Category: TV

Tidy Tidbits: Books & More

JWF Leave a comment

READERS’ FAVORITES

Here are a some of the book recommendations I received from my regular readers.  You will see a few familiar titles here as well as new ones. 

And There Was Light by Jon Meacham (nonfiction about Abraham Lincoln)

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

Booth by K. J. Fowler

The Swimmers by J. Otsuka

Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

Memory Keeper of Kyiv by Erin Litteken (historical novel about Ukraine in the 1930’s)

The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (YA novel by an Indigenous author about two teens’ clash of cultures)

For other recommended titles see the public comments on the blog site at https://www.jauntingjean.com/reading-favorite-books-of-2022/

A NOVEL FOR OUR TIME

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

Boylan & Picoult (mysteryandsuspense.com)

I’m always leery of novels written by two authors, but I’m a fan of much of Jodi Picoult’s work.  She has a history of tackling contemporary issues, often divisive ones, from abortion to racism to genetics.  Her latest novel is co-written with Jennifer F. Boylan, author of several novels and the memoir, She’s Not There, which I can also highly recommend.  

This is a novel about secrets, what we choose to share with others, and what we keep private.  It’s also a love story, a book about how we define ourselves, and a suspenseful courtroom drama.  Olivia and her son Asher escaped to New Hampshire when Olivia left an abusive marriage.  She takes over her father’s role as a professional beekeeper.  Ava and her teenage daughter Lily move from Seattle and California.  Ava is a forest ranger working in the woods.  Lily becomes a student at the local high school, plays cello in the orchestra, and meets and likes hockey team star Asher.  Without revealing too much, these four lives become intertwined in unexpected ways.  

This is an absorbing, gripping, and sensitively written novel.  As the work of two writers, I found it seamless.  And it’s a book I would gladly place on the shelves of any and every high school library! (~JWFarrington)

WATCHING: NEW SEASONS

Whitstable Pearl, Season 2 (Acorn on Prime)

Pearl & Mike (IMBd)

In Season 2, oyster bar owner and private detective Pearl Nolan becomes more of a private eye, and the cases she helps solve are more tragic than in the first series.  Detective Mike McGuire remains dispirited over the death of his wife, but has a new partner, upbeat Kate.  Pearl appears to have moved on with her own new squeeze, schoolteacher Tom, but there are still intense glances between Pearl and Mike.   Overall, the series is darker than Season 1 and, except for one episode I found somewhat silly, entertaining drama.  

Under the Vines, Season 2 (Acorn on Prime)

Griff, Louis, Daisy, Tippy, & Gus (Libertine Pictures)

Daisy and Louis are still together running their jointly owned New Zealand vineyard in this lighter-hearted series.  As the season opens, Louis’s son and wife are both visiting, creating a crowded house, and upending the fragile developing romance between him and Daisy.  Secondary characters, Griff, Gus, and Tippy, bring gay and Māori perspectives to the series.  It’s funny, but not fluffy, and serious at points without being somber.  New episodes are being released weekly on Mondays. 

Note: Header photo of a school library courtesy of az12.org.

 

Tidy Tidbits: See, Read, Watch

JWF Leave a comment

FOOD FOR THE BRAIN

Barbara Stephenson (UNC-Chapel Hill)

This week we attended in person the first program in the Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning (SILL) 2023 Global Issues series.  It was the first time we’d been back live since Covid.  Attendance was sparse compared to earlier years, but the speaker was excellent.  

Former Ambassador Barbara Stephenson is the inaugural vice-provost for global affairs at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.  During her 30 years with the foreign service, she served as ambassador to Panama, deputy ambassador in London, and as president of the American Foreign Services Association among other assignments.  

Her talk on the special challenges the U.S. faces in dealing with superpowers China and Russia was informative, well-illustrated, and well delivered.  It was a great beginning for the series.   She exemplified the kind of speaker who merits a return invitation.  

RECENT READING

Spare by Prince Harry

I pre-ordered Prince Harry’s memoir before we watched his Netflix series.  With all the leaks about the book’s content and the somewhat negative, or at least, mixed reviews, I half wondered if it would be worth reading.  For me, it was.

While most of us know Harry was traumatized after his mother’s death and have read and heard a lot about his and Meghan’s departure from the U.K., there is much about his military service and his family life between age 12 and meeting Meghan, that was new. 

