The Art of Crying

I have not wanted to review this book. Not because it wasn't a GREAT book. Because-- it made me cry. Not a delicate feminine tear, no no, this was the big ugly cry. This was 'Titantic', 'Dances With Wolves', and end of 'The Red Tent' crying.

I KNEW this would happen, by the way. That is why it sat on my bedside table for about 3 months unread. A coworker of Eric's (who knows I love a good book) gave it to him to give to me. He was tired of making excuses when she asked if I had read it yet. So Eric forced me to read it.

Now, you understand, I have a dog. I LOVE my dog. As a kid I had a dog as well. A great, loving, loyal dog. It took me awhile to even WANT another dog. It took almost 12 years actually. I felt for a long time that I had already had MY dog in this life. But, eventually I missed the companionship that is unique to the pet & owner relationship. That's when Shasta (pictured below) found me. :)

This book is beautifully narrated by the dog, Enzo. You will fall in love with him. And, if you have a dog currently, you will love him or her even more. You will even react differently to your dog now that you can imagine what it may be thinking.

But more than that-- you will appreciate what it is to have a human life. A verbal life. A life where you can tell someone EVERY DAY that you love them.

I'd love to tell you not to read it and save you the big ugly cry but, I can't. It's just that good a book!

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Borrowing a Movie from Japan

Got a text from a friend saying they were going to see this movie on President's Day. When I told Eric he said he had been wanting to see it and he thought the kids would like it too. So we decided to go! 

'The Secret World of Arrietty' is a retelling of 'The Borrowers' and  is an animated film from a Japanese director so it has that 'Voltron' look.

Some background: Our kids have only seen 2 movies in the theater (Toy Story 3 and Cars 2). At home, we hardly ever watch a whole movie in one sitting and pretty much NEVER on the first viewing. They get restless; they ask to turn it off. In the theater Everett said 'This is REALLY long!' and Evie said 'I'm getting tired'. But, they both made it through.

And they both gave it a 'I liked it'. I think Evie liked it because she said the borrowers were like fairies! :) And if it hadn't been for the cat I'm not sure Everett would have made it the last 30 minutes. (He LOVES cats).

The adults agreed on the word 'slow' as our overall impression. But, it is very beautiful and COMPLETELY appropriate for kiddos. It is rated G which is just about unheard of these days!

Confession: Eric and I already LOVE this animator/director. His name is Hiromasa Yonebayashi, famous for movies such as 'Howl's Moving Castle', 'Spirited Away' and 'Princess Mononoke' (All of which we have seen and enjoyed). I have my sister Kacie to thank for recommending him to us long ago. We really enjoy this style movie. 

I think the 'slow' comes from the fact that there are often large gaps without dialogue. However, it reminds me of reading a book. When you leave out dialogue it's as if you can communicate all the description and landscape of the movie and it really gives it a peaceful, calming effect. We are just not used to this in our movies. But, maybe we should GET used to it. It is a wonderful type of movie experience.

Check it out. And take the kids!

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I am Superman?

I think I just watched Superman. Except he was blond and so was Lois Lane and it was called 'I Am Number Four'.

This movie was a nice balance of drama and action and the fight scenes, really all the effects, were FANtastic (shout out to Kacie!).

I am starting to understand how the Brits must have felt when Renee played their Bridget Jones. I keep watching the behind the scenes stuff and being SHOCKED that these dudes, Alex Pettyfer in this case, are Brits. This was my first exposure to Pettyfer and he struck me as a young Henry Cavill. I actually think this guy would have made a better Edward than Rob (if you don't get this sentence, believe me, you DON'T want to).

Dianna Agron plays the same character she always plays in everything *yawn*. But she does the part well (as she should by now!). She's so pretty-- but I am just about over her already.

Speaking of the blonds--LOVE LOVE LOVE number six! Teresa Palmer rocked her part. I even enjoyed watching the extras where she talks about her training to do the stunts.

And people (channelling Tim Gunn here), let's find a role for Timothy Olyphant. He needs a movie of his own. Whatever Matt Damon or Nicholas Cage is up for next, give it to this guy. I think he needs more screen time.

