Joyland by Stephen King

I received this book from my good friend, John, over at Rant n' Rave.  He's an excellent writer, who is working on many things at the moment, including a script that will change the 'inspirational disabled' troupe that he and I have gripe over since forever. He knew how much I enjoyed 11.22.63, so he recommended a book like it. 

I dutifully took it to jury duty, and with the slow day and no interruptions, I got through half of it. It was an easy read and King does what he does so well, which write a story where it's not full out horror, but a story based on suspense and creepiness.

You know that feeling you get when you see something move out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn to focus on it, it's no longer there? Or when the hair on the back of you neck stands up? Joyland gives me that same sensation, just like 11.22.63.

Joyland is about a young man named Devin, who takes a job at an independent amusement park for the summer after getting his heart broken by his college sweetheart. Devin is concerned about losing his virginity, replays what went wrong with his relationship, and befriends Tom and Erin, who become a couple by summer's end. He learns the ins and outs of an Amusement Park, makes a lot of friends, and slowly comes into his own with a few bumps along the way. 

Tom and Erin learns that Joyland was the setting of a murder years back, and those who work there state that some could see her ghost. As well, Devin is confronted by the park's fortune teller, who tells him that he'll meet a boy with a dog and a girl in the hat.

The reviews about this book are all over the place. Some loved it, and others hated it for various reasons. There was a rather long review about how King didn't do any research on the Amusement Park life and his lingo and set up were all wrong.

I personally enjoyed the novel simply because I don't know much about that Amusement Park life. King took me on a roller coaster (pun intended) where the end of the book had me weeping hysterically at 11pm on a Sunday night.

Josh woke up alarmed and wondered what the heck was wrong with me.  I blubbered that it was because of the ending of the book and he held me bewilderingly, not understanding a word I just said.
Even though the book was a supernatural mystery, the overarching theme was the importance of life, and that life is fleeting; take advantage of it now.

Also, be nice to sick kids, cause there is a chance they have the ability to talk to ghosts and help you out one day.

In all seriousness, I enjoyed the novel, even though I bawled my eyes out at the end. It's sad, but it's still a King creepy-mystery, which also makes it a good read.

So, thanks John. I liked the book and I cried a lot. 

Review: Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII

Code Talker: The First and Only Memoir By One of the Original Navajo Code Talkers of WWII by Chester Nez
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You guys... I can't even. Check out my review coming soon!

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Which is Better? The Magicians

At first, I thought the show was terrible. I was confused by the complexity and rushed first episode. Josh had read the book before I did and inform me that the first half episode covered about 200 pages of the book.

We're not given much of a set up as Quentin and Julia are hurried into Brakebill's to take their exams, with Quentin passing and Elliot to show him around while Julia, being told that she's not good enough, is exported back to NYC. She leaves a mark on her arm so she remembers through the strong memory spell they put on her. 

Throughout the episode, it seemed like characters would say things without any background or context, expecting the audience to go along with the fact that though we hadn't seen Alice and Quentin interact before, we are expected to believe that Alice is ace at magic and Quentin sucks at it. Everyone, including Quentin is incredibly good looking, but we're expected to believe that Alice is a gross nerd and Quentin is a weird geek. Oh, and there is a lot of sex, 'cause pilot.

By the end of the first episode, the Beast arrives, but I was so darn confused for the entire episode that I had no idea who the Beast was, or why he was so dangerous, or why he arrived for the first episode. If he's a big bad, like the characters stated, briefly, that he was.. shouldn't he have been wielded out for a episode later on in the season? It seemed a bit unnecessary with Dean Fog getting his hands and his eyes removed by the Beast right off the bat.

The writers aged up the characters, made Brakebills University a magical graduate school and Josh disclosed that Julia's story was from the second book, instead of the first.


I figured that was my cue... So, I read the first book, wrote a review, and discovered that they added a few characters, took away a few characters and even changed a few characters' names.

As I continued watching the show, I just blatantly ignored "graduate school" since the book so expertly placed them in college. Hollywood has a habit of casting much older people in younger parts anyway. 

The pilot was confusing and terrible, but we hoped that the pilot followed the rule of most pilots: the first one of a series is never any good. Josh and I turned in week after week, dismantling the show and making fun of it's disconnected episodes. However, our snarky comments and  ripping apart every episode diminished as we watched, and after the episode where they turn into geese, Josh turned to me and went...


