Week-in-Review: May Is Gone and June Is Here!

It's been a crazy few weeks with school getting out and some home projects, family, etc! Whew. I feel like I can barely catch my breath right now. I had this up as a draft for almost 3 weeks and I'm only now getting to it. I don't even know how to adult right now...

Another good friend is also getting ready to move out of state next month. G is devastated since her son will be moving and they've been such good friends since they met. We're all devastated here. Too many good friends moving.

G has been out of school for two weeks now! Where does the time go already. We enjoyed a neighborhood party Memorial Day weekend and had friends over on actual Memorial Day. I made fajitas and raspberry mojitos. One of the many reasons I enjoy summer so much is making yummy summer-time drinks to share with friends.

It was sad to see G's last day of 7th grade! I can't believe he will enter 8th grade in the fall. It's just so unreal to think about it. He's growing so much. So many of the kids were crying and it just made me really sad to see but it's also a bittersweet time of growing up and moving on. Sigh.

G even joined me and my friends on a hike last week! That's pretty amazing. We had a great time and even got a bit lost and had to scale down the mountain! Never a dull moment...

It's another big month with my birthday on Sunday! What? Shaved ice on Saturday with friends and bowling on Sunday with more friends and family. I'm also getting my second tattoo, small, but significant. I look forward to sharing it soon.

G has space camp at the end of the month and is also taking an online Minecraft modding class which he is so excited for. I'm really happy to see he still loves playing and creating on there.

And let's not forget Father's Day and Juneteenth. 

And Pride month as well. Like I said big month in June.

Currently Reading 

My reading has been slow lately. I'm still reading a few big books and I keep starting new ones too and lay some others down for a bit or randomly pick up something new and finish it before I even think about it! It's like this is a very loose list and it can change without notice!

Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker

Free Speech: A History from Socrates to Social Media by Jacob Mchangama

Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind by Judson Brewer

The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science by Sean Kean

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration by Isabel Wilkerson

Aru Shah and the End of Time (Pandava#1) by Roshani Chokshi-- This is a reread with G. We got behind on this series so we are rereading and then catching up!

Leviathan Falls (The Expanse #9) by James S.A. Correy. Last book in the series!

Read

Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse #8) by James S.A. Correy/ 2019 / 534 Pages / Paperback / Sci-fi

My Thoughts: 

I really enjoyed this one. Authors made some sacrifices and I cried.

People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present by Dara Horn/ 2021/ 237 Pages/ Kindle/ Own/Non-fiction, Religion, Essays, Memoir

Publisher's Summary:

Renowned and beloved as a prizewinning novelist, Dara Horn has also been publishing penetrating essays since she was a teenager. Often asked by major publications to write on subjects related to Jewish culture—and increasingly in response to a recent wave of deadly antisemitic attacks—Horn was troubled to realize what all of these assignments had in common: she was being asked to write about dead Jews, never about living ones. In these essays, Horn reflects on subjects as far-flung as the international veneration of Anne Frank, the mythology that Jewish family names were changed at Ellis Island, the blockbuster traveling exhibition Auschwitz, the marketing of the Jewish history of Harbin, China, and the little-known life of the "righteous Gentile" Varian Fry. Throughout, she challenges us to confront the reasons why there might be so much fascination with Jewish deaths, and so little respect for Jewish lives unfolding in the present.

Horn draws upon her travels, her research, and also her own family life—trying to explain Shakespeare’s Shylock to a curious ten-year-old, her anger when swastikas are drawn on desks in her children’s school, the profound perspective offered by traditional religious practice and study—to assert the vitality, complexity, and depth of Jewish life against an antisemitism that, far from being disarmed by the mantra of "Never forget," is on the rise. As Horn explores the (not so) shocking attacks on the American Jewish community in recent years, she reveals the subtler dehumanization built into the public piety that surrounds the Jewish past—making the radical argument that the benign reverence we give to past horrors is itself a profound affront to human dignity.

My Thoughts:

This was a tough read but I learned so much and I fell in love with Dara Horn. I just picked up one of her fiction books. She's a powerful writer and I know I'll be still mulling on this one for awhile.

"...Those girls were not stupid, and probably not even bigoted. But in their entirely typical and well-intentioned education, they had learned about Jews mainly because people had killed Jews. Like most people in the world, they had only encountered dead Jews: people whose sole attribute was that they had been murdered, and whose murders served a clear purpose, which was to us something. Jews were people who, for moral and educational purposes, were supposed to be dead."

