Month: November 2020

Books Read in November 2020

Picture Books

Evelyn Del Ray is Moving Away
Sonia Sanchez & Meg Medina
Read for Librarian Book Group

Aside from the best picture book title of 2020, this book brings all the feels. Good for a person of any age with a friend that is moving away.

Middle Grade

The Girl and the Ghost
Hanna Alkaf
Read for Librarian Book Group

Supposedly prologues are not in fashion, but I’m glad Hanna Alkaf included one in this story because it was top notch at grabbing my attention.

What do you know about pelesits? They’re a type of ghost and one of them is bound to Suraya, a girl in Malaysa. This book is full of great details and great writing. And then it all fell apart at the end, darn it.

Young Adult

Again Again
E. Lockheart

Another disappointing eBook experience. The ebook page seemed to have a layout that would have worked better with print, but alas, global pandemic.

Even given that, this multiverse story seemed to be lacking something, though I did enjoy the mourning of a lost relationship. There was also a great depiction of a sibling relationship needing to be rebuilt.

Parachutes
Kelly Young

Duel narrator perspective of two girls attending a private southern California high school: Dani, a scholarship student and debate star; Claire, a wealthy “parachute,” a Chinese teenagers sent to attend school in the US.

This book provides insight into a cultural phenomenon I hadn’t heard of and also highlights the unstable footing many young women are on due to all varieties of sexual harassment.

Punching the Air
Ibi Zoboi and Yosef Salaam
Read for Librarian Book Group

Novel in verse about a young man in prison. A solid entry to the genre and written by someone with experience who we all should listen to.

We Are Not Free
Tracy Chee
Read for Librarian Book Group

There are a lot of details about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Unfortunately, there are also 14 characters which made it really hard to connect to any of them.

P.S. The fact that the title rhymes with the author’s last name warms the cockles of my heart.

Every Body Looking
Candice Iloh
Read for Librarian Book Group

The back-and-forth narrative of this novel in verse had the effect of me never latching on to either time period.

Something Happened to Ali Greenleaf
Hayley Krischer

Hoo boy! So many levels of not-cool rape culture stuff going on in this duel narrator book. This made it difficult to read, but was ultimately worth it. A great look at some different responses to different kinds of sexual assualt and a good author’s note at the end.

Chasing Lucky
Jenn Bennett

Bennett leaves the California coastline for the Rhode Island coastline. We join a family where the women are cursed with doomed love lives. Or maybe they’re just bad at communicating?

This is a solid boy-next-door and long-lost-love story set in a small town and includes residents with very long memories.

The Fashion Committee
Susan Juby

One of the reasons I don’t love duel-narrator novels is that most of them don’t have distinctly different voices. Not so here, where we have exuberant fashion lover Charlie Dean and reluctant fashion participant John Thomas-Smith.

This amusing novel about a scholarship contest was a delight at every turn. If only the title reflected the novel’s brilliance. But also: there are illustrations! I’d love to enter a period we we get illustrations in books again. They’d be good for both YA and grownup novels.

Mind the Gap Dash and Lily
Rachel Cohn and David Levithan

Three for three in delightful Dash and Lily adventures. This one takes us to London.

Apple: Skin to the Core
Eric Gansworth
Read for Librarian Book Group

A memoir in verse about Gansworth’s life and his family. The poetry was really engrossing and it also came with Gansworth’s illustrations. This will especially resonate with readers familiar with the Beatles and their albums.

Grownup Fiction

Rodham
Curtis Sittenfeld

I think what made Sittenfeld’s American Wife work was that we were reading about Alice and Charlie Blackwell and not Laura and George W. Bush. Whereas here, we’re reading an imagined alternative history about a woman who has had intense media scrutiny since 1992. Laura Bush was much more of a blank slate.

Also: too soon! Reading about the 2016 election in Rodham on the real-life eve of the election taking place four years after Hillary Rodham Clinton lost the 2016 election was hard. I couldn’t sink into the fiction.

Is this a well written book? Yes, because Curtis Sittenfeld is a wizard with words and feelings and characters. Did I enjoy the alternate timeline? For sure! (You’ll love finding out who was elected president in 1996.) Other than that? This whole book felt weird. It’s very discussable though.

Young Nonfiction

You Call This Democracy?
Elizabeth Rusch
Read for Librarian Book Group

Outlines the many ways in which the current US setup of government falls short of democratic principles (and standards that we’ve encouraged other countries to adopt.) More importantly, it has ways for you (YOU!) to advocate for change.

This is a book that is written for teenagers, but which citizens of every age should read.

Top Movies November 2020

(6 total movies watched)

As you can see, November was not a great movie watching month both in number and quality.

A graph showing a pie chart with 66% Good, 33% Skip. Text: November 2020 Movies

Click on any linked title to read the full review.

