May in Review

Books Acquired:
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
City of Thieves by David Benioff
The Human Factor by Graham Greene
Thud! by Terry Pratchett
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
The Lost World by Michael Crichton
The Star’s Tennis Balls by Stephen Fry
The Napoleon of Notting Hill by G.K. Chesterton
The Club Of Queer Trades by G.K. Chesterton
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
I Dreamed of Africa by Kuki Gallmann
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Books Read:
The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) by Chris Hardwick

My acquired list is massive due to the annual used book sale I attended earlier this month. The best part is with my new shelves they all fit without any double-stacking needed. In fact, I could even buy more! I’m almost giddy with power right now.

In other non-book related news, we have a new dog! She’s a two-year-old miniature schnauzer and she’s named Paisley, after my mom’s hometown. We would have liked to adopt a rescue, but living in a condo and being allergic to most dogs gave us some narrow adoption parameters. We called a breeder to see if they had an older dog for adoption, and they had Paisley. They had hoped to breed her, but she wasn’t having any of it.

 

I’ve started using Instagram again after realizing I can follow famous chefs and see what they’re eating for lunch, so I’ll probably be posting many images of her there.

Movies watched:
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) – I loved this, in some ways even more than the first one. James Spader as Ultron was just perfect.

Mad Max (1979) – I’d never watched any of the Mad Max films before, so I thought I’d try to watch them all before the release of the new movie. This one was a fun introduction to the world, and the beginning and end had some exciting moments, but it did drag a lot in the middle. I liked it for what it was but my girlfriend hated it.

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) – This was my favourite of the three. Just as brutal and relentless, but with more of a budget to really show off the action.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) – This seems to be everyone’s favourite, and I did like it, but it felt a little Disney-fied from the previous two and the premise felt very lazy.

Magic in the Moonlight (2014) – Beautiful setting and costumes with some really fun dialogue, but overall not enough of the Woody Allen wit came through on this. I still enjoyed it, though.

TV watched:
Outlander: Season 1 (2014/2015) – My girlfriend is an Outlander fanatic, so of course we watched this. I love the cinematography and the music and the costume design. My mother’s side of the family are Mackenzie, so I like to pretend it’s a bit of family history. I do think it dragged a bit mid-season. I’m also not a fan of torture porn, so the last couple of episodes were a bit much for me, but overall I enjoyed it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine: Season 1 (2013) – I had no desire to watch this at all, but it was short and on Netflix and we’d heard some good things about it. Anything sentimental or dramatic completely fails, but it is hilarious at times. Everyone on the show is really funny in their own way. We’re hooked now.

Games played:
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015) (PC) – I’m in love with this game right now, and I’ll probably be playing it for some time. There were a few bugs on release, but they were patched out a day later, and it’s been really stable since. Great writing and voice-acting, and so much detail put into the world.

What have you been reading/watching/playing this month?