September is here. I’m in denial. Not just because the year is passing faster than my poor little human brain can comprehend, but because the end of August brought the end of Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal, and I’m so full of FEELS that I can’t focus on much anything else. My brain is happily writing blog posts in honor of the show, to talk about it, the ending, what it means, what the show compares to, and SO MANY THINGS. Whether those posts find life outside of my brain is another story, so in the meantime, here is the Culture Consumption for August.
Books
Not a great reading month, but you know what? I don’t mind. Black’s book was an excellent take on vampires and the culture surrounding them, and Hannibal wasn’t the only thing that came to an end in August: Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series came to quite the satisfactory close, and made me wish I’d re-read the entire series before chomping down the final installment.
32) The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black
33) Kitty Saves the World by Carrie Vaughn
Comics
August also made me sit down and start working through my never-ending TBR pile of comic books. I want to say that the Orphan Black mini-series concluded very nicely, and I know now there’s going to be a new OB mini-series later this year, which is awesome. Jem and the Holograms continues to be an outrageous amount of fun. Obviously, there are a LOT of great titles I got through, though there’s still SO MANY MORE in the TBR!
Annihilator #6
Black Widow #19
Black Widow #20
Jem & the Holograms #5
Mad Max: Fury Road: Furiosa #1
Mad Max: Fury Road: Max Part One #1
Ms. Marvel #17
Orphan Black #5
Saga #29
Saga #30
The Walking Dead #142
The Walking Dead #143
The Walking Dead #144
The Walking Dead #145
We Stand Guard #1
Movies
Because of my Hannibal obsession, it’s no wonder I landed on two movies featuring Mads Mikkelsen: A Royal Affair and Salvation. The latter teams him up with former Casino Royale co-star Eva Green, but both films (historical but completely different periods), were great to watch. Salvation, in particular, was a gorgeously shot Western. Oh, and What We Do In The Shadows was worth ten-times the $0.99 I paid to rent it on iTunes. It’s a HILARIOUS take on vampires, horror movie tropes, and werewolves (not swearwolves!).
* = repeat viewing
A Royal Affair
Jamie Marks Is Dead
Mad Max: Fury Road*
The Salvation
What We Do In The Shadows
Television Shows
What a wonderful television-watching month August was! I finally finished my re-watch of the second season of Hannibal (I swear, the season two finale is one of the most perfect hours of television EVER). I sat on the edge of my SEAT watching Season 3 of Hannibal wrap up into a fantastically satisfying series finale, if that’s what it indeed ends up being. And then, there was the wonder that was Sense8. I’m already wanting to re-watch it, I was so captivated by the show, the concepts, and how everything so beautifully fit together. Bring on Season 2, Netflix!
* = repeat viewing
Sense8 Season 1
Hannibal Season 2*
Hannibal 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 
Longmire S4 starts on 9th Sept and SO EXCITED!!!
I watched the first ep of Sense8 and wasnt very whelmed but i understand it takes until about 4th one to start engaging really. It came out when i was studying for an exam so I should follow up on it as we are in a bit of a down time for TV
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Sense8 is definitely a slow start, but it’s worth sticking with it. Let me know how you like it when you get around to it!
We watched season 1 of Longmire back when we got Netflix, but haven’t followed through yet. I want to, because Katee Sackoff for the win!
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August Books:
1. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs
2. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
3. Maus by Art Spiegelman
4. Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010 by Charles Murray
5. Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
6. I Was Told There’d be Cake by Sloane Crosley
7. Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic
8. The Vacationers by Emma Straub
9. The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings
10. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
Go Set a Watchman was a big disappointment, in terms of the quality of the writing and the story. I’m loving Ransom Riggs’ Peculiar Children series and excited for the next book to come out this month. Empire of the Summer Moon, about the rise and fall of the Comanche tribe, was a good non-fiction read. Wold Hall, a fictional account of the reign of Henry VIII, started out slow and confusing, but really caught my attention at the end, and now I want to read the next book.
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You always have a nicely varied mix in your month-end lists!
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Wolf Hall and Maus are both fantastic books, aren’t they?
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I almost quit on Wolf Hall because I found it hard to get into and confusing because it seemed that every character was named Thomas. I’m glad that I stuck with it because I enjoyed it by the end and immediately read Bringing Up the Bodies.
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I read books simultaneously and got stuck on two books at the same time, and just was not making forward reading progress. The books were The Dark Forest, by Cixin Liu, and Dark Places, by Gillian Flynn, which I just finished today. So I was not getting many books read; but then I read 5 romance novels in 2 days, which brought my reading productivity right back up. 🙂
New books:
1. The August Birds, by Octavia Cade. 4 stars. I like this, but not as well as the last book I read of hers, The Letters of Sophie K.
2. The Fifth Season, by NK Jemisin. 5 stars. A really excellent book.
3. Small Gods , by Terry Pratchett. 3.5 stars. Read for Mark reads.
4. The Duchess War, by Courtney Milan. 4 stars.
5. The Heiress Effect, by Courtney Milan. 4 stars
6. The Countess Conspiracy, by Courtney Milan. 4 stars.
7. The Sufragette Scandal, by Courtney Milan. 4 stars.
8 Talk Sweetly to Me, by Courtney Milan. 4 stars. Novella.
9. The Dark Forest, by Cixin Liu. 4 stars. I liked it, but not as well as Three-Body Problem. I particularly miss the presence of good female characters in this book.
Short-fiction:
1. Shades in Shadow: An inheritance Triptych, by NK Jemisin. 4 stars. Good stories, but it would help to read them in closer proximity to reading the Inheritance trilogy than I did. Who was Ahad again? At what was his relationship to Glee?
No books from my TBR pile or non-fiction pile this month.
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I’ve started The Dark Forest, but I’m having trouble getting through it. I read a review that says the first quarter of the book is the hardest, but then it gets awesome, so since I’m in the first quarter, I’m hoping when I pick it up again that it’ll breeze on by.
I’ve got the Jemisin in my TBR (The Fifth Season) and I look forward to it. I’ve been reading the short fiction as it’s been released, and enjoy it by varying degrees. I agree: it’d make more sense to read those pieces when the Inheritance Trilogy is more present in your mind!
EDIT: And I hear you on productivity. I’m just NOT in a mood to read lately. I blame Hannibal.
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