The books of August 2015

I am completely ready for summer to be done...so of course, it's a heatwave outside. Ugh.

Movies:
Not many movies for August...I got a little burned out after the last two months, I think. But I did make it out to see two.

The Man from UNCLE was a great take on the old television show. I loved all the 60s clothing and music. It just looked so, well, groovy. It didn't hurt that the male leads were Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer. It's nice to spend an afternoon that's easy on the eyes.

Straight Outta Compton was fantastic. The music, the story, the actors...everything was just perfect for this movie. I kept wondering how they found actors that looked so much like the members of NWA...especially Ice Cube. Turned out, that was his son. Makes sense. They did a really great job on this movie.

Books:
In August (and one day of September, so slight cheating), I read the following: Barbara the Slut and Other People by Lauren Holmes; The Marriage of Opposites: A Novel by Alice Hoffman; Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner; Uprooted by Naomi Novik; Coreyography: A Memoir by Corey Feldman; and The Taming of the Queen by Philippa Gregory.

Barbara the Slut and Other People is a grouping of short stories by Lauren Holmes. They were good stories, but by far, my favorite was the one told from the dog's point of view from its adoption by a couple through the demise of the relationship and the dog's triumph in having things just as it wanted. Hilarious.

The Marriage of Opposites is loosely based on the story of the mother of Camille Pissaro (the first painter of impressionism). She grew up in St. Thomas in the 1800s and the story chronicles her life and scandal and follows young Camille as he escapes to Paris and returns to try and help the family and then continues to be different from them. I can see why this story caught Hoffman's interest. It's definitely got a lot of heart and adventure. It was a very engaging read.

Who Do You Love was another good book from Weiner. Two kids meet at the hospital and their lives continue to intertwine from then on. As teens, they meet again on a school trip. They begin to date and continue to do so through college, despite their differences. Success comes and go for both...as does the meaning of success to each of them. As they adult in their own ways, they begin to realize that they may have had it right the first time.

Uprooted is a new type of fairy tale. The dragon (a wizard) takes a girl from the local village to live with him for ten years...the girl, not the one everyone expected to be taken, has powers and he trains her to be a witch. The woods are evil and begin to encroach on the small towns and infect people. Between the wizard, the witch, and others in the kingdom, they must drive back the darkness to save their lives and homes. This was a very good book.

And now for the fluff of the summer: Coreyography. This was highly entertaining if you've ever seen anything Feldman has been in. I ended up being very happy that he was able to save himself from the destructive path he and others kept him on for so long. He talks about the Goonies and Lost Boys extensively...if you like anything he's been in, you should probably read this.

A new Philippa Gregory? Yes please! This one was about Katherine (Kateryn) Parr...the last wife of Henry VIII. My knowledge of her is limited, but I knew enough to want to see Gregory's take on her. She made her out to be kind of a proud and clueless intellectual who survived by finally getting some street smarts. I don't know that I can truly say I liked it, but I do like reading these types of books, so I don't feel like it was time badly spent or anything. I just don't think I came out really liking Kateryn Parr all that much. She just seemed a little full of herself...not on the Boleyn level, but still. Not bad, but not the best from Gregory.

OK. Finally caught up from all the summer reading and movie seeing. It needs to be fall ASAP!