"Do we like this show now?"

And the answer is.. Yes, yes we do. Somehow, the show stumbled through way more voiceless episodes than allotted for a new show, especially during "peak TV," and managed to become a funny show about the price of magic sans Harry Potter.

As Josh and I recapped, we maintained that if we hadn't read the books, we still wouldn't have known what was going on in the series. However, it did get renewed for a second season, so I guess people that didn't read the books liked it.

I since read the second book, and soon I will read the third book. I can't wait to see where they go with this, providing they keep the steam they built over the last several episodes.

My only hesitation is Alice. Quentin finally came to the conclusion that Alice was the one, and not him, which lead to their demise in the season finale. I hope they use Alice the way she was used in the book, because she turned out to be an undeniable bad ass that saves the day. So, don't undo all the goodwill you've mustered, show! Keep a good thing going! 

The Servants' Hall: A Real Life Upstairs, Downstairs Romance by Margaret Powell

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Oh man, I am all about that GIF life now. Thanks, new job for making me more tech savvy! (I can actually look at HTML code without getting cross eyed. I know what I'm looking at now!)

But seriously, Herman Munster was appropriate for this book. I feel like I've wasted my "buy one, get one" free Audible book sale because this book was completely useless.

I purchased the book because of it's connection to Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs shows on BBC. I think it's actually the author who inspired those shows... which I thought would lead to some juicy stories and tidbits about the wealthy back in the day. The title of the book has "romance," but it's not the main character's romances, though she discusses the various duds she dates before she meets her husband. It's about a romance of her friend, Rose, who is incredibly pretty, but Margaret doesn't pull any punches in the beginning of the story, stating that Rose is a bit of dullard.

Margaret dutifully tells us all the things she experiences as a cook, going from house to house, all the while keeping contact with her friend Mary and her friend Rose. However... she doesn't experience much. I almost wanted her to embellish or make some stuff up to make the story more interesting. I love food, and I like cooking, but damn, I don't want to hear about the dishes that were made.

I had this never ending sensation that I was waiting for the book to start, but really, I was waiting for Margaret to tell the reader something exciting. I thought that Margaret was going to still away Gerald, or find a rich man of her own... but no... Rose just remains a stick in the mud and Margaret remains jealous of her the entire book. She has a good sense of humor and I laughed a few times, however, when she made fun of Rose and her lot in life.

By the end of the book, I was so bothered every time she mentioned 'people now' v. 'people back then.'Largely, it seems, she prefers how things are now, but has that annoying habit of just assuming that all young people are a certain way. I didn't listen to the book with the intention of listening to someone compare lifestyles. Yes! We know! Women can wear lipstick now and not be considered a harlot!

Finally, for most of the book, she laments over the fact that she can't find a good man. She has some funny antidotes for some of the men she meets, but effectively leads the reader into the moment where she meets her husband... until she just glosses over the whole introduction to her husband! He was the milk man that she knew throughout the entire book. Couldn't she had thrown in some antidotes about meeting him, and assuming he had a wife, and maybe even the freaking story about how they actually met?! She just glosses over all of it! It would have been a far better book to just... make up a friendship with the milkman or something in the beginning of the book, and a chapter about the revelation that he was asking her out or something of that nature.

Overall, this book is a waste of time. Don't waste your money. Is her first book better? Has anyone read it? 

Which is Better? Shadowhunters by Cassandra Clare

Much like the Hannibal series, I felt like by the time I actually got to the book, I was oversaturated with seeing the movie and watching the TV show. I'm going to try and get the second book so when I watch the second season of Shadowhunters, I'll be able to properly compare both the show to the book. As it stands, I feel like the shine has gone off all three, so I'm not sure if my opinion on the TV show and the movie is actually accurate.

The reason I said all of that, however, is because it's been a while since I saw the movie, and then the TV show, and it's been a few months since I read the books, so it's all mashed together now. Also... I missed a whole bunch of episodes of Shadowhunters, so I saw the first 6, and then the season finale, and the one before the season finale...so... I hope this post is more amusing than really informative.

Let's talk about this bomb of a movie. Poor, poor Lily Collins, trying to become an actress, and the agency that thought it was a good idea to sign her because she's Phil Collins' daughter. Sure, we can teach her how to act... she can take acting classes, right? It'll be fine!

