Week-in-review...Where Did the Summer Go?

Where did July go? And now we're almost halfway through August?! What?

Our big trip was up to Washington state to visit our friends and their two children, aka G's best friends ever! We had some major car problems and a pukefest right before we were able to leave for said trip. But we got a rental and spent the one day back at home and killed ourselves to make the trip the next day. All crazy problems were worth it because we all had a relaxing time hanging with our friends and seeing the gorgeous Pacific Northwest.

We visited Seattle and hit up the Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, and the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum. It was a nice cool and cloudy day and we enjoyed some good food and I, of course, found some used books to go home with! The Chihuly Garden was beautiful and definitely worth the visit if you're ever in the area.

This picture sums up the crazy shenanigans these guys get into when they're all together. They don't miss a beat when they get back together!

We went to the beach, ate some amazing seafood and clam chowder, hiked in the beautiful forests, and just chilled at home. If only we could teleport back home without that super long drive!

On the bright side, we enjoyed some fun audiobooks on the way to and from Washington. Even G was thoroughly entertained with two of them.

A neighbor watched our kitties while we were gone. They survived but they definitely missed us. We found quite a few puke spots and one kitty accident in the kitchen but overall it wasn't as bad as I was imagining. Our kitties are growing up! ha ha

Poor Shadow had so much hair since she didn't get her usual daily brushings. I took a pic of the hairball we pulled off of her but it was pretty gross....

Last Month I:

Read: Calvin by Martine Leavitt; My Sister, the Serial Killer by Okinyan Braithwaite; All That Remains: A Life in Death by Sue Black; Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi, A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs,

Last Week I Read:

The Time Museum by Matthew Loux, Fake Blood by Whitney Gardner, Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu, Recursion by Blake Crouch, I'm Just a Person by Tig Notaro, The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.

Listened to:

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner, Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jukebox Joyride by Jacob Stein.

(These were all our vacation listens!) The Phantom Tollbooth was all of our favorites!

Watched:

TV:

Veronica Mars the latest season on Hulu. I rewatched the first season and part of the second but the new season came out too soon and so I just dived in!

The Typewriter on Netflix. It's an Indian production and it's great. It's got kids in a ghost club and a demon trapped in a typewriter trying to take over the town. It's super weird and different and I'm loving it.

Dear White People the third season. There were a lot of tongue-in-cheek references to it being the third season of a Netflix show...that was weird. It's the weirdest season yet but it was still enjoyable but not sure where they're going with it. Shrugs shoulders.

Movies: 

Spider-Man: Far from Home, Into the Dark: Culture Shock (if you only see one of these anthology movies from Hulu, this is the one), Red Sparrow.

Made:

Bread! It turned out pretty well and I didn't have to knead a lot with my handy stand mixer so boom! With all of our auto repairs, we're on a tighter budget for a bit so I'm trying to make more meals from home. But last month I made this amazing garlic shrimp linguini. Yum.

This Week I:

Am currently reading:

Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart, The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey.

Am currently listening to:

A few podcasts to catch up on but nothing specific yet. Probably won't start one until school starts again for G and I have more free time in the car and around the house.

Am looking forward to:

More camping with friends at the end of the month. School starts next week? Kind of excited cuz I can get back to a consistent schedule for transcription work and some online classes I want to take but I've been enjoying this summer of relaxation and not worrying about school!

Mini Book Reviews: A Map of Days, All That Remains...

Time for another round of mini book reviews! Between traveling by car for 10 hours two ways and some vacation downtime, I read quite a bit this last month. And I haven't had the time nor the inclination to post anything recently...so here ya go.

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs

Published October 2nd, 2018 by Dutton Books for Young Readers

Genre: Young Adult, fantasy, paranormal

Format: Hardcover, 496 pages, own

Rating: 4 stars

My Thoughts: 

This is the fourth book in the Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series. I enjoyed this just like the others. But it's really a niche series now, in my opinion. It's getting a bit over-the-top. And I'm still slightly unnerved by the romance between Jacob and Emma...Let's just say she used to be in love with his grandfather 60 years ago and he's but a boy of 17? It's hard to come up with coherent stories when you're using old, creepy photographs to build from. But hey it's still a fun ride with all these characters!

