Movie - Cabrini

PG-13/2:25

Wide release 3/8/2024

Viewed date at Thursday, March in Hanover, PA

IMBd: 7.9/10

RT Critic:  91  Audience:  98

Critic's Consensus:  Aided by Cristiana Dell'Anna's performance in the title role, Cabrini is an uplifting biopic with a timeless message.

Cag:  6/Awesome  

Actors:  Cristiana Dell'Anna, David Morse, John Lithgow

My comments:  First movie on the big screen in a long time, perhaps a year?   Worth the wait, for this was an extraordinary film, based on the real person, Mother Cabrini, the first American saint.  Gritting my teeth I watched conceited white men make ridiculous, ruthless, selfish decisions and an extremely strong-willed female take them all on.  Immigration, such a timely subject, was just as timely 135 years ago, only this time it was the Italian immigrants that were being scorned and belittled.  Very powerful movie, which I loved.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  From Alejandro Monteverde, award-winning director of "Sound of Freedom", comes the powerful epic of Francesca Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who arrives in New York City in 1889 and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.

46. Starfish by Lisa Fipps

read the BOOK

2021

244 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF in Verse
Finished 5/5/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.56 - 1954 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary Texas

First line/s:  "I step down into the pool.

The water is bathwater warm

but feels cool

compared to the blistering hot air.

Kick.  Gliiiiiiide.

Stroke.  Gliiiiiiide.

Side to side

and back again.

Dive under the surface.

Soar to the top.

Arch my back.

Flip. Flop.

As soon as I slip into the pool,

I am weightless.

Limitless.

For just a while."

My comments: The book is written in verse, beautiful verse, so it reads fast.  It tugs on the heart.  Ellie is an extremely large young girl, and has been bullied for being fat for as long as she can remember.  She is bullied horribly at school, but she is bullied even more horrendously at home by her mother and older brother.  Her father does the best he can to make her feel better, but it's not until he takes her for weekly visits to a therapist that she stops blaming herself and figures out how to stand up for herself.  She's a swimmer, and, luckily, has a pool and lives in Texas so she can swim every day.  I got so mad in places while reading this book ... do people really say super insulting things to peers, to strangers, to people that they see on the bus or in a restaurant?  Definitely a book to be read by middle schoolers and even better, to be used as a whole class book or read aloud.

Goodreads synopsis:  Ellie is tired of being fat-shamed and does something about it in this poignant debut novel-in-verse.

          Ever since Ellie wore a whale swimsuit and made a big splash at her fifth birthday party, she’s been bullied about her weight. To cope, she tries to live by the Fat Girl Rules–like “no making waves,” “avoid eating in public,” and “don’t move so fast that your body jiggles.” And she’s found her safe space–her swimming pool–where she feels weightless in a fat-obsessed world. In the water, she can stretch herself out like a starfish and take up all the room she wants. It’s also where she can get away from her pushy mom, who thinks criticizing Ellie’s weight will motivate her to diet. Fortunately, Ellie has allies in her dad, her therapist, and her new neighbor, Catalina, who loves Ellie for who she is. With this support buoying her, Ellie might finally be able to cast aside the Fat Girl Rules and starfish in real life–by unapologetically being her own fabulous self.

9. Angels Burning by Tawni O'Dell

Listened to Audio Book on Chirp
narrated  by Susan Bennett
Unabridged audio (10:25)
2016 Gallery Books
288 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 1/14/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.94 - 1536 ratings
My rating: 5
Setting: contemporary rural west-central PA

First line/s:  "The last time I was this close to Rudy Mayfield he was leaning across the seat of his dad's truck trying to grope my recently ripened breasts."

My comments: This is the story of two families in a west-central Pennsylvania town.  One we get to know because she's the chief of police. 50 year old Dove Carnahan  is investigating the murder of a 17-year-old girl, Cameo Truly.  These are the two families, and although they intertwine, the two stories run parallel to each other and are both very fascinating and full of mystery.  I love that the protagonist is 50 years old, still appealing, very very smart, and witty to boot.  I totally enjoyed the story, which was well read in a voice that might've been just a little too young for the protagonist...but totally worked for me.

Goodreads synopsis:  “Compelling, fast-paced.” —Library Journal, starred review
          “Stellar.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
          “A page-turner.” —Kirkus Reviews
          From the New York Times bestselling author of the Oprah Book Club pick Back Roads comes this fast-paced literary thriller about a small town police chief who’s forced to dig into her own shadowy past as she investigates the murder of a teenage girl.
          On the surface, Chief Dove Carnahan is a true trailblazer who would do anything to protect the rural Pennsylvanian countryside where she has lived all fifty of her years. Traditional and proud of her blue-collar sensibilities, Dove is loved by her community. But beneath her badge lies a dark and self-destructive streak, fed by a secret she has kept since she was sixteen.
          When a girl is beaten to death, her body tossed down a fiery sinkhole in an abandoned coal town, Dove is faced with solving the worst crime of her law enforcement career. She identifies the girl as a daughter of the Truly family, a notoriously irascible dynasty of rednecks and petty criminals.
          During her investigation, the man convicted of killing Dove’s mother years earlier is released from prison. Still proclaiming his innocence, he approaches Dove with a startling accusation and a chilling threat that forces her to face the parallels between her own family’s trauma and that of the Trulys.
          With countless accolades to her credit, author Tawni O’Dell writes with the “fearless insights” (The New York Times Book Review) she brought to the page in Back Roads and One of Us. In this new, masterfully told psychological thriller, the past and present collide to reveal the extent some will go to escape their fate, and in turn, the crimes committed to push them back to where they began. 