Shithouse

The rough transition to college.

Cooper Raiff and Dylan Gelula in the film Shithouse. A star with text: Good. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com: Shithouse

Wild Nights With Emily

The side of the poet you didn’t know.

Susan Ziegler and Molly Shannon in Wild Nights With Emily. A star with text: Good. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com: Wild Nights With Emily

Mr. Jealousy

The idea that no good can come from.

A picture of Eric Stoltz's head with a sketch that makes him look like the devil. Text: Mr. Jealousy. A star with text: Good. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com: Mr. Jealousy

Planes Trains and Automobiles

The Thanksgiving classic.

A picture of Steve Martin and John Candy in the film Planes, Trains & Automobiles. A star with text: Good. An arch with text: 3SMReviews.com: Planes, Trains & Automobiles

The Thanksgiving I Finally Watch Planes, Trains & Automobiles

A picture of Steve Martin and John Candy in the film Planes, Trains & Automobiles.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Directed by John Hughes
Written by John Hughes

The review:

2020 is the year I finally watch this John Hughes classic film!* I found it to be an amusing road trip in that very 80s way and I was reminded of the humanity John Candy brought to his misfit characters.** While I don’t think this will become a Thanksgiving tradition, this is an enjoyable bit of classic 80s cinema.***

The verdict: Good

Cost: $2.99 via Google Play
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

  • Uncle Buck
  • Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
  • Mr. Mom

Further sentences:

*In looking at the films he directed, I’m not sure if I’ve seen Weird Science or not, and I know I’ve not seen Curly Sue, but the rest of the filmography bridges my elementary school through my junior high years. Kids were talking about Sixteen Candles in 1984, which was about four years before I was old enough to watch it, and I remember getting dropped off at the theater with my friend Laurie to watch Uncle Buck. (Apparently I already wrote about this in 2010.)
**RIP John Candy
***It was also fun to see the bits in the film I remember people recounting to me over the years. (“You haven’t seen Planes, Trains & Automobiles? There’s this classic scene where…”)

Questions:

  • What’s your favorite John Candy role?
  • What’s your favorite zany road comedy?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

On instruction from John Hughes, Edie McClurg’s role as the St. Louis rental car agent was partially improvised. Hughes told her to simply riff a fake phone conversation with someone about Thanksgiving plans while Steve Martin remains waiting in line staring at her to finish up. McClurg came up with the idea to speak with her sister about who was going to make what adding “You know I can’t cook!” Hughes asked her how she came up with those lines so quickly and she replied that, like his scripts, she just drew it from her own life. McClurg claims to this day that random people ask her to tell them they’re fucked.

(All hail Edie McClurg who will forever be Patty Poole the neighbor in the
television show Valarie/The Hogan Family)

A picture of Edie McClurg in the film Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Other reviews of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles:

  • Sheila Benson, Los Angeles Times
  • Janet Maslin, New York Times (I can’t get a working link, but the excerpt says: Mr. Martin and Mr. Candy are an easy twosome to watch even with marginal material, though, and the film is never worse than slow.)
Orange background with a white frame. Text: Quote: Those aren't pillows! —Planes, Trains, & Automobies. Read the three sentence movie review 3SMReviews.com

The 2020 Thanksgiving Pickup

Times being what they are, we can’t gather for Thanksgiving like we usually do. So we each made a food item and brought enough to share.

Linda and Matt demonstrate the physical distancing. Matt isn’t usually in Portland for Thanksgiving, so this was a treat.

More distancing.

Mom brought mashed potatoes and gravy. (I think.)

Chris made Spanish Rice to go with Matt’s enchiladas.

Aunt Carol made soup.

Linda made squash.

I made rolls, and burned some of them, alas.

Aunt Pat made turkey, pumpkin pie, and whipped cream.

Prepping for Thanksgiving 2020

The pandemic has meant we have to get creative for Thanksgiving this year. We’ll still meet up, but outside, and just to exchange food. Matt is prepping chicken enchiladas for his contribution.

And here is his final product.

I made rolls and they are done, but I also made a German Chocolate Roll for the feast at the Orange Door.

Mr. Jealousy: Good Early Baumbach

A picture of Eric Stoltz's head with a sketch that makes him look like the devil. Text: Mr. Jealousy

Mr. Jealousy

Directed by Noah Baumbach
Written by Noah Baumbach

The review:

In 2015, Noah Baumbach’s Mistress America would give us a screwball comedy; 18 years before that film Baumbach gave us a glimmer of coming attractions with an amusing tale of a jealous boyfriend who joins a therapy group to learn more about his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend.* As with most Baumbach films, the people on screen aren’t ones you want to hang out with, but boy howdy are they interesting.** As the situation becomes more complex and the tension builds, Eric Stoltz, Annabella Sciorra, and Carlos Jacott*** really turn up the humor.