The Weirdstone of Brisingamen by Alan Garner

Published Originally in 1960, Audiobook 2007

Genre: Young Adult, fantasy

Format: Audiobook, 6 hours and 19 minutes, own

Rating: 3 stars

My Thoughts:

I felt like this was almost a retelling of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," or a very long Dungeons and Dragons game! But it filled the time for our long drive to Washington and it had all the great trappings of dwarves and elves and the Big Bad! Gandalf, I mean, the Wizard is there to help along the way. I thought the children would get more parts but they didn't. They weren't really essential to the story. They kind helped keep the story going and held the stone? I don't know. It was a weird, no-frills fantasy.

The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

Published Originally in 1961, Audiobook 2019
Narrated by Rainn Wilson!

Genre: Young Adult, fantasy

Format: Audiobook, 4 hours and 41 minutes, own

Rating: 5 stars

My Thoughts: 

I absolutely adored this one! I had no idea this was such a classic. It's funny and crazy and has all the puns you can handle and then more. But in a good way! It's a smart kids book and we all loved listening to this on our long drive! It's one we'll relisten to again and again. And Rainn Wilson was the best narrator! He's a voice man and it shows.

Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi

Published April 30th, 2019
Genre: Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy, Myth

Format: Hardcover, 381 pages, own

Rating: 4 stars

My Thoughts:

This is the second book in the Pandava Quartet series. G and I both loved it. Great action and crazy characters and world-building, along with some lessons about friendship and second chances.

All That Remains: A Life in Death by Sue Black

Published April 15th, 2018
Genre: Non-fiction, Memoir, Science, True-crime

Format: Hardcover, 368 pages, Library

Rating: 5 stars

My Thoughts:

Sue Black fills us in on how she got started in forensic anthropology, her process, how they solve crimes, identify bodies, and handle all-things death. She tells us about her time in Kosovo and handling mass graves. It's heady stuff. I won't deny I shed a few tears throughout her memoir. I now want to go to Scotland and die by her university so I can donate my body to it and science! Read the book to find out why! Also, as one who has been surrounded by the dead her whole life, she has some pretty amazing insights into the human condition and Lady Death Herself. 

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Okinyan Braithwaite

Published November 20th, 2018
Genre: Literary Fiction, Mystery, Satire

Format: Kindle, 228 pages, Own

Rating: 3 stars

My Thoughts:

I love the cover. Gorgeous. I enjoyed the thoughts of Korede as she struggles to deal with her serial killer sister, Ayoola. It's a satire but I'll admit a lot of it went over my head. Topics of culture and gender roles and family loyalty all play out in this quick novel. It would be a great book club book to explore the issues with others.

Cat Thursday-- Cat Con 2019

I had no idea but there is a CatCon in L.A.! What? It just had it's 4th annual event in June. I need to get myself over there one day. But check out the site and this awesome news report from ABC to catch up on all things cat!

I'm Just a Person by Tig Notaro

Published: June 14, 2016 by HarperCollins Publisher

Genre: Memoir, non-fiction

Format: Kindle, 240 pages, own

Rating: 4 stars

Publisher's Summary:

One of America’s most original comedic voices delivers a darkly funny, wryly observed, and emotionally raw account of her year of death, cancer, and epiphany.

In the span of four months in 2012, Tig Notaro was hospitalized for a debilitating intestinal disease called C.Diff, her mother unexpectedly died, she went through a breakup, and was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer. Hit with this devastating barrage, Tig took her grief onstage. Days after receiving her cancer diagnosis, she broke new comedic ground, opening an unvarnished set with the words, “Good evening. Hello. I have cancer. How are you? Hi, how are you? Is everybody having a good time? I have cancer.” Word of the set went viral instantly. This set was ultimately released as Tig’s sophomore album, Live, which sold 100,000 units in just six weeks and was nominated for a Grammy.

Now, the wildly popular star takes stock of that no good, very bad year—a difficult yet astonishing period in which tragedy turned into absurdity and despair into joy. An inspired combination of the deadpan silliness of her comedy and the open-hearted vulnerability that has emerged in the wake of that dire time, Untitled is a moving and often hilarious look at this very brave, very funny woman’s journey through the darkness and her thrilling return. 