Picture Book - River by Elisha Cooper

Illustrated by the author

2019, Orchard Books

HC $18.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  3.97 - 173 ratiugs

My rating:  Hmmmm.....4?
Endpapers:Map of the northeast, largely including the Hudson River

1^st line/s:  "Morning, a mountain lake.  A traveler, a canoe.  As she paddles out into the bluster middle of the lake, she turns for a last wave to the shore behind her.  Her journey begins.

My comments: A woman, alone paddles a canoe the entire 315-mile length of the Hudson River in New York, detailing many of her adventures, sightings, and trials.  It's a very interesting read for this adult, but I'm not sure how much it will hold a child's attention.  Definitely suited for a third or fourth (or even higher) geography/river study.

Goodreads: Caldecott Honor winner Elisha Cooper invites readers to grab their oars and board a canoe down a river exploration filled with adventure and beauty.

In Cooper's flowing prose and stunning watercolor scenes, readers can follow a traveler's trek down the Hudson River as she and her canoe explore the wildlife, flora and fauna, and urban landscape at the river's edge. Through perilous weather and river rushes, the canoe and her captain survive and maneuver their way down the river back home.
          River is an outstanding introduction to seeing the world through the eyes of a young explorer and a great picture book for the STEAM curriculum.
          Maps and information about the Hudson River and famous landmarks are included in the back of the book. 

48. Dread Nation by Justina Ireland

listened on Audible (borrowed from CCLS)
read by Bahni Turpin (great job)
Unabridged audio (11.56 - most I listened to at x1.25 because the narration was quite slow...)
2018 Baker & Bray
455 pgs.
YA dystopia
Finished June 1, 2019
Goodreads rating:  4.15 - 12,133 ratings
My rating:  4
Setting:  Baltimore, MD and Kansas outback after the Civil War

First line/s:  "The day I came screaming and squalling into the world was the first time someone tried to kill me."

My comments:  The premise of this book was so hatefully racist that it was hard to read.  Our heroine, Jane, is smart, cocky, and very sure of herself - very likable indeed.  She deals with her lot in life with humor and honesty and it's never hard to swallow her decisions and motivations.  I listened to this while driving back-and-forth to Michigan and it certainly kept my attention, the wailing of the Shamblers notwithstanding!

Goodreads synopsis:  Jane McKeene was born two days before the dead began to walk the battlefields of Gettysburg and Chancellorsville—derailing the War Between the States and changing America forever. In this new nation, safety for all depends on the work of a few, and laws like the Native and Negro Reeducation Act require certain children attend combat schools to learn to put down the dead. But there are also opportunities—and Jane is studying to become an Attendant, trained in both weaponry and etiquette to protect the well-to-do. It’s a chance for a better life for Negro girls like Jane. After all, not even being the daughter of a wealthy white Southern woman could save her from society’s expectations.
          But that’s not a life Jane wants. Almost finished with her education at Miss Preston’s School of Combat in Baltimore, Jane is set on returning to her Kentucky home and doesn’t pay much mind to the politics of the eastern cities, with their talk of returning America to the glory of its days before the dead rose. But when families around Baltimore County begin to go missing, Jane is caught in the middle of a conspiracy, one that finds her in a desperate fight for her life against some powerful enemies. And the restless dead, it would seem, are the least of her problems. 

50. Allusion by Andi Hyldahl

read on my iPhone
2017, CreateSpace Independent
365 pgs.
YA Mystery
Finished 6/7/18
Goodreads rating: 4.26 - 61 ratings
My rating:  3.5
Setting:  Contemporary Yachnats and Eugene, Oregon

First line/s: "A dusty maroon pickup approaches.  My pulse surges.  My timing is dead on.  I duck under the foliage and heft up my dad's ancient binoculars zooming in on two large hands gripping ten and two."

My comments:   Although quite implausible,  this is suspenseful mystery was great fun to read, especially as long as you took everything with a grain of salt and a little bit of eye-rolling…..great-looking-super-athlete-with-no-girlfriend-ha!-Tosh and gorgeous-never-been-kissed-even-though-she’s-eighteen-Lucy do make a great pair.....  And my less-than-five rating does NOT mean I couldn't put it down....because I couldn't!

