Nine Crapola/Not So Important Books Read

At the "rear end" of 2021, I read a number of crappy books that I don't want to spend a lot of time adding to my blog, so I'm just going to bulk-drop them here.

109.  Dragon's Thief by Zoe Chant, finished 12/2/21  2020 Kindle.  Repetitive and trite, just lovey dovey stuff with very little description. (Girl has been on the run for years for a really hazy reason, and is rescued by a guy that turns into a dragon who's looking for someone in her family that stole the key that allows him to turn...) (1)  DISBURSED

108.  Cavalier - T. L. Smith, finished 11/30/2021. 2018  Audible.  First in a series about four guys who run a company together, a sex club for executives that is highly secretive called Crimson Elite..  These guys are extremely rich, and really tight.  If one of the club's members even breathe a hint of it, they are maimed/harmed.  Although this is not the premise of the actual story, the male protagonist, Creed, is the one who kills and maims.  They just skim over this!!!  So stupid!!!  The relationship between he and Isha is very strange.  The inner and outer Creed do not match at all.  The next three books are about his three buddies.  I think I'll be passing on them.  (1)  DISBURSED

104.  Sexy by J. A. Huss, finished 11/11/21.  Audible.  Extremely steamy with a bit of mystery concerning the male protagonist, what kids of secrets was he keeping?  Female protagonist was never fully rendered, I couldn't picture her and could not empathize with her.  Quite a bit of story mixed in with the steam.  Loved him.  A lot. (NR)

99.  Wrapped in Ink by Carrie Ann Ryan, finished10/8/2021.  This is a Montgomery family/Boulder book, I think I've read some of the other Montgomery family books.  Too many brothers!  Liam has three and a baby sister; Arden is the baby sister to four older brothers.  It's absolutely ridiculous and stupid.  Arden has lupus and is constantly sick.  Liam is an ex-model turned successful author.  There's no reality at all in this book.  A bit of steam but mostly story, that part works so-so.  (2)

92.  The Deal by Elle Kennedy.  Finished around 9/3/21.  Audible.  Yep, another romance.  This one includes a pretty decent storyline, but unrelatable characters.  The male protagonist is the hottest ivy league hockey captain ever.  (Lol!)  And he falls for our female protagonist, of course, even though he's a complete and total man-wh...(you know what I'm talkin' about).  But I've got say I totally enjoyed the story, set in rural Massachusetts featuring quite a bit of hockey, singing, and romping, lol!  I did enjoy this one.  (4)

93.  Devi's Distraction by Ruby Dixen. Ice Home #7.   Finished 9/6/21.  Audible.  Devi and N'dek.  She is an anthropologist and loves digging apart creatures to see how they work and he is a hunter who has lost one of his legs below the knee.  She helps him by making a prosthetic so that he can walk and they are pretty much instantly attracted to each other, although they don't resonate until near the end of the book.  Hugely high steam factor, but quite a bit of story as well.  The male reader used quite a bit of an accent at the beginning of the story and lessened it somewhat by the end, which I liked better.  There were lots of references to other couples, a few too many!

91.  Without Her Consent - Kindle.  Finished 8/30/21.  Slow going and boring with quite a predictable outcome (Long-time comatose victim in a hospital gives birth to a baby boy.)  (2)

86.  The Dispatcher by John Scalzi. Finished 8/21/21.  Audible Short.  I guess you'd probably consider this science fiction a bit more than fantasy, though it doesn't take place in outer space, lol.  And interesting addition to the norms of contemporary world in that when people die they are now given the opportunity to return to a point in their life 12 hours before their demise.  There are people that are specifically trained to do this "work," and they are called dispatchers.  This novella is about one dispatcher and the help he give a police detective in finding a fellow dispatcher that has disappeared.  Quite interesting, actually. (4)

88.  Hold Me Today by Maria Luis.  Finished 8/16/2021.  Set in Boston, a full blown romance that had very little of the stupid things that usually get me perturbed.  Very steamy in places.  Good storytelling.  Fun read.  (4)

Waiting in the Wings

Audible Purchases and what's left to read

Current Kindle Unlimited List - both book and audible - THIS GOES DIRECTLY TO AMAZON AND IS COMPLETELY up-to-date!

Kindle Booklist

Current Audible Library

Current Chirp Library

2022 Movies

4 movies in 2022

2021 - ONE MOVIE!! (Continued Pandemic)

2020 - 5 movies (Pandemic!)

