Michael May's Blog, page 33
January 17, 2021
AfterLUNCH | The Mandalorian, Season 2
Annaliese Trammel, Paxton Holley, and Jeeg join Rob and I to hunt down Mandalorians and Jedi and -- ooh! side quest! -- on this in-depth, episode-by-episode symposium on the second season of The Mandalorian.Download or listen to the episode here.
January 13, 2021
Movie-Watching in 2020
Before getting into all the movies from 2020 that I saw, here's a look at my movie-watching overall last year according to my activity on Letterboxd.I watched a total of 478 films (two less than last year) for an average of just under 40 a month or just over 9 a week. The first movie I saw last year was a rewatch of Greta Gerwig's Little Women.The last movie I saw last year was the new Disney+ adaptation of Black Beauty.My most-watched film last year was The Innocents (1961) thanks to my new obsession with Henry James' The Turn of the Screw (and just how excellent The Innocents is).Only 35 (or 7.3%) of the movies I saw were actually from 2020. That's down a couple percent from 2019.264 of them (or 55.2%) were films I watched for the first time (or at least had never recorded on Letterboxd before). That's about the same ratio as 2019.I went on a big Ginger Rogers binge thanks to TCM this year, so she was my most-watched actor with 18 films. Other actors I watched a lot of were Clarence Nash (thanks to all the Donald Duck shorts available on Disney+), Jane Russell (another actor I binged on TCM), and Anthony Daniels (thanks to a Star Wars rewatch last January). I watched a lot of Vincent Price and Christopher Lee, too, but not as much as those other folks.My most watched director was Alfrend Hitchcock thanks to an intentional binge of some of his stuff over the summer. I watched 15 of his films and no other director came close to hitting my eyes that many times last year.Walt Disney was my top producer at 30 films, including shorts.But Disney was not the studio whose films I watched the most of. That would be RKO Radio Pictures at 56, thanks to so much time with TCM. 20th Century Fox and Universal were tied for second place with 34 films each and Walt Disney and Warner Brothers were right behind them.Charles Dickens was my top writer at 9 films thanks mostly to Christmas Carol adaptations, but also 1946's Great Expectations and 2019's The Personal History of David Copperfield starring Dev Patel.Twin Peaks: The Return was the thing I saw that's most liked by other Letterboxd users. Letterboxd is wonky about including some TV series and not others, so having my most liked thing be a TV show is an anomaly.To no one's surprise, the thing I watched that was least liked by other Letterboxd users was Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie’s Island Adventure.Greta Gerwig's Little Women is the most popular movie that I saw last year.The most obscure movie I watched was a horrible 1920 silent film called The Leopard Woman that sounds like it should be about a jungle hero, but is actually about an evil spy in Cairo who really sucks at her job.
January 12, 2021
22 Movies I Missed from 2020, Part 2
Here are the rest of the movies that I was interested in last year, but didn't get to:
Monster Hunter
David is a huge fan of the video game Monster Hunter and even though this isn't exactly a faithful adaptation of it, we both like Paul WS Anderson movies where Milla Jovovich gets to jump around and beat stuff up. And if that stuff is giant monsters, all the better.
We were pretty excited to see this in the theater, but COVID made that impossible, so we'll be watching it as soon as it hits streaming.
Monster SeaFood Wars
That title and poster are all I need to know. Don't know when it'll be available for me to watch, but I'm looking forward to it.
Mulan
I've been extremely skeptical of Disney's current obsession with live-actioning all their classic animated movies, but Mulan seemed like a story that would do better with that treatment than most. Mostly because the folklore its based on is more grounded than the usual Disney cartoon. So I was looking forward to seeing it in theaters.
I'm not going to complain about Disney's decision to release it to Disney+ subscribers for an additional fee. I'm not even going to complain about how steep that fee was, because it was a solution that worked for a lot of people. I just couldn't bring myself to pay $20 to watch a movie on my TV. I like seeing movies in the theater and will pay extra to do that so long as the theater itself provides a good experience. If I'm gonna watch this at home, I'll do it once it's free with the subscription I already pay for.
News of the World
A new Western will always get my attention, but sadly this is gonna have to work through its theatrical release before it's available to me.
Nine Days
Winston Duke (M'Baku from Black Panther) plays a guy who interviews human souls for their chance to be born. It sounds fascinating and potentially super emotional. It was just in film festivals in 2020, but I'm excited for its wider release.
On the Rocks
Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola are a great combination. Add Rashida Jones and I'm even more eager.
The Roads Not Taken
I'm pretty much watching whatever Elle Fanning does these days. It's not all gold, but she's always excellent.
Scoob!
The potentially positive and negative elements of this were pretty well balanced. I'm generally suspicious of origin stories and prequels, but love expanded universe stuff, so adding Blue Falcon and Dyno-Mutt (and other possible cameos that I haven't yet spoiled for myself) is a draw. I'm not against the CG versions of the characters either. They look pretty great to me.
But it was another movie with a super high rental fee and I decided to wait. And the longer I waited, the more negative reactions I heard from both friends and critics. I can watch it for free now and haven't yet done it, but one of these days my curiosity will have me pushing Play.
