Genre: Early reader chapter book, historical fiction
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Genre: Early reader chapter book, historical fiction
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Books Read in December:
Thorn by Intisar Khanani: An interesting spin on the goose girl fairy tale.
Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: An account of the live and times of the band Daisy Jones and The Six, which is NOT a real band!
Paul, Big, and Small by David Glen Robb: Paul learns to deal with some of the craziness of life thanks to his friends Big and Small.
Half Life by Lillian Clark: What happens if you end up with a clone of yourself?
Favorites of the month: I guess I would say Daisy Jones.
Goals for January (lol now that January is nearly done!)
As is usual, I watched a mix of dramas that aired this year, and dramas from past years, because there is ALWAYS something to try and catch up on...even though "catching up" with kdramas is basically an impossible endeavor. Unless of course you are one of those people can manage to watch 100s of dramas per year, which I am not one.
Anyway, here's my shake down on the dramas this past year.
Total dramas watched: 20
Aired in 2020: 10Guys, this is probably one of the MOST romantic dramas I've seen yet. Or at least in the top of my favorite romantic ones! But EVERYTHING is against these guys. And it's very heart wrenching!
Anyway, I wasn't blown away by anything much this past year, but I did have a few five starred books...so here they are with a few others that made the cut for top ten....posted here along with a blurb from my review.
I made this video featuring my favorite songs of the year... it's really short... I used teeny tiny segments of the song which believe me is VERY painful to do. So... watch it and let me know what you think? If you aren't familiar with these songs, I'm wondering, does something jump out at you, even if I'm giving you just a tiny glimpse at them?
The numbers from this past year:
Book: Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal
Genre: adult fantasy
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
This is a book I've had in my TBR for years and finally read thanks to book club. I enjoyed it. The style and the regency-ness of it, but I felt disappointed in the end because dang it... I wanted some juicy romance!
This book is billed as Jan Austen with magic, which is basically spot on. It feels very Jane Austen and has a lot of nods to Jane Austen books, all with the added element of "glamour" which is where people who are talented in this area can weave colors and pictures and scenes out of the air. They use this to decorate their houses, or to display art, kind of like a painting... or to change their looks, and etc.
Our main character is talented in this regard, and her sister is not. Thus there is a bit of a rivalry going on. But the sister is beautiful and our main character is not. So... yeah. Tension. There are several leading guys in this story and at first we don't really know who our girl is setting her sights on, but we are misled with that and in the end, she goes for someone not quite expected. (Though I knew it would go that way.)
But... BUT... it would have been so much better if we would have had their story develop... and see a romance blossom and have SOME interaction and banter between them. Maybe a kiss? AH! Yes, we as readers are really left wanting! I totally expected this to be part of this story, but no. It wasn't to be. Sadness all around.
It was a bit slow moving too until the end, and then BAM what a crazy climatic ending! So much was happening all at once! I tried to picture it as a movie, and yeah. It would have been a crazy chaotic scene for sure.
Anyway. Fun idea and premise that just needed a little more sweet romance to it.
Genre: high school romantic comedy
Starring: Park Ji-hoon, Lee Ruby, Kim Young-hoon, Jung Da-eun, Im Da-young, Ko Chan-bin and Ahn Do-gyu
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤
I watched this for Younghoon of course. (Yeah because of his group The Boyz who I love.) And in the process fell in love with Park Jihoon. Although his character is a bit over the top even to the point of cringy. I love him anyway.
This is a simple basic high school drama romance, following a set of friends through the ups and downs of life. But like I said, it's a bit much in parts and ended up making me a little crazy in the end... and I just wanted it over. And then the actual end disappointed me so.. do I recommend it?
Basically, I only recommend it if you want to see those two boys mentioned above! Younghoon was really good, but his character is very emo and angry and wow... he uses some colorful language! Thank you Younghoon for teaching me the f word in Korean! GAH! What's up with that dude??? Sigh.
But still, he was very good with acting... and I wouldn't mind seeing him do a better role, something a little less angsty and a little more lighthearted. And where he can be all the cute we know he can be!
The summary is just that our main guy (Park Jihoon) loves the girl, and confesses early on, but most of the drama is him trying to convince her to like him back. She is quite the cold hearted kid and despite is over the top cuteness, she denies him constantly. Her character made me crazy too.
