BOOKS:
What I Read:
*Fool by Christopher Moore - my review
*Black Widow by Nathan Edmondson, Phil Noto
*Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe by Cullen Bunn, Dalibor Talajić
*Aquaman by Geoff Johns, Ivan Reis, Joe Prado -my review
*Guardians of the Galaxy: Book of Kings 1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Paul Pelletie
*Guardians of the Galaxy: Book of Kings 2 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Brad Walker
*Guardians of the Galaxy: Realm of Kings by Dan Abnett,Andy Lanning, Brad Walker
*Wonderwoman: Guts by Brian Azzarello, Cliff Chiang, Tony Akins, Dan Green
*How to Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran (post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post 5 - Spoilers!)
Book Stats:
86% male / 14% female (ooof)
72% American / 28% International
89% ebook / 11% audiobook / 0% physical
100% fiction / 0% non-fiction
78% graphic novels / 22% novels
Well this was a bit of a rubbish month for books wasn't it! But while I haven't finished much (other than lots and lots of graphic novels) I have started a whole lot of other books. I am currently juggling Haruki Murakami's new book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage with Gregory Maguire's Wicked. I'm also still slowly slogging away with Cheryl Strayed's Wild. Note to anyone interested in reading it, do not download either the Kindle or Google play editions. The Kindle version is an Oprah edition which basically means every second line is underlined because it's supposedly inspirational (ugh) and the Google play book has removed every comma as well as the space between the words that bracketed the comma. Shame on the editors or whatever the digital equivalent is, it's ridiculous and makes a book that I'm not particularly enjoying even harder to read.
FILM/TV
This month marks 5 years since Tom and I first started dating so we celebrated in our usual fashion, dinner and a movie. This time we went and saw Richard Linklater's Boyhood and guys, it's freaking amazing. It's a very simple almost non-narrative film but it takes place over 12 years, 12 actual years and tells the story of a boy growing up. It's a fascinating character study and probably isn't for everyone but if you think it sounds like something you might like (read this review for a little more info) you should definitely put aside 3 hours to go see it on the big screen.
I also went and saw a new big budget Australian drama/thriller (my review) These Final Hours which really knocked my socks off and I went and saw the Guardians of the Galaxy film. Which kind of explains the massive chunk of GotG comics up in my monthly reads. Guardians was awesome guys, which wasn't a surprise (LOOK AT THAT CAST. LOOK AT THAT RACCOON WITH A GUN! I AM GROOT) but seriously, most fun I've had in a blockbuster in ages. Take that lazy Michael Bay and Expendables, big does not have to equal bad.
My Netflix account has been taking a hell of a beating. I like to have the tv going in the background while I work. I know most people use music, but for some reason music distracts me while television doesn't. I read the other week that Netflix reports that the average person takes 8 days to watch a season of a TV show, but I bet I've thrown all their figures out since I have it going for like 12 hours straight! I tend to favour shows I've already watched or that are trashy because then I don't get sucked into the narrative. So hello Scandal and Grey's Anatomy and Coupling! By the way, the relationships in Scandal and Grey's Anatomy are gross, like really gross. Which would be fine if the writers knew they were gross but they clearly don't. It's like the 50 Shades of Grey of TV, but the BDSM is all mental and just as unhealthy as 50 Shades. Speaking of 50 Shades*, The Fall on the other hand is brilliant and my reward for a day's hard work. I'm only a few episodes in but so far it's great and I highly recommend it.
LINKS
*A chapter that was cut from Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has been released and it's dark, but dark in your typical brilliant Dahl kind of way. (Via The Guardian)
*Medium published an article about paedophilia which, while confronting, presents an interesting point of view I'd never thought of before. The author interviews several teenaged and young adult paedophiles that have never offended and don't want to - which raises the question, what is paedophilia? Is it a psychological illness, a form of sexual identity, something genetic? It's a really heavy article, but I'm glad (appreciative?) I read it. (Via Medium)
*I adore this illustration (infograph?) of authors and the walks they took to inspire their work (Via The New York Times)
*A really relevant article about the recent leaking of celebrity nude photos and why you shouldn't look at them since some people apparently don't understand why they shouldn't. (Via Daily Life)
*Since the actor Jamie Dornan is playing a super creep in both.
