1. Farewell, My Queen (2012)
2. Jurassic World (2015)
3. Hotel Transylvania (2012)
4. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
5. The Fourth Kind (2009)
6. Hellraiser (1987)
REVIEWS:
Books completed in June 2015
1. The Hours by Michael Cunningham
2. Ship Breaker (audio book) by Paolo Bacigalupi
3. Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan Fagin
4. Atonement by Ian McEwan
5. Kit’s Wilderness, by David Almond
6. Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
Books Still in Progress at the End of the Month: American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
REVIEWS:
New-to-me movies watched in May 2015
1. Secretary (2002)
2. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
3. Maggie (2015)
4. Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)
5. Lord of War (2005)
6. The Gruffalo (2009)
7. The Gruffalo’s Child (2011)
REVIEWS:
Books completed in May 2015
1. Baba Yaga Laid an Egg by Dubravka Ugresic
2. A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
3. Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
4. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
5. Middlesex (audio book) by Jeffrey Eugenides
6. Monster by Walter Dean Myers
7. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (audio book) by Truman Capote
8. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
Books still in progress at the end of the month: The Hours by Michael Cunningham, Everyone I Love Is a Stranger to Someone, poetry by Annelyse Gelman, and thanks to the Short Story Month challenge I’m in the middle of Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, a massive compilation of James Tiptree, Jr. short stories.
REVIEWS:
#ShortReads Days 20-21
Both stories are by James Tiptree, Jr., published in the collection Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, because I can’t seem to get enough.
“The Girl Who Was Plugged In”
Dark and complicated, this story is about a young woman who yearns to touch the beauty of the starlets she worships like gods. So, when a corporation offers her the chance, she agrees to be the mental controller of a waldo, a beautiful puppet-girl who dazzles audiences and sells product. But everything comes at a price.
One of the many fascinating things about this story is the voice of the narrator, a voice I associated at first with the girl, but is clearly separate and slightly omniscient. It’s not clear who this narrator is, nor is it clear who she is speaking to — maybe us, but maybe someone else specific from the past.
“The Man Who Walked Home”
I can’t really talk about this story without giving too much away, but I can say it’s apocalyptic and portrays an array or humanity after the fall. About halfway through the story, I started thinking I wasn’t that into it and then the ending. Oh, my, the ending. And, yeah, it’s just as fantastic as all the rest of the Tiptree stories I’ve read.