Category 35, Set in the summer: Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
The main event of the book happens during the summer, I think. Or it could be fall, but it felt like summer when I was reading it. There's also a lot of winter in the book. It's really good. Set in Idaho. Part mystery, part family drama. Very well-written.
Category 36, A book that will make you smarter: Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood by Lisa Damour
Well, I think it made me briefly smarter, anyway. It's hard to remember what I learned from it when confronted with a bratty teenage girl. Not that any of my teenagers are bratty.
Category 37, Bestseller: An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
This is a very good book, but it didn't move me like others have. I always wonder how much my response to a book depends on my current place in life -- maybe it would have been more moving and meaningful at a different time. It is worth reading.
Category 38, Reader's choice: My Nam…
My wife mother- and sister-in-law are unanimous that it's Matthew McConaughey-hey-hey.
ReplyDeleteSo they like him, right? We know a guy who calls him Matthew McNotaHotty, because his wife thinks he's hot. I thought that was funny.
ReplyDeleteour friend just lent us must love dogs and we watched it and i thought it was cute.... maybe i was delerious from no sleep but i can say i would recommend it to anyone who needs something fluff and silly about a serious situation like life after fresh divorce.... but let me also add that i will watch anything with john cusack... as actors go he is top notch.... i even watched identity (horrible horror movie).... on that note his sister joan is awesome as well... a couple recommendations if you are into cusacks.... 1. high fidelity 2. grosse point blank 3. adams family values
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure why I didn't like Must Love Dogs that well. I think it's something to do with Diane Lane. I love John Cusack, though. Ever since my teenage years when he was in stuff like Better Off Dead and One Crazy Summer and The Sure Thing, movies I can quote lines from. Now I've dated myself. But he has turned out to be a great actor, hasn't he? I've seen Grosse Point Blank and High Fidelity (both edited for TV). Grosse Point Blank is such dark humor, but I loved it. And I love Joan Cusack, too. She is delightful. Have you seen Arlington Road? That's another TV edit we taped and watched. Unfortunately, I missed the end of the movie when I taped it, so we've never seen the end. But Joan Cusack is creepy and scary in it. Fun!
ReplyDeleteJoan Cusack has her own tv show on the travel channel that is called, "Local Flavor with Joan Cusack." I've only seen parts of it a couple of times, but she travels to different places (cities and countries) to taste and talk about the local food. It's fun to watch and, of course, you love Joan Cusack. You get to see her own personality and she is, like you say, delightful. I remember John in "The Journey of Natty Gann." I thought he was sooo cool/cute!
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, I forgot about The Journey of Natty Gann. I need to see that again. I remember having a big crush on him in that movie. But I had a crush on him in all those old movies.
ReplyDeleteFollow-up thoughts on How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days: the feminist in me was very annoyed that at the end of the movie, Matthew McI'mSoHotAnyWomanWouldFallInLoveWithMe gets everything. He wins his bet (and therefore the girl, of course); she doesn't. He gets the big diamond account; she loses her job (okay, she quits because it's lame and holding her back, but still). And, most important, she bares her soul in the magazine article she writes, and all he does is chase her on his cool motorcycle and accuse her of running away from him. Why doesn't he have to say anything? It's just like her somewhat pathetic friend at the beginning who tells the guy she loves him after two days, and when her girlfriends ask what he said, her response is, "Oh, he didn't have to say anything! I knew just how he felt!" or something like that. Blech. If that's supposed to be meaningful somehow, I think that's pretty lame. However, her clingy, needy, whiny antics still make it worth watching.
ReplyDeleteI've heard Tristian and Isolde is not only an English folk tale/ledgend but Irish as well. THe movie was based on the English Ledgend making king Mark the victim. The Irish I've heard makes Tristian out to be the victim. Victim is not quite the right word but I mean to state that the "victim" in both of these scenarios is the one that the audience sympathizes with. I"m not an English of Irish historian by any means but just passing on the bits and peices of info I've researched after seeing the movie myself.
ReplyDelete