And her friend loves our angsty guy, but he doesn't give her second look. I thought they would come around in the end... but... sigh....
Each of the kids (there are like four guys and three girls I think?) get episodes that feature their back stories a bit. And we end up rooting for them all. It's quite fun to have a look into the culture that is Korean high school. Pretty crazy actually.
Anyway. It had it's sweet moments, but in the end, I just wanted it to be done! AH! But yeah. Younghoon and Jihoon. All for them!
Here's a trailer that highlights Jihoon's story:
Show: The Queen's Gambit (on Netflix)
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Bill Camp, Marielle Heller
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
This has been quite popular on Netflix these days and surprise... I actually watched it!
It's quite the fascinating character look at someone's crazy life... from being an orphan and having a very strange upbringing, to becoming a famous chess player.
The big question that I haven't quite got answered is... is this based on someone's real life? It sure seems like it is, but I'm not sure it really is.
It takes place in the 60s... when our girl ends up learning chess from the janitor at her orphanage. And it turns out she is quite the prodigy. She gets noticed by the locals and beats all the high school boys even when she is only like 11 years old or something.
She ends up getting adopted by a kind of crazy couple, and then she manages to find her way into tournaments... where she wins one after the other after the other... and thus she starts slowly making money.
But still, it's a quite a sad thing...because she is so very lonely. And she is looking for friends and yet, she is so strange herself that it's very hard for people to connect to her.
Like I said, it's all quite fascinating.
I really loved learning that the dude who made this has been trying for years (like 30 or something?) to get this made and people rejected him over and over.... until finally someone said okay. And now it's gone so crazy with everyone! I love that!
Another thing I loved about this one is the music... of course I found a playlist that includes all the songs. So good!
Anyway, if you haven't checked it out yet... go watch and let me know what you think!
Here's the trailer:
Book: Texas Cowboy, Be Mine by Trish Milburn
Genre: Romance
Rating: ★ ★ ★
I've read a bunch of Trish's kpop romance books, which I totally enjoy. So the other day when she was giving away some of her cowboy romances, I jumped in and actually won one!
So over the holidays I added it to my fluffy read pile and also totally enjoyed it! Not as much as the kpop, but you know... close. LOL! I'm good with cowboys too. Awesome sweet cowboys anyway... (lately some cowboys are getting a bad reputation... I won't elaborate.)
Anyway, I think this book is one in huge series highlighting a family and friends too? (not sure) of a group of ranchers in Texas. Something like that. So this story features the youngest sibling in a family (who I'm assuming all their stories have been told in other books) and now it's finally her turn to find love.
The book opens when suddenly one day she is finally paying attention to a dude who has been in her town and in her school growing up, who she has always kind of liked, but things just never worked out. And of course, he has pretty much loved her all these years, and now she is finally available.
But of course, there are tons of obstacles to work out! But of course they do it!
My only complaint is that these fun little romances aren't long enough to truly develop a romance. They just happen so fast! You all know I love more of a slow burn! Anyway, despite that, it's fun way to escape for a bit. Now I might have to find the stories of the other siblings of this family!
Genre: Romantic comedy
Starring: Bae Suzy, Nam Joo Hyuk, Kim Seon Ho
Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Here's a drama that was getting a lot of buzz, so I had to watch it. Besides, it has Nam Joo Hyuk, so you know. That's a given.
So anyway, it's about a dude who wants to get his own software company started, and he ends up joining a program that helps people get going on that. It takes them through a bunch of missions to complete and then the final few get help getting going.
But before that he meets this girl who changes his life. This girl... who man, it's kinda complicated! So when this girl was young, she was struggling with all sorts of things, and her grandma gets this kid to anonymously write to her, only they made up a name... taken from a newspaper article. So she thinks that's who is writing her. Turns out... the name they took from the article is the kid who is wanting to start his business mentioned earlier.
When the girl grows up, she wants to find this boy who wrote to her... when the REAL boy who wrote to her all those years learns this (from the grandma) he finds the kid who's name he stole and asks him to pretend to be the the one who wrote the letters. Are you following?
And so when he pretends to be that... he ends up liking this girl of course. But now she thinks he's the letter writer. But really the other guy is. Yeah?
