Bucky F*cking Dent by David Duchovny

Author: David Duchovny
Original title: Bucky F*cking Dent
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Genres: Sports, Drama
Format: Audio book
Read by:  David Duchovny
Duration: 6h18m
Goodreads

Blurb:
      Ted Fullilove, aka Mr. Peanut, is not like other Ivy League grads. He shares an apartment with Goldberg, his beloved battery-operated fish, sleeps on a bed littered with yellow legal pads penned with what he hopes will be the next great American novel
My thoughts:
      Such a strange book! This is one of those cases when I have problems to start describing it. Here you find a lot of funny, but you also find a lot of sadness. Not tear bursting sadness, but the one that drags you down in life and death speculation. There is a lot of description of America with all its diversity and a lot of baseball as one of the main characters of the book.
     At the beginning, it is difficult to get through the book: little-known America of 70s, a great number of known, but mostly unknown names, music bands and also baseball referenced to which a great part of every page is dedicated. Personally for me, it is uncharted waters: innings, basemen, infield fly…I do not have a clue what those are.  But later on the relationships between the main character and his father come to the fore; and, needless to say, these are quite peculiar.
       Ted is an Ivy League graduate, but does not look like one. He works as a peanut seller at Yankee Stadium and is known under his nickname Mr Peanut. He is on bad terms with his father, but on good ones with marijuana. From time to time Ted thinks about the meaning of life and writes a novel. The great American novel. But he is too lazy to finish it and regularly finds pretexts for his failures.  He would bloat even more in his dirty, dark flat, if one day he was not informed about his father’s terminal illness. Ted begins to change in order to bring some relief to his dying father and alter the reality around him, though he does not realize it; but we as readers are the witnesses of this transformation.
       If most of baseball terminology and swearing are brushed away, we are left with a touching and striking story about a father and a son; a story of their reconciliation. For me, however, it was difficult to perceive the book as a whole, as great amount of jokes, metaphors and allusions did not hit the target. So I can say that I appreciated only half of the book with the father-son theme and felt aloof about the baseball, sportsmen and music themes.
      Almost all the time I was wondering about the title of the book as well. I wanted to understand it so badly, that when it was finally explained I felt pure satisfaction. As for the drawbacks I find the finale a bit weak. I do not want to post any spoilers here, but I felt bad for Ted’s mother, namely for her memory. Why the death of one beloved parent went by and left no traces, and the death of another gains such importance and acknowledgement? I found this a little stretched out.

Rating:  

    2/5 

Coach Carter| McFarland, USA

Another post on movies. Today I review 2 similar movies dedicated to sport theme.
Name: Coach Carter
Year: 2005
Director: Thomas Carter
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Rick Gonzalez, Robert Ri'chard
Genres: Drama, Sport
Rating: PG-13
Language: English
Country:  USA, Germany
Time: 136m 

Blurb:
In 1999, Ken Carter, a successful sporting goods store owner, accepts the job of basketball coach for his old high school in a poor area of Richmond, CA, where he was a champion athlete. As much dismayed by the poor attitudes of his players as well as their dismal play performance, Carter sets about to change both.

My thoughts:

       If you're sick of inspirational-type movies, then don't see it, but otherwise I highly recommend it. This is also not a movie about the sport. While basketball is used as the backdrop for the movie, Coach Carter really isn't about basketball. The real heart of the movie is in the way Coach Carter begins to turn the lives around of the players on his basketball team by showing them that someone actually cares about what happens to them after high school. Coach Carter is trying to instill values that he thought would help an entire community.

         At one point in the movie Carter (played perfectly by Samuel L. Jackson) asks a player why he plays basketball and he responds with "to win the state title" - which of course gets him high fives from the rest of the team. Carter then asks the team who won the state title last year and nobody knows the answer. Carter tries to show his players that high school basketball is not about winning, but about discipline, respect and the confidence to accomplish any goal. He offered resolutions to his team's behavior and left it to them to make the right decisions. 

      The breaking point of the movie is when Coach Carter gets the academic results of his players. He closes the gym and had to face the rage of players, parents, fans and media. By surviving this pressure he drives his players to understand that they are to decide what course their life will take, and it is easy to give in to the opinion of the majority, but they should carry the responsibility of their own action and deeds. When they make the right decision, they are able to see the positive consequences. When they make the wrong decision the players are faced with negative consequences and had no one to blame but themselves. Coach Carter teaches his players that they must be committed and work hard to excel.

