Tag: recs

Mini Review Roundup [07/06]

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I am playing let’s-read-all-the-books-at-once, apparently, and keep picking up and putting down really great books that I’m just not in the right mood for, but one that I devoured this week is The Poet X. I wholeheartedly recommend it! The story follows Xiomara Batista, a budding poet stifled by her super religious family and is told in verse.

‘This is where the poems are,’ I say, thumping a fist against my chest. ‘Will you burn me? Will you burn me, too? You would burn me, wouldn’t you, if you could?’

It’s very poetic and poignant, and if you listen to the audiobook version, the author herself reads it. 🙂 I’m definitely going to be picking up Clap When You Land and With the Fire on High.

I also watched 13th, which is Ava DuVernay’s documentary on the history of the prison system and slavery in the United States. If you haven’t seen it, make sure you watch it! Very harrowing, but very important stuff.

Currently reading;

Films, Poems and Currently Reading Roundup and Review Post [02/06]

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JONAS (2018) | lgbt+, french, drama

Jonas [aka I Am Jonas] is a gut-punching, haunting addition to lgbt+ films. The film follows the eponymous main character Jonas after he’s arrested on night out at a club, Boys. One of the police officers knows him from school and they reminisce for a little while in the back of the car. The film then begins flashing from the past to the present and we learn how Jonas ended up so angry and adrift. We see Jonas as a teenager meeting Nathan, a new boy in school. They quickly fall in love and, despite homophobic peers, start a relationship that’s kind, sweet and supported by Nathan’s mother, who also welcomes Jonas into her home.

Back in the present, Jonas follows a man around the city, keeping his distance until he goes into a hotel where the man works. They talk a little. The man doesn’t know him, but it’s clear Jonas knows the man. After setting off the smoke alarm in his room and getting kicked out, the pair start to talk in the lobby. When Jonas is invited to go drinking, he accepts, and we slowly start to learn more.

The story moves along with slow determination. There’s clearly some mystery to be unfolded. This is definitely a heavy kind of drama. Prepare for tears. I do recommend it, though. Félix Maritaud is an incredible actor and I really want to see him in more films! A very well done film over all.

Mr. Right (2015) | action, comedy, romance

Okay, I honestly really liked this one. It’s silly and over the top and implausible and ridiculously good fun, and it is totally worth a watch! The movie follows Martha (played by Anna Kendrick), a risk-seeking woman who’s allergic to good advice and wise decisions, and Francis (played by Sam Rockwell), a notorious killer for hire, apparently (?) and former spy, allegedly (?). Basically, you’re not sure what’s up with Francis for most of the movie, or whether he’s good or bad, but he’s clearly had a lot of training and is good at dancing and has enemies coming out of his ears. Oh, and he wears a clown nose. You’re just not told why for a good bit. You only know that he’s kind to Martha and completely honest with her. (She thinks he’s joking when he talks about his job and how he got his scar.)

I think what I liked so much about this one was how honest and straight to the point all the characters were. There was no side-stepping around topics or slow, predictable build up. It’s kind of like when you’re watching a movie about someone first learning about magic and they keep denying it and you’re like, c’mon, just believe in it already. This movie isn’t fantasy, it’s action, but it’s great that the characters just jump straight to the point.

Martha and Francis are clearly made for each other (and clearly on a frequency that no one in their lives finds normal), but they suit each other. And their chemistry is fantastic. If you like fun, romance and action, I recommend giving this one a shot!

POEMS POEMS POEMS (/◕ヮ◕)/ Seriously, why don’t I read poetry more often? I’ve read so many poems this weekend and I have missed poetry. *chef’s kiss* These poems are all from Uncanny Magazine Issue 21.

‘Found Discarded: A Love Poem, Questionably Addressed’ by Cassandra Khaw was absolutely breath-taking.

The Greeks believed
that a human being
is one entity unseamed at the spine,
opened at the breastbone, parted at
the lips, which is why we spend all our lives pressing
together at the hips, at the fingertips

RIGHT?! How lush. I’m in awe. Read it here.

‘The Fairies in the Crawlspace’ by Beth Cato is so dark and twisted and really, really well done. If you like Grimm’s faerie tales, this one is for you.

the fairies needed no web
to snare the girl

Read it here.

די ירושה by Sonya Taaffe is short and poignant. I really liked it!

History drops a hot potato in your hands,
tells you to walk uphill with it, both ways.

Read it here.

I also quite liked ‘The Sea Never Says It Loves You’ by Fran Wilde. Poems about the sea are some of my favourites.

But the water is warm and the salt spray tastes your lips
And you say yes.

Read it here.

I hope everyone has a lovely week. Stay safe out there, my friends.

Show Review: Plan Cœur [2018]

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In the mood for a really well acted comedy? Plan Cœur (also known as The Hook Up Plan in English) is definitely a great one!