2019 - 26 movies

2018 - 51 movies

2017 - 49 movies

2016 - 62 movies

2015 - 37 movies

2014 - 46 movies

2013 - 48 movies

2012 - 37 movies

2011 - 54 movies

*6*  Awesome

5  Loved it

4  Liked it

3  It was okay

2  Not great

1  Nope

Dog (3/26/22) great story, not simply a comedy! (4.5)

Licorice Pizza (3/11/2022) long and boring...just meh (2)

Power of the Dog (1/2/22) Slow, dark, depressing, sad, and oddly enough, wonderful (5)

Spiderman: No Way Home (1/10/22) Lots of fun surprises, but too long (4)

WOW movies of 2022

Power of the Dog (1/2/22) Slow, dark, depressing, sad,  and oddly enough, wonderful (5)

REALLY GOOD movies of 2022 (4.5 & 5)  

Dog (3/26/22) great story, not simply a comedy! (4.5)

Spiderman: No Way Home (1/10/22) Lots of fun surprises, but too long (4)

GOOD/FUN movies of 2022 (3 - 3.5 - 4)

.

WASTE-OF-TIME MOVIES OF 2022 

.Licorice Pizza (3/11/2021) long and boring...just meh (2)

116. Before She Disappeared by Lisa Gardner

#1 Frankie Elkin

2021

400 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery
Finished  12/26/2021
Goodreads rating:  3.94 
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Mattapan (Boston)

My comments: Interesting plot and characters.  I could not envision the tough Mattapan neighborhood, because in the lat 1950's, early 1960's I was able to wander around freely while visiting my Aunt Laura who lived on Hollingsworth Ave.  Now it's a really rough Haitian neighborhood full of gangs.  

     There's a lot of sadness in the story, which overlaps Frankie's own sad history with the current sad story.  Frankie's a wreck - an alcoholic with many, many issuead, but she's looking for redemption in the only way she can -- her knack for finding missing personas who no one else can. Great premise, looking forward to the second in the series, which will come out in 2022

Goodreads synopsis:  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a propulsive thriller featuring an ordinary woman who will stop at nothing to find the missing people that the rest of the world has forgotten

Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will--searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim's wary family tells Frankie she's on her own--and she soon learns she's asking questions someone doesn't want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.

115. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

listened on Libby - borrowed from the library

2021

352 pgs.
Adult Rom Com with one steamy part
Finished 12/24/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.44
My rating: 4.5
Setting: mostly Stanford University campus, a little at a Boston conference

My comments: For some reason I really loved this story.  A romcom about fake dating that anyone and everyone will realize is going to have a HEA, but its telling is pretty cool.  Yes, frustration's because the protagonist lies so much to protect herself and the guys she's falling for, but otherwise the story would have been about a quarter of its length, lol.  I love that it was set in academia, at Stanford, with really smart protagonists.  And the bad guys is so bad, no glossing over it.  Of course the good guy is really good (and of course has the fantastic body hidden under ordinary clothing to go along with it.}  Maybe it's just my current mood, but this story really tickled me in many ways.

Goodreads synopsis:  As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships--but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor--and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding... six-pack abs.

Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope. 

Novels Read

 Novels Read Since Starting This Blog in 2008

A   B   C   D   E   F   G   H   I   J   K   L   M   N   

O   P   Q-R   S   T   U   V   W   X-Y-Z

Had to split it up, took way toooooooo long for edits to appear.  Original long list, changed 12/24/202

114. The Stand In by Lily Chu

listened on Audible

2021

300 pgs.- estimate, audio only, 10+ hrs. listening time
AdRomCom
Finished  12/17/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.94
My rating: 3.5/4
Setting: Contemporary Toronto

My comments: Very cute, predictable-ish story about a girl that looks so much like a burnt-out famous Chinese actress that she stands in for her during evening events and activities.  For money, a large amount of money.  Because her mother has Alzheimer's and she wants to ensure that her accommodations are topnotch.  Of course there's a handsome, sexy actor named Sam in the picture.  Setting is contemporary Toronto and the three protagonists are all Chinese, although Gracie is half white American.  I enjoyed listening to this.

Goodreads synopsis:  How to upend your life:

–Get fired by gross, handsy boss
–Fail to do laundry (again)
–Be mistaken for famous Chinese actress
–Fall head-first into glitzy new world

Gracie Reed is doing just fine. Sure, she was fired by her overly “friendly” boss, and yes, she still hasn’t gotten her mother into the nursing home of their dreams, but she’s healthy, she’s (somewhat) happy, and she’s (mostly) holding it all together.

But when a mysterious SUV pulls up beside her, revealing Chinese cinema's golden couple Wei Fangli and Sam Yao, Gracie’s world is turned on its head. The famous actress has a proposition: Due to their uncanny resemblance, Fangli wants Gracie to be her stand-in. The catch? Gracie will have to be escorted by Sam, the most attractive—and infuriating—man Gracie’s ever met.

If it means getting the money she needs for her mother, Gracie’s in. Soon Gracie moves into a world of luxury she never knew existed. But resisting Sam, and playing the role of an elegant movie star, proves more difficult than she ever imagined—especially when she learns the real reason Fangli so desperately needs her help. In the end, all the lists in the world won’t be able to help Gracie keep up this elaborate ruse without losing herself... and her heart. 

