to My Senses: A Story of Perfume, Pleasure, and an Unlikely Bride by Alyssa Harad; Chose the Wrong Guy, Gave Him the Wrong Finger by Beth Harbison; Freud's Mistress by Karen Mack and Jennifer Kaufman; Topsy: The Startling Story of the Crooked Tailed Elephant, P. T. Barnum, and the American Wizard, Thomas Edison by Michael Daly; Blood and Beauty: The Borgias: A Novel by Sarah Dunant; I Wear the Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined) by Chuck Klosterman; and I finally finished Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie.

Fall of Giants was epic. It covers time before World War I through a bit after the end of the war. It follows many characters through mining troubles, aristocratic upheavals, the suffragette movement, thievery, the mafia, birth, death, and the war itself. The people take us through Russia, England, Wales, France, Germany, and America. It's very well researched and written. I was sucked into the book by the third chapter and rarely wanted to put it down. The second book comes out in paperback this month, so I think I'll be reading it soon.

Coming to My Senses sparked a major interest in perfume and scent. The author's story of coming to love the different smells and finding her favorites made me request many more books about perfume from the library (I apologize in advance if you're not interested in scent...next month will have a lot of reviews on books about scent). It kept reminding me of the chapter on smell in Diane Ackerman's A Natural History of the Senses. I've loved perfume for a while...I find it very interesting how the different scents interact with skin and how something that doesn't smell great on me may smell amazing on one of my friends. The author's research into the history and science of scent was easy to follow. I liked how different scents not only hit memory notes for her and others, but also triggered confidence in herself and curiosity among her friends and family. This was a lovely book and I really appreciate my friend giving it to me for Christmas :)

I needed a break from heavier topics and I read Chose the Wrong Man, Gave Him the Wrong Finger. Besides being an awesome title, it was a pretty funny book. The main character never leaves her hometown and she runs a bridal shop and makes one of a kind wedding dresses. Kind of a sad job for a gal who ran out on her wedding with the groom's best man...who was also his brother. The set up of the story (and the title) drew me to the book. It's a very fast read and a cute story.

Freud's Mistress was a bit more substantial. I don't know much about Freud and this was new information for me. Did you know that it's been proved that Freud had a long time affair with his own sister-in-law? I didn't. This fiction novel is based on actual history and events...letters, hotel guest books, and so on. I thought this seemed like a decent representation of what happened...and how the affair could've happened and how it would've progressed. An interesting read.

Topsy wasn't my favorite read...and I'm not sure I'd recommend it. I didn't know a lot about the beginnings of the circus in the US, but now I see how it's tied to so many different parts of our history. I think what I didn't like was reading about the abuse of the elephants and how Edison and others ran all the experiments on stray dogs. Those parts were really not cool. But I would've never have put together the circus, Barnum, Edison, and electricity.

I've watched both of the Borgia series through their second seasons (one on Netflix and one on Showtime) and I enjoyed both...although I think the one on Netflix is better overall. So I was pretty excited to find a new book about the Borgias by Sarah Dunant. I love all the different takes on their history. Each retelling of their story breathes new life into the old family. It doesn't hurt that it all takes place in Italy...mostly in the Vatican. All that history...the politics, the plotting, the murders...it's just really complicated and really intriguing. I highly recommend both shows and Blood and Beauty.

I generally enjoy Chuck Klosterman's essays. I did enjoy some of this book, but overall, I didn't think it was his best effort. I think I like his unrelated essays better than having the theme of villainy run through the whole book. I still laughed out loud many times, but it was just a downer topic, I guess. I don't know...I'd recommend his older books, but I don't think this one makes my list. I've not read his fiction works, but after this, one theme throughout? I'm thinking I wouldn't like it much either.

And hurrah! I finally finished Catherine the Great. It was so good! Massie is a fabulous author. He tells history as a story and pulls you into the people's lives. Bringing together the pieces of Catherine's life before and during her rule was a massive piece of work. He said it took him eight years of research and writing. I didn't know of her correspondence with many of the great writers and artists of the time. It was truly a fascinating read.

OK, that's it for July. I've started the latest Philippa Gregory and am looking forward to the second Percy Jackson movie, Elysium, and that September issue of Vogue.

