October in Review

Books Acquired:
Room by Emma Donoghue
Sex Criminals, Volume 3: Three the Hard Way by Matt Fraction
Mortality by Christopher Hitchens
Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London’s Ottolenghi by Yotam Ottolenghi
Rick Stein’s Long Weekends by Rick Stein

Books Read:
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Amazonia by James Rollins
The Dispatcher by John Scalzi

I managed to accumulate a load of books this month without really trying, but two are cookbooks and don’t really count. Also, Room was given to Lee-Ann and passed off to me, so that’s a freebie as well.

We went to see John Cleese and Eric Idle this month, which I was thrilled about. They were hilarious, and it was a joy to experience Eric Idle singing his classic songs, including Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.

I also went back to my hometown and helped my sister and mother pack up and move here with me. Well, not with me, but somewhere near me. It’ll be nice to have family in town, and it also means that I won’t have to travel during the holidays this year, which is an early Christmas gift in itself. I don’t want to brag too much, but I drove a 27′ truck solo for the 8 hour trip and didn’t run over a single person or animal.

Movies watched:
Me Before You (2016) – Lee-Ann loves the JoJo Moyes novel, so this was a must watch for her. I enjoyed it, but the portrayal of someone paralyzed and suffering from chronic pain was very superficial, which I think hurt the whole movie. I was also slightly distracted by Emilia Clarke eyebrows, which seemed to have a life of their own.

Jurassic World (2015) – I didn’t expect this to be great, and it really wasn’t. They just can’t seem to capture the magic of that first movie. This one looked good, and it was fun to see the park filled with people, but the writing was just awful.

The Nut Job (2014) – This had some funny moments, but was irritating in a lot of ways. It’s a movie that features Gangnam Style, seemingly unironically, so that’s really all you need to know. Lee-Ann made me watch it.

My Old Lady (2014) – I really enjoyed this, even with all of its problems. The relationships between the characters felt completely false, partly because Kevin Kline’s character was such an unredeemable asshole. The emotional bits were a bit too over-the-top, but the lighthearted moments were fun.

Ant-Man (2015) – This felt like it could have been really great, but it still turned out to be a solid Marvel blockbuster. I just wish I could see what Edgar Wright would have come up with.

TV watched:
None

Games played:
Firewatch (2016) (PC) – I loved this. Just a few hours long, but a great story with fantastic voice-acting.

Sid Meier’s Civilization VI (2016) (PC) – I’ve played through this once last month, but I’m sure I’ll be coming back to this often over the next couple of years. It’s what you’d expect from a Civilization game. but with some fun improvements. Looking forward to spending more time with this.

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