Book Review: In For a Penny by Rose Lerner
Summary:
Nev Bedlow’s partying days are over. His father got his brains blown out in a duel, and now Nev must deal with the family’s massive debt, as well as tend to their much too neglected country estate. He must marry new money and pretty, witty Penelope seems just the ticket.
Penelope wasn’t after a title. In fact, she was dutifully waiting, hoping her parents would eventually approve an engagement with her friend Edward, but when Lord Bedlow shows up asking for her hand in marriage, she finds herself saying yes.
The new couple not only must get to know each other and see if love can form, but also deal with the threat of a riot of the tenants, Nev’s impatient younger sister Louisa, and threatening neighbors.
Review:
Regency romance isn’t normally my thing, but I read a review on a book blog (I can’t remember which) that intrigued me. It was well worth it. In For a Penny doesn’t look at the past through rose-colored lenses. It faces the facts of life back then for men as well as women of all stations. However, unlike books of that time period that ignored the occurrence of things like sex, this book includes them. Put those two together, and you get a really pleasant read.
The characters are highly relatable and are not stock characters. Penelope is virginal and innocent due to her station, not because that’s just how women were. An actress is provided as a nice contrast, showing that with the sexual freedom of lower classes came great risk. Nev sports his own kind of innocence, a complete obliviousness to the pain and suffering in the world that then comes to meet him head-first. Instead of a dashing lord, we see a young man whose father failed to properly prepare him for adulthood. It puts exactly the type of human emotion into the story that is necessary for the romance to ring true.
That said, I didn’t completely love it. There were a few scenes that read a bit clunky. Beyond that, I’m not sure why I didn’t love it. I suspect that it’s just that it’s not my favorite genre, and thus even though it is done well, it will never be an intensely loved book in my mind.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by the real emotions and situations in this regency romance and hope to come across more like it. If you enjoy romance or historical fiction, I encourage you to give this book a chance. I bet you will enjoy it.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Friday Fun! (Sick, Niece, Sweet Curry)
Hello my lovely readers! This week persisted on being just as busy as the last few. I’m hoping to have a chance for some r and r this week, but we shall see.
Monday I was home sick with some sort of a stomach thing, and slept through the movie adaptation of Witches of Eastwick. Although I only saw the first little bit (and flicked in and out via sleep), I can say the book is set in the 1960s and everyone in the movie looked like they were in the 1980s, so that was weird. Also, every time Jack Nicholson tried to act evil, all I could think of was The Shining, so that was distracting.
On Wednesday, a mere week after invasive heart surgery, my niece was discharged from Children’s and sent home. Although I didn’t get to see her on that day, I had seen her earlier in the week, and she was looking quite good. Thanks again to everyone for all your kind thoughts.
Thanks to a librarian friend on twitter, I was able to make the sweet curry recipe from Vive Le Vegan this week. I quickly discovered that my casserole dish apparently only holds 2 servings, not 4, so had to halve the recipe. It’s so insanely good though. I think tomorrow I will put it going in my crockpot before heading out shopping with my friends Nina and E. I get the feeling it’s the sort of dish that becomes more flavorful the longer it cooks.
Are you guys still in the springtime rush or are you already in the summer relaxation?
Movie Review: The Dinner Game (1998) France Le diner de cons
Summary:
Pierre and his friends have a recurring dinner party where they each bring an idiot. The person who brings the best idiot wins. Pierre is excited that he may have finally found a winner in Pierre–a government worker who makes models out of matchsticks and talks about them incessantly. However, he throws his back out the night of the party, and his wife walks out on him, leaving him at the hands of the bumbling Francois.
Review:
This is the French movie that is being remade/Americanized into Dinner for Schmucks, which is being released this summer. This is what led me to watch it, and I must say I don’t know why I always forget how much I enjoyed the foreign films I watched in university. They’re such a fun way to immerse yourself in another culture.
The Dinner Game plays with that classic light-handed touch often found in French films. The wit is sly, not heavy-handed. The jokes build slowly, rather like American black-and-white classic films.
I found it delightful that the writers made the choice to make Pierre basically an unredeemable douchebag who you still end up sympathizing with. It takes talent to pull that off, and it is done quite smoothly.
The movie is quite short, though, ringing in at only 81 minutes. I wanted it to last longer! Additionally, the ending was rather sudden. People who don’t like to left guessing won’t enjoy that part of it. I also felt the set-up took a bit long, particularly given the length of the film.