After Princess Diana’s death, Harry did not receive the necessary help nor figure out himself how to move forward in a balanced way.  The Windsor royals eschew showing emotion publicly and even privately are reported as not a demonstrative family.  Harry’s memoir is all about feelings and emotions and yes, he overshares.  

Reading it, I felt empathy for the troubled teen and young man he was and admired his efforts to want to do some good in the world.  Notable examples are his work in several African countries (where he felt free) and his establishment of the Invictus Games for wounded service members and veterans. 

As expected, he puts a lot of blame for some of his anxiety and issues on the British press and on a few individuals in the palace’s communications office.  While being in the public eye and putting up with press attention are expected of the royal family, the hurtful and false media articles and constant surveillance, especially targeting Meghan, come across as beyond the usual and unwarranted.  With their escape to California, perhaps Harry and Meghan and their children will be able to enjoy more peaceful settled lives.

A word about the writing in the book.  It is compelling and even elegant at points.  Thanks to the laudable work of collaborator J. R. Moehringer, Harry’s memoir has an arc and a shape that make it very readable.  For one of the better reviews, I recommend Rebecca Mead’s piece in the January 23rd issue of The New Yorker, The Haunting of Prince Harry. (~JWFarrington)

FOOTNOTE ON VIEWING

Characters Joon-ho & Woo Young Woo (soompi.com)

I finished watching all sixteen episodes of Season 1 of Extraordinary Attorney Woo on Netflix and still highly recommend it.  It’s engaging, the legal cases are intriguing, there’s underhanded politics, and occasionally, it’s even funny.  Over the course of the series, Attorney Woo astounds, annoys, and sometimes badgers her colleagues.  She is uneasy and often blunt in social situations causing embarrassment, yet she has a phenomenal memory for case law.  Part of her coming into her own is learning how to accept affection. Her fragile romance with colleague Joon-ho is beautifully played out and even sweet. 

Note: Header photo of Meghan and Harry is from Global News.

Tidy Tidbits

JWF Leave a comment

MUSICAL TREAT

Chanticleer (Singers.com)

When we lived in San Francisco, we were fans of and Chanticleer subscribers.  We heard them perform in large and small venues and felt as if we got to know some of the singers a bit.  This men’s acapella choir tours around the U.S. and has even sung abroad.  It was delightful to hear them locally in their Christmas concert at the Sarasota Opera House.  None of the guys were familiar to us, but it was a wonderful evening of medieval songs, traditional English carols, and even a few popular tunes.  For a taste of their exquisite harmonies, here’s a link to a 2021 rendition of “I Wonder as I Wander.”

VIEWING

The Chief Penguin and I finished watching The Crown last week which, despite the opinion of critics, we thought was well presented.  And yes, we know it isn’t a documentary and the filmmaker has taken creative liberties with some scenes.  In the later episodes Charles, now king, is portrayed quite positively, while Imelda Staunton is a convincing Queen Elizabeth.  

Extraordinary Attorney Woo  (Netflix)

Attorney Woo in court (Study Breaks Magazine)

Thanks to my sister Sal, I am enjoying this legal series.  It’s a South Korean series about a high-functioning autistic young woman who is a newly hired lawyer at a prestigious firm.   Although she struggles with everyday tasks like walking through a revolving door, she has a superb memory and is a creative thinker.  Her portrayal is sensitively done, and one sees her colleagues gradually accepting her oddities and her abilities.   The cases and clients are challenging ones for the firm, and Woo’s insights are often key to a successful resolution.  

There are 16 episodes, each an hour long, and I’ve now watched three of them.  As a side note, I read that several years ago, the state of Florida hired its first autistic lawyer, also a woman.   

BOOK NOTE–MARGOT

I subscribe to BookBrowse, an online newsletter highlighting new publications.  There are reviews, author interviews, and suggested titles for book groups. Some content is free to anyone. As a subscriber, I have the occasional opportunity to request an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) with the understanding that I will either share my impression of the book in a short review or participate in an online discussion of the book by formulating and posting a series of questions.  I much prefer to do a brief review.  