My Thoughts:

I didn't know much about Ms. Notaro until her Amazon semi-biographical TV show aired a couple of years ago. I devoured "One Mississippi" in one sitting and counted down the days until I could watch the second season. She has a rare honesty and a raw and subtle style to her comedy that I ate up. She allows people to see her humanity and in turn we see ours.

I'm so happy I finally picked up her memoir. She recounts her excruciating battle with C. diff, her grief for her mother who died very suddenly, and breast cancer all pretty much at about the same time. When you see Death looming at the door whether from loved ones or oneself, it changes you and her thoughts and insights come as no surprise.

"While you're alive, you should feel alive. I thought about how tomorrow or a week from now, or whatever date people tell themselves is the big day--a party, an award, show, a holiday--is no more important than the event of today. I thought: 'Every day is the day.'"

I enjoyed her perspective on the child-parent relationship. Her father Pat left her mother and her and her brother quite young. Her mother married Ric and he became their father for all intents and purposes. But he didn't quite know how to do that--how to show and feel all those complicated feelings. It took the death of Susie, his wife, to start expressing and coming to terms those feelings.

"He declared that he now realized it's not the child's responsibility to teach the parent who they; it's the parent's responsibility to learn who their child is."

I was saddened at how sick she got and how hard it was for her to reach out and let people know she's practically dying. I could feel how hard it was for her to be so sick and have to rely on others to help her out. 

Another awful thing that stuck out (Ms. Notaro didn't mention it) was how hard it was for her to find adequate health care, to find doctors who gave a shit. It took a friend who had a friend who was a nutritionist to help her get her microbiome in her gut back up to snuff. No follow-ups after C. diff, no follow-ups after breast cancer and a double mastectomy. And this is a woman who was doing pretty well for herself when all this happened. It just blows my mind. Or how the hospital sent out a survey to her DEAD MOTHER to see how her care in the hospital was! WTF!

Ms. Notaro's story is one of heartache and grief. But one where she has learned to keep putting one foot in front of the other, keep trying hard things, and accepting love and help when she needs it. I look forward to more Tig in the future. She's just a person but definitely one of the better ones.

Mini Book Reviews: The Midnight Dress, Where Am I Now?, My Plain Jane...

My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows, and Brodi Ashton

Published June 26th, 2018 by HarperTeen

Genre: Retelling, historical fiction, young adult, paranormal,

Format: Kindle ebook, 464 pages, own

Rating: 3 stars

Thoughts: Jane Eyre is one of my favorite novels...well, it's probably my actual favorite. It still holds up after all this time since the first time I read it as a teenager. So I was very interested in this quirky retelling. Hand, Meadows, and Ashton are retelling stories of famous Janes in literature/history. This is their second collaboration.

This version has Ms. Bronte and Jane sharing the same world. Charlotte is a budding writer and her fellow Lowood friend is perfect for inspiration. In her world ghosts exist and the Crown has a special division devoted to tracking down spirits and helping them move on. Jane Eyre happens to be a very special person, one who can see and talk to ghosts but also attract them and make them do things she tells them.

It's a bit convoluted but it's entertaining. They do call out some anti-feminist ideas in the original Jane Eyre which I thought was funny and tongue-in-cheek. 

The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee

Published February 1st, 2013 by University of Queensland Press

Genre: Young adult, fantasy

Format: Hardcover, 336 pages, library

Rating: 3 stars

Thoughts: This story blends a touch of magic with its world. Most of the time I enjoy that. This time, though, I felt it made the world and story a lot more confusing. Foxlee has some great poetic lines. She has a fantastic way with words. But I was confused. She opens with a big mystery. A girl goes missing. We think it's probably the protagonist Rose but we're not sure. As the story unfolds more tidbits are revealed through different characters' and their thoughts. By the end, I knew who was missing and why but there was a lot in the middle that I did not figure out. There was a lot of subtle hints at pedophilia as well...

Maybe if I had been in a different mood when I read it? I don't know. I liked a lot of it but mostly it just left me confused.

*Read for Erin's 11.0 Book Challenge: read a book with an article of clothing in the title.