The verdict: Good!

Cost: Free via Kanopy, Multnomah County Library’s Streaming Service
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*I know! Can you imagine? And there’s the further complication that he pretends to be his best friend so as to remain anonymous.
**Unlinke most other Baumbach films, this also includes a cast member who is a person of color.
***Also fun: Peter Bogdanovich, director of a lot of really good films, plays the group therapist.

Questions:

  • Joining group therapy to get details on your girlfriends ex, how shady is that on a 1–10 scale?
  • What’s your favorite Eric Stolz film?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

On The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance marquee that appears in the film, a quote (“a classic”) is attributed to G. Brown. The critic in question is Georgia Brown, famed Village Voice film critic and mother of writer/director Noah Baumbach.

Other reviews of Mr. Jealousy:

Orange background with a white frame. Text: I'll bet my writing's more of a voice of our generation than his. --Mr Jealousy. Read the three sentence movie review. 3SMReviews.com

All movies watched on Netflix May–Present

Five Really Great Movies on Netflix Right Now. The S Edition

  • Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse. It’s a superhero film not hanging out on the Disney+ platform! The animation is amazing! It’s also funny!
  • Stranger Than Fiction. A film that warms the cockles of my heart because it’s just so different. I love Will Ferrell in comedic roles, but he’s also great in this drama. Plus, Maggie Gyllenhaal. And Emma Thompson with writer’s block.
  • Saving Mr. Banks. Speaking of Emma Thompson as a writer, here she plays P.L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins. She wears great suits, and there’s a back-in-the-day plot, too.
  • Searching For Bobby Fisher. I haven’t seen this since 1994, but enjoyed this chess story back then.
  • The Social Network. Are you ready for a taut drama (with nearly zero women) about the beginning of Facebook? Then settle in for a tense, nervous Jesse Eisenberg and a similarly fantastic in a not-tense way Justin Timberlake.
  • (Also, if you haven’t yet watched Spotlight, recommended last month, see that you do!)

Recommended

  • The Half of It
  • The Lovebirds
  • Becoming
  • 13th
  • A picture from the movie Athlete A
  • A picture of Meg Ryan in Sleepless in Seattle
  • Alex Sharp, Jeremy Strong, John Carroll Lynch and Sacha Baron Cohen backed by a wall of protesters in the Trial of the Chicago 7
  • Shailene Woodley in the film Adrift.

Good

  • Inception
  • 18 Presents
  • See You Yesterday
  • Da 5 Bloods
  • Photo of the cast of Can't Hardly Wait
  • A picture of the five stars of The Old Guard
  • Picture of Nev Shulman next to a portrait of Nev Shulman.
  • Picture of Jamie Foxx and Dominique Fishback in the film Project Power
  • Picture of Jesse Plemons and Jessie Buckley in the film I'm Thinking of Ending Things
  • Picture of Tom Holland in the film The Devil All the Time
  • Armie Hammer and Lily James in Rebecca (2020)

Skip

  • Picture of Jacob Elordi holding a sign saying, "I missed you more" in the Kissing Booth 2
  • Anne Hathaway and Rosie Perez in The Last Thing He Wanted

Have you watched any of these films? Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment and let’s talk!

Wild Nights With Emily | Dickinson Like You’ve Never Seen

Susan Ziegler and Molly Shannon in Wild Nights With Emily

Wild Nights With Emily

Directed by Madeleine Olnek
Written by Madeleine Olnek

The review:

I’m willing to bet that everyone reading this knows about Emily Dickinson and I’m also willing to bet that if you watched this film, you would find what you know about Dickinson to be missing a rather important piece of information.* Molly Shannon takes on the Dickinson role and her portrayal is in a lot of ways the opposite of Cynthia Nixon’s portrayal in A Quiet Passion. You’ll get the flavor of Dickinson’s life and learn a truth long suppressed.

The verdict: Good

Cost: Free via Kanopy, Multnomah County Library’s streaming service
Where watched: at home

Consider also watching:

Further sentences:

*Aside from writing process while alive, the story of the publication of Emily Dickinson’s poems after her death is an interesting one. This movie gives a few insights into what went down, but if you’re interested, you might want to read This Brief Tragedy by John Evandelist Walsh.

Questions:

  • When you think of Emily Dickinson, what do you think of?
  • Once you know the truth suppressed, how do you feel?

Favorite IMDB trivia item:

No trivia, but I give you this excerpt of Q&A from a KQED article:

Although the film is set in the 19th century, you wrote the script with contemporary colloquial expressions. Did you want to avoid the trappings of a period piece?

I’ve been really moved, if that’s the right word, by Drunk History. It’s shown us that historical pieces, when they’re stripped of all the pretension that we associate with them, are really about people in situations dealing with ideas. When I was reading Dickinson’s letters, I was surprised by how contemporary so much of the language was. It shocked me: jokes and things that you would never think someone in the 1800s would say. So I didn’t want the actors’ attention on presenting the period. We’ve seen that in a million films. I was interested in everyone focusing on what each person felt in that situation, the connections with other people and what they were struggling with.

(It’s a good article. Recommended) (I’m also a fan of Drunk History for the same reasons.)

Other reviews of Wild Nights With Emily:

Little Dear Floral Bouquet Sampler Finished

Et voila! This was fun. New to me were the whipped wheel (needs some work) the feather stitch, the buttonhole wheel, button knots, and couching. I used the Little Dear summer colors again, though I needed to add extra colors. I chose orange, to no one’s surprise. Also some purple.

I pricked my finger (that needle is sharp!) and so there was a bit of blood on the embroidery. You can see it by the purple satin stitched flower and on the green stem below it.

So I added a bit of stitching to cover it up.

I really enjoyed the button knots. For something that looks a bit like vermin, they did pretty up into a flower-like substance.

And I enjoyed couching so much that I carried on into the whipped stem stitch without even noticing.

Another great embroidery from Little Dear!

13 of My Favorite George Clooney Films

I’ve a new job and a new coworker and she’s looking for George Clooney recommendations. Here are mine divided up into four handy categories. Click on any orange title to find the three sentence review.

Movies Where George Clooney is a Cool Leading Man

Out of Sight

Steven Soderbergh directed and based on an Elmore Leonard novel, this is Clooney as a bank robber on a jail break and Jennifer Lopez as the US Marshall who is after him. There’s a great scene in a car trunk plus Steve Zahn pops up for comic relief.

Three Kings

David O. Russell directed this film about soldiers who set out to steal gold hidden during the first Gulf War. From the era when Mark Wahlberg was working to shed his Marky Mark persona and rebrand as An Actor. Plus, Ice Cube!

The Good German

More Steven Soderbergh fun. World War II is over, but there are still things for Clooney’s war correspondent to uncover. This is a bit of a mystery, and also stars Cate Blanchett. Plus, Toby Maguire in a different role than his then-current job playing Spider-Man

Money Monster

All Star all around with Jody Foster directing Clooney and Julia Roberts, and includes a standout Jack O’Connell performance. O’Connell takes Clooney hostage on live TV, straps him into a vest of explosives and we’re left to discover how Roberts and Clooney are going to get everyone out of this situation alive.

Films Clooney Directed That I Enjoyed:

Good Night and Good Luck

Clooney is in this, but it’s really the story of Edward R. Murrow taking down Senator Joseph McCarthy. David Strathairn is great as Murrow, and it’s an interesting peek into early TV culture.

The Ides of March

If you’re into movies about political campaigns, this will be your jam. It’s dark though, and even the sad-eyes of Ryan Gosling might not be enough to pull you through the muck. I found it engrossing if icky. (Update. After reading my review, I’m reminded that I was also annoyed by the lack of women in this film.)

Films where Clooney is Shabby, Schlubby, or Funny

I enjoy when an actor known for his general suave nature and incredibly good looks doesn’t mind looking ridiculous. Judging by this list, Clooney has Soderbergh for serious roles, and the Coens for comedy.

The Descendants

Alexander Payne gives us Clooney in pain as he discovers things he didn’t know about his marriage, reacts to his daughter’s troubles, and tries to do the right thing about the huge chunk of undeveloped land on Hawaii he is the trustee of. Shailene Woodley is electric as his pissed off daughter.

O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Clooney, John Turturro, and Tim Blake Nelson star in this Coen brothers adaptation of The Odyssey. There are memorable bit performances by Holly Hunter and John Goodman. Fun fact: eighty percent of the US population bought this soundtrack in 2001 and listened to it ad infinitum. (As I went down to the river to pray…)

Intolerable Cruelty

In my favorite Coen brothers film, Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones face off as a divorce lawyer and a gold digger. This uses Elvis Presley’s song to great effect to kick things off, and also includes a host of odd Coen characters, my favorite of which is Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy. (But Wheezy Joe is fun too.)

Hail Caesar!

More Coens, more fun. Clooney is one of many great actors in this film about the golden age of the big Hollywood studios. Alternately funny and charming (and with a mystery) this includes a tap dance number with Channing Tatum, a synchronized swimming performance starring Scarlett Johansson, the best use ever of the phrase “would that it were so simple” and Tilda Swinton as rival gossip columnists who are also identical twins.

The Essence of the Clooney Magic

Ocean’s Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen

Danny Ocean is charming, he’s debonair, and we want him and his crew to get what they’re after, even if they’re going about it in very complicated, not-exactly-legal ways. Each one of these films is entirely ridiculous and incredibly fun, especially with the ensemble cast.

That’s my thirteen. What are yours?