Daily Archives: July 4, 2015

I can’t stop listening to Taylor Swift “1989”.

Posted on by
Reply

I (finally) got this album in November…and loved it on the first listen…but then I just barely had any time to listen to music during the school year and sort of forgot about what I had bought earlier and even had some months where I didn’t even buy anything (what? that’s unheard of!). Well I’ve remedied that in the past 10 days and I cannot turn this album off. True sign of a great album: even the last three tracks are fabulous.

Her public persona is a BIT much (along the lines of Tom Cruise is a BIT enthusiastic), and I have never listened to any of her prior stuff, and sure some of the lyrics are a little silly, and sure when you hear what the songs are reportedly about sometimes you have to scoff…but I can’t stop humming them and singing them and dancing to them. Just can’t stop.

Middle-Grade Fantasy: The Dragonet Prophecy, by Tui Sutherland

Posted on by
Reply

A super sweet story about five little dragonets, stolen away before their eggs hatched, to play their part in a prophecy. It’s really a story about friends, family, belonging, finding your identity, and figuring out what’s important to you. And it was SO very sweet. I can think of a LOT of fifth graders who would really love this book (and presumably the rest of the story as well).

Historical Fiction: Live by Night, by Dennis Lehane

Posted on by
Reply

So yeah, I haven’t written about the books I’ve been reading in ages and ages although I have kept pretty much up to date with commenting on them on GoodReads. I guess I need an app for my blog, ha.

I thought this book was just beautiful. While it is one part of the story of the Coughlin family, and partly a story about gangsters (cough, outlaws, sorry, Joe) and corruption and American history, it’s also got this incredibly romantic streak running through it. The things that carry Joe through his life: not just the women he loves, but the places he loves, the objects he loves (that watch, for example).

I read the first book in this series (Any Given Day) in a furious rush over spring break while visiting my dad’s library and similarly when I picked this book up, I really couldn’t put it down either. I remember liking Lehane’s Kenzie/Gennaro series back in the day when I read those (pre-2004) but not like THIS.

Big Screen: Inside Out

Posted on by
Reply

Maybe this was too overhyped for me. Or maybe I never like animated movies that much anyway. Or maybe I think movies that try to ride that middle ground between 1) kids will find this funny and 2) adults will still find it smart! tend to just annoy me. Why? Because there is no real middle between those two grounds. Most of it was over the heads of both the kids I went with while concurrently being too simplistic for me. We get only one positive emotional base versus four negative? Come on. Wouldn’t our global suicide rate be even higher if that were the case?

I see why other people liked it. I laughed at times. But I didn’t cry or feel all “OMG that was ME as an 11 year old girl” or any of the kinds of things my friends and reviewers have been saying. Sorry, it just wasn’t for me.