The Secret Garden
I love this gothic story for kids, but missed its theatrical release for obvious reasons. Like the Alice in Wonderland / Peter Pan prequel Come Away though, it's high on my list and available to rent now. I'll see if I can get to it in time to include it in my 2020 rankings.
The Silencing
Jaime Lannister hunts a killer in the woods.
Walkaway Joe
I like movies about pool, but I don't know how much the game actually plays into this. I think mostly it's just been a long time since I watched anything with David Strathairn or Jeffrey Dean Morgan in it and I'm in the mood.
Monster Hunter
David is a huge fan of the video game Monster Hunter and even though this isn't exactly a faithful adaptation of it, we both like Paul WS Anderson movies where Milla Jovovich gets to jump around and beat stuff up. And if that stuff is giant monsters, all the better. We were pretty excited to see this in the theater, but COVID made that impossible, so we'll be watching it as soon as it hits streaming.
Monster SeaFood Wars
That title and poster are all I need to know. Don't know when it'll be available for me to watch, but I'm looking forward to it.Mulan
I've been extremely skeptical of Disney's current obsession with live-actioning all their classic animated movies, but Mulan seemed like a story that would do better with that treatment than most. Mostly because the folklore its based on is more grounded than the usual Disney cartoon. So I was looking forward to seeing it in theaters.I'm not going to complain about Disney's decision to release it to Disney+ subscribers for an additional fee. I'm not even going to complain about how steep that fee was, because it was a solution that worked for a lot of people. I just couldn't bring myself to pay $20 to watch a movie on my TV. I like seeing movies in the theater and will pay extra to do that so long as the theater itself provides a good experience. If I'm gonna watch this at home, I'll do it once it's free with the subscription I already pay for.
News of the World
A new Western will always get my attention, but sadly this is gonna have to work through its theatrical release before it's available to me.Nine Days
Winston Duke (M'Baku from Black Panther) plays a guy who interviews human souls for their chance to be born. It sounds fascinating and potentially super emotional. It was just in film festivals in 2020, but I'm excited for its wider release.On the Rocks
Bill Murray and Sofia Coppola are a great combination. Add Rashida Jones and I'm even more eager.The Roads Not Taken
I'm pretty much watching whatever Elle Fanning does these days. It's not all gold, but she's always excellent.Scoob!
The potentially positive and negative elements of this were pretty well balanced. I'm generally suspicious of origin stories and prequels, but love expanded universe stuff, so adding Blue Falcon and Dyno-Mutt (and other possible cameos that I haven't yet spoiled for myself) is a draw. I'm not against the CG versions of the characters either. They look pretty great to me.But it was another movie with a super high rental fee and I decided to wait. And the longer I waited, the more negative reactions I heard from both friends and critics. I can watch it for free now and haven't yet done it, but one of these days my curiosity will have me pushing Play.
The Secret Garden
I love this gothic story for kids, but missed its theatrical release for obvious reasons. Like the Alice in Wonderland / Peter Pan prequel Come Away though, it's high on my list and available to rent now. I'll see if I can get to it in time to include it in my 2020 rankings.The Silencing
Jaime Lannister hunts a killer in the woods.Walkaway Joe
I like movies about pool, but I don't know how much the game actually plays into this. I think mostly it's just been a long time since I watched anything with David Strathairn or Jeffrey Dean Morgan in it and I'm in the mood.
January 11, 2021
22 Movies I Missed from 2020, Part 1
It's getting close to time for me rank the movies I watched from 2020, which is a larger number than I would have expected, not being able to go to the theaters for most of the year. Turns out, streaming is an efficient way to watch movies. Who knew?
Before I get into all that though, as usual I want to call out some movies that were on my radar, but I didn't get around to. There were over 50 on this list from 2019, but so much got pushed out of 2020 (and I was able to keep up with a lot of what did come out), that this year the list is just shy of a couple dozen.
Here are the first eleven, in alphabetical order:
Antebellum
This is going to be hard to watch, so I haven't rushed to put myself through it, but the idea of the Antebellum South as a literal horror setting is deeply intriguing to me.
Bill and Ted Face the Music
Casualty of 2020. I was very excited to see this on the big screen, but it came out at a time when theaters weren't sure if they were open or closed and I didn't want to just stream it if there was a chance for me to sit by myself in an empty theater during a late screening. I had a hard time making plans for it.
And to make it more complicated, I wanted to rewatch the first two before seeing it, but didn't want to rewatch them and then not be able to see Face the Music the way I wanted to. So now my only option is to stream it, which is fine, I can adjust, but I still need to rewatch the first two and just haven't done that yet.
Come Away
This was super high on my excitement list, but got moved around so much that I forgot about it by the time it finally hit streaming services. I was just now reminded that it exists and may try to sneak it in before I rank my 2020 films. Don't be surprised if it shows up again on that list.
Deerskin
I like Jean Dujardin almost as much as I dig fringed jackets.
Escape from Pretoria
I've learned to trust Daniel Radcliffe's process for selecting movies to be in. Even when I'm not super excited about the premise, I know I'm at least going to see a great performance from him. But Prison Escape is also a kind of movie that tends to get my attention anyway.
