Because I am a terrible human being, I didn't see a single play in November. I KNOW. I'm garbage. I probably won't see anything in December either because the holiday season is TOUGH.* *why the holiday season is tough: I have less income as a babysitter with kiddos on school vacations, higher spending because of gifts and social events, and ticket prices go through the roof because it's peak tourist season, ya feel? BUT. The good news is I'm already seeing at least two shows in January. 2020 is gonna be great for the blog, because of this little thing I like to call managing my expectations. For now, here is a review of all the content I enjoyed in November. It finally started to get cold, which is the best time to consume content! Books The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood In October I had a conversation with one of my most well-read friends, and she told me she never reads old books. After reading The Handmaid's Tale, I understand why. The only reason I picked up the book from the library is, in the simplest terms, because of FOMO. Everyone was freaking out about The Testaments (the long-awaited sequel) and the TV show, and I felt like I just had to bite the bullet and read the book. The thing is, I feel like if I read the book two or three years ago I would have been pretty enthralled by it, but the most enticing thing about it is how fucked up and insane the concept is. Because of the TV show, everyone is aware of the concept, so I wasn't shocked reading about it. There were definitely details that took me aback and Atwood's world building is haunting and very impressive, but I wish I hadn't known as much as I did. Also, nothing really happens in the book. It is very much a peak at the life of Offred, a handmaid enslaved to bare children for a wealthy captain in Gilead, a dystopian and theocratic version of the United States, with a bit of minor excitement towards the end. This confused me because the book is hardly cinematic, so after I finished the book I read the entirety of the TV show's Wikipedia page. I won't be watching it. Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle Until now, Let It Snow was the only book with any contribution from John Green that I hadn't read. After seeing a trailer for the Netflix film, I decided to give the book a quick read before it came out. The book was delightful- a perfect sampling of three of the best YA authors of the aughts and teens, my prime YA novel consumption period, and possibly the prime YA period of all time (disclaimer: this is a bold and unsubstantiated claim). The book is a compilation of three novellas that all take place in the same small town on Christmas Eve and each story is expertly linked à la Love Actually through small moments and connected characters. It was also very fun to read a book that was obviously written for teenagers in 2008. The characters had iPods and used slang that is (thankfully) out of date. The love stories were adorable and filled me with those early winter warm and fuzzies. All that being said, the movie adaptation was pretty bad. They were only faithful to one of the three novellas (the one by John Green) and the other two were edited so much that they didn't even really make sense. It does feature Joan Cusack though, which is pretty much always a plus. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles I rarely read books by and/or about men, because they are generally not interesting, but I really liked this book! The book opens with the protagonist, Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov, a godson of an advisor to the Tzar, being brought to trial post-Bolshevik revolution and ultimately spared from the death sentence (his crime: being a social parasite) and instead sentenced to house arrest inside the glamorous Hotel Metropol in the heart of Moscow. The rest of the book spans the next at least three (I may have lost track) decades the Count spends in the hotel, befriending the staff and visitors as he goes on. The play touches on themes of loyalty, friendship, home, and chosen family, and I found the whole thing very sweet and charming. Give me any book where an old man befriends a child though and I'll probably have a good time. Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino Trick Mirror is the first book by essayist and current staff writer at The New Yorker, Jia Tolentino, and for the past week and a half or so since I finished reading it I find myself bringing it up in a ridiculous amount of conversations. Tolentino's essays manage to unpack the millennial ethos so intelligently without being condescending, probably because she actually is a millennial, and never before have I gotten so much joy and laughed so hard from being utterly and totally dragged about my buy in to the athleisure industry. Some of my other favorite essays from the book covered topics such as the scams that have shaped our generation and the wedding industrial complex. TV Shows Looking for Alaska (Hulu) Although I read the book Looking for Alaska when I was a sophomore in high school (almost a decade ago now!!! I am old!!!), I don't remember many of the details about the plot. I remember the tragic ending and some of the funnier moments, but mostly