media update: November

Asterisks denote something I particularly enjoyed or found especially worthy of my time; your mileage may vary. As you can see, I got even more reading in than usual, thanks to a four-day G-less weekend.


FICTION


1. Vanish by Tess Gerritsen: A mysterious woman takes a group of patients hostage at a hospital, including a police detective who's in labor...but why? Not as compelling as some of Gerritsen's previous books, but still good.

2. The Snow Fox by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer: A devastating love story set in Japan during the Heian era.

3. Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger: Okay, it's chick lit, complete with name-dropping (both brands and celebrities) and the obligatory gay confidant, but it's amusing enough.

4. Rainbow Party by Paul Ruditis: This is the book that garnered a shitstorm of controversy, thanks to its theme (teenagers sometimes GIVE AND RECEIVE BLOWJOBS; I was shocked, SHOCKED); in fact, Barnes & Noble and Borders both refused to stock it in their stores. They should have refused to stock it not because of its theme, but because it sucks. Ha ha, sucks, geddit, clever am I OMGLOLZ.

5. Somebody's Daughter* by Marie Myung-Ok Lee: A young woman, who was adopted from Korea by Minnesotan parents, returns to Korea in hopes of finding her birth parents. Moving without being cheesy.

6. Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates: I hesitated to read it because of the incendiary (and, I feel, needlessly provocative) subtitle, but Oates isn't known for her sensationalism, so I decided to give it a go. A woman and her daughter, walking home from a Fourth of July celebration, are attacked; the daughter is beaten and the woman is gang-raped and beaten half to death. The "love story" in the title refers to a cop who decides that the justice denied in court will be meted out one way or another. Well-written but upsetting.

Read so far this year: 60


NON-FICTION


1. Nefertiti by Joyce Tyldesley: Booooring.

2. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife* by Mary Roach: There's not a whole lot I can tell you about this book that the title doesn't already imply, but I will tell you that it's a must-read. Roach's previous book, Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, is probably my favorite non-fiction book of all time, and this isn't quite as compelling, but it's still great, especially the jovially disgusting chapter on ectoplasm.

3. The Lady and the Panda* by Vicki Constantine Croke: The true story of the Manhattan socialite who trekked to China in the 1930's and brought back a baby panda, causing a media sensation. It's both a rollicking adventure story and an utterly heartbreaking tale of a woman's fierce maternal love for an odd little creature. If you like animals even a little bit, you'll probably mist up more than once.

4. Julie & Julia* by Julie Powell: The author felt stuck in a rut, so she decided to make every single one of Julia Child's recipes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year. This book is a feast for the senses and, at times, incredibly funny. Plus it has this great paragraph: "Because sometimes you just get a feeling when you watch someone you love fall in love---maybe especially someone who is sad, or difficult, or just for some reason an uncomfortable fit with the rest of the world. A feeling of relief, really, as if you can let go of that load you'd never actually realized you were carrying." Warning to the sensitive: the chapter where she prepares lobsters is somewhat upsetting.

5. The Dancing Girls of Lahore* by Louise Brown: A fascinating peek into the lives of Pakistani prostitutes.

6. The Friend Who Got Away: A selection of essays about the pain of a broken friendship. It made me tear up, snarl a couple of times in recognition (yes, LC, I'm thinking of you), and be extra-thankful for the wonderful friends I have now.

Read so far this year: 53


MANGA


1. Stroke Material: My Fuckin' Lover by Atsuta Kotobuki: Nope, not kidding on the title. It's not nearly as raunchy as you might think, though.

2. Nana* vols. 1-10 by Ai Yazawa: One of the best explorations of female friendship I've read in any medium, much less manga.

3. Cat Street* vol. 1 by Kamio Youko

Read so far this year: 112


MOVIES


1. Three...Extremes: A trilogy of short Asian horror films. Box is a nightmarish fever dream about twin girls who work in their father's magic act. One of them accidentally kills the other in a fit of jealousy; weird shit ensues. Dumplings is an absolutely grotesque movie about a Chinese woman's special age-defying dumplings. You'll probably be able to guess what the secret ingredient is, but it's even worse than you might think. Never before has the mere sight of someone chewing actually made me gag. A very, very black sociopolitical commentary. Finally, Cut---my least favorite of the three---is kind of like a short Korean version of Saw, in which a man is forced to choose between killing a child he doesn't know or letting a madman cut off his wife's fingers. This movie is not for the faint of heart; Box is more psychologically creepy, but the other two are extremely graphic.

2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*: I had high hopes for this installment, because the corresponding book is my favorite HP to date, and I was not disappointed; it's the perfect mix of action, humor, and pathos, and the special effects are top-notch. I was, however, disturbed by my reaction to Harry in the bathtub. As Defamer put it, the movie should have been called Harry Potter and the Goblet of Hey, They're Not Legal Yet, Perverts.

3. Love & Pop: A depressing Japanese film about the world of "compensated dating". There's a really icky scene in the porno aisle of a video store that had me yelling "EWWWW!"

4. Jarhead: Apparently war is a lot of "hurry up and wait". But damn, that Santa scene...yowza.


Seen so far this year: 43