Books and Movies for August
I'm posting this today rather than tomorrow because I'm done with the last book, and I've watched my last movie, so tonight I'll start a new book and a new list for September. Ergo and so... the list! :D I'll recommend one (technically three) of the books outside the cut: The King Raven trilogy by Stephen R Lawhead is really great. All three books needed a little time to ease into them, but once they got going they were fantastic.
It's a retelling of the Robin Hood legend set in Wales, trying to look past the well-known legend to what the true origins might have been. Robin Hood becomes Rhi Bran y Hud (Rhi meaning King, and Hud meaning Enchanter). Check it out if you're interested in Robin Hood! The important things seem to be there by the time it ends; Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck, Little John (although he's only called that once or twice per book), etc. I also like the sympathetic villains. You can actually see them as real people, understand their motives, believe their choices. Believable villains are always a plus.
So with that out of the way, let's talk about some of the stinkers I read! Oh! And I read "Mockingjay," but I won't spoil it behind the cut. I know a lot of you guys want to read it, too, and you don't read as fast as me. ;-D
45. City of Masks, Daniel Hecht. (8/1-8/5) 438 pages. I don't really remember what I disliked about this book. Just lame writing, I guess. I think the author wanted to write about a team of people, but instead split everybody up. It made for some suspense, but if you want to write about a team, don't put one guy in Boston just so you can drag out the tension with some lame subplot about what he's doing. It was a yawner. But if you like New Orleans, you might like the book (I picked it up because it said the main character was Seattle-based. She spent a grand total of five pages in Seattle before flying out to Lousiana :/)
46. Fuzzy Navel, JA Konrath. (8/7-8/8) 271 pages. I've had this and the final novel in the Jack Daniels series sitting around for months. Mainly because I just didn't want it to end. Jack is a kickass female detective, and she's fun to hang out with. This book, though. Ugh. Tremendously violent, and completely implausible. Jack is shot in the head. The bullet grazes her enough to need stitches. They... improvise (grossly) and then she's running around again within an hour. I would even have forgiven that, but the book ends with a DUMB and pointless cliffhanger. I feel like the author was pointing at me and saying, "Haw, haw, you have to buy my next book!" If I didn't already have it, I would have let the series end with this one. As it is, I'm delaying reading the final novel (I did read the first page, and the cliffhanger is resolved with the first three words of chapter one. Basically "
47. Scarlet, Stephen R Lawhead. (8/9-8/17) 443 pages
48. Shoot to Thrill, PJ Tracy. (8/18-8/20) 308 pages. This is my last PJ Tracy book. It was just lazy. There's a scene where two cops are looking through someone's apartment and they decide to go check out... a witness, I think. There's some more dialogue and poof! They walk into the building where the witness is. No transition, no "They walked to the elevator and got into the car." Just an exchange of dialogue and then they zorted away (to use the Druitt word). That's just the example that sticks in my head.
49. Tuck, Stephen R Lawhead. (8/21-8/25) 437 pages
50. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins. (8/26-8/30) 390 pages. Ah, a good story well-told. :D I'll just say I accept it as the end of the series and I applaud a job well done. Stephanie Meyer claims to have read this series on the back of all the novels. I hope someone close to her shoved it into her face and said, "SEE?! THIS IS HOW Y.A. IS DONE! This is how you write believable characters. This, this, this, this."
35. Operation Endgame - Rob Corddry, Odette Yustman. If you can find this movie without spending too much (say at one of them there redboxes) I say give it a shot. It's violent and bloody, but also funny in a dark way. I like the chorus of the security guards watching the violence unfold. Plus the entire cast is awesome. Emilie de Ravin, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ellen Barkin, Jeffrey Tambor... all of them wielding weapons and drawing blood.
36. Inception - Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt. This is a quiet little indie film that most people haven't heard of. But it's good.
37. Salt - Angelina Jolie, Lief Schreiber. Angelina Jolie kicks ass. You know that from the trailer. You also know if this is your kind of thing. If it is, you don't need me telling you to go see it. I'll just tell you one thing that's not in the trailers before I move on: Angelina Jolie spends the last 30 minutes or so of the movie in drag. She dresses up like a male soldier and keeps the male uniform on for the rest of the movie. In a lot of scenes, she looks kind of like Rachel Maddow raiding the Fox News studios. ;-D
38. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist. I actually liked this a lot better than the book. Go figure. It worked better as a movie. Maybe the book was just way too overhyped or something was lost in the translation... I just didn't enjoy it at all. The movie was much better.
