2020 Reading Challenge and FY2020 Movie Challenge
In the past month and a half since I last updated I've read seven books and watched four movies. Not a great number in either case, especially since I have self-quarentined myself for all but four days of that six weeks. Much too much MSNBC has been watched, plus some very worthwhile TV. If you haven't seen the four-part series, "Unorthodox," it's well worth your time. FanSee
2020 Reading Challenge
1.) Dzur by Steven Brust.
2.) Jhegaala by Steven Brust.
3.) Private Lies by Cynthia St. Aubin.
4.) Germania by Steven Winder.
5.) The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.
6.) The Wicked King by Holly Black.
7.) The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black.
8.) Hi Five by Joe Ide.
9.) Blood Memory by Greg Iles.
10.) Past Tense by Lee Child.
11.) The Quiet Game by Greg Iles.
12.) The Turning Angel by Greg Iles.
13.) The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles.
14.) The Siege Winter by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Newman.
15.) An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.
16.) Kindred by Octavia Butler. Dana, a 26-year-old African-American woman, is suddenly transported from her home in California in 1976 to pre-Civil War Maryland. While still trying to figure out what has happened, she hears cries for help. She rushes to save a young boy, Rufus, from drowning, but instead of being thanked, is threatened by a man with a rifle. Immediately, however, Dana finds herself back in 1976 in her own living room with her boyfriend frantically asking her what happened. What happened, she later realizes, is that every time Rufus is in danger, she is jerked from her life in California to pre-Civil War Maryland to save him. Maryland was a slave state -- I didn't know that! -- and she is treated as a slave there. Some of the ways she adapts to her slave status are both believable and unexpected...by me, anyway.
17.) Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O'Brien. Unlike the previous book in this series (The Truelove), a lot happens in this episode, starting at page 1 which finds the Surprise chasing an American privateer, the Franklin. The Surprise is also now a privateer, and the crew are more than happy to risk their lives in the pursuit; they will all share in the prize money if the Franklin is captured and sold. The reason the Surprise is no longer sailing as an officially Navy ship is to allow Jack Aubrey full authority to take whatever course necessary to support his ship's doctor, Stephen Maturin, in his secondary role as a spy/provocateur. Maturin's present mission is to support revolution in South America. Complications ensue at the slow pace of a world without the rapid communications of telegraph, let alone radio.
18.) Under Tower Peak by Bart Paul. I am always delighted when I stumble on a new author and fall in love. In the case of Bart Paul, I was intrigued by Tower Peak's cover, then accidentally purchased it. It sat in my TBR pile for several weeks before I decided to read it or delete it. Deletion was never an option. Set in California's Sierra Nevada, Tommy Smith did two tours as a sniper in Iraq. Now he is home, working as a cowboy and guide in the high mountains, still only accessible on horseback. When he and his partner, Lester, stumble upon the wreck of a small plane, they deduce that the well-preserved corpse of the plane's sole occupant is that of a missing billionnaire. Lester talks Tommy into not reporting their find because Lester secretly plans to make money off their discovery. Things do not got well, as Tommy gets dragged into Lester's schemes.
19.) Cheatgrass by Bart Paul. As soon as I finished Tower Peak, I downloaded Cheatgrass. Set two years after Tower Peak, Tommy Smith has just gotten a compassionate discharge from his third tour of duty as a sniper in the U.S. Army because a friend and mentor, Dave Cathcart, has disappeared. Cathcart's daughter, Sarah, has asked Tommy to come home and help her find her father or figure out what happened to him. Once again, besides the plot, I enjoyed its setting in the high Sierras and its depiction of the pluses and minuses of relying on horses for transportation. Yo, there's a lot of maintenance involved in riding when you don't just drop the horse off at its stable at the end of the day. Paul's writing is workmanlike -- high praise for me -- and he knows how to ratchet up the tension.
20.) See That My Grave Is Kept Clean by Bart Paul. Again a two year gap between books makes the possibility of a new adventure more believable. In the interim, Tommy has married Sarah, they've had a baby, and Tommy has started his own business guiding tourists into the high Sierras. Once again, nasty folks from Reno are bringing big city trouble into rural eastern California in ways that Tommy can't ignore. I found the denouement of this episode a bit cliche, but that didn't destroy the charm of the whole series for me. I know I'll be rereading from start to finish and that I'll be among the first to buy any additions to the series. So excellent.
21.) The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews. Matthews manages to make answering an advertisement for a wife and then going through with the marriage sound fairly reasonable, mostly by not explaining completely why the bride is so willing to marry a stranger. (The groom's motivations are easier to understand: he needs a housekeeper. So hard to get good help in the early 19th century.) The characters were both attractive and their interactions believable, so I enjoyed their story. I may even read the other three books in this well-written series.
22.) Night School by Lee Child. When you don't know what to read next but you must have a book, pick up a Jack Reacher story. "Night School" takes place in 1966, when Reacher is still in the Army. The night school of the title is a 'school' for only three men: an FBI agent, a CIA analyst, and Reacher. Their mission: to find out who will pay a jihadist cell in Hamburg, Germany, $100,000,000 and what they are supposed to do to earn that sum. Being inside Jack's head always makes me smile, I like his sidekick, Frances Neagley, and Child can be depended on to keep the action moving nicely. Those are the elements that make a Reacher novel a sure thing for 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.