Gather
I'm not a huge documentary fan, but American Indian food sovereignty is an issue I'm curious to learn more about.
I Am Lisa
Werewolf movie, but people seem to really not like this one. I like to make up my own mind, but consistently bad reports will knock a movie down in my priorities.
The Informer
I have no memory of how this got on my Watch List, but I assume it has something to do with the cast. Neither Rosamund Pike, Ana de Armas, nor Clive Owen are big enough draws to get my attention all by themselves, but together they may have done it.
Kindred
A gothic movie that I actually started watching before Thanksgiving, but got interrupted and just never came back to with all the holiday movies bumping in front of it. I wasn't super into any of the characters, but I was intrigued by the plot and want to finish.
Let Him Go
There's a Man of Steel joke in there somewhere, but I'm not going to make it. I like Lane and Costner. That's the draw.
Misbehaviour
My wife Diane participated in pageants in younger days, so movies in that setting are always attractive to us. It's such a complicated phenomenon with positive and negative aspects and the opportunities for both drama and comedy are super high. And this one has Keira Knightley.
Before I get into all that though, as usual I want to call out some movies that were on my radar, but I didn't get around to. There were over 50 on this list from 2019, but so much got pushed out of 2020 (and I was able to keep up with a lot of what did come out), that this year the list is just shy of a couple dozen.
Here are the first eleven, in alphabetical order:
Antebellum
This is going to be hard to watch, so I haven't rushed to put myself through it, but the idea of the Antebellum South as a literal horror setting is deeply intriguing to me.Bill and Ted Face the Music
Casualty of 2020. I was very excited to see this on the big screen, but it came out at a time when theaters weren't sure if they were open or closed and I didn't want to just stream it if there was a chance for me to sit by myself in an empty theater during a late screening. I had a hard time making plans for it. And to make it more complicated, I wanted to rewatch the first two before seeing it, but didn't want to rewatch them and then not be able to see Face the Music the way I wanted to. So now my only option is to stream it, which is fine, I can adjust, but I still need to rewatch the first two and just haven't done that yet.
Come Away
This was super high on my excitement list, but got moved around so much that I forgot about it by the time it finally hit streaming services. I was just now reminded that it exists and may try to sneak it in before I rank my 2020 films. Don't be surprised if it shows up again on that list.Deerskin
I like Jean Dujardin almost as much as I dig fringed jackets.Escape from Pretoria
I've learned to trust Daniel Radcliffe's process for selecting movies to be in. Even when I'm not super excited about the premise, I know I'm at least going to see a great performance from him. But Prison Escape is also a kind of movie that tends to get my attention anyway.Gather
I'm not a huge documentary fan, but American Indian food sovereignty is an issue I'm curious to learn more about.I Am Lisa
Werewolf movie, but people seem to really not like this one. I like to make up my own mind, but consistently bad reports will knock a movie down in my priorities.The Informer
I have no memory of how this got on my Watch List, but I assume it has something to do with the cast. Neither Rosamund Pike, Ana de Armas, nor Clive Owen are big enough draws to get my attention all by themselves, but together they may have done it.Kindred
A gothic movie that I actually started watching before Thanksgiving, but got interrupted and just never came back to with all the holiday movies bumping in front of it. I wasn't super into any of the characters, but I was intrigued by the plot and want to finish.Let Him Go
There's a Man of Steel joke in there somewhere, but I'm not going to make it. I like Lane and Costner. That's the draw.Misbehaviour
My wife Diane participated in pageants in younger days, so movies in that setting are always attractive to us. It's such a complicated phenomenon with positive and negative aspects and the opportunities for both drama and comedy are super high. And this one has Keira Knightley.
January 10, 2021
Mystery Movie Night | Inside Out (2015), The Magnificent Seven (2016), and Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
David, Erik, Evan, Dave, and I talk about feelings, firearms, and fleet feet and the secret that connects them.00:01:33 - Review of Inside Out (2015)00:14:14 - Review of The Magnificent Seven (2016)00:37:06 - Review of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)00:55:49 - Guessing the Connection
Download or listen to the episode here.
January 9, 2021
Listening in 2020: Favorite Songs
In 2020, I finally figured out a system for finding new music that works for me. I pretty much stopped listening to the radio when I got my first iPod and discovered the joys of curating my own digital playlists, but doing that made it hard for me to discover new stuff. I tried music review podcasts, but didn't love listening to critical opinions and only snippets of songs. Song-of-the-day podcasts were better, but - like with the Top 40 radio stations I grew up with - I had to wade through a lot of stuff I didn't like in order to uncover the rare song that I did. And I had to wait a whole day between each song in hope that tomorrow's would be awesome.
These days, I subscribe to Apple Music and I love the service. It's not perfect yet, but it's learning my tastes and most of its recommendations are right on. I also love the curated playlists and there's one called ALT CTRL that I listen to every week. It's focused on new, alternative music and updates regularly, switching out some songs for others, but once a song is on there, it stays on for a while so I have time to get used to it and decide how much I like it. It's a lot like listening to the radio, but there are about 70-80 songs each week and they're all super targeted to my interests. I throw this on every Saturday and listen to it while I'm running errands or doing chores around the house.
