2020 Reading Challenge and FY2020 Movie Challenge
My first Challenge post of 2020, and the first two months of the year will already be history in a few hours. As always, I am pledging to myself that I will not let my Challenges get out of hand again like this, and...as always...I doubt that I'll manage to update monthly. That's my goal, however, and I'm sticking to it. Meanwhile, here are two months' worth of reading and watching movies. FanSee
2020 Reading Challenge
1.) Dzur by Steven Brust. Dzur starts exactly where Issola left off, with Vlad, our hero/villian, in his home town of Adrilankha which is not the safest place for him to be. In fact, it may be the most dangerous place. He's there because his ex-wife, Cawti, needs his help. The fact that she doesn't really want his help is no deterrent. Sethra Lavode, one of Vlad's Dragaeren friends has sent a young Dzurlord, Telnan, to Vlad because Sethra feels the experience would be helpful to Telnan. Then things get complicated. Warning: Dzur ends on a cliff-hanger.
2.) Jhegaala by Steven Brust. Instead of picking up where Dzur leaves off, Jhegaala takes place while Vlad was on the run, avoiding the Jhereg who want to assassinate him. Vlad was raised by his grandfather after his mother died when he was a baby; he has no memories of her. When his grandfather tells him that his mother was Fenerian, Vlad decides to visit Feneria. He figures that since a Dragaeren assassin would stand out in Feneria, which is inhabited by Easterners (a.k.a. 'humans'), that might make shining him more difficult. In addition, as long as he was there, he could find out more about his mother. What could go wrong?
3.) Private Lies by Cynthia St. Aubin. Jane Marple Avery looks for her mother in the audience as she crosses the stage to pick up her J.D. Her mother has always been present for her big moments, going back to nursery school; Jane found her in the audience before crossing the stage; and now she isn't there. Frankly, I wouldn't panic if my mother was momentarily missing, but if I couldn't find her afterwards...yes, I'd panic. However, despite this dire beginning, Jane's humorous point-of-view had me smiling on almost every page, with my smiles frequently breaking down into giggles. What we have here is a light-weight read that was easy to float through.
4.) Germania by Steven Winder. Germania was one of those books that everybody on dunnetwork was reading, so I read it, too. I found it a slog, probably because for most of the book I thought it was a high-level history of Germany from its earliest history through 1933. I was mistaken. Instead I was reading a collection of essays, loosely grouped by along the timeline from pagan Germany through to 1933 when Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. My conclusion: I should read a standard history of Germany; afterwards I might appreciate Winder's essays more.
5.) The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Seven-year-old Jude is playing on the floor while her identical twin, Taryn, naps on the couch, and her half sister, Vivi, watches TV. Her mother is making dinner in the kitchen, and her father is out back, indulging in his hobby at his forge. A strange man rings the doorbell and tells Vivi she must leave with him. Her mother protests, and her father rushes inside and heaves the axe he has been working on at the stranger. When her father misses, the stranger pulls a sword and kills, then throws the axe at her mother's fleeing back and kills her, too. The stranger, Madoc, takes the three sisters away with him, back to the High Court of Faerie. That's all in the Prologue, and it was enough to hook me. Your milage may vary.
6.) The Wicked King by Holly Black. Sometimes the middle volume of a trilogy is the weakest of the three, as if the author had too much story for two volumes but not enough for three. That is not true here. There is plenty of story here, all told in Black's crisp, clear, sometimes lyrical, style that never gets in its own way. Not much of a thumbnail sketch here, except to say that despite the trauma she suffered, Jude has succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations...including Madoc's, to his annoyance...in the High Court of Faerie and is now a power to be reckoned with.
7.) The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. Besides Black's enjoyable, readable prose style, she is also a great world-builder and the creator of a large cast of characters who grow and change believably over the course of the trilogy. Most importantly, her worst enemy/best friend is Cardan, now reigning as High King of Faerie. Jude herself has left Faerie and is living a 'normal' life in Maine. Still, despite its dangers, despite its rejection of her, Faerie still draws her. Will she go back? Can she? Deponent sayeth naught. Instead go yourself to the High Court of Faerie and find out.
