Of College, East of Eden, and K-Dramas

photograph by me

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved books and tried to blog about them but oh-so-failed at doing so most of the time. That girl is me and I am, at long last, popping back into this neglected corner of the blogosphere to give some semblance of an update. Life has been work and prepping for starting college in August (be quiet. yes, I know it is September— make that October— but it wasn't when I started writing this post), but in my free time I have been keeping a steady diet of books, film, and new TV show discoveries. So here is a mid-year roundup of the year's highlights.

Reading

What three books have been highlights so far? Well, first of all, I finally got around to reading The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Earnest is a delightfully funny play involving mistaken identities, muffins, and black handbags. My first exposure to Wilde's play was back during the YouTube literary web series craze when I stumbled upon my personal favorite of those series, an adaption of the play called In Earnest. I recommend both the play and the web series. Next, would be All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, a beautifully written WWII novel with engaging characters. I was just kind of let down by the ending. But do not let that deter you from checking the book out if WWII fiction is your cup of tea. Lastly, and probably going to end up my favorite read of the year, is East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It is one of those books that sort of wallop you over the head and reminds you why stories are such powerful things and why storytelling is so important to you. I am slowly but surely piecing together my thoughts about that book in a semi-coherent manner for another blog post. East of Eden deserves its own post.

Listening

Sedona — Houndsmith. I could launch into an anecdote about all this song's references to John Ford films, the end of the Golden Era of Hollywood, and the Blacklist but I will refrain.
Keeping Your Head Up — Birdy
Saturn — Sleeping At Last
Murder on the Orient Express Soundtrack composed by Patrick Doyle
The Greatest Showman Soundtrack. This music has been playing nearly nonstop since I saw the movie. I love it so much.

Watching

I have been watching more TV shows than films lately it feels like. My siblings and I have all been binge watching Full House for the first time. This show is entertaining. Cute kids, family drama, and 90s nostalgia for the older siblings. But probably one of my new favorite types of television has been K-Dramas. Thanks to Annie Hawthorne on Twitter, I have been working through a list of recommendations. My first show was I Am Not A Robot a rom-com about a millionaire with an allergy to humans and a creative inventor who pretends to be a robot after an accident while the creator repairs the actual robot. I am now five (*cough* make that fourteen) episodes into my second K-Drama, School 2013. Oh my goodness. I am so invested in these characters. AND SOMEBODY PLEASE, PLEASE SEND ME TEACHER JUNG'S WARDROBE! Please.

But what about the films I have been watching? Excellent question. I saw Black Panther (2018) in theaters and it was outstanding, even if it did stand on its excellent characters alone and had some of the wackiest story structure I have ever seen in film. I saw the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven and actually enjoyed it. It worked because it wasn't trying to be a remake. It took the premise and became its own take, which works well because the original Magnificent Seven was a remake of a Japanese film Seven Samurai— which I still need to see.

Latest classic cinema watches have been The Snake Pit (1948) starring Olivia de Havilland, groundbreaking sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet (1956), and John Ford's final western film Cheyenne Autumn (1964).

What have you guys been reading? Seen any really good movies or TV shows recently? Anything I should put on my December school break to watch and read list? It's a thing.