Gray skies, lake effect snow. Who wouldn't want to live in Michigan in the winter? I have become quite worried about falling so I will not get out much in the next weeks.
WHITE LOTUS finished strongly. By the end, most of the characters had been allocated at least a bit of humanity despite being driven by unfulfilled lust and jealousy. The entrance of Tom Hollander, midway through, certainly injected more energy into the plot.
I am very bad at watching SLOW HORSES, why do spy dramas not hold my interest more.? I have no instinct for the genre, I think. Although FLEISHMAN IN TROUBLE doesn't draw me in much either. I am watching the old series DALZIEL AND PASCOE on Kanopy. Reginald Hill is missed.
The Saul Bellow doc on PBS did not put him in a very good light. Phil loved his novels.
Speaking of books, have enjoyed FOSTER (Claire Keegan) as much as SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE. And apparently there is a film adaptation of FOSTER already. It is called THE QUIET GIRL and it is winning awards in Europe. Also enjoyed LEONARD AND HUNGRY PAUL, a very sweet book about two misfit men in their thirties who prove a quiet, kind life yields its own rewards. Saw WHITE NOISE-a strong first hour and an interesting performance by Adam Driver but the last half was pretty bad.
How about you?
15 comments:
i also liked White Lotus. Watched the two new episodes of Three Pines. It seems to be getting repetitive.
I also didn't care much for Whit Noise. Liked The Fabelmans. Liked I Know These Things To Be True-a documentary about the making of the two most recent Nick Cave recordings. Both deal with grief. Cave lost two sons within the last few years. Also highly recommend Guillermo de Toro's Pinocchio which is on Netflix.
Finished Twist of a Knife by Anthony Horowitz which I liked. It is one of his Hawthorne novels which I like better than his other series. Also finished Neom, a sf novel by Israeli writer Lavie Tidhar. Reread Black Money by Ross MacDonald.
Weather gloomy, cold and getting colder. Although little snow so far. Not enough to stay around. Most of the snow in Michigan is on the western side.
Lions won again against the favored Jets. Playoffs maybe?
I'm glad you've been enjoying your reading lately, Patti. And thanks for mentioning White Lotus; I keep hearing how good that is.
Steve has to be happy the Lions beat the Jets. Jeff has to be happy the Giants beat the Commanders! The Buffalo Bills won in the snow and are in the Playoffs!
One of our friends fell on ice in a parking lot and got a concussion. Be careful!
Patrick flies in on Wednesday, Katie flies in on Friday (weather permitting). Christmas looks cold and snowy.
Hope you and your family enjoys the Happy Holidays!
THanks, George. I watched the entire Lions game. First time in many years.Yeah, THREE PINES does not quite have it down, I think. The books are so much more atmospheric. And the tone has not been at all consistent in the six episodes. Still, it's watchable.
Great interview with Mike White on Fresh Air.
Will dig out the White interview, thanks for the pointer...though I think he wrote all the characters in this season as a bit dimmer than the first season's, including an Even More selfish and childish Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge) than she was in the first season. Was consistently happy with Aubrey Plaza's role and performance.
More skimming than reading in the last week, alas. Did catch the World Channel repeat of the Bellow AMERICAN MASTERS, since I hadn't seen it for several months, since World paired it with the Kurt Vonnegut in Indiana documentary (syndicated by American Public Television rather than networked through PBS) that I had only seen most of previously. With the latter, it struck me how perhaps more often than most German-American writers found themselves writing fairly savage satire over the years since at least WW2...among those only briefly singled out in our culture by the larger mass as a pernicious influence. Bellow, of course, was looking for excuses for his difficult behavior in daily life, much as with his irritability with those who didn't see things his way in his fiction, were somehow justified. I can sympathize, but only so far, as it is the least admirable quality of my own, and I'm not sure he would characterize it as his.
Thanks, Steve, for your tips as well. Nick Cave is usually more interesting than a casual listen will imply.
Happy solstice holidays to everyone, with Chanukah already under way. My justification for remaining in the Mid-Atlantic for the last 38.5ish years (other than utter blithe acceptance of fate) is that it has the worst that is also Mostly non-lethal weather of any region in the US. We do tend to get a good two weeks every spring and autumn.
