Monday Malarkey

Recent arrivals:

• A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn - from Berkley Books for review
• Lady Derring Takes a Lover by Julie Anne Long - from Avon Books for book tour

Husband on the sudden influx of romance books: Why are you reading this filth?
Me: I'm in the mood for filth.

It's not filth, by the way (and he's just being silly). I enjoy the cat and mouse aspect of romance and the certainty of a happy ending. It's good for a lift.


Books finished since last Malarkey:

• The Feed by Nick Clark Windo
• As Summers Die by Winston Groom 

I had a little trouble getting into The Feed (a post-apocalyptic novel) and that slowed down my reading a bit but once I got into it and figured out what exactly was going on, I really enjoyed the story. As Summers Die is an older title (1990s) about a lawyer who represents a black woman in 1960s Louisiana by the author of Forrest Gump. I checked it out from the library because it's only available in Print on Demand, which is expensive. I'm so happy my library had a copy. It's a good story but I don't think it's one I'll ever want to read again.


Currently reading:

• The Speech: The Story Behind Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Dream by Gary Younge

And, I'm still reading the Free Speech book and failing utterly to get through it. I'm in more of a fiction mood, right now, so I'll just have to read chapters of that one when I feel like it. I finished As Summers Die last night and didn't start anything new so I'm between fiction reads and will choose a fiction title tonight.


Posts since last Malarkey:

• Fire and Forget, Ed. by Scranton and Gallagher (book review)
• Alpine Ballad by Vasil Bykau (book review)
• Old Baggage by Lissa Evans (book review)
• January Reads in Review, 2019 (one month's books, in brief)
• Fiona Friday (cat photo) 

In other news:

I watched two movies, last week:

The Story of Us is a movie that takes place in a small town in . . . uh, Washington? Or, maybe Oregon. Ugh, I can't remember. The heroine is the owner of a bookstore with a romantic theme -- hearts and flowers on the wall, a courtyard so romantic that people go there to propose -- and the hero is the standard "you'll get a promotion if you pull off this deal" architect who is supposed to convince the proprietors of shops in his hometown to sell up so he can build a new, modern shopping complex. The heroine fell in love with the shop as a youngster and bought it when she came back home after working out of state for a few years.

This kind of storyline has been so overdone by Hallmark that it's not even cliché. It's worse than that. It's wrung out. But, amazingly, they managed to keep the dialogue fresh. The Story of Us is charming, funny, and sweet. And, of course, who doesn't love a romance that takes place in a bookstore? Even my husband confessed he enjoyed it.

War Games, released in 1983, is an old favorite of ours and we just happened across it while we were flipping channels, last night. Matthew Broderick plays a high-school age hacker who tries to hack into a toy company to play their latest games. Instead, he accidentally hacks into NORAD and ends up playing a game of Thermo Nuclear War with a computer. But, when he hangs up thinking he's cut off the game, he's wrong. The computer is still playing. And, the people of NORAD think America is really being attacked.

It's amazing how well this movie has held up. In spite of the fact that it's hugely outdated and just seeing the decades-old technology feels like a visit to the museum, the tension level is still there. We have a copy of War Games on DVD, somewhere, if Kiddo hasn't run off with it, and we've watched it many times. It never loses that edge-of-your-seat feel, no matter how many times you view it. I think Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick were a cute couple, as well.

And, of course, I watched Victoria, last night. I hope Victoria and Albert stop arguing and start getting along better, soon, but I wasn't bored. I'm curious whether or not Bertie was actually such a difficult child. I've got a gigantic book about Queen Victoria that I may have to put on next year's challenge list so I can find out what's true and what's not.


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