113. How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper

listened on Audible

2018

200 estimated pgs. 6 hrs+ audible only)
Adult Fant/Romance
Finished 12/14/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.94
My rating: 2
Setting: supposedly contemporary Louisiana bayou town

My comments: Absolutely ridiculous story, why do I waste my time with such trite trash?  An anthropologist goes to Louisiana bayou town to discover how all the shape-shifters there get along with each other so well.  Of course, as soon as she arrives, murders begin to happen.  The story skips around a lot and develops weirdly.  I'm not a big fan of the southern accents that were used, either, though I'm sure they depicted what people who live there might sound like. Just not good.

Goodreads synopsis:  Anthropologist Jillian Ramsay's career has taken a turn south.

Concerned that technology is about to chase mythological creatures out into the open (how long can Sasquatch stay hidden from Google maps?), the League for Interspecies Cooperation is sending Jillian to Louisiana on a fact-finding mission. While the League hopes to hold on to secrecy for a little bit longer, they're preparing for the worst in terms of human reactions. They need a plan, so they look to Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where humans and supernatural residents have been living in harmony for generations. Mermaids and gator shifters swim in the bayou. Spirit bottles light the front porches after twilight. Dragons light the fires under crayfish pots.

Jillian's first assignment for the League could be her last. Mystic Bayou is wary of outsiders, and she has difficulty getting locals to talk to her. And she can't get the gruff town sheriff, Bael Boone, off of her back or out of her mind. Bael is the finest male specimen she's seen in a long time, even though he might not be human. Soon their flirtation is hotter than a dragon's breath, which Bael just might turn out to be.... 

112. There's Something About Merry by Codi Hall

listened on Audible

2021
336 pgs.
Adult Christmas romcom
Finished 12/12/21
Goodreads rating:  3.70

My rating: 3
Setting: contemporary Misteltoe, Idaho (groan....)

My comments: Nicely narrated.  A cutesie Christmas romance about a single dad and a very sweet (too sweet?) happy middle daughter of a Christmas tree farm family that is way over-the-top too-good-to-be-true.  A real Hallmark movie book.  Fun to listen to, however,  And although there was nothing super steamy , there were some places that would probably raise many eyebrows...

Goodreads synopsis:   Get in the holiday spirit with this sexy rom-com from the author of Nick and Noel's Christmas Playlist.

Merry Winters has the holiday blues. She's spent the last year learning to love herself, and now she's ready to find the right guy. But the pickings are slim in Mistletoe, Idaho, and it’s just her luck that the man who catches her eye is the stoic new foreman at her family’s Christmas tree farm. Too bad he wants to keep a 39-and-a-half-foot pole between them.

Single dad Clark Griffin isn't looking for romance, but he wouldn't mind a friend to snuggle with on a cold winter's night. When he signs up for online dating, he doesn't expect to connect with the sassy, crafty Knottygirl25 and get wrapped up in every message she writes.

But when Merry turns out to be his blind internet date, his surprise causes him to miss his chance under the mistletoe. Can a little Christmas magic give these two a second chance at a first impression?

111. The Dark Hours - Michael Connelly

#4 Renee Ballard/#23 Harry Bosch

listened on Audible

2021
400 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 12/10/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.51
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary LA

My comments: Two mysteries keep Renee Ballard busy with the help of Harry Bosch.  Both are super intuitive and puzzle solvers.  One of the cases is about a bad cop, now retired, who is a hitman of sorts; and the other is about two guys who are serial rapists.  Renee even gets a teeny tiny bit of a love interest in this one, and an apartment!  It was so excellent!

Goodreads synopsis:   Has a killer lain dormant for years only to strike again on New Year’s Eve? LAPD Detective Renée Ballard and Harry Bosch team up to find justice for an innocent victim in the new thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly

There's chaos in Hollywood on New Year's Eve. Working her graveyard shift, LAPD Detective Renée Ballard seeks shelter at the end of the countdown to wait out the traditional rain of lead as hundreds of revelers shoot their guns into the air. As reports start to roll in of shattered windshields and other damage, Ballard is called to a scene where a hardworking auto shop owner has been fatally hit by a bullet in the middle of a crowded street party.

It doesn't take long for Ballard to determine that the deadly bullet could not have fallen from the sky. Ballard’s investigation leads her to look into another unsolved murder—a case at one time worked by Detective Harry Bosch.

Ballard and Bosch team up once again to find out where the old and new cases intersect. All the while they must look over their shoulders. The killer who has stayed undetected for so long knows they are coming after him

110. The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

#4 Truly Devious

listened on Libby, borrowed from TPPL

2021
400 pgs.
YA Myst
Finished 12/5/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.17
My rating: 4.5
Setting: contemporary western Massachusetts - kids' summer camp on a pond

My comments: This is a continuation of the Truly Devious trilogy, with an entirely new mystery but same cast of characters.  Stevie Bell is a 17-year old sleuth who has been enlisted by a rich guy who has purchased a summer camp that has been closed since 1978, when four of its camp counselors were murdered in the woods.  Stevie and two of her close friends become pseudo-camp counselors while she investigates the murders.  Her boyfriend, David, show sup, camping across the lake.  It's an interesting mystery, and I like it better than the first Truly Devious books. I DID discover that I didn't like the voice that the narrator gave to Stevie.  It was too throaty or something.  Good mystery.  More to come?

