May 19, 2013

Feeding the Addiction (41)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren. Feeding the Addiction is our version. Every Sunday, we’ll post the books that found their way into our hot little hands during the week. Some are sent for review by authors or publishers, some we borrow from the library, and others we buy (Shaunta might have a little thrift store and used book store addiction. Brian loves the library.)

* * *

Shaunta:

Purchased on Amazon

The 5th Wave, by Rick Yancey

Brian:

Borrowed from Library

A Discovery of Witches, by Deborah Harkness

May 16, 2013

Book Review: 2030

Title: 2030
Written by: Albert Brooks
Series: N/A
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publish Date: May 10, 2011
Genre: Adult Literary
Pages: 384
Source: Bought at Indie Bookstore
Buy the Book: 2030

Synopsis: Is this what the future holds?

June 12, 2030 started out like any other day in memory—and by then, memories were long. Since cancer had been cured fifteen years earlier, America’s population was aging rapidly. That sounds like good news, but consider this: millions of baby boomers, with a big natural predator picked off, were sucking dry benefits and resources that were never meant to hold them into their eighties and beyond. Young people around the country simmered with resentment toward “the olds” and anger at the treadmill they could never get off of just to maintain their parents’ entitlement programs.

But on that June 12th, everything changed: a massive earthquake devastated Los Angeles, and the government, always teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, was unable to respond.

The fallout from the earthquake sets in motion a sweeping novel of ideas that pits national hope for the future against assurances from the past and is peopled by a memorable cast of refugees and billionaires, presidents and revolutionaries, all struggling to find their way. (Via Amazon)

Brian’s Review: Defending Your Life, the 1991 film written and directed by, and starring, Albert Brooks, is my favorite comedy of all time. Co-starring Meryl Streep, the film tells of a man who dies in a tragic bus accident, then wakes up in a new afterlife where for four days his life on Earth is examined and it’s decided whether he’ll continue on to “the next stage” or go back to Earth to try again. It’s a very funny movie, and a sweet romance, but it’s also the only glimpse into what happens after we die that actually makes sense. It’s a film I’ve watched over and over and over again, and it’s one that’s made me seek out every known Albert Brooks project ever made. It’s not that hard, actually, since his output is disappointingly limited. He’s only made a handful of films, most of which are great, including Modern Romance, Lost in America, Mother, and The Muse. And in 2011, much to my surprise and joy, his first work of fiction was published. I’ve just finished 2030, and let me tell you, this is an eye-opening, fascinating glimpse into a scarily real future, one that reminded me of a slightly less gruesome version of Stephen King’s The Stand.

2030 weaves together at least half a dozen major storylines, and dozens of characters, as they come to grips with hardships in the year 2030. While Defending Your Life is funny in its depiction of the afterlife, there’s surprisingly few laughs in this book, mostly because, as a young person, I’m mortified by the idea of the older generation living longer and longer and we in our twenties and thirties having to pay for them. I’m mortified by interest rates skyrocketing, and climate change becoming a worldwide detonator. The event that sets off the rest of the novel is a 9.1 earthquake in Los Angeles that kills thousands and leaves the city in utter ruins, and even the President is unsure where he’s going to get the money to pay for all the rescue efforts. Brooks does include some more clever, less traumatizing futuristic predictions, like a cure for cancer finally being discovered, and all movies being projected in 3D. But at the heart of the story is total chaos, and not the kind of comedy we’ve come to expect from Brooks.

If I had a criticism of the book, it’s that there’s not the kind of thrust to the narrative that can be found in, say, the apocalyptic works of Stephen King. At 384 pages, 2030 felt a tad long, while 1,100+ pages of The Stand fly by in a breeze. The characters are all interesting, especially The President, who has unimaginable burdens in this near future, and Kathy, a young 20-something, who’s suddenly faced with hundreds of thousand of dollars in debt after her father gets treated at the hospital (and then dies soon after). And I loved all the tiny details Brooks scatters throughout. Ultimately, this book is worth reading sooner rather than later (published in 2012, the book already has predictions of things to come for 2013!). While it doesn’t reach the powers of his film masterpiece, one I’m already thinking of revisiting again, Defending Your Life, it’s an honest, fascinating look at where we might be in seventeen years. I hope it’s the first of many (or at least two or three!) literary endeavors from one of my favorite writers in the universe, Mr. Albert Brooks.

