Lots of picture books in part because we keep getting new ones coming in, and also because I saw how 2018 was catching up to my 150 books in 2018 goal, so needed some filler. There were a few more I didn't list below.
- An American Crime (2007)
- This was incredibly disturbing. I was looking for movies based on true stories, and a lot of them are based on crimes - I guess it makes sense, considering crimes make for good stories, but can't there be more light-hearted, happy films based on true stories?
- The part where Sylvia escapes and finds her parents with the help of Paula and Ricky confused me a bit though: is this the part where she has died and her soul has gone in search of her parents?
- Copycat by Alex Lake
- While I don't usually read thrillers, this one caught me (I mean, I guess that's what thrillers are supposed to do...) and I read it straight through in a few hours. The ending was a bit weak, I feel, and I'm still undecided whether the back and forth switching between perspectives every so often from chapter to chapter worked well or not. It might've been better if the switched perspective was used a bit more sparsely, and helped to draw out a more complex character for the perpetrator.
- I also really wanted it to end unsolved and have the perpetrator get away with it, living her dream???? Is this crazy? It seems like a foregone conclusion that - spoiler alert - of course Sarah will live and be reunited with her family, but...
- Small Things by Mel Tregonning
- To be honest, while I really wanted to like this because of the subject matter and the way it was told, I didn't feel that strong of a pull from it.
- Caterpillars Can't Swim by Liane Shaw
- Shaw did a pretty good job dealing with the complexities of being a teen and the importance of learning to accept people for who they are and having a social network to buoy you back up. There's also the distinction that Ryan makes later in the novel that draws the line between tolerance and acceptance, when he gets mad at Cody for being tolerant about Jack's sexuality, but not going far enough to accept him for it.
- Plume by Isabelle Simler
- Darkly humorous, Simler portrays this book as almost an educational board book of sorts... until you notice what's lurking in every page and realize those feathers aren't there just to illustrate what kinds of plumage the birds shown on the opposite page have.
- Marwan's Journey by Patricia de Arias, illustrated by Paula Borràs
- !!! This is absolutely perfect. And an incredible followup to The Journey by Francesca Sanna. I loved the illustrations and the pace of the story, as well as the way Marwan built up to what happened, how he saw it, and what he wanted to do in light of it.
- Don't Feed the Bear by Kathleen Doherty, illustrated by Chip Wass
- I actually love this so much! It's adorable, and I love the illustrations, yes, but it also imparts a pretty cool lesson: work with your perceived enemies so you can both enjoy a better outcome!
- Missing by Kelley Armstrong
- For a thriller, it wasn't quite that thrilling, though it did keep me relatively hooked. As for it being a mystery, it wasn't one of those mysteries that you could piece together based on clues littered throughout the story, seeing as you really do need that final piece almost at the end, when the book tells you the answer, to figure it out... Overall, it was a fun, light read. It didn't go the way I thought it would, which was a nice surprise, and there was a red herring or two thrown your way as well; I just wish the mystery was something the reader could've gotten through based on the clues as they were being dropped throughout the novel.
- I'm not sure I really like the romance that took place, as they definitely could've bonded without the cheesy piano playing romance (and final few sentences), but it didn't exactly detract from the plot either, so that's that.
- I'm Not Your Manic Pixie Dream Girl by Gretchen McNeil
- Light, kinda quirky, sorta fun... Everything worked out a little too well in the end for my liking, but that's the kind of novel it is, so. I can't say Bea is a particularly sympathetic character, or even relatable, until her speech at the end, but perhaps it's better when I'm the target audience.
- Swan Lake/Loch na hEala (Luminato Festival)
- I went in expecting a contemporary take on the Swan Lake ballet, infused with Irish flavour, and got quite a bit more than just that out of it. There's a good reason for the Irish setting, that the cast discussed afterwards in a Q&A, namely the shooting by the police of a depressive young man who refused to give up his right to own a shotgun - a shooting that, from what the cast was saying, should not have happened, though I don't know the details of the case and the conclusions drawn about it - as well as being based on Irish folklore about young ladies being turned into swans.
