Crafts:
I worked on two things this month, but only one can be shown at this time...the other will go up in the March post since I made it for a March birthday gift. This is a weelittle stitches pattern for the movie Hot Fuzz:
 |
| If you haven't seen it, you won't understand: SWAN! |
February is part of winter and winter is cold. That's going to be my excuse for only going to see two movies this month.
I finally saw Amour at our local one-screen theater, The Art. So very depressing. And sad. And, well, slightly nap-inducing if I'm totally honest. I get why it was nominated beyond just the foreign film category, but really, it's not my scene. I knew it was going to be a downer, but I didn't know it was going to put me in a complete sadness funk.
But on the brighter side, I saw Beautiful Creatures. I'd read the book earlier...and as I looked through my blog, I couldn't find anything about it...oopsie! Well, I bought it last year and I think I might have read it in January...maybe? Clearly I don't remember. I know that I loaned it out before the movie started on 2/15/13, so it hasn't been that long ago. Anyway, the book and the movie are different, but most of the big moments are the same (some left out though). Everyone was fantastic, as were the special effects. I really hope they make the rest of the books into movies...the rest of the books that I have not read yet. I did actually really enjoy the book...it was another fairly detailed teen drama, but you got a real sense of the characters and no one was sparkley...althouth I bet her cousin could've pulled that off. They are witches, but called casters (casting either light/good or dark/evil), but the book lets you see there's more to it than just that. There are always shades of gray (50 perhaps? see what I did there)...for those seeing the movie and not reading the book, I will tell you that it ends on the same note, but in a very different way. I also enjoyed that it took place in the south (both old south and modern day).
Books:
I think I did that thing again where I bought books on the Kindle and then forgot what all I got. I can't remember if I bought a physical book...I'm thinking maybe not...
Anyway, the books I read this month: Here I Go Again by Jen Lancaster, Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling, Letters to Sartre by Simone de Beauvoir and Quintin Hoare, A Tangled Web (short story) by Mercedes Lackey, and Nighttime Tales Volume 1 by Clay Held.
Jen Lancaster just does not disappoint. With my own high school reunion looming ever nearer, this was just what I needed (and maybe repeated viewings of Square Pegs. Gross Pointe Blank, and Romy and Michele's High School Reunion). Mean girl learned nothing and was snotty to everyone all the time. Mean girl gets loaded at reunion and a chance to change some things. She goes back in time more than once...with butterfly effect repercussions. The story is of how she changes as she sees what she's done and said and how it affects people is really well done. Plus, with loads of 80s references thrown in, how could you not be lovin' every minute of it? (again, see what I did there?) Warning: you will have irresistible urges to listen to Whitesnake after reading this...give in to it...it's worth it.
The new Rowling book has had widely varied reviews. I'm a huge Harry Potter fan, so I had to get myself mentally prepared to read this book as if it was by a new writer. In a way, it was. Rowling creates another world, but this world doesn't have wizards and magic...it has mistakes and lies, deaths and decisions, and most of all small town humans and all their dirty little secrets. If you are able to deal with just the muggles for a while, you'll find that Rowling is still a terrific writer who pulls you into a world that's familiar and not at the same time. You won't really like a lot of the characters, but I bet you'll be able to relate to them as people you may or may not know in different forms. I didn't think I'd be able to like it based on what I'd heard, but I was wrong. I did like it. It's hard not to like a good book, even if you don't necessarily bond with the characters.
Admission 1: I did not finish Letters to Sartre. Admission 2: I don't care that I didn't finish and I don't think someone could pay me to go back and finish it. This time it was not the writing...it's letters between a couple...I get that. It's their relationship that made me not want to read it anymore. I just didn't like how they presented themselves and frankly their day-to-day happenings weren't terribly exciting to read about...paying fees, eating, walking, getting sick...these are things I can find out about by living my own life.
A Tangled Web was part of the 500 Kingdoms series. I love different takes/twists on classic fairy tales and myths...this was a good one. It combined Greek and Norse mythology into the Kingdoms, with the Tradition pushing the heroes and heroines into all kinds of trials. This was the story of Persephone and a side story of Brunhild. Very well woven together. I actually recommend all of this series if you like fairy tales...and most of Lackey's Elementals series as well.
Lastly, I read Nighttime Tales Volume 1, a book of short stories by my friend Clay. I didn't really know what to expect, but I enjoyed this quite a bit. I read them over a couple of days when I had time. For those of you who don't like scary books/movies, this isn't like that...more of a thinking man's thriller type of thing. Bad things happen, but it's not so detailed out that you can't read through it...I felt like a lot of it was open to my imagination and interpretation and I appreciated that. The first two stories are the ones that stuck with me more, but mostly because of my own preferences on what to read about. If you like to be a little spooked and like good writing, you should totally check this one out. It's only $.99 cents for Amazon Kindle now.
Well, that's it. Hopefully I'll see a few more movies in March...and read lots of great books!
No comments:
Post a Comment