May 13, 2013

Grimes & Rowe Watch a Movie: Iron Man 3

Title: Iron Man 3
Directed by: Shane Black
Distributed by: Paramount / Marvel
Release Date: May 3, 2013
Rated: PG-13

Synopsis: When Tony Stark’s world is torn apart by a formidable terrorist called the Mandarin, he starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution. (Via IMDB)

Brian: Movie trilogies usually don’t work like this. Usually the first installment, the film that introduces us to all the characters, works as a fine but mostly dull origin story. Then the second film slays us with its brilliance. And then the third film, with the highest budget yet, gets so big and bloated that ultimately the suits in power have to re-launch the series a few years later with new actors and a slightly different title. (Of course I’m not talking Spider-Man, wink wink.) But the Iron Man trilogy has not worked out this way. The first Iron Man, still the best in the series, was a glorious entertainment, my favorite mainstream blockbuster of 2008 after The Dark Knight. Iron Man 2, on the other hand, was one of my ten least favorite movies of 2010; plagued with a fast schedule and multiple re-shoots, the movie was a big, loud mess. And now, after the wondrous entertainment that was last year’s The Avengers, we have Iron Man 3, a film that should have been the mess Iron Man 2 initially promised, but is instead an imperfect but super fun installment in the Marvel movie universe, with Downey Jr’s best performance as the character yet, and a hilarious, fast-moving script from the great Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight), who also turned up as director here. There are a few lulls in the middle of the movie, and the finale leaves a little to be desired, but overall I had a great time at this one.

Shaunta: I went to see Iron Man 3 on Mother’s Day with my husband and 8-year-old daughter. It was a late-ish show for a school night (bad mommy!), so I had a unique barometer to how good this film was. I watched to see if Ruby fell asleep. She did get comfy: shoes off, my jacket like a blanket, practically laying in her daddy’s lap. But she stayed awake and riveted through the entire film–including what felt like a year of credits to get to the little cookie at the end. Ruby is a superhero aficionado, and although her first love is Spiderman, she really loved this Iron Man flick. She loved the small references to the Avenger movie (the man with the hammer falling from the sky? Thor! Thor!) She loved just about everything about it. So did I. There was a lot that worked for me. There’s a kid in this one who perfectly plays against Tony Stark’s high opinion of himself. Pepper Potts gets to kick some ass, and the action scenes are the top of the top. I didn’t feel any lulls anywhere, but my husband agreed with Brian about there being a couple in the middle. I do agree though that the ending had too much of a Christmas bow on top. Too neat.

Brian: One element I thought worked really great was an onset of anxiety problems that Tony Stark is facing, mostly from the dramatic events at the end of The Avengers. Since none of the other characters from that film show up (well, until the funny little credit cookie), it would have been easy to just throw out a quick line about the previous film and let Iron Man 3 work as a complete stand-alone. Instead, Black smartly uses the extraordinary events from Joss Whedon’s film and uses it for drama here, to give vulnerability to our central superhero character. In less assured hands, this aspect to the movie might have felt cloying, but it’s an interesting and welcome addition to the film. The film is rich with great characters and performances, many from new faces to the series. Ben Kingsley is a revelation in this movie. Yeah, yeah, I know, he won the Oscar for Ghandi a bazillion freaking years ago, and he’s been great in a thousand things ever since, like House of Sand and Fog (a movie that still shakes me up every time I think of it), but the unique spin he puts on this character is part Heath Ledger, part Will Ferrell, and a complete original. Guy Pierce, as the main baddie, is equally up to the task. Also worth mentioning is little Ty Simpkins, who plays a boy that Tony takes under his wing in a middle chunk of the movie, and who gives one of the most relaxed, natural child performances I’ve seen on screen in a long, long time. The movie loses a little of its momentum in the chaotic action finale, and Gwyneth Paltrow still doesn’t do much more here than play the damsel in distress, but for those who had to endure the rocky second installment, Iron Man 3 is a return to form.