Where Am I Now?: True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame by Mara Wilson

Published September 13, 2016 by Penguin Books

Genre: Memoir, humor, non-fiction

Format: Audible, 7 hours, 22 minutes, own

Rating: 3.5 stars

Thoughts: I loved learning more about Mara Wilson and her family life and the struggles of being a young actress. I had no idea about the death of her mother while she was filming "Matilda" or how she has struggled with OCD and anxiety, or truly how awful it must have been when her parts dried up after she was no longer the cute Matilda-like child anymore.

My biggest complaint is I felt her story arc wasn't quite put together. Each chapter jumped from childhood to teen years, to college and back, and no reason real tie for me to bring it all together. Well worth the read to hear all about Mara and what an amazing human being she is. Lots of little tidbits too about when she worked on films as a kid.

Five Midnights by Ann Davila Cardinal

Published June 4th, 2019 by Penguin Books

Genre: Young adult, horror, myth

Format: Hardcover, 304 pages, library

Rating: 4 stars

Thoughts: Cardinal brings us to Puerto Rico. Lupe comes down to stay with her aunt and uncle (a cop) for the summer while her dad attends rehab. Soon her cousin and his friends are being hunted and killed by someone or is it some thing? Cardinal introduces us to el cuco the boogeyman that's meant to scare children into being good. I liked the story development. Overall, the myth worked for me. She brought the sights and sounds and smells of Puerto Rico to life and I really enjoyed her world-building. It made me want to get down there and try all that yummy food.

She did set up someone to be the bad guy and then it didn't happen. And there was some weird ethics about drugs and what makes a good person....but I think she just had to go with it in order to bring the myth alive into the contemporary world. 

Calvin by Martine Leavitt

Published November 15th, 2015 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

Genre: Young adult, mental illness, coming-of-age

Format: Hardcover, 188 pages, library

Rating: 4 stars

Thoughts: This was a fantastic quick read. Leavitt packs a powerful story about mental illness, family, friends, and philosophy. Calvin has started hallucinating...he's actually seeing Hobbes from the comics by Bill Waterson. He believes if he can just get Bill Waterson to finish one more comic strip for him and write out Hobbes, then he'll be cured. And guess who comes along for the ride? His best friend Susie. Or is she a hallucination too? I wasn't sure exactly what was going on but it's a heartfelt story about a kid who'd figuring out how to handle his mental health and how to ask for help.

Book Challenge by Erin 11.0 July-October Book Challenge

I saw that a fellow book blogger had done this challenge earlier this year and she loved it and I thought "hey, why not? Summer is here and this will be a great challenge to try for! The challenge begins July 1 and ends October 31st. I added a couple of mystery/thrillers for Halloween time too.

Book Challenge by Erin 11.0. The rules and discussions are all on the Facebook page and the group on Goodreads.

• 5 points: Freebie – Read a book that is at least 200 pages-- Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart

• 10 points: Read a book that starts with “F”-- Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century by Dorothy Roberts

• 10 points: Read a book with one of the following words in the title: rain(s), thunder, lightning, or monsoon-- Monsoon: The Indian Ocean and the Future of American Power by Robert Kaplan

• 15 points: Read a book with a picture of a building (i.e. a house, a castle, a school, a hospital, etc.) on the cover-- Bellevue: Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital by David Oshinsky

• 20 points: Read a book that the published author uses an initial in his/her name--Second Life by S.J. Watson

• 20 points: Read a book with an article of clothing or accessory in the title--The Midnight Dress by Karen Foxlee

• 25 points: (in honour of our co-admin) – Read a book set in India-- The Satapur Moonstone by Sujata Massey

• 30 points: (selected by Lyndsay L.) – Read a book that has won or been short-listed for the Booker Prize--The Sellout by Paul Beatty

• 30 points: (selected by Deborah D.) – Read a book about a human with superpowers or supernatural powers-- Map of Days by Ransom Riggs

• 35 points: (selected by Lorraine J.) – Read a book that has the same title as another book in a different genre-- Far From the Tree by Robin Benway, also the same title as Andrew Solomon's book.

Manual For Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future by Kate Brown

Published: March 12, 2019 by W.W. Norton & Company

Genre: History, environment, non-fiction

Format: Hardcover, 432 pages, library
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Publisher's Summary:

Dear Comrades! Since the accident at the Chernobyl power plant, there has been a detailed analysis of the radioactivity of the food and territory of your population point. The results show that living and working in your village will cause no harm to adults or children.