39. Toy Story 3 - Tom Hanks, Tim Allen. Another little movie flying under the radar that I wish more people would go see. It needs some help at the box office. It's really struggling, I think. It's about toys, but it's really good, I promise.
It's a retelling of the Robin Hood legend set in Wales, trying to look past the well-known legend to what the true origins might have been. Robin Hood becomes Rhi Bran y Hud (Rhi meaning King, and Hud meaning Enchanter). Check it out if you're interested in Robin Hood! The important things seem to be there by the time it ends; Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck, Little John (although he's only called that once or twice per book), etc. I also like the sympathetic villains. You can actually see them as real people, understand their motives, believe their choices. Believable villains are always a plus.
So with that out of the way, let's talk about some of the stinkers I read! Oh! And I read "Mockingjay," but I won't spoil it behind the cut. I know a lot of you guys want to read it, too, and you don't read as fast as me. ;-D
45. City of Masks, Daniel Hecht. (8/1-8/5) 438 pages. I don't really remember what I disliked about this book. Just lame writing, I guess. I think the author wanted to write about a team of people, but instead split everybody up. It made for some suspense, but if you want to write about a team, don't put one guy in Boston just so you can drag out the tension with some lame subplot about what he's doing. It was a yawner. But if you like New Orleans, you might like the book (I picked it up because it said the main character was Seattle-based. She spent a grand total of five pages in Seattle before flying out to Lousiana :/)
46. Fuzzy Navel, JA Konrath. (8/7-8/8) 271 pages. I've had this and the final novel in the Jack Daniels series sitting around for months. Mainly because I just didn't want it to end. Jack is a kickass female detective, and she's fun to hang out with. This book, though. Ugh. Tremendously violent, and completely implausible. Jack is shot in the head. The bullet grazes her enough to need stitches. They... improvise (grossly) and then she's running around again within an hour. I would even have forgiven that, but the book ends with a DUMB and pointless cliffhanger. I feel like the author was pointing at me and saying, "Haw, haw, you have to buy my next book!" If I didn't already have it, I would have let the series end with this one. As it is, I'm delaying reading the final novel (I did read the first page, and the cliffhanger is resolved with the first three words of chapter one. Basically "
47. Scarlet, Stephen R Lawhead. (8/9-8/17) 443 pages
48. Shoot to Thrill, PJ Tracy. (8/18-8/20) 308 pages. This is my last PJ Tracy book. It was just lazy. There's a scene where two cops are looking through someone's apartment and they decide to go check out... a witness, I think. There's some more dialogue and poof! They walk into the building where the witness is. No transition, no "They walked to the elevator and got into the car." Just an exchange of dialogue and then they zorted away (to use the Druitt word). That's just the example that sticks in my head.
49. Tuck, Stephen R Lawhead. (8/21-8/25) 437 pages
50. Mockingjay, Suzanne Collins. (8/26-8/30) 390 pages. Ah, a good story well-told. :D I'll just say I accept it as the end of the series and I applaud a job well done. Stephanie Meyer claims to have read this series on the back of all the novels. I hope someone close to her shoved it into her face and said, "SEE?! THIS IS HOW Y.A. IS DONE! This is how you write believable characters. This, this, this, this."
35. Operation Endgame - Rob Corddry, Odette Yustman. If you can find this movie without spending too much (say at one of them there redboxes) I say give it a shot. It's violent and bloody, but also funny in a dark way. I like the chorus of the security guards watching the violence unfold. Plus the entire cast is awesome. Emilie de Ravin, Michael Clarke Duncan, Ellen Barkin, Jeffrey Tambor... all of them wielding weapons and drawing blood.
36. Inception - Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon Levitt. This is a quiet little indie film that most people haven't heard of. But it's good.
37. Salt - Angelina Jolie, Lief Schreiber. Angelina Jolie kicks ass. You know that from the trailer. You also know if this is your kind of thing. If it is, you don't need me telling you to go see it. I'll just tell you one thing that's not in the trailers before I move on: Angelina Jolie spends the last 30 minutes or so of the movie in drag. She dresses up like a male soldier and keeps the male uniform on for the rest of the movie. In a lot of scenes, she looks kind of like Rachel Maddow raiding the Fox News studios. ;-D
38. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Noomi Rapace, Michael Nyqvist. I actually liked this a lot better than the book. Go figure. It worked better as a movie. Maybe the book was just way too overhyped or something was lost in the translation... I just didn't enjoy it at all. The movie was much better.
39. Toy Story 3 - Tom Hanks, Tim Allen. Another little movie flying under the radar that I wish more people would go see. It needs some help at the box office. It's really struggling, I think. It's about toys, but it's really good, I promise.