Top movies of February 2015

11 movies watched:

Hail Caesar!
All sorts of fun 50s movie studio stuff.
hail_caesar

Beyond the Lights
How much of yourself do you have to trade for fame?
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Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Good movie, but you should turn down any invitation extended by George and Martha.
whos_afraid_of_virginia_woolf

Neighbors
Inappropriate and hilarious.
neighbors

The Two Faces of January
Mystery and intrigue in Greece.
two_faces_of_january

Ishtar
Don’t believe the press.  Actually funny.
ishtar_ver2

Song of the month, February 2016

This month’s song is also by Bleachers.  Will I end up buying this album song by song?  Time will tell.

I read somewhere that this album is inspired by 80s movies and this song really captures the feeling of some of those movies, like the ones John Hughes made.

I’ve just watched the video for the first time.  It was very 80-esque.  I found myself amused at the very WASP-y, classic ice queen beauty playing the object of Jack Antonoff’s affection.  Mostly because in real life he’s with incredibly normal looking Lena Dunham.  Anyway, I think the twist at the end is the “rollercoaster” part.  Also, I think you could do some sort of physics assignment to figure out how fast the van was going when they were playing on top of it.

Also in the running: Adele’s “When We Were Young”, which I like much more than “Hello”, but don’t hear as often. I’m buying that song too. I think I first heard this on regular reader Kathleen’s blog.

Of note:  for most of this month, the song on endless repeat in my head was Vance Joy’s “Riptide.”  I have no idea why as it has been out for a long time.  I don’t like or dislike that song, but I really didn’t need to be on endless loop in my head.

Books read in February 2016

The results are in from my first month working for the private sector:  11 books read.  That seems like a lower number than usual, but I’m not actually going to check.  This month I only read one book that was not for librarian book group.  And I read no “grownup” books at all.

recommended

Picture:  Swap!
Middle Grade:  Pax (and not just because it was the only one)
YA:  They were all really good in different ways.  If I have to choose one I’ll go with The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B.

picture books

Into the Snow
Kaneko/Saito
Read for Librarian Book Group
The illustrations felt like being in the middle of a snow storm.  This also meant that sometimes they weren’t very clear.

Be a Friend
Salina Yoon
Read for Librarian Book Group
I love mimes.  And so I loved this book.  One might take it as mime propaganda–get the kids while they are young!

Surf’s up!
Alexander/Miyares
Read for Librarian Book Group
Fun little tale of the terrible choice between surfing and reading.

Swap!
Steve Light
Read for Librarian Book Group
Very fun story of swapping items for other items and eventually getting what you need.  The illustrations were grand and this book could possibly double as a coloring book for those with good fine motor skills.


middle grade

Pax
Sara Pennypacker
Read for Librarian Book Group
Really great middle reader about a boy and the fox he rescued.  For the first half of the book I kept trying to place the story in space and time.  War was coming, and I couldn’t really figure out how that fit into the map of the real world.  I eventually gave up on this quest and just slotted this into the kind-of-present-kind-of-future space.

young adult

Wonders of the Invisible World
Christopher Barzak
Read for librarian book group.
Manages to combine a solid love story with weird “seeing” elements.  Like us, the main character has no idea what is going on until the best friend he can’t remember moves back to town after five years.  Trying to puzzle things out kept me turning pages.

The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B
Teresa Toten
Read for librarian book group
A story of a boy with OCD, and his first love, Robyn.  This story also includes the kids in his OCD therapy group, his counslor, his mother, father, stepmother and brother. There’s a lot to juggle here and Toten manages to keep track of everyone.

I particularly enjoyed the rich characterization.  The many players are memorable and well developed.  Unfortunately for me, reading about OCD was a slog–I spent the book tense and uncomfortable.  Which means I think Toten did a great job accurately capturing the super bummer it must be to live with OCD.  By the end I was glad I had read, but in the middle it was hard to keep going.  I recommend this, because it’s good, but that doesn’t also mean it is an easy read.

Salt to the Sea
Ruta Septys
Read for Librarian Book Group
People who read Between Shades of Gray will particularly enjoy this WWII-era novel.  Told from four different perspectives, it details the end-of-war fleeing of people toward the Baltic Sea.  It’s a thick book and a quick read.

We Are the Ants
Shaun David Hutchinson
Read for Librarian Book Group
In Dennis Lehane’s book The Given Day, there is a marvelous bit of writing where a character is pushed off the roof and falls to his death.  The author manages to play out this scene clearly and cleanly without once using the words “push” or “fall”.

So it is with this book about depression and bullying, which manages to weave an engaging tale for 455 pages, while rarely mentioning depression or bullying.

Open Road Summer
Emery Lord
Regan O’Neil–a rebel on the reform path–escapes her normal life for a summer on tour with her Taylor Swift-like best friend.  I was constantly confused by the fact that this rebel wore heels and makeup, but perhaps southern rebellion looks different than western rebellion.  Contains good stuff about friends, fame and finding out who you are when you aren’t a bad girl anymore.

Young nonficiton

I Hear a Pickle
Rachel Isadora
Read for Librarian Book Group
Oh good grief, this book seemed like it took forever to read.  The repetitive structure had me bored by the time we got to the examination of the second sense.  I was positively silently screaming by the fourth one.  Cute illustrations though.