Rating:

     7/10    

Name: McFarland, USA
Year: 2015
Director: Niki Caro
Cast: Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Ramiro Rodriguez
Genres: Biography, Drama, Sport
Rating: PG
Language: English, Spanish
Country: USA
Time: 129m 

Blurb:
       A struggling coach and teacher who has had to move around for different incidents in his career finally comes to one of the poorest cities in America: McFarland, California. He sees that some of the students are worth starting a cross-country team and turns seven students with no hope into one of the best cross-country teams.

My thoughts:
         McFarland USA is much more than the regular good sports movie. Kevin Costner plays Jim White, a coach whose anger forces him to move to McFarland, California, where he begins a job teaching science and gym. In this predominately Latino town Jim and his family experience a culture shock. White joins a school that isn't the best in the world. He sees potential in a few students and forms a cross country team, much to the frustration of colleagues, his and runners' families.
      What I like is that the movie that it doesn't contain a crazy amount of over dramatizations. It is quite simple: there are no unexpected fancy twists. The acting is straight up and solid. The ethnic background of the movie adds to the movie lots of diversity. I enjoy a few of the scenes that involve the interactions between the coach or his family and the locals. They demonstrate how cultural interaction and familiarity can eliminate fear and break down the walls that divide us.
       Since this is a Disney movie, acute topics are rounded off. Crime, discrimination, politics, racism, and poverty are present, but are not signified or looked upon in depth. A nice work is done by the director Niko Caro in keeping the story grounded and focused on the individuals. We get a feel for the skepticism and family obstacles faced by this first group of runners. More importantly, we witness the pride and involvement as the boys begin to have some success. It is actually nice to see when such a sensitive topic as the racial theme is turned into a positive and inspiring story.

Rating:

     7/10    

Sunday Post #4, Sun is out!

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer.  It’s a chance to share news, a post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things received, and share news about what is coming up on the blog for the week ahead. To get in on the Sunday fun, see the rules here: Sunday Post Meme.

Last Week on the Blog

The week: 13.02 - 19.02

• On Monday, 13th I reviewed Scrappy Little Nobody by Anna Kendrick
• On Tuesday, 14th I publish Top Ten Tuesday and Monthly Recommendation 2
• On Wednesday, 15th I review Resident Evil and La La Land movies
• On Thursday, 16th I review The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood
• On Friday, 17th I publish PopSugar Reading Challenge 2016 Pusle Check Up

This Week on the Blog
The week: 20.02 - 26.02

• On Monday, 20th I review movies Coach Carter and McFarland, USA
• On Tuesday, 21st I review Bucky F*cking Dent by David Duchovny
• On Wednesday, 22nd I publish T5W February 22, Books to Get You Out of a Reading Slump
• On Thursday, 23rd I review movies Point Break, Carrie, The Equalizer
• On Friday, 24th I review Under The Skin by Michel Faber

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2016 Pusle Check Up

I was not sure if I need this post at all. The only important thing to is to read as much as I can. But it turned out that I completely lost the overview of the books read in connection to this challenge. I wanted to do the pulse check every 3 months, but I did not entered the challenge so long ago, so it is a half year check and I will have to continue it in the new 2017 year before I can join PopSugar Challenge 2017.

1. A book based on a fairy tale
    I read The Lunar Chronicles in the first three months of the year. I’ve actually used this series to tick off a few categories, but this one is specifically Cinder.
My review.

3. A YA bestseller
   Let It Snow: Three Holiday Romances by Green, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Myracle. My review.

5. A book set in your home state
    I don’t actually live in my home country, so I went with a book set in the country I currently live, otherwise it will be too easy. That’s Czech Republic, and I went with The Student of Prague by Hans Heinz Ewers. Done!

6. A book translated to English
    This was really easy. I am currently cannot tear myself away from Norwegian writer Jo Nesbo, who wrote series of detective Harry Hole. So under this category I count Nemesis by Jo Nesbo.

7. A romance set in the future
     Scarlet, from The Lunar Chronicles fulfills this one. The plot is set in some type of a "future". I still think this counts. My review.

8. A book set in Europe
   Inkheart by Cornelia Funke is mostly set up in Italy. My review.

9. A book that’s under 150 pages
   The Lonesome West By Martin McDonagh. Actually it is a play, but as it is published in a separate book, I do consider this point done. My review.

10. A New York Times bestseller
     I will go here with  Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs. My review.

11. A book that’s becoming a movie this year
     Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Riggs, Ransom. Actually I never heard about the book before I saw the movie trailer, so I picked the book solely to fulfill this requirement, but it turned out to become one of my favorite series, which I really loved. My review.

14. A book you can finish in a day
     Cress, from The Lunar Chronicles fulfills this one. I was so enchanted by the series that I really read this book within a day. My review.

