Reading And Watching Joyously

 Caitlin and I watched this during the week on a day where we had no motivation and wanted something fairly mindless and fun to watch. It delivered exactly what we were after, with a slight variation in the basic dance movie theme but nothing that involved too much thinking. It was enjoyable, not too unbelievable (although we had a couple of complaints - I felt the timeline was inconsistent, there wasn't enough time for the main characters grades to get really bad and then recover again, and Caitlin was concerned at the speed at which the romantic relationship developed given the (undisclosed) age difference, and she noticed that they didn't bother to flesh out the personalities of a couple of the characters) and quite a feel good movie all around. The girls were excited to see Liza Koshy in the cast - a YouTuber they used to watch. The dancing was good, the music was good, it was fun to watch.

 An enjoyable story and a cool concept. Two separate stories that inevitably merged together by the end. I liked the slightly supernatural theme, The writing didn't always flow and was a bit forced at times, but the characters were believable and real. It was mainly a story about friendship and about it never being too late to find happiness.

I have always loved this movie since I saw it at the movie theatre when it came out. I thought it was brilliant then and I think the same thing every time I see it. I love that even though I've seen it possibly a dozen times, I still feel the tension and the worry every time as Romeo fails to receive the message from the priest and so makes his fatal decision. I'd been wanting to watch it with Caitlin for years and she was finally in the mood for it. We watched it with subtitles which helped with some of the trickier language. She hadn't realised that the dialogue was all from the original play, she was impressed. I felt a bit like I was showing off a well known location to her, and I was worried that it wouldn't hold up - we laughed at a lot of it and pulled it to bits like we tend to do but it was still excellent, and she enjoyed it. I love the soundtrack and I've listened to it recently but forgotten how well it fits into the movie. Still a favourite.

I loved this book so much! It was sent to me by the library in my box and I had never heard of it. It looked interesting, a teen paranormal mystery - I was only a couple of chapters in before I just wanted to sit and read it all day. Fairies and forbidden romance are my favourite combination of topics (not fairies like Tinkerbell, but mythological fairies (Faeries, Seelie) and that's what this book had. AND it was set in Australia which I hadn't encountered before - an Australian setting for a fantasy novel. It was scary at times and often exciting. The first person narrative gave a good insight into the fear and determination and confusion of the main character, she was a very believable 17 year old. There were a couple of moments that didn't quite flow, as if the story had changed a bit and an edit had been missed, but it didn't detract from the story. Halfway through I realised that it is the first book in a series, which means there's more to come - I can't

 This book was sent to me by the library in my first box of books - when I read the blurb I wasn't sure if I would like it or not - I think I feared that it would be like many other books I've read that were set in Africa - very wordy and deep, with a storyline that was hard to follow and many parts that were hard to understand. (Which is interesting, as one of my favourite books is The Poisonwood Bible, and it's set in Africa and not like that at all). Anyway, I gave The Hunters a go and it wasn't at all what I expected. It was easy to read, had a thrilling story line, with characters who were lovable, some detestable, some bland and some so so interesting - just like in real life. I fell in love with the characters just as the protagonist did - he was incredibly relatable and so was his sister. I liked how even as he gained understanding of why people acted the way they did he wasn't always able to forgive and forget  - again, like real life. The book was dark at

 I've been meaning to read this for years. I actually borrowed it from the library a couple of years ago and started it, but didn't finish before I needed to return it). This time I listened on Audio Book, figuring I'll be able to get through the whole series more easily that way, rather than spending months reading nothing else. I didn't enjoy the introduction and nearly gave up, but once I got into the main story I became interested. I loved it actually, although the level of tension throughout the whole story was pretty high and sometimes it was a bit exhausting. The characters were well developed and their actions made sense. It's an exciting fantasy world, with elements similar to a range of other mythologies, but as a whole unique to this series. I'm looking forward to the next book.

This channel shows videos of 2 brothers listening to classic songs for the first time, and their reactions to the songs. I love seeing the looks on their faces at surprising or evocative bits of music, and sometimes they pause the song to talk about it. Often they had preconceived ideas of the song or the singer, and they stop to discuss how they have changed their minds. I found myself paying more attention to the songs even though I already knew them - watching someone listen to them with fresh ears helped me remember what I appreciated about these songs too.

 An enticing work of historical fiction. I hadn't heard about the Lady and Unicorn tapestries before but now I want to know all about them - I've looked up pictures of them and they are beautiful. I love the story that the author devised about their creation and I'd love to think that at least some of it was true. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it even though I disliked nearly all of the characters (some of the Brussels characters were quite likable). I think she saved it by giving a happy ending to those who seemed to deserve it. I kept forgetting when it was set - it seemed a bit later than 1450 then something would remind me of the setting. I do find it exciting to discover a new piece of history that I hadn't known much about, so even though the story was fictional I feel like I've got a better handle on that part of French and Belgian history.

 This is the first book in the Immortals Blood series - a fantasy series set on a world where some people (randomly) are immortal. People find out they are immortal when they die and then are reborn (at the same place and age where they died). Different lands deal with immortality differently - the book sets up the scene in each of the lands, and shows the growing discontent which is in part being fed by outside influences.  It's well written and kept me interested all the way through. Having multiple lands with different customs is a big effort and they all seem pretty consistent and well-researched. The characters were likable and the upcoming trouble kept the suspense high throughout the book - I'm very eagerly awaiting the next book which is due out in September.