I know I keep talking about how time is going too fast, but it really, really, really is. I feel like there's no way it could even be close to October, and yet it's already October 5. Insanity, I tell ya!
Crafts:
Because I'm just now realizing that it's October, I am extremely behind on my crafts. This does not bode well for December.
Movies:
I only saw one movie in the theater in September, although, arguably, it was the best one I could've seen: Trainwreck. This movie is not for everyone, but it's more cross-generational than I thought. I saw it with a friend of mine and while we were sitting there, two other women came in who were 20 to 30 years older than us. They laughed at the same crude things we did and even sat and chatted with us briefly when the movie was over. It was a very hilarious movie, with quite a bit of heart. You really rooted for her to get it together and live life to its fullest. Well played, Ms. Schumer. Well played.
Books:
In September, I read a lot of books: How to Start A Fire by Lisa Lutz; Dangerous Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl; The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire by Abigail Gibbs; The Girl in the Spider's Web by David Lagercrantz (Continuing Stieg Larsson's Millennium Series); Fear of Dying by Erica Jong; Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes by Jules Moulin; and Only the Animals: Stories by Ceridwen Dovey.
How to Start A Fire was a good, solid read about three women who became friends in college and stayed friends, although not always in touch, over the following years. The book chronicles the ups and downs of their lives without keeping a straight chronological timeline - we go backward and forward in time and in their lives, getting to know who they are at different stages of their lives (and how their pasts shape their futures). This was a well written story and I'm glad I took a chance on it.
Dangerous Creatures picks up where the Beautiful Creatures series leaves off. The kids are out of high school and moving on to college, except for Ridley, the dark caster siren. But she and her boyfriend have other plans...although, he's not actually in on the entire plan. This time we follow them from the deep south to New York City and see even more of the caster's world through the different tunnels and traveling methods. We meet some demons we met before and not everyone is who he or she seems. This one was a great set up to reboot the series for another set, all from Ridley's (the dark side) point of view.
The Dark Heroine: Dinner with a Vampire is apparently the first book in a series. I do have the second book, but I haven't read it...nor have I seen the other books that will be in this series (I believe they discuss nine heroines), if they are continuing it. The book starts strong, as a single girl, waiting for her friends on a dark London night, witnesses a massacre of many people by vampires. They kidnap her and as the story unfolds, you find that the worlds have been entwined for a while, but this particular girl can cause no end of troubles for both sides. And then it gets even more interesting: love triangles, politics, supernatural tales, and much more. It was a fluffy book, but I was very entertained by it and once I finish up with all these books from the library, I'll get to the second title in this series.
The Girl in the Spider's Web is the latest in the Millennium Series.Once Larsson passed away, the last I'd heard was that the next book was tied up in legal troubles? I have no idea if this was that book or if a whole new deal was cut with this author? But in the long run, I didn't care. Getting back to these characters a few years down the road was actually nice. I'd missed them and all their messed up thoughts. This book is just as nuts as the others...just as calculated...just as disturbing...just as hard to put down. There were a few places where I thought the new author too some severe license, but for the most part, I was very happy with this new story and the turns it took that might just score us another book in the series. Long live Lisbeth Sander!
Fear of Dying is the latest of Erica Jong's books. It's been too long since I read Fear of Flying, and I'm fairly certain I didn't read Fear of Fifty (or was it Forty?). So I'm not sure I can give an accurate reporting of this without a lot of spoilers. Basically, she was an actress and she's on her third or fourth husband; her daughter is pregnant; her parents are dying; her dog is dying; her husband has a heart attack; and to take time for herself, she places a personal ad and meets a lot of insane men along the way. It was enjoyable, but I wasn't very into the ending. I guess it would work for a lot of people, but I just didn't buy into it.
Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes was kind of hilarious. By "sometimes", she means like twice. It's a cute story that made me laugh out loud a lot as you read the story of this young, single mother and the evolution of her and her daughter's lives. The characters are very real and you feel like you know them. It's quick, it's funny, and it just makes you smile.
Only the Animals was probably the only book that I wasn't really into as I was reading. Each story is told from the point of view of the animal in the story. A couple were ok, but for most the part, it was just enh, you know.
Well, that's September. I've already read one for October and I have GOT to plan out my craft projects better. More next month!