9.) Decade of Fire directed by Gretchen Hildebran and Vivian Vazquez.
10.) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood with Leonard DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
11.) Jojo Rabbit directed by Taika Waititi.
12.) The Thing About Harry directed by Peter Paige.
13.) Ford and Ferrari with Matt Damon and Christian Bale. As long as my husband was alive, we watched a lot of auto racing, and I was pretty conversant with the essentials of the sport and its prominent players. (I enjoyed watching racing, but it turned out to be one of those things that weren't fun by myself.) I knew who Carroll Shelby was, although I'd forgotten about Ken Miles. So watching F&F was, once again, like someone had made a movie documenting part of my life. How could I not enjoy it, especially with such reliable stars like Damon and Bale? I hope they gave enough background for viewers not interested in racing to enjoy the movie, but that's not for me to judge. I loved it but, as they say, your mileage may vary. Literally, in this case.
14.) Parasite directed by Bong Joon Ho. "Parasite" won Oscars for Best Director, Best International Picture, and Best Picture. Usually I can find something to like about a movie with credentials like that, even if I have to squint a little to do so. Not in this case, however. The first half of the picture, where the denouement was set up, was okay. Then came the part where everything comes crashing down. No. Just no. It wasn't funny, it wasn't touching, it wasn't sad. I wasn't entertained.
15.) Little Women with Emma Watson and Meryl Streep. "Little Women" was one of the staples of my childhood, a book I read and reread, so seeing this version was initially disconcerting. I would have been happy with a straight re-telling of the story, but the cutting back between Alcott's fiction and her life as she started her career by writing it took some readjustment on my part. Once I did, I settled down and enjoyed the movie. One aspect that knocked my socks off as she laid out her pages: imagine writing a 528 page book longhand! Oy.
16.) 1917 directed by Sam Mendes. My father-in-law was a private in WWI where he was buried alive in a trench. Obviously, he survived the experience, but it was the end of his war. My mother-in-law's brother was gassed and survived but never really recovered. He died before 1925. So it was with some trepidation that I watched "1917," but what I saw seemed authentic to me. My only quibble was that the two grunts sent on a mission had 'way too many experiences in the course of 24 hours. Then the credits at the end said that the movie was based on the memories of Mendes' grandfather and his friends, so it was a conpendium of experiences, united for narrative strength. That took away my only quibble regarding a very suspenseful movie.
2020 Reading Challenge
1.) Dzur by Steven Brust.
2.) Jhegaala by Steven Brust.
3.) Private Lies by Cynthia St. Aubin.
4.) Germania by Steven Winder.
5.) The Cruel Prince by Holly Black.
6.) The Wicked King by Holly Black.
7.) The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black.
8.) Hi Five by Joe Ide.
9.) Blood Memory by Greg Iles.
10.) Past Tense by Lee Child.
11.) The Quiet Game by Greg Iles.
12.) The Turning Angel by Greg Iles.
13.) The Devil's Punchbowl by Greg Iles.
14.) The Siege Winter by Ariana Franklin and Samantha Newman.
15.) An American Marriage by Tayari Jones.
16.) Kindred by Octavia Butler. Dana, a 26-year-old African-American woman, is suddenly transported from her home in California in 1976 to pre-Civil War Maryland. While still trying to figure out what has happened, she hears cries for help. She rushes to save a young boy, Rufus, from drowning, but instead of being thanked, is threatened by a man with a rifle. Immediately, however, Dana finds herself back in 1976 in her own living room with her boyfriend frantically asking her what happened. What happened, she later realizes, is that every time Rufus is in danger, she is jerked from her life in California to pre-Civil War Maryland to save him. Maryland was a slave state -- I didn't know that! -- and she is treated as a slave there. Some of the ways she adapts to her slave status are both believable and unexpected...by me, anyway.
17.) Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O'Brien. Unlike the previous book in this series (The Truelove), a lot happens in this episode, starting at page 1 which finds the Surprise chasing an American privateer, the Franklin. The Surprise is also now a privateer, and the crew are more than happy to risk their lives in the pursuit; they will all share in the prize money if the Franklin is captured and sold. The reason the Surprise is no longer sailing as an officially Navy ship is to allow Jack Aubrey full authority to take whatever course necessary to support his ship's doctor, Stephen Maturin, in his secondary role as a spy/provocateur. Maturin's present mission is to support revolution in South America. Complications ensue at the slow pace of a world without the rapid communications of telegraph, let alone radio.
