TV Review: The BBC's Sherlock

Awhile back when I was about to commence watching BBC's new version of Sherlock  Kailana of The Written World mentioned she was about to do the same thing. Then Melissa of One Librarian's Book Reviews chimed in that so was she! You've heard of read a longs? Well, we decided to do a "watch" along. It took us a a few months to watch these three 1 1/2 hour episodes, but yes, we've finally done it!

And now, we feel the need to review the experience just as we would a book read along. Here are a few questions we've asked each other with my responses.

What's your favorite thing about this show?

The banter between Sherlock and Watson. Priceless and so funny. As is my norm, I get more out the character interaction than I do the actual plot. These characters are wonderful and definitely my favorite part of the show.

What's your least favorite thing?

There's not a whole lot to NOT like, but as in all mystery type stories, I don't really care about solving the actual crime, but this show makes the "how" interesting and very fun.

Let's talk more about the characters...

Sherlock... he's a strange boy he is. Very witty, of course and extremely observant, but harsh and a bit mean and wow, does he ever rub people the wrong way or what? I think there's some vulnerability down under there somewhere that maybe we'll see eventually. The actor has the most awesome voice ever, I love it.

Watson... he has some issues, does he not? A little jumpy, a little leery of everyone. Does he like Sherlock, or just tolerate him? Is he a little scared of him? I'm not sure, but I get that feeling anyway. 

What was your favorite episode of the three?

I think the last one. The middle one I watched while distracted, so maybe that was the problem there. I need to re-watch it or something. But that last one was crazy fun! (Should I know the name of it? Okay, looked it up... The Great Game.) Meeting Moriarty creeped me out big time! Wow, he was insane!

Do you like how the show is set in the present day? 

Yes, I like it. I think it's really fun. Though I saw someone somewhere say that the first episode of the next season doesn't work so well in the present day, so I'm anxious to see if I agree or not. But it does give quite a different feel for it. I wonder what Mr. ACD would think?

Have you ever read the original novels? If so, how do you think the characters compare to those in the books? (And if you haven’t, does watching the spin-off shows and movies make you want to?)

I've read two of the original books... A Study in Scarlet (which I did not like) and Hound of the Baskervilles (which I liked.) I don't remember what I thought of the characters much from the books (it was probably more about the mystery and less about the characters) so I think these TV characters are much more fun and three dimensional.

What do you think of how while Sherlock is thinking words appear on the screen instead of the watcher being left in the dark.

I absolutely LOVE this! I think this is one of the best things they've thought of for this remake of the stories. It's so cool. The directing and special effects, and even the music, are all wonderful.

What do want to see in the second season?

I think Sherlock likes that nurse, yes? And he is going to give himself away before it's over! I want Watson to stand up to Sherlock a little more and gain some confidence. And like I said above, I want to see Sherlock show some vulnerability.


Bottom line: I'm loving this show! I can't wait to watch the next set of three, whenever they become available, or I find them online somewhere. I highly recommend this show to you all, especially if you love stuff the BBC does like I seem to be doing these days. I swear, anything they do will be amazing.

Oh, and P.S. Did you guys catch the blogger line? Because Watson is a blogger, and he asked Sherlock, "should I come too" and Sherlock says  something like "yes, of course, what would I do without my blogger along?" That was great.

Be sure to check out Kailana's and Melissa's take on the show (links above.) Also, another awesome blogging buddy, L from omphaloskepis has been raving  much about the show lately. And she's watched the second series too even.

Review: Where She Went by Gayle Forman

Book: Where She Went by Gayle Forman
Genre: YA Romance-ish
Rating: ****
For: Fun
From: The Library

I read If I Stay last year and really quite loved it. I truly felt the pain and agony and sadness. My review here. And now spoilers for that book to follow in reviewing its sequel!

This book picks up a few years after the first one ended. Do you remember what Adam told Mia in the first book? He made a promise. Do you remember? This promise comes back to haunt him in this second book.