Fritz Leiber, Vonnegut's near-exact contemporary and of similar skill and inclinations, was the other major German-Am writer that came to mind thus. Perhaps Vonnegut's (eventually suicidal) mother's being born a Lieber (as Leiber noted in a memoir or two, a Much more common name, literally "lover") helped put me in mind of him, also a child of the Midwest, he in Chicago and expected by family to follow in his parents' footsteps and be a professional actor, which he was, briefly, most famously playing a small role in the Greta Garbo film CAMILLE.
Not loving the winter weather but so far lucky, in that when we get precipitation it has been warm enough to be rain, and when it's cold, it is sunny and dry. Major storm and wind predicted for Thursday and Friday, but now it looks like it will be 50 or so, before it crashed and we get the coldest weather of the season so far (below freezing for several days). Just no snow for another two and a half weeks and I'm happy.
Mostly watching the same as before. The only new addition has been WISTING (Acorn). William Wisting is a Norwegian cop (and recent widower) trying to find (what else?) a serial killer, who has apparently been operating for decades. Since he also operated in the US, two FBI agents (including Carrie-Ann Moss) are sent to help find him. Meanwhile, Wisting's daughter is a young reporter investigating the death of their next door neighbor, whose almost mummified body was discovered three months after he was last seen.
We also watched the second and third two-parter of THREE PINES, which we are enjoying, and the first episode (also Acorn) of series 23 of Deb's favorite, MIDSOMER MURDERS. We finished the second part series of the French SPIN and have one to go.
I read a pretty good Australian first mystery, WAKE by Shelley Burr. It's set in a small town and environs in the outback of central New South Wales. A 9 year old girl disappeared from her bedroom (apparently) 19 years earlier, with her twin sister left behind, and now the investigation is again in the news as a PI (with his own secrets) thinks he can solve the case (and, not coincidentally, earn the $2 million reward). Nice job.
1. Zero interest in WHITE LOTUS
2. Never read Louise Penny so not comparing the series to the books
3. Jackie said George seems to have a lot of clumsy friends
Be careful out there!
So hard to capture a writer's voice on TV. WAKE sounds good.
Still haven't read Franz Leiber. So many writers, so little time.
Jeff, it's easy to fall on "black ice" in a Western NY parking lot or a driveway. First of all, you can't see it. And, by the time you realize you're slipping on invisible ice...it's too late. One of our friends slipped and fell in his driveway. He hit his head and passed out. His wife noticed his car was still in the driveway 20 minutes later and found him flat on the ground!
As well all age, our balance becomes an issue. That's why when the weather here Is bad we stay home. The risks are not worth the potential rewards.
And, every time it shows in Western NY, there are always reports of older people collapsing (and sometimes dying) from shoveling snow. You have to be careful in this environment.
I told Jackie that. And since she is ALWAYS falling herself, she isn't one to talk.
Last week was too busy. We had an overnight guest and had to do some preparations before he arrived. It was a lovely visit but then the next day we lost electricity (and internet) for the whole day. Friday we finally got our Covid booster. I would not say I had a bad reaction but I was very tired the next two days.
We watched more THREE PINES and enjoyed it. Continued watching some STAR TREK TV shows. And original Perry Mason shows and some new Mystery Science Theatre 3000 movies. When our friend was here we watched one of my husband's favorite episodes from the Poirot series: DEATH IN THE CLOUDS. The third time we watched it and it was just as good this time.
I finished MURDER AFTER CHRISTMAS by Rupert Latimer, from the British Library Crime Classics collection. It was screwball and humorous and complicated and too long, but I liked it anyway. I also read O CALEDONIA by Elspeth Barker, which is about 190 pages, a good length. It was sad and not a fun read at all, but I liked it a lot and will need to reread it someday.
I purchased the Kindle edition of SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE. Sometime I will get a copy of FOSTER also.
I was able to get them both (plus Antarctica) from my library on an audi0book. I don't know if your library has Hoopla but it's a great resource.
Will watch DEATH IN THE CLOUDS. I have all the Poirots on Britbox. I am in the perfect mood for it. Went with a friend to the mall today and was relieved and worried at how many people were there.
Where is Jerry!
We have black ice too and a friend broke her femur on it a few years ago-she was laid up for months.
Jerry tried to re_pond u_ing hi_ daughter'_ computer, but when I pre__ed _end I got a notice from INTERPOL (!) that wanted per_onal information! Technology hate_ me.
Gotta get my computer fi_ed. _oon, I hope.
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