2017 Movies, TV, and Books

[kalient]

My 2017 Accomplishments. * means I've seen it/read it before.

Movies and TV seasons in chronological order.

January

1. Rogue One (CGI humans are just creepy, especially when you know you're looking at a guy who's been dead for 12 years.)
   
2. Swiss Army Man (As weird as I was expecting.)
   
3. Little Women (1994) (Because I hadn't finished the book before book club. I had read enough to know that they changed quite a bit.)
   
   April
   
4. Trolls (Cooper didn't want to see it, but his mom insisted. Therefore, it is her own fault that he saw a movie where the bad guys can only become happy if they eat the good guys. I can only nag her so many times to watch things before he does. Not my fault if she doesn't.)
   
   May
   
5. Guardians of the Galaxy (Volume 1)
   
   June
   
6. Table 19
   
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
   
8. Wonder Woman
   
   July
   
9. Spider-Man: Homecoming (Loved it.)
   
   October
   
10. X-Men: Apocalypse
    
    November
    
11. The Huntsman: Winter's War
    
    December
    
12. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice
    
13. Justice League
    
14. Thor*
    
15. The Avengers*

Books...

January

1. Death by Toilet Paper by Donna Gephart (Based on the title and cover art, I was expecting humor. It wasn't.)
   
   February
   
2. Why We Suck: A Feel Good Guide to Staying Fat, Loud, Lazy and Stupid by Denis Leary
   
3. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (Book club. Audiobook. Episodic, so it was pretty good for listening.)
   
4. Magyk by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap #1)
   
5. Flyte by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap #2)
   
   March
   
6. Physik by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap #3)
   
7. Queste by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap #4)
   
8. The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (Book club.)
   
   April
   
9. Syren by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap #5)
   
10. Darke by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap #6) (I was starting to lose interest in the series, and considered stopping after the last volume. I'm glad I kept going, because I liked this one.)
    
11. Fyre by Angie Sage (Septimus Heap #7)
    
12. The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant (Book club.)
    
    May
    
13. The Color of Our Sky by Amita Trasi (My first Once Upon a Book Club delivery. Not really my style, and left something important unresolved at the end, but it was okay.)
    
14. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman (Book club. First time since September that I finished the book before the meeting.)
    
15. Keep Curious and Carry a Banana: Wisdom from the World of Curious George (Summer Reading Bingo! Yellow cover, and super short.)
    
16. The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse by Robert Rankin (On my shelf for yeeeeears. Funny and amusingly self-aware.)
    
17. Mai Tai One On by Jill Marie Landis (A Tiki Goddess Mystery, #1) (So bad, but set in Kaua'i, where I was on vacation. The author has been publishing since 1988, but a book published in 2011 still feels like an early effort. Disappointing, but it took care of a Bingo square.)
    
18. The Islands at the End of the World by Austin Aslan (Read in Hawaii. I guess it was pretty engaging in that it was set in Hawaii, part of the plot was loss of power, and when I put the book down I had a moment of relief that my phone still worked. A few bingo squares.)
    
    June
    
19. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
    
20. Aesop's Fables (Barnes & Noble Classics edition. Read in bits and pieces between April and June.)
    
21. The Toyminator by Robert Rankin (Sequel to Hollow Chocolate Bunnies)
    
22. The Empty Glass by J.I. Baker (Bad. Just really bad. But quick, so that's nice.)
    
23. You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day (Bingo square: book that starts with the letter Y)
    
24. The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brusker Bradley (I was not expecting to get so caught up in this. Wonderfully done. Also two bingo squares: set during war, set on another continent)
    
25. Summer Boys by Hailey Abbot
    ABANDONED: What Did We Use Before Toilet Paper? by Andrew Thompson (Some things were interesting, but then some things were wrong and I didn't want to have unreliable facts floating around in my head.)
    
26. Love Saves the Day by Gwen Cooper (I haven't cried so much in a LONG time.)
    
    July
    
27. The World's Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson (Read in a day, bingo square for the dog on the cover.)
    ABANDONED: Love and Gravity by Samantha Sotto (Pacing was bad. I wasn't caught up in the level of emotion she was trying to sell, except, I guess, for one character that she was treating like shit. I skipped to the last few page, and it looks like she tried to give him a happily ever after, but I don't like how she did it.)
    
28. Between Two Skies by Joanne O'Sullivan
    
29. Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin by Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin (Bingo square: book about current affairs)
    
30. The Grief of Others by Leah Hager Cohen (Received in 2013 as a gift, avoided for four years because the title/premise didn't sound like something I wanted to read. I enjoyed it. Also, bingo square: a book you received as a gift.)
    