Shaunta: The one thing that distracted me during the movie was trying to figure out who the actress was playing the character Maya. I knew I knew her, but I couldn’t put my finger on from where. And then it hit me all at once. She is a dead ringer for a young Molly Ringwald, and I just saw and loved her in Parade’s End. When I say dead ringer, I’m not kidding. Look:

See? She’s a brunette in Iron Man 3, but still. Anyway, I thought Rebecca Hall as Maya was fantastic. And like I said before, the little boy was great. I also really enjoyed Don Cheadle as the Iron Patron. Honestly, there wasn’t much I didn’t like about this movie. To be honest, I don’t even remember Iron Man 2–literally nothing about it–even though I know I watched it. It didn’t stick with me as a good movie, but it also didn’t upset me as a terrible movie like it did Brian. Iron Man 3 on the other hand is worth seeing in the theater. And it’s memorable. Ruby woke up talking about it. As I write this, my older daughter Adrienne is debating with me whether the message at the end, “Tony Stark will be back” means that a fourth movie is possible or if we only get more Iron Man in Avengers 2. Unlike Brian, Ben Kingsley’s character was a weak spot for me. He was too silly. The whole idea of his character just didn’t work for me. But over all, I really, really enjoyed Iron Man 3.

May 10, 2013

Grimes & Rowe Watch a Movie: Mud

Title: Mud
Directed by: Jeff Nichols
Distributed by: Lionsgate
Release Date: April 26, 2013 (Wide)
Rated: R

Synopsis: Two teenage boys encounter a fugitive and form a pact to help him evade the bounty hunters on his trail and to reunite him with his true love. (Via IMDB)

Brian: No actor in recent memory has had the kind of unexpected career resurgence as Matthew McConaughey. After showing promise in the 90′s in movies like Lone Star, A Time to Kill, and the underrated EDtv, he slowly sank into the quicksand pit of romantic comedy hell. The Wedding Planner, Failure to Launch, Ghosts of Girlfriends Past. Honestly, after his awesome turn in 2002′s Frailty, McConaughey fell off the face of the Earth for me. His being in a movie didn’t fill me with excitement, but with apathy. That all has changed in the last year, in which he has turned in five fantastic performances in a slew of fresh, daring indies, like Bernie, Killing Joe, and last summer’s smash hit Magic Mike. With a performance likely to have Oscar written all over it later this year in Dallas Buyers Club (just you wait!), and turns in Martin Scorsese’s and Christopher Nolan’s next two upcoming films, McConaughey is back, and on display in full force is his great talent, once again, in Mud. Playing yet another unique creation of a character, McConaughey embodies the title character with passion and mystery, and most of all, humanity. From writer/director Jeff Nichols, who made the great Take Shelter in 2011, Mud is a fascinating film to get lost in. It doesn’t have quite the same haunting power as The Place Beyond the Pines, which was also about beaten down characters and two kids trying to come to terms with the harsh realities of life, but it’s a very fine film.

Shaunta: I need to see The Place Beyond the Pines, just so that I have a frame of reference since it seems like every movie for the rest of the year might be compared to it! I thought Matthew McConaughey was great in Mud, but for me, this movie was all about the kids. Tye Sheridan as the lead character, Ellis, and Jacob Lofland as his best friend Neckbone, were incredible. Neckbone might be my new favorite kid character ever. What this movie is really about, at it’s heart, is Ellis–a fourteen-year-old romantic, figuring out that the world isn’t really set up for pure romance. I loved the relationship between Ellis and Neckbone, the way they related to the adults around them, and how this movie managed to capture that moment between grown-up and not grown-up with absolute perfection. As a writer, I’m fascinated by that time in between, when you’re old enough to have your own world, but not quite old enough to live there by yourself yet. Ellis and Neckbone have a secret, and it was delicious to watch it play out.

Brian: Jeff Nichols makes quiet character studies, rich in dialogue and slow-building tension. At every turn of Mud you know something big and terrifying is coming, but you have to have patience. Nichols plants seeds everywhere, all to create the template for an ending that throws all but one of the characters into an explosive confrontation. In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the story unfold like a great novel. I loved the setting of the film, the gorgeous and eerie backwoods of Arkansas. The cinematography is gorgeous, everything from the tranquil shots of the lake to the passings-by of archaic corporate in the middle of the town. The two pre-teen actors, Tye Sheridan as Ellis and Jacob Lofland as Neckbone, are terrific finds. I’m always amazed when child actors can be so real and human and devastating on screen, and that’s what you get with these two. For me the big weak link of the film was Reese Witherspoon, her character Juniper, her storyline, everything. Mud’s love for Juniper keeps him going, but we never really get to understand their relationship, or what they mean to each other. Witherspoon doesn’t really play into the finale at all, and in the end, I found her appearance in the film distracting more than anything. An unknown in this role might have served the movie better. McConaughey, on the other hand, is mesmerizing in the main role, and I loved watching the growing bond his character has with Ellis. Their final tender moment toward the end is a thing of beauty. Mud is long and a little slow and may not work for everyone. But as much as I enjoyed, say, Iron Man 3, it’s films like Mud that keep me coming back to the theater. As long as unique stories like Mud keep being told, we’re going to keep coming back.

