As I’ve been dealing with what one of my patrons christened “the creepy crud,” I’ve taken to reading for various Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC), my book club, and what looks like pure enjoyment.
I’ve also been binge watching a number of shows. So far, I’ve watch the first two seasons of Stranger Things, a few episodes of That 90s Show, and all four seasons of Virgin River. I’m eager to see more of all three of these. The first two definitely appeal to my sense of nostalgia while the latter is a bit more contemporary.
Of course, now I’m seeking even more to binge watch. So, what might you suggest, Gnomies? <wink>
Gnomies, I posted my final Starlight Book Review (SBR) on a 100 Year Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) just last week! I managed to read my way through time with both books published in the day and written about the day. This makes for a total of twenty books.
To check out what I read and reviewed, take a look at these links which are now live:
My main observations from reflecting on these SBR is that our means of transportation and communication have changed. Also, cultural attitudes have modified, some for the better.
How about you, Gnomies? Did you read through time with me in ’22?
Cover of Book – One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London – centered on a deep magenta background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads
3.7/5 As I anticipated offering the Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC), I imagined the easiest books to find would be those Set in the 2010s (also known as the Tens). Gnomies, I doubt I could’ve been more wrong! I even eased up on the rule a bit for the last decade of this SRC. Yet, somehow, I discovered Kate Stayman-London’s One to Watch, a book set in 2019 and published in 2020. While some reviewers offered less than stellar opinions on One to Watch, I decided to read this book as it focused on some rather Twenty-first Century, even Tens themes.
“Bea Schumacher is a devastatingly stylish plus-size fashion blogger who has amazing friends, a devoted family, legions of Insta followers–and a massively broken heart. Like the rest of America, Bea indulges in her weekly obsession: the hit reality show Main Squeeze. The fantasy dates! The kiss-off rejections! The surprising amount of guys named Chad! But Bea is sick and tired of the lack of body diversity on the show. Since when is being a size zero a prerequisite for getting engaged on television?… Just when Bea has sworn off dating altogether, she gets an intriguing call: Main Squeeze wants her to be its next star, surrounded by men vying for her affections. Bea agrees, on one condition–under no circumstances will she actually fall in love. She’s in this to supercharge her career, subvert harmful anti-fat beauty standards, inspire women across America, and get a free hot air balloon ride. That’s it…. But when the cameras start rolling, Bea realizes things are more complicated than she anticipated. She’s in a whirlwind of sumptuous couture, Internet culture wars, sexy suitors, and an opportunity (or two, or five) to find messy, real-life love in the midst of a made-for-TV fairy tale.”
My favorite part of One to Watch happens to be the beginning when Bea makes friends with a Parisian shopkeeper. I wished the narrative, text correspondence and all, remained with this promising start. I must say Stayman-London nails all the tropes of dating reality TV as far as I’m concerned. In fact, she illustrates how “unreal” this television can be. Bea and other characters, all with their own agendas rather than actually finding true love and a happily ever after (HEA), seemed most authentic. The book left me wanting, however, some more likeable characters. I felt Stayman-London wanted readers to have certain opinions of different characters that I never quite managed. Also, I found most of the characters undeserving of their respective endgames. Nonetheless, I commend this book for being quintessentially 2010s.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Cover of Modern Lovers by Emma Straub centered on a medium light red-orangebackground with Starry Night Elf avatar in lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads
Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 2010s
Published 2016
Trigger Warnings – Smoking/ Drinking/ Death and Suicide/ Sexual Content
3.75/5 When I planned for my reading for the 2010s in the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC), my original choice ultimately did not meet this SRC’s criteria. Click here for details on this SRC. As 2022 neared its end, I considered myself fortunate that my book club chose to read Emma Straub’s Modern Lovers, a book published in 2016.
* I read Modern Lovers prior to the hubbub with author Straub and a Houston area school district. Any comments on this event with Straub will not be posted.
“Friends and former college bandmates Elizabeth and Andrew and Zoe have watched one another marry, buy real estate, and start businesses and families, all while trying to hold on to the identities of their youth. But nothing ages them like having to suddenly pass the torch (of sexuality, independence, and the ineffable alchemy of cool) to their own offspring… Back in the band’s heyday, Elizabeth put on a snarl over her Midwestern smile, Andrew let his unwashed hair grow past his chin, and Zoe was the lesbian all the straight women wanted to sleep with. Now nearing fifty, they all live within shouting distance in the same neighborhood deep in gentrified Brooklyn, and the trappings of the adult world seem to have arrived with ease. But the summer that their children reach maturity (and start sleeping together), the fabric of the adults’ lives suddenly begins to unravel, and the secrets and revelations that are finally let loose—about themselves, and about the famous fourth band member who soared and fell without them—can never be reclaimed… Straub packs wisdom and insight and humor together in a satisfying book about neighbors and nosiness, ambition and pleasure, the excitement of youth, the shock of middle age, and the fact that our passions—be they food, or friendship, or music—never go away, they just evolve and grow along with us.”