"The existence of Jews in any society is a reminder that freedom is possible, but only with responsibility--and that freedom without responsibility is no freedom at all."

"Antisemitism is at heart a conspiracy theory, and one appeal of conspiracy theories is that they absolve their believers of accountability, replacing the difficult obligation to build relationship with the easy urge to destroy."

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James/ 2022/ 344 Pages/ Library/ Hardcover/ Horror, Mystery

Publisher's Summary:

In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect--a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crimes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion.

Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true crime website, the Book of Cold Cases--a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea's surprise, Beth says yes.

They meet regularly at Beth's mansion, though Shea is never comfortable there. Items move when she's not looking, and she could swear she's seen a girl outside the window. The allure of learning the truth about the case from the smart, charming Beth is too much to resist, but even as they grow closer, Shea senses something isn't right. Is she making friends with a manipulative murderer, or are there other dangers lurking in the darkness of the Greer house?

My Thoughts:

I wanted to love this one! I was so excited to finally get this from the library. I loved The Sun Down Motel and enjoyed Broken Girls. But I was very underwhelmed with this one. The story was a bit disjointed and I didn't feel like there was much of a mystery and when it was revealed the book was half over. I kept thinking there would be some crazy twist at the end...Also the supernatural elements were a lot more toned down in her other two books. I didn't enjoy how prominent they were in this story. 

Hopefully her next one is better.

Movies Watched:

They are in your house... watching you...

Terrified (2017). Directed by Demian Rugna. Starring: Maxi Ghione and Norberto Gonzalo

My Thoughts:

It was different! There were some genuinely creepy things from this little Argentinian horror. I really enjoyed that it wasn't demons and priests. But the story was a bit incoherent but time was not wasted. 

He just landed the gig of his life: 5th grade.

School of Rock (2003). Directed by Richard Linklater. Starring: Jack Black, Joan Cusack, Mike White, and Sarah Silverman.

My Thoughts:

DH and I saw this in the theater back when it first came out and we both really enjoyed it. Jack Black plays the goofy and endearing, but definitely needs to grow up and adult in the real world. And it takes the uptight private school 5th grade class to do that! Fun music and these kids are really talented. They steal the show and rightfully so. 

G saw the musical with his class last month before school let out and he really liked it so we introduced him to the movie that started it all. 

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022). Directed by Sam Raimi. Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, and Xochitl Gomez.

My Thoughts:

We all saw this in the theater as a family Memorial Day weekend. It's a rare movie that will draw us out of our home to see a movie in public! We weren't disappointed. Lots of fun and wackiness ensued. But would I call this a strictly Doctor Strange movie? Nope. I'd say Wanda gets half-billing for this movie and she even got a whole Disney+ series! Doctor Strange should feel a tiny bit bad about that! lol.

We see some amazing characters and I don't like what they did but it's a small part of the movie. Overall, it's a fun ride.

X (2022). Directed by Ti West. Starring: Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, and Brittany Snow

My Thoughts:

This was one crazy movie. The premise is a group of twenty-somethings in the late 70s rent out a barn house in the middle of nowhere from a very odd elderly couple...in order to make an amateur porn film with each other. 

Need less to say...craziness ensues once it gets out what's actually going on. Not quite sure on the whole point of the movie. Was it an homage to 70s and 80s slashers that had no point? Maybe. It was artsy and bloody. My friends and I had a great time.

TV Watched:

Finished up Under the Banner of Heaven on Hulu. While not the most accurate in terms of people involved and Mormon culture, it was still an interesting take and not for the faint of heart. But overall, a good series with some big caveats.

Finished Life and Beth on Hulu. The first couple of episodes were a bit slow but each episode is under 30 minutes so you can watch the first three or four and get into it. I really enjoyed the heart Schumer put into her series. A lot of trauma was being worked out in the is series. I appreciate her opening up about her life and where she is at now. Highly recommended.

Finished Hold Tight on Netflix. Entertaining Harlan Coben adaptation from Poland. Nothing more to say. It's nothing ground-breaking but if you enjoy his work then you'll enjoy this one.

Working my way through Moon Knight on Disney+, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds on Paramount, and The Orville: New Horizons on Hulu.

Joining up with Deb from Readerbuzz and her Sunday Salon.