130. The Grace Year by Kim Liggett

Listened to eAudio
narrated  by  Emily Shaffer
Unabridged audio (11:42)
2019
416 pgs.
YA Dystopia
Finished 12/26/2019
Goodreads rating:  4.185 - 37,457 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting:  dystopian anywhere society

First line/s:  "No one speaks of the grace year. It's forbidden."

My comments:  A powerful YA dypstopian novel about a hugely patriarchal society where the women are nothing, and spend their 16th year "duking it out" in the wilderness where the slightest misstep could mean death.  Not only was it hard to put down, it was hard to listen to in places, very hard.  With a few clever surprises thrown in, this author has really flushed out a powerful story.

Goodreads synopsis:  No one speaks of the grace year. It’s forbidden.
          In Garner County, girls are told they have the power to lure grown men from their beds, to drive women mad with jealousy. They believe their very skin emits a powerful aphrodisiac, the potent essence of youth, of a girl on the edge of womanhood. That’s why they’re banished for their sixteenth year, to release their magic into the wild so they can return purified and ready for marriage. But not all of them will make it home alive.
          Sixteen-year-old Tierney James dreams of a better life—a society that doesn’t pit friend against friend or woman against woman, but as her own grace year draws near, she quickly realizes that it’s not just the brutal elements they must fear. It’s not even the poachers in the woods, men who are waiting for a chance to grab one of the girls in order to make a fortune on the black market. Their greatest threat may very well be each other.
          With sharp prose and gritty realism, The Grace Year examines the complex and sometimes twisted relationships between girls, the women they eventually become, and the difficult decisions they make in-between. 

MOVIE - Ladybird

R (1:33)

Limited release 11/3/17

Viewed 12/23/18 at Carlisle Theater
IMBd: 7.9

RT Critic: 99   Audience:  81
Critic's Consensus:  Lady Birddelivers fresh insights about the turmoil of adolescence -- and reveals writer-director Greta Gerwig as a fully formed filmmaking talent.

Cag:  4/Liked it a lot

Directed by Greta Gerwig

A24 Studio

Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf

My comments:  Excellent acting.  The story was not something special, it was a look at the everyday life of a teenage girl living in Sacramento, California.  It was, in particular, an examination of the relationship between a mother and daughter.  There were some good funny bits, especially during scenes in the parochial school where Lady Bird attends.  If Laurie Metcalf had been my mother, I would probably have ended up a lot more screwed up than Ladybird seems to be.  The big question, never answered, was how Christine came up with the name Ladybird?  

RT/ IMDb Summary:   In Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig reveals herself to be a bold new cinematic voice with her directorial debut, excavating both the humor and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother and her teenage daughter. Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated and strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working tirelessly to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird's father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, amidst a rapidly shifting American economic landscape, Lady Bird is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home.

13. The Age of Miracles - Karen Thompson Walker

listened to in the car - the last one in my 07 Malibu.....
2012 Random House
294 pgs.
Fantasy/Dystopia Adult (coming-of-age, YA)
Finished 2/24/16
Goodreads rating: 3.63
My rating: 2
Setting:  Contemporary/futuristic San Diego, CA

First line/s:  "We didn't notice it right away.  We couldn't feel it.  We did not sense at first the extra time, bulging from the smooth edge of each day like a tumor blooming beneath skin."

My comments:  Wow.  This was tough to rate - the writing was wonderful, but the story was so terribly depressing that I dreaded listening to the story.  I have no idea where the title came from, and the ending (which was quite unsatisfying) just happened.  The words, though, were beautifully crafted!