8.) Hi Five by Joe Ide. I love Joe Ide's detective character, Isaiah Quintabe, also known as IQ. (He is very smart.) I also love IQ's side kick, Dodson. Dodson is street smart rather than intellectual, but the case could be made that IQ is almost as street smart as Dodson, having also grown up in East Long Beach. They are both going to need all of their skills to clear Christiana Byrne of killing her boyfriend. Christiana's father is a Big Time Gangster, and he's going to break both IQ's girl friend's hands unless IQ can explain away Christiana's presence at the crime scene. IQ's girl friend is an upcoming concert pianist, so this is a serious threat, while Christiana's multiple personality disorder is a serious handicap. Lots for IQ and Dodson to overcome.
9.) Blood Memory by Greg Iles. Greg Iles is a new author for me, vigorously recommended to me by the 'Books' tab on my Kindle. I was on vacation, with a sometimes unreliable internet link, and I needed something to read. This stand-alone mystery fit the bill. In it, two story lines involving Catherine Ferry are woven together. The one in the present involves her role as an expert on teeth and bite marks. The one in the past is brought to life again when Cat accidently spills forensic luminol on the carpet of her childhood bedroom and reveals two sets of footstep in the bloodstain, one child-sized. A well-written and compelling story.
10.) Past Tense by Lee Child. Several years ago, my sister Debbie and I went through a Lee Child phase and read all his Jack Reacher novels then extant. So when I found myself in an airport with a long flight ahead of me and nothing to read, I bought Past Tense. It filled the bill just fine: a puzzle, lots of action, and...to my surprise...touches of humor that had me grinning appreciatively. It's nice when a author you've previously found reliable turns out to still be reliable.
11.) The Quiet Game by Greg Iles. After I read Blood Money I discovered that Iles had a series of novels set in Natchez, Mississippi, the first of which is The Quiet Game. Penn Cage is a former Houston, Texas, prosecutor who is now a successful mystery novel writer. He is recently widowed, a single parent to a five-year-old daughter. Both he and his daughter are very much at loose ends, so he decides to visit his parents in Natchez, hoping that immersing them both in family will be restorative. Once there he finds himself drawn into two separate investigations. His father, a beloved family doctor, is being blackmailed because of an old medical error that lead to a death. In addition, based on his prosecutorial reputation, a black mother and her daughter-in-law ask Penn to find out who killed their son/husband in 1968. That's a whole lot going on, so this was a lengthy read but well-written and filled with interesting and well-developed characters, not least of which was the city of Natchez.
12.) The Turning Angel by Greg Iles is the second novel in his series about Penn Cage and takes place five years later than the first one. Penn has now settled in Natchez, Miss., and has renewed his childhood friendship with Drew Elliott, now a well-regarded doctor. Both are alumni of St. Stephens Prep: never would any of Natchez' best families send their children to a public school, post-integration. When Kate Townsend, the most popular girl in St. Stephens senior class, is murdered, Penn is doubly shocked when Drew is arrested and jailed for killing her. Drew admits that they were having a secret affair, but denies strangling her. While trying to clear his friend, Penn finds himself relying more and more on Kate's classmate, Mia, to explain the social structure of today's senior class at St. Stephens. Less complicated but held my interest better than The Quiet Game.
13.) The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles. In the third Penn Cage's novel, Penn has been elected Mayor of Natchez, Miss., "to save my hometown and (I) was arrogant enough to believe I could deal with the devil and somehow keep our collective virtue intact." Spoiler: He can't. The devil Penn is dealing with is riverboat gambling. An informant has met with him secretly to tell him about prostitution and dog fighting occurring on the floating casino; Penn is already suspicious that Natchez isn't receiving its share of the casino's receipts. The informant agrees to met with Penn again after he can suss out more details of casino's chicanery; instead he is tortured and killed, and Penn Cage is deep in another, personally dangerous investigation. There are three more Penn Cage novels after TDP, but despite how well and suspensefully Iles writes, I'm done with Natchez, MS for now. Other books and other writers beckon.