If you enjoy light-handed wit and a good character study, you will enjoy this film.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Book Review: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
Summary:
Snowman used to be Jimmy. Jimmy was a word person in a science person world. He couldn’t splice genes to make rakunks or even to make new types of plants. He could sell them to the public who lived outside of the safe Compounds though. Jimmy was with Oryx, although he had to share her with Crake. Now, Snowman must take care of the Crakers with their rainbow of colors, naturally insect-repellant skin, and complex mating rituals. Snowman is alone except for the Crakers. Everyone else died in the bloody pandemic. Or did they?
Review:
This is a companion novel to Year of the Flood (review), although Oryx and Crake was published first. Companion novel means they’re set in the same time-span in the same universe and some characters may briefly cross over, but you don’t necessarily need to read them in a particular order or even read all of them.
Atwood is one of my favorite authors, so I have no idea how to react to the fact that I didn’t like this book. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it. It was a bit of a struggle to get through. As usual, Atwood sets scenes beautifully, but I felt no emotion driving the story. I believe Oryx and Crake suffers from the fact that love triangle of Oryx, Crake, and Jimmy is only hinted at throughout the book, only to be revealed in such a manner that it rings false. Jimmy seems to surf through life on a wave of ennui, until Oryx shows up and cheers him up, but how does she do it? We just don’t ever really find out, because our narrator is Snowman–the version of Jimmy who’s lost his mind. Perhaps Atwood was trying to show a culture that had reached a point where people just couldn’t be truly happy. That’s a good thing to show, but it makes for a boring narrator.
What I really wanted to know about was what made Crake do the things he did. He’s clearly either a mad-man or a genius, but we never get to find out much about him at all. I wish he had been the narrator. To see inside his mind would have been amazing. I could have even overlooked the fact that he’s not a woman.
That’s the other thing that bugged me about this book. Atwood usually writes with female main characters, but in this instance, men were the main players. That kind of pisses me off. Was she unable to imagine a woman doing something so evil? A woman being so stupid? That’s just as sexist as women never being the hero. I would have enjoyed the book so much more if Jimmy and Crake were women (heck, Oryx could have stayed a woman too. That would have been an interesting change).
When you compare this to Year of the Flood, it’s evident that what Oryx and Crake lacks is the emotions driving the bigger picture. It’s a well-imagined and creative big picture, which is what makes the book still readable. I’m sure some people would like it, but don’t come into it expecting Atwood’s more typical emotion-driven story. You won’t find it.
3 out of 5 stars
Source: PaperBackSwap
Movie Review: Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
Summary:
Susan is about to get married when a meteor hits her, turning her into a giant. The US government quickly brings her to its monster facility, where she meets other monsters. Soon an alien invades Earth, seeking the material in the meteor that made Susan a giant. The monsters must fight the alien, while Susan tries to come to grips with her new life.
Review:
This is an awful movie. Down-right awful. It was so bad that even though it’s only 94 minutes long, I didn’t finish it. None of the jokes worked. The storyline made zero sense. I mean, the meteor landed on top of Susan. She definitely would have been crushed prior to being able to soak up any special substance. The way the monsters are handled completely misses all opportunities for humor. Omg they have super-powers but can’t seem to use them properly. Hilarious. *eye-roll* Then there’s the invading alien. I don’t even know if we were supposed to find him threatening or funny, but he was certainly neither. Dreamworks, how did you manage to go so wrong? Especially with the gift of such a talented voice cast including Seth Rogen, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd, and Stephen Colbert. This should have been epically funny, instead of an epic waste of time.
Save yourselves from this disaster, folks. There are plenty of other worthy animated movies out there to spend your time on.
1 out of 5 stars
Source: Netflix
Friday Fun! (Classes, Surgery, Water)
Hello my lovely readers! What a busy week it’s been for me. This week was the last week of my semester. Finishing touches were placed on classes, and as of Tuesday night at around 8pm, I was finally on vacation! No more classes until July.
My brother, sister-in-law, and niece are in Boston for an indeterminate amount of time. My niece, who is about 4.5 months old, was born with a heart defect, so she is in Children’s Hospital getting it fixed. Monday night I went to the excellent parents’ hotel to see them before her surgery. Her surgery was Wednesday, and I took the day off to wait out the 6 hour surgery with my brother and sister-in-law. The surgery went better than the doctors were hoping for, so that was good news. They were just starting to wake her up slowly Thursday afternoon. I have yet to see her post-surgery, as only parents/guardians have been allowed in the recovery room so far. Her parents are holding up quite well, I think.
On top of all that, last Saturday a water line broke in Weston, which meant that all of Boston was under a drinking water ban, as the water could be contaminated. You had to boil the water for at least 2 minutes to make it safe for drinking or washing dishes. You also could wash dishes by adding some bleach to it. Well, I didn’t have bleach and wasn’t about to buy it for only a couple of days’ use. I had made a large dinner Friday night, and since I am not one of these “wash dishes instantly” women, I had planned on washing them Saturday. Ooops. Between everything else going on, I didn’t have a chance to wash them, along with all the other dishes dirtied during the incident, until Wednesday night. I got to spend many many hours doing dishes, let me tell you.
