Category: Recommendations

All recommendations, of whatsoever nature, are tagged thus.

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Books Recommendations

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

It’s been a while since I read any contemporary YA, think the last one may have been Thirteen Reasons Why and Some Boys Do. So, I took up Karen M. McManu’s One of Us is Lying with some trepidation. It came highly recommended in last week’s Top 10 Tuesday posts. And it was actually quite good.

Simon’s been running a gossip app in high school, and has made a lot of enemies because most of that gossip is perfectly true. Ouch! Then Simon and 4 other classmates get called to detention over somebody else’s prank, and Simon ends up dead. Who killed Simon, and what secrets had Simon discovered that he needed silencing?

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Books Memes Recommendations

Penny Plain by O. Douglas: Cozy Scottish Historical

“SHOPMAN: “You may have your choice — penny plain or twopence coloured.”
SOLEMN SMALL BOY: “Penny plain, please. It’s better value for the money.”

Penny Plain O. Douglas
Read for Historical Fiction Reading Challenge: Book 4

Penny Plain by O. Douglas was a cozy, charming find (thanks to Elisabeth’s recommendation from last year). It’s set in the small town of Priorsford in Scotland, in the 1920s just after WWI.

Young Jean Jardine, barely twenty four, has been taking care of her three younger brothers since a long time. The Jardines have lived on meager means since their parents passed away, but they are an optimistic, good-hearted lot. There’s young rascal Mhor and his dog Peter, Jock who detests sentimentality because he’s at that teenage of life, David who got a scholarship to Oxford and just wants to improve things for his sister. They make do with what they have, possessing a secret of happiness that certainly the rich don’t. Oh, and they read lot, and quote Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott and lots of wonderful poetry.

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Books Memes Recommendations

Six Degrees: Not your Usual Guest Experiences

Redhead Tyler Guests

It’s time for #6degrees. Start with the monthly read, add six books, and see where you end up. Inspired by the 6 Degrees of Separation Meme hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best.

February 2021’s book is Redhead By the Side of the Road by Anne Tyler. Redhead is about a “Tech Hermit”, Micah Mortimer, whose neat, routined life goes topsy-turvy when guests appear uninvited at his door. This made me think of various house guest experiences, especially for some of the more reclusive literary characters.

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Books Recommendations Watchlist

Shit, Actually by Lindy West: ROFL Funny Book

I recently read Shit, Actually: The Definitive, 100% Objective Guide to Modern Cinema by Lindy West — and it was just what I’d been looking for! Hilarious relook at old blockbuster movies, with tons of punchlines thrown in. Nobody is spared (not even the movie Fugitive, which as per West is “the only good movie“, haha) and every single movie trope and trick is held to the microscope for a close and hysterically funny analysis.

Trust me, this book makes you laugh like crazy. Pick it up on one of those downer days, and watch your gloom evaporate.

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Art & Illustration Books Memes Recommendations Watchlist

Japanese Mythology Recs: Ogiwara, Mononoke & Moribito

Dragon Sword Wind Child

Lately, I’ve been consuming speculative fiction centered around Japanese mythology / Shinto creation mythology. Putting up a few reviews here as part of the Japanese Literature Reading Challenge 2021.

Dragon Sword and Wind Child by Noriko Ogiwara

This book is part of the Tales of Matagama series but you can also read it as a standalone. Saya lives in the village, with no memory of the past. She finds comfort in her worship of the God of Light and his children. But the God of Light has been at eternal war with the Goddess of Darkness, and only the Water Maiden can wield the Dragon Sword and bring that war to an end. Saya’s world comes crashing down when she discovers that she is that Water Maiden.

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Memes Recommendations

Hamnet & Six Degrees of Shakespeare

Six Degrees Hamnet

It’s time for #6degrees. Start off from the same place as other wonderful readers, add six connected books, and see where you end up. Inspired by the Six Degrees of Separation Meme hosted every month at Books are my Favorite and Best.

January 2021’s book is Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell, winner of the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Hamnet is a fictional account of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet, who died at the age 11 in 1596, and his wife Agnes, about whom we have heard so little.

Hamnet reminded me of all things Shakespeare; so for today’s Six Degrees, let’s travel today across works inspired by the Bard.

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Books Recommendations

Witch of the Glens by Sally Watson

There are some books that make me want to rub my hands in glee, and Witch of the Glens is one of them. What a charming book! I wish I’d discovered it when I was younger, I think I’d have adored it even more.

Witch of the Glens

Quickly, the Plot:

Kelpie has no memory of how she came into the hands of wicked Old Mina and Bogle. She plots an escape from her harsh gypsy life when the house of Glenfern takes her in (out of pity). Now she’s just waiting to steal a few bags of gold, not caring in the least about the war sweeping through the Scottish Highlands. But Kelpie has the second sight, you know, the real second sight (not the fake one that Mina pretends to have) … and soon Kelpie begins to see the human world in a new light.

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Best of List Memes Music & Poetry Recommendations

Favorite Books of 2020

Favorite Books of 2020 - Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. And this week, we spotlight our favorite books of 2020.

This is a necessary ritual for wrapping up the year, and so here are my top ten reads for 2020.

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Recommendations Watchlist

Clue (1985 Movie): Witty Snarky Parody

Are you looking for a screwball murder mystery comedy? The 1985 movie Clue is just the right answer.

Clue

Based on a board game of the same name, Clue tells the story of six guests who are invited to the castle of an unknown host. Well, it doesn’t go the way of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, but there are six murders before the dinner is through.

The first half is all about getting to know the weird guests and their weird behavioral quirks. Carry on and you’ll be rewarded in the second half. Because when the laughs come, they will be dragged out of you suddenly, and repeatedly. The last whacky hour just whizzes by, as our crazy guests get curiouser and curiouser.

The movie also doesn’t lose track of the whodunnit … And the award goes to the butler for revealing what “really” happened. In that final climax scene of the movie, our butler (Tim Curry) presents three scenarios, and I DARE YOU not to roar with laughter.

I have seen comparisons of Clue with Murder by Death (starring Maggie Smith). But Clue, IMHO, is vastly more humorous and well-orchestrated.

Rating: 8/10. Highly recommended.

More “Funnies” here.
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Books Memes Recommendations

Classic Remarks on Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold

I recently discovered the Classic Remarks meme, hosted by Briana and Krysta at Pages Unbound Reviews. I am very late to Classic Remarks, but it looks great and the topic for December 18 is very interesting:

Tell us about your favorite science fiction classic.

So, here it is: Cordelia’s Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold, my gateway read into science-fiction, way back in 2012. In many ways, it’s like stepping into the Star Wars world (the older Star Wars Episodes IV-VI, I mean). This is a repost of my review from that time, for this old favorite.

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