18.) Under Tower Peak by Bart Paul. I am always delighted when I stumble on a new author and fall in love. In the case of Bart Paul, I was intrigued by Tower Peak's cover, then accidentally purchased it. It sat in my TBR pile for several weeks before I decided to read it or delete it. Deletion was never an option. Set in California's Sierra Nevada, Tommy Smith did two tours as a sniper in Iraq. Now he is home, working as a cowboy and guide in the high mountains, still only accessible on horseback. When he and his partner, Lester, stumble upon the wreck of a small plane, they deduce that the well-preserved corpse of the plane's sole occupant is that of a missing billionnaire. Lester talks Tommy into not reporting their find because Lester secretly plans to make money off their discovery. Things do not got well, as Tommy gets dragged into Lester's schemes.
19.) Cheatgrass by Bart Paul. As soon as I finished Tower Peak, I downloaded Cheatgrass. Set two years after Tower Peak, Tommy Smith has just gotten a compassionate discharge from his third tour of duty as a sniper in the U.S. Army because a friend and mentor, Dave Cathcart, has disappeared. Cathcart's daughter, Sarah, has asked Tommy to come home and help her find her father or figure out what happened to him. Once again, besides the plot, I enjoyed its setting in the high Sierras and its depiction of the pluses and minuses of relying on horses for transportation. Yo, there's a lot of maintenance involved in riding when you don't just drop the horse off at its stable at the end of the day. Paul's writing is workmanlike -- high praise for me -- and he knows how to ratchet up the tension.
20.) See That My Grave Is Kept Clean by Bart Paul. Again a two year gap between books makes the possibility of a new adventure more believable. In the interim, Tommy has married Sarah, they've had a baby, and Tommy has started his own business guiding tourists into the high Sierras. Once again, nasty folks from Reno are bringing big city trouble into rural eastern California in ways that Tommy can't ignore. I found the denouement of this episode a bit cliche, but that didn't destroy the charm of the whole series for me. I know I'll be rereading from start to finish and that I'll be among the first to buy any additions to the series. So excellent.
21.) The Matrimonial Advertisement by Mimi Matthews. Matthews manages to make answering an advertisement for a wife and then going through with the marriage sound fairly reasonable, mostly by not explaining completely why the bride is so willing to marry a stranger. (The groom's motivations are easier to understand: he needs a housekeeper. So hard to get good help in the early 19th century.) The characters were both attractive and their interactions believable, so I enjoyed their story. I may even read the other three books in this well-written series.
22.) Night School by Lee Child. When you don't know what to read next but you must have a book, pick up a Jack Reacher story. "Night School" takes place in 1966, when Reacher is still in the Army. The night school of the title is a 'school' for only three men: an FBI agent, a CIA analyst, and Reacher. Their mission: to find out who will pay a jihadist cell in Hamburg, Germany, $100,000,000 and what they are supposed to do to earn that sum. Being inside Jack's head always makes me smile, I like his sidekick, Frances Neagley, and Child can be depended on to keep the action moving nicely. Those are the elements that make a Reacher novel a sure thing for 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.
9.) Decade of Fire directed by Gretchen Hildebran and Vivian Vazquez.
10.) Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood with Leonard DiCaprio and Brad Pitt.
11.) Jojo Rabbit directed by Taika Waititi.
12.) The Thing About Harry directed by Peter Paige.
13.) Ford and Ferrari with Matt Damon and Christian Bale. As long as my husband was alive, we watched a lot of auto racing, and I was pretty conversant with the essentials of the sport and its prominent players. (I enjoyed watching racing, but it turned out to be one of those things that weren't fun by myself.) I knew who Carroll Shelby was, although I'd forgotten about Ken Miles. So watching F&F was, once again, like someone had made a movie documenting part of my life. How could I not enjoy it, especially with such reliable stars like Damon and Bale? I hope they gave enough background for viewers not interested in racing to enjoy the movie, but that's not for me to judge. I loved it but, as they say, your mileage may vary. Literally, in this case.
14.) Parasite directed by Bong Joon Ho. "Parasite" won Oscars for Best Director, Best International Picture, and Best Picture. Usually I can find something to like about a movie with credentials like that, even if I have to squint a little to do so. Not in this case, however. The first half of the picture, where the denouement was set up, was okay. Then came the part where everything comes crashing down. No. Just no. It wasn't funny, it wasn't touching, it wasn't sad. I wasn't entertained.
15.) Little Women with Emma Watson and Meryl Streep. "Little Women" was one of the staples of my childhood, a book I read and reread, so seeing this version was initially disconcerting. I would have been happy with a straight re-telling of the story, but the cutting back between Alcott's fiction and her life as she started her career by writing it took some readjustment on my part. Once I did, I settled down and enjoyed the movie. One aspect that knocked my socks off as she laid out her pages: imagine writing a 528 page book longhand! Oy.
16.) 1917 directed by Sam Mendes. My father-in-law was a private in WWI where he was buried alive in a trench. Obviously, he survived the experience, but it was the end of his war. My mother-in-law's brother was gassed and survived but never really recovered. He died before 1925. So it was with some trepidation that I watched "1917," but what I saw seemed authentic to me. My only quibble was that the two grunts sent on a mission had 'way too many experiences in the course of 24 hours. Then the credits at the end said that the movie was based on the memories of Mendes' grandfather and his friends, so it was a conpendium of experiences, united for narrative strength. That took away my only quibble regarding a very suspenseful movie.