17. A book at least 100 years older than you
     Kidnapped and Catriona by Robert Louis Stevenson was first published 1893.

18. A book that’s more than 600 pages
     Winter, from The Lunar Chronicles fulfills this one.The biggest book I read this year; 832 pages. My review.

19. A book from Oprah’s Book Club
     Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts. I read this book only to fulfill the requirement of this challenge. I liked the idea and positive message it carries and I liked the movie, but the book itself did not work out for me.

22. A graphic novel
    The Tale of One Bad Rat by Bryan Talbot. This is genre is not my cup of tea, so I grabbed the first adult looking graphic novel in the library and, frankly, quite enjoyed it.

25. A book that takes place during Summer
       Goldfinger by Ian Fleming. I believe the whole adventure started in a hotel in Miami, where Bond crossed the way of notorious criminal figure known as Goldfinger.

27. A murder mystery
      The Devil's Star by Jo Nesbø. This is not one murder mystery, but 5 killings that seems to be the deed of a serial killer. It is a grasping novel with a lot of unexpected plot twists, with one of my favorite fictional detectives Harry Hole.

30. A book with a blue cover
     My edition of The Leopard by Jo Nesbø has a winter scenery on a cover and it all together looks very blue. Another Harry Hole mystery/thriller novel, which was very intriguing and nail-biting, but not the best in Harry Hole series.

34. A book from the library
     Hotel World by Ali Smith. I've heard so much about this author and was looking forward to read one of her books, but was really disappointed. My review.

39. A book that takes place on an island
     I was confused by this one, but found out the book I read in the spring Dr.No by Ian Fleming. The story takes place mainly on the fictional island of Crab Key close to Jamaica and Jamaica itself. My review.

40. A book that’s guaranteed to bring you joy
     Fortunately, the Milk... by Neil Gaiman. This is a funny short book for children age under 10 but I had a silly smile on my face the entire time I was reading it. It was nicely written and the illustrations by Riddell are so vivid and witty. My review

Outline is 20 books out of 40. Not the greatest result. So these are all the books I read in 2016 from the creation of this blog. Before that I did not track what I was reading, so most probably I lost about 10 books from the beginning of 2016. I would give some time in the beginning of 2017 to catch up with this challenge and close it, so I can fully concentrate on my 2017 challenges.

The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

Author: Margaret Atwood
Original title: The Handmaid's Tale
Edition Language: English
Series: no
Genres: Dystopia, Science Fiction
Format: Audio book
Read by: Claire Danes
Duration: 10h26m
Goodreads

Blurb:
In the Republic of Gilead, formerly the United States, far-right ideals have been carried to extremes. The resulting society is a feminist's nightmare: women are strictly controlled, unable to have jobs or money and assigned to various classes: the chaste, childless Wives; the housekeeping Marthas; and the reproductive Handmaids, who turn their offspring over to the "morally fit" Wives. The tale is told by Offred, a Handmaid who recalls the past and tells how the chilling society came to be.

My thoughts:
        First of all, I am so happy I have read this book. Though happiness is not the feeling you get while reading it. I had to put it away a couple of times just to precede the ideas. The world, Margaret Atwood describes quite plausibly, is so depressive and hopeless. As a reader, you get to know step by step the social structure and norms, behavior patents and atmosphere in the society. The author skillfully builds up the world, which is split into castes where everyone has its role and fail to fulfill it is subject to inevitable punishment; the community, where notions as freedom, education, technology and science are banned.
       Anyway, I find too many gaps in this society structure and how the Republic of Gilead was actually formed. It is difficult to believe that a small group of extremists were able to overtake the regime without any struggle. It was mentioned in the book that there were protests, which were suppressed by force and fire, but the next logical step is armed standoff, guerilla war, civil war as the last resort, but quiet acceptance of despicable degradation of all values and freedoms... quite strange and improbable. But anyway, it is not about the society structure or oppression of women, who are not allowed to read, write, work, possess anything, choose anything or have an opinion. This is a story of a broken woman, whose life was shattered and who was stripped off of anything she had ever had: firstly, of her civil rights: work, money, rights to be an owner, right to be an equal citizen to a man; secondly, of her family: mother, husband and a child; thirdly, of her freedom: she became the hostage of a system - either death or submission; fourthly, of her personality: she is not herself anymore - a potential incubator for somebody’s children, her memories are a mess, she does not pronounce her real name for ages, she is afraid even think in somebody's presence, only alone, in the darkness of her unlocked room.
         Frankly speaking, the picture of Offred is so frightening that is so difficult to find its connection to reality. I can hardly imagine to what level of desperation a person should be driven to cherish like the ultimate treasure the printed page from a magazine; being driven to the state of hysterics by a touch of a man, just because her body has not been touched by anyone apart from the reproduction purposes; to find the ultimate freedom and pleasure just being dressed in anything feminine, even prostitute’s cloths and being treated as one; that having a match is an ultimate rebellion and death penalty matter. These points are extremely dreadful and difficult to proceed. The tragedy of a life and personality, where you cannot even choose to take your own life if you'd want to.
           I will not elaborate on the character's actions or choices as it will be spoiler-full, as the most important part of the book is Offred's reflection and self-analysis. The last part of the book is quite interesting and ambivalent. It is actually the analysis of Offred's Tale as historical document on a future conference dedicated to the Republic of Gilead. I heard so many bloggers complain about this part, that it completely spoiled the impression of the book, that it was not necessary and pointless. I, however, find this chapter really interesting addition to the book. It shows that we are only numbers: faceless and lifeless figures of the past from the future perspective. Even having at hand such a bloodcurdling record of somebody's broken life "the future us" will only regard the historical probability and connection to known figures in the history.  And this is actually such a true vision of history events: passions fade; the sufferings and troubles are not taken into consideration – only bare facts and numbers. This is the way we will be viewed in the future if we are valuable enough to be viewed at all.