So began a pamphlet issued by the Ukrainian Ministry of Health—which, despite its optimistic beginnings, went on to warn its readers against consuming local milk, berries, or mushrooms, or going into the surrounding forest. This was only one of many misleading bureaucratic manuals that, with apparent good intentions, seriously underestimated the far-reaching consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe.

After 1991, international organizations from the Red Cross to Greenpeace sought to help the victims, yet found themselves stymied by post-Soviet political circumstances they did not understand. International diplomats and scientists allied to the nuclear industry evaded or denied the fact of a wide-scale public health disaster caused by radiation exposure. Efforts to spin the story about Chernobyl were largely successful; the official death toll ranges between thirty-one and fifty-four people. In reality, radiation exposure from the disaster caused between 35,000 and 150,000 deaths in Ukraine alone.

No major international study tallied the damage, leaving Japanese leaders to repeat many of the same mistakes after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. Drawing on a decade of archival research and on-the-ground interviews in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, Kate Brown unveils the full breadth of the devastation and the whitewash that followed. Her findings make clear the irreversible impact of man-made radioactivity on every living thing; and hauntingly, they force us to confront the untold legacy of decades of weapons-testing and other nuclear incidents, and the fact that we are emerging into a future for which the survival manual has yet to be written.

My Thoughts:

I started reading this after I became fascinated with Chernobyl and its after-effects while watching the HBO series and listening to the podcast by Peter Sagal and series creator Craig Mazin. Mazin referred to Kate Brown's ground-breaking book on the environmental impacts of nuclear energy and the effects we'll continue to see now and in the future.

Basically, the USSR and the global communities refused to look at the effects of low-dose radiation over time, how it has impacted the local communities: their food, water, etc. No one at the time wanted to confront the fact that they had been exposing their citizens to nuclear fallout for decades from the time the first nuclear bomb was created.

According to one study: "...in 1961-62, the two superpowers blasted the earth in a last-minute race to discharge bombs before the 1963 atmospheric nuclear test ban treaty went into effect. That last grand finale of radioactive fireworks emitted an eye-popping twelve billion curies of radioactive iodine into the Northern Hemisphere and left its mark on everything, even fine French wine."

Plants and humans readily take up radioactive strontium, cesium, and iodine that mimic potassium, iodine, and calcium. The fallout is ingested by the plants, animals, and ultimately humans.

Even with the health risks known, governments refused to shut them down or make them safer, or even acknowledge how dangerous they were. Reputations and national security were more important than human lives.

Brown goes onto to show that accident at Chernobyl while the biggest and most disastrous, was only a point on a continuum of accidents, experiments, mining, bombing, etc. The territory "...was already saturated with radioactive isotopes from the atomic bomb tests before architects drew up plans for the nuclear power plant. And, after Chernobyl as before Chernobyl, the drumbeat of nuclear accidents continued at two dozen other Ukrainian nuclear power installations and missile sites." The forest surrounding Chernobyl turned red after the accident, soaking up all those radioactive material. What happens when it burns? Well, it did in 2017.

She goes on to say: "Instead of an accident, Chernobyl might better be conceived of as an acceleration on a time line of destruction or as an exclamation point in a chain of toxic exposures that restructured the landscape, bodies, and politics."

Nuclear powers have minimized the deaths of the Chernobyl disaster in order to dodge lawsuits and investigations in the 1990s, with the end of the Cold War, when records of decades of bomb productions were declassified. These records have shown how government leaders took little care or responsibility "...for damages caused by the detonation of the equivalent of 29,000 Hiroshima-sized bombs...The ill-advised detonation of nuclear weapons in Nevada delivered to milk-drinking Americans across the U.S. continent an average collective dose of radioactive iodine similar to that of people living in Chernobyl contaminated areas."

This line comes from the last chapter and sums it all up: "The period of nuclear testing qualifies as the most unhinged, suicidal chapter in human history. In the name of 'peace' and 'deterrence,' military leaders waged global nuclear war."

I don't think I could've been prepared for how emotional I'd become while watching the series, listening to the podcast, and reading this book. It's a heavy book. You realize how far we have to go to get our shit together, how much suffering we've caused, and how much people are still suffering due to our terrible and abominable policies and short-sighted thinking. We don't have a lot of foresight as humans. I can only hope we can come together before it's too late.