Goodreads synopsis:   The Truly Devious series continues as Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery.

Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.

But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.

Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.

But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

Personal Poetry Anthology Index

1 = A Packet of Poems

2 = A Parcel of Poems

3 = A Posse of Poems

4 = A Plethora of Poems

Anonymous:  If You Should Meet a Crocodile (3)
Anonymous: Thanksgiving (3)
Author Unknown: Fairy Tale Song (3)
Asch, Frank:  Sunflakes (2)
Baylor, Byrd:  Coyote (2)
Brady, Elsie N.: Leaves (3)
Brown, Calef:  Lone Star Witches (3)
Bryan, Ashley:  Song (2)
Chanko, Pamela: Jiggle, Wiggle, and Giggle (3)
Curie, Robert:  The Home Place (2)
Dickinson, Emily: If I can stop one heart from breaking (1)
Dotlich, Rebecca Kai:  Classroom Globe (2)
Dyson, Cheryl: Veteran’s Day (3)
Esenwine, Matt. F.:  Christmas Cookie Favorites (3)
Farjeon, Eleanor:  A Dragonfly (2)
Farjeon, Eleanor:  There Isn't Time (1)
Field, Rachel:  If Once You Have Slept on an Island (2)
Field, Rachel:  Some People (1)
Fisher, Lillian M:  My Desert Home (1)
Fletcher, Ralph:  Poetry (2)
Florian, Douglas:  Don't! (2)
Frank, John:  A Cold October Night (3)
Frost, Robert:  The Road Not Taken (2)
Frost, Robert:  Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1)
George, Kristine O'Connell:  Storm (3)
Ghinga, Charles:  Pigs (1)
Giovanni, Nikki:  knoxville, tennessee (1)
Greenfield, Eloise:  Things (1)
Gregory K.: Resolutions (3)
Hahn, Mary Lee:  Reading is Breathing (2)
Heck, C. J.: The day the circus came to town (3)
Hindley, Judy:  Green (2)
Holbrook, Sara: The Library (3)
Hopkins, Lee Bennett:  The Museum Door (1)
Hughes, Langston: April Rain Song (1)
Hughes, Langston: Dreams (2)
Klein, A. M.:  Orders (2)
Lamm, C. Drew:  Watercolor Maine (1)
Lansky, Bruce: Lost (2)
Lee, Dennis:  Muddy Puddle (1)
Lesser, Carolyn: A Walk in the Woods (1)
Livingston, Myra Cohn:  The Night (2)
Mansfield, Katherine: Butterfly Laughter (2)
Nye, Naomi Shihab:  The Traveling Onion (2)
Ozer, Kemal (Turkey): At the Beach (2)
Paul, Ann Whitford: California Missions (2)
Prelutsky, Jack:  Alligators are Unfriendly (2)
Prelustky, Jack:  My Gerbil Seemed Bedraggled (1)
Richards, Laura E.:  Eletelephony (1)
Rossetti, Christina:  Who Has Seen the Wind? (2)
Schroc, Priscilla:  Grandmother's Parlor (2)
Shields, Carol Diggory:  The First Americans (2)
Silverstein, Shel:  Eighteen Flavors (1)
Singer, Marilyn:  Desert (2)
Spinelli, Eileen:  When Grandma Comes (2)
Teasdale, Sara:  May Night (2)
The Only Cin: Overload (2)
Thompson, Dorothy Brown:  Maps (2)
Zolotow, Charlotte:  People (1)
Hubbell, Patricia: On My Island (1)
Katz, Bobbi: Poems (1)
Kennedy, X. J.: Mother's Nerves (3)
Kuskin, Karla:  Rules (1)
Lear, Edward:  There Was an Old Man with a Beard (1)
Lindsay, Vachel: There was a little turtle (3)
Livingston, Myra Cohn: El Dia de Muertos: The Day of the Dead (3)
Livingston, Myra Cohn:  Why? (1)
Lobel, Arnold: Books to the Ceiling (3)
Merriam, Eve:  How to Eat a Poem (1)
Moore, Helen H. : Author, Author (3)
Moore, Helen H.: Cooperation (3)
Moore, Helen H.:  Popcorn:  (3)
Mora, Pat: This Big Sky (1)
Nesbitt, Kenn: The Aliens Have Landed (3)
Prelustky, Jack:  Homework!  Oh Homework! (1)
Prelutsky, Jack:  A Pizza the Size of the Sun (3)
Racza, Bob:  Norm (3)
Rose, Margaret: The Butterfly (3)
Rossetti, Christina:  Hurt No Living Thing (3)
Sandburg, Carl:  Fog (1)
Schertle, Alice:  Lizard (2)
Schertle, Alice:  Moo (3)
Shakespeare, William: Sonnet 18 (1)
Siebert, Diane: from Mojave (1)
Silverstein, Shel:  Batty (3)
Stevenson, Robert Louis: Bed in Summer (3)
Stevenson, Robert Louis: My Shadow (3)
Vance, Barbara: Snow Kisses  (3)
Viorst, Judith: Learning (3)
Williams, William Carlos:  This is Just to Say (1)
 
