What I've Been Reading/Watching
Apr. 1st, 2019 07:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mad_madam_m(Crossposted to Pillowfort.)
So one of my goals this year was to stop putting things off and actually dive into my list of shows to watch and books to read. While I have made a huge dent in the list of shows I want to watch, I've only read one book on my TBR list and the others were either ones I had already read, or ones I acquired later. XD
Anyway, here are my brief thoughts on the things I've read/watched so far this year:
Books:
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn - This is a companion novel to The Lost Duke of Wyndham, which I had read a few years ago, and I wanted to see how Julia Quinn handled writing two different stories with overlapping timelines. While I enjoyed this one, I feel like it doesn't stand alone quite as well as the first one, and Julia Quinn continues her habit of head-hopping mid-scene, which is a pet peeve of mine. If you're going to read it, I'd say get The Lost Duke of Wyndham first and read them together to get the full picture of the story.
It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian - Picked this one up from the library thanks torhysiana's recommendation and it's a very sweet, low-angst gay historical romance between a ship's captain who's back for the summer and the local vicar who got roped into taking care of said captain's children after the death of his wife. Ben and Phillip are adorable, and watching them navigate their feelings as well as cultural views of their attraction was just lovely. Especially with Ben, since he's the vicar and dealing with that versus his faith (or really, he's already reconciled it, but he's now coming to terms with the dissonance between his personal life/personal faith and what the church as a whole says), which is an arc that I always personally appreciate. Worth a read.
The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan (reread) - One of my favorite historical romances. I first read this book a few months after it came out and picked it up again last week to use it as an example of a story that doesn't start out with a bang--it's the heroine getting fitted for a dress--but the scene so perfectly sets up the characters and the conflict that's going to drive much of the story that it's immediately engaging. And then, of course, I just kept reading because Jane is my absolute favorite and the entire story is Oliver learning how to be worthy of her. Basically, Jane has a dowry of 100,000 pounds and that makes her extremely enticing to every marriage-minded man in the vicinity, but Jane can't get married because if she does, she'll be forced to leave her uncle's house and thus abandon her beloved younger sister to their uncle's misguided caretaking. It's so good.
Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan - It's billed as "angry, elderly lesbians team up to take down a Really Bad Dude" and if that sounds like it's up your alley, get thee to your book purchasing site of choice and get it. This lovely little novella is part of the Worth Saga, although you don't have to read any of the other books to understand what's going on. Bertrice and Violetta are a goddamn delight and I love them, and I think this is the first time I have seen a historical with two older women as the leads, let alone read one.
Currently reading: An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Johnathan L. Howard
Movies/TV shows:
One Day at a Time (Netflix) - Classic '80s/'90s sitcom vibe focusing on a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles. Penelope is a nurse, Army veteran, and single mom raising two teenage kids, Alex and Elena. Penelope's mother, Lydia, lives with them. Rounding out the cast is their landlord/handyman, Schneider, Penelope's boss Dr. Berkowitz, and (in seasons two and three) Elena's significant other, Syd. The show is hilarious and heartbreaking and deals with a LOT of issues including racism, sexism, consent, mental health and mental health stigma, gun control, and coming out. Not to mention, Syd is nonbinary and they and Elena have the cutest relationship I think I've ever seen. It has three seasons and even though Netflix cancelled it, I believe the show creators are still shopping around to find it another home. I hope they do, because it's such a great show and it deserves another couple of seasons at least.
Coco (Netflix) - I think I'm the last person to finally watch this, but holy cow Coco was fantastic. Great music, gorgeous animation, and a wonderfully moving story of a boy who just wants to make music despite everything his family's objections. I didn't think I would cry but man, the end of the movie? It was absolutely perfect and I was choking up.
Mary and the Witch's Flower (Netflix) - Looks kind of like a Ghibli movie but is NOT a Ghibli movie; the production studio is Studio Ponoc (founded by a former Ghibli employee) and this was their first feature film. Based on the book The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, it's about a girl, Mary, who finds a flower that gives her magic powers and a flying broomstick that takes her to a secret college for magic. It was very cute and the animation was great, although Netflix only had the dubbed version as far as I could tell.
Violet Evergarden (Netflix) - What a lovely, soft, sad, and hopeful series. Violet is a soldier who's only ever known fighting, so terrifying that the other side can recognize her on sight, but now that the war is over, she has no idea what to do now. She decides to become a letter writer in order to understand the last words her major spoke to her. So much of the series is Violet learning how to deal with people and learning how to live with herself during peacetime, and learning what it means to love and what it means to grieve. And the animation is just breathtaking. I highly recommend it.
Schitt's Creek (Netflix) - I was kind of meh on season one, but by seasons two and three the show had really grown on me as the Rose family started to think beyond their initial goal of "get out of here and get back to being rich as fast as we can." Once wealthy thanks to their ownership of Rose Video, an embezzling business manager has left the Rose family—Johnny, Moira, David, and Alexis—destitute and they have only one asset left: the town of Schitt's Creek, which Johnny purchased for David as a joke years earlier. So they go from living in a mansion to living in two rooms of a crumbling motel, and they all have to find a way to make their new life work. The secondhand embarrassment is strong with this show, but as the series goes on it gets a little more manageable, and for all their faults and foibles, the Rose family really DOES care about each other and supports each other and that comes out more as the series progresses. I've only seen through season 4 (season 5 is currently airing, I believe) and season 6 will be the last one. One thing I really appreciate that I mentioned on Twitter is that David is 1) openly pansexual and 2) his romantic relationships get the same amount of screentime/storyline as Alexis's do.
Brooklyn 99 (Hulu) - I mean everybody loves this show, and for good reasons. All the characters are fantastic and well-rounded, none of them fall into the typical stereotypes, and the show doesn't shy away from dealing with sensitive topics. I've only watched through the end of season 5, but since season 6 has almost finished airing, I'll probably catch up on that soon.
Carmen Sandiego (Netflix) - After being trained for years by a criminal organization called V.I.L.E., Carmen Sandiego defects and starts using her elite thieving skills to take V.I.L.E. down, with the help of Player, a white-hat hacker, and Zack and Ivy, a brother-sister thief duo. I literally just finished watching season 1 this weekend, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable update of the games. I love the backstory they gave to Carmen to make her more of a Robin Hood-type character instead of a straight-up thief, and the show keeps to the games' focus on geography and history without becoming boring. Season 2 has been announced, but doesn't have an air date yet. Hopefully it'll continue being good.
Currently watching: Hitorijime My Hero (DVD), Double Decker (Crunchyroll)
Note: I did just finish Double Decker last night and I will likely finish HMH tonight, so I'll probably have a post with my fuller thoughts on both of those later this week.
However, April 1 also begins Camp NaNo, and I have not just one, but two auction fics for Fandom Trumps Hate to write. So more reading/viewing will probably be on hold until the end of the month. (Although, since both of my fics are Tiger & Bunny, it's just research to rewatch a few episodes to get into the headspace for writing...right?)
So one of my goals this year was to stop putting things off and actually dive into my list of shows to watch and books to read. While I have made a huge dent in the list of shows I want to watch, I've only read one book on my TBR list and the others were either ones I had already read, or ones I acquired later. XD
Anyway, here are my brief thoughts on the things I've read/watched so far this year:
Books:
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume by Julia Quinn - This is a companion novel to The Lost Duke of Wyndham, which I had read a few years ago, and I wanted to see how Julia Quinn handled writing two different stories with overlapping timelines. While I enjoyed this one, I feel like it doesn't stand alone quite as well as the first one, and Julia Quinn continues her habit of head-hopping mid-scene, which is a pet peeve of mine. If you're going to read it, I'd say get The Lost Duke of Wyndham first and read them together to get the full picture of the story.
It Takes Two to Tumble by Cat Sebastian - Picked this one up from the library thanks to
rhysiana's recommendation and it's a very sweet, low-angst gay historical romance between a ship's captain who's back for the summer and the local vicar who got roped into taking care of said captain's children after the death of his wife. Ben and Phillip are adorable, and watching them navigate their feelings as well as cultural views of their attraction was just lovely. Especially with Ben, since he's the vicar and dealing with that versus his faith (or really, he's already reconciled it, but he's now coming to terms with the dissonance between his personal life/personal faith and what the church as a whole says), which is an arc that I always personally appreciate. Worth a read.The Heiress Effect by Courtney Milan (reread) - One of my favorite historical romances. I first read this book a few months after it came out and picked it up again last week to use it as an example of a story that doesn't start out with a bang--it's the heroine getting fitted for a dress--but the scene so perfectly sets up the characters and the conflict that's going to drive much of the story that it's immediately engaging. And then, of course, I just kept reading because Jane is my absolute favorite and the entire story is Oliver learning how to be worthy of her. Basically, Jane has a dowry of 100,000 pounds and that makes her extremely enticing to every marriage-minded man in the vicinity, but Jane can't get married because if she does, she'll be forced to leave her uncle's house and thus abandon her beloved younger sister to their uncle's misguided caretaking. It's so good.
Mrs. Martin's Incomparable Adventure by Courtney Milan - It's billed as "angry, elderly lesbians team up to take down a Really Bad Dude" and if that sounds like it's up your alley, get thee to your book purchasing site of choice and get it. This lovely little novella is part of the Worth Saga, although you don't have to read any of the other books to understand what's going on. Bertrice and Violetta are a goddamn delight and I love them, and I think this is the first time I have seen a historical with two older women as the leads, let alone read one.
Currently reading: An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole, Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Johnathan L. Howard
Movies/TV shows:
One Day at a Time (Netflix) - Classic '80s/'90s sitcom vibe focusing on a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles. Penelope is a nurse, Army veteran, and single mom raising two teenage kids, Alex and Elena. Penelope's mother, Lydia, lives with them. Rounding out the cast is their landlord/handyman, Schneider, Penelope's boss Dr. Berkowitz, and (in seasons two and three) Elena's significant other, Syd. The show is hilarious and heartbreaking and deals with a LOT of issues including racism, sexism, consent, mental health and mental health stigma, gun control, and coming out. Not to mention, Syd is nonbinary and they and Elena have the cutest relationship I think I've ever seen. It has three seasons and even though Netflix cancelled it, I believe the show creators are still shopping around to find it another home. I hope they do, because it's such a great show and it deserves another couple of seasons at least.
Coco (Netflix) - I think I'm the last person to finally watch this, but holy cow Coco was fantastic. Great music, gorgeous animation, and a wonderfully moving story of a boy who just wants to make music despite everything his family's objections. I didn't think I would cry but man, the end of the movie? It was absolutely perfect and I was choking up.
Mary and the Witch's Flower (Netflix) - Looks kind of like a Ghibli movie but is NOT a Ghibli movie; the production studio is Studio Ponoc (founded by a former Ghibli employee) and this was their first feature film. Based on the book The Little Broomstick by Mary Stewart, it's about a girl, Mary, who finds a flower that gives her magic powers and a flying broomstick that takes her to a secret college for magic. It was very cute and the animation was great, although Netflix only had the dubbed version as far as I could tell.
Violet Evergarden (Netflix) - What a lovely, soft, sad, and hopeful series. Violet is a soldier who's only ever known fighting, so terrifying that the other side can recognize her on sight, but now that the war is over, she has no idea what to do now. She decides to become a letter writer in order to understand the last words her major spoke to her. So much of the series is Violet learning how to deal with people and learning how to live with herself during peacetime, and learning what it means to love and what it means to grieve. And the animation is just breathtaking. I highly recommend it.
