Movie Monday: Ricki and the Flash

I had a brief respite in my illness on Friday, so I made it to my local library - woohoo! Crazy times. I noticed a few people browsing the DVD section, and I realized we haven't borrowed DVDs from the library in years! Between Netflix and Amazon providing movies without leaving home, and a Redbox a couple of miles away, we'd gotten out of that old habit. So, I grabbed a couple of movies for the weekend. That turned out to be a good idea, since my improvement was short-lived. Needing a pick-me-up this weekend, we watched a fun movie with a great soundtrack from a few years ago, Ricki and the Flash.

Meryl Streep stars as Ricki (whose real name is Linda), an aging rock 'n roller who left her young family many years ago to follow her dreams in California. She did put out one album but never really hit the big-time. Now, she and her group, the Flash, are the house band for a small but lively bar in California. Her lead guitarist, Greg, played by Rick Springfield (!), is her partner in music and would like to also be her partner in life, but Ricki keeps him at a distance. When Ricki gets a call from her ex-husband, Pete, played by Kevin Kline, that their daughter, Julie, is in bad shape after her husband left her, Ricki gets on a plane. Julie is played by Mamie Gummer, who is actually Meryl Streep's real-life daughter, so their pairing on screen as mother and daughter certainly feels real. Ricki aka Linda is not exactly welcomed home by either Julie or her two grown sons, but she sticks it out and little by little, begins to repair years of damaged relationships and get to know her daughter again...and maybe even help her.

I really enjoyed this movie! Although it might sound odd at first that Meryl Streep is playing a rocker, she's actually (big surprise) wonderful in the role, completely inhabiting it, as she does all of her roles. Kevin Kline is also great (and funny) as the super straight-laced Pete, and it's easy to see that Mamie Gummer gets her acting chops from her famous mom - she does a wonderful job playing the damaged Julie who slowly comes back to life. Ricki's band plays a mix of 70's rock and newer songs, so it's always fun when they take the stage. There is also plenty of emotional depth here, as the estranged family gets to know their missing mother once again, bit by bit. It's a fun, warm, musical, and funny film that is very entertaining. A perfect cheer-up movie for my sick week.

You can stream Ricki and the Flash on Amazon, starting at $2.99, or buy the DVD (or borrow it from your library!)



    

It's Monday 11/12! What Are You Reading?

Ahhh...enjoying the quiet solitude of a Monday morning, though it was wonderful to see both of our sons this weekend.

I had another rough week - if anything, even worse, as this "crash" or relapse of my chronic illness continues. I felt MUCH better Friday and thought I was finally done with it but was back on the couch feeling awful Saturday. This sort of thing used to be common in the early days of my illness, but a bunch of different treatments I've found have helped me to feel better and become more functional, so this current downturn has been hard to deal with.

So, that means that I spent most of my week too sick to do anything but READ (and watch a little TV). Plus, at one point, I was waiting - and waiting - for a book to come in at the library, so I read a couple of short books, each day thinking my book group book would finally come in. Bottom line? It's a long list of books this week, all of mine focused on Nonfiction November!

Here's what we've all been reading:

• I finished Seven: In the Lane of Hope, an inspirational memoir written by Michael J. Marini, who is my massage therapist! He and I often talk about writing while he is working the knots out of my back and shoulders, and I was thrilled to hear his book had just been published. It's about his remarkable family of 13 and particularly his seven sisters. It was poignant, moving, and funny - his family is pretty amazing!
• Next, thinking that book group book would arrive at the library any day now, I squeezed in a graphic memoir, Hey Kiddo by Garrett Krosoczka, a National Book Award finalist this year. It was excellent, a coming-of-age story of the author's very unusual upbringing by his grandparents, with his mother in and out of prison and drug rehab and his father unknown. It's a moving story of identity, family, and growth, and the illustrations bring it all to life.
• My book was still not in at the library and I didn't want to start anything too long, so I re-read an old favorite: the classic Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, a book of essays. One of my best friends gave it to me decades ago, with a lovely inscription, and I read it back then, but I think I got more out of it now, as an older woman who has been through almost 30 years of marriage, raising children, etc. The author so beautifully captures the essence of life and our struggles for balance that I dog-eared almost every other page - this might just fill up my Quotes journal! Most amazing is that so many of her words, written in the 1950's about "modern" life, are just as applicable (maybe more so) today. It's a beautiful, thoughtful book.
• I finally gave up on that library book (having also realized I can't go to book group this week anyway) and dug into a longer book from my huge nonfiction TBR pile: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. This book has been on my bookshelf for decades. It was published in 1994, and my mom lent me her hardcover edition, so you do the math! Do you think she still wants it back? Anyway, my husband read it way back then, and I am thrilled to finally get to it, after hearing so many accolades over the years. It's a true crime story set in Savannah, GA, and I am already enjoying the descriptions of Savannah and its quirky citizens.
• Finally, during my long days on the couch, I made my way through The Lyme Solution: A 5-Part Plan to Fight the Inflammatory Auto-Immune Response and Beat Lyme Disease by Darin Ingels, ND. I've had Lyme before (and suspect a recurrence may be behind this horrible relapse now) and my son has been fighting Lyme plus 2 other tick infections for 10 years now. Despite all my knowledge on the subject, I learned a lot from this book. I filled it with Post-It tabs and notes to talk to our Lyme specialist and dietician/biochemist about. It's actually given me some hope for a better future for my son for the first time in many years.
• I am still listening to Born a Crime by Trevor Noah on audio, and LOVING it!! My favorite book podcast, Book Cougars, is doing a readalong this month. Don't be put off if you don't like his TV show or often raunchy stand-up routines. This is a memoir of his childhood growing up in both apartheid and post-apartheid South Africa, and it is stunning, fascinating, moving, and of course, very, very funny. His insights into race and poverty, having grown up poor as a mixed-race child in a country that was divided into white and black, are brilliant. And he is just a great storyteller, often making me laugh out loud and replay certain excerpts for my husband and son. Highly recommended.
• My husband, Ken, is still reading one of his birthday gifts from me, The Outsider by Stephen King. It's a suspenseful thriller that he's been looking forward to, and he's explained to me that since it is King, it's not just a thriller but has an element of the supernatural in it, too. He's been enjoying it.
• Jamie, our 24-year old son, is back to his favorite Wheel of Time series. I think he finished book 12, The Gathering Storm, by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson, and is now reading book 13, Towers of Midnight.
• Jamie's girlfriend has a severe concussion, and she is under strict restrictions (no screens, no reading, etc.), so they have turned to audio books (which my son normally shuns these days because he says they are too slow). They are re-listening to an old favorite from my sons' childhood, Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater, a hilarious middle-grade novel that our family has listened to dozens of times - and still makes us laugh! I also lent them She Rides Shotgun, my favorite audio book from this year (and an Edgar Award winner) and the CDs for Born a Crime.

Very little blogging last week, but I did manage two quick book reviews (trying to catch up!):

Fiction Review: The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal - great start of a new thriller series

Middle-Grade Review: The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier - graphic novel adventure series, with pirates, seas creatures, and more.

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Middle-Grade Review: The Unsinkable Walker Bean

Pirates, sea creatures, evil bad guys, walking teapots and other strange inventions. The middle-grade graphic novel, The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier, is an inventive and slightly spooky fantasy with all those elements and more.

Like children all over the world (the world in the novel), Walker Bean grew up hearing the legend of how the evil merwitch sisters, Tartessa and Remora, destroyed the city of Atlantis and were sentenced to live underwater in a deep trench at the bottom of the ocean, surrounded by a wall of enchanted skeletons that keep them apprised of life in the world above. In the present day, Walker is sitting by the side of his grandfather's sick bed, when his father bursts into the room, claiming to have one of the enchanted skulls. A ship's captain, he thinks he can sell it to a wealthy buyer across the sea, though grandfather, a ship captain himself in his better days, insists that it must be returned to the deep trench or it will cause great problems throughout the world, as it has already caused his mysterious illness. Walker stows away on a pirate ship, intending to return the cursed skull to the trench, and his adventures on the high seas begin.

Sample page - The Unsinkable Walter Bean

This is a highly detailed and creative fantasy story, filled with all kinds of creatures, made-up places, and good guys and bad guys. Walker makes a friend on board, another young boy who keeps his secret, as the ship heads toward danger, and the two friends scheme to somehow turn it around. Full-color illustrations - some on regular comic panels and some full two-page spreads - follow Walker's adventures. I found the story a bit convoluted at times, so it is probably best-suited for older middle-grade readers and maybe young teens. Kids who like fast-paced and action-packed fantasy will enjoy this entry into Walker's world, which was recently followed by a second book, The Unsinkable Walker Bean and the Knights of the Waxing Moon. In fact, I think my own two sons would have loved this series when they were younger!

192 pages, First Second

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

See more sample pages from the beginning of the book by clicking Look Inside at this link.

You can purchase The Unsinkable Walker Bean from an indie bookstore, locally or online here:


Or you can order The Unsinkable Walker Bean from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: The Lost Ones

Last month, I listened to an audio of the thriller The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal. This first book in a new series was dark, suspenseful, and compelling.

Nora Watts helps find people. She works in a small PI's office in Vancouver, helping its owners with cases, especially those involving missing persons, and Nora has a special talent for knowing when someone is telling the truth - and when they are lying. This case is different, though. Nora was awakened at 5 am by the people she hoped never to hear from again - Everett and Lynn, the couple who adopted Nora's newborn daughter 15 years ago. Bonnie has been missing for weeks, and the police don't seem very interested, assuming she's a runaway, but her adoptive parents are getting frantic. A loner to begin with, Nora sets off on her own to investigate Bonnie's disappearance, caring more than she means to and following the scant clues to places and people that are totally unexpected.

Nora, a mixed-race recovering addict in her 30's, is a damaged but fierce new heroine, somewhat along the lines of Lisbeth Salander of the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series. Her past, hinted at in the beginning of the novel, affects her in the present and slowly comes to light as the story unfolds. The mystery itself of Bonnie's disappearance is complex and intriguing, with plenty of surprising twists and turns. To make matters more difficult, Nora is not used to trusting people, but she might need help this time. The tension grows, as does the danger and violence, and the foggy, dark, wet setting of Vancouver in the winter adds to the sinister tone and the suspense (plus, I enjoyed a novel set in a different place for a change). The audio production was excellent (link to a sample below) with first-person narration by Banhi Turpin that sounds like Nora herself telling you her story. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to The Lost Ones on audio and would definitely read another book in this new series.

368 pages, William Morrow
HarperAudio

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book here.

Purchase The Lost Ones from an independent bookstore, locally or online:


Or order The Lost Ones from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

It's Monday 11/5! What Are You Reading?

Another dark and rainy day here, and I am STILL not feeling well - going on four weeks now and really getting sick of it! Reminding me of the early days of my immune disorder, but these kind of lengthy "crashes" are rare now, with all the treatments I have found. Supposed to be visiting my mom this week, for a long-planned trip and going to the theater, so fingers crossed things improve...fast.

Reading has been a great distraction this past week, as I finished up my dark & creepy books for the RIP Challenge and started Nonfiction November! That's quite a shift, but I am enjoying it so far. Here's what we've all been reading this week:

• I finished Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne, a thriller set on Catalina Island in California. A man is forcibly brought into the Witness Protection Program but has no idea what he is supposed to know or have seen. It's an intriguing concept and a gripping story with lots of twists and turns and a good sense of humor, too. I really enjoyed it - you can read my review at the link.
• I also finished a middle-grade graphic novel, The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier. It's an engaging, colorful, spooky fantasy featuring pirates and sea creatures so was also a good fit for the RIP Challenge.
• Shifting gears to nonfiction, I quickly blew through two graphic memoirs/nonfiction that I received for review for Shelf Awareness. First, I read the memoir Flawed by Andrea Dorfman, a sweet story about how the author came to accept herself - and her flaws - while falling in love with a plastic surgeon. In an interesting twist, this story was first a film and was then turned into a book.
• My next graphic nonfiction book was of a totally different type: Escaping Wars and Waves by Olivier Kugler, a moving and powerful reporting from 5 different refugee camps and relocation spots for Syrian refugees. The author traveled to all of these places and interviewed people, and the book includes both his interviews, with verbatim quotes from Syrian refugees, as well as his life-like drawings of the people and places, based on photos he took at the time. The result is a haunting and heartbreaking up-close picture of the plight of Syrian refugees all over the world.
• By November 2, I was already onto my third nonfiction book. Sick days mean more reading time. I started Seven: In the Lane of Hope, an inspirational memoir written by Michael J. Marini, who is my massage therapist! He and I often talk about writing while he is working the knots out of my back and shoulders, and I was thrilled to hear his book had just been published. It's about his remarkable family of 13 and particularly his seven sisters. Poignant, moving, and funny, I'm really enjoying it so far - about halfway through.
•  On audio, I just this morning finished How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather (yes, of those Mathers). This teen/YA novel combines modern teen problems of starting at a new school and bullying with history of the Salem Witch Trials. Samantha Mather, descended from the infamous Cotton Mather, moves to Salem and discovers that history is still entirely relevant to the people in town, as teen descendants of the original witches hung in Salem make life a nightmare for her. This one included witches and a ghost, so it was a perfect way to end October!
• As soon as I reload my iPod today, I will be starting the audio book Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. My son introduced me to both Noah's TV show and his stand-up comedy, so I've been wanting to read this one and have heard the audio, read by the author, is excellent. My favorite book podcast, Book Cougars, is doing a readalong this month, so I got a copy from my library - just in time for Nonfiction November! 
• My husband, Ken, is still reading one of his birthday gifts from me, The Outsider by Stephen King. It's a suspenseful thriller that he's been looking forward to, and last night, he explained that since it is King, it's not just a thriller but has an element of the supernatural in it, too. Sounds great!
• Still not sure what Jamie, our 24-year old son, is reading now, after finishing book 3 in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer, but I will ask him when he comes home for lunch today. His girlfriend has a concussion and is on "brain rest" (something we know a lot about here), so I suspect he's been keeping her company with audiobooks.

Last week's blog posts:

Movie Monday: A Star Is Born - powerful story & music starring Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga

TV Tuesday: You - a romance with a dark underbelly - fun!

Fall Books & Movies - 2 of my recent Shelf Awareness columns, on fall reading and movie adaptations

Middle-Grade Review: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing - I loved this fun graphic novel!

Fiction Review: Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne - twisty thriller about Witness Protection

Nonfiction November - my plans for the upcoming nonfiction month

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

Nonfiction November 2018

Thursday this week - November 1 - I set aside my dark and creepy reading (that I thoroughly enjoyed the past two months in the RIP Challenge) and pulled a BIG stack of nonfiction off my TBR bookcase in preparation for Nonfiction November.

2018’s Nonfiction November is being hosted by Katie at Doing Dewey, Rennie at What’s Nonfiction?, Julie at Julz Reads, Kim at Sophisticated Dorkiness, and Sarah's Book Shelves. There doesn't seem to be a sign-up list, but you can read all about the events for the month, weekly topics for blog posts, an Instagram challenge, and more at Sarah's Book Shelves, and there will be link-ups each week.

So, here is the stack of nonfiction books I pulled off my shelves this week - there is NO WAY I will have time to read all of these, but this is the pool I will be choosing from this month:

My choices for Nonfiction November

So, that's 13 print books to choose from:

• An Ordinary Man by Paul Rusesabagina (my son read it years ago for World Lit)
• Seven: In the Lane of Hope by Michael J. Marini (a memoir just published by my massage therapist!)
• Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott
• H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
• The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow
• Brain on Fire by Susannah Calahan
• The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, and Amanda Pressner
• Almost French by Sarah Turnbull
• Seabiscuit by Laura Hillenbrand
• Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
• In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
• Flawed by Andrea Dorfman
• Escaping Wars and Waves: Encounters with Syrian Refugees by Olivier Kugler

From the top, that's 1 autobiography, 7 memoirs, 3 narrative nonfiction, and 2 graphic memoirs/nonfiction. I forgot to include it in the photo, but I also plan to read The Lyme Solution: A 5-Part Plan to Fight the Inflammatory Auto-Immune Response and Beat Lyme Disease by Darin Ingels and Amy Myers, MD (my son has been fighting Lyme and two other tick infections for 10 years now).

I also have a bunch of nonfiction on audio to choose from, including:

• The Candida Cure by Ann Boroch
• The Invisible Girls by Sarah Thebarge
• The Devil's Highway: A True Story by Luis Alberto Urrea
• The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton
• On Two Feet and Wings by Abbas Kazerooni
• Look Alive Out There: Essays by Sloane Crossley
• Happiness is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year Among the Oldest Old by John Leland
• Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
  

So, oddly, I am already on my 3rd nonfiction book of the month! I read the bottom two in my stack - both fairly quick graphic novel-style reads - on November 1. I am now reading
Seven: In the Lane of Hope since it was written by a friend, and I plan to start listening to Born a Crime for a read-along just as soon as I finish my last RIP audio book. I am off to a good start!

The week's discussion topic for Nonfiction November is Your Year in Nonfiction So Far. Well, this will be a short discussion for me, since I have read almost all novels!

Here are all the nonfiction books I have read so far in 2018:

• The Adrenal Reset Diet by Alan Christianson
• Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann  
• My Life with Bob by Pamela Paul (memoir)
• Anne Frank's Diary: The Graphic Adaptation by Ari Folman and David Polonsky (illustrator) - graphic memoir

That's actually more than I thought! Of these four, the one I liked best and recommend the most is definitely Killers of the Flower Moon, a powerful, moving, forgotten story from history about a horrific series of Osage murders and how the brand-new FBI eventually solved the case. It was absolutely fascinating, and my entire book group loved it (a rarity!).

Since I read mostly fiction, I am excited for this month of exploring nonfiction (and making a dent in my TBR shelves, too).

Are you participating in Nonfiction November?

Any recommendations from among the books on my nonfiction TBR lists?

Fiction Review: Fifty Mice

My last book read for the annual RIP Challenge (so sorry to see it end!) was a twisty thriller about Witness Protection called Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne.

Jay Johnson was getting on the subway on a perfectly ordinary day when he was suddenly grabbed, stabbed with a needle, and taken away. He wakes up in a hospital bed with his fingerprints burned off with acid and two people beside him who clearly have fake names (John Q. Public and Jane Doe) and tell him that he's "in the program" now. Confused and scared, he insists they've made a mistake and asks them what they think he saw or knows, but they refuse to tell him. They explain that that would mess up the case; he needs to remember on his own. Before long, he's been taken to Catalina Island, off the coast of his home in L.A., and set up with a fake life in a nice little home, with a fake job (in a video store!), a fake name (that he refuses to use), and a fake wife and 8-year old daughter. They are named Ginger and Helen, respectively, and Jay (now Jimmy) assumes they are in Witness Protection, too. They begin to settle into this surreal world where nothing is real, while Jay attends daily "counseling" sessions to try to help him remember whatever it is that they think he forgot. Jay soon begins to figure out that almost everyone in Avalon Bay (the small town on Catalina's coast) is either a protected witness (some of them criminals) or a Fed watching over witnesses. All the Feds around Jay pretending to be jocular neighbors and friends are driving him a little crazy, as he slowly gets to know Ginger and Helen better. His previous job in a lab working with mice feels like a metaphor for his current situation, trapped in a maze, not knowing where the exit is.

I really enjoyed this original and fast-paced thriller, with surprises around every corner. It's suspenseful and action-packed but also a psychological thriller, as Jay continues to wonder why they want him or if they have the wrong guy and whether this is all a case of mistaken identity. The author also plays around with the concept of memory, with a few excerpts from psychology texts regarding the malleability of memory introducing new sections. I loved the author's amusing vision of Catalina Island as this fake world where most of its residents are witnesses or Feds. Having visited Catalina before, I found this premise to be funny and clever, and the tension of the story is eased by its sense of humor. The story truly unfolds like a maze, with dead ends, phony paths, and confusing turns, as Jay struggles to figure out why he is there - and how to get out. You will wonder, along with Jay, what is real and what is not?

285 pages, New American Library

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

You can purchase Fifty Mice from an independent bookstore:


Or you can order Fifty Mice from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Middle-Grade Review: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo

One of my favorite dark and creepy reads in October was a middle-grade graphic novel that is the start of a series: The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo by Drew Weing. This clever, creative story, told with imaginative illustrations, is perfect for middle-grade readers who want their books to be a bit spooky without being scary.

Charles is not happy that his parents decided to move his family to Echo City, where his dad is fixing up a creepy old hotel to turn it into apartments. Charles misses his old house, his old (big) room, and his old friends. To make matters worse, one of his beloved Battlebeanz goes missing on his first day there, and he discovers a big, hairy monster living in his closet. Could this place get any worse? Luckily, Charles soon meets a new friend named Kevin, who warns him of the monster problem in the building and suggests he call Margo Maloo, Monster Mediator. Margo shows up in his window that night and turns out to be a girl about his age...but a cool, fierce girl who knows everything there is to know about monsters. She not only helps Charles with his own monster problem but brings him along on a couple of her other cases, involving a ghost disturbing some teenagers in an abandoned newspaper building and a missing ogre child named Millie.

Charles & the monster in his closet bond over Battlebeanz

I absolutely loved this book! It is incredibly original and funny, showing a whole parallel world where a wide variety of monsters live right under our noses. Margo helps both monster and human clients, especially when their problems involve the intersection between their worlds. Along the way, she shows Charles a whole world he never knew existed, including monster bars and grocery stores. In this way, Margo shows Charles - and the reader - that monsters are nothing to be afraid of, if you just get to know them and respect their different ways of life. This is, of course, a lesson that applies equally well to the human world, though this book never feels preachy. The Illustrations are colorful and full of imaginative details that will have kids poring over them for hours, especially the few pages of monster encyclopedia entries at the end of the book. This first book was hugely fun and entertaining, and I can't wait to read book 2, The Monster Mall, which was just released in September. This series will be a hit in classrooms and perfect for reluctant readers.

128 pages, First Second

To see a few more sample pages (including one of the monster encyclopedia pages from the back), click on Look Inside at this link.



You can order The Creepy Case Files of Margo Maloo from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fall Books & Movies

I have fallen behind in sharing my columns and reviews published at Shelf Awareness here, so I thought today - Halloween - was a good day to catch up on a couple of recent seasonal book columns (click the links to read the columns).

Dark and Creepy Fall Reading
As you well know if you've read my blog at all in the past couple of months, I love to devote this season to dark and creepy reading and have been thoroughly enjoying the RIP Challenge (which ends today!). This column features 4 excellent choices for suspenseful novels that feature dark settings and/or plots - both my husband and I enjoyed all four of these. The spooky season might be ending today, but a good thriller is always in season!

Books Coming to the Big Screen
This column features four movies, all adapted from great books, coming to theaters this fall - several of them are already out. I want to see all of these, but at the moment am trying to find a friend to go see The Hate U Give with me - I need some of my book blogger friends to live closer to me! Set the books down for a couple of hours to enjoy these movies that all promise to be excellent.

Time for me to go finish my last dark & creepy books in print and on audio before midnight!

Happy Halloween!

TV Tuesday: You

You is a new drama on the Lifetime network (which I rarely watch) that surprised me and is perfect for this creepy season! It's a romcom that soon turns dark.

You begins as a sweet romcom when pretty MFA grad student Guinevere Beck, who goes by Beck, played by Elizabeth Lail, walks into a bookstore and hits it off with the cute bookstore manager, Joe, played by Penn Badgley. It's clear the two have chemistry and share a love of books - so sweet! Very quickly, though, we find out that Joe has a dark side, as he begins to stalk Beck to learn more about her so he can woo her. This is not just checking out her Facebook page (though he does that, too), but following her, looking through her windows, and cloning her phone so he can track her every move. Creepy? Oh, yeah...and it just gets worse. I won't ruin all the dark surprises in this show, but Joe is seriously twisted and has his heart set on Beck. And his strategy works! The two begin to date and get closer, as Joe secretly does more and more seriously dark stuff behind the scenes to remove obstacles to their relationship.

I expected a romcom, so this show surprised me, but I am enjoying it. It has a dark sense of humor, suspense, and increasing tension with each episode. Lail is adorable as Beck, and Badgley is deceptively charming on the outside as Joe, with a dark underbelly, though Beck has some secrets of her own. It's just a fun show that is completely original. I've watched six episodes so far and am looking forward to the rest of the season. And it looks like a second season is planned for 2019!

You is currently airing on Lifetime, with all episodes available free On Demand or on Lifetime's website. It is also available for $1.99 an episode or $18.99 for the season on Amazon.

Movie Monday: A Star Is Born

My friends and I had been trying to find a day when the three of us could all go to see the new remake of A Star Is Born, but it took us three weeks to get our schedules (and the stars) aligned. It was worth the wait. Though I expected to like it, this powerful movie - and its music - just blew me away.

As I'm sure you've heard by now, Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga are the stars in this version, in the roles most recently played in 1976 by Kris Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand. Cooper plays Jack, a rock country music star slightly past his prime who still brings in massive crowds. Gaga stars as Ally, a down-to-earth waitress who dreams of being a star, though she's been told by many people in the music business that she doesn't have the looks for it. In the opening scenes, she sings at open mic night among drag queens in a dive bar. Cooper, an alcoholic always looking for another drink, happens to spot the tiny bar on his way home from a concert and asks his driver to pull over. Wowed by Ally's singing, he chats with her afterward in the dressing room and then takes her out. There is awesome chemistry between the two of them immediately, as they talk about music and life, and it's clear that Jack is smitten. He pulls Ally into his world and literally pulls her onstage with him at a huge concert, where they sing a duet of one of her original songs that she's always been too shy to sing in public. That appearance becomes a viral hit, and Ally is off and running, soon with her own manager and producer, while her limo driver father and his friends cheer her on. At first, its bliss for the two singers, making music together and falling in love, but Cooper's alcoholism begins to get in the way, and his condition steadily worsens as her star rises.

I never saw any of the earlier versions of A Star Is Born (crazy, right?), so I went into this knowing almost nothing about it, though I've heard that this version does not follow the exact same plot as earlier films. I expected to be entertained by the music, but there is so much emotional depth to the story. Cooper and Gaga are both extraordinary in their roles (definite Oscar contenders), inhabiting their characters so completely that I felt as if they were those people, which is quite a feat for two such well-known stars. The supporting cast is equally good, with Sam Elliot as Jack's manager, a surprising Andrew Dice Clay as Ally's dad, and Dave Chappelle as Jack's oldest friend, among others. And the music? Wow, just wow. Of course, Lady Gaga is an extraordinary singer but here she is stripped of her usual outrageous costumes and gimmicks and her raw talent is amazing. And who knew Bradley Cooper could sing? He's actually quite good and totally believable in this role. The original songs created for the movie (mostly written by Gaga) are not the kind of throw-aways you'd expect for "fake hits" in a movie; they are moving, powerful songs. The day after I saw the movie, I listened to some of the songs on Youtube and got chills down my spine all over again. The plot of the movie was darker than I expected, but it is so full of honest feeling that I was swept along. The highs are super high, and the lows are really low. This is a must-see and definitely worth seeing on the big screen for the musical performances.

A Star Is Born is currently in theaters (but probably not for much longer) - find a recliner theater near you, like we did!     
           


Fandango- A Star is Born in Theaters 10/5!

It's Monday 10/29! What Are You Reading?

Kind of a rough week, with a couple of Halloween-y highlights. My immune disorder has been flared up for over a week now, which means sore throat, flu-like aches, and exhaustion. I thought I was past it this weekend and then felt awful again on Sunday. Slightly better today but still symptomatic. Trying hard to listen to my body and take it easy.

We did have some family fun last week, though. We made our annual visit to a local farm market to pick out pumpkins & enjoy their homemade cider donuts - yum! We had to go on Wednesday morning to get all of us together, but we did it. On Friday, we carved pumpkins with our older son and his girlfriend - her first time! You can see our highlights on my Saturday Snapshot post.

The upside of feeling sick? More reading time! Both last weekend and this weekend, cozying up on the couch and in bed with good books lifted my spirits and helped me stick to my goal of resting and not pushing myself. And I read a lot!

Here's what we've all been reading the past week:

• Remember that book I really didn't want to read for book group? I not only finished all 600 pages but LOVED it! America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie is historical fiction about Jefferson's daughter, and it was absolutely fascinating. I drove my husband crazy interrupting his own reading to say, "Did you know...?" over and over. I learned so much! The history is interesting, the story is compelling, and the characters feel real. Kamoie is a history professor, and much of the novel is based on Jefferson's actual letters. With my sick days helping me, I ended up reading the entire book in only about 8 days...and then read every word of the extra stuff at the end because I just wasn't ready to leave that world yet. Highly recommended.
• Next, I jumped back into the last bit of my RIP Challenge with Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne, a thriller set on Catalina Island in California. A man is forcibly brought into the Witness Protection Program but has no idea what he is supposed to know or have seen. It's an intriguing concept and a gripping story so far. 
• I've also been slowly making my way through a middle-grade graphic novel, The Unsinkable Walker Bean by Aaron Renier. It's an engaging, colorful, spooky fantasy featuring pirates and sea creatures so also a good fit for the RIP Challenge.
• On audio, I finally finished listening to Macbeth, after I finished reading the print version so that I could better understand what was happening! Like all Shakespeare tragedies, almost everyone dies and there is a lot of stabbing...but also 3 witches and a ghost, so it did include some seasonal spookiness.
• I also finished listening to The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal. It's the first book in a new thriller series starring Nora Watts, a woman who was brought up in foster care and now lives a solitary life and looks for missing people. This case is different, though, because the missing teenager is the daughter Nora gave up for adoption 15 years ago. It's set in Vancouver and has plenty of action, adventure, and suspense, but the main character and her history are also fascinating and compelling.
• Now I am squeezing in one last dark and creepy audio book this month: How to Hang a Witch by Adriana Mather (yes, of those Mathers). This teen/YA novel combines modern teen problems of starting at a new school and fitting in with history of the Salem Witch Trials. Samantha Mather, descended from the infamous Cotton Mather, moves to Salem and discovers that history is still entirely relevant to the people in town, as teen descendants of the original witches hung in Salem make life a nightmare for her. This one includes witches and a ghost, so it is a perfect way to end this spooky month! It's excellent so far.
• My husband, Ken, is reading one of his birthday gifts from me, The Outsider by Stephen King. It's a suspenseful thriller that he's been looking forward to. We only wish we could share it with my dad, who was a huge King fan. I've been missing him a lot lately.
• Our son, Jamie, 24, finished book 3 in the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson, Oathbringer, a big brick of a book at 1250 pages! Not sure what he started next - he had a lot to choose from.

Blog posts last week:

Teen/YA Review: The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher - a dark thriller

Fiction Review: The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware - suspenseful thriller set on a cruise

Saturday Snapshot: Halloween 2018 - fun with pumpkins last week!

What Are You Reading Monday is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date, so head over and check out her blog and join the Monday fun! You can also participate in a kid/teen/YA version hosted by Unleashing Readers.

You can follow me on Twitter at @SueBookByBook or on Facebook on my blog's page.   

What are you and your family reading this week? 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

 

Saturday Snapshot: Halloween 2018

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Melinda at West Metro Mommy Reads.

Still not much fall color here - the meteorologists say it was too wet all summer and fall and way too hot in the fall (we had 80's right through mid-October) for good color in the leaves. Much of it is just going from green to brown and then falling off. Still hoping that we get a little color - early November is usually our peak here.

So, instead of fall leaves, here are some photos of our pumpkin adventures this week! We made our annual trip to a local market (used to be a huge orchard & farm) where we go each year to pick out our pumpkins and eat homemade donuts! The only time we could get everyone together was Wednesday morning, but we managed it. Last night, one son and his girlfriend came over for carving pumpkins (her first time ever). Here are some highlights:

Enjoying donuts at Northbrook!

Mmm...homemade cider donuts and hot apple cider

Time to pick out pumpkins (see the green trees still?)

My "little" boys and I

My son & his girlfriend carving pumpkins

My jack-o-lantern

They look spooky in the dark!

Our finished creations

Hope you are enjoying the weekend and staying dry if you are here in the path of the Nor'Easter!

Fiction Review: The Woman in Cabin 10

I have SO been enjoying reading dark and creepy stuff for the RIP Challenge. Since my husband reads a lot of mysteries, thrillers, and suspense, we have a lot of them on our shelves, so this season gives me a chance to "catch up" (I'd actually need a couple of years to really catch up on our TBR shelves!). Earlier this month, I excitedly turned to The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, a thriller that my husband gave me as a gift and has been waiting for me to read so that he can read it! We both enjoyed Ware's In a Dark, Dark Wood. The Woman in Cabin 10 is a suspenseful story in a unique setting, on a luxury cruise in the North Sea.

Laura "Lo" Blacklock is a struggling journalist working for a travel magazine. As the novel opens, a man breaks into her apartment and robs her in the middle of the night, leaving her with just a minor injury to her face but feeling badly shaken. Her boyfriend, Judah, tries to comfort her after he gets back from a trip, but it is clear Lo is still terrified...and exhausted because she's having trouble sleeping. Nevertheless, she doesn't want to miss the amazing opportunity coming up in a couple of days, to go on the maiden voyage of a very exclusive private luxury cruise to Norway with a handful of other journalists and some wealthy customers. Lo thinks if she does well on this assignment, her editor might choose her to cover for her upcoming maternity leave. So, after several sleepless nights and with nerves still jangling, Lo boards the cruise. She drinks a lot, in an effort to calm her anxiety, and tries to focus on the job and on making important contacts with the other passengers. On her first night, though, she borrows a mascara from the woman in the cabin next door and then hears a commotion in the middle of the night - a scream and a big splash. She calls security, but no one believes her. She is told that cabin 10 is empty (and shown that it is) and everyone seems to think her story is ludicrous, but Lo is convinced she heard a murder.

There are a couple of classic mystery tropes woven into this original story. The novel is narrated by Lo, and clearly, she is an unreliable narrator, marred by exhaustion, anxiety, and drinking too much. As readers, we see and hear what she does, so we want to believe her, but no one else does. Also, since there are only twelve passengers and a small crew on the boat, it is something of a locked-room mystery; there are only a small number of potential suspects who would know about the mysterious passenger who disappeared (whom only Lo saw) or the events of that night. Lo embarks on her own investigation, but someone wants her to stop, as anonymous threats to her get more and more frightening. This fast-paced, suspenseful thriller kept me guessing - and reading - and I can't wait to read Ruth Ware's two more recent novels.

340 pages, Scout Press

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Listen to a sample of the audiobook here and/or download it from Audible.

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

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Teen/YA Review: The Killing Woods

As part of my annual RIP Challenge this fall, I read a YA novel that has been on my TBR shelf for much too long: The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher. I loved Christopher's YA novel, Stolen, and her middle-grade novel, Flyaway. This newer (well, published here in 2014!) novel combines thriller-like action and suspense with emotional complexity that delves into some important issues.

Emily's dad recently returned from war and is suffering from severe PTSD. He is afraid of everything and spends much of his time in the woods behind their home. He suffers from flashbacks, especially when loud noises, like thunder, startle him, and he has difficulty with his memory and with speaking sometimes. One stormy night, he comes into the house carrying the limp body of a teenage girl. Emily recognizes Ashlee, a popular girl from her class at school, and she and her mom try to find out what happened. Emily's dad is clearly in the midst of a flashback, though, and speaking incoherently, repeating the same sentences and phrases he always does when remembering what he's been through in the past. The police don't understand that, though, and they arrest him and later charge him with Ashlee's murder. Meanwhile, unknown to Emily, Ashlee's boyfriend, Damon, and the rest of their friends are panicking because they play a secret game in the woods that they don't want anyone to find out about. Emily doesn't think her dad is capable of this crime, but the rest of their town believes it. What really happened to Ashlee back there that night?

Chapters alternate between Emily's and Damon's points of view, but neither of them knows exactly what happened that night, so the story slowly comes together. This novel was perfect for the season, dark and filled with suspense and action. As with Christopher's other novels, though, it is so much more than that, digging into topics like PTSD, death of a parent, and teens seeking increasingly dangerous thrills. It is definitely for older teens and young adults, with teen drinking, drugs, and sex dealt with in very honest ways (though certainly not glorified). This novel was a thrill ride, and every time I thought I had it figured out, another twist took me by surprise, right up until the stunning conclusion. It's fast-paced and exciting but also thoughtful and heartwarming. Now, I need to read the latest Lucy Christopher novel waiting on my shelf, Storm-Wake!

359 pages,  Chicken House, an imprint of Scholastic

Disclosure: I received this book from the publisher in return for an honest review. My review is my own opinion and is not influenced by my relationship with the publisher or author.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

I read this one in print, but the audio book sounds excellent. Listen to a sample here.

You can purchase The Killing Woods from an indie bookstore, either locally or online, here:


Or order The Killing Woods from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.