Her eyebrow game and her last name are the only things she has going for her. She's not a bad looking girl (she's not a troll, but she's just a pretty face with all the benefits of a life with a chef, a nutritionist, stylist and personal trainer), but man, oh man. She's a terrible actress.

Hollywood tried to make her a thing in that other movie with Taylor Lautner (Right? the Werewolf from Twilight?), and though she was better in this movie, this poor girl can't act to save her life. Her eyebrows did more work than she did in the movies she was in.via GIPHY
Look at much those eyebrows work for their money.

However, let's not forget the rest of the cast of this doomed movie; Jonathan Rhys Meyers (who did this movie to fund his coke habit), Lena Headley, whose single requirement for roles is that she gets to play the mother of child-prodigies, for better or for worse and Lane Pryce, who, much to his surprise, woke up in an alternate universe after hanging himself in his own office.

There is also this guy:

Who... the only reason I remember him is because he got that, "oh yeah, he's been in something" reaction, and also because after watching the show, I realized how the movie cut the love subplot between him and Jace. Who is played by

this guy:

Who, and again, I don't want to piss on people that don't fit my standard of beauty or attractiveness, but he should really be a character actor. Not only does he and Lily have the zero onscreen chemistry, I don't look at him and go, "man, he should play the guy that turns Clary from a high school girl into a full fledged Shadowhunter, and after all of that, when they discover they are "siblings" still question whether kissing your brother is such a big deal."

However, this guy?

If a girl is going to question whether kissing her long lost sibling is such a big deal, I'd buy him.

On that note, the movie feels way too rushed with the attempt to shove all the folklore and urban mythology that Clare meticulously builds up in her first book into one movie... and the movie feels jumbled together and long, despite the twists and turns and googly eyes that Clary and Jace make at each other. With the final reveal of Clary's father and Jace and Clary/Lily long lost siblings, instead of being shocked with wonder of how Jace and Clary/Lily will ever recover, you marvel at Rhys Meyers attempt to sell the terrible script and try to take Lily Collins seriously (though I think there must have been a contingent in his contract that he had to try to act in order to get his coke blocks) to get through his scenes.

I understand the attempt to try and cash in on the rising tide of the Harry Potter and Twilight movie phenomenon, but this movie was a hot garbage mess. Though I think Lane Pryce was relieved that no one asked for the money back and no one bought up the embezzling.

All the fans were disappointed with the movie, and many were concerned with the development of the TV show. With the... 6 (I'm guessimating), that I watched, is a definite improvement from the movie. They cast much better actors and actresses, including the Old Spice guy, who, in my opinion, is the best part of the show.
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I wish he would be given a bigger part... or did he have more of a part to play in the episodes I didn't watch?

As well, Magnas Bane is played by an actor who was on Glee; Harry Shum! The only reason that was exciting for me was because I just watched him in the Netflix Original Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel.

I gathered there is a lot of material for the show to use from her books, so I hope they continue with the show and keep both Isaiah Mustafa and Harry Shum employed. As for the rest of the actors... they look and act like your typical young teen ABC/CW show actors, which is perfect for a show like this.

The TV show is silly and entertaining, though I will have to say it wasn't engaging enough for me to keep tuning back in week after week. Hopefully Hulu brings back the episodes I missed so I can binge. I think it'll be a good binge series. Free Form is literally a no name network, so they need to take the cue from CW and renew everything, regardless of ratings!

And besides, anything is better than that movie.
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Imago by Octavia E. Butler

It was like lightening struck when I realized I could buy audiobooks of my favorite sci-fi author, Octavia E. Butler when Audible did their 50% off sale.

I dutifully listened to the voice actor and concluded that she had a clear voice with no annoying quirks. It had been a while since I picked up a Butler book, and since she passed away in 2006, I wanted to stretch them out before they were all gone. Also, Butler's books are hardly ever on sale, audiobook or not, so 50% off sale was pretty sweet.
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I enjoyed the first two bookx of the Lilith's Brood Series, or the Xenogenesis series. The books are about an alien race that discovered Earth right when a major war unleashed nuclear bombs on a large part of the world, effectively killing off most, if not all, humans. The Oankali rescued many dying people, starting with Lillith and restored her to optimal health. However... there is a catch.

In order for the Oankali to survive, they must combine their species with that of humans, effectively creating a new species. The Oankali are perplexed to why the humans, Lilith included, want to do anything other than combine their genes with theirs, simply because they perceive their way of life to better, no sickness, violence and the drive to learn and continually educate themselves by traveling the stars.