Meanwhile, she ends up being part of his start up company. And yeah... so it goes from there with all this crazy misunderstanding, and who is who, and what is what and WAH!
I really enjoyed the romantic cuteness of this one, and the heart wrenching love triangle. The business aspects of this one... of which there are a lot... bogged me down sometimes, but mostly that was interesting too.
But, mostly, Nam Joo Hyuk is just a joy to watch. He played the awkward nerdy computer dude SO WELL! Wow...the best. And he's is just so adorable and fun.. and then when he gets confidence as the story goes along, he does that just as well too. So good.
Here's a great trailer that will give you an awesome look at the feel of this drama:
Book: Half Life by Lillian Clark
Genre: YA SF
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
This answers the question: What if you could have a clone of yourself? Then what?
Would you make her do all the stuff you don't want to do so you can go and party?
Would she not have feelings and desires of her own?
Would she know and think the exact same way you do?
What is truly the ethicality of such an idea?
In this crazy story, our girl is stressed about all the things she has to do, and also, she's just plain sick of her life, so when a company approaches her with a crazy idea, she decides to go for it.
And thus she finds herself going through all the processes of getting cloned. At first she thinks it's going to be awesome, but slowly she realizes that it's not really as great as it sounded to begin with.
The book is written in that once we have a clone of our character, we start seeing things from both points of view. We have Lucille, or original... and Lucy... our clone. And what an interesting way to solve a love triangle, eh? Just have the character clones, and BOTH boys get the girl! LOL!
So very crazy this story is!
And lots to think about.
I really enjoyed it, though sometimes I still felt a bit distanced from this character, I don't know why. Anyway, for the most part it was really interesting.
Book: Paul, Big, and Small by David Glen Robb
Genre: YA ContemporaryRating: ★ ★ ★ ★
This is a cute story, that deals with all the hot button topics in a sensitive not in-your-face way, something you know I always appreciate.
We have Paul, who is like a junior (I think, now I forget how old he is) in high school, but he's so short he looks like a little kid to everyone. His method of survival is to blend in and not make a big scene and hope everyone ignores him. He's suffered a lot from bullying and his goal is to avoid that as much as he can.
And he kinda sorta likes this girl who he's known since he was 7... but she doesn't know he exists until things get going in this story. She is very big... very tall, and very black. But her last name is Small... which of course, everyone finds extremely funny. But, turns out this unlikely pair end up being quite likely to become friends.
And then we have Big, a nickname given to our third character because he is.... big. A big Polynesian dude with an extremely sunny disposition who everyone likes. He can dispel any tension in a room by just walking in. He's great!
And so these three become friends and deal with the craziness of high school life... including the bullies that cross their paths. We learn some backstories regarding the bullies that deals with depression and mental health. And we also deal with some cancer sickness with our own trio.
All of this is set to the backdrop of not only high school, but a climbing school that Paul loves and where he excels and feels himself.
It's all very heartwarming despite some of the heavy topics it deals with. I kinda loved that. And these characters are especially great.
Book: Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Genre: Literary Fiction
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★
Often we'll read non fiction books and say... wow! That reads like fiction! Well this book is just the opposite... it's a fiction book that reads like non fiction! So very interesting!
It's set up in an interview style, as if a reporter is talking to and compiling the answers of, all the people involved in this story. And the story is the rise and fall of a very famous band called Daisy Jones and The Six during the seventies. A fictional band... remember. But it feels so real that it makes one wish for pictures and the desire to go and google them and see what they look like, and find their songs and listen to them! LOL!
Anyway, it centers around the leader of The Six... and Daisy Jones, both very interesting characters, with lots and lots of flaws. So many flaws in fact that I wasn't sure I even liked them very much. Most of the people in this story are very selfish, which makes me want to shake them up and say what are you thinking?
Still, you can't help but get attached to them and wonder how it's all going to go down, which, if you know the normal course of many bands, you can probably predict.
Anyway, it was a fun read and enjoyable just because it was so different.
Let me know if you've read it and what you think... or if you pick it up and give it a try. But remember... it's a FICTIONAL band!
(The author does say she based some of it from the story of Fleetwood Mac... so maybe some of it is true? Ish?)