Tag: 10-rated

Japanese Mythology Recs: Ogiwara, Mononoke & Moribito

Post author By Lexlingua
Post date January 14, 2021
16 Comments on Japanese Mythology Recs: Ogiwara, Mononoke & Moribito

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.

Tags 10-rated, 8-rated, 9-rated, animation, favorites, historical, Japanese Literature, JDramas, mythology, SFFgenre

Best of List Books Music & Poetry Starred Recommendations Watchlist

Best of 2020: Yearly Round-Up

Post author By Lexlingua
Post date January 1, 2021
6 Comments on Best of 2020: Yearly Round-Up

Finally, 2021 is finally here, and hope this year is better for all of us! Happy New Year to everyone, well-deserved, I say. But before we close this chapter of our lives, it’s also time to recount some of the bright spots — the best of 2020.

Note: Some of these have been discussed in my previous Favorite Books of 2020 list too — so do check out that list as well!

Tags 10-rated, best-of-year, favorites, listmania, wrap-up

Books Recommendations

Witch of the Glens by Sally Watson

Post author By Lexlingua
Post date December 30, 2020
8 Comments on 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.

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.

Tags 10-rated, favorites, heroines, Highlands, historical, Vintage, Young Adult

Best of List Memes Music & Poetry Recommendations

Favorite Books of 2020

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.

Tags 10-rated, fantasy-fiction, favorites, feelgood, heroines, historical, listmania, mysteries, non-fiction, SFFgenre, top10tuesday, Urban Fantasy

Recommendations Watchlist

Hitchcock Movies: Shadow, Suspicion, Stranger, Lady & Sabotage

Post author By Lexlingua
Post date December 11, 2020
10 Comments on Hitchcock Movies: Shadow, Suspicion, Stranger, Lady & Sabotage

I binge-watched several Hitchcock movies this week: Shadow of a Doubt, Suspicion, Strangers on a Train, The Lady Vanishes and Sabotage. Time well spent, and here’s a quick sum-up!

Tags 10-rated, 7-rated, 8-rated, 9-rated, B&Wmovies, classics, detective-fiction, Hitchcock, mysteries, old films

Recommendations Watchlist

Bringing Up Baby: Movie Review/ Funnies #1

Post author By Lexlingua
Post date November 11, 2020

Bringing Up Baby is a story about a missing intercostal clavicle, George the digging dog, and a Brazilian leopard named Baby. And what a madcap rip-roaring ROFL hysterical comedy this was!

Cary Grant plays an absent-minded museum director who just wants to polish off his gigantic dinosaur skeleton. But the harum-scarum Katharine Hepburn has other plans, and willy or nilly, Grant just HAS to help her out.

Oh, I felt so sorry for Cary Grant — who has trouble keeping up with all the stories and names people keep assigning to him. Hepburn gives him a really tough time, sending him running after golf balls, stolen cars, misplaced purses, escaped geese, musical leopards, hidden clothes, missing bones … I am laughing as I write this.

I never expected to like Bringing Up Baby so much. I went in thinking they were both an old married couple (they weren’t) who had decided to raise a leopard (not by choice!) and then squabbled over it (not precisely over the leopard).

I was so happy I took a chance on it. There was never a dull moment. No wonder this movie is considered one of the Top 100 Funniest English Movies of all time. Highly, highly recommended.

Watch the trailer HERE.

Rating: 10/10

Tags 10-rated, B&Wmovies, feelgood, Funnies

Best of List Books Index Starred Recommendations

Favorite SFF Books: A Highly Opinionated List

Post author By Lexlingua
Post date August 31, 2020

Making lists is my favorite thing to do, esp. rec lists. Here is a list of my favorite science-fiction and fantasy books / stories, and I hope to keep updating it from time to time.

I can’t claim I’ve read all the stalwart works of speculative fiction, but here are my personal top SFF recommendations, in no particular order. When next you’re on the lookout for something new to read, remember this list!

Last Update: May 14, 2021

Tags 10-rated, fantasy-fiction, favorites, science-fiction, SFFgenre, Top101