I remember the feeling it captured. Watching the TV show felt like walking into a 2005 high school time capsule, which didn't feel that foreign when I read the book as a high schooler in 2010, but felt like a world away as an adult (lol) in 2019. The entire team did an excellent job bringing the book to the screen, and I loved the choice to make a mini series rather than sacrifice anything to fit into a 90 minute to two hour movie. My favorite part of the show were the breakout performances by Denny Love as the Colonel and Jay Lee as Takumi, the protagonist Miles' (Charlie Plummer) best friends at his new boarding school, Culver Creek. I also loved the various adult cast members who played parents, teachers, and school administrators, and felt that the audience gained a lot of perspective about them that are a bit unattainable in a novel that is narrated by a 15-year-old boy. To be perfectly honest, I did not love Kristine Forsith's portrayal of Alaska, the titular character who Miles falls for rather obsessively, but I think it is impossible to please everyone when bringing a character from the page to the screen. She simply was not the Alaska I imagined. Modern Love (Amazon) Boy am I an absolute sucker for any Modern Love related content. For those of you living under a rock or for whatever reason not captivated by true love stories, Modern Love is a New York Times column featuring essays about the many different ways people experience love. It has been spun off into books, podcasts, and now, finally, a TV show. It is very cute, as well as being at times heartbreaking, thoughtful, and hilarious. Each episode is based on a different essay and features a bunch of Really Famous People that don't have the time to devote to full TV Shows, such as Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, Dev Patel, and Andrew Scott. While I genuinely loved each story, the ones that have stuck with me the longest are Episode 3: Take Me as I Am, Whoever I Am, featuring Anne Hathaway navigating life and dating with bipolar disorder, Episode 4: Rallying to Keep the Game Alive, with Tina Fey and John Slattery as a couple whose marriage might be over, and Episode 7: Hers Was a World of One, featuring everyone's favorite hot priest Andrew Scott and Brandon Kyle Goodman as a gay couple looking for a surrogate. All of the episodes are really lovely and each only about 25 minutes, so if you're ever feeling down about the world take some time and be cheered up! Aside from the gooey cheesy deliciousness that is Modern Love, my other favorite thing about it was the setting. At risk of invoking the most cliché phrase in the history of stories that take place in New York, it felt like New York was a character in and of itself. Modern Love really couldn't take place anywhere else, and it made me fall in love a little bit more deeply with this city I call home every single episode. You can go throw up now. Atypical (Netflix) Atypical tells the story of the Sam Gardner (Keir Gilchrist), a young man with autism, and his family. It is probably the only show I've ever seen that portrays autism realistically. Sam is not Forrest Gump (lovable but stupid) or Rain Man (obnoxious but a genius). He's a teenager on the cusp of adulthood with all the same goals and desires of other teenagers, just with the added complication of living with autism. I love this show so much, not just for the portrayal of Sam but also of the impact autism has on his parents and his younger sister, Casey (Bridgette Lundy-Paine) who, along with Sam's co-worker and best friend Zahid (Nik Dodani), is my favorite character. This season focused on Sam's first semester of college, Casey's increasingly complicated personal life, and his parents rekindling their relationship. My only critique of this season is I feel like they're drawing out the parents plot line too much and I'm getting pretty bored of it. Otherwise, I loved watching Sam navigate college and growing up. It's a really lovely and heart warming show and I highly recommend it, especially to anyone whose lives have been touched by autism. Podcasts
Movies The day after Thanksgiving, I went to a movie theatre for the first time since August (I unwillingly saw The Lion King remake and it was absolutely tragic) to see Frozen II. I went in with almost no expectations, especially considering that the trailer is incredibly vague and mostly just adventure-y, and, dear reader, I ask you to do the same. Since everyone who reads this blog probably has my contact information, please let me know what you thought if you've seen it. All I will say is, it's on this list for a reason.
And that's all for my November highlights. December is gonna be a great month for reading/watching/listening to things because not only is it dark and freezing out all the time, but I'm cat-sitting AND dog-sitting back to back so I will have nothing but time to watch TV on other people's couches! I'll let you all know what I thought in 2020 and until then... maybe I'll blog more. Who knows?
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Stephanie KaneI like reading plays, drinking lots of coffee, and holding other people's Tony Awards. Archives
August 2018
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