14.) The Siege Winter by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Newman. I don't usually read fiction with two authors, a well-known writer and someone hired, I think, to write the parts Well-Known Writer doesn't want to deal with. Then I read that Franklin died in the middle of the book: that seemed like a reasonable excuse for not doing a solo job. I am here to say that I cannot now tell where Franklin left off and Newman picked up. The year is 1141, and England is being torn apart by rival claimants for the throne, King Stephen and the Empress Matilda. In this lawless world, an 11-year-old girl is brutally raped by a cleric and left for dead. Bleeding and nearly dead, she manages to drag herself into a hiding place where she is found and adopted by an archer for hire named Gwyl. Disguised as boy, she and Gwyl roam the chaotic, dangerous countryside, looking for refuge and employment. By the time the novel ended, I felt I had gotten an authentic look at a period I am not well-versed in (despite Cadfael) while reading a feast of a book.
15.) An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, along with Educated, was a Christmas present from my daughter-in-law's brother, Sam. All through my childhood, I could reliably expect at least one book at every holiday. That stopped once I reached adulthood. I read so much and so widely than no one felt comfortable giving me books. Sam was not intimidated, thank heavens. I had read Educated, but it came with its receipt so I can exchange it and may do so tomorrow. American Marriage I had not read, but it was so far down my queue that it wasn't until yesterday that I finished it. It took me a bit to get into it, but then I got on another plane with nothing else to read: that worked! I ended up enjoying it, despite feeling that the main female character was a Mary Sue, defined on Wikipedia as, "Mary Sues are often an author's self-insertion or wish fulfillment;" i.e., how competently the author would have performed had she been the character in her own fiction. I forgive Jones, however, because the two men in the triangle felt absolutely authentic to me.
FY2020 Movie Challenge
1.) Rust Creek with Hermione Corfield and Jay Paulson.
2.) Yesterday with Himesh Patel and Lily James.
3.) Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.
4.) Mansfield Park with Frances O'Conner and Jonny Lee Miller.
5.) Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Bentham.
6.) Downtown Abbey with Michelle Dockery, Allen Leach, and a host of other familiar faces.
7.) The Aftermath with Keira Knightley, Alexander Skarsgård, and Jason Clarke.
8.) The Bronx, U.S.A. directed by Danny Gold. A bunch of old duffers get together and tell us about what it was like to grow up in the Bronx in the 40s and 50s: Alan Alda and his wife, Hal Linden, Robert Klein, Colin Powell. For much of show, the old guys took us to places that had been important to them growing up, showed us what it looked like then, and what had replaced it now. Sweet, nostalgic 1 hr., 35 min. show.
9.) Decade of Fire directed by Gretchen Hildebran and Vivian Vazquez was also about the Bronx...specifically about the South Bronx...but was neither sweet nor nostalgic. Rather it was full of raging fires, decimating the old projects and apartment buildings that provided housing for mostly black and Puerto Rican families. Very little was done to stop, or even to contain, these fires. Afterwards, aerial shots show whole square blocks...many whole square blocks...reduced to level fields of rubble. About 250,000 people were displaced by these fires, and the City of New York was mostly indifferent to the calamity. Horrifying flic.
10.) Jojo Rabbit directed by Taika Waititi, starring Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo and Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa. I usually avoid movies...especially comic movies...set in Hitler's Germany, but for some reason, I made an exception of Jojo Rabbit. I'm glad I did. I found it both amusing and touching. Perhaps my tolerance this time was partly because it took place at the end of the war, when Germany was back on its heels. In addition, children like Jojo and adolescent Elsa cannot be blamed for being affected by a war they had no role in and cannot affect its outcome. They are the most innocent of enemies, even when they spout Hitler's propaganda and wear his gear, as Jojo does. How could I not root for Jojo, Elsa, and Jojo's be-spectacled friend, Yorki, to come through this cataclysm safe and (hopefully) sound?
11.) The Thing About Harry directed by Peter Paige and starring Niko Terho as Harry and Jake Borelli as Sam. Sam and Harry, away at college, are forced to share a ride to get home for a party. Harry was popular in high school and not particularly kind to nerdy Sam, but on their drive home, Harry admits to being bi. Sam is unimpressed until Harry admits that he's more than bi, he's gay. When they have to share a motel room en route, Sam 'splains being gay to Harry as their barriers go down, and a friendship starts to grow. I was initially unimpressed by this bit of fluff, but must admit that by the end of its 120 minutes, I was charmed and a little touched. There may have been a bit of a tear in my eye.
