The corny history of the first vibrator

I'm torn with rating this film, so I'm going to write myself into a number. Cute, but silly-cute. Awkward is a good word for parts of Hysteria. Entertaining, but in a corny way. You think a story about the invention of the first electric vibrator, that's going to be graphic or hilarious, but it was neither.

So the movie is about giving old women orgasims, and Maggie Gyllenhall's character flaw of caring too much/being too charitable. It tried, and fails to push upon women's issues: "hysterical" women, (ie., women who are overworked/under appreciated/tired of feeling like slaves/under "loved") seek medical treatments for getting through their ruts. The movie sounds dirty and the R-rating certainly marks it as naughty, but it's reserved. 

Hysteria's entertaining, maybe even cute, but not great. It does lightly push women's suffrage in a quirky manner. So... cute. It gets a 2/5.

Let's just hope it doesn't come to this

So we meet the Orwellian-like novel The Handmaid's Tale.  I'm creeped out and frightful of what could come of us (women). It probably doesn't help that I picked this novel up just after the elections. I'd probably swear off men if I'd started reading Atwood's novel while Romney and Ryan were on the podium! 

The Handmaid's Tale is most certainly an important read for women's literature. What fascinates me is that this is a novel from the 80's. Aside from the notion of women running around in red habits, nothing about this novel really struck me as dated. It's that timelessness that make it an Atwood (winky-face).

I couldn't justify giving this a 5 because the epilogue threw me. I appreciate the hand-held understanding of the "study" of this society, but it also felt like an "Idiot's Guide to the book you just finished." I felt the novel should have ended, where it ended; no explanation necessary. The sudden shift in the tone was too... sterile? Academic? Something... Whatever it was, it disappointed me. All I could think was "alright... the book ends like this?" (4/5 stars).

"DO NOT STEAL QUEENS"

I was blessed to read Catherynne M. Valente's The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making quite recently. If that title doesn't grab you, shake you up a bit, and make you crave a little more information, you have limited imagination. Now onward and outward to the next book of the series: The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There.

Again, another 4-star rating, which is nothing against Valente's super-magical, quirky writing. Same compliments as with the previous novel: slow start for me - I'm new to fantasy, so I'm not used to all the ... "stimuli". The story builds and builds, making the novel so enticing. Again, "trippy" but incredibly fun; essentially a modern Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. The text is so bright and colorful (despite being in the underworld/shadow world,) which is unexpected. One thinks "oh, shadows = dark and grayscale". Nope.

I look forward to the next novel in the series - Actually, I can hardly wait to hear the next title! Before I toddle off too far into "withdrawals", I'm starting in on more of Cat's work. Next in line is Deathless.

No more Room please!

You will learn everything there is to know about Dora the Explorer, whether you want to or not.

Room is tough to rate, by the way. It's very well spoken (since 5 year-old Jack speaks more like a 7 or 8 year-old), but it's also a little overwhelming to have such a young narrator for an adult themed book. The language is distracting, but it also makes this voice so believable. The writing is much more of a 4/5, but I think we spend too much time with Jack in the second half of the story. The novel just becomes "The Day in the Life of Jack".

This is my first completed audiobook of the year. The read-though is excellent, but if you're not a fan of children, you're not going to like the audio-format... stick to the text version. 3/5 Stars.

I Am the Messenger

I was really looking forward to this book, since adoring The Book Thief. I had to re-visit Markus Zusak, as soon as humanly possible. Unfortunately, my go-around with I Am The Messenger wasn't the same experience. Treading on my last library renewal, it took me a while to really get into the novel (however, this book has one of the best opening scenes, no doubt about it!)

The plot and premise behind the book are great. Basically it's a "dude's" sorta version of the film Amélie, only not as do-goodery. (This may be stretching it a bit on some of the people/addresses on Ed's list.) Basically, Ed is running around his city trying to "deliver messages" which change people's lives. The novel is described as "... a cryptic journey filled with laughter, fists, and love." Not just some fists, lots of fists! This guy takes so many beatings, I found it distracting. Speaking of which, I still don't understand what he was supposed to accomplish with the Rose boys. 3/5 Stars.

A New Year

A New Year and a new challenge! Armed with my Netflix account re-activation and a list of books to sort I'm taking the 50/50 challenge again. Last year at this time I was a little more pessimistic about accomplishing the challenge. With good reason, I knew movie watching would be a battle of it's own. It still will be tough, but I think I can wade through the films this time.

The root of taking this challenge was to encourage myself to read more. One could consider this a resolution, but I'd prefer to consider it as building a healthy habit. For example, when I do in fact return to the gym, there's no grand finale goal; I go for my well-being. I don't expect to weigh X by the end of the year. I do hope I can read at least 50 books by the end of the year, but if not (as with 2012,) I'll just keep going.

The final tally is as follows: I came super close to completing the book portion of my challenge (or my GoodReads Challenge) with 45 books complete. Films came to a tally of 35. Though I was nowhere nearly as close to the films as I was with books, I think I'm more flabbergasted by how many movies I managed to sit down and watch. I watched THIRTY-FIVE movies last year; whoa!