PICTURE BOOK - A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss

Presented by Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Illustrated by E G Keller

2018 Chronicle Books

HC $18.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.75 - 9380 ratigs

My rating: 5

Endpapers: Marlon Bundo's bowtie and Wesley's glasses

 

1^st line/s:  "Hello.  My name is Marlon Bundo, and I am a bunny."

My comments:  Oh my gosh, this is wonderful!  Never mind that this gay bunny is owned by our current Vice President (Pence!) but he wants to get married to boot.  Lots of wonderful issues are treated  clearly, fairly, and with wonderful fun... and every cent earned goes to a charity that helps with better treatment for the LGBTQ community.

Goodreads:  HBO's Emmy-winning Last Week Tonight with John Oliver presents a picture book about a Very Special boy bunny who falls in love with another boy bunny.
          Meet Marlon Bundo, a lonely bunny who lives with his Grampa, Mike Pence - the Vice President of the United States. But on this Very Special Day, Marlon's life is about to change forever...
          With its message of tolerance and advocacy, this charming children's book explores issues of same sex marriage and democracy. Sweet, funny, and beautifully illustrated, this book is dedicated to every bunny who has ever felt different.
          100% of Last Week Tonight's proceeds will be donated to The Trevor Project and AIDS United.  

MOVIE - Moonlight

R (1:50)

Limited release 10/21/16

Viewed 11/29/16 at the Loft with Sheila

RT Critic: 98   Audience:  91
Critic's Consensus:   Moonlightuses one man's story to offer a remarkable and brilliantly crafted look at lives too rarely seen in cinema.

Cag: 4.5 - for the most part, I liked this movie a whole lot

Directed by Barry Jenkins (who also wrote it)

Plan B Entertainment

My comments:  I loved parts one and two.  A lot. But part three threw me off a bit.  The physical change in the main character is too extreme.  He was intensely skinny in the first two parts, and even though he'd bulked up incredibly, he didn't have the leanness that I felt he still would have had.  So it was hard to relate to him as the same character.  And this third part went at what seemed to me like a slower pace.  The story, as a whole, was so sad and so well told - my heart breaks for kids who are brought up in drug-addicted households and poverty, and for kids who have to deal with intense bullying, mentally and physically.  Our world.....or at least some parts of it.  Horrible.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man's struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.

48. Songs For a Teenage Nomad - Kim Culbertson

2007 Source Books
245 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 8-2-2014
Goodreads rating: 3.80
My rating:  3/Liked it
TPPL
Contemporary San Andreas, CA

1st sentence/s:  "My dad named me Calle after a cat he had in ollege that ran away.  He really loved that cat.  I always thought that was funny since he was the one who ran away from me...and my mom."

My comments: This was a quick, interesting read.  There is one female protagonist and a number of minor characters - and the characters seem quite well developed.  The three major "players" in the book are all troubled kids whose jumbled up thoughts and "troubles" come directly from effed up parents. The ending was a bit too convenient, but I'm not complaining.

Goodreads book summary:  What is the soundtrack of your life?         
          After living in twelve places in eight years, Calle Smith finds herself in Andreas Bay, California, at the start of ninth grade. Another new home, another new school...Calle knows better than to put down roots. Her song journal keeps her moving to her own soundtrack, bouncing through a world best kept at a distance.          
          Yet before she knows it, friends creep in-as does an unlikely boy with a secret. Calle is torn over what may be her first chance at love. With all that she's hiding and all that she wants, can she find something lasting beyond music? And will she ever discover why she and her mother have been running in the first place?

28. Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality - Elizabeth Eulberg

2013, Scholastic

paper $9.99

265 pgs.

YA Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Finished 5/18/2014

Goodreads rating: 3.65

My Rating: 3/ I guess I'd have to say I liked it

TPPL

Setting: Dallas suburb

1^st sentence/s:  "Applying butt glue to my sister's backside is, without question, not the first way I'd choose to spend a weekend."

My comments:  This story definitely got its point across.  There were some parts that were a little difficult to handle (the mom was such a mess!) that I was just plain pissed part of the time I read this. There are so many parents out there that use their children.  This is really a story of abuse and bullying.  It also has the component of learning about yourself as your grow older, a "coming-of-age" sensibility, with all character-types covered - the gay kid, the great friend, the bully, the crush, the perfect-person-for-you-but-you-don't-see-it-till-the-end, the difficult sibling that you really do love - no minority, though.  But this is coming from an adult.  I wonder what teenagers will think of this book?
     There was another element that made me wonder.  Lexi's mother doesn't listen to her, or her sister Mackenzie, but she is clever and strong and at the end comes up with an in-your-face-no-holes-barred way.  But why doesn't she take a stand - a real stand - before that?  Just saying no.  She wants to please, I guess.  This book really does get one thinking - enraged, too.....