[This review contains some spoilers] The series follows Elsa (played by Zita Hanrot), who’s still getting over a breakup. She’s not handling it well at all, especially because her relationship ended two years before. Her ex, Maxime (played by Guillaume Labbé), cheated on her and is still with the woman he left Elsa for. To perk her up and help her get over a 25-month dry spell, Charlotte (played by Sabrina Ouazani), one of her best friends, hires a high end prostitute (played by Marc Ruchmann) to woo her. She shares the secret with Emilie (played by Joséphine Draï), their other best friend, who wants to immediately tell Elsa the truth. The problem is, every time they try, the subject changes, someone arrives, or Elsa’s just too happy with Jules, the man in question, who’s also starting to fall for her. Their adorableness is off the charts, for sure!

When Emilie and Charlotte push Jules to ‘dump’ Elsa, he instead keeps seeing her, no longer getting paid to do so. At the same time, the other two women are dealing with issues of their own. Charlotte is the sister of Emilie’s boyfriend Antoine (played by Syrus Shahidi) and living upstairs in their apartment with Matthieu (played by Tom Dingler), Antoine and Maxime’s recently unemployed best friend. Antoine and Matthieu are also Maxime’s continuous voice of reason and the three play off each other well. But as Else moves on with her life, happy with Jules, Maxime gets more and more jealous, something his new girlfriend picks up on. Of course, the secrets can only last so long …

Jules is my favourite character on the show by far, although I do like Elsa, Matthieu and Antoine. Emilie and Charlotte are funny, but stringing their friend along on a lie ain’t cute. It’s Matthieu and Antoine that really push for honesty, so points for them. There’s a lot of deception in the show, actually, and it goes on into the second season and it gets a little frustrating. One of the reasons I like Jules the most is because he owns up to everything and really tries to win Elsa over, which is super endearing. And his friendship/brotherhood with Roman (played by Yvan Naubron), and his love for his mum are really lovely.

Overall it’s a cute show with some great laugh-out-loud moments and an endearing central cast. I’m excited to see how season two ends!

Short Story Review: We Are Where the Nightmares Go [2018]

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We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories by C. Robert Cargill was reprinted in the latest issue of Lightspeed Magazine: May 2020, #120 and is available online here. Cargill’s story is originally from We Are Where the Nightmares Go and Other Stories. Also, I love absolutely in love with Lightspeed‘s latest cover. GORGEOUS.

The door is at the end, but there’s not only one path to it. Every way you walk is a path, and all of those paths lead to the door. Some of them just take much longer than others. Some of them are more difficult than others. There are some paths so scary, even I never wander them. This is a land of lost children, filled with children who never find the door and those who have lost themselves trying to find it.

This blew my mind, oh my gosh! It’s so creepy and nightmarish and poetic. I absolutely loved it. A little girl crawls into a door under her bed and is transported to the land where nightmares go and has to find her way back out again. She employs the help of a frightening clown whom she dubs Siegfried, and together they go from nightmarish locale to nightmarish locale, trying to outsmart The Thing on the Other Side of the Door, who won’t let the girl (or anyone else) out of the nightmare land.

Most dreams fade into nothing, drifting away like wisps of smoke. But some dreams, they last. They take root in the soul and hold strong against the tide. The nightmares that survive, the ones that come from the darkest places of your heart and refuse to fade away, they have to go somewhere. So they end up here, cast out like the trash, dumped where no one knows where to look, in the dark space beneath your bed.

For a horror story, it really reads so wonderful. The prose is beautiful and evocative. I’m definitely going to be reading more by C. Robert Cargill.

Mini Review Roundup [25/05]

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This was an audiobook and poetry weekend, to be sure! After finishing Gold Rush Manliness and Everything You Love Will Burn, I decided to pick up some romance and poetry. I have a lot more nonfiction on my list, but mixing it up definitely keeps things interesting. I’m also enjoying Cage of Souls by Adrian Tchaikovsky, an epic sci-fi book.

Almost Love by Louise O’Neill

All she wanted to do was stand there and look. Being by the sea always made Sarah feel small. Insignificant in a way that was comforting somehow.

I’m actually setting this one aside for now. About halfway done, and whilst I really do like O’Neill’s writing and I’m definitely going to try one of her other books, I’m not in the right mood for this one. I think what the book is trying to depict is an important topic to discuss – how bad relationships can become – but I don’t think I’m in the head space for it. As well, Sarah is a character that I’m struggling to connect to. I’ll probably come back to this at some point though. The story certainly does draw you in.

I also picked out a few poems to read this week as I was definitely missing poetry. Uncanny Magazine has a lot of great poetry, so I checked out some of their recent issues

Issue 31 / Issue 32.