When I find a song that I really like, I'll put that on a personal playlist I call "Radio May," which is 150 songs that I listen to on shuffle. It's my own personal radio station of just my favorite stuff. (Apple Music also has something it calls a radio station built around my tastes if I'm in the mood to be surprised by some of its choices.)
I've been getting more into albums this year so that I'm not just listening to isolated songs. In the last few years, I've really missed getting to know the broader work of bands. And Apple Music makes it really easy for me to listen to a whole album if I like a particular song. It's so much cooler than back in the day where if I liked a song on the radio, I would buy the album and take a chance on the whole thing being good. These days, I can listen to the whole album before I buy.
I have a couple of playlists that each have six albums on them at any one time. "Try This" is based on songs I already have in "Radio May," so it's newer stuff. "Try This Too" is albums of older bands whose discographies I'm working through. As of this moment, it's got an album each by Elvis Presley, The Platters, Willie Nelson, Creedence Clearwater Revival, U2, and Keane.
So I'm loving music right now and not just old bands that I listened to in high school and college. There's a lot of great stuff coming out and I don't feel like it's work to keep up with it. Instead, it's music that I love that just happens to be fresh and current.
Here are my favorite songs that came out in 2020, listed alphabetically because it's impossible to rank them by preference. As usual with my favorite music, there's a heavy '80s influence on a lot of these with a focus on groovy rhythm and soaring vocals. But not always.
"Ain't No Crime" by Gangstagrass (No Time For Enemies)
I became a fan of Gangstagrass after they did the theme for the TV show Justified. I'm not generally a hip hop fan, but turns out you can make that medicine go down easy with a spoonful of bluegrass.
"Bad Decisions" by The Strokes (The New Abnormal)
I love songs with strong, clean guitar melodies.
"Beautiful Anyway" by Judah and The Lion (Beautiful Anyway - Single)
Love the message on this one. It's an anthem for anyone struggling with depression or really even just having a bad day.
"Caution" by The Killers (Run For Cover)
Another big, anthemy song, but this one you dance to.
"Deleter" by Grouplove (Healer)
Speaking of dancing, I need a mosh pit for this one. So energetic and cool.
"Dirty" by grandson (Death of an Optimist)
The definition of groovy. Very funky. Awesome horns.
"For Sure" by Future Islands (As Long as You Are)
Samuel T Herring's voice washes over me and so does this lovely, grooving song.
"If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)" by The 1975 (Notes On a Conditional Form)
The band's name may be inspired by the '70s, but their sound is quite '80s. Reminds me of sounds like Howard Jones, but lead singer Matthew Healy nailed it when he said their biggest influence is John Hughes films. "If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)" would be right at home in Sixteen Candles.
"Leave Me Alone" by I Don't Know How But They Found Me (Razzmatazz)
Funky, danceable synth.
"loneliness for love" by lovelytheband (conversations with myself about you)
It's a great, danceable song, but also twentysomething-year-old me really relates to its lyrics about "I keep mistaking loneliness for love."
"Oh My My" by Blue October (This is What I Live For)
So cool.
"Overthinkin'" by Carly Bannister (Overthinkin' - Single)
Light and breezy. Just lovely.
"Post Humorous" by Gus Dapperton (Orca)
I'm in love with Gus Dapperton's voice and this song. Nice guitars and the way the song builds just fills my heart.
"Visitor" by Of Monsters and Men (Visitor - Single)
Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir's voice is so sultry and gothic and only improved by awesome harmonies and a kickass guitar line.
"You Already Know" by Cold War Kids (New Age Norms 2)
Another groovy, funky tune.
These days, I subscribe to Apple Music and I love the service. It's not perfect yet, but it's learning my tastes and most of its recommendations are right on. I also love the curated playlists and there's one called ALT CTRL that I listen to every week. It's focused on new, alternative music and updates regularly, switching out some songs for others, but once a song is on there, it stays on for a while so I have time to get used to it and decide how much I like it. It's a lot like listening to the radio, but there are about 70-80 songs each week and they're all super targeted to my interests. I throw this on every Saturday and listen to it while I'm running errands or doing chores around the house.
When I find a song that I really like, I'll put that on a personal playlist I call "Radio May," which is 150 songs that I listen to on shuffle. It's my own personal radio station of just my favorite stuff. (Apple Music also has something it calls a radio station built around my tastes if I'm in the mood to be surprised by some of its choices.)
I've been getting more into albums this year so that I'm not just listening to isolated songs. In the last few years, I've really missed getting to know the broader work of bands. And Apple Music makes it really easy for me to listen to a whole album if I like a particular song. It's so much cooler than back in the day where if I liked a song on the radio, I would buy the album and take a chance on the whole thing being good. These days, I can listen to the whole album before I buy.
I have a couple of playlists that each have six albums on them at any one time. "Try This" is based on songs I already have in "Radio May," so it's newer stuff. "Try This Too" is albums of older bands whose discographies I'm working through. As of this moment, it's got an album each by Elvis Presley, The Platters, Willie Nelson, Creedence Clearwater Revival, U2, and Keane.