Gregory K: Resolutions (3)
Sarah, a fourth grader in PA:  One Class (2)
 

87. Back in the Burbs by Tracy Wolff and Avery Flynn

listened on Audible

2021
400 pgs.
Genre/Level
Finished 8/9/2021
Goodreads rating: 3.81
My rating: 3.5
Setting: contemporary suburban NJ

My comments: My feelings about the protagonist, Mallory, kept switching b ack and fort, just like her attitude towards Nick.  I guess the theme of the novel is if you want to get to know yourself, you have to trust yourself.  Some of it was very cute, some of it was very tedious, and some o fit really made me think deeply.  Not very believable, especially the way Mallory's mom makes such changes in her thinking.  Oh well, it's a novel.  A cute one when I wasn't groaning to get on with it.

Goodreads synopsis:   Ever have one of those days where life just plain sucks? Welcome to my last three months—ever since I caught my can’t-be-soon-enough ex-husband cheating with his paralegal. I’m thirty-five years old, and I’ve lost my NYC apartment, my job, my money, and frankly, my dignity.

But the final heartache in the suck sandwich of my life? My great-aunt Maggie died. The only family member who’s ever gotten me.  Even after death, though, she’s helping me get back up. She’s willed me the keys to a house in the burbs, of all places, and dared me to grab life by the family jewels. Well, I’ve got the vise grips already in hand (my ex should take note) and I’m ready to fight for my life again.

Too bad that bravado only lasts as long as it takes to drive into Huckleberry Hills. And see the house.
There are forty-seven separate HOA violations, and I feel them all in my bones. Honestly, I’m surprised no one’s “accidentally” torched the house yet. I want to, and I’ve only been standing in front of it for five minutes. But then my hot, grumpy neighbor tells me to mow the lawn first and I’m just...done. Done with men too sexy for their own good and done with anyone telling me what to do ever again.

First rule of surviving the burbs? There is nothing that YouTube and a glass of wine can’t conquer. 

2021 Movies

1 movie in 2021

2020 - 5 movies (Pandemic!)

2019 - 26 movies

2018 - 51 movies

2017 - 49 movies

2016 - 62 movies

2015 - 37 movies

2014 - 46 movies

2013 - 48 movies

2012 - 37 movies

2011 - 54 movies

*6*  Awesome

5  Loved it

4  Liked it

3  It was okay

2  Not great

1  Nope

Stillwater (8/8/2021) Matt Damon was wonderful (5)

WOW movies of 2021 

REALLY GOOD movies of 2021 (4.5 & 5)  

Stillwater (8/8/2021) Matt Damon was wonderful (5)

GOOD/FUN movies of 2021 (3 - 3.5 - 4)

WASTE-OF-TIME MOVIES OF 2021  

Movie - Stillwater

R (2:19)

Wide release 7/30/2021

Viewed 8/8/2021 at Regal Harrisburg

IMBd: 6.9/10

RT Critic: 74   Audience:  72

Critic's Consensus:  Stillwater isn't perfect, but its thoughtful approach to intelligent themes -- and strong performances from its leads -- give this timely drama a steadily building power. 

Cag:   5/Loved it 

Directed by Tom McCarthy

setting:  mostly Marseilles, France

Actors: Matt Damon, Camille Cottin, Abigail Breslin

My comments:  First movie-in-a-theater in a year and a half!! Super exciting!  And this was a good choice. Very interesting piece of storytelling.  Equally the story of a father doing anything to keep his daughter happy and a character study of the part that Matt Damon plays. It's about the characters and their relationships, what drives them, what makes them do the things they've done in their lives.  Can we be predisposed to be a fuck up?  I think that's the actual theme of the movie, which I really liked a lot.  Matt Damon was really wonderful (side note:  it looked like he put on a few pounds for this part).  What I saw of the setting, Marseilles, was nothing like what I have e er pictured Marseilles to be like.  I loved the way he learned to speak French and I loved the relationship between him and the nine-year-old girl, Maya.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Unemployed roughneck Bill Baker (Academy Award® winner Matt Damon) travels from Oklahoma to Marseilles to visit his estranged daughter Allison (Academy Award® nominee Abigail Breslin). Imprisoned for a murder she claims she did not commit. Allison seizes on a new tip that could exonerate her and presses Bill to engage her legal team But Bill eager to prove his worth and regain his daughters trust, takes matters into his own hands. He is quickly stymied by language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system until he meets French actress Virginie (Camille Cottin), mother to eight-year-old Maya (Lilou Siauvaud). Together, these unlikely allies embark on a journey of discovery, truth, love and liberation.

85. Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone

listened on Audible

2020

250 pgs. estimate/audio only
Adult RomCom
Finished 8/7/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.16
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Brooklyn & NJ

My comments:  Another delightful Cara Bastone romcom.  I read them out of order, but it was okay.  Extremely cute, happy, upbeat.  HEA, this one with no epilogue, thank goodness.  Pretty much the entire book was listening to the conversations that the two protagonist had on the phone, and listening to their personalities meshing.  No steam, no sex, completely clean.  Set in Brooklyn and New Jersey, so much fun!

Goodreads synopsis:    True love is on the line in this charming, laugh-out-loud rom-com—created specifically for the audio format!

Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth… when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Cal. He’s surprisingly helpful and really knows his stuff, even if he’s a little awkward…. in an adorable way.

And suddenly I’m flirting with him? And I think he’s flirting back.
And suddenly it’s been hours, and we’re still on the phone talking and ordering each other takeout while he trouble shoots my website.
And suddenly we’re exchanging numbers and sending texts and DMs every day, leaving voice mails (who even does that anymore?!).
And suddenly I’m wondering if it’s possible for two people fall in love at first talk.

Because I’m falling… hard.

84. Sweet Talk by Cara Bastone

listened on Audible

narrated by Lidia Dornet and Chris Brinkley

Unabridged audio (5:42)
2021
around 200 pgs?  Audible only
Adult RomCom
Finished  8/6/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.12 - 2126 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Brooklyn & Queens) NY

My comments: I listened to the audible of this book, and I can't imagine reading it.  This was sooo good!  Wonderfully narrated.  Since the basis of the protagonist's relationship in the story is by voice messaging, listening to the voice messages, read by the two wonderful narrators was superb.  A great romance that skips a lot of the usual tropes and has a mind of its own.  I loved it.  A lot.  Totally clean and feel good.  One of my top five all-time romances.  Yep, I'm going to do it, maybe it's just the mood I'm in, but I've got to give this one a five!  A gentle, many, artistic male and a feisty, not-scared-of-much female, yippee!  PS. - they didn't need to add the unnecessary epilogue...

Goodreads synopsis:  Stay up all night with this funny, surprising romantic comedy from Audie Award-nominee Cara Bastone — scripted exclusively for audio!

        It’s officially booty o’clock, I’m alone again in my kitchen choking down a slice of terrible chocolate cake…and I’m pretty sure I just got drunk texted by the man I have a ginormous crush on.

        I’ve been daydreaming about Eliot Hoffman’s dimples for two months, and even though I’m sure this was a mistake on his end, it doesn’t mean it’s not an opportunity on mine. It’s the middle of the night, and I just wanna talk to him. So I text him back.

        And then somehow we keep talking…ALL NIGHT. We’re both insomniacs, so talking all night soon turns into talking EVERY night.

        And talking about nothing soon turns into talking about something.

        And here we go from in-depth analysis of reality TV to my relationship with my family to his amazing artwork. There’s no topic we don’t cover…

        Except for who I really am. It’s the only question of his I won’t answer.

        As my crush turns into an avalanche of Eliot, I think of him all the time now. But if he knew who I was, the entire house of cards we’ve built this relationship on would come toppling down. I want him to be mine, but we might never be more than just a sweet dream….

"Yellow Glove" (and other stuff) by Naomi Shihab Nye from her 2020 collection Everything Comes Next

What can a yellow glove mean in a world of cars and 

governments?

I was small, like everyone.  Life was a string of precautions:  Don't

kiss the squirrel before you bury him, suck candy, pop balloons,

drop watermelons, watch TV.  When the new gloves appeared one

Christmas, I heard it trailing me.  Don't lose the yellow gloves.

I was small, there was too much to remember.  One day, waving at a

stream -- the ice had cracked, winter chipping down, soon we would

sail boats and roll into ditches -- I let a glove go.  Into the stream,

sucked under the street.  Since when did streets have mouths?  I

walked home on a desperate road.  Gloves cost money.  We didn't

have much.  I would tell no one.  I would wear the yellow glove that

was left and keep the other hand in a pocket.  I knew my mother's 

eyes had tears they had not cried yet.  I didn't want to be the one to

make them flow.  It was the prayer I spoke secretly, folding socks,

lining up donkeys in windowsills, to be good, a promise made to the

roaches who scouted my closet at night, if you don't get in my bed, I

will be good.  And they listened.  I had a lot to fulfill.

The months rolled down like towels out of a machine.  I sang 

and drew and fattened the cat.  Don't scream, don't lie, don't

cheat, don't fight  -- you could hear it anywhere.  A pebble could

show you how to be smooth, tell the truth.  A field could show

 how to sleep without walls.  A stream could remember how

to drift and change -- next June I was stirring the stream like 

a soup, telling my brother dinner would be ready if he'd only

hurry up with the bread, when I saw it.   The yellow glove draped

on a twig.  A muddy survivor.  A quiet flag.