I just finished reading and posting a review of a novel to be published in Jan. 2023. It’s entitled Margot by Wendell Steavenson.  I had mixed feelings about it as you will see if you read my First Impressions on the BookBrowse website at:  https://www.bookbrowse.com/reader_reviews/details/index.cfm/ref/rr50935

Holiday cheer in Winter Park, FL

Note: Header poinsettia photo and snowman ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Tidy Tidbits: TV, Novel, & Meal

JWF Leave a comment

RECENT VIEWING

FLUFF FOR FUN

Love and Gelato (Netflix)

Lina promises her dying mother that she will spend the summer before college in Rome.  In this bonbon to Italy, she falls in love with the city and the people.  Along the way, she has several romantic interests while being under the protective care of Francesca, her mother’s longtime friend.  It is a summer of firsts for Lina as she wonders about her unknown father.  The movie is based on a young adult novel of the same name.   I happened on this when I was looking for some treadmill viewing.  It’s cute and sweet, and less predictable than I expected.  

LASTING TRAUMA OF WAR

Causeway (Apple+)

James and Lynsey in Causeway (Slant Magazine)

I had just read a review of this new movie starring Jennifer Lawrence when the Chief Penguin and I were settling in to watch something else and up popped a link to Causeway.  It’s a slow measured film about returning Afghanistan vet Lynsey who suffered a brain injury from an exploding IED.  

Returning home after rehabilitation, she struggles to put a life back together.  She meets car mechanic James who lost a leg in a car accident, and the two hesitantly gravitate toward spending time together.  They are about as dissimilar as can be, one white, one Black, one straight, one gay, but both broken in some way.  The performances are moving, Brian Tyree Henry’s as much as Lawrence’s.  It’s painful viewing at points, but a meaningful film.  

UNUSUAL HEROINE

The English (Amazon Prime)

Blunt in The English (FilmBook)

Emily Blunt stars and is an executive producer of this western set in 1890 on the plains in Kansas and Oklahoma.  Based on the review I read, I was predisposed to like it, but I’m finding it hard going. 

Blunt is Lady Cornelia Locke, an English woman bent on revenge for the killing of her young son.  On her journey, she encounters and is rescued by Sgt. Eli Whipp, a now retired Pawnee scout, played by Chaske Spencer.  His goal is to file a land claim for an allotment in Nebraska.  They are an unlikely pair, but slowly they begin to accept each other, and a fragile trust is born.  It’s a lawless time out west with every man out for himself.  

The scenery is stunning, the violence gruesome and gory, and the pace is deliberate and slow.  I’ve watched almost three episodes of the six while on the treadmill, but it’s so slow, that I may return to it when I am not moving. 

NEW FICTION

FAMILY SAGA

French Braid by Anne Tyler

Tyler at 80 (Sydney Morning Herald)

Tyler’s most recent novel, French Braid, was my book group’s pick for November.  While I didn’t love this book, most of the group didn’t care for it at all.  We grappled with whether Mercy, the mother, was the focal point and if she was a typical woman of the 1950’s and 60’s, frustrated in middle age in her attempts to have a career. 

Over 60 years, the book follows the Garrett family of Mercy, her husband Robin, and their three children, Lily, Alice, and David. It begins with their first family vacation in 1959 through the children’s marriages, Robin and Mercy’s 50th wedding anniversary, and the arrival of several grandchildren.  They are a diffuse collective who are often detached and aloof from one another.  

Mercy, an aspiring artist and unfulfilled mother, effectively leaves her husband for her art, but neither she nor the other family members publicly acknowledge that fact.  David, the youngest child, seldom communicates with his parents or sisters and quietly marries a work colleague.  In later years, a grandson doesn’t socialize with relatives believing they are unaware that he is gay and has a partner.  

Tyler’s writing is always engaging even if you don’t care for the characters.  You can appreciate what she is doing and how she demonstrates that common personality traits or actual gestures persist through the generations. They connect these seemingly disparate individuals like the kinked strands of hair in a French braid.  (~JWFarrington)

DINING OUT

Scuderia Italian Cuisine, Bradenton

Located next to the Oakmont Theater on Cortez Road West, Scuderia is a new addition to Bradenton’s dining scene.  It specializes in pizzas and pasta in an open space with an industrial feel to it.

We dined here recently with friends and found the service friendly and welcoming and the food very good.  The portions are generous, and several of us had some to take home for the next day’s lunch.  Among us, we sampled the penne pasta with meatballs, clams with linguini, and several of the chicken dishes.  I thought the chicken franchaise with spinach was particularly good.  Side salads came with a wide choice of dressings.  Good for casual dining.  Next time, we should try a pizza.

Note: Header photo is a scene from the film, Love and Gelato (Netflix Life).