All in all a busy week, but not a bad one. Happy weekends, all!
Book Review: The Accidental Demon Slayer by Angie Fox
Summary:
Lizzie’s life is all about control. Her library books are never late, her preschool class is extremely well-behaved, and she always grocery shops with lists. In fact, to date the only out-there thing she’s ever done is to adopt her terrier, Pirate. On her 30th birthday, though, her long-lost grandmother shows up, and she just happens to be a biker babe. Oh, and she’s here to warn Lizzie that the minute she turns 30 her slayer powers will go into full effect and a fifth level demon wants them. Before she knows it, she’s caught up in a whirlwind of roadkill witches, griffins, demons, and switch stars.
Review:
This is a refreshing twist in the paranormal romance genre. No vampires to be seen so far and demons are just demons not fallen angels seeking redemption. Lizzie reads kind of like a reluctant ninja, which is a nice change from the boring girl suddenly made exciting by the appearance of vampires. Her life is suddenly made exciting due to a change that took place inside herself, not outside.
I also really enjoyed that her slayer powers come about when she turns 30, not at adolescence or at 18 or at 21. Thirty makes sense because she actually gets a chance to grow up before dealing with all of this stuff. Plus it gives older readers who long ago gave up on getting a letter from Hogwarts a chance to still imagine a fantastical life for themselves.
On the other hand, Fox does not entirely escape from paranormal romance (or heck, just romance) tropes. There’s this really cute guy and she instantly feels a magical connection but oh my goodness something is holding them apart until they stop letting it but then she gets instantly angry at him. For a writer who put in some very creative elements, such as the witches being elderly grandmas who still kick butt, I was expecting far more from the romance portion. Also, the sex scene really fell flat. I’m not sure if this was due to the way she wrote about the sex or the fact that I just didn’t believe any of the emotions between the two, but it was a disappointment either way.
Similarly, Lizzie hems and haws over being a demon slayer rather late in the game at a point at which it is obvious she really enjoys it but for some reason isn’t realizing it? It just doesn’t make sense and rings false.
However, I still plan on reading the sequel, because the romance was such a minor portion of the storyline, and Lizzie is at least a strong female character who remains feminine. I’m not big into the hardened heart tattoo covered female leads who seem to be the only paranormal alternative to moony-eyed emo chicks. Lizzie lands smack between the two, which lends to the unique qualities in the book.
If you enjoy paranormal romance with a twist, you’ll enjoy this series. Similarly, if you want a humorous, gentler introduction to the genre, try this book out.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Source: SwapTree
Movie Review: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Summary:
Mr. Fox promised his mate when she got pregnant to stop raiding the local farms and settle down to a safe journalism job, but when they move to a tree close to three farms, he finds night raids irresistible. Soon the woodland critters and the farmers are in an all-out battle of wits.
Review:
OMG I LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!
First, it is done in delicious stop-motion animation. The whole film is truly a piece of art. My particular favorite is when they do cut-aways of the animals’ homes and tunnels below-ground. It looks so incredibly real. It reminds me of my well-loved books growing up that would cut-away animal homes like beaver houses and show you their house inside, complete with beds and stoves. Swoon.
Second, there’s the storyline. I’ve always loved the crafty animals out-witting the farmers from basically the first day I could read. This may have been an indication of my future vegetarianism.
Third, there’s the characters. The three farmers each have their own personalities. The animals have more well-rounded characterization than I’ve seen for people in most tv shows. For instances, Mr. Fox’s nephew, Kristofferson, is a naturally calm soul who knows karate and meditates every day contrasted with Mr. Fox’s son, Ash, who just wants to be a bandit and is pretty much perpetually angry.
Fourth, there’s the soundtrack. There’s a wonderful folk tune about halfway through the movie that is very reminiscent of the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou? another one of my all-time favorite movies.
Finally, there’s the fact that Dahl dealt with adult language in a kids’ film by replacing any swear word with the word “cuss.” This results in the adult animals saying wonderful things like “What the cuss?!” Brilliant.
I probably should also mention the fact that Mr. Fox is voiced by George Clooney who is always swoon-worthy.
I honestly can’t think of anyone who would dislike this movie. I suppose if you hate animals and have no soul you might not like it. All others need to go watch it immediately.
