Oh look! It’s May! Where did April go? Maybe the list of books, comics, movies, and television shows will shed some light on the matter…. feel free to peruse my list of entertainment consumed, and tell me what you consumed yourself. Got any recommendations? Lay them on me!
Books
11) Star Wars: Empire and Rebellion: Razor’s Edge by Martha Wells
12) Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie
13) The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
14) Magic Breaks by Ilona Andrews
15) 21 Reasons You Think You Don’t Have Time To Write by Mette Ivie Harrison
16) 2,000 to 10,000: How to Write Faster, Write Better, and Write More of What You Love by Rachel Aaron
Short Fiction
4) For Cello Solo, op.12 by Mary Robinette Kowal
5) Magic Tests Ilona Andrews
Comics
Graphic Novels: none
Yeah, I did a crap job staying on top of comics, with only a whopping four titles read in April. Go me?
Ms. Marvel #14
Orphan Black #2
Saga #27
The Walking Dead #140
Movies
So yeah. For whatever reason, we’re tackling franchises. I’ve never completed the Back to the Future trilogy, so we did that. And the husband wanted to see the latest Fast & Furious movie in theaters, so we had to watch the entire franchise to do so (surprisingly, lots of fun!).
* = repeat viewing
2 Fast 2 Furious
Back to the Future *
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part III
Boyhood
Fast & Furious
Fast 5 (Extended Edition)
Furious 6
Furious 7 (in theaters)
Gravity *
John Wick *
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For
Snowpiercer *
The Fast and the Furious
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Television Shows
A note with television: these are the shows I completed in the month of April, not a list of everything on-going that I’m still watching.
Archer Season 6
Daredevil Season 1
Justified Season 6
The Americans Season 3
Vikings Season 3
That’s it from me! Also, feel free to share whatever 2015 stats you’ve got! How many books? How many movies? What were your favorites? Lay them on me!
Cheers!
Calico Writes 
given our tastes in books are quite similar what did you think of snowpiercer, i never quite got around to seeing it but I will if its worth it. Lots of varying reviews tho
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I loved it. It’s the second time I’ve watched it. A very interesting film with lots of layers. The end is asking a LOT of the viewers, but it’s so worth it.
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So what did you think of Ancillary Sword? I personally thought that it was pretty different that Ancillary Justice, but still a really excellent book. I’m pleased it’s getting nominated for awards.
I’ve been slowly working through Grace of Kings. I started it the last week of April and am now 59% done with it. It’s sort of rough going though, and I keep putting it down and picking up other things. I’ve finished four other books in May so far and have not yet finished this one. I should get it done soon though.
I had a sort of weird reading month in April. Lots of novellas and re-reads.
New books read:
1. Moving Pictures. by Terry Pratchett. 3 stars. For Mark Reads.
2. Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, by Katherine Boo. 4 stars. 3/6 on my non-fiction goal. 4/12 on my Mount TBR goal. This book gives a really vivid picture of life in the slums of Mumbai. It was on a bunch of Best-Book-of-the-Year lists a couple years ago and I can see why.
Novellas – basically, the Hugo nominees.
1. The Plural of Helen of Troy, by John C Wright. 1 star.
2. One Bright Star to Guide them, by John C Wright. 1 star.
3. Pale Realms of Shade, by John C Wright. 1 star.
4. Big Boys Don’t Cry, by Tom Kratman. 2 stars.
5. Flow, by Arlan Andrews. 2 stars.
Short Stories – the 4 Hugo nominees I could find without having received the voter packet yet, plus Annie Bellet’s story.
1. Turncoat, by Steve Rzasa. 2 stars.
2. Totaled, by Kary English. 2 stars.
3. On a Spiritual Plain, by Lou Antonelli. 2 stars.
4. Goodnight Stars, by Annie Bellet. 2 stars.
5. The Parliament of Beasts and Birds, by John C Wright. 1 star.
In general, for the novellas and short stories above, if the story was generally inoffensive, but just not something that struck me as particularly good or memorable, it got 2 stars. The 1 star stories were either offensive in the portrayal of women or were frank Christian allegory, both of which I find to be extremely distasteful.
Novels re-read:
1. Three-Body Problem, by Cixin Liu. 5 stars. Re-read for my UU book club
2. American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. 5 stars. Re-read for my UU book club
3. Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein. 5 stars. Re-read for my local book club.
4. Street Magic, by Tamora Pierce. 4 stars. Mark Reads.
5. Cold Fire, by Tamora Pierce. 4 stars. Mark Reads.
I am reminded this month of why I love re-reading books. The first three re-reads I listed, Three-Body Problem, American Gods, and Code Name Verity, all got 4-star ratings the first time I read them, and got increased to 5 stars on re-read. This is actually my fourth time through American Gods, and the book continues to improve with each re-read. Re-reading just helps me get settled into a book and I’m able to appreciate it for what it is and how it does what it does.
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I really liked ANCILLARY SWORD. I kept hearing it wasn’t as good as the first, but really, it’s just DIFFERENT, and for me, a much easier and more engaging read because I didn’t have to deal with the learning curve that came with the world-building I suspect, like you discuss, I’ll get more out of re-reading ANCILLARY JUSTICE one day, but I really liked it.
THREE-BODY PROBLEM is very high in my TBR pile. I still haven’t decided if I’m going to devote any time to those nominated shorts, etc. It’s just… yeah. We don’t need to re-hash the obvious.
Good luck with THE GRACE OF KINGS. It really picks up in the last third for reasons I think you’ll understand immediately, but it takes a WHILE to get through the book.
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