Stuff we're reading / watching / listening to

[Katya]

This is a thread where we list the media we've recently enjoyed (or not) as an invitation to talk about it if anyone else is interested.

[Katya]

I finally saw Tangled and I'm curious to know if anyone else thought the ending was kind of a deus ex machina.

I recently read The Dark Divine, which is basically Twilight if Edward and Bella had an actual basis for their relationship besides "you smell good."

[Dragon Lady]

I've read the first two books in the Uglies series and I've enjoyed them. They're definitely juvenile fiction, but I enjoy that genre. They kind of remind me of Hunger Games, but without all the violence. There are definite differences (the evil government is evil because they're trying to make a better people, not because they're trying punish people who once rebelled, for example) but the overall genre of "evil government oppressing the people and a small group on the outside trying to resist and using a girl in the middle of the evil governments' plots to win the 'war'" is the same. I'm curious about the next two books, but have been told they're not as good. So I guess we'll see.

[bobtheenchantedone]

Man, I haven't read or watched anything new recently. Except for Care Bears. Sometimes the three-year-old controls us all...

[Katya]

It doesn't have to be new or recent—just something that you want to share and potentially discuss.

[Digit]

I was just thinking how similar Annie Hall and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are.

[Dead Cat]

I finally saw Tangled and I'm curious to know if anyone else thought the ending was kind of a deus ex machina.

No more so than the original Rapunzel story--the tear heals the prince there too. It could have been a lot worse, and I doubt Gothel tried to explore whether Rapunzel's bodily fluids had the same magical properties her hair did.

[C is for]

Well, I have been watching the new Doctor Who episodes as they come out. I enjoy them, but I don't like them, and in every episode so far (I guess only two) there have been major things that have bugged me.

This week I read Leave it to Psmith, my second Wodehouse book ever. I enjoyed it.

Other books I enjoyed last month:
Knightley Academy and The Secret Prince by Violet Haberdasher. Sometimes it's a little indulgent on the "isn't boarding school fun!" side, but the story is intriguing. Like Harry Potter, but there's no magic.
Jane by April Lindner. A modern retelling of Jane Eyre. I didn't love the language, but she did a good job staying true to the original story. (Actually, perhaps the thing I found most unbelievable is that apparently in this world Jane Eyre doesn't exist, so she doesn't draw any parallels between her situation and the remarkably similar one in Bronte's book...)
FitzOsbornes in Exile by Michelle Cooper. I liked this book better than its prequel, A Brief History of Montmaray, perhaps because I read FitzOsbornes first. It's an historical fiction detailing the pre-WWII era in Britain. Fascists, League of Nations, the upper class and its inability/unwillingness to see the danger, etc.
Queen of Hearts by Martha Brooks. It's about a girl who contracts tuberculosis so has to go to the sanitorium to "chase the cure."

[Dead Cat]

I recently read Feed by Mira Grant. It's an interesting take on the zombie apocalypse. But the end seemed a little "you meddling kids!", though I do plan on reading the next two books in the Newsflesh trilogy.

[Katya]

I finally saw Tangled and I'm curious to know if anyone else thought the ending was kind of a deus ex machina.

No more so than the original Rapunzel story--the tear heals the prince there too. It could have been a lot worse, and I doubt Gothel tried to explore whether Rapunzel's bodily fluids had the same magical properties her hair did.

But a good story retelling (in my opinion) is all about motivating and explaining things that are unmotivated and unexplained in the original myth / legend / fairy tale.

[mic0]

I didn't really think Tangled was as good as everyone claimed it was. But then I'm not a big fan of classic princess fairy tale stories...

I just finished reading Anna Karenina this week! I really enjoyed it. I imagine that if it was set in the 21st century then Levin's finally epiphany would be more of an acceptance. Anyway, I thought it was a great book. Now I'm reading In a Different Voice, which is about women's psychological development compared to men's. It is very interesting.

[Katya]

I read Anna Karenina a while back and really enjoyed it, although I don't remember it all that well. (I was annoyed that the translation I read decided to call her "Anna Karenin" instead of "Karenina," because they didn't want to give the male / female forms of all of the surnames in the book. I understand their reasoning, but I feel like you probably shouldn't mess with the name of the main character of an eponymous book.)