Shaunta: I agree about Reese Witherspoon. In a movie this long, there was time to flesh out that character and the relationship between Juniper and Mud more. The absolute devotion he has for her didn’t feel earned. This was a much slower-paced movie than I expected. There were a few spots where it occurred to me that I’d been at the theater a really, really long time. But when the more action-packed part comes at the end, you’ve been waiting for it so long that it feels like the best action in any movie ever. One of the things I really loved about this movie was how it blurred the lines between good and bad. You know who to root for, but you’re never really sure if you should be rooting for them.

*SPOILER ALERT* I really appreciated that this movie didn’t throw any emotional manipulation at me at the end. It would have been so easy to do, and in a movie like this it’s kind of typical, but it didn’t. I left the movie feeling just how I love to feel after a movie: happy and satisfied.

May 7, 2013

Book Review: The White Bicycle

Title: The White Bicycle
Written by: Beverley Brenna
Series: Wild Orchid series
Publisher: Red Deer Press
Publish Date: October 30, 2012
Genre: YA Contemporary
Pages: 216
Source: Borrowed from Library
Buy the Book: The White Bicycle

Synopsis: The White Bicycle is the third stand-alone title in the Wild Orchid series about a young woman with Asperger’s Syndrome. This installment chronicles Taylor Jane’s travels to the south of France where she spends a summer babysitting for the Phoenix family. Including flashbacks into Taylor’s earliest memories, along with immediate scenes in Lourmarin, a picturesque village in the Luberon Valley, The White Bicycle results in a journey for independence both personal and universal, told in Taylor’s honest first-person prose. (Via Amazon)

Brian’s Review: I’ve been on a kick lately of reading both new and old winners of the Michael L. Printz award. About a year ago Shaunta and I made it our mission to track down and read as many Printz books as we could find, to the point where I even made a cheat sheet list that we both carry around at all times (true story!). When the five winners of 2012 were announced, I thought two things. One, where the hell is The Fault in Our Stars (too popular?). And two, I need to read all five of these as humanly possible. Well, it’s been three months, and I’ve gotten to three of them. Not bad! I found last year’s winner In Darkness a little cold, but absolutely adored Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, easily one of my favorite three reads so far in 2013.

And now we arrive at The White Bicycle, the least publicized, the least discussed Printz Honor book this year (it currently has one single review on Amazon!). It’s a Canadian book about a girl named Taylor with Asberger’s syndrome who travels to the south of France for the summer. It’s an easy read, the kind of book that flows from one chapter to the next with ease. I was never greatly wrapped up in the narrative because the writing I felt to be almost too simple, with not a lot of depth to some of the scenes and supporting characters. But what I really enjoyed about the book was its depiction of France from a teenage girl who lives on the other side of the Atlantic. It reminded me of all the fears and joys I had when I studied abroad in Germany in 2005, and all the great memories I got out of the experience.

Taylor is a well-drawn character who acts as the first person narrator. As we delve further into her time in Paris, we get flashbacks to her early life, as well as glimpses into an unexpected she has in the second half of the book with an older woman who has a lot to teach her. I was surprised to learn that this was the third title of a series that Beverley Brenna as written, because it definitely stands alone as a complete book, I’d be curious to see what the other two books are about. In the end this was a pleasant read for a couple days but isn’t one of the Printz books that will stick in my mind very far in the future. I think teenage girls will enjoy it most. If you’re looking for a lighthearted way to spend a couple hours, you could do a lot worse than The White Bicycle.

May 3, 2013

Support Brian’s New YA Novel on Kickstarter!