Rating:  

    5/5    

Resident Evil and La La Land

Name: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
Cast:  Milla Jovovich, Ruby Rose, Ali Larter
Time: 106 min
Genres: Action, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Germany, Australia, Canada, France
Language: English

Blurb:
Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, Alice (Milla Jovovich) is the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity's final stand against the undead. Now, she must return to where the nightmare began - The Hive in Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse.

My Thoughts: 
Frankly, there is nothing to review in this movie. This is typical Resident Evil film. I would say there is a maximum 3-4 dialogues one minute long. The rest of the movies are a race, combat and zombies.
The program betrays the Umbrella Corporation and help Alice to get back to the beginning, to the place where everything started: The Hive, otherwise the humanity will be wiped off. Everything is like expected: Alice kills every living and unliving on her way to the goal. There was one unexpected twist with the clones at the end, which kind of explaining Alice loss of memory. I would say predictable, but scary to the point movie. The final scene, however, showed that this "The Final Chapter" might not be final after all.

Rating:  

    2/5 

Name: La La Land 
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Rosemarie DeWitt
Time: 128 min
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Musical, Romance
Country: USA
Language: English

Blurb: 
Mia, an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian, a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart. 

My thoughts:

       It is difficult to talk about the movie without spoilers, but I find it so unfair! This is a nice movie, romantic and touching with a beautiful main musical theme. It made me cry really a lot. But I find it so unfair that little incidents are changing our lives so drastically, that we have to sacrifice our feelings and dreams in order to go on living, so sad. 

      Another sad theme for me was the idea of a dream: how deeply one should believe in his dream to overcome all the doubts and failures and continue to work hard and what is more important to believe even harder; how clear one should be about his dream that not to lose his path and not be distracted by glory or success. This is such a challenge! I guess this topic was nicely shown in the movie.

Rating:  

    3/5 

Top Ten Tuesday and Monthly Recomendation 2

  It happened again that the topic for TTT for Feb. 14 and Monthly Recommendation group coincide. So to avoid two posts on a similar topic I'll have it in this one. For TTT the theme is About Romance Tropes/Types which nicely fits into Monthly recommendation topic "One True Paring"

"One True Paring"

I really had no idea at the beginning that I would be passionate about this post)))

1. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

       This book has many important themes: in a larger political sense, it is about oppression and persecution, and in a moral sense, it is about courage, devotion, and the power of love. The idea is: once true love is betrayed (even if the reasons were to save the beloved one) it is difficult to gain it back. Both have to go through many ordeals to prove that they are worth to be re-united again. But when they do meet all the challenges and unite in their love they will be granted the upper happiness. It sounds a little cheesy, but the execution of the love theme in this book is just superb. This is the picture of ideal love: all-forgiving, sacrificial and enduring.

2. Bridget Jones and Mark Darcy from Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

      This is one of my most favorite couples. They are so funny and genuine. I mostly base my liking on the movie. I like how their romance is shown, there is no kisses (just the last one), no obvious hints, everything is executed so purely and nicely, but at the same time you can feel the tension and passion and open sexuality between those two. It is also so romantic because it focuses on how he loves her despite, or perhaps because of, her embarrassing flaws and hilarious antics, mostly because Bridget is hilarious, relatable, and so genuine.

