Here's What I Plan to Read and Watch This Week (2/6 - 2/12)

I won’t say my book slump is over, but after physically reading two books and listening to one on audio, I’m on the right track.

Here’s what I read and watched last week:

Books

Ghost Boy by Martin Pistorius and Megan Lloyd Davies: A-. I had the desire to read a non-fiction book, and this memoir of a teenage boy suffering from Locked-In Syndrome for 12-14 years piqued my interest.  The book is scarier than anything I’ve read or seen in the last five years. 

Our Chemical Hearts by Krystal Sutherland: C. I had tried unsuccessfully to read this book twice, when my indifference to the dialogue made me put it down.  I finally decided to power through the book this week, because I was reading another YA book and the two plots began to mix.  Eventually the dialogue stopped being insufferable, but with all the misplaced teenage angst in the latter half of the novel, my enjoyment of the novel suffered.  I met Krystal in October and she signed my copy of her debut novel.  Unfortunately, this reads like a debut—not only through the kitschy dialogue, but also with the lack of appropriate resolution.

Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist: B-. I’m a big fan of Josh; his non-fiction book, We Should Hang Out Some Time, was one of my favorites of 2015—and his YouTube videos are equal parts inspiring and entertaining.  Unlike Our Chemical Hearts, Love and First Sight’s dialogue felt more natural and fluid.  I believed the character development within the first two-thirds of the novel.  If it weren’t for a less enjoyable third act—where Sundquist reached in a hat full of tropes and used the first three that he pulled out—I would have loved it more than I do.

Movies

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (re-watch): A-. After reading Ghost Boy, I decided to re-watch a movie that also deals with locked-in syndrome.  I'm pleasantly surprised that this held up for me; granted, I haven't watched the film since 2008. I thought the filmmaking techniques would be more obvious and less effective, but the film is still an emotional tearjerker that resonates with me. If only the perspective shift would have been better executed, and if the film felt like it didn't rush to its ending, it would have been damn near perfect.

Sharknado: The 4th Awakens: F. I think after three previous entries, it’s established that the Sharknado film series exists as social media marketing for the SyFy network.  There is nothing about the films—that stars D-list celebrities and contains dozens of cameos from dubious personalities—that would inspire terror, horror, or anything you’d expect from a supernatural horror film.  Therefore, the only thing that these films could contain is comedy.  There isn’t a laugh to have in the fourth installment, and it bewilderingly lasts an hour and a half.

I Am Not Your Negro: A. As far as documentaries go, this one is near the best that I’ve seen.  Re-telling James Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript, which detailed the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcom X and Medgar Evers.  Not only this, it also chronicles the media’s treatment of African Americans throughout Baldwin’s life—and intercuts it with examples from today.  This is a powerful, sobering and vital documentary that takes familiar issues and manages to carve its own path, making the topics feel fresh.

Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle: C+. I went 13 years without watching this stoner comedy, and only finally watched it after my roommate selected it on Crackle on a Saturday night.  It is excessively silly, but I found myself laughing hysterically through several scenes.

Here’s what I plan to read and watch this week:

Books

I have a few books from which I can choose.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby:  It seems appropriate to read the book after re-watching the movie. 

The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher:  I requested this audiobook the day Carrie Fisher passed away, and it just became available.  I’m anticipating this to be as funny and insightful as the other Fisher memoir I read last year, but this one is primarily written about Fisher’s time filming Star Wars.

Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell:  This historical fiction book is written in verse and chronicles the real-life titular court case, where Mildred and Richard Loving— an interracial couple—are charged for breaking the law by living together.  Their story was translated to film last year with Loving, and it will be interesting to see how this “documentary novel” will tackle it.

The Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath:  I had to study Sylvia Plath in college, and lately I’ve been itching to give Plath’s Pulitzer Prize-winning collection a read.

Movies

Passengers:  For real this time.

Fifty Shades Darker:  Because I saw the first one in theaters twice, and I’ve been waiting on the sequel for two years now.

The Batman Lego Movie:  Because I saw the first one in theaters, and I’ve been waiting on the sequel for three years now.