5 out of 5 stars
Source: Zune on Xbox
Book Review: Love Among the Chickens by P. G. Wodehouse
Summary:
Jeremy Garnet, a novelist, is living a relatively quiet bachelor life in London when his old school friend Stanley Ukridge shows up. Ukridge is starting a chicken farm with his wife, Millie, and wants “Garnie old boy” to come stay with them. He’ll get to write in the country in exchange for a few hours of work a day. In spite of the fact that Ukridge is planning to run the chicken farm without any prior knowledge or studying “the better for innovation, my boy,” Garnie takes him up on it. Of course, life with the eccentric Ukridge surrounded by chickens isn’t quite the quiet writing environment Garnie was planning on. Not to mention the Irish professor neighbor’s lovely daughter that Garnie can’t quite get out of his head.
Review:
There’s no doubt about it. Wodehouse is pleasantly droll. It was, however, necessary for me to remind myself a few times of the time period this was written in as certain portions had the feminist in me going “Whaaaat?!”
Ukridge and Millie are a delightful couple. He’s got zany ideas; she’s endlessly supportive. He clearly is madly in love with her and vice versa. They’re exactly the sort of people I would want as neighbors, because you’d never get bored with them around. Ukridge doesn’t mean to do wrong by anybody. He just doesn’t get how society thinks it should function. He does everything his own way, and Millie is along for the ride.
Wodehouse also manages to actually create personalities in the animals that are around from Bob the dog to Edwin the cat to Aunt Elizabeth the evil chicken (named after the aunt that didn’t want Millie to marry Ukridge). The animals are a part of everything that is going on. The characters actually talk to them, interact with them, and the animals respond. It’s something that happens in my own life, but that I don’t usually see in books, so I was delighted to see it here.
On the other hand, chickens are only half of the title, and I must say, I was not fond of the love half. Garnie’s relationship with Phyllis just hit all the wrong notes for me. First, Garnie claims to have fallen in love with her at first sight upon seeing her on the train, yet at that portion of the book all he talks about is how lovely her eyes are. Sounds more like lust to me. Then there’s the fact that Phyllis’s personality stinks. She’s dull, boring, and frankly rude. She’s square under her egotistical father’s thumb too. I don’t see what Garnie sees in her. Then of course there’s the fact that Garnie pretty much stalks her for a portion of the book. He goes to her father’s farm every night after dusk, sits in the bushes, and listens to her sing. That’s creepy, but when he tells her later, she laughs and is delighted. People! Stalking is not romantic. Gah!
I wish Wodehouse had simply written about Ukridge and Millie, as they are clearly the couple that is actually interesting. In spite of the fact that he didn’t do that though, I really liked this book. People who appreciate a book for the scenes in it and not the overarching plot will like it as well.
4 out of 5 stars
Source: Librivox recording by Mark Nelson via the Audible app for the iTouch and iPhone
Friday Fun! (Sarah Silverman)
Hello my lovely readers! Sorry there was no Friday Fun post last week. I had the day off and was staying as far away from the computer as possible. :-)
Last weekend I got to meet Sarah Silverman! She was in town for her book tour for The Bedwetter. She read a portion of the book featuring her father’s hilarious voice mails to her. This was followed by a Q+A session that I’m pretty sure nobody in the audience was aware was going to happen. It took us a bit to come up with semi-good questions. Among the things I learned:
- She doesn’t drink. (Say what?!)
- Her feelings were hurt by the whole TED fiasco, and her presentation for it is still unavailable online.
- She originally mocked twitter, but now loves it as a “message in a bottle” feature for her life.
- The only topic she personally has boundaries for is making “fat women” the butt of jokes. She said that “America as a society has this idea that fat women don’t deserve to be loved or happy, and I just think that’s really wrong, so I don’t go there, but other comedians have the right to do what they want to do.” Classy lady.
- She wants to adopt a mentally challenged kid, but she doesn’t want to feel guilty for dying and leaving a mentally challenged adult with no one to care for him/her, so she decided she should adopt a mentally challenged child with a terminal illness. Lolz.
After the reading was the book signing. There were probably around 150 people in line. She was sweet, but a lot more demure in person than I was expecting. I suspect she’s got the classic case of a shy person who comes alive when performing. She was nice to everyone, and I’m pleased to say I came away still glad to be a fan.
Also last weekend I dropped off my bike to be repaired and now it is all shiny and awesome! I was shocked to ride it and discover the gears are supposed to be smooth, not difficult to cope with. I’m hoping to start biking my commute soon. I just need to practice the route on a non-work day to get the hang of it.
As for grad school, my final projects for the semester are done! Now I just have to attend one more class session for each of my classes, and then I am home free with two months of vacation. Oh happy day!
What have you guys been up to in the last two weeks? Anything exciting or awesome?
Happy weekends!
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This work by Amanda Nevius is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Opinions of a Wolf 