I would be remiss not to mention that this is based on a book by Pittacus Lore. A book I have not read. It's on the list-- but it was too far down and I had the movie from the library so I just went ahead and watched it. Well, I may NOT go back and read this one, but I do think I will pick up #2 in the series sometime soon and go from there.....they've got me curious now!

Bottom Line: Recommended for date night. Romance for the girls. Action and hot chicks for the guys.

Google, can I borrow an egg?

I'm sure it has happened to you. You start dumping ingredients into bowls and half way thru you discover something is missing. Something important, like....the eggs. Your eyes pop open as you start to remember that you used the last egg in some other way. But you STILL go to the fridge. You still look to see if by SOME chance you remember wrong. Alas, no eggs. That's what happened to me. Right in the middle of our weekly cookie day.

But no fear, I will simply borrow one from a neighbor. Oh wait, we don't talk to neighbors these days. We don't borrow cups of sugar anymore. Because THIS is the internet age and we only have virtual friends. We don't have to actually talk to anyone ever again in person! I can't even strike up a conversation about the book I see someone reading at the airport anymore because everyone has a Kindle, ya know what I mean?!?!

Oh, wait, we were talking about eggs & cookies. Right. So, anyway, what I did was Google it. Because if Google doesn't know then NO ONE knows right? I'd like to meet that Google dude. I guess he is a computer like in WarGames. Well, if that computer could be friends with Matthew Broderick then maybe Google could be friends with me!

Eggs.....RIGHT......so I found out that you can replace an egg LOTS of ways. I chose this one: 3 Tablespoons water and 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch for each egg. It worked great! I thought the consistency was gonna be a bit off but by the time the whole recipe was put together they were perfect!

So, I hope this helps you if you ever find yourself needing an egg halfway thru a recipe. Now you know that my friend Google will help you out. Tell Google I sent you and that I say hello!

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While the Cat is Away

Eric was out for the evening and so I had some time to kill....ok, I wanted to watch something I KNEW he would mock: Abduction (aka 'that movie with the Twilight guy'). He was already mocking ME for even wanting to watch it. He said I wasted a $1.20 to rent it at Redbox.

Rotten Tomatoes gave this movie a rating of 4%. But, you may already know, I KINDA have a Jacob obsession. Needless to say, I went into this with just about the lowest expectations possible.

However, lo and behold, this was actually a pretty good movie. If you squint your eyes you can see a young Tom Cruise playing a 'Matt Damon in the Bourne series' type character. I have to say I'm not really sure why this movie didn't do better. It has alot of the elements of any thriller franchise. The cast is ALL substantial: Maria Bello, Sigourney Weaver, it goes on and on like that. I felt the adrenaline in the chases, the frustration of the characters trying to figure things out, and the romance was believeable (and I could NOT say that for Bourne, btw!).

Now, given, it does start off like a version of Footloose, or any teen drama where the scenes scream 'here is where we are establishing the characters folks so pay attention!!'. And clearly, they are using all the things Jacob  *ahem* I mean, Taylor, is already known for to launch him. But, I thought he carried it. The love interest was a cutie, hope we see more of her. I think she could have possibly pulled off Katniss in Hunger Games.

Sure it wasn't a 90% movie, but 4%??, I think some people are down on my boy Jacob *ahem*, Taylor. If anything I am the one who should be jaded by all my YA romance/sci-fi books. I admit, you HAVE seen this movie before (see: the oft mentioned Bourne franchise) but that's no reason to toss it in the dumpster. I mean it seems like every movie OUT there is a remake. I say, give it a shot. You know, if you like Jacob...darn it, I mean TAYLOR! :D

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Lukewarm

So, here are some books I do NOT recommend. I'm not saying they are bad. In fact, most would say they are good (if not great). There was nothing disturbing or vulgar in any of them. Their fault was that they were lukewarm. They were interesting but in most cases I can think of an author who does it better. I do not regret reading them. I just wouldn't again and I certainly would not say 'read THIS one' to anyone. Please feel free to disagree with me.

 The first two are book club books. 'Major Pettigrew's Last Stand' is a TERRIBLE book for a book club. The problem: everyone liked it. This makes for a very UNinteresting meeting. Why I didn't love it. I think Maeve Binchy writes this type of 'love at any age' story with a much better pen. Recommend: Maeve Binchy's Evening Class

We all agreed that it was a bit hard for us to understand what exactly made my second book on the list, 'The Maltese Falcon', a classic. Perhaps it was groundbreaking at the time. However, we all agreed we have seen this story done better and certainly so many times over that this book seemed like a cliche. I will say: The guys LOVED it! Hahahahahha. Recommended: Just watch the movie. It's pretty much straight word for word from the book.

I have actually met the author of my next book (Sue Grafton) and I have read from A to V (so far) in her series. Despite this review, I have no intention of stopping now. This installment, V is for Vengeance, seems like something that could have been a draft and should have been left aside. The whole book had me wondering what the point was. I just thought it felt unnecessary. Recommended: Just skip this one.

And finally, Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. This book has a sequel called Sapphique and I admit (proudly wearing my Team Jacob necklace) that I picked it up in my post BD part 1 hangover. (Breaking Dawn for the non-Twihards). It was listed on IMDB.com as the next project for Taylor Lautner so I thought I would get a head start on reading the book. Well, I'm sorry to say. It COULD be good if 1) they combine both books together and 2) they get a decent screenwriter. As it stands it's very very very slow and I had a hard time finishing the first book. Honestly, the second book is better. So, it remains to be seen. Recommended: YA Hunger Games, or the Junior level Gregor Series both by Suzanne Collins

All Summer In a Day

Two days ago it rained and today is overcast and misty again. But yesterday, YESTERDAY was heavenly. A perfect spring day. The ground was still damp, the plants all seemed plumped up, and the trees just on the verge of bloom. The sun was coming in at that magical angle, not quite summer, and not still winter. In the sun, you were warm, in the shade you were cool. Gorgeous. My pup and I took a lovely mid-day walk and I got just a hint of a sunburn from my 30 minutes or so outside. I felt like blooming like the trees.

It reminded me of the first story that ever broke my heart. Ray Bradbury's short story: All Summer in a Day. I had had an emotional response to books and stories up to that point but I don't think I had ever been truly and deeply affected to this degree. It's horrible and beautiful. I remember wanting to stop, thinking 'make it stop' but you can't. You have to finish. I remember actually feeling like I wanted to go back to before I had ever heard this story, rip it out of my head. I wanted to yell at my teacher 'Take it back!'. I suppose that is actually the kind of thing every literature loving teacher wants to hear. That the person is changed by the story.

That reminded me of two books I wanted to tell you about that can be read IN a day! Ok, maybe YOU can't read it in a day because you actually don't neglect your children and family by saying things like 'uh huh, get whatever you want from the fridge....uh huh, you can watch a movie....no, I don't have anything planned for dinner' so you can keep reading. :)   I don't do that either *ahem* that is just....awwwww, I forgot Eric reads this....that's EXACTLY what I do.

Our first book up is 'The Giver' by Lois Lowry. a- MAZE-ing. And Hello, the layers, the applications, the messages. You are gonna want to read this book if you somehow missed it in school like I did. It was recommended to me by a great book friend. (Thanks DeeDee!) I understand this author wrote two other books that are loosly considered sequels. I have them on my 'to read' list. Just a word about the cover art. What is UP with that? Is that not the WORST? Why do they have to make it so bad? Who would just pick up this book while they were browsing the shelves. I almost put it back myself just based on the cover. I was like YUCK, what kind of book is this. Answer: Awesome! (guess that's where they get that whole 'don't judge a book by it's cover' eh?)

Second book is Divergent by Veronica Roth. This would be a recommendation for my fellow YA SciFi fans. It goes in the catagory 'if you liked Hunger Games.....'. There are alot of similarities and I can see where there will be some haters just on that score (even the cover art is like a total Hunger Games knock off) but alot of the story undertones are unique and the main character is definately worth getting to know in her own right. Pick it up!


Have you read any of these items? What's your take? I'd love to hear what YOU have to say!

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