Goodreads synopsis:  “It still amazes me how little we really knew. . . . Maybe everything that happened to me and my family had nothing at all to do with the slowing. It’s possible, I guess. But I doubt it. I doubt it very much.”
          Luminous, haunting, unforgettable, The Age of Miracles is a stunning fiction debut by a superb new writer, a story about coming of age during extraordinary times, about people going on with their lives in an era of profound uncertainty.
          On a seemingly ordinary Saturday in a California suburb, 11-year-old Julia and her family awake to discover, along with the rest of the world, that the rotation of the earth has suddenly begun to slow. The days and nights grow longer and longer, gravity is affected, the environment is thrown into disarray. Yet as she struggles to navigate an ever-shifting landscape, Julia is also coping with the normal disasters of everyday life--the fissures in her parents’ marriage, the loss of old friends, the hopeful anguish of first love, the bizarre behavior of her grandfather who, convinced of a government conspiracy, spends his days obsessively cataloging his possessions. As Julia adjusts to the new normal, the slowing inexorably continues.
          With spare, graceful prose and the emotional wisdom of a born storyteller, Karen Thompson Walker has created a singular narrator in Julia, a resilient and insightful young girl, and a moving portrait of family life set against the backdrop of an utterly altered world.

MOVIE - A Birder's Guide to Everything

PG-13 (1:27)

Limited release 3/21/14

Viewed 4/2/14 at the Loft

RT Critic: 95 Audience: 69

Cag: 3.5 A sweet and funny coming-of-age with a touch of teariness

Directed by Robber Meyer

Screen Media Venture/Focus

Ben Kingsley, James LeGros

My comments:  First reaction:  It was so short! (Lost of long movies lately, I guess.)  Totally enjoyable movie about three 15-year old geeky friends who are bird-watchers, focusing on one who lost his mom a year previously and his discomfort with his dad's remarriage (SPOILER:  to his mom's nurse).  Very cute movie.

Reviews:  David Portnoy (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a 15-year-old birding fanatic, thinks that he's made the discovery of a lifetime. So, on the eve of his father's remarriage, he escapes on an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history. 

MOVIE - The Way, Way Back

PG-13 (1:43)
Limited release 7-5-13
Viewed Monday, 8-5-13 at El Con (just me...)
RT critic: 83 audience: 90
cag: 6/awesome
Directed by Jim Rash & Nat Faxon
Fox Searchlight

Actors: Sam Rockwell, Steve Carrell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney

My comments:  This was a fabulous movie.  The acting was wonderful, the storyline was excellent, the energy was just terrific.  The young man who played the lead () is a kid to watch!

Rotten Tomatoes synopsis:  THE WAY, WAY BACK is the funny and poignant coming of age story of 14-year-old Duncan's (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finallyfind his place in the world - all during a summer he will never forget.

Movie - Mud

PG-13 (2:10)

Limited release 4/26/2013

Viewed Wed. afternoon during inservice week at the Loft, by myself

RT Critic:  99% Audience: 88%

Cag: 3.5/ Liked it, but I've been watching a lot of action flics lately and this was a little slow....

Directed by Jeff Nichols

Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions

Matthew McConaughey, Sam Shepard, Reese Witherspoon, Sara Paulson

My reaction:  This "coming of age" story was a really good movie.  Love.  What is it?  How often does it destroy?  They seem to be making movies longer lately, and this was certainly one of them. (The new seats at the Loft helped, it was in the upstairs theater and the old seats were unsittable for more than 20 minutes!)  The two young men playing the leads were wonderful actors. The setting, on the river in Arkansas, seemed pretty bleak, and the acting was wonderful.  There were a number of places that I coulnd't understand what Matthew McConaughey said, but that didn't impact the story.  The made one of his front teeth a little crooked and chipped, what a perfect addition to his ultimate characterization of this character. And YAY SAM SHEPARD!

Rotten Tomato Summary:  Mud is an adventure about two boys, Ellis and his friend Neckbone, who find a man named Mud hiding out on an island in the Mississippi. Mud describes fantastic scenarios-he killed a man in Texas and vengeful bounty hunters are coming to get him. He says he is planning to meet and escape with the love of his life, Juniper, who is waiting for him in town. Skeptical but intrigued, Ellis and Neckbone agree to help him. It isn't long until Mud's visions come true and their small town is besieged by abeautiful girl with a line of bounty hunters in tow.

37. Biting the Moon - Martha Grimes

Adult Mystery
An Onyx Book, Penguin Publishing, 1999
paper,$12.00
301 pgs.
Rating:  2.5

First line:  "The girl's hair was white below the scarf, now a scarf of snow, and there was a fine rime of ice on her eyebrows."

