Saturday, December 31, 2016

Sunday Post #175



The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

New Years Eve! It's hard to believe that Christmas is in the rear view mirror already. Are you doing anything fun? I'm actually looking forward to a quiet night for New Years- and as much as I love the holidays, I'm kinda ready for them to be done? Hopefully 2017 will be a better year than 2016 was... 

I did a bit of reading this week and did a little Netflix-ing. I've been trying to find a new show and so far have had mixed results. But... January means the return of The 100 so life is good.   

Also I've been thinking about my first review of the New Year and which book I wanted it to be, and I decided on... Starflight! So my review will be on Thursday. Other than that I also shared some movie thoughts and had the usual Top Ten and whatever else. Now it's the last day of the year. Happy New Year!!! 

Starflight (Starflight, #1)Lost Girls

Song of the week- Tonight Alive on tour 



PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 

NEW ARRIVAL/ UPCOMING REVIEWS:

The Wanderers (The Wanderers, #1)

BOOKISH LINKS


Friday, December 30, 2016

Bookcover Spotlight #81

Journey to the Center of the Earth

I love this cover. The mushrooms and the waterfall... and notice the flying creatures too. 

Journey to the Center of the Earth

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Jingle All The Way Tag



I was tagged for this one by the always awesome Anna over at Adventures With A Book Nerd. The tag itself was created by Lefty at The Left- Handed Book Lover and is a lot of fun- so even though Christmas is over, when I saw Anna's post I knew I had to do it. So here we go- and thanks Anna!!! 


JINGLE BELLS 
A fun, light-hearted book/ series 

Love & Gelato

I SAW MOMMY KISSING SANTA CLAUS
A book/ series with a scandalous romance 

The Girl from the Sea

There's a pretty illicit romance in this one that causes some problems 

I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS
A book/ series you are determined to re- read 

Eight Hundred Grapes

SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN
Your most anticipated release of 2017 

Winter of the Gods (Olympus Bound, #2)

This is the second of the Immortals series and it was hard to pick one but this is definitely top of the list. 

SILENT NIGHT 
A beautiful book/ series that everyone knows 

Big Little Lies

I'll go with this one since it's pretty popular and will be even more so after the HBO show 

WINTER WONDERLAND
A book/ series with great worldbuilding 

The Winds of Winter (A Song of Ice and Fire, #6)

Yeah I know it's not out yet but this series has phenomenal worldbuilding. And hey, winter, right??

GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN
An underhyped book/ series that is so great you want to tell everyone about it 

The Blue

I push this book a lot because I liked it and I see few reviews 

I SAW THREE SHIPS
Favorite trilogy 

The Lord of the Rings (The Lord of the Rings, #1-3)

Technically this was one novel divided into three parts but these days it's widely called a trilogy  

RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
A book/ series with a underdog protagonist who rises up 

Sanctuary Bay

This could be any of a zillion post- apocs or dystopians (I almost went with The Hunger Games here) but I'll go with Sanctuary Bay. The protagonist is definitely an underdog and she definitely has the odds against her! 

HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS
A book/ series that helped get you through troubling times 

Planet of Exile

I don't know about tough times but it is a comfort read of sorts- I read it a lot and it's a fast re- read at only 124 pages or so. I read it as a kid so it's nostalgia value in a lot of ways. 

I tag... anyone who wants to do it!

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

The Legend of Tarzan

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The Legend of Tarzan started out as a serious movie with its intriguing opening and its reference to the diamonds of Opar. You see Opar is a lost city in the original Tarzan tales and the source of much of Tarzan's wealth- it's an ancient Atlantean outpost and shows up several times in the twenty-plus Tarzan novels that Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote. So when I saw Opar referenced right at the beginning I thought- finally they're making  a serious Tarzan movie. Unfortunately as the movie wore on I lost some of my enthusiasm for it- this could have been a phenomenal movie and maybe the best Tarzan movie ever, but instead as a whole I found it mediocre to good.  

The plot is a little weak and involves King Leopold of Belgium endeavoring to enslave the Belgian Congo in the 1890's. His man in the Congo is Leon Rom and he's played well by Christoph Waltz- he's cunning and nasty but not over the top. So they got the villain right, mostly. Rom makes a deal to deliver Tarzan to his mortal enemy in exchange for the diamonds of Opar, which he will use to further Leopold's goals in the Congo. On the one hand I had high hopes for the story in the beginning- I liked the political element, as Burroughs often played with similar storylines. So it seemed authentic. As it wore on it seemed to get lazy and felt like a million other weak Hollywood plots out there- this is a movie that is better in the beginning than the end. 

