March: Read, Listen, Watch, Repeat…
I’ve had a great month of reading, particularly considering that March is a busy month in our household – all three of my offspring have their birthdays in March, within a fortnight of each other. And even though they are now all adults – youngest son turned 18 – there are still cakes and presents, and in the case of my daughter who no longer lives at home, parcels to post. And also, Easter into the bargain this time around. Busy times indeed.
So, reading. I read three review titles and two from my own tbr. All were high quality reads.
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store: This was for March book club. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and ended up rating it 5 stars.
Pineapple Street: From the tbr and picked up as a recommendation from Tess Woods via Instagram. She and I have a lot in common when it comes to reading. I loved this one, it really was terrific. Another 5 star rating.
The Mystery Writer: The latest release by Sulari Gentill in her series of standalone meta-fiction mystery titles. Unique, with twist after twist, I zoomed through this one with satisfaction. 4 stars. Thanks to Ultimo Press for the review copy.
My Brilliant Sister: This one was a review book, but it also adds to my #AYearofNZLit. This was really well done, both in writing and structure. It also properly fits in with the motivation for reading NZ titles as it deep dived into being a New Zealander living in Australia and also a New Zealander travelling the world and seeking that connection to home upon return to New Zealand. I haven’t written up my review yet, but there are plenty of thoughts swirling around within my mind from this novel. 4 stars. Thanks to Scribner (Simon & Schuster Australia) for the review copy.
The Silence Factory: This was brilliant. Bridget Collins wrote The Binding a few years ago, which I thought was fantastic. Her second novel, The Betrayals, I enjoyed less, but she writes so magnificently, that I didn’t let this deter me from her. The Silence Factory gave me the same spine-tingling vibe that I got from The Binding. I could barely put this one down and it did not fail to continue to surprise me, over and over. It comes with a warning though: if you’re afraid of spiders, this will be an uncomfortable read. For me, it was a 5 star one. Thanks to HarperCollins Australia for the early review copy.
Listen:
A big month of listening. I was not only listening in the car this month, but also while I was cooking and in the evenings in bed as I was getting ready to fall asleep.
The Drowning: Bryan Brown narrating his own crime novel. Hold my beer. Seriously, this was such an enjoyable listening experience. It’s not that it was a particularly unique or groundbreaking story, it was more in the way it was written – fast paced, engaging, both character and plot driven – and the way it was narrated. Of course, Bryan Brown has a very distinct edge here, as a veteran actor. But his familiar, laconic, deeply Australian voice, reading a novel he had written himself, was gold dust. I’ll be listening to his other novel soon, for sure. I rated this one 4 stars.
Judi Dench – Shakespeare: I haven’t stopped raving about this one to anyone who will listen and also to those who probably don’t care. But this was fabulous. You do need to like Shakespeare to enjoy this. 5 stars for this one. I feel like the audio book would be superior to the print version in this case. It was narrated as a conversation and in fact, the audio version also includes an exclusive 45-minute extra conversation between Judi Dench and the author. Very special indeed.
The Whispering: This was utter garbage. I’m not even bothering to review it. I gave it 2 stars, but honestly, that’s being generous. Apparently, it won the Banjo Prize for an unpublished manuscript a few years ago. It should have stayed unpublished.
Body Friend: Long listed for the Stella Prize, this was very good. Not overly long, which I like, and well narrated. I have yet to write my review on this one, but it was thought provoking and compelling. 4 stars.
The Death of John Lacey: Ben Hobson is a seriously good writer. This one is grim, colonial Australia at its *finest*. Listening to it was like watching a gritty Western that was both compelling and horrifying in equal measure. 4 stars.
Watch:
Less watching this month. But that’s not such a bad thing as it led to more reading, which is first and foremost my one true love when it comes to entertainment.
Life After Life: This BBC series based upon the novel by Kate Atkinson was very well done. The cast was incredible. It was not a light, nor particularly easy watch. At times, it was even distressing. We paced ourselves with it, but it was definitely worth watching. A shout out to M for sticking with this one, it’s not his usual thing, and he was sort of tricked into watching it.
Mary and George: I don’t really know what to make of this. I’ve watched four out of the seven episodes that make up the series and honestly, there doesn’t seem to be much to the plot other than sex and lies. It’s a bit boring, to be honest, and I’m not sure yet if I’m even going to bother finishing it.
Poor Things: Well, this was different. Emma Stone just recently won an Oscar for the role. There were a couple of other Oscars handed out for it as well, but I have to say, this was a very long film that probably could have had at least 47 less sex scenes than it did and a whole lot of other rot edited out. I said to M when it finished that I almost wanted to watch it again just so I could count the number of sex scenes – it was absurd. And they went for so long. It was too much. An interesting concept, certainly witty right the way through, and the costumes were divine, the sets incredibly vibrant and clever. I don’t understand why this particular film maker persists in using the fisheye lens, it doesn’t add any value to the film, it’s just annoying. I didn’t like it in The Favourite and I didn’t like it in this film.
Apples Never Fall: The latest novel by Liane Moriarty to be adapted for the small screen and Americanised in the process. It was a good watch and surprisingly, they retained some Australian aspects and had some Australian actors in it as well. I haven’t actually read this book of hers, one of the few that I haven’t, so it was all just as much a surprise for me, as it was for M. I am keen now to read the book. It should come as no surprise to any of you to hear that I have it on my tbr.
~~~
And that’s a wrap for March. Until next month, good reading. And I hope you all have a Happy Easter long weekend!