Modern Lovers seemed a great choice for the Back in the Day SRC. Straub wrote a book about characters looking both back in the past and forward to the future. At moments in my reading, I wondered how Straub managed to write a book on the precipice of time. The characters, Andrew in particular, irritated me. Sometimes, I didn’t care much about anyone in the book and that’s reflected in my rating. I would probably pick up another Straub book but there are other authors I want to read first.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Cover of Book – Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue – centered on a rusty orange background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads
Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 2000s
Set inthe Year 2008/ Published in 2016
Trigger Warning – alcoholism,/ drug abuse/suicide/potentially upsetting scenes regarding American immigration
4/5 I spied Imbolo Mbue’s Behold the Dreamers a few years ago and placed the book on my To Be Read (TBR) shelf. It pleased me when I learned our book club would read it last year. Furthermore, it thrilled me that this book was set in 2008 and that I read it for the Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC) since most of the action happens in the Aughts.
“Jende Jonga, a Cameroonian immigrant living in Harlem, has come to the United States to provide a better life for himself, his wife, Neni, and their six-year-old son. In the fall of 2007, Jende can hardly believe his luck when he lands a job as a chauffeur for Clark Edwards, a senior executive at Lehman Brothers. Clark demands punctuality, discretion, and loyalty—and Jende is eager to please. Clark’s wife, Cindy, even offers Neni temporary work at the Edwardses’ summer home in the Hamptons. With these opportunities, Jende and Neni can at last gain a foothold in America and imagine a brighter future… However, the world of great power and privilege conceals troubling secrets, and soon Jende and Neni notice cracks in their employers’ façades… When the financial world is rocked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the Jongas are desperate to keep Jende’s job—even as their marriage threatens to fall apart. As all four lives are dramatically upended, Jende and Neni are forced to make an impossible choice.”
I read this book with my ears, tuning in to listen to the dazzling reading of Prentice Onayemi. Onayemi pronounced names of characters and places, which pulled me into the story. I enjoyed hearing Neni sing in particular. I found the hopeful tone encouraging and the text rich. Some parts dragged for me, though; the pacing slow and almost ominous. As someone who remembers the 2008 crash, I knew something bad remained ahead for the characters. Otherwise, while not shelved on my Top 9 of 2022, I felt Behold the Dreamers deserves a nod as one of the better books I read. Also, I think I would try another Mbue book.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
In 2022, I spent much time thinking about books and reading. Not only did I exceed my Goodreads goal of reading 100 books, I also continued to regularly post Starlight Book Reviews (SBR). As mentioned in Episode #65, I completed 3 out of 5 Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC) by the afternoon of December 30. The next day, I also finished the 2022 Sacred Text SRC. Click here to read about last year’s SRC. I officially kick off the 2023 SRC on Sunday, January 15 so there’s still time to complete last year’s SRC.
Below are what I consider my “Top 9 Reads” in 2022. Some books I read for various SRC, others just happened to be stellar reads for last year. I listed the fiction in alphabetical order by author’s surname, nonfiction in order Dewey Decimal Codes. Books with SBR are linked.
Cover of Looking For Alaska by John Green centered on a dark red background with Starry Night Elf avatar in lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads
Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 2000s
Published 2006
Trigger Warnings – Smoking/ Drinking/ Death and Suicide References/ Sexual Content
4/5 John Green wrote one of my favorite novels — An Abundance of Katherines which I read in the late Aughts. I also picked up The Fault in Our Stars around the time of the screen adaptations release. Yet, I never read Green’s first novel, Looking for Alaska until 2022 for the Back in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC). Click here for details on this SRC. I read Looking for Alaska with my ears, read by the incomparable Wil Wheaton.
“Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . . After. Nothing is ever the same.”
The fact that I read An Abundance of Katherines years ago aside, I soon recognized Green’s writing style. I considered Looking for Alaska the older brother of An Abundance of Katherines. I cared about Miles Halter A.K.A. Pudge and his friends, felt concern for Alaska Young in particular. As someone maybe a decade older than these kids at Culver Creek Boarding School, I recognized the elements of dorm living and even the pranks. This seemed late Nineties, early Aughts. Pay phone usage by characters brought bake what all people had to do to reach someone; this predated cell phone ubiquity. Yet, the teens feeling invincible among other attitudes seemed timeless, as though this book might take place in any decade since 1900. Overall, I found Looking for Alaska to be well written and true to life. The Before/After, made for emotionally tough reading for me. Also, not to blame Green or this work, I stopped and started reading Looking for Alaska more than once due to a waiting list for this book. Yet, I recommend Looking for Alaska to any reader seeking something of a bygone era.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Each December, I announce the Stellar Reading Challenges (SRC) for the upcoming year. With each batch of SRC, I learn something I want to do for the next year. As I know that any sort of reading challenge takes extra time for me to begin and end, my SRC start mid-January and end the following mid-January.
Towards the end of 2021, I determined I appreciate even more buffers than late starts. Heck, I still posted Starlight Book Reviews (SBR) through the end of February because I ran out of time in 2021. So, I decided to try SRC which only required up to ten books, with down time for part of January and all of December.