31. Impossible by Nancy Werlin (On the shelf for years, and I'm glad I finally got around to it. Not sure what the hold-up was. Bingo square for a one-word title.)
    
    August
    
32. A Wrinkle in Time* by Madeleine L'Engle (Time Quintet #1) (Bingo square for re-read your favorite book. Depending on how I choose to count other things, possibly the last square for a black-out. Just can't settle on whether or not to count a yellow cover.)
    
33. Goodbye Lemon by Adam Davies (Not sure what I expected, but I got a lot more than the back cover suggested. Really liked it, but it was odd in a way that will probably prevent me from recommending it to anyone. Last bingo square for a blackout!)
    
34. The Batman Handbook: The Ultimate Training Manual by Scott Beatty (Started in July.)
    
35. A Wind in the Door* by Madeleine L'Engle (Time Quintet #2)
    
36. A Swiftly Tilting Planet* by Madeleine L'Engle (Time Quintet #3)
    
37. The Little Girl and the Cigarette by Benoît Duteurtre (Timely, dark humor. Very short. Bingo square. Like it.)
    
38. Operation Redwood by S. Terrell French (Took a while to grab my interest. Bingo square for "set in California.")
    
39. West with the Night by Beryl Markham (Book club. Bingo square for "set on another continent.")
    
40. Oh, the Places You'll Go!* by Dr. Seuss (I don't track every time I read a Dr. Seuss book, but this was for a bingo square...)
    
41. The Giving Tree* by Shel Silverstein (Ditto comments from Oh, the Places You'll Go!. I'm amused that the wikipedia entry has a section for different interpretations of the story...)
    
42. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
    
    September
    
43. Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle (Time Quintet #4)
    
44. Encyclopedia Brown, Boy Detective by Donald J. Sobol
    
45. Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Exploding Plumbing by Donald J. Sobol (I rarely figure it out without looking at the answers. Sometimes I can blame outdated info, but usually it's just that I'm not picking up on the right clue. I'm proud of myself when I'm on the right track.)
    
46. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (I liked the approach of having this be the 8th volume of a series that doesn't otherwise exist. Passing references to previous adventures and a little background were more than enough, at least for a reader who's been through a few YA series already.)
    ABANDONED: The Saturday Evening Girls Club by Jane Healey (Nothing wrong with it. Just not my cup o' tea.)
    
47. A Strange Companion by Lisa Manterfield
    
48. Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin (Book club. Historical fiction based on the lives of Alice Liddell and "Lewis Carroll." It definitely messed with my perception of Lewis Carroll. NOT what I expected based on the book's description.)
    
49. Pryor Convictions and Other Life Sentences by Richard Pryor
    
    October
    
50. The Apprentice Witch by James Nichol
    
51. Daughter of the Pirate King by Tricia Levenseller (Daughter of the Pirate King #1) (Gotta love those two-day reads.)
    
52. Nineteen Eighty-Four* by George Orwell
    
53. The Cove by Ron Rash
    
54. Dark Breaks the Dawn by Sara B. Larson (Dark Breaks the Dawn #1)
    
55. Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero (Book club. I liked the idea, but it was all over the place. It would make a better movie than book.)
    ABANDONED: Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories by Steven Millhauser
    ABANDONED: An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Time Quintet #5) (It didn't feel like an extension of the series, neither in content nor writing style.)
    ABANDONED: After Alice by Gregory Maguire (of Wicked fame) (Three abandoned books in a row? I feel like that's spiritual growth.)
    
    November
    
56. Ballet Shoes* by Noel Streatfeild
    
57. The Lightkeeper's Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwol
    
58. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (Wonderful, highly recommended.)
    
59. Daughter of the Burning City by Amanda Foody
    
60. The Cottingly Secret by Hazel Gaynor
    
    December
    ABANDONED: Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology by Leah Remini (Just wasn't that interested.)
    
61. Angry Optimist: The Life and Times of Jon Stewart by Lisa Rogak
    
62. Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (It was easier to read when I managed to think of it as fiction, or at least a dramatization.)
    ABANDONED: The Minotaur Takes a Cigarette Break by Steven Sherrill (I hope this wasn't a rec from a friend, but it was slow going and I wasn't getting interested.)
    
63. Why Do Men Have Nipples? Hundreds of Questions You'd Only Ask a Doctor After Your Third Martini by Mark Leyner and Billy Goldberg, M.D.(Finished 1/2/18, but mostly read in 2017.)
    ABANDONED: Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About by Mil Millington