The books of June 2013

I think all I did last month was read. I know that isn't technically true. But still. Me and the couch logged a lot of quality time. I did finally finish the craft project, but since it'll be a Christmas gift, no picture posting. Sorry.

Movies:
I saw three movies in June (please note, it is July 7th as I type this and I've already seen 2 movies this month and I might see another this afternoon...clearly, good things are happening on screen).

Man of Steel was great! I love Henry Cavill as Superman. (I also love him as Sir Charles Brandon in the Tudors and Theseus in the Immortals...basically, if he's in it, I love him in it.) I'm a little bewildered at some of the story changes, but overall, I really enjoyed the movie and look forward to sequels. If you like superhero movies, you should see this...it's a nice addition to the genre.

I wasn't sure that I would enjoy it, but This Is the End was really funny. It was also really wrong. Like horribly, can't banish thoughts of it, wrong. Kind of like Hot Tub Time Machine wrong. Which means I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably check it out on DVD when it's released. James Franco still bothers me, but I like most of the other people in it...Emma Watson possibly being my favorite surprise character. If you don't know anything about this one, it's famous people playing themselves in a movie about the rapture/end of the world. The end scene was one of the funnier things I'd seen in a long time.

At the end of the month, I saw The Heat. That's the one with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. It was absolutely hysterical. I laughed over parts that I'm sure were also hilarious. I will definitely watch this more than once. One of my friends thought it was funnier than Bridesmaids and Ted...and she loved both of those! Go see this before it leaves the theater...it's definitely worth the time.

Books:
I read lots of really good books this month. Seems like every author I like has been cranking things out to keep me entertained. I reread a couple of old ones because I found out there is a third in the series that I never knew about and I did read some more of Catherine the Great...another 5% has been read...just 40% to go!

This month I read The Potty Mouth at the Table by Laurie Notaro; The Tao of Martha: My Year of LIVING; Or Why I'm Never Getting All That Glitter Off of the Dog by Jen Lancaster; Revenge Wears Prada: The Devil Returns by Lauren Weisberger; The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig; The Engagements by J. Courtney Sullivan; The Bookman's Tale by Charlie Lovett; Inferno by Dan Brown; Stoker's Manuscript by Royce Prouty; and the two re-reads, Butterfly and Stars by Kathryn Harvey. PHEW!

Laurie Notaro's personal essays never fail to entertain and The Potty Mouth at the Table is no exception. This particular grouping does have one story that isn't intentionally funny, but shows you how Notaro uses laughter to get through even the darkest times in her laugh...something that I always try to do as well. I laughed out loud way too much and I think I texted or emailed complete paragraphs from the book to friends as it made me laugh. If you like laughing, you should probably read this.

And again with the laughter. I love Jen Lancaster's writing. I love that she does some of the same bonehead things that we all do and is willing to share it with the world. And I especially love that in this book, she decided to become a Martha Stewart minion...something that I occasionally aspire toward myself. So much of this book is funny...if you've ever tried to reorganize yourself or overextend yourself with party planning or having a crafts-only gift season, you'll really get this book. Over the year she has slip-ups, but given some of the things that happen to her family, it's totally ok. The point is that she didn't let things completely derail her quest and she had a lot of fun to help get her through the bad times. I would love for everyone to read this...unless you have pets...then there are a few chapters that you just can not read. It's a lot of sadness and a lot of happy...which, hey, is life.

I need to admit something...I didn't really like book The Devil Wears Prada. I read it a long time ago and when they announced it would be a movie, I was very skeptical. But, even though I disliked the book, I LOVED the movie. Keeping the movie in my mind, I read those characters into the sequel, Revenge Wears Prada. It made things better for me, but I probably could've skipped this one. It was entertaining to find out where all their lives had gone, but it seemed a little forced. Perhaps the pressure of a movie sequel or something? It was definitely easy to slip back into the story, I just don't know if I believed it, you know? It was a quick read if you're looking for something easy.