Where had it been in the three gone months?  I could wash 

it, fold it in my winter drawer with its sister, no one in that

world would ever know.  There were miracles on Harvey Street.

 Children walked home in yellow light.  Trees were reborn and

gloves traveled far, but returned.  A thousand miles later, what

can a yellow glove mean in a world of bankbooks and stereos?

Part of the difference between floating and going down.

        Found in Everything Comes Next, Collected and New Poems, 2020

• There's another "essay", four pages long, later in the book entitled, "Museum."  I love it!  I think it's too long to type here, though.  So glad I own the book, but I know I'd read it more if it were on my blog...Maybe I'll type it in another day.

• "The Traveling Onion" (found elsewhere on this blog and one of my favorite poems) is included in this collection.  YAY!

The following two poems come from the middle/second section of the book entitled, "THE HOLY LAND THAT ISN'T"

Before You Can

My Jewish friends are kind and gentle.

Not one of them would harm another person

even if they didn't know that person.

My Arab friends are kind and gentle.

Not one of them would harm another person

even if they didn't know that person.

They might press you to drink 45 small cups

of coffee or tea, but that would be all.

My Jewish friends have never taken my house,

my land, herded me into a cell, tortured me,

cut down my tree, never once.

My Arab friends have never built a bomb.

We respect each other as equals.

We look somewhat alike.

We laugh similarly.

We have never said the other should not exist.

So where is the problem exactly?

Let's be specific.  Who and where and what

is the problem exactly?  You have to know

before you can fix it.

Everything in Our World Did Not Seem to Fit

Once they started invading us, taking our houses

and trees, drawing lines, pushing us into tiny places.

It wasn't a bargain or deal or even a real war.

To this day they pretend it was.

Bu it was something else.

We were sorry what happened to them but

we had nothing to do with it.

You don't think what a little plot of land means

till someone takes it and you can't go back.

Your feet still want to walk there.

Now you are drifting worse

than homeless dust, very lost feeling.

I cried even to think of our hallway,

cool stone passage inside the door.

Nothing would fit for year.

They came with guns, uniforms, declarations.

Life magazine said,

"It was surprising to find some Arabs still in their houses."

Surprising?  Where else would we be?

Up on the hillsides?

Conversing with mint and sheep, digging in dirt?

Why was someone else's need for a home

greater than our own need for our own homes

we were already living in?  No one has ever been able

to explain this sufficiently.  But they find

a lot of other things to talk about.

Picture Book - 365 Penguins by Jean-Luc Fromental

Illustrated by Joelle Jolivet
Endpapers:  N/A - HUGE BOOK

2006 Harry N. Abrams, translated from French

44 huge, thick pages

Illustrations in Black, white, blue, and orange

Goodreads rating:   4.11 - 914 ratings

My rating:  5!

1^st line/s:  "On New Year's Day, at nine o'clock in the morning, a delivery man rang our doorbell."

My comments:  Loved this book.  But, it's HUGE.  Not sure how I'm going to read it aloud! One penguin arrives each and every day for 365 straight days.  Lots of arithmetic and a few vocabulary words for younger readers (anonymous, three-digit-number, ecologist), one page where you hunt among the penguins for the only one with blue feet, and even a great poem:

    Penguins, penguins everywhere,

    Black and white and in my hair,

    Two or three would be quite nice,

    But hundreds more, let's think twice!

    Bathroom, bedroom, closet, kitchen --

    I've had enough, it's time to ditch 'em!

Goodreads:  From the amazing success of the documentary March of the Penguins to the popular penguins in Madagascar to this fall’s upcoming penguin-themed movie Happy Feet, penguins are everywhere! That’s especially true for the family in 365 Penguins, who find a penguin mysteriously delivered to their door every day for a year. At first they’re cute, but with every passing day, the penguins pile up—along with the family’s problems. Feeding, cleaning, and housing the penguins becomes a monumental task. They’re noisy and smelly, and they always hog the bathroom! And who on earth is sending these kwaking critters? In a large format, and with lots of opportunity for counting, 365 Penguins is sure to become a perennial wintertime favorite.

August Goodreads Postcard & Question of the Month

Question: With the variety of eReaders, and the ability to read books on your phone, capturing quotes from your reading is easier than ever! That's what our writing topic is for our postcards this month...

How often do you mark quotes in the books you read? How do you handle this in dead-tree books -- do you underline? post-it notes? something else? Do you do anything with your quotes after you've finished the book? Ever go back to read old quotes? Do you have an all time favorite quote? How many quotes do you have from your current read?