2020 Reading Challenge
1.) Dzur by Steven Brust. Dzur starts exactly where Issola left off, with Vlad, our hero/villian, in his home town of Adrilankha which is not the safest place for him to be. In fact, it may be the most dangerous place. He's there because his ex-wife, Cawti, needs his help. The fact that she doesn't really want his help is no deterrent. Sethra Lavode, one of Vlad's Dragaeren friends has sent a young Dzurlord, Telnan, to Vlad because Sethra feels the experience would be helpful to Telnan. Then things get complicated. Warning: Dzur ends on a cliff-hanger.
2.) Jhegaala by Steven Brust. Instead of picking up where Dzur leaves off, Jhegaala takes place while Vlad was on the run, avoiding the Jhereg who want to assassinate him. Vlad was raised by his grandfather after his mother died when he was a baby; he has no memories of her. When his grandfather tells him that his mother was Fenerian, Vlad decides to visit Feneria. He figures that since a Dragaeren assassin would stand out in Feneria, which is inhabited by Easterners (a.k.a. 'humans'), that might make shining him more difficult. In addition, as long as he was there, he could find out more about his mother. What could go wrong?
3.) Private Lies by Cynthia St. Aubin. Jane Marple Avery looks for her mother in the audience as she crosses the stage to pick up her J.D. Her mother has always been present for her big moments, going back to nursery school; Jane found her in the audience before crossing the stage; and now she isn't there. Frankly, I wouldn't panic if my mother was momentarily missing, but if I couldn't find her afterwards...yes, I'd panic. However, despite this dire beginning, Jane's humorous point-of-view had me smiling on almost every page, with my smiles frequently breaking down into giggles. What we have here is a light-weight read that was easy to float through.
4.) Germania by Steven Winder. Germania was one of those books that everybody on dunnetwork was reading, so I read it, too. I found it a slog, probably because for most of the book I thought it was a high-level history of Germany from its earliest history through 1933. I was mistaken. Instead I was reading a collection of essays, loosely grouped by along the timeline from pagan Germany through to 1933 when Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany. My conclusion: I should read a standard history of Germany; afterwards I might appreciate Winder's essays more.
5.) The Cruel Prince by Holly Black. Seven-year-old Jude is playing on the floor while her identical twin, Taryn, naps on the couch, and her half sister, Vivi, watches TV. Her mother is making dinner in the kitchen, and her father is out back, indulging in his hobby at his forge. A strange man rings the doorbell and tells Vivi she must leave with him. Her mother protests, and her father rushes inside and heaves the axe he has been working on at the stranger. When her father misses, the stranger pulls a sword and kills, then throws the axe at her mother's fleeing back and kills her, too. The stranger, Madoc, takes the three sisters away with him, back to the High Court of Faerie. That's all in the Prologue, and it was enough to hook me. Your milage may vary.
6.) The Wicked King by Holly Black. Sometimes the middle volume of a trilogy is the weakest of the three, as if the author had too much story for two volumes but not enough for three. That is not true here. There is plenty of story here, all told in Black's crisp, clear, sometimes lyrical, style that never gets in its own way. Not much of a thumbnail sketch here, except to say that despite the trauma she suffered, Jude has succeeded far beyond anyone's expectations...including Madoc's, to his annoyance...in the High Court of Faerie and is now a power to be reckoned with.
7.) The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. Besides Black's enjoyable, readable prose style, she is also a great world-builder and the creator of a large cast of characters who grow and change believably over the course of the trilogy. Most importantly, her worst enemy/best friend is Cardan, now reigning as High King of Faerie. Jude herself has left Faerie and is living a 'normal' life in Maine. Still, despite its dangers, despite its rejection of her, Faerie still draws her. Will she go back? Can she? Deponent sayeth naught. Instead go yourself to the High Court of Faerie and find out.