Each book has a different perspective. First it's human, with the introduction of Lilith, then it's a male construct by the name of Akin, and finally, it's a human construct named Jodahs that turns into an ooloi, a third male/female gender that goes by the pronouns of "it."

Sooo.... at first when I read Dawn and Adulthood Rites, I thought they were entertaining and different and I was pleased that Butler continued to write good books. However, when I read reviews of the books, many critics pointed out about how hetero-normative both humans and Oankali are, and how Butler seems to ignore homosexual relationships as well as other aspects of gender and sex. So, with that in mind, I listened to the third book.

I was underwhelmed.

First of all, the voice actor blew. Hard. She was OK when she was simply talking in her own voice, but then, she dropped her voice to talk in Jodah's voice (when he had dialogue with others), which had me adjusting my volume as I worked constantly. Then she had a completely different voices for other characters, and all of them were grating and annoying. By the end of it, I hoped that all the characters died horrible deaths.

Speaking of the end of the book... it was very anticlimactic. I thought Butler was leading the reader somewhere, and then she makes a left hand turn out of nowhere to make sure that all the characters essentially get what they want.

 I thought overall, this book was the weakest of trilogy. Dawn and Adulthood Rites was so exciting to read with Butler's philosophical musings of the purpose of humankind without it being preachy or even knowing that Butler is exploring what it means to be human. However, Imago just seems to be an afterthought. It's a natural progression to shift the perspective from different people who are affected by this alien invasion, but... Imago wasn't very interesting. It didn't have interesting characters or a very interesting plot.

I have Wild Seed on the dock and I hope this audiobook is good and her audiobooks aren't inherently bad.

Which is Better? 11/22/63

I definitely tried to do a weekly thing with the comparison of the TV show and the book, I really did. However, as the show progressed, I found myself disliking it immensely to where I stopped watching it. I didn't catch up, nor did I watch the finale. I saw all that I needed too.

It blew. 

To be fair, adaptation of King's books don't really do that well as TV shows. Other than The Shining and IT, I don't even think movies do a good job either. My husband really enjoyed it, but he also read the book four years ago, so he was a bit hairy on the details.

What I really disliked about the TV show is the fact that they glossed over a lot of really good plot points, and focused on making time travel spoooooky. What King does really well in this novel is the ability to make things creepy without it being over the top. In the first episode, Jake Epping calls... someone, I think his parents? and a car crashes into the telephone booth moments after Jake hangs up the phone. The dead woman says something creepy about Jake being not wanted there.

Which... ugh. It would have been way more effective to actually just follow the book and show Jake going through, do all the things with the Dunning family (which by the way, Josh Duhamel was an excellent choice for Frank Dunning), then go to 2011 with Al Templeton, and discover that alternating time didn't really do much for Harry Dunning. This would have shown that time has a funny way of doubling back and righting itself. Then could have been a montage of him going back to that time and shooting Frank Dunning at the grave site.

I also hated the fact that the show made up a male character to basically his sidekick, instead of Sadie, because apparently a woman can't be both his accomplice and his on screen romance. Nope, she has to be the innocent love interest and not be scarred by anything. Also, this same male character, (What's is name, George?) also wants to rescue Marina, Oswald's wife. What I found so fascinating about the book is the length Jake Epping is willing to go too in order to succeed at his mission. Allowing Marina to be beaten on the reg by Harvey to ensure the timeline isn't altered is morally ambiguous, which is something the writers just blew past by having George agonize over Marina and Harvey having sex. Ugh. Boring and overdone. via GIPHY

I also thought they blew past the Yellow Card Man, which scared the crap out of me when he went back and found him dead. I was curious to know what that meant and how Jake's actions would affect the timeline. Nah. Just had a weird scene where the Yellow Card Man was almost ran over by Jake when he's driving.

I know a lot of people had problems with James Franco playing Jake Epping/George Amberson (Or Jake Amberson), but I thought he wasn't the problem. I liked him... it's everything else that was the problem. If the book was cheesier, or I just didn't enjoy the book that much, I probably would've enjoyed the show more. As it stands, though, don't bother watching the mini-series. The first episode was cheeky because there were lots of montages of James Franco walking through the 50's time period... but after that? Totally sucked.