Related image

Also we get flashbacks (done well) that show us the origin of Tarzan, but this is not an origin story per se. We first see Lord John Clayton (aka Tarzan) in London in his role as Earl of Greystoke, and this is also like the books. He's married to Jane and they've lost a child (miscarriage apparently) but are very much in love. And let me just say at the outset that Jane, played by Margot Robbie, is awesome in this movie. Totally badass and maybe the best part of the film.  

Tarzan is invited by the Belgian government to visit Congo and he accepts after being urged to go by an American named George Washington Williams, played by Samuel L. Jackson. His character is an envoy of the US government and wants to chronicle the reported misdeeds of Leopold in the Congo. So Tarzan and Williams go and Jane accompanies them- she was raised there as Tarzan was- and of course everything takes off from there. 

Image result for the legend of tarzan

In many ways this seemed like a Burroughs story with the fast pace and somewhat eyebrow raising plot developments. Like I said it feels like a serious movie in the beginning but deteriorates by the end. The cast is good and Jane is no damsel as I mentioned earlier. Many of the jungle scenes and animals are clearly CGI but the film looks good. There are some hokey moments and after a terrific start I thought Tarzan a bit one dimensional as it went on- but it felt like a Burroughs story in many ways and that's the highest praise I can give it.  

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Top Ten of 2016

 

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week a new Top Ten list will be posted. Everyone is welcome to join. Link back to The Broke and the Bookish so everyone can check out other bloggers' lists. It's a fun way to get to know fellow bloggers.

Here it is! The Top Ten of 2016- woo hoo! I was going to do a post on my favorite reads of the year, so when I saw this was Top Ten topic that worked out. This is going to be my 10 favorites of the year- not necessarily the 10 "best" by any category other than did I love it. So without further ado... here are my 10 favorite reads of the year. 



The Immortals (Olympus Bound #1)

Sanctuary Bay

Need

City of the Lost (Casey Duncan, #1)

The Girls in the Garden

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)

World of Water (Dev Harmer Mission, #2)

Clouds in My Coffee

Love & Gelato

Night School (Night School, #1)

Tuesday Tagline #19

Fracture Me (Shatter Me, #2.5)

Monday, December 26, 2016

Cover Characteristics Legs


Cover Characteristics is a meme by Sugar and Snark- every week a characteristic is selected and we post 5 books with that week's theme. 

This week's pick- Legs  

The rogue topics continue as Cover Characteristics is officially on hiatus. This week- legs!  


Vivian Apple at the End of the World (Vivian Apple, #1)Catching JordanImaginary GirlsJoyrideDon't Expect Magic (Magic, #1)Fear the Drowning DeepThe Dark Divine (The Dark Divine, #1)


Vivian Apple at the End of the World (Vivian Apple, #1)

Catching Jordan

Imaginary Girls


Joyride


Don't Expect Magic (Magic, #1)

Fear the Drowning Deep

The Dark Divine (The Dark Divine, #1)


Saturday, December 24, 2016

Sunday Post #174


The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer 

Well tomorrow is Christmas. This month has gone by kinda fast but I'm ready (more or less). Christmas Eve is always my favorite part of Christmas, not sure why, but I just love the anticipation of the day before and especially the evening. Where I grew up we always put out luminaries on Christmas Eve- little candles in bags filled with sand, and as you drove through the neighborhood the roads were lined with them. It was nice especially when the snow was falling gently down. 

They don't do that anymore (although some places do) but it was a tradition. So on this Christmas Eve as I'm getting ready to return home and visit I'm thinking about a gentle snowfall, the silence of a snowy Christmas Eve, and little twinkling lights alongside the road. Hopefully if you celebrate the holiday or have a different tradition you are able to spend time with family and be close to home, wherever that is. And enjoy life. 

With the holidays and people traveling the blogosphere will be kinda light I imagine for the next week or so. I have a more or less full slate of posts planned thanks to scheduling. I'm still doing Cover Characteristics and Top Ten Tuesday, and I might even have a review up- later in the week? But I will be visiting as much as I can. Hope everyone has a fabulous week. 

Merry Christmas to all celebrating!

A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers, #2)Starflight (Starflight, #1)

Song of the  day  




PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 



NEW ARRIVAL/ UPCOMING REVIEWS:
Lost Girls
BOOKISH LINKS