So, when she woke up she felt the need (which is explained in this book as it goes on) to distance herself from him. So they went their separate ways. Adam is now a famous rock star living the life, which, according to this book, is quite hellish. He is basically falling apart. It's extremely sad.

Mia is a famous cellist and is making her own name in the music world. They've had no contact these many years.

Then, when he is about to take off on tour, they bump into each other, and spend the evening/night/day talking, and remembering. Well, it's all from Adam's point of view this time around, so he is doing the remembering, and it's interesting to see how he perceives things.  But the question throughout the whole book is... is there any  hope for these two? Will they get back together, or just talk and continue on their separate ways?

The thing I found fascinating about this book is the detail of a what it might be like in the life of a rock star. Did the author go interview guys for research? Seriously, I want to know if it's this "bad" and sad and lonely and exhausting and wow... it does not seem like fun at all. Why would anyone aspire to this career? It's the dream for so many kids it seems and I wonder if when they make it, are they happy?

Anyway, but the book is really about Adam and Mia and for the most part I enjoyed the tension between them and the ever present question mentioned above. It's still a sad story, just like the first one. With hope though. Yes, there's hope.

Bottom line: I enjoyed it a lot.

Other Reviews:

I'm Booking It
That's What She Read
Book Journey
Rhapsody in Books

In Which I Write Letters

Last year I remember seeing my awesome blogging friend, Ibeeeg, mention that she wanted to write more letters that year. I thought, cool idea, I'm going to do that someday.

So this year, I decided, I would give it try.

Then, I heard about this event: A Month of Letters, wherein we write a letter a day during February. What a perfect way to get a kick start on this letter writing thing that I wanted to do, yes? And at first I wasn't going to officially sign up, but now, I changed my mind. So sign up I did. And now I need to write lots of letters.

Which brings me to this request:

I want to write you, yes YOU, a letter (or a postcard, or send you some sort of fun thing in the mail) and if I don't have your address, as in that SNAIL MAIL thing, I can't. So if you'd like me send you something, send me an email with your address (jenstusue AT yahoo) or send me a Twitter DM  (@SueySays) with your address and I will gladly add you to my letter writing list.

Back in the day, when I was young, I had pen pals. Anyone remember the them? I wrote faithfully for years to a cousin that was a few years older than me. Then my uncle connected me to a girl in Taiwan, and we wrote for years. Then my friend knew some girls in England, and so I wrote to one of them for years.

It was a blast. And now all this online connection has taken it's place, and fulfilling the same sort of need in me to connect with people all over the world. Yet, there's just something about writing a letter and mailing it that makes a person feel good... and truly connected.

I can't wait to get going!

Books Read January 2012

Wow, this is a good start to the year! If I can keep this up, maybe I'll make that lovely 100 books goal, no problem!

Here's what I read this month, with my quick little blurbs and links to my reviews:

Torment by Lauren Kate: Daniel sends Luce to school in California to keep her safe and then she discovers she has a sort of power.

Delirium by Lauren Oliver: Lena has been taught all her life that love is a disease, but then she meets Alex and the questions begin.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: Hazel meets Augustus at a cancer group meeting and they become fast friends.

Persuasion by Jane Austen: Anne gets very nervous to see Captain Wentworth again after eight years of no contact, but quickly calms down when she realizes he is probably going to marry Louisa.

I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith: Cassandra and her family live in a run down castle, barely making ends meet, but their lives change when a new family moves to the manor next door.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer: Cinder is a cyborg trained to fix things and her life changes when the prince walks into her shop.

Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins: Lola thinks she is over Cricket, but when he comes back after two years, she's not so sure anymore.

Where She Went by Gayle Forman: After Mia's accident, Mia and Adam live separate lives on opposite ends of the country, but then they get a chance to talk again.

May B. by Caroline Starr Rose: May is sent to be live in help for a new bride, but things do not go quite as planned.

Partials by Dan Wells: Kira risks her life to find the cure to the virus that is killing humanity.

Ah, they were all good! How am I to pick a favorite among this bunch? I can't do it, seriously. My only sadness is that I didn't manage to fit in a non-fiction.