For the last year I’ve been working hard on a new YA novel called Over the Rainbow, a subversive modern day update of The Wizard of Oz, and I’m bringing it out this coming August! This week I launched my first ever Kickstarter campaign to help with the funds for copyediting, marketing, and the book trailer. See me ranting to the camera! Win cool prizes! Check it out below…

Brian’s Kickstarter Campaign for Over the Rainbow

April 30, 2013

Grimes and Rowe Read a Book: Monster

Title: Monster
Written by: Walter Dean Myers
Series: N/A
Publisher: Amistad
Publish Date: 2004
Genre: Social Issue Focused YA
Pages: 281
Source: Bought
Buy the Book: Monster

Synopsis: FADE IN: INTERIOR: Early morning in CELL BLOCK D, MANHATTAN DETENTION CENTER.

Steve (Voice-Over)Sometimes I feel like I have walked into the middle of a movie. Maybe I can make my own movie. The film will be the story of my life. No, not my life, but of this experience. I’ll call it what the lady prosecutor called me … Monster. (Via Goodreads)

Shaunta: Monster is an intense little book that will make you think about things you maybe haven’t ever thought about before. It has a pretty chain of awards down it’s front cover, including a Printz Award and an award for being a National Book finalist. Maybe a better testament to how great this book is, though, is the fact that nearly ten years after its release, it still reads like a fresh, relevant story. Some of the critiques I read after I finished reading this book talked about how pointless the crime involved was, and how that wasn’t mentioned in the book. Only, of course it was, because the whole book is about the aftermath of that pointless crime. What this book takes on, brilliantly, is how broken our justice system is. How biased it is. And really how human it is, because in the end it relies on biased, imperfect human beings. The author doesn’t ask you to like Steve, or condone anything that he may have done. Instead, it shows the trial from Steve’s point of view, shown through the lens of his interior movie camera.

Brian: My background is in screenwriting, so it was startling, and ultimately a pleasant surprise, to see that this novel, the very first winner of the Michael L. Printz award, is mostly written as a film script. I loved how this element of the story played into the end, and how it gives an immediacy to the dialogue that in most cases just can’t be replicated in standard fiction. I found myself flipping through these pages so fast I could barely keep up. I loved the use of mixed media in general in this story. Some of the novel is told in letters written by the main character, much of it is in script form, there are images sprinkled throughout, big font on certain pages used to stress a point. This was the perfect first book to win the Printz award because it’s not only a great story that pulls you in from the word go, but an impressively creative project I’ve never seen in the world of books before.

Shaunta: Monster takes the “other”–a black kid accused of a violent, heinous crime–and then asks us to make our own decisions about what his involvement was, and what his punishment should be. Was the time he spent in jail awaiting trial enough? Was he scared straight? Is being scared straight enough? How about having to spend his life knowing that everyone he loves believes that he is guilty, no matter what might happen in court? Do we punish for rehabilitation (for the criminal’s own good) or for retribution (for our own good)? Does a boy who is clearly smart, and who just as clearly made a very bad decision, deserve to spend his life in prison? Will the world be better off if he does? Weeks after I finished reading Monster, I’m still thinking about these questions. This book is interesting, intriguing, easy to read, and short. In addition to what it has to say about the justice system, it has a strong message about judging a person by the color of his or her skin. The title refers to what Steve’s attorney assists the jury will think of Steve, a young black man on trial for a violent crime. He doesn’t have the privilege of being presumed innocent.

Brian: Shaunta brought up that some readers have found the crime committed to not be dire enough, shocking enough, interesting enough to carry this story. I actually loved the fact that the central crime Steve is on trial for is fairly banal. In many ways this element of the story reminded me of one of my favorite movies, 12 Angry Men. One of the most riveting films ever made, it’s just twelve men in a room talking for ninety minutes, and the crime that they discuss in detail isn’t even greatly interesting. It’s just a boy who may or may not have committed a murder. Similarly, in Monster, it’s of a teenage boy who may or may not have played a part in killing a store owner. But as author Myers brings us deeper and deeper into the trial, the book takes on an element of suspense that no fantastic crime story ever could have. It’s so down to earth, and seems real, like something like this happens to teens all over the country on a regular basis. I enjoyed getting to know Steve as a character, and finally getting the opportunity to read a book by Myers, who I’ve heard about before and am certainly will look into again. The Printz award was created to recognize the very best in young adult literature, and such is absolutely the case with Monster.

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