Books I've Read AND Movies We've Watched - The Hate U Give

 

This month, for my work book club, we read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas and then watched the movie.  It's about Starr.  Starr lives in a black community and goes to a private school that is predominantly white.  She feels the push/pull of the two different communities and has two different personalities she shows.  In the beginning of the book, she witnesses her childhood friend murdered during a traffic stop.  This changes her to her core, and she finds it more and more difficult to continue to show two different sides of herself.

First, I read the book before watching the movie.  I found it so stressful.  I didn't know much about the book other than I bought it forever ago and never got around to reading it.  It is so infuriating to read the struggle and fear of an entire community combined with watching the news every day.   Knowing this book was written years ago and seeing absolutely no progress today is also difficult to take.  I really liked the nuances of the book, the little moments between Starr and her friends, between Starr and her boyfriend, between Starr and her uncle and dad.  

Second, the movie starts off completely different.  It hit the broad strokes of the book, but I missed the little things.  I felt like the movie's ending was definitely different, and I don't know if I liked that when I compare the two.  Viewing it on its own, I liked it.  I just think I liked the book more.  Of course.  

Movies We've Watched - Selena + Chef

 

Selena + Chef is a new show on HBO Max where Selena Gomez is taught to cook by a professional chef to varying degrees of success.  The food looked amazing.  I'm in love with Selena's kitchen and pink accessories.  I know many love the knives, but I just love the pink.  And that stove/oven!  

I'm jumping the gun because the latest 3 episodes just dropped yesterday on HBO, and I haven't seen them yet, but I really like seeing people with similar cooking ability to myself cook.  It gives me hope.  I don't do a lot of cooking, but I am more willing to try new things than the rest of the house which is a weird scenario for our household.  

Anyway, if you have HBO, this is a fun, little show full of food porn.  

Movies We've Watched - Glow Up

 

This is season 2 of Glow Up on Netflix.  I didn't like it as much as season 1.  I think the winner was fair.  The winner was talented.  I would have been fine with either one.  I was just really happy when the winner of season 1 was announced, and I didn't have that same joy.  

To be fair, I don't watch a lot of reality competition shows.  I hate it when the contestants are portrayed as over-confident or cocky.  I don't mind pride, but I hate it when they get snarky or mean-spirited.  I'm struggling with the body painting show now because of this, but it may even out once those people are cut.  

Anyway, I still find them all wildly talented.  I find it so fascinating to watch people do full make up.  I do very little.  I value my time too much - and don't have the steady hand.  They really are artists.  

Movies We've Watched - JoJo Rabbit

 

I'm a bit of a baby with war-time movies, but Mel Brooks recommended this one.  It finally made it to HBO Max.  The kid who plays JoJo is fantastic.  I think the light and cinematography on this film help balance the evil and darkness.  I ended up liking it a lot.  I love JoJo's mind and seeing him evolve through the film.

JoJo is a child during WWII in Germany.  The movie opens with him pretty much a good little Nazi-in-Training.  His father is away though it's never confirmed if he is actually away or if the movie is telling a tale to avoid telling him that his father abandoned him or died.  She protects him from a lot so it's up to interpretation (or it was spelled out, and I wasn't paying attention).  JoJo is left alone a lot, but he loves his mother.  I'm not a huge fan of Scarlett Johanssen so I don't know if it's her or the character's quirkiness, but she bugged me.  

Overall, I'm glad I watched the movie though.  JoJo was so sweet.  He really made themovie a success for me.

Books I've Read - the Want You series

 

I read both I Want You Back and Want You to Want Me by Lorelei James.  I thought I was safe reading Books 1 and 2, but I didn't realize there was a Need You series.  They're all about the same family.  I think you're fine reading these by themselves, but it'll be interesting to read the first series next.  

These are not my favorite type of book in that they are in first person point of view that jumps between the two main characters.  I don't prefer first person.  That said, I didn't feel like it was manipulative or used as a way to keep a secret.  If anything, I think it helps that we saw both points of view because all of the characters had some internal struggle based a little on perception.  It would be a shame to to miss that, but I think it could have been done as third person, too.  Still, I still enjoyed the books which is saying a lot because when I say I don't like first person, I really do not.

Anyway, the first book is a reunion story.  The couple share a daughter.  The hero is a former professional hockey player putting the next steps in his life in order.  He is a former player off the field as well who was unfaithful to his girlfriend and is an alcoholic.  She has a few walls - not all the hero's fault.  

The second book is the hero's brother from the first book, and the heroine is a hockey player who is a coach and referee.  I loved Gabi.  I loved how generous and tough she is.  I feel she was unique and something you don't read a lot.  Nolan was typical in some ways but unique in some others.  He had family pressures, but he has a supportive family which isn't always true when you read about the rich, entitled playboy type of hero.  Usually, they have some daddy issues or a wall or deep into the family business.  This was a little more.  

They were good books to keep me reading before steeling myself for another book club book with heavy themes.