Plans for February:

• read more adult stuff, but not ALL adult stuff, like Jenny is doing
• fit in a non fiction... leaning towards Unbroken
• read another classic for the challenge, perhaps A Long Fatal Love Chase, or Ramona, both love stories for February.
• read Atonement for book club
• finish Inheritance and Path of Daggers... please let me finish these books!
• read The Wise Man's Fear... please let me fit this one in!!
• I got Overbite in the mail and I love to read that too.
• most likely I'll read Midnight in Austenland before this month is over too!

Can't wait to get to them all! Wow, I do so love to read!

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Club Favorites!

Oh my, how can it be Tuesday? Again!? Already!?

For today's Broke and Bookish Top Ten list, I've gone to my master list of book club books that we've read and have listed below what I feel have been favorites of ours over the years. This doesn't necessary mean that everyone LOVED and adored the book, but that it created a lot of fun discussion. Actually, it's best if there are differing opinions of a book, or if a book is a little off the grid for the particular group, so it gets everyone talking. Sometimes if everyone likes a book and it's just a "good" book then the discussion amounts to "yep, I liked it, it was good." And there's nothing more to say, right? So with that said, here's my list:

Top Ten Book Club Favorites

1. Life of Pi by Yann Martel (this one was totally different from what most people had read)
2. Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel (a fascinating look at Galileo's life which got us talking)
3. Charms for the Easy Life by Kaye Gibbons (I just remember this one as a favorite)
4. A Girl Named Zippy by Haven Kimmel (we laughed a lot during this discussion)
5. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell (we STILL talk about this one, every single gathering!)
6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (some people didn't really like this one.. GASP!)
7. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (the discussion for this one blew me away.. I was speechless)
8. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (always a book club favorite everywhere I think)
9. These Is My Words by Nancy Turner (lots of emotional talk for this one too)
10. Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (many mixed feelings)

And a few failures, just for fun:

The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan Gurganus
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1776 by David McCullough
Middlemarch by George Eliot

What have been some of your book club's favorites?

Review: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

Book: Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins
Genre: YA Romance
Rating: ****
For: Fun
From: Borrowed from Jenny

I was a little worried at first about this book. I could tell I was not going to relate to Lola at all. Her life is so completely different from anything I've experienced or known. Not that that has to be true in order for me to connect to characters, but you know, I just thought I wasn't going to like her.

But I did after all, and she turned out to be an awesome character, even if she did make some pretty bad choices and decisions. Rocker dude, anyone? See, I already forgot his name. Him, I did NOT like. Ew, yucky.

But then there was Cricket, who is of course, the boy next door. No, his name I have not forgotten and will probably not forget for a long time. I really really liked him. Tall and gangly, a little awkward, so very nice and smart and sweet. I thought about him so much after reading the book that I even wore elastic bands on my wrist for a day (well a couple of hours at work) in his honor!

Anyway, so if you haven't read this one yet, and I know most of you have, there's Lola who lives with her dads (yes dads) in San Francisco. (I loved this setting by the way. It's nice to have been to a city when it's featured in a book, you know? Makes picturing it all so much fun!) And she has always been in love with her next door neighbor. But a few years ago, they had a bit of an issue, sort of a fight, mostly a misunderstanding. Then he moved away.

Well, now he is back. But too bad so sad, she is now totally over him and in love with Rocker Dude, who's name I forget.

Yeah, well, we all know how that's going to go! Or do we?

Bottom line: I loved it!

Other Reviews, just a few of the gazillions:

Alternate Readality
Jenni Elyse
Milk and Cookies
Chachic's Book Nook

The Sunday Salon: Taking it Easy

It's been quite the mild, low key week. I've enjoyed that. Here's what's going on at our house:

Outside my window: Sunday afternoon and it's quite nice outside my window. A bit balmy even I'm thinking.

I am listening to: my YouTube favorites playlist. People, if you aren't making a favorites playlist ever there, you are really missing out on a great way to listen to your favorite stuff! Seriously.  And I'm trying to decide what to pick for my song of the week.

