Ran out of Space

After two blogs and three years my google picture account has exceeded its limit....I am now deciding whether or not to continue with Blogger or move on. I should figure this out soon and keep on blogging in the near future hopefully here, but definitely somewhere. I love Blogger. It's easy for a simple mind like me, but I have no desire to pay a monthly fee. Thus the dilemma... Give me time. I'll figure something out soon.

Happy Independence Day!

England, you know you are glad to be rid of us uncultured crazies!

Timeless by Gail Carriger

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This is the last book in the Parasol Protectorate series. It makes me a little sad. I've loved watching Alexia and Lord Maccon duke it out in wits over the course of the previous books. Alexia is a hoot and a strong match for her Alpha Wolf husband.

We find out a bit more about Alexia's preternatural state and who her father was. They travel to Egypt and there are muggings, kidnappings, and crazy old vampires out to kill everyone. It's fun and funny, and even a bit tender in spots.

The first half was a bit slow but overall the ending made up for it. It ends well and that makes me happy. And they lived happilish everish after.

I have happy news that Gail Carriger is continuing her series but in a new direction with Lady and Lord Maccon's child Prudence.  Looks like we'll expect the first book in Fall of 2013 or early 2014. Yeah! More Parasol Protectorate fun!!!!!

One Line Movie Reviews

1. The Shadow (1994): Cheesy yet fun remake of the classic radio series.

Rating: B-

2. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011): Excellent English version, though, I am partial to the original Swedish version.

Rating: A-

3. Tipping the Velvet (2002): Fantastic story of lesbian Nan Astley and her adventures as a male impersonator in the 1890's of London.

Rating: A-

4. Saved! (2004): Funny, inspiring, and gets you thinking.

Rating: B+

5. Kirikou and the Sorceress (1998): Fascinating African myth story.

Rating: B-

6. The Three Musketeers (2011): Some fun scenes and special effects but not the best remake.

Rating: C-

7. Under the Tuscan Sun (2003): Beautiful cinematography of Italy and fun love story.

Rating: B-

Contact by Carl Sagan

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Summary: Radio astronomer Ellie discovers an extraterrestrial signal from Vega that includes instructions on how to build an unknown machine.

Carl Sagan really brought his love of science and humanity into his first and last novel. It's a shame that he died so young. How would the world change with the knowledge that we're not alone in the Universe? Do we band together as a global species and do we let or differences annihilate us? Sagan gets very philosophical throughout the book. I feel that the heroine, Ellie, was truly Carl Sagan's voice. He sort of brings all of his ideas into one book. He also explains the science very well so me, as a lay person, can understand.

Sagan shows his weakness in fiction writing here. Sometimes the plot got bogged down by his philosophical points, but overall it was a moving story told with trepidation about our future but with a little hope thrown in at the end.

Like Sagan, I hope we as a species can learn to think globally and not annihilate ourselves so we can truly journey to the stars and make space our backyard.

One Line Movie Reviews

Rating: 2.5 stars

John Carter (2012): A bit cheesy, but fun for a Sunday afternoon movie.

3.5 stars

Dream House (2011): A real mind bender for me...I loved the ending!

1.5 stars

Footloose (2011): Some things should not be remade...the original is the best and greatest and this was a cheap imitation that left a bitter taste.

2.5 stars

Real Steal (2011): Meh in the beginning but ended on a really sweet note.

4.5 stars

Hugo (2011): Original, quirky, funny, and endearing.

*All images were pulled from IMDb.com

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

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Amazon.com description: One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, Will Grayson crosses paths with . . . Will Grayson. Two teens with the same name, running in two very different circles, suddenly find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, and culminating in epic turns-of-heart and the most fabulous musical ever to grace the high school stage. Told in alternating voices from two YA superstars, this collaborative novel features a double helping of the heart and humor that have won them both legions of fans.

Funny, enlightening, exaggerated, painful, and full of heart. Those are my words to describe this excellent novel. You can't help but grow to love both Will Graysons and Tiny, the one who brings them all together.

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Here's another cover:

I think it might be from Australia due to the quote from Melina Marcheta, an Australian YA author. I think I like the U.S. cover better, though. It also fits the story better.

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

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Neil Gaiman takes the African god of mischief and mayhem, Anansi the spider, and takes him and his family into modern day. Neil Gaiman has an obsession with all things mythological, I think. This book is no exception. Fat Charlie (who's not fat) has always been down on his luck and embarrassed by his father all his life. When his father dies, he soon learns that his father was a trickster god and that his unknown brother got all the awesome god powers. His brother Spider comes into life and starts to mess it up even more. Spider moves in and begins to steal his fiancee, his job, etc. Fat Charlie decides to get revenge which ends up messing up things even more.

It's pretty light-hearted, for the most part. But I have a hard time with characters that get oppressed and oppressed for too long. Charlie didn't get redeemed til toward the end. And overall, I just didn't care a lot about the characters.

I love what Neil Gaiman's trying to do with his books. They make for some interesting stories, for sure. But I haven't been able to really get into his books, yet. I'm working on American Gods right now....

I read this for one of my book clubs and used a library copy.

Happy Love Day!