8.) Hi Five by Joe Ide. I love Joe Ide's detective character, Isaiah Quintabe, also known as IQ. (He is very smart.) I also love IQ's side kick, Dodson. Dodson is street smart rather than intellectual, but the case could be made that IQ is almost as street smart as Dodson, having also grown up in East Long Beach. They are both going to need all of their skills to clear Christiana Byrne of killing her boyfriend. Christiana's father is a Big Time Gangster, and he's going to break both IQ's girl friend's hands unless IQ can explain away Christiana's presence at the crime scene. IQ's girl friend is an upcoming concert pianist, so this is a serious threat, while Christiana's multiple personality disorder is a serious handicap. Lots for IQ and Dodson to overcome.
9.) Blood Memory by Greg Iles. Greg Iles is a new author for me, vigorously recommended to me by the 'Books' tab on my Kindle. I was on vacation, with a sometimes unreliable internet link, and I needed something to read. This stand-alone mystery fit the bill. In it, two story lines involving Catherine Ferry are woven together. The one in the present involves her role as an expert on teeth and bite marks. The one in the past is brought to life again when Cat accidently spills forensic luminol on the carpet of her childhood bedroom and reveals two sets of footstep in the bloodstain, one child-sized. A well-written and compelling story.
10.) Past Tense by Lee Child. Several years ago, my sister Debbie and I went through a Lee Child phase and read all his Jack Reacher novels then extant. So when I found myself in an airport with a long flight ahead of me and nothing to read, I bought Past Tense. It filled the bill just fine: a puzzle, lots of action, and...to my surprise...touches of humor that had me grinning appreciatively. It's nice when a author you've previously found reliable turns out to still be reliable.
11.) The Quiet Game by Greg Iles. After I read Blood Money I discovered that Iles had a series of novels set in Natchez, Mississippi, the first of which is The Quiet Game. Penn Cage is a former Houston, Texas, prosecutor who is now a successful mystery novel writer. He is recently widowed, a single parent to a five-year-old daughter. Both he and his daughter are very much at loose ends, so he decides to visit his parents in Natchez, hoping that immersing them both in family will be restorative. Once there he finds himself drawn into two separate investigations. His father, a beloved family doctor, is being blackmailed because of an old medical error that lead to a death. In addition, based on his prosecutorial reputation, a black mother and her daughter-in-law ask Penn to find out who killed their son/husband in 1968. That's a whole lot going on, so this was a lengthy read but well-written and filled with interesting and well-developed characters, not least of which was the city of Natchez.
12.) The Turning Angel by Greg Iles is the second novel in his series about Penn Cage and takes place five years later than the first one. Penn has now settled in Natchez, Miss., and has renewed his childhood friendship with Drew Elliott, now a well-regarded doctor. Both are alumni of St. Stephens Prep: never would any of Natchez' best families send their children to a public school, post-integration. When Kate Townsend, the most popular girl in St. Stephens senior class, is murdered, Penn is doubly shocked when Drew is arrested and jailed for killing her. Drew admits that they were having a secret affair, but denies strangling her. While trying to clear his friend, Penn finds himself relying more and more on Kate's classmate, Mia, to explain the social structure of today's senior class at St. Stephens. Less complicated but held my interest better than The Quiet Game.
13.) The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles. In the third Penn Cage's novel, Penn has been elected Mayor of Natchez, Miss., "to save my hometown and (I) was arrogant enough to believe I could deal with the devil and somehow keep our collective virtue intact." Spoiler: He can't. The devil Penn is dealing with is riverboat gambling. An informant has met with him secretly to tell him about prostitution and dog fighting occurring on the floating casino; Penn is already suspicious that Natchez isn't receiving its share of the casino's receipts. The informant agrees to met with Penn again after he can suss out more details of casino's chicanery; instead he is tortured and killed, and Penn Cage is deep in another, personally dangerous investigation. There are three more Penn Cage novels after TDP, but despite how well and suspensefully Iles writes, I'm done with Natchez, MS for now. Other books and other writers beckon.