So I'm loving music right now and not just old bands that I listened to in high school and college. There's a lot of great stuff coming out and I don't feel like it's work to keep up with it. Instead, it's music that I love that just happens to be fresh and current.
Here are my favorite songs that came out in 2020, listed alphabetically because it's impossible to rank them by preference. As usual with my favorite music, there's a heavy '80s influence on a lot of these with a focus on groovy rhythm and soaring vocals. But not always.
"Ain't No Crime" by Gangstagrass (No Time For Enemies)
I became a fan of Gangstagrass after they did the theme for the TV show Justified. I'm not generally a hip hop fan, but turns out you can make that medicine go down easy with a spoonful of bluegrass.
"Bad Decisions" by The Strokes (The New Abnormal)
I love songs with strong, clean guitar melodies.
"Beautiful Anyway" by Judah and The Lion (Beautiful Anyway - Single)
Love the message on this one. It's an anthem for anyone struggling with depression or really even just having a bad day.
"Caution" by The Killers (Run For Cover)
Another big, anthemy song, but this one you dance to.
"Deleter" by Grouplove (Healer)
Speaking of dancing, I need a mosh pit for this one. So energetic and cool.
"Dirty" by grandson (Death of an Optimist)
The definition of groovy. Very funky. Awesome horns.
"For Sure" by Future Islands (As Long as You Are)
Samuel T Herring's voice washes over me and so does this lovely, grooving song.
"If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)" by The 1975 (Notes On a Conditional Form)
The band's name may be inspired by the '70s, but their sound is quite '80s. Reminds me of sounds like Howard Jones, but lead singer Matthew Healy nailed it when he said their biggest influence is John Hughes films. "If You’re Too Shy (Let Me Know)" would be right at home in Sixteen Candles.
"Leave Me Alone" by I Don't Know How But They Found Me (Razzmatazz)
Funky, danceable synth.
"loneliness for love" by lovelytheband (conversations with myself about you)
It's a great, danceable song, but also twentysomething-year-old me really relates to its lyrics about "I keep mistaking loneliness for love."
"Oh My My" by Blue October (This is What I Live For)
So cool.
"Overthinkin'" by Carly Bannister (Overthinkin' - Single)
Light and breezy. Just lovely.
"Post Humorous" by Gus Dapperton (Orca)
I'm in love with Gus Dapperton's voice and this song. Nice guitars and the way the song builds just fills my heart.
"Visitor" by Of Monsters and Men (Visitor - Single)
Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir's voice is so sultry and gothic and only improved by awesome harmonies and a kickass guitar line.
"You Already Know" by Cold War Kids (New Age Norms 2)
Another groovy, funky tune.
January 8, 2021
Reading in 2020: Favorite Fiction
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
I wrote about Little Women shortly after I read it, so I'll just quote a bit of what I said before:
The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Davidson
Everything I hoped for: a decaying swamp community run by evil men, a courageous young woman who reaches the limits of her tolerance, an old witch with dark powers and darker secrets, and an honorable, pot-growing dwarf with a family to protect.
Davidson's prose is perfect for his story. He brings the setting to life, creates a ton of sultry atmosphere, and bounces easily between characters to build empathy for the heroes, contempt for the villains, and tension between the two. I just loved it.
The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne
As lovely as I remembered from childhood. No one writes like Milne and his peaceful, low-stakes Hundred Acre Wood is probably my favorite fantasy world to spend time in.
Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
An amazing, engrossing, fast-paced thriller about a teenager in 1970s Baja California who's hired as an assistant for a writer, but gets pulled into something dangerous. The suspense aspects are great, but even more than that I just enjoyed spending time with the misfit, film-loving heroine and the oppressively sleepy town where she lives.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
My fifth grade teacher read this to us back in the day - a chapter or two at a time - and it's stuck with me ever since. I've always wanted to go back and revisit it on my own to see if it's as compelling and magical as I remembered. It is.
It's a survival story, but it's also a story about isolation and culture and animals and people and hope and it's just a beautiful, beautiful thing. Someone reminded me that O'Dell actually wrote a sequel, so that's gone on my reading list, too.
Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Crossley-Holland takes traditional folktales and retells them in a modern voice. Sometimes that means updating dialects to something more readable, but sometimes it means tweaking plots or even picking a different point of view to tell the story from. Regardless of how much he adjusts, the end results are always brisk, exciting, and immersive. And I love how he divides the collection into sections, so the faerie stories are together, as are the romances, the trickster tales, and the ghosts. Super impressive.
The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
A beautiful book. Not just an adventure about a girl in training under Baba Yaga, but a lovely story about growing up. It's heartbreaking at times; it's also profoundly gentle and encouraging. Marinka fights against expectations that she never signed up for, but the novel refuses to portray the struggle in terms of one right answer and one wrong answer. Instead, it has the grace to allow Marinka to figure out her place and her purpose while also considering the needs of others.