The story starts with Andi Olivier out in the wilds of the Sandia Mountains near Santa Fe, NM, rescuing trapped coyotes and healing them.  Andi Olivier is the name she gave herself when she saw the initials AO on her backpack.  She has no memory of her past, only that she woke up one morning in a B & B in Santa Fe with a man who was supposedly her "Daddy."  She knew this wasn't true.  But she had no idea at all about her background, her name or even her age, which she guesses to be about 17.

Then she meets Mary, and lonely 14 year old, and together they set out to figure out Andi's backstory.  They become close friends immediately, the fearless, clever, implacable Andi and the questioning, not-so-sure -of-herself, Mary.  And what an adventure they set out on...following the clues to Idaho and rescuing dogs, intimidating bad guys, making friends with unlikely characters, white-water rafting, witnessing dog-fighting and illegal big-game hunting,  murdering....  about as unlikely a story as any two teenagers could be a part of. But...well.....not exactly silly, or even ridiculous, but....improbable.

There was some great writing included, like:

"Yet Mary, who had not been violated, felt her own life to be a tangle of conflicting needs.  Her sister, Angela, had always talked about "centering," finding one's "center."  Mary felt she had no center.  She was the Scrabble letters spilled across the table, letters she could not put together to spell anything sensible.  Andi, on the other hand, had mastered the game; as if magnetized, the letters flew together."

45. Drink the Tea - Thomas Kaufman

Adult Murder Mystery
Minotaur Books, 2010
294 pages
HC $24.99
Rating: 5

This is a first novel for Thomas Kaufman. And I loved it. Clever. Humorous. He spent a lot of time on the setting, describing where in Washington D.C. things took place. If only I knew Washington D. C., I'd be in heaven!

Willis Gidney grew up a child of the streets of DC, never knowing his real name, his real birth date, or where he came from. He was a child of the system - and he'd learned every in and out, every twist and turn. He was a con man by ten, a survivor. And now he is a grown man, trying to find his place in the world.

We are introduced to a lot of characters in this book - so many that at first I had a hard time keeping up with who was who. But that's because Willis told "his" story in the first person, flipping back and forth between scraps of memory from his childhood years and his current life - which, in his new job as a PI, was solving a mystery. And many of the faces from his childhood still appear in his life...whether in person or in his thoughts. The story of his childhood is compelling, slowly unfolding to the very end of the book, and the mystery he unravels is the same way, we are taunted and tempted with bits and pieces of information that are cleverly wound together. Surprises, action, adventure, this is a fun fun fun mystery.

Willis' first job as a wisecracking PI is to try to find the 25 year-old daughter that his jazz-saxophone-playing-friend Steps Jackson has just discovered he had. This leads Willis all over Washington DC, from the office buildings of the capital to the police station to the dregs of the city. Shady politicians, ruthless corporations, nerdy chemistry geeks turned drug dealers...this story covers a wide spectrum.

The big question to ponder: Where does a man/woman's humanity come from? What makes it? What changes it?

And the title: Drink the Tea? Well, it's nice to get an answer to this .... you can drink the tea no matter how sour or strong it is. Hey, sometimes you just have to add a bit of sugar!

MOVIE - Whip It

Thoroughly enjoyable entertainment
Released Oct. 2, 2009
(I can't believe it's in the cheap movies already!)
PG-13 (1:51)
Halloween 10/31/09 just me
RT: 82% cag 93%
Director: Drew Barrymore

Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Daniel Stern, Drew Barrymore

Bliss Cavendar, a senior in high school, wears fancy white dresses pagent-ing with (for) her mom. She works at a local piggie-themed diner than serves "squealers" and longs to get out of her small town.

Nearby is Austin, Texas. So many possibilities there. And she decides to take advantage of them - by pretending she's 21 and trying out for one of the roller derby teams that are popular here. She's fast. She's lithe and athletic. She still has her Barbie skates - and she's a natural on them. She begins to live a double life - dutiful daughter by day -- nd Babe Ruthless of the Hurl Scouts Roller Derby team by night.

Totally delightful, enjoyable, fun. The parents, Marcia Gay Harden and a bit-of-an-overweight Daniel Stern are wonderful and real. And Ellen Page pulls off this role beautifully and believably. Don't miss this one on the big screen.