I read the Hunger Games trilogy a year or so ago and LOVED it, so I was very excited for the movie version that just came out. I enjoyed the movie as well, and with all the surrounding hype, I decided I WAS, IN FACT interested in reading one of the alternative YA dystopian novels Amazon kept recommending to me. Continue reading »
Dear Self: Overreact much? Sigh. It seems that every book/movie/etc. I’ve gotten into lately has less-than-impressed me. What’s a girl to do?
Last Thursday, I saw Billy Elliot: The Musical with my mom. It was good but also super long. Also, there was a lot of Margaret Thatcher-based humor, and let’s be honest, I’m no M.T. scholar, so…yeah. Additionally, I think part of what made Billy Elliot such a good movie was the juxtaposition of the artistically (dance-type) talented son and the hyper-masculine widowed father accepting him/his talent regardless. You lose a lot of that contrast when EVERYONE’s singing and dancing to silly songs in wacky outfits. Continue reading »
It’s finally Friday, and there are a few things I’m going to tell you about. Continue reading »
When looking for new books to read, I often find myself unwittingly buying into the hype. It’s unintentional, but it seems that if enough people say enough positive things about a book, I become convinced that it HAS to be good. For example, I heard so many good things about Deborah Harkness’s A Discovery of Witches, and, unfortunately, I was far from charmed. Not that I shouldn’t have guessed that from the synopsis: Scholar and witch descendant Diana Bishop uncovers an “enchanted alchemical manuscript”, which brings her to the attention of vampire/geneticist Matthew Clairmont as well as a panel of magical beings who want her dead. I’m actually kind of embarrassed to admit that I read such a thing, but I’m telling you, the quotes about it were things like: ” a thoroughly grown-up novel packed with gorgeous historical detail, has a gutsy, brainy heroine to match.”