[Dragon Lady]

I've been watching more TV lately than ever before. Largely because I live with my in-laws and my sis-in-law has her favorite shows. The ones I've particularly enjoyed are Psych, Covert Affairs, and White Collar. I guess I like cop movies?

[Tao]

I read Anna Karenina a while back and really enjoyed it, although I don't remember it all that well. (I was annoyed that the translation I read decided to call her "Anna Karenin" instead of "Karenina," because they didn't want to give the male / female forms of all of the surnames in the book. I understand their reasoning, but I feel like you probably shouldn't mess with the name of the main character of an eponymous book.)

Oy Russian naming conventions..... I was over halfway through the book before I started catching on that some of the many many characters I'd been reading about were the same people in differing social circumstances.

And it is in no small way startling to realize that I am over twice as old now as I was when I first read Anna Karenina.

[Genuine Article]

(Actually, perhaps the thing I found most unbelievable is that apparently in this world Jane Eyre doesn't exist, so she doesn't draw any parallels between her situation and the remarkably similar one in Bronte's book...)

I was similarly thrown off when I watched the new Sherlock series on BBC. It was odd to see Sherlock and Watson in an England where Sherlock and Watson didn't exist as literary characters.

[mic0]

GA - me too! What a strange place England would be without that bit of literary influence. Just kidding, but it was an interesting twist.

Tao - that was exactly how I felt when I first read Crime and Punishment. I didn't know anything about Russian names, so I was really confused for a while. They should really put that sort of information in the introduction (I think sometimes they do).

[Genuine Article]

I just finished reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which I loved. It's the story of an author in 1946 who learns about a group of people living on Guernsey (an island in the Channel) which was occupied during the war. They've had no news for five years and are desperate for books and outside contact. It's told through nothing but letters back and forth between the author, her publisher, her best friend, her love interest, and the islanders.

I also just watched Win Win. It had some langauge, but it also had Paul Giamatti and Jeffrey Tambor, both of whom I love. I can't really explain what it's about, but IMDB's summary is "In order to support his family, attorney Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) moonlights as a high school wrestling coach and assumes the guardianship on an elderly client (albeit not in the most honest fashion). Flaherty's fortunes begin to shine when the man's runaway grandson materializes, until the boy's mother appears, fresh from rehab, flat broke, and looking for an opportunity."

The emotions of the film ring really true, so when you're watching it you forget you're watching a movie and all the characters become real. His wife keeps nagging him about calling to get the tree in the yard cut down, his daughter always wants to play croquet and nobody has time for her, and the boiler needs replacing but they don't have the money. It was just such an emotionally honest piece.

[Yarjka]

I read Anna Karenina a while back and really enjoyed it, although I don't remember it all that well. (I was annoyed that the translation I read decided to call her "Anna Karenin" instead of "Karenina," because they didn't want to give the male / female forms of all of the surnames in the book. I understand their reasoning, but I feel like you probably shouldn't mess with the name of the main character of an eponymous book.)

You can blame Nabokov for that. He was quite staunch in his opinion that Russian names should follow English conventions when translated rather than maintaining their Russian endings. Like many of his views, it is quite idiosyncratic, but he is viewed as an authority by many people so the tradition has remained. Much like his preference to call Levin "Lyovin" on the basis that Lev Tolstoy was called Lyov by most of his close friends, and Nabokov wanted to separate the name Levin from any Jewish connotations the American reader might have with it. Thankfully, I think Karenina and Levin are winning out over Karenin and Lyovin, but only time will tell.

[Imogen]

I tried reading "The Paris Wife" and hated it. I hated every character. I had to stop reading it.

[krebscout]

I was just thinking how similar Annie Hall and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are.

Interesting, you're totally right. Good movies both.

A friend of mine accidentally brought me The Help instead of the book I was supposed to borrow from her, so I read it. Then she took me to go watch the movie. The movie was okay, but the book was actually quite good.