Culture Consumption: February 2016

~ Shara

February has come and gone, and frankly, I keep looking at the calendar and finding myself in denial. February wasn’t quite the knock-out in terms of entertainment, but that being said, there were plenty of good books, comics, movies, and tv to watch. So without further adieu, here’s my February 2016 culture consumption.

9780765380722_custom-b42038720189257968b2cec17096382f431a09f4-s400-c85Books

I may have started 2016 with a bang in January, but my pace slowed WAY down in February, with only two books read. One nonfiction, which was both a good and necessary read, and I finally got around to The Traitor Baru Cormorant, which started and ended in a really fascinating place for me, but the politics and action in the middle got muddled and confusing.

6) The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
7) The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts by Gary Chapman

Comics

So February was odd in that I didn’t have a lot of individual issues to read, so I started catching up on my Fables graphic novels. I did sprinkle in some individual issues as they arrived (14 total), so I feel like I’m meeting my one-issue-per-day goal, though it doesn’t look like it at first glance. Cry Havoc was a rather interesting debut, and I was thrilled to get a new Monstress!

CryHavoc01_CvrA_351_540Graphic Novels:

2) Fables: Deluxe Hardcover: Book Eight by Bill Willingham
3) Fables: Deluxe Hardcover: Book Nine by Bill Willingham

Individual Issues:

Batgirl #47
Cry Havoc #1
Jem and the Holograms #11
Jem and the Holograms Valentine Special #1
Lucifer #2
Monstress #3
Ms. Marvel #3
Ms. Marvel #4
Orphan Black: Helsinki #3
Red Thorn #3
Star Wars #15
Star Wars: Obi-Wan & Anakin #2
The Twilight Children #4
Unfollow #3

spectre-posterMovies

So Spectre wasn’t nearly as bad as I feared it would be based on reviews, and Deadpool, while entertaining, just wasn’t totally my thing (yeah, yeah, I know). I found Sicario to be weirdly disappointing in regards to how the story treated the female lead, and Mr. Holmes was, fortunately, not the cry-fest I feared it would be.

Deadpool (in theaters)
Mr. Holmes
Sicario
Spectre

Television Shows

fargoI finally got to finish the first season of Fargo, and oh, what a compelling, dark, and somewhat absurd show that was! I loved how it ties to the film of the same name, but without making the viewer feel like they missed something. The acting was fantastic, and I wish I could get my hands on Season Two right now, but I’ll just have to be patient. And, of course, continuing the rocking Cheers marathon.

Cheers Season 4
Cheers Season 5
Fargo Season 1

That’s it from me! Also, feel free to share whatever 2016 stats you’ve got! How many books? How many movies? What were your favorites? Lay them on me!

Cheers!

12 thoughts on “Culture Consumption: February 2016”

  1. I loved The Traitor (thats the title I had ) – yes it got a bit messy in the middle but I DID NOT SEE THE END COMING!!! So very rare that happens and it was such a delight. I don’t know if there will more books in the series but I hope so.

    Mr Holmes was quite delightful and I enjoyed it a lot . Spectre didnt make a lot of sense to me as I didnt have the background to understand it.

    If you aren’t YOU MUST WATCH THE NIGHT MANAGER!!!

    Its fantastic 🙂

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    1. Have you seen the previous Bond films starring Daniel Craig?

      The ending did sneak up on me, and it was well done. I just got hopelessly tangled in the political factions, alliances, names, and who was who and the like. I often got the impression that something REALLY IMPORTANT was being revealed to Baru during all of this, but neither she nor the author clued me in on what I was supposed to remember, and reading on the Kindle means I won’t flip back and try to find the passages that might shed light on the REVELATION. Except for the major one at the end, of course. That was quite well handled.

      Tell me a little bit about The Night Manager?

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      1. Night Manager – Tom Hiddleston as the good guy and Hugh Laurie as a uber rich philanthropist playboy arms dealer, and the plot to bring him down. Based on a Le Carre book. Bloody excellent!

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  2. February totally flew by, didn’t it? March, too…

    I listened to “Animal Farm” on audiobook. 5 stars, but I probably won’t ever read it again – too sad, too close to home.

    4 stars: “Brotherhood in Death” by J.D. Robb (not bad for book 42 in a series!); “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury (audiobook); “Morning Star” by Pierce Brown (really liked the trilogy; excited that he is writing a prequel).

    3 stars: “Cast in Honor”, #11 in the Chronicles of Elantra series by Michelle Sagara (for some reason, this installment was hard to follow for me); “Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim” by David Sedaris (audiobook).

    2 stars: “The Lighthouse” P.D. James (audiobook; did not live up to earlier Dalgliesh books); “The Web” by Jonathan Kellerman (audiobook, #10 in the Alex Delaware series; required more suspension of disbelief than I was willing to give it).

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    1. I’ve read the first Elantra book. I was definitely interested, but I still haven’t picked up the rest of the series. And no kidding on Animal Farm: I haven’t read that since 8th grade, and it’s certainly due a re-read, but damn: I have a feeling Orwell is freaking the hell out in the afterlife somewhere.

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