Goodreads synopsis: Every year, an anonymous gift is left on eighteen-year-old Lucy’s porch. It’s the only gift she receives all year, and it’s exactly what she needs. This year’s gift exposes hidden clues, untangling the undisclosed fates of her parents. Along the way, she finds Toph, a college athlete who’s easy on the eyes and deems to be more useful than suspected. With the help of her best friend Art, a chemistry genius who resides at the nursing home where she’s employed, she delves into an impossible mission for truth, love, and freedom.

PICTURE BOOK - Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The Case of R. B. G. vs. Inequality by Jonah Winter

Illustrated by Stacy Innerst

2017, Abrams Books for Young Adults

HC $18.95

40 pgs.
This is a picture book for older kids, perhaps grade 4 and up?

Goodreads rating:  4.39 - 359 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers"  Shelves and shelves of books, with Ms. Ginsburg on a ladder, accessing them.  Lt. brown background, with books in shades of browns and reds.

Illustrations:  Most are in browns and reds, Most are fine, but I don't really like the cover. I'm sure others do.

1^st line/s:  "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: During this trial,  you will learn about a little girl who had no clue just how important she would become.  You will see the unfair world she was born nto - where boys were valued more than girls, where women were not encouraged to achieve and aspire.  You will see evidence of that unfairness, just as she herself has seen it all her life.

     Here are the facts of her case."

My comments:  This seemingly tiny woman is a powerhouse.  I love hearing her speak when I see her on Facebook or on the tv.  Smart,  Fair.  And, unfortunately getting older.  Born in 1933, that makers her somewhere in her 84th year, and still going strong!  Highly recommended to school age kids AND adults!

Goodreads:  To become the first female Jewish Supreme Court Justice, the unsinkable Ruth Bader Ginsburg had to overcome countless injustices. Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1930s and ’40s, Ginsburg was discouraged from working by her father, who thought a woman’s place was in the home. Regardless, she went to Cornell University, where men outnumbered women four to one. There, she met her husband, Martin Ginsburg, and found her calling as a lawyer. Despite discrimination against Jews, females, and working mothers, Ginsburg went on to become Columbia Law School’s first tenured female professor, a judge for the US Court of Appeals, and finally, a Supreme Court Justice.
          Structured as a court case in which the reader is presented with evidence of the injustice that Ginsburg faced, Ruth Bader Ginsburg is the true story of how one of America’s most “notorious” women bravely persevered to become the remarkable symbol of justice she is today

29. The Drowned Girls by Loreth Anne White

Angie Pallorino #1
read on my iPhone
2017 Montlake Romance (but don't consider this to be in the ROMANCE genre!  It's much more mystery...)
524 pgs.
Adult Murder Mystery/Police Procedural
Finished 4/1/18
Goodreads rating:  4.28 - 2282 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting:Contemporary city of Victoria, Canada (British Columbia?)

First line/s:  "We all lie.  We all guard secrets -- sometimes terrible ones -- a side to us so dark, so shameful, that we quickly avert our own eyes from the shadows we might glimpse in the mirror."

My comments: I think I'm going to rate this one a three.  It was a pretty decent murder mystery, but that was only 50% of the story.  The other 50% followed Angie Pallorino on her own quest - mysteries surrounding her own emerging, unidentifiable memories from when she was very, very young.  It also detailed her growing relationship and desire for her new boss, James Maddocks, who was handsome, rugged, smart, and newly unmarried..  Unlike many of the police procedurals that I've read, this had some pretty explicit sex scenes between the two protagonists.  Hmmmm,  interesting, but pretty descriptive for this genre.  The setting of a Canadian island on the western coast was also an interesting factor.
     There is now a second book in the series.  I'm not sure I really like Angie, she is a bit hotheaded and selfish, driven in an almost unhealthy way, and the  reviews I've read about the second book make me feel that her personality is not going toc hange.  We'll see, I'll probably read it eventually....

Goodreads synopsis: He surfaced two years ago. Then he disappeared ... 
          But Detective Angie Pallorino never forgot the violent rapist who left a distinctive calling card—crosses etched into the flesh of his victim’s foreheads. 
          When a comatose Jane Doe is found in a local cemetery, sexually assaulted, mutilated, and nearly drowned, Angie is struck by the eerie similarities to her earlier unsolved rapes. Could he be back?
​          Then the body of a drowned young woman floats up in the Gorge, also bearing the marks of the serial rapist, and the hunt for a predator becomes a hunt for a killer. Assigned to the joint investigative task force, Angie is more than ready to prove that she has what it takes to break into the all-male homicide division. But her private life collides with her professional ambitions when she’s introduced to her temporary partner, James Maddocks—a man she’d met the night before in an intense, anonymous encounter.
          Together, Angie and Maddocks agree to put that night behind them. But as their search for the killer intensifies so does their mutual desire. And Angie’s forays into the mind of a monster shake lose some unsettling secrets about her own past . . . 
          How can she fight for the truth when it turns out her whole life is a lie?