Week(s)-in-Review: Hiking, Birthday, and Camps!

Summer (well, the summer season, anyway) is in full swing at my house. G is out of school and has done two camps already and doing basketball this week! We have started our weekly (mostly) hikes. I celebrated a birthday and got new ear piercings! I recovered from a major sinus infection which left me feeling awful. G had his first camp away from home for 3 nights! It was tougher on me than it was on him! But he had a blast and he is home safe! Also, our weather has been crazy this spring. We had hail last week!

We hiked the mountain with friends!

My new fun ear piercings and my yummy whiskey sour for my birthday! Also, hail! What?!

Space camp for G and he learned how to use chopsticks too!

Father's Day was almost a success...DH decided to open a package that was his present! Oopsie. Oh well, he got it early. G helped me make him breakfast and then we headed up to my sister's house for a barbecue and games later that day. Overall it was a success!

Last Week I:

Read: Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future by Kate Brown...two weeks ago but didn't actually finish a book last week due to being sick. Sad face.

Listened to: Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame by Mara Wilson.

Watched:

TV:

The Leftovers on HBO. I'm on the first season and it's so good.

Movies: 

Over the last couple of weeks I've seen: Greta, John Wick: Chapter 2 and 3, Always Be My Maybe (I really enjoyed this one. Cheesy but cute. Just what I needed), Crazy Rich Asians (Also fun and adorable), Into the Dark: They Come Knocking (from Hulu for their Father's Day horror movie. I really enjoyed this one), and Ma (Octavia Spencer kills it; she's worth the price of entry).

Made: I'm growing mint in my little garden and made a few raspberry mojitos before I got sick. Then I didn't make much of anything til this weekend and made cupcakes and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for Father's Day!

This Week I:

Am currently reading: Voices from Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich, Ruff Vs. Fluff by Spencer Quin (G is kind of forcing me to read this one since he loved it so much!), Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi.

Am currently listing to: Haven't started a book yet but I'm thinking The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert or The Overstory by Richard Powers.

Am looking forward to: Camping next Monday! I was worried the campsite wouldn't be open but it just did so it's on!

Cat Thursday

Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by Michelle at True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! 

Hi Homer brings us the birthday celebrations of Rubble who appears to be the oldest living cat in the world! He just celebrated 31 years!

Source

Taken from article:

Rubble's human mom, Michele Foster of Exeter, took him in as a kitten back in May, 1988.It's hard to believe that Reagan was still in office when this little guy was born, or that he's as old as Rain Man, Die Hard, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?—especially when he's managed to maintain his youthful good looks.

She says he's gotten a bit grumpier in his old age but overall he is in excellent health. What a handsome kitty!

Horror Movie Wednesday: Us

Director: Jordan Peele

Writer: Jordan Peele

Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Elizabeth Moss, Winston Duke

Released: March 22, 2019

A smart and horrific look at what we do to each other in the shadows. It's a strong and tragic metaphor for society. Pure terror and I loved it!

Director: Michael Chaves

Writer(s): Mikki Daughtry, Tobias Iaconis

Starring: Linda Cardellini, Raymond Cruz, Patricia Velasquez

Released: April 19, 2019

This is another movie in the Conjuring universe. I didn't realize that til I was watching it...but ok. Not great but not terrible. Better than "Nun." Funny moment, though. I saw it with my sister and there was one big jump scare that got her so good. Her hands flung out and she smacked me in the face and my popcorn fell all over the floor! Totally worth it.

Director: Kevin Kolsch and David Widmyer

Writers: Stephen King (novel), Matt Greenburg (screen story), Jeff Buhler (screenplay)

Starring: Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, John Lithgow

Released: April 5, 2019

I've seen both versions now but I have not read the book so I'm not sure which adaptation is more faithful...but I loved this version so much more. The ending was perfect and creepy. But the first version is still worth a watch but the special effects are very outdated so they take you out of the story a bit. Truly creepy and disturbing!

