What I'm Into (February 2013 Edition)

Read & Reading:

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky - nostalgic, poignant, beautifully crafted.

I Am Half-Sick of Shadows (Flavia de Luce Mystery, Book 4) Alan Bradley - old school whodunit set in an English country home with a delightfully macabre young heroine/sleuth. Good fun, Midsomer Murders style.

The Memory of Love Aminatta Forna - brilliant writing, a story of love and betrayal in the midst of and after war; fascinating insight into the conflict in Sierra Leone.

A Family in Paris: Stories of Food, Life, and Adventure Jane Paech - delicious memoir of an Australian family's sojourn in Paris; gorgeous photography.

A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman Found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master" Rachel Held Evans - I'm very conflicted on this one. I enjoyed Rachel's first book and read her blog regularly but my feelings after reading this were mixed and complicated. Maybe I'll work them out and write more about it.

Instructions for a Heatwave Maggie O'Farrell - Anything O'Farrell writes is wonderful. Just bought and started reading her latest and already I'm sure it will be no exception. If you haven't read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox do so without delay!

Fractured Dawn Barker - I did end up finishing this dark tale of a young mother's experience of post natal depression, psychosis and its devastating result. Jokingly tweeted that I needed intense therapy after reading it and ending up having a fun twitter exchange with the author who also lives here in Perth.

The Rosie Project Graeme Simsion - a quirky romantic comedy, told with intellect and tenderness. Basic plot: I imagine if Parenthood's Max decided he wanted a wife in about 20 years he might go about it this way with similarly hilarious but touching results.

 

TV: It's been a bit of a low month TV wise. Consisting of the following:

Downton Abbey

God knows why but we keep going with Downton. My sister comes over on Sunday nights and we get paralytic at everything The Dowager Countess and Mrs Patmore say, snigger at Thomas and O'Brien's cunning plans and pretty much just merrily mock everyone else. Good times.

My Kitchen Rules - this is my one reality TV vice. Totally addicted. I love the food, the personalities, the melodrama and Pete's ever changing tan. My favourite teams are probably Mick & Matt and Sam & Ali (both from Tasmania - how did that happen?!) but of course the bitchy duos are the most entertaining! Everytime I have a cooking related meltdown now I'm waiting for Manu Feildel to come into my kitchen and give me a hug. Where is he?

Packed to the Rafters

Could this season get anymore disappointing? Nathan came back for one mediocre episode. Ben left. Still no sign of Rachel or Sammi. The show is basically devoid of Rafters, certainly not 'packed' with them. And story lines centred around Ted, Donna or Alex? Zzzzz.

Parenthood

I try and stay up for it but after yawning through extra long and boring Rafters episodes I usually only last about 20 minutes. Trying to catch up online but still falling behind. Can any American friends tell me if I should persevere?

Movies:

The Sapphires

 

Adored this absolute gem of an Aussie film. I loved seeing it pretty well sweep the AACTA awards. Deb Mailman is a goddess. Jess Mauboy too.

Not Suitable For Children

 

We laughed fairly consistently through this little beauty. As with all Michael Lucas's writing you start to become really convinced that things are not going to end predictably or happily at all and thus are totally relieved rather than critical when they do. Also, Ryan Corr is utterly wasted on Rafters, he is certainly the comedic heart here.

Silver Linings Playbook

Disappointing. Wonderful cast but the representation of mental illness was very average and the resolution not in the least believable. If I wanted to see a romantic comedy . . . I would've gone to a freaking romantic comedy!

Friends With Kids

Meh.

Music:

Imagine Dragons. Mumford & Sons. Both of these, on repeat.

Linking up with Leigh Kramer. Join us?

Comments

[Leigh Kramer]

You read a lot of books this month! They all sound interesting. I haven't read RHE's book yet (I'm so behind on my book stack). I'm curious about your reservations. I can't tell you whether to persevere through Parenthood, as the plotlines were too close to home and I watched hardly any of this past season. But friends who kept up with it seem to still enjoy it. Or at least enjoy crying their way through it. :)

Thanks for linking up with What I'm Into! Thank you also for visiting so many people who have linked up. I love seeing all your comments pop up!

[AdeleChapman2]

My pleasure. These are some of my favourite posts.
My reservations on RHE's book are hard to articulate. I guess it was that it felt a little too steeped in American evangelicalism for me and maybe the gimmicky nature of the material which I don't respond to very well (I even had similar reservations with Jen Hatmaker's 7) I kind of felt that some unbalanced caricatures and stereotypes were set up too. But fundamentally my grounding in faith and scripture is probably just not strong enough and I become very conflicted over debates like these and end up being tempted just to give the whole thing away!
The review by 'geekmama' who also linked up with 'What I'm Into' expresses my concerns better.

[Sarah]

I have been looking for some new books to read! Your suggestions look great. I enjoyed the last half of this season of Parenthood, but if you don't want to hear about cancer (it hits too close to home for some people) then you might want to skip it. There are some great moments, though -- especially with Max.

[Adele Chapman]

I will keep trying to make the time to catch up on Parenthood. Yes, I do love Max :) and am especially interested in the Joel & Julia adoption storyline. Cancer stories are a bit too close to home for me but I'm pretty sure in this case all will be well so I think I can brave it! Thank you for your comment. xo