3. Meggie and Ralph from The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough.

     I cannot say that this is the ideal couple in the romantic sense. But the relationship between Meggie and Ralf can be called true love as it affected their life paths and ripped their souls apart. This story is an example of when finding true love is not enough; then this pure feeling can be tread down by vanity, ambition, insult and betrayal.

4. Feride and Kamran from Çalıkuşu (The Wren) by Reşat Nuri Güntekin

       For those who did not read this beautiful historical fictional love novel here is the story:
The events in the novel take place in the early twentieth century, near the creation of the Turkish republic. Most of the novel is recounted in first-person diary format by Feride. Feride is the orphaned daughter of an army officer. As a teenager, she attends Lycee Notre Dame de Sion in the winter, and stays with one of her late mother's sisters during the summer holidays.
      She gets engaged to her charming cousin, Kamran, whom she leaves the night before their wedding, upon discovering that he has been unfaithful to her. She runs away from home to become a teacher in Anatolia, although she remains desperately in love with Kamran.
    The rest I cannot tell as it will be full of spoilers, but I should say this is not about the power of mutual love, but the force of love that this tiny girl has endured, the force that kept her going and not give in, not to break down and yield. How she developed as a person, but always kept true to her feelings towards Kamran. How this love was simultaneously destroying and rebuilding her. We do not know anything about the depth of his feelings, but it is enough to know hers to fill this book with purity and hope.

5. Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

     This is no surprise for Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler and be in this list. Though their relationship cannot be called idealistic or romantic, I believe those two strong personalities and made for each other.   

6. Captain Blood and Arabella Bishop from Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini

      I just admire how the love theme is executed in  this novel. You will not read about any passionate dialogues, witty confrontations and ardent glances. Instead, you will find two people drawn apart by circumstances. How a niece of a plantation owner can show any sympathy to a slave? How a slave ever dares to count on true lady's affection? Even when he is not slave anymore, he is just a cursed outlaw, a pirate and thus he will never be able to gain the heart of a woman he ever loved. In this book love theme is not the primary one, but it is perceptible in every decision Captain Blood does. This is the story of all-forgiving and enduring passion, that overcomes not only physical, but also moral obstacles, time and distance.

7. Petruchio and Katherina from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

       I cannot tell you why, but I just love those two from my childhood. Of couse looking at this couple from an adult point of view I can see that this relationship far from ideal, I would even can call it abusive. But what you I can do? Just love their hate-to-love story development.

8.  Christine and Raoul from The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

       These two are just so sweet and adorable. A bad, bad Phantom of the Opera dared to love and want Christine and steals her in his chambers. And young and passionate, but rather useless Viconte de Chagny is trying to save his beloved from the nets of an ugly monster. Beautiful story, much deeper of cause, and everything is not so easy with the "monster" but still Christine and Raoul are so sweet in their young and passionate love.

9. Maria Bolkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov from War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

      If you ask any Russian who is the greatest couple of all time, you would probably in 80% get the answer: Pierre Bezukhov and Natasha Rostova or Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova from War and Peace. It turned out that Natasha Rostova was the favorite character of Leo Tolstoy. He put a lot of effort in the development of her character, and since this was his ideal of a woman he gave her 2 best male representatives to love. Those love stories are really worth reading about. This is not some fluffy infatuation, but serious speculation on relationship, family, responsibility and duty.

       But if you ask me, I will tell you there is nothing more lovely than the relationship between Maria Bolkonskaya and Nikolai Rostov. The development of this love story is superb. They meet during the war and that does not contribute to the romantic involvement. She is a plain and humble girl, he is a rarely handsome and successful officer; there is no way she can attract him; but then something unbelievable happens (actually the dream of every girl comes true) this beautiful and prominent man falls in love with Maria and not due to her appearance but her character. He saw the beauty of her soul and fell for it. That is so enchanting to read how he comes to realization that there is so much more behind the unattractive shell, which can inspire and empower.

10. Elinor Dashwood and Edward Ferrars from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen  

      I guess I just like quiet and constrained love stories. I cannot feel enough for Elinor suffering when she went through all the ordeal of love without perspective and all the obstacles in her way, and how she managed to pull herself together and be civil and smile and socialize.

      Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Visit their blog for more details on how to participate. Each week they will post a new Top Ten list on specific topic.   

  

 In this group we will have a monthly theme for book recommendations to share on your BookTube channel or blog. It is pretty relaxed with when you can upload, but we recommend that you upload the first full week of each month. You are welcome to recommend as many books as you want.  We would love for you to share the books you would recommend based on each months topic, no matter how many you have.  For more details visit the a group on Good Reads named Monthly Recommendations. This group was created by Trina from Between Chapters and Kayla Rayne.