- The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed
- Oh my. Read this. Read it now. Somehow, Reed manages to capture both the powerfully transformative aspects of subversive feminist calls to action (and the great things that can come of it, which make the resistance felt on seemingly all sides worth it in the end) as well as highlight some of the major pitfalls "feminism" often finds itself having: the lack of diversity (as in the instances where Reed points out the token individuals through Rosina's comments during one meeting, and in another chapter where Reed has a black girl narrating a paragraph discussing the difficulty she faces even as she wants to stand in solidarity with the mostly white group of Nowhere Girls), as well as the lack of recognition that trans* individuals face (in the case of Adam turned Adele).
- I'm not sure whether this novel really needed all three main protagonists to find romantic interests & succeed in coupling with them to some degree (not in the having sex kind of way so much as being paired with them). Especially with Grace and Jesse, who I'm pretty sure could have been just fine just as friends. Also, they have what, a total of like 4 exchanges in the entire book and I'm supposed to believe their relationship developed as much as it was supposed to? Hmmmm... that might be stretching it a touch. But I kind of also understand why Reed added in the romance element to it for the protagonists, in the sense that being a feminist doesn't mean you have to hate men or avoid romance.
- The Change Room by Karen Connelly
- I really love the way Connelly handled the subject matter in the nonjudgmental way that she did, making each of the characters more or less sympathetic (though to be honest, I'm not 100% sure about Eliza...). I'm not entirely sure that Martin's role was necessary, especially with his backstory, but it provided a nice way for everything to come together in a sort of "it's a small world" kind of way. And the ending was very open-ended, the dinner going smoothly - more smoothly than I might have expected - ending in Shar divulging her own past and working her way through her own sexual experiences as everyone else at the dinner party has done.
- Feather by Rémi Courgeon
- LOVE the illustrations. I kind of wish the letter-shaped blocks of colour that correspond to the first letter of the first word on some pages was in every page, but I don't think they are. There's also something nice in the way Paulina decides to give up boxing at the end, to pursue what she really loves doing: playing piano.
- Some Bugs by Angela Diterlizzi, illustrated by Brendan Wenzel
- Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu
- La Danseuse (2016)
- While there were some beautiful parts to this movie, I feel as though on the whole, it was pretty disjointed. Not much is explained, including the part where Fuller's relationship with Isadora Duncan apparently led to her downfall (according to the back cover of the DVD case I've got), which I kind of expected would be somewhat of a turning point or climax to the movie. As for Loie and Louis' relationship, I really wish they went a bit more in-depth into that, because as it is, there doesn't seem to be anything to help the viewer understand it.
- Was Loie Fuller a dancer in the fullest sense of the word? If I were going solely by this movie, I'd most likely say that no, she wasn't. But a quick search on Google tells me that there's much more to her biography than what was depicted. I suppose one of the big issues for this movie is that if you're not aware of what the world of dance was like at the time (as I'm completely ignorant of it), then you really don't know how innovative Fuller was being, or how much she contributed to the use of lighting and effects.
- Infidelity: Why Men and Women Cheat by Kenneth Paul Rosenberg
- Some Pets by Angela Diterlizzi, illustrated by Brendan Wenzel
- I liked Some Bugs more.
- Captain Starfish by Davina Bell, illustrated by Allison Colpoys
- Little Red Reading Hood by Lucy Rowland
- It had such a strong premise, I really wish it didn't drag on so.
- A Silent Love (2004)
- Why is this so in demand right now? There were 3 or 4 holds on it by the time I got my hands on a copy! It was alright, but not as powerful or moving as I expected it to be...
- The Fits (2015)
- Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
- I found it a bit difficult to get through some of the stories, but not because of the content matter.
- Polina (2016)
- Beautiful. I love how the trajectory wasn't straightforward at all (I mean, there's the rise, the fall, and then the rise again, but the setbacks along the way make it so you're never sure whether Polina is going to rise again and learn from everything she's gone through)
Working On:
- The Weather Detective: Rediscovering Nature's Secret Signs by Peter Wohlleben
- Good Manners for Nice People Who Sometimes Say F*ck by Amy Alkon
- One of Us is Lying by Karen McManus