Schitt's Creek (Netflix) - I was kind of meh on season one, but by seasons two and three the show had really grown on me as the Rose family started to think beyond their initial goal of "get out of here and get back to being rich as fast as we can." Once wealthy thanks to their ownership of Rose Video, an embezzling business manager has left the Rose family—Johnny, Moira, David, and Alexis—destitute and they have only one asset left: the town of Schitt's Creek, which Johnny purchased for David as a joke years earlier. So they go from living in a mansion to living in two rooms of a crumbling motel, and they all have to find a way to make their new life work. The secondhand embarrassment is strong with this show, but as the series goes on it gets a little more manageable, and for all their faults and foibles, the Rose family really DOES care about each other and supports each other and that comes out more as the series progresses. I've only seen through season 4 (season 5 is currently airing, I believe) and season 6 will be the last one. One thing I really appreciate that I mentioned on Twitter is that David is 1) openly pansexual and 2) his romantic relationships get the same amount of screentime/storyline as Alexis's do.
Brooklyn 99 (Hulu) - I mean everybody loves this show, and for good reasons. All the characters are fantastic and well-rounded, none of them fall into the typical stereotypes, and the show doesn't shy away from dealing with sensitive topics. I've only watched through the end of season 5, but since season 6 has almost finished airing, I'll probably catch up on that soon.
Carmen Sandiego (Netflix) - After being trained for years by a criminal organization called V.I.L.E., Carmen Sandiego defects and starts using her elite thieving skills to take V.I.L.E. down, with the help of Player, a white-hat hacker, and Zack and Ivy, a brother-sister thief duo. I literally just finished watching season 1 this weekend, and it's a thoroughly enjoyable update of the games. I love the backstory they gave to Carmen to make her more of a Robin Hood-type character instead of a straight-up thief, and the show keeps to the games' focus on geography and history without becoming boring. Season 2 has been announced, but doesn't have an air date yet. Hopefully it'll continue being good.
Currently watching: Hitorijime My Hero (DVD), Double Decker (Crunchyroll)
Note: I did just finish Double Decker last night and I will likely finish HMH tonight, so I'll probably have a post with my fuller thoughts on both of those later this week.
However, April 1 also begins Camp NaNo, and I have not just one, but two auction fics for Fandom Trumps Hate to write. So more reading/viewing will probably be on hold until the end of the month. (Although, since both of my fics are Tiger & Bunny, it's just research to rewatch a few episodes to get into the headspace for writing...right?)
no subject
Date: 2019-04-02 01:31 am (UTC)And wasn't Mrs. Martin so great? So, so great. (I am reminded that I should write my March book reviews.)
Now I really want to watch Violet Evergarden.
(And yes, any rewatching of T&B is just research/inspiration. Totally.)
no subject
Date: 2019-04-02 05:56 pm (UTC)GOD Mrs. Martin was so much better than I expected, and I had high expectations going in. It was such a lovely, well-contained story and I just ADORED the end (with Violetta buying up all the debt). So great.
YES watch Violet Evergarden. It was so lovely and moving and just...very well-done, IMO. More than one episode brought me to tears. I believe there is a follow-up movie coming out in 2020, but the series is complete as-is.
I'M GLAD YOU AGREE ABOUT T&B although I'm afraid if I rewatch the whole series, I'll be useless for anything but clutching a pillow and sobbing about how much they love each other for at least two weeks. And that's not great for word count.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-02 06:45 pm (UTC)In sort of sideways relation to these assorted things, I am also reminded of the book The Teahouse Fire, which is an odd tale of culture clash and coming of age in historical, post-opening to the West Japan, and, while a lot more angsty than Mrs. Martin for most of the story, manages to be much queerer than expected and have a lovely get-everything-they-deserve-and-move-to-the-US ending, too.
no subject
Date: 2019-04-06 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-04-06 08:00 pm (UTC)