Hi, YouTube, it's Kathy, and this is my Weekly Entertainment Wrap Up for December 23rd to 29th.
This week I read 4 books, I rewatched 1 movie, I watched 2 shows, and I listened to 2 books.
First this week, I finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg.
I read this for one of my two local book clubs, and finding out that Cece from Problems of a Book Nerd
did a whole thesis about the woman-centric storytelling in this actually made me enjoy it better.
Initially, I felt the story jumped around a little too much for my enjoyment, and some of
the dates didn't quite add up.
Additionally, the story was set to have a chapter on my exact birth date but then
skipped that week, so of course I feel slighted about the dates in this book.
This story features characters set in the present, which was mid-1980's at a nursing
home, and the past, which was several decades from the early 20th century.
Mrs. Threadgoode finds herself visiting weekly with Evelyn Couch, who is at the nursing home
and escaping visiting with her mother-in-law.
Mrs. Threadgoode tells her stories from her youth in Whistle Stop, Alabama.
In that section of the story, we have disputes, a neighbourhood newsletter, at least one murder,
accidental deaths, a train robber, and a female\female relationship.
Although this book had some progressive views in terms of race relations for a novel published
in 1987, I am hesitant to praise it, given there were also some "positive stereotypes"
used by the narrator, and even those can be harmful representation.
Although I felt it went a little long, I did enjoy it.
The other book I read for a book club this week was If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson.
This is the first book for the Life's Library book club, which is hosted by John Green and
Rosianna Halse Rojas via DFTBA.com.
This is a subscription service where a new book will be sent out every 6 weeks or so, and
members have access to a Discord server to discuss the book, as well as a podcast where
the hosts give their views on the book.
You can also get the digital package, which doesn't include the books but does include the
introduction from the hosts as to why they chose the book, as well as all the other
digital perks.
This way, you can search out the book in your local shop or library and not have to worry
about postal delays.
This is absolutely not sponsored, by the way; I just wanted you to know about it because
I will be talking about books from this service about every six weeks or so, and I'm not
going to say the same spiel every time.
Just wanted to say it's out there if you're interested.
This is a very short novel told in dual perspective between Ellie, an upper class Jewish girl,
and Jeremiah, the African American son of two famous parents.
They meet when they both transfer to the same school, and through the slim chapters,
we get a deep dive into their family lives and their instant attraction.
This was published 20 years ago and still has relevant commentary on interracial dating
and relationships, and was Woodson's attempt at a Romeo and Juliet retelling.
I enjoyed how much time we spent getting to know these characters in the context of their
families before this relationship had a chance to bloom.
Next I finished a short story collection I have been working on for a couple weeks, which
was called Joy to the Worlds by Raven Oak, Gayle Clemans, Janine A. [Southard], and Maia Chance.
This is a collection of speculative fiction stories set around the winter holidays, and
overall I really enjoyed it.
As usual with a collection of short stories, there were some that stood out to me more
than others, such as Ol' St. Nick, which was a closed room murder of Santa Claus on
a spaceship, and Escape from Yorktown, which featured a mock Victorian village becoming
refuge to the Intergalactic President's teenage son who was running away.
If you are looking for a winter read that is a little different from your cosy mysteries
or contemporaries, this is one to pick up.
Next, I read To Be Honest by Maggie Ann Martin all in one sitting, and had some feelings,
which made the author have some feelings.
This book is about Savannah, a fat, brainy teen whose older sister is going off to college,
which sucks because she doesn't know how to survive living with their mother without
her sister's support and mediation.
Their parents divorced a couple years back after he was caught cheating, and her Mom
went on a reality weight loss show that had her losing an extreme amount of weight in two months.
Now Savannah has to live with her mother constantly monitoring her food, especially since the
show wants to come to their house to film a catch up segment, on top of trying to have
a stellar year at high school and managing her crush on her best friends' cousin.
I tore through this book.
It felt like the perfect length, because even though there was a lot going on in Savvy's
life, if any of those subplots were taken out, it would have felt too short.
High school is a busy time for overachievers, and does not slow down for familial drama.
This was an excellent portrayal of a situation where Momma does not know best just because
she's the parent, and a reminder that support can come from many different avenues in your
life, even if the ones that should be automatic initially fail.
In between editing clips from Drunk Reading Christmas Erotica for the Holidays, I rewatched
Dumplin', because that movie is amazing, and if you haven't seen it already, you should.
Speaking of people who haven't seen Dumplin' yet, my best friend and I watched a couple more
episodes of Survivor China, which brought us to the merge.
I think I have been spoiled by more recent seasons as to what is going to happen with
those two immunity idols, but we'll find out.
I also watched quite a few episodes of Steven Universe, finishing the third season and watching
some episodes from the fourth season.
Not only is the show adorable, it deals with emotions that well up when you are trying to fight these
creatures to save the planet but you don't want to hurt them.
We've seen some new fusions, and I love them.
This week I listened to The Book Jumper by Mechthild Gläser.
This is a novel translated from German that I first saw on my friend Taylor's channel
when she did the most adorable book haul, which I will link in places.
After hearing her talk about this book, I happened to see it while scrolling the audiobooks
in my library, and it was an instant download.
Amy and her mother Alexis need to get away from home for a while, so they find themselves
visiting Alexis' mother in the Shetlands for the first time since she ran away as a pregnant teenager.
On this island of about 14 people, Amy finds out that she is one of three humans that can
book jump - that is, she can pop into stories.
In fact, her family and a rival family have been doing this for years just to make sure
that everything is okay in the book world, but, of course, soon after her arrival, elements
of famous stories start to go astray.
Firstly, listening to this one was a good choice, because the narrator does fantastic accents
for the characters, and it made me want to visit the Shetland islands in the north of
Scotland even more.
Secondly, the mysteries in this book really kept me wondering who was to blame, and I
appreciated all of the cameos by famous fictional characters.
I felt this story was imaginative, and if you are a sucker for bookish books like I
am, you will enjoy it.
Finally, I listened to My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite.
Set in Nigeria, this story opens with Korede helping her sister Ayoola clean up after the
death of her most recent boyfriend.
Ayoola claims that he attacked her and it was self defense, but Korede knows this is not
the first time that someone has died when her sister is holding a weapon.
Korede has always been there to help her gorgeous little sister escape detection, but what will
happen when Ayoola has her heart set on dating the man Korede's had a crush on for three years?
How can she keep both of the people she loves safe?
This was a short book, but it really got into the mindset of why Korede would help her little
sister, especially when you learn the circumstances of the her first kill.
The anticipation of whether or not the characters would be caught really drove the story, because
the author built up a lot of sympathy for Korede, who is just trying to help her sister,
and if her sister gets caught, she gets caught.
If you are looking for something short to get your blood pumping, pick this one up.
That's it for this week.
If you've read, watched, or listened to any of these, let me know about it down in the comments below.
On the way down to the comments, if you could hit that Subscribe button, that would be very nice of you.
You can also like and share this as you see fit, and I will see you very soon with my
December Wrap Up, as well as a video saying goodbye to 2018 and hello to 2019.
Until then, bye!
[outro music]
For more infomation >> 【FORTNITE/PC】早朝フォトナ部。突撃練習【VANC】 - Duration: 2:45:03. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét