I hope everyone’s having a lovely summer and getting to see all the movies/TV shows and read the books they want.
As for as what I’ve been up to lately:
1) Guardians of the Galaxy
I don’t get out to many movies these days (and, to be honest, I’m not really a movie person–they take up so much time) so I try to make them count. The Marvel movies are pretty high up on my list, though, and I really enjoyed this one. It’s different in feeling from the Avengers movies and aside from some crossover characters, I wouldn’t have pegged it as a Marvel movie if I didn’t know it was beforehand. But I recommend it, along with 95% of the rest of the Internet. (I did, however, cry in the first five minutes. So beware.)
2) Avatar: The Last Airbender (and Legend of Korra)
I didn’t watch ATLA when it was on TV, but I’ve always meant to, because it seemed like something people really enjoyed. And it‘s something I don’t mind the small, mobile one watching. (Actually, he really likes it. He doesn’t talk much, but he has learned the order of the elements.) It wasn’t quite what I expected–I didn’t realize the episodes were so short, and it was occasionally extremely silly. But I enjoyed the characterizations and the character arcs. We started Korra after we finished ATLA but it feels very different, like it’s meant for an older audience (and I’m sure it was–appealing to the original audience for ATLA, who’d grown up in the meantime). It’s very interesting (and holy industrial revolution) but it’s not quite as family friendly and we haven’t gotten terribly far into it.
3) Current Reads
I’m currently reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest and Master of the Five Magics by Lyndon Hardy. Boneshaker is a combo of steampunk and zombies, but I’m having a hard time slogging through it. I’m not sure why. I’ve read other stuff by Cherie Priest, and I always want to love it a little more than I do. Master of the Five Magics is 80s fantasy, but less transition-y than a lot of the other high fantasy I’ve read from the same time period. And it’s kind of horribly sexist, sigh.
4) Recent Reads
I’ve been kind of all over the place. Out of the last five books I’ve read, there was scifi noir, high fantasy, urban fantasy, historical fiction and Christian literature (which I thought was a mystery or I would not have picked it up). Of those five, my favorites were Hornblower and the Hotspur by C.S. Forester (Age of Sail books always read a little scifi-y to me, which is probably why I like them), Nolander by Becca Mills (very interesting fantasy concept thus far–first book of a trilogy, probably, because everything is a trilogy), and Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb, which hit all my fantasy feel-good spots and now I shall forever be dedicated to her.
What have you been reading/watching, Squiders? Anything you loved? Hated? Anything you’d recommend I check out?