14.) The Siege Winter by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Newman. I don't usually read fiction with two authors, a well-known writer and someone hired, I think, to write the parts Well-Known Writer doesn't want to deal with. Then I read that Franklin died in the middle of the book: that seemed like a reasonable excuse for not doing a solo job. I am here to say that I cannot now tell where Franklin left off and Newman picked up. The year is 1141, and England is being torn apart by rival claimants for the throne, King Stephen and the Empress Matilda. In this lawless world, an 11-year-old girl is brutally raped by a cleric and left for dead. Bleeding and nearly dead, she manages to drag herself into a hiding place where she is found and adopted by an archer for hire named Gwyl. Disguised as boy, she and Gwyl roam the chaotic, dangerous countryside, looking for refuge and employment. By the time the novel ended, I felt I had gotten an authentic look at a period I am not well-versed in (despite Cadfael) while reading a feast of a book.
15.) An American Marriage by Tayari Jones, along with Educated, was a Christmas present from my daughter-in-law's brother, Sam. All through my childhood, I could reliably expect at least one book at every holiday. That stopped once I reached adulthood. I read so much and so widely than no one felt comfortable giving me books. Sam was not intimidated, thank heavens. I had read Educated, but it came with its receipt so I can exchange it and may do so tomorrow. American Marriage I had not read, but it was so far down my queue that it wasn't until yesterday that I finished it. It took me a bit to get into it, but then I got on another plane with nothing else to read: that worked! I ended up enjoying it, despite feeling that the main female character was a Mary Sue, defined on Wikipedia as, "Mary Sues are often an author's self-insertion or wish fulfillment;" i.e., how competently the author would have performed had she been the character in her own fiction. I forgive Jones, however, because the two men in the triangle felt absolutely authentic to me.
FY2020 Movie Challenge
1.) Rust Creek with Hermione Corfield and Jay Paulson.
2.) Yesterday with Himesh Patel and Lily James.
3.) Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet.
4.) Mansfield Park with Frances O'Conner and Jonny Lee Miller.
5.) Emma with Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Bentham.
6.) Downtown Abbey with Michelle Dockery, Allen Leach, and a host of other familiar faces.
7.) The Aftermath with Keira Knightley, Alexander Skarsgård, and Jason Clarke.
8.) The Bronx, U.S.A. directed by Danny Gold. A bunch of old duffers get together and tell us about what it was like to grow up in the Bronx in the 40s and 50s: Alan Alda and his wife, Hal Linden, Robert Klein, Colin Powell. For much of show, the old guys took us to places that had been important to them growing up, showed us what it looked like then, and what had replaced it now. Sweet, nostalgic 1 hr., 35 min. show.
9.) Decade of Fire directed by Gretchen Hildebran and Vivian Vazquez was also about the Bronx...specifically about the South Bronx...but was neither sweet nor nostalgic. Rather it was full of raging fires, decimating the old projects and apartment buildings that provided housing for mostly black and Puerto Rican families. Very little was done to stop, or even to contain, these fires. Afterwards, aerial shots show whole square blocks...many whole square blocks...reduced to level fields of rubble. About 250,000 people were displaced by these fires, and the City of New York was mostly indifferent to the calamity. Horrifying flic.
10.) Jojo Rabbit directed by Taika Waititi, starring Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo and Thomasin McKenzie as Elsa. I usually avoid movies...especially comic movies...set in Hitler's Germany, but for some reason, I made an exception of Jojo Rabbit. I'm glad I did. I found it both amusing and touching. Perhaps my tolerance this time was partly because it took place at the end of the war, when Germany was back on its heels. In addition, children like Jojo and adolescent Elsa cannot be blamed for being affected by a war they had no role in and cannot affect its outcome. They are the most innocent of enemies, even when they spout Hitler's propaganda and wear his gear, as Jojo does. How could I not root for Jojo, Elsa, and Jojo's be-spectacled friend, Yorki, to come through this cataclysm safe and (hopefully) sound?
11.) The Thing About Harry directed by Peter Paige and starring Niko Terho as Harry and Jake Borelli as Sam. Sam and Harry, away at college, are forced to share a ride to get home for a party. Harry was popular in high school and not particularly kind to nerdy Sam, but on their drive home, Harry admits to being bi. Sam is unimpressed until Harry admits that he's more than bi, he's gay. When they have to share a motel room en route, Sam 'splains being gay to Harry as their barriers go down, and a friendship starts to grow. I was initially unimpressed by this bit of fluff, but must admit that by the end of its 120 minutes, I was charmed and a little touched. There may have been a bit of a tear in my eye.