I'm taking advantage of some time to write as COVID-19 has got us social distancing. Which seems counterintuitive (not the social distancing, that makes sense) since you'd think if we're all trapped in the house I'd have less time to write cos the lil monster requires attention. Except now we're BOTH home so entertainment detail can be split.
So why not catch up on some more mini-reviews? See if I can't stay ahead of the game (I cannot). Heads up, as I look at the list of books I read in March of 2019 I gotta tell you...not a lot is coming to me. This may be brief.
How to Be Good by Nick Hornby
Nick Hornby. I like the guy. I mean I think. I like High Fidelity anyway (both book and movie, thankyouverymuch). And he wrote an album with Ben Folds that includes a song about Levi Johnston (Sarah Palin's almost son-in-law?) that's catchy. I was at the Strand and saw a copy of How to Be Good and figured I'd give it a try. Basically this guy who is sort of a jackass has a spiritual awakening where he decides he has to turn his life around and be a good person. And while it's hard to fault someone for doing this, it is driving his wife and kids nuts. It's a strange book and I don't really remember much in the way of a resolution but that could just be my bad memory. I remember it being mostly just...eh. Not terrible but not great.
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Early Riser by Jasper Fforde
I listened to this as an audiobook and I think that was a mistake. Because I generally lurve Fforde's stuff. But I have noted, to myself and even out loud to others, that I can't imagine how stuff like the Thursday Next series would work in any format other than a book. There's so much that plays with language and footnotes and typography that you need to see it. And yet I thought "Oh, here's a new book from him, I should definitely listen to this as an audiobook. Even though in general I find I have more trouble paying attention to fiction audiobooks than nonfiction ones, I'm sure it will be fine this time." Like most of Fforde's stuff, the plot is hard to describe. Basically it's a dystopian where in the winter everyone has to hibernate and there are these strange dreams killing people and there are weird creatures roaming about. And there is Charlie a winter consul, who is dealing with the bureaucracy that comes with this (because there is hilarity and satire within dystopias). I remember it being weird, as his stuff often is, but I had trouble getting my bearings in the story and I don't know if that was intentional (i.e., he's trying to make you doubt your own sanity) or if I just missed out on stuff cos I was listening instead of reading. I should probably give this a try but as a book-book and then come back with new thoughts.
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This was a short story, one of the Audible Originals that's free each month with a subscription. It's sort of a one man show about a man coming to America from India and working at a restaurant and the strangeness of the new life and what he loves about his new home and what he misses and what the family he works for is like. It was funny at times but overall I can't remember much of it. Apparently it was originally an actual one-man play so perhaps it works a bit better that way.
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Another free Audible Original. This one a fictional account of the life of a young Marie Curie (nee Sklodowska). She's far from home, studying in Paris and meets a certain Pierre Curie. I thought it'd be interesting to hear a bit about this woman of whom I know only a bit here and there. Mostly the radioactive stuff. And there's a bit about her but I can't say I retained much. Even at the time of listening, judging by the rating I gave it, I wasn't too into it then. It focuses more on the love story with Pierre and less about her work. Which could be fine but wasn't my thing.
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So when I look at my mini-reviews for Feb 2019 and now these things were...not great, reading wise. Which explains why, following these reads, I listened to The Graveyard Book which is def one of my fav books (to listen to, to read-read) because I needed something that was going to be great. Spoilers, it WAS great, even if it gives me ALL OF THE EMOTIONS. But now is not a time to review that book. Now is the time to see what nonsense is going on while I keep myself hidden away.