The Ashford Affair was a complete surprise. If you've read old posts of this blog, you know that I love Lauren Willig's spy series starting back with the Pink Carnation. This book has nothing to do with the spies at all. It's about two cousins and the resulting family issues through time. It takes place all over the world through many years and just as the time hopping in her spy books is planned out, so it is here. How the family comes in and out of contact with each other after marriages, divorces, deaths, and births is really well done. The family secret is well hidden from younger family members until the very end. It was a very interesting read and I really enjoyed it. As a bonus, she's got another spy book coming out later this year...woohoo!

J. Courtney Sullivan has been hit and miss with me. I really liked Commencement, but I didn't like Maine much at all. This one I liked, but I didn't love it. It's the story of engagements and people's marriages/relationships and how all of the characters' storylines end up entwined. The best part was the story of the ad campaign manager who came up with the De Beers slogan "A Diamond Is Forever." I kind of recommend this one, but I can't say it was one of the better reads of the month. I think it was a little too much...like maybe a couple of storylines could've been lost and it would've been fine. If you liked they other books, you will like this one though...definitely the same style.

The Bookman's Tale was really good. I read the synopsis on Amazon and was very intrigued. It's chasing down an original, lost Shakespeare play...one that includes proof that Shakespeare was a real person and that another copy is a fake. The bookman is very reserved and finds himself embroiled in international intrigue and murder just trying to find the truth. I'd never heard of the author before, but I would definitely read something else from him. This one was hard to put down.

Oh, Dan Brown. Why must you be so entertaining? I've been more than a little vocal of my dislike of The Da Vinci Code...but also vocal about my (shocked) enjoyment of Angels and Demons. But this time, I knew I would like the book from the get-go because the plot revolved around Dante's Inferno. For me, the best part of Brown's Inferno is the first part of the book, which takes place in Florence, Italy. To be able to relive my trip through his descriptions was really nice. I liked being able to picture exactly where the characters were and their path of travel through the city. I even have pictures of many of the spots he described. It was great. By the time they left Florence for Venice and beyond, I was hooked. Robert Langdon is up against bio-terrorism this time...the end result leaves you with some interesting questions and makes you think about population growth and human survival long after you've finished the book. I think, for me anyway, Brown finally hit it out of the park. I truly loved this book.

Stoker's Manuscript was another shot at an author I'd not read before. The notes and original manuscript of Bram Stoker's masterpiece are put up for auction. An old family wants to buy it through an agent who was an orphan originally from Romania. The old family has blood ties to the orphan and the journey to discover the truth of the book and of the orphan's heritage made the original Dracula seem tame. I really enjoyed this modern take on a classic. But then again, I tend to like vampire tales in general.

After reading all of those, I looked on the Kindle to see if anything I'd been wanting had dropped in price...and found that Kathryn Harvey had a third book in her Butterfly trilogy. I was very surprised, but I added it to my wishlist and decided I should re-read the first two books before I made my purchase. I found Butterfly at a used bookstore when I was just out of college. It's the story of a girl who ran away from an abusive home and ended up in the hands of a horrible man who craved only power and money, so he used her and set her up in a brothel to earn money for himself. When she became pregnant, he took care of it and had her kicked to the curb. She vowed revenge. Her story takes her from extreme poverty to the heights of power among California business...and give a new spin on brothels for a new era. It is an insane story and it's been a guilty pleasure of mine for years. Stars is the second book. It's another girl (the sister of the girl in Butterfly), who finds out she was adopted near the same time she finds out her adoptive father is in prison for murder. She flees boarding school using her best friend's name and birth certificate to reinvent herself. She proves to have just as much business acumen as her real sister. Her story takes her to Stars...an exclusive retreat for Hollywood types and all of the people staying there have backstories that make the book even better. Some of the stars are loosely based on real Hollywood people, so you can inset faces of stars onto the characters in the book, kind of making your own assumptions. Toward the end of the story, the two sisters have their lives start to intersect and it's a great ending. These guilty pleasure books (trashy novels really) have been re-read more than once and I've always thought they'd make a great mini-series. Now I'm excited to read the third book...according to some of the comments, it's not truly about the same women, but they are outlying characters in the third story, so it should be decent.

All right. That's it for June. Stay tuned for more books and movies :)