Leave It to Psmith by PG Wodehouse
I've never read another of Wodehouse's Psmith books, so it's unusual that I'd let myself start with the fourth book in that series. But this is also a sequel to Something Fresh, which I loved. Something Fresh introduces the inhabitants and shenanigans of Blandings Castle and had a bunch of people competing to obtain a valuable object, while also featuring a lovely romance. Leave It to Psmith repeats the formula with enough difference to keep it from feeling repetitive. And of course the real draw is Wodehouse's prose itself, which is light and hilarious.
My problem now is deciding whether to read the next Blandings book (a collection of short stories called Blandings Castle) or go back and start the beginning of Psmith's adventures with Mike and Psmith.
I wrote about Little Women shortly after I read it, so I'll just quote a bit of what I said before:These are people who are by no means perfect, but are completely dedicated to loving and being kind to each other. They sometimes fail, but their response to that failure is always helpful. That applies to how they respond to their own failings as well as how they confront and ultimately forgive the failings of others.Halloween and Christmas distracted me from watching all the Little Women adaptations, but I've picked that up again in the new year and will be back to writing about them soon.
It's deeply profound and inspirational. [...] There's parenting advice and marriage advice and simple getting-along-with-your-friends advice. But all of it is offered with humility and awareness that the advisor is just as flawed as the advisee. There's not a whiff of self-righteousness in the whole book. [...] And what's also amazing is that every bit of this is as applicable today as it was 150 years ago. Being kind and doing good are timeless exercises and Little Women is here to encourage us.
The Boatman's Daughter by Andy Davidson
Everything I hoped for: a decaying swamp community run by evil men, a courageous young woman who reaches the limits of her tolerance, an old witch with dark powers and darker secrets, and an honorable, pot-growing dwarf with a family to protect.Davidson's prose is perfect for his story. He brings the setting to life, creates a ton of sultry atmosphere, and bounces easily between characters to build empathy for the heroes, contempt for the villains, and tension between the two. I just loved it.
The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh by AA Milne
As lovely as I remembered from childhood. No one writes like Milne and his peaceful, low-stakes Hundred Acre Wood is probably my favorite fantasy world to spend time in.Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
An amazing, engrossing, fast-paced thriller about a teenager in 1970s Baja California who's hired as an assistant for a writer, but gets pulled into something dangerous. The suspense aspects are great, but even more than that I just enjoyed spending time with the misfit, film-loving heroine and the oppressively sleepy town where she lives.Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
My fifth grade teacher read this to us back in the day - a chapter or two at a time - and it's stuck with me ever since. I've always wanted to go back and revisit it on my own to see if it's as compelling and magical as I remembered. It is.It's a survival story, but it's also a story about isolation and culture and animals and people and hope and it's just a beautiful, beautiful thing. Someone reminded me that O'Dell actually wrote a sequel, so that's gone on my reading list, too.
Between Worlds: Folktales of Britain and Ireland by Kevin Crossley-Holland
Crossley-Holland takes traditional folktales and retells them in a modern voice. Sometimes that means updating dialects to something more readable, but sometimes it means tweaking plots or even picking a different point of view to tell the story from. Regardless of how much he adjusts, the end results are always brisk, exciting, and immersive. And I love how he divides the collection into sections, so the faerie stories are together, as are the romances, the trickster tales, and the ghosts. Super impressive.The House with Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson
A beautiful book. Not just an adventure about a girl in training under Baba Yaga, but a lovely story about growing up. It's heartbreaking at times; it's also profoundly gentle and encouraging. Marinka fights against expectations that she never signed up for, but the novel refuses to portray the struggle in terms of one right answer and one wrong answer. Instead, it has the grace to allow Marinka to figure out her place and her purpose while also considering the needs of others.Leave It to Psmith by PG Wodehouse
I've never read another of Wodehouse's Psmith books, so it's unusual that I'd let myself start with the fourth book in that series. But this is also a sequel to Something Fresh, which I loved. Something Fresh introduces the inhabitants and shenanigans of Blandings Castle and had a bunch of people competing to obtain a valuable object, while also featuring a lovely romance. Leave It to Psmith repeats the formula with enough difference to keep it from feeling repetitive. And of course the real draw is Wodehouse's prose itself, which is light and hilarious.My problem now is deciding whether to read the next Blandings book (a collection of short stories called Blandings Castle) or go back and start the beginning of Psmith's adventures with Mike and Psmith.
January 7, 2021
Reading in 2020: Favorite Non-Fiction
I don't typically read a lot of non-fiction, just because there are so many novels I want to get to and so little time to get to them. But 2020 was a year for introspection and I found myself peppering in books that I thought would be useful to me in some way. Usefulness takes a lot of different forms, but these are the books that I found most educational, encouraging, and occasionally life-changing.
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
This was so extremely helpful. Kendi clearly defines terms in ways that make them useful so that not only do we know what we're talking about, but we also have a better sense of what actions to take to fix it. So much of the discussion about racism has been clouded by vague descriptions like "not racist," "institutional racism," and "microaggressions." Kendi sweeps that away and offers a simple, understandable vocabulary for the purpose of getting things done. And he does this all with humility as he chronicles his own journey through various racist ideas to arrive at the point he has.