I think this served me well. I wrapped up the two 100 Years SRC earlier this week and completed the Local SRC last month. Click here to read more on the 2022 SRC. I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts on the 2022 SRC in the weeks to come.
I anticipate finishing the Sacred Text SRC tomorrow, New Year’s Eve. I also find myself eager to start reading the Bible again in a version to be announced in 2023. Once this happens, I will have finished four out of five of the SRC.
The only SRC that remains unfinished is the Foodie one. I did eat something from a book and reviewed it but I wanted to try out more eats. Someday, maybe I will.
All and all, this is to say, I think 5 SRC per year with ten “on months” suits me well, Gnomies… and I surpassed my Goodreads Reading Goal of 100 Books.
How do you feel about any reading challenge, SRC or otherwise?
Regardless, I thank all my Gnomies for continuing to read and follow me and I wish you a most stellar 2023!
Poster for film: Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood | Movie Poster Source: Wikipedia
Seeing the Story/ Review of Book to Screen Adaptation
Released in 2002.
All screen adaptations will be referred to in the following format “Title (Date).”
4/5 Just a week ago, I posted my Starlight Book Review (SBR) of Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, a book I read twenty years after I saw the screen adaptation which it inspired. While the film factored into my opinions while reading the book, I felt my memory of the Callie Khouri’s Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) movie somewhat faded enough to separate the two. Of course, I recently re-watched the film in planning for this post <smile>.
Click here to read my SBR of Rebecca Wells’ Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.
Click here to learn more about the Back in the Day SRC.
“Siddalee Walker (Sandra Bullock), a famous New York City playwright, is quoted in Time Magazine and infuriates her dramatic, Southern mother. A long-distant fight wages until her mother’s friends (and members of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood) kidnap Siddalee and take her “home” to the South, where they hope to explain her mother’s history and to patch up the rift between mother and daughter.”—kzmckeown
I enjoyed watching Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002). I felt Sandra Bullock, Ellen Burstyn, and the rest of the cast made their respective characters and roles their own. Both the book and the film possessed the same flavor, somewhat of a neighbor to my own experience with the chief setting of Louisiana. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) stands quite well on its own but reading Wells’ book enriched my second viewing of the film. With that being said, my brain accepts that changes in adaptations must happen but my heart ached at these plot alterations. As to not spoil too much here, I only mention the one where Vivi’s Ya-Yas come up to New York City to “bring” Siddalee down to her hometown at the beginning of the film. So, for this and other switches in the plot, I knocked off a star in my rating.
Quotes come from description on IMDb and are featured on color blocks. Click here to access this webpage.
Cover of Book – The Mall by Megan McCafferty – centered on a light turquoise background with the “Starry Night Elf” Logo in the lower right hand corner | Cover Image Source: Goodreads
Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge – 1990s
Set inthe Year 1991/ Published in 2020
Trigger Warning – sexual harassment/casual sex/ slut-shaming (occurs but not condoned by author)/ divorce/ cheating.
3.75/5 I realize I’m dating myself but the 1990s is the first decade I remember well. I lived and experienced them and my recall of the Nineties is clear and direct. So I knew I would likely be more critical of someone “getting it wrong.” When I discovered Megan McCafferty’s The Mall, a book set in 1991, I thought I might be able to set aside some of my sharp analysis as I’m more “familiar” with the latter part of the decade. So, I chose The Mall as my 1990s entry for the Set in the Day Stellar Reading Challenge (SRC).
“New York Times bestselling author Megan McCafferty returns to her roots with this YA coming of age story set in a New Jersey mall… The year is 1991. Scrunchies, mixtapes and 90210 are, like, totally fresh. Cassie Worthy is psyched to spend the summer after graduation working at the Parkway Center Mall. In six weeks, she and her boyfriend head off to college in NYC to fulfill The Plan: higher education and happily ever after… But you know what they say about the best laid plans…Set entirely in a classic “monument to consumerism,” the novel follows Cassie as she finds friendship, love, and ultimately herself, in the most unexpected of places. Megan McCafferty, beloved New York Times bestselling author of the Jessica Darling series, takes readers on an epic trip back in time to The Mall.”
I probably finished McCafferty’s The Mall in a week. While I knew of the various shopping mall mainstays – Cinnebon, Orange Julius, Hickory Farms, and watched “Beverly Hills 90210” in rerun on Saturday afternoons as a tween and teen, my 1990s were more Gloria Jean’s, Chick-Fil-A, and “Dawson’s Creek.” While a quick read, narrator Cassie Worthy took a little while to evoke sympathy from me. I found myself more interested in her former friend Drea’s story. I found The Mall an easy, quick read and I liked the treasure hunt, a deep dive into late Eighties/ early Nineties pop culture. Sometimes, Cassie seemed rather shallow. While not hard to understand the vocabulary, I recommend this book for more mature teens due to some of the content.
Quotes come from book flaps/cover and are featured on color blocks.
Starry Night Elf 