I started with ‘Who Do You Think You Are’ by Ada Hoffmann.

Have you ever torn through a forest of books, trawling the half-naked
flotsam
of dream and the tarnish of myth, desperately seeking
a memory?

Pretty, right? I liked this one. What a lovely poem. Available here.

Followed it up with Brandon O’Brien’s ‘Elegy for the Self as Villeneuve’s Belle’, which was brilliant.

Wanting pretty things is hunger, too,
and having is feasting, denied by few.

Available here.

I also read Annie Neugebauer’s ‘The Wooden Box’. Really liked this one!

It’s a wooden box,
ornately carved, beautifully
stained a dark mahogany.

It’s dry as I lift it up
and gently slide out the
tongue-and-groove top.

Gave me chills, to be honest! Read here.

  1. Cage of Souls | science fiction, dystopian
  2. A Small Revolution in Germany | lgbt, fiction
  3. Agnes Grey | classics, fiction
  4. The Curse of the Black Cat | fantasy, lgbt

What’s everyone reading this week?

Audiobook Review: Everything You Love Will Burn [2018]

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Everything You Love Will Burn, written and narrated by Vegas Tenold

Whew. Glad to be done with this one. It’s a book about the rise of white nationalism and I’m honestly impressed by Vegas Tenold’s ability to endure listening to this racism and sexism in person without losing his temper. I would have lost my mind. This is a really, really hard one to get through. It’s very important to know about the rise of white nationalism, but listening to this book left me wanting to smash my head into the wall.

Me, throughout this entire book:

Mini Reviews & Reading Roundup [23/05]

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Today I finally finished Gold Rush Manliness. It was really good, I just kept getting sidetracked. It was a great examination of how race and gender impacted the gold rushes in California and British Columbia. This line really stuck with me: In short, the notions of white manhood established in the nineteenth century persist today, and their legacies can be seen everywhere, from the least-threatening practical joking to the most menacing expressions of white male superiority. There were loads of things in this examination that really wow’d me. Definitely recommend!

I also read Warm Up, which is a prequel story to V. E. Schwab’s Villains and Vengeful. I really liked it! If you’re curious, the book is available on Tor, here. It was dark and eerie and very well done. I loved this quote: It didn’t catch fire. Nothing ever actually caught fire. No, it all simply burned.

Beyond the Dragon’s Gate by Yoon Ha Lee is a new Tor original. Read it online, here. I quite liked it! The new issue of Uncanny Magazine is also out and I’ve started with poetry this time!

Girl, you best stop setting yourself on fire,
you may be the phoenix,
but these bones aren’t kindling
to keep others warm—

Ali Trotta, ‘Athena Holds Up a Mirror to Strength’, here.

Currently reading;

Still working through Everything You Love Will Burn, Agnes Grey and A Small Revolution in Germany, all of which I’m liking, although Everything You Love Will Burn is something I have to listen to in small doses. I also started Cage of Souls. It’s my first Adrian Tchaikovsky. He’s such a big name in the science fiction genre, so I’m glad to have finally picked up one of his. I’m also about halfway through Louise O’Neill’s Almost Love. The prose is really good and the storyline sucks you in, but I’m having trouble liking the main character.

What’s everyone else reading? Have you read any of the above? What’d you think?

The Joy of Audiobooks

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audiobooks

I’ve loved audiobooks since I was little. I’ve always had terrible insomnia, and audiobooks were how I fell asleep as a child. Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings were all my favourites. My mum and I still laugh about how we can recite Harry Potter thanks to Jim Dale.

For no particular reason, I stopped listening somewhere around my teenage years. Probably because by then I started staying awake writing stories and reading instead, and I sort of drifted away from them. But I’ve rediscovered my love of audiobooks in recent years. GIVE ME ALL THE AUDIOBOOKS. I love listening to books as I walk around or go shopping or clean my flat.

I feel like audiobooks are a wonderful form of storytelling and one that doesn’t get enough love. I mean, stories told are older than stories written, after all. That said, I’m intensely picky about narrators. But the ones that are good are golden.

Current audiobooks I’m listening to:

Does anyone else love audiobooks? Have a favourite narrator?

Show Review: Zoo (2015)

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show review

 

WELL JUST TAKE MY HEART AND GALLOP AWAY WITH IT, WHY DON’T YOU?

Guys. Guys. There are those shows that you start out loving cos the plot’s insane, and then they just go and throw in the most amazing characters and give you a couple that’s just going to tear your heart apart – and that’s this one. This is only a review of season one, am on season two, there are three total. 🙂

So Zoo beings with zoologist Jackson Oz (played by James Wolk) and his best friend Abraham Kenyatta (played by Nonso Anozie) wondering what is happening to the lions in Kenya. They normally protect the animals from poachers (and there’s a hilarious scene where Jackson saves a rhino with a boombox) but all of a sudden, the lions start to act abnormally. They meet Chloe Tousignant (played by Nora Arnezeder), the only survivor of a lion attack on a village. Chloe, a French intelligence agent, is in Kenya on what would have been her honeymoon, only she found out her fiancé was cheating on her, so she cancelled her wedding and came alone.