Song of the week: So why is it the last few weeks no songs have stood out to me during the week, but this week I have several. And I can't decide. You are all going to think they are strange and weird songs. You are going to wonder what's up with me. Okay, we'll go with this one.

Have I mentioned Tiesto before? Most likely. He does that dj-ing thing, which I don't really get, but whatever it is, it's cool. A little head pounding if you have tendency towards a headache, but still. It's cool. So I discovered that he has a song for the Mission Impossible theme... music that I've always loved. And this video to go with it it cool too. I have yet to see the movie though.




My favorite MI music is this song from the second movie, especially at about 2:15 into the video. Oh my, blasting that in the car is so so awesome!!!



TV Talk: I've been all over the place regarding TV this week. I finished the first season (series? I think they say series over there in the UK!) of Sherlock. Awesome stuff! And last night I was in a mood so I watched the first episode of My So Called Life, and earlier in the week we watched the first episode of The Wonder Years. I also watched some random Robin Hood episode because man I miss those guys! And I watched episode 4 (season 4) of Merlin on YouTube, and also a couple of Matt Smith Doctor Who's. All this on Netflix of course (except the one YouTube one) So on REAL TV I watched Once Upon a Time and Downtown Abbey last week (more tonight, yay!) and American Idol. I tried to watch Revenge online but the episodes I need aren't there anymore. :( Oh and there was no Vampire Diaries! People! What ARE you thinkin?  Um yeah, so, do you think I have a TV issue?

Reading Report
Books I've finished: This week I finished both Lola and the Boy Next Door and also Where She Went. Reviews coming this week!
Books I've started: I had great intentions of reading a ton of Inheritance this week, but instead, I ended up getting my hands on an ARC of Partials by Dan Wells, so I've started that instead.
Books I want to start: Anxious to start The Wise Man's Fear. It's time. It really is.

I am thinking: in regards to my TV viewing problem, here's what I think... I think that TV shows are like books.. they are stories, just in a different medium. So does it not make sense that if I like books, I will like TV? Yes? But so many book lovers say, blech, I don't DO TV! But I say, TV is truly just like books. Really. Hmmm... does this thought merit its own post? Hmmm....

I am grateful for: a really robust immune system! I keep thinking that I might getting something, but then, the next day I feel fine. Fight, body, fight!

What I learned this week: in order to get out of the house on time you must prepare your stuff the night before. I know. What a concept, eh?

Around the house: it's been recently vacuumed. And somehow we almost convinced one kid to keep the bathroom clear of towels and clothes. Almost. If we can accomplish this one little thing, we will have made huge progress in the "around the house" category!

Recipe of the week: For dinner today we had steak cooked with tomatoes in the crock pot, boiled potatoes, fruit salad, and homemade rolls. One day this week I made this recipe found on Pinterest and it was very delicious.

Favorite things of the week: going to the Everneath launch party, having some very relaxing no stress days (makes me wonder if this is a calm before a storm or something,) lots of reading, pondering books for next year's book club list

Family matters: One kid took a little road trip to see his friend this weekend. That sounded fun. One kid has gone on three dates with three different guys within the one week. That sounds kinda fun too. One kid is still coughing his guts out. His current song to learn on the drums and to play with his band is Bitter Sweet Symphony. And finally, one kid is reading The Hiding Place for school (in 7th grade... what do you think about this people?)

Things discussed around the house this week: blogger/author/librarian drama, computer ailments, the eating of fruits and vegetables, the price of food, how early to set your alarm so that you will still get up when you actually need to get up, and why do the bed sheets totally slide to one side every single night?

Things I hope to accomplish in the coming week: prepare for an upcoming kid birthday, write some real letters, exercise (because I seem to be doing crappy on that little assignment,) tweak more blog items.

The Blog Report: I did some book club reporting, both what we thought of our book and other stuff we discussed. I told you all about the launch party, and I told you what books I hated. I also begged lurkers to say hi, but I think I pretty much failed on that because most of the people that commented where my regulars! Too funny. Oh yeah, and I also discussed YA vs. adult books. I had fun this week!