I love his insistence that it's not helpful to simply label people as either racist or anti-racist. Ideas can be racist or anti-racist. Policies can. But people - all of us - act in racist or anti-racist ways and we often flip between the two. The call is to be more purposeful about maximizing our anti-racist actions and using what power we have to change racist ideas and policies.
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Lewis sets out to simplify Christianity to its most basic claims and he does exactly that. He uses clear, effective analogies and a lot of humor to demonstrate that the teachings of Jesus Christ are as uncomplicated to understand as they are demanding (and rewarding) to follow. I found it amazingly encouraging as well as challenging.
Growing With: Every Parent's Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family, and Future by Kara Powell and Steven Argue
With David moving away to college last year, I wanted some help navigating the necessary changes in Diane and my relationship with him. My tendency has often been to jump in to do things for him before he had a chance to try for himself. It's never been a great strategy, so with that becoming physically impossible, it seemed like a good opportunity to curb the impulse. But what to replace it with?
Powell and Argue offer plenty of practical suggestions for parenting children in their late teens and twenties, but for me the biggest help is just their perspective on maintaining relationships and having that be the biggest priority. They help me see that David is moving out of a period of his life where he's mostly just absorbing knowledge. He's now entering a season where he's exploring his options and will ultimately focus on a vocation. As he makes these transitions, Powell and Argue challenge me to step back and let him do more on his own while also reaffirming my instinct to keep the relationship warm and open.
Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View of Women by Sarah Bessey
In the midst of reading Jesus Feminist, I thought it was probably going to be a book that I like a lot, but not one of my favorites of the year. While it's an excellent introduction to the idea that feminism and Christianity are not only compatible, but inseparable, there are other, deeper books that dig into the relevant Biblical texts. Philip B Payne's Man and Woman, One in Christ was especially helpful to me, for example. So while I appreciated and agreed with Bessey from her opening chapters, she wasn't really presenting anything I hadn't read or thought about before.
But reflecting on the book, she presents her thoughts with such passion and humility and confidence that I end up loving it just for her spirit. And for the encouragement to put these ideas into practice more than I have.
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
This was so extremely helpful. Kendi clearly defines terms in ways that make them useful so that not only do we know what we're talking about, but we also have a better sense of what actions to take to fix it. So much of the discussion about racism has been clouded by vague descriptions like "not racist," "institutional racism," and "microaggressions." Kendi sweeps that away and offers a simple, understandable vocabulary for the purpose of getting things done. And he does this all with humility as he chronicles his own journey through various racist ideas to arrive at the point he has.I love his insistence that it's not helpful to simply label people as either racist or anti-racist. Ideas can be racist or anti-racist. Policies can. But people - all of us - act in racist or anti-racist ways and we often flip between the two. The call is to be more purposeful about maximizing our anti-racist actions and using what power we have to change racist ideas and policies.
Mere Christianity by CS Lewis
Lewis sets out to simplify Christianity to its most basic claims and he does exactly that. He uses clear, effective analogies and a lot of humor to demonstrate that the teachings of Jesus Christ are as uncomplicated to understand as they are demanding (and rewarding) to follow. I found it amazingly encouraging as well as challenging.Growing With: Every Parent's Guide to Helping Teenagers and Young Adults Thrive in Their Faith, Family, and Future by Kara Powell and Steven Argue
With David moving away to college last year, I wanted some help navigating the necessary changes in Diane and my relationship with him. My tendency has often been to jump in to do things for him before he had a chance to try for himself. It's never been a great strategy, so with that becoming physically impossible, it seemed like a good opportunity to curb the impulse. But what to replace it with?Powell and Argue offer plenty of practical suggestions for parenting children in their late teens and twenties, but for me the biggest help is just their perspective on maintaining relationships and having that be the biggest priority. They help me see that David is moving out of a period of his life where he's mostly just absorbing knowledge. He's now entering a season where he's exploring his options and will ultimately focus on a vocation. As he makes these transitions, Powell and Argue challenge me to step back and let him do more on his own while also reaffirming my instinct to keep the relationship warm and open.
Jesus Feminist: An Invitation to Revisit the Bible's View of Women by Sarah Bessey
In the midst of reading Jesus Feminist, I thought it was probably going to be a book that I like a lot, but not one of my favorites of the year. While it's an excellent introduction to the idea that feminism and Christianity are not only compatible, but inseparable, there are other, deeper books that dig into the relevant Biblical texts. Philip B Payne's Man and Woman, One in Christ was especially helpful to me, for example. So while I appreciated and agreed with Bessey from her opening chapters, she wasn't really presenting anything I hadn't read or thought about before.But reflecting on the book, she presents her thoughts with such passion and humility and confidence that I end up loving it just for her spirit. And for the encouragement to put these ideas into practice more than I have.
January 6, 2021
Reading in 2020: Favorite Comics and Children's Books
2020 was a good reading year for me. I was already making reading a bigger priority heading into the year from 2019, but then not being able to go out much translated directly into more time with books. I'd set a goal of 52 books for the year and almost doubled that with 103.As usual, though, tracking my reading through Goodreads leads to some misleading data. If I decide not to finish something (like the 642-page The Historian) Goodreads still counts all the pages as if I've read the whole thing. And my total count includes short stories, children's books, graphic novels, and comics collections, which are all pretty quick to complete.