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Interesting factoid. St. Valentine's Day was literally a holy day to honor the Catholic saint Valentine and others as martyrs. It didn't start gaining its romantic connections until the tradition of courtly love came about (1000-1300 AD). By the 15th century it had finally evolved into an occasion for lovers to express their love to each other! 600 years later, we're still celebrating love in its many forms between friends and family, and lovers, as well as celebrating our love for humanity!

I plan on celebrating with my son Gabe by cutting out hearts and drawing pictures on them. We'll give them to his friends and his dad tonight! Maybe we'll even go out for a Valentine goody!

I think we'll go all out next year with some house decor and maybe even some baking of cookies and crepes! We'll see.

Recipe!

 Go read up on Cupid and Psyche and show some love today!

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Taft 2012: A Novel By Jason Heller

William Howard Taft pulls a Rip Van Winkle and wakes up 100 years later just in time for the 2012 presidential election.

I really enjoyed the premise behind this. I learned a lot more about President Taft. It was fun to see our country and century through his early twentieth century eyes. I also would love to truly have a legitimate third party in America. I think it really would balance the political spectrum out more.

The one thing I had a hard time with was the flow of the story. It feels like the author had an idea he felt passionately about and then used the story to further this. Thus the characters felt a bit two-dimensional.

But overall, it was a fun read and had a lot of insight. Yeah to Quirk Books for offering another fun story to the mix.

*I received this book from the publisher.

For more information visit the Taft2012 website.

Best and Worst of 2011

Happy New Year, everyone! Yeah to the wonderful books of 2011 and on to the wonderful books of 2012! Everyone's gotta do the list, so here are mine.

Here are my top five best reads of the year 2011:

1. Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George. It was one of the first reads of the year and it was enchanting.

2. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. A wonderful coming-of-age story.

3. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. Perkins just had a way of making France and her characters come alive. Anna was fun and real, and the story was just adorable.

4. Hounded by Kevin Hearne. This was such an amazing surprise! An urban fantasy adventure that made me laugh, cry...maybe not cry, but lots of adventure, action, and humor that you won't want to miss. Go read it. NOW!

5. Looking For Alaska by John Green. This is a modern classic. Heart-breaking, but it asks a lot of questions and doesn't have easy answers.

Top Two worst books...(pretty good year if I only had two!)

1. Across the Universe by Beth Revis. Too much preaching along a semi-decent sci-fi back drop...annoyed.

2. Jane: A Modern-retelling of Jane Eyre by April Lindner. Started off great and then got bogged down by literally transferring every detail of classic story to modern-day. DID NOT work.

Hope everyone enjoys a wonderful year of reading!

A Little Break and Figuring it Out

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I've been pretty sporadic in my writing this year. I started this blog 2.5 years ago so I could express my love of books and movies. Starting this blog has been a life-changer for me, literally. I want to thank everyone I've met blogging these last couple of years. You are amazing and you have inspired me. I've been able to converse with authors and review their books. I've been able to participate in reading challenges, book giveaways, book tours, write guest posts, review movies, etc. It's been amazing! Thank you all for letting me in to your lives and your world of books.

But right now I'm kind of in a rut and need to take a break. I want to revamp the blog and get it organized and figure out how I want to get it going again.

I may write a post or two like I've been doing but I felt like I wanted to take an official leave of absence for a tiny bit (though I am reviewing a Quirk Book in January...). I hope I'll be back soon rearing to go soon! Thanks for reading my humble little post from time-to-time.

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I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and New Year as well! Oh, and happy reading!

One Line Movie Reviews

1. The Kids Are All Right (2010): A touching story on how an unorthodox family keeps it together.

Rating: A-

2. Stake Land (2010): Vampire zombies ravage the land...bloody and weird.

Rating: C-

3. The Ledge (2011): Love, philosophy, religion, and tragedy all rolled into one.

Rating: B+

4. Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004): Lots of action, conspiracies, and zombie mayhem!

Rating: B

5. Resident Evil: Extinction (2007): A little cheesier, both in action and dialogue, than the first two.

Rating: C

6. Horrible Bosses (2011): Crazy funny, so much so that my drink sprayed out my nose!

Rating: B

7. MST3K: The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies (1997)(1964 for original movie): The Mystery Science Theater team is the only thing that keeps this one funny and witty!

Rating: (B+ for commentary and F for actual movie)

8. Luther (2010): (BBC TV show) The victim sometimes die, a sociopath can have a heart, and yeah this is a fantastic TV show.

Rating: B+

9. Capitalism: A Love Story (2009): Heart-wrenching stories but it didn't sit well with me since he uses emotion rather than facts and logic to persuade.

Rating: C-

Monday Movie Meme- All About Cars...

This week’s Monday Movie Meme (hosted by Madlab) invites participants to "give me some that you like where a car is one of the central characters in the film." So let's think of the cars!

1.  Christine (1983): A nerdish boy buys a strange car with an evil mind of its own and his nature starts to change to reflect it.

2. Transformers (2007):  Shia LeBeouf gets a yellow mustang that can transform into a robot. Bumble Bee was the coolest transformer, well any character, period in that movie.