Goodreads Summary:  A hilarious new novel from Elizabeth Eulberg about taking the wall out of the wallflower so she can bloom.

          Don't mess with a girl with a great personality!
          Everybody loves Lexi. She's popular, smart, funny...but she's never been one of those girls, the pretty ones who get all the attention from guys. And on top of that, her seven-year-old sister, Mackenzie, is a terror in a tiara, and part of a pageant scene where she gets praised for her beauty (with the help of fake hair and tons of makeup).
          Lexi's sick of it. She's sick of being the girl who hears about kisses instead of getting them. She's sick of being ignored by her longtime crush, Logan. She's sick of being taken for granted by her pageant-obsessed mom. And she's sick of having all her family's money wasted on a phony pursuit of perfection.
          The time has come for Lexi to step out from the sidelines. Girls without great personalities aren't going to know what hit them. Because Lexi's going to play the beauty game - and she's in it to win it.

MOVIE - Run and Jump

Unrated (an Irish film) (1:45)
Limited release 1/24/14
Viewed at the Loft 2/10/14
RT: 81 audience: 61
cag;  5- I Loved it
Steph Green
IFC Films

Will Forte, Maxine Peake

My comments:  Filmed in Counties Wicklow and Kerry in Ireland, I considered this a wonderful movie.  I was afraid the Irish brogue might be too thick to understand, but it wasn't at all.  I have discovered that it's the storytelling that means the most to me in a movie or a book, and this was one heck of a story.  The actors portraying the characters did an incredible job.  The female lead was PERFECT and I've decided I'll follow Will Forte anywhere.  Some people might consider this a sad movie (there was a lot of "sad," I guess) but the spirit in which the story is told does not dwell on the sadness.  There's a great sense of positivity, of optimism, of life going on and we deal.  It was really, really good and I highly recommend it.

Rotten Tomatoes "Movie Info":  A headstrong Irish housewife finds her life transforming in ways she never thought possible after her husband suffers a life-altering stroke, and an American doctor arrives to chronicle the family's recovery process in this intimate drama from director Steph Green (whose short film New Boy was nominated for an Oscar in 2007). In the wake of her husband's stroke, loving wife and mother Vanetia (Maxine Peake) gradually comes to realize that her household will never be the same again. Much to Vanetia's relief, a research grant from American doctor Ted Fielding (Will Forte) provides the funds needed to remain financially afloat. Ted wants to study how the family copes with such a severe trauma, and though at first his presence in the home strikes a chord of resentment in the overburdened Vanetia, he exhibits an air of tranquility that soon becomes a source of deep comfort to her. Likewise, Vanetia's unwavering strong will awakens a newfound sense of vitality in the reserved Dr. Fielding, resulting in growth and healing for all involved.  

18. Tapestry of Fortunes - Elizabeth Berg

2013, Random House
219 pgs.
written for adults
HC $26.00 
Genre:  CRF
Goodreads rating: 3.51
My rating: 4
Acquired:  TPPL

My Goodreads comments:  I read a few reviews before reading this book so decided I wouldn't be disappointed if it wasn't up to par.  However, although there were, yes, weaknesses; this story spoke to me intensely.  It was like it came along purposely at this particular time in my life to send me some subliminal-and some not so subliminal- messages.  Simplify your life.  Being along is not the way life should be led.  Figure out ways to stop paralyzing yourself because, yes, you are definitely doing that.  And....loneliness sucks.  There are many quotes that I've written down that mean a lot. So, yes, I give this book a positive review.  It was just what I needed at this time...at this day...at this moment...of my life.  A pretty-pat plot, no surprises at all, loads of coincidences and more-or-less happy endings for everyone (tralala), but it worked....beautifully....for me.

Goodreads summary:  A wonderful new novel about four women who take a trip into their past, to find again the people they miss, and to reconnect with their fortunes.

Cecilia Ross is looking for a change. She has decided to take time off from her job as a successful motivational speaker and sell her home. She moves in to a beautiful old house in St. Paul, Minnesota, complete with a big front porch, a wild garden, a chef's kitchen-and three roommates. The four women are different ages, but all are feeling restless, and want to take a roadtrip to find again the people and things they miss. One woman wants to connect with a daughter she gave away at birth; another wants to visit her long-absent ex-husband; a third woman, a professional chef, is seeking new inspiration from the restaurants along the way. And Cecilia is looking for Dennis Halsinger, the man she never got over, who recently sent her a postcard out of the blue. This novel is classic Elizabeth Berg-a portrait of how women grow through the relationships that define them, and a testament to the power of female friendship.