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Writers: Dario Argento, Daria Nicolodi, David Kajganich

Starring: Dakota Johnson, Tilda Swinton

Released: November 2, 2018

I saw the original a couple of Halloweens ago. It came out in 1977 so it did feel a bit dated but the score was terrifying and the ending...But this one had a more feminist feel to it. And I really enjoyed the ending a lot more. Both are worth a watch.

Director: Julius Avery

Writers: Billy Ray, Mark L. Smith

Starring: Jovan Adepo, Wyatt Russell, Mathilde Ollivier

Released: November 9, 2018

This was a fun surprise for me. A World War II movie...which is already tragic and horrific and then you throw in zombie experiments...yeah, it all hits the fan. Fun.

Book Reviews: How to Live, Song for a Whale

How to Live: Or a Life of Montaigne: In One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer by Sarah Bakewell

Published: February 16, 2010 by Chatto & Windus

Genre: Biography, Philosophy, History, Self-help

Format: Hardcover, 387 pages, own
Rating: 4 stars

My friend Stacie and I have an ongoing philosophy book club. She moved away a year ago and this is a way we can stay connected while we are far apart. 

Bakewell enjoyed writing about Montaigne and all his quirks. He was one of the first people to truly write about the self in all its boring detail. And not so boring. I loved getting to know his quirks and the history of France around this time. It was a troubled time, indeed. He inspired me to just keep writing and not worrying about if it's boring or not. Just living means everyone has something to write.

Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly

Published: February 5, 2019 by Delacorte Press

Genre: Middle grade, contemporary fiction

Format: Hardcover, 303 pages, library

Rating: 5 stars

This is an adorable book. Yes adorable and thought-provoking. Iris is deaf and her parents are forcing her to attend a school that has no deaf children. She feels alone and defeated. But she soon learns about a whale that sings a song that no other whales can hear. She decides to make a song for this lonely whale and she is determined to play it for him.  She joins her grandmother on a cruise in order to find this whale and find another lonely soul.

Go read it.

American Spy by Lauren Wilkinson

Published: February 12, 2019 by Random House

Genre: Historical fiction, cold war

Rating: 3 stars

I liked it. But I didn't love it. It was a bit rough as a first novel. She writes in the form of a very long letter to her sons. It ended up making the overall story a little less dramatic and it sometimes took me out of the story.

I really enjoyed the overall plot, though. Marie Mitchell's story about her sister Helene and her mother leaving them while she was very young, and her treatment as a black woman in the FBI in the 80s was all interesting. I didn't buy her being a spy very well and I didn't really like the "love" story between her and Sankara. I feel like if she had just told the story in real time rather than afterwards as a letter to her sons, it would have been a more gripping and interesting story. It was a very short novel and thus I feel she had to cut a lot out and just kind of move the story along when she needed to and having it as a letter would make that very easy.

Overall, a very interesting story and I will pick up the next book by Wilkinson and I hope the writing and story development will be tighter.

Argos: The Story of Odysseus as Told by His Loyal Dog by Ralph Hardy

Published: May 31, 2016 by HarperCollins

Genre: Middle grade, history, fantasy

Rating: 3 stars

Argos tells Odysseus' story. He's not with him the whole time so he must get snippets from other creatures who meet Odysseus and his crew along the way. So sometimes the story-telling was a bit forced. Argos was stiff and the writing was a bit stodgy, but it's a fun way to get the story for a younger audience. 

The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey

Published: January 9, 2018 by Soho Press

Literary Awards: Mary Higgins Clark Award, Agatha Award for Best Historical Novel, Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Mystery & Thriller

Genre: Mystery, Historical fiction

Rating: 4 stars

I really enjoyed this historical mystery during the 1920s of India. So many cultural and historical things to learn and enjoy. Massey never once makes it feel like an info dump. I've read books where you can tell the author is straining the story in order to tell you how much useless info she learned from a book somewhere about the time period she's writing about. All the information and world and characters feel organic. You feel like you could be back there experiencing it all. 

Perveen Mistry is the only female lawyer in the area working for her father's firm. She can't even practice in court legally. But when the sequestered widows of Malabar Hill need to speak with someone and the only one they can speak with is Perveen...well, she becomes entangled in a murder and a mystery that leaves her in peril. 

Massey also shares Perveen's history. We go back in time until it all comes together with the present. I'm excited to continue with the rest of the series.