In the US, Jamie Campbell (played by Kristen Connolly), a journalist, is investigating a corporation, Reiden Global, that is responsible for poisoning her home town and has left dirty footprints all over the world. She’s convinced they’ve been behind aberrant animal behaviour and wants to nail them for it. She gets fired because the corporation has ties to her newspaper. Jamie tracks down Mitch Morgan (played by Billy Burke), a veterinary pathologist. The pair begin investigating Reiden Global and learn more about connections between the products Reiden Global makes and the increasingly violent attacks happening in the animal kingdom: dogs turning against people, bears breaking into houses, bats swarming a solar panel so scientists freeze. It gets really gruesome.

Jamie and Mitch’s search leads them to Jackson, Abraham and Chloe, and the five of them are recruited to investigate the animal attacks. But, of course, nothing is as it seems and the truth about what’s happening to the animals is more complicated than any of them could have imagined.

Jackson’s father, we slowly learn, had predicated what was going to happen to the animals before he died. The group unravel the mystery together, while fighting back against members of Reiden Global who want to silence them for good.

I find everything about this series interesting, especially the idea of animals evolving to outsmart people. It’s not quite Planet of the Apes, level. The animals aren’t talking. But they’re evolving, and the explanations are interesting, although I’m not sure how much is hard science and how much is just an interesting idea. Eh, I don’t care. I loved Jurassic Park 😉

The central cast are wonderful together, although I’m guaranteed to enjoy pretty much anything with Billy Burke. Like Timothy Olyphant, I just adore him as an actor and give anything he’s in a chance. Nonso Anozie is also brilliant.

I love the characters of Mitch and Jamie probably the most, but Abe, Jackson and Chloe aren’t far behind. Mitch/Jamie have such amazing chemistry and one of my favourite scenes happens at the start of season two. MY HEART. THEY ARE SO PERFECT. He’s a grumpy veterinarian who makes it clear that he chose the job because he doesn’t like people, while Jamie is outgoing and vivacious and determined. They’re total opposites and work so well together and I just hope they end up together! MY OTP! (/◕ヮ◕)/

I totally recommend this show and I can’t wait to see how it ends!

Mitch, everyone:

 

 

**gifs found online, and here and here, not mine

Film Review: What Happened to Monday (2017)

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movie review

What Happened to Monday, or Seven Sisters, was far from what I was expecting. Noomi Rapace is a treasure. It fits in well with Gattaca, Children of Men and V for Vendetta, my favourite dystopian films. This one is set in 2073 when the world population has grown to such a degree that there’s little food, little space and a lot of problems. To counter this, the Child Allocation Bureau is created to ensure that only one child is born to every couple. No siblings allowed. The leader of the organisation totes the idea that any additional children will be taken into custody and put into cyrosleep until the time comes that there’s more space, more food and fewer problems.

Creeped out yet?

When Terrence Settman’s daughter dies giving birth to seven identical daughters, he takes the extraordinary step of keeping them all in secret. He names them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Each girl is allowed out of the house on their name-day under the singular identity of Karen Settman, their mother. For decades, the girls exist as one person in public, but flourish as unique individuals in private. Until Monday goes missing.

Very quickly, the sisters ban together to track down their missing sibling and figure out what happened.

The other characters are Nicolette Cayman, played by Glenn Close, and Adrian Knowles, played by Marwan Kenzari. Both work for the CAB, but have wildly different amounts of power and opinions on what they’re doing.

Let me just say that Noomi Rapace blew my mind in this. She played each of the seven sisters uniquely and it’s done so well. Marwan Kenzari was another standout and I really hope to see him in more things. He and Rapace had great chemistry. Glenn Close and Willem Dafoe are fabulous as ever and steal their scenes as much as Rapace and Kenzari. Honestly, these four really brought believability to their scenes.

There were some aspects of the film that I didn’t quite love, although they’re minor complaints: I feel like one character got away with a lot; I’m not sure how I felt about the ending, although I didn’t hate it; and Zaquia, a CAB agent portrayed by Cassie Clare, was somehow in dozens of scenes but rarely spoke, whilst her partner spoke quite a bit. It’s great that Rapace and Close got so much screen time, but I felt like Clare got left out a bit.

Overall, however, I think the film fits well into the dark dystopian genre and rivals Children of Men for gritty futuristic societies that deal with overpopulation as a plotline.

Recommended for fans of dystopian films.

 

**gifs found online, not mine