Still, I love looking at the stats, like how the most popular book I read last year was Little Women (also shelved by 2.6 million other Goodreads users) and the least-popular was the graphic novel The Brontes: Infernal Angria (read by only 9 other users).
My average rating of all my books was 3.9 out of 5 stars, so I enjoyed most of what I read. Obviously I'm not going to list everything I read here, but I do think I'll talk about my favorites of the year, starting with comics and children's books today, then get into non-fiction and novels over the next couple of days.
I did a better job in 2020 than I usually do reading stuff that came out that year, but a lot of these will be older than that.
COMICS
Ghost Tree by Bobby Curnow and Simon Gane
Ghost Tree is a beautiful ghost story, but while the ghosts are real and there's a tense moment or two, the emphasis isn't on horror, but the ghosts as metaphor. The main character is a young man named Brandt who's returning to Japan partially to fulfill an old promise to his deceased grandfather, but also to escape the stress of his failing marriage and to try to figure out what he's going to do next.I may not be going through the same issues that Brandt is, but I related to his desire to hold onto the past as a way of escaping his responsibilities in the present. I liked the guy and hurt for him and rooted for him to figure things out. And I think the ending is perfect.
Five Years by Terry Moore
I became a full-fledged Terry Moore fan with Rachel Rising in 2019. I'd tried his first huge series, Strangers in Paradise, a long time ago and decided it wasn't for me, but I enjoyed Motor Girl and then Rachel Rising just pushed all my buttons. It's a great story, but what I really fell in love with was Moore's art: his ability to differentiate characters (not as easy as it sounds), let pictures do the hard storytelling work, and draw literally anything well.Five Years aims to pull Moore's various series together into one story, which is incredible considering the diversity of genres he's worked in. I just wanted more of the Rachel Rising characters and planned to be easy to please, but finished Five Years flabbergasted at how seamlessly Moore combines characters and plots from romance, science fiction, and horror comics.
It's so strong that I'm not only going to check out Echo (the one Moore series I haven't yet tried), but I'm also going to give Strangers in Paradise another look.
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, P Craig Russell, and Others
I haven't read Gaiman's novel yet, but now I want to more than ever. I love the structure of each chapter being more of less self-contained, but with a subplot that works through each story and pulls them together. I don't know how much Russell was in charge of collecting the various artists who visually depict each chapter, but it's a Who's Who of fantasy and horror virtuosos. The art is lovely.If I had one complaint, it was that the individual artists appear to be repressing their own, unique styles in favor of a unified look. Maybe it's just me. Maybe it's just the color palette that makes it all so consistent and I'm imagining the rest. But Kevin Nowlan, Tony Harris, Scott Hampton, and Jill Thompson have very different styles and I'd love to see that emphasized more. That bothered me less and less as I kept reading though to the wonderful, touching conclusion to the story.
CHILDREN'S BOOKS
Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin
This was a holiday tradition growing up and it's impossible to separate the book from the great memories I have around it: especially my mom reading it to us and baking the cranberry bread recipe that's included (and is also a crucial part of the story). Nostalgia aside though, the illustrations are unquestionably beautiful and evocative and I love the message about not judging people by appearances.Old Black Witch! by Wende and Harry Devlin
Between Cranberry Thanksgiving and a book called Old Witch and the Polka-Dot Ribbon, the Devlins' books were a huge part of the holidays for my family when I was a kid. Like I said above, I have a deep, nostalgic connection with the art and also with the stories that combine dark(ish) outsider characters and vibes with the coziness of fireplaces, plaid tablecloths, and warm baked goods. Each book also includes a recipe for an item mentioned in the story, and my mom made regular use of those. So these books also bring back great memories of smells and tastes.Old Witch and the Polka-Dot Ribbon was the second in the Old Witch series and we didn't have the first one, Old Black Witch, in our library for some reason. But I've read it since at some point and decided to finally get my own copy this past Halloween season. The art is as lovely as I remember and I still have a strong connection with the theme of different kinds of people living and working together, with kindness, understanding, and good manners winning the day.
Thanksgiving in the Woods by Phyllis Alsdurf and Jenny Lovlie
I bought this book in 2019 at a book fair, just because I loved the art and the feelings of comfort and camaraderie that it evokes. It's based on an actual Thanksgiving tradition of a large, extended family in New England and while I personally hate eating outside, I'd do it for the celebration described in Thanksgiving in the Woods. It's lovingly written with gorgeous illustrations that make me wish I was there.
January 3, 2021
AfterLUNCH | Nerdstradamus 2021
After Robert Zerbe and I check in on our resolutions and predictions from last year’s Nerdstradamus episode, Rob Graham, Evan Hanson, Kay, and Paxton Holley join the fun to look back on the books, movies, and TV shows of 2020 and forward to what’s potentially coming in 2021. This episode is full of resolutions, recommendations, and reckonings. And a little bonus something we like to call “Tea Talk.” Opening song by Andrew Bird.
Download or listen to the episode here.
