Feature and Follow Friday {Pets}

 

Feature & Follow is hosted by Parajunkee & Alison Can Read

Question for today – Tell us a bit about your pets.

I could not resist joining in today - I love my two little terrors.  They are spoiled beyond which is good for anyone and we can see the results in the fact that they DO NOT LISTEN (at all!).  They are the boss.

Here are my Jack Russells - on the left is our little girl, Roxy (who suffers from separation anxiety) and her older brother on the right is Spud.

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{Movie} Review: Tucker & Dale vs Evil

Tucker & Dale vs Evil (2010)
Starring:  Tyler Labine, Alan Tudyk and Katrina Bowden

Two lovable West Virginian hillbillies, are headed to their "fixer-upper" vacation cabin to drink some beer, do some fishin', and have a good time. But when they run into a group of preppy college kids who assume from their looks that they must be in-bred, chainsaw wielding killers, Tucker & Dale's vacation takes a bloody & hilarious turn for the worse.

My thoughts:
I love spoof movies and this one was better than most.  If you have ever seen a “slasher” movie, you will also be able to identify all the clichés.  We have everything from a typical group of college students camping in the woods (and turning up dead one by one) to our hillbillies in a log cabin that seems to have a lot of memorabilia of a killing that happened some years ago.

Poor Tucker and Dale, the are beginning to think that these college kids are on medication . . . and that they forgot to take the medication that morning.   The kids are trying to commit suicide all around their cabin vacation home.  They are impaling themselves on branches and throwing themselves into wood chippers . . . it is really a mess.

The dialogue is very clever and it was a lot of much fun trying to spot all the clichés.  Well worth the watch, if you love spoofs too.  This is not a movie to be taken seriously, it is all about the goofiness. 

{Audiobook} Review: Gone Girl

 

Gone Girl
by Gillian Flynn

Genre: Physiological Thriller, Mystery
Date Read: 18 March 2014
Reading with my ears
Narrator: Julia Whelan and
Kirby Heyborne
Unabridged audio - Length:
19 hours 17 minutes

On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne's fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick's clever and beautiful wife disappears from their rented McMansion on the Mississippi River. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn't doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife's head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media--as well as Amy's fiercely doting parents--the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he's definitely bitter--but is he really a killer? As the cops close in, every couple in town is soon wondering how well they know the one that they love. With his twin sister, Margo, at his side, Nick stands by his innocence. Trouble is, if Nick didn't do it, where is that beautiful wife? And what was in that silvery gift box hidden in the back of her bedroom closet?

My thoughts: 
I am having a really hard time trying to review this book without giving away any spoilers.  I have written this review and deleted it and written it again . . .   I just want you to be so blown away as I was, so I am not going to give you any of the facts of the story.  Let’s just concentrate on my feelings about the book.  I will try to keep it as spoiler-free as I possibly can.

I picked up this book on a recommendation of my audiobook group on Goodreads.  I have found some gems that I would usually not even have considered and I am loving that my reading horizon are being expanded into genres that I would not usually look at.  I love book clubs!  
When I pressed play, I had no idea about the book except for the blurb and then I only scanned that before I got a copy.  After the first few chapters I was bored and I really hated Nick.   In fact, I was thinking that I did not understand what all the hype was about.  Nick has obviously murdered his wife – what was the big mystery?  This was just going to be a “how-he-did-it” with occasional comments from his wife via her found diary.  Oh my goodness, was I wrong!  I am so glad that I kept going.

This book turned into a psychological thriller like I have not read before (and that I hope I will find more of).  It was awesome!  So many twists and turns!  The ending was a bit of a disappointment as I was hoping everyone would get their due, but this is still one of my favourite reads so far this year.

What I do when I listen to my audiobooks

When I am relaxing and want to do something with my hands while listening to my latest audiobook, I usually bead.  I am a huge peyote fan and make lots of bracelets (https://www.facebook.com/SplendidThingsSA).

Today though, I was in the mood for something else and while browsing some of the very old blog posts from my previous blog, I remembered my old cross stitch projects.  How can you forget something like that!  It has been more than a year since I touched my main project (which I have been stitching on and off since 2009 – I am sooooooo bad!).  So off I went to the garage and started searching.  Found it!   

This is what it will look like in about another 10 years’ time . . . lol.  I was really madly in love in cross stitching and it was my dream to do a HEAD project (Heaven and Earth Designs).  The patterns are usually very intrigued and very expensive, so I was in heaven when I found this free (supposedly quick stitch) project.  There are quite a few colours, so it took me some time to get it all together (had to buy from some overseas sites as I could not find all the colours here – and my budget forced me to do it over some months).  Finally when I got all of it sorted, I started in September 2009.  Since then life has gotten in the way and I stitch very rarely but today the bug got me again and I stitched for a few (very enjoyable) hours.

Here is where I am today (I wonder if I can iron out the creases?):

What do you do while you listen to your audiobooks?

{Movie} Review: Absence (2013)

Absence (2013)Starring:  Erin Way, Eric Matheny, Ryan Smale

Expectant mother Liz wakes to find her nearly-to-term pregnancy has disappeared overnight. When doctors can find no medical explanation for the loss, police treat Liz and her husband Rick as prime suspects in what has now become a missing child case. Only Rick and Liz's brother Evan trust her version of events. As word spreads, the young couple is subjected to the unwanted attention of the police and prying neighbors. Evan feels for his sister and, as a film student, begins documenting her story. Even though he can't prove Liz's innocence, he sets out to tell her side of what happened and to set the record straight. To relieve some of Liz's grief, Rick and Evan take her on a vacation to the mountains. Evan meets a local girl named Megan and the two hit it off. Things begin to settle down and Liz's spirits even start to improve. But as Evan continues documenting their vacation, unusual patterns arise. Liz still has no real answers for the disappearance of her baby despite his interviews and questions. Evan and Rick are horrified when her condition visