Stories I Ate This Month: February 2018
Hello, everyone! I'm back and I'm here to review all of the stories that I consumed this month. Yes, this post is over a month late, but I have plenty of excuses. One: I am exhausted. Two: being an intern is tough. Three: trying to live a normal life is much more difficult than I imagined. So, here I am. I'm late to the game. But I'm very excited to show you what I've read for the month. I hope you enjoy this post!
The first two books that I finished this month are The Madness Underneath and The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson. These two books are the "final" books in the Shades of London series. I say "final" but there has been some speculation that the series has not yet been completed, which I tend to agree with. There are a lot of plot lines that haven't been concluded, and there's a new antagonist introduced in The Shadow Cabinet, and the book basically leaves off with a cliffhanger. With the recent publication of Truly Devious, I'm hoping that I'll be getting closure soon. Sometimes these books felt like things were happening for the shock value, which was exciting but it left me feeling overwhelmed at times. Sometimes I wondered if I didn't pick up the clues that would have helped foreshadow events, which is a little unnerving. There was also some character introductions which felt a little thrown in. I would have preferred at least seeing their presence in the first or second book. Overall I'll give these books a B+.
The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth book that I read for the month is Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho, Whispers Under Ground, and Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch. These four novels take place in modern day London with our protagonist being copper-in-training Peter Grant. However, while working on a case, Grant realizes that he can see ghosts, which may or may not come in handy. From there he learns of a department within the police which investigates the supernatural elements of crimes. Peter Grant then becomes a wizard's apprentice in order to solve more supernatural crimes. These novels have a bit of everything that I love. It's set in London, involves crime solving, and has magic! The story has a lot of different elements that flow together (no pun intended) into a complicated but thrilling adventure. I will give this book a solid A.
The first television show that I completed this month is The Good Place, season two. Now, if you haven't seen season one of The Good Place, please please please do yourself a favor and go watch it. It is so fun and surprising philosophical. It is a show about heaven and hell, and one character Eleanor has ended up in the wrong place, the good place. Now, she has to fake being good in order to stay in the good place. But that doesn't come without consequences. I won't ruin the show here, but I will say that there are twists and turns that'll make you scratch your head. Furthermore, if you have seen season one and enjoyed it, you will definitely enjoy season two. I honestly cannot wait to see what they have next. I'm giving this show/season an A+.
The second series I've finished this month is the latest season of The Librarians. I’ve been in love with The Librarians franchise since their movies were released on TNT. So, when I found out that there was to be a television series about the elusive Library, I was immediately on board. If you’ve never heard of any of the Librarian movies or The Librarians TV show, here’s a quick summary: the librarian/s work to reclaim magical artifacts before magic wreaks havoc on our world. It’s kitschy and fun; the effects are ridiculous, the acting is a little cheesy, but the day is normally saved by the good guys. If you’re a fan of Warehouse 13 or Eureka, you would probably enjoy this show. It’s a guilty pleasure good time, and season four is no different. I especially enjoyed this season’s finale which took on a whole 1984 vibe. I must knock on some points due to some rule-breaking, which in my terms means that the show has set up rules within the show and then the show broke its own rules. Overall, this just means that these so-called parameters don’t really mean anything, which is a bummer. However, I’m still going to give this season a B-.
The first movie I saw this month was Smurfs: The Lost Village. I saw this with my two nieces, and it's basically a movie about Smurfette and self-discovery. Overall, I didn't love or hate the movie. The animation was pretty good and the moral was also pretty nice. I wasn't ashamed to show my nieces the movie, and they really seemed to enjoy it. My youngest niece couldn't stop talking about it. Clearly its made for younger audiences, but I would give this movie a C+. However, my nieces would probably give it a B+.
The second, third, and fourth movies that I saw this month are The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. Yes, I know it is criminal for me to not have seen any of The Hobbit Trilogy, but at least I'm working on it now. If you've been living under a rock, like me, The Hobbit Trilogy tell the adventure quest of Bilbo Baggins and a crew of thirteen dwarves. These dwarves are on a mission to reclaim their home in the mountain from Smaug, the dragon. They add Biblo to their crew as a burgler, and chaos ensues. It very much follows the traditional hero-quest story, but the overall storytelling really brought it to life. It is definitely a slow burn with the run-time for each movie being at least three hours long, but every scene is gorgeous and adds depth and meaning to each character. Overall, I give this trilogy of movies an A+.
Surprisingly, I was able to see Love, Simon during the month of February despite its coming out in March. Here’s a little backstory. AMC did a promotion where if you were a member, you had an opportunity to see Love, Simon for free two weeks before the actual movie released in theaters. Clearly, I jumped at the opportunity. After reading Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I was really looking forward to the movie adaptation. With that said, I came away with mixed feelings about the movie. On one hand, I found it incredibly funny but it still had that charming quality that I felt the book had. It was filled with heart-felt moments but there were times where I felt that it was reaching too close to sentimentality. Also, without giving anything away, I felt like it was giving mixed signals for what it was trying to say. There’s a part in the movie where our main character Simon makes a point about a certain aspect of his coming out experience, and I completely agreed with it. However, I felt like he went against it by the end of the movie. It was at the very least disconcerting. But, I will still give it points for its overall depiction of the high school experience. I’m giving this one an A-.
The first two books that I finished this month are The Madness Underneath and The Shadow Cabinet by Maureen Johnson. These two books are the "final" books in the Shades of London series. I say "final" but there has been some speculation that the series has not yet been completed, which I tend to agree with. There are a lot of plot lines that haven't been concluded, and there's a new antagonist introduced in The Shadow Cabinet, and the book basically leaves off with a cliffhanger. With the recent publication of Truly Devious, I'm hoping that I'll be getting closure soon. Sometimes these books felt like things were happening for the shock value, which was exciting but it left me feeling overwhelmed at times. Sometimes I wondered if I didn't pick up the clues that would have helped foreshadow events, which is a little unnerving. There was also some character introductions which felt a little thrown in. I would have preferred at least seeing their presence in the first or second book. Overall I'll give these books a B+.
The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth book that I read for the month is Rivers of London, Moon Over Soho, Whispers Under Ground, and Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch. These four novels take place in modern day London with our protagonist being copper-in-training Peter Grant. However, while working on a case, Grant realizes that he can see ghosts, which may or may not come in handy. From there he learns of a department within the police which investigates the supernatural elements of crimes. Peter Grant then becomes a wizard's apprentice in order to solve more supernatural crimes. These novels have a bit of everything that I love. It's set in London, involves crime solving, and has magic! The story has a lot of different elements that flow together (no pun intended) into a complicated but thrilling adventure. I will give this book a solid A.
During this month, I read Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by
Becky Albertalli. It’s a coming of age story about Simon who is being
blackmailed after when his emails are found. Normally that wouldn’t be such a
big deal except these emails are between Simon and Blue, talking about their
sexuality which is still a secret to everyone except each other. Now Simon must
jump through hoops so that these emails don’t get leaked. Let me just say that
everyone who is in the young adult literature scene has either read or talked
about reading this book, and now I understand why. The best way I can describe
this book is “charming.” It’s heart-warming and fun, but it is still very poignant
and relevant to today. I’d give this
book an A, and it’s definitely worth a read before seeing the movie that will
be coming out soon.
The first television show that I completed this month is The Good Place, season two. Now, if you haven't seen season one of The Good Place, please please please do yourself a favor and go watch it. It is so fun and surprising philosophical. It is a show about heaven and hell, and one character Eleanor has ended up in the wrong place, the good place. Now, she has to fake being good in order to stay in the good place. But that doesn't come without consequences. I won't ruin the show here, but I will say that there are twists and turns that'll make you scratch your head. Furthermore, if you have seen season one and enjoyed it, you will definitely enjoy season two. I honestly cannot wait to see what they have next. I'm giving this show/season an A+.
The second series I've finished this month is the latest season of The Librarians. I’ve been in love with The Librarians franchise since their movies were released on TNT. So, when I found out that there was to be a television series about the elusive Library, I was immediately on board. If you’ve never heard of any of the Librarian movies or The Librarians TV show, here’s a quick summary: the librarian/s work to reclaim magical artifacts before magic wreaks havoc on our world. It’s kitschy and fun; the effects are ridiculous, the acting is a little cheesy, but the day is normally saved by the good guys. If you’re a fan of Warehouse 13 or Eureka, you would probably enjoy this show. It’s a guilty pleasure good time, and season four is no different. I especially enjoyed this season’s finale which took on a whole 1984 vibe. I must knock on some points due to some rule-breaking, which in my terms means that the show has set up rules within the show and then the show broke its own rules. Overall, this just means that these so-called parameters don’t really mean anything, which is a bummer. However, I’m still going to give this season a B-.
The first movie I saw this month was Smurfs: The Lost Village. I saw this with my two nieces, and it's basically a movie about Smurfette and self-discovery. Overall, I didn't love or hate the movie. The animation was pretty good and the moral was also pretty nice. I wasn't ashamed to show my nieces the movie, and they really seemed to enjoy it. My youngest niece couldn't stop talking about it. Clearly its made for younger audiences, but I would give this movie a C+. However, my nieces would probably give it a B+.
The second, third, and fourth movies that I saw this month are The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, and The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. Yes, I know it is criminal for me to not have seen any of The Hobbit Trilogy, but at least I'm working on it now. If you've been living under a rock, like me, The Hobbit Trilogy tell the adventure quest of Bilbo Baggins and a crew of thirteen dwarves. These dwarves are on a mission to reclaim their home in the mountain from Smaug, the dragon. They add Biblo to their crew as a burgler, and chaos ensues. It very much follows the traditional hero-quest story, but the overall storytelling really brought it to life. It is definitely a slow burn with the run-time for each movie being at least three hours long, but every scene is gorgeous and adds depth and meaning to each character. Overall, I give this trilogy of movies an A+.
Surprisingly, I was able to see Love, Simon during the month of February despite its coming out in March. Here’s a little backstory. AMC did a promotion where if you were a member, you had an opportunity to see Love, Simon for free two weeks before the actual movie released in theaters. Clearly, I jumped at the opportunity. After reading Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, I was really looking forward to the movie adaptation. With that said, I came away with mixed feelings about the movie. On one hand, I found it incredibly funny but it still had that charming quality that I felt the book had. It was filled with heart-felt moments but there were times where I felt that it was reaching too close to sentimentality. Also, without giving anything away, I felt like it was giving mixed signals for what it was trying to say. There’s a part in the movie where our main character Simon makes a point about a certain aspect of his coming out experience, and I completely agreed with it. However, I felt like he went against it by the end of the movie. It was at the very least disconcerting. But, I will still give it points for its overall depiction of the high school experience. I’m giving this one an A-.
Annnnnnnddddddd I think that's it for this month. Again, selection may be a bit off because I'm so behind and my recording skills haven't really been up to par for this month. But, take it for what it is. Enjoy it. If you find some of these reviews helpful, then good for you! (In case you haven't realized, I'm incredibly tired. But ignore that.) So, I hope you guys have a wonderful day! I'll see you soon, lovelies!
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