My answer:

I don't very often take note of  quotes that I like because lately most of my reading has been done with audio books.  I do have a bit of a weird habit, though.  I have two favorite words that I keep track of every time I come upon one of them.  I notate the sentence and book title.  What are the words?  CACOPHONY and PARCHED.  I'm getting quite fond of FLUMMOXED, too, and am considering adding it to my repertoire.

Penguin Lesson Plan

My favorite animal:  PENGUINS

        (Have kids think about what their favorite animal might be.  Have them write it down on a slip of paper and drop into a bowl.  Tell them I'll draw a slip from the bowl and next month I'll spend a day talking about the favorite animal that I drew.)

Teaching a week about PENGUINS in the library.

1 -  I'll read a penguin poem.

2 - I'll share my penguin postcard and stuffed animal collections.  I'll show them a bucket of fiction and nonfiction books, and we'll talk about the differences.

3 -  I'll read aloud a nonfiction book about penguins.  Kids will retell facts/interesting stuff they remember from the reading.

4 - Read aloud a fiction book.  

               (When talking about fiction, make sure to discuss ANTHROPOMORPHISM, especially with older grades.)

Here's a great FREE blog that includes lesson ideas, games, and lots of videos:  http://embracinghome.com/penguin-lesson-plans-facts/

childfun.com/themes/animals/penguins

marcias-lesson-links.com/penguincapers.html

YouTubes:

Kids Academy:  Penguins for Kids (4:22)

SciShoKids!:  Meet 3 Peculiar Penguins

All Things Animal:  Animals for Kids:  Penguins (6:39)

Word search puzzle:  Antarctic, bird, southern, hemisphere, swim, waddle, don't fly, eat fish, South Pole, Emperor, Rockhopper, Gentoo, King, Macaroni, African,, Little

What do you call a group of penguins?

    a RAFT of penguins when they're in the water

    a WADDLE of penguins if they're on land

SPS books:

E ABR Pelonius Penguin

E BRE  A Wish for Wings That Work

E JEF Lost and Found

E JEF Up and Down

E LES Tacky the Penguin

E LES Three Cheers for Tacky

E MIN If You Were a Penguin (Pre-K, super simple) facts at end, 2009 PA One Book, Every Young Child

E ODO Pinkie Leaves Home

E PAC (Baskets) The Christmas Penguin

E WOO The Little Penguin

FE MSB #8 PB Penguin Puzzle (Magic Schoolbus)

FE OSB MTH #40 Eve of the Emperor

F ATW Mr. Popper's Penguins

F STR PB Is That an Angry Penguin in Your Gym Bag?

E 080 FDP #3 Penguins

E 590.1 AHS #8 PB Penguin in the Snow

E 598 ALS PB Penguins

E 598 POT HHS Penguin Moves Out of the Antarctic

E 598 WWW Why Why Why Can't Penguins Fly

E 793.KAF Surf's Up

E 598.1 NGS #25 Penguins & Polar Bears

E 598.47 Penguins - 100 Things

598.37 JAC March of the Penguins

598.4 ALL Penguin in the Snow (a 2nd copy?)

599.2 HAN Penguins

Other books that sound good:

I Can Read: Little Penguin's New Friend - 2019, Laura Driscoll

Perfectly Polite Penguins - 2019, Georgiana Deutsch

Penguin's Big Adventure - 2015 Yoon series

Penguins Don't Wear Sweaters! - 2018, Tamura

Spike, The Penguin with Rainbow Hair - 2021, Cullen & Ellis (paper) 

365 Penguins - Fromental & Jolivet ( apparently funny & lots of math) ordered

A Penguin Story - Portis

Penguin in Peril  - Helen Hancocks

The Emperor's Egg - Martin Jenkins

Flight School 0 Lita Judge

Penguins - Gail Gibbons  ordered

Penguin Problems - Jory John & Lane Smith - apparently has incorrect information (GoodReads reviews) that can be tackled in class!

83. Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

read on Kindle

2019

176 pgs.
Adult SciFi
Finished  8/3/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.07
My rating: 3.5
Setting: outer space in the future

My comments: Although shorter than I expected, this was a rather satisfying science-fiction.  The convent space ship with a living, breathing animal  The handful of sisters that the reader got to know were quite individual and interesting.  Good versus evil for sure!  Power.  So interesting that Ms. Rather chose a group of NUNS as the protagonists!  I wish it had been longer, though....

Goodreads synopsis:  The sisters of the Order of Saint Rita captain their living ship into the reaches of space in Lina Rather's debut novella, Sisters of the Vast Black.

Years ago, Old Earth sent forth sisters and brothers into the vast dark of the prodigal colonies armed only with crucifixes and iron faith. Now, the sisters of the Order of Saint Rita are on an interstellar mission of mercy aboard Our Lady of Impossible Constellations, a living, breathing ship which seems determined to develop a will of its own.

When the order receives a distress call from a newly-formed colony, the sisters discover that the bodies and souls in their care—and that of the galactic diaspora—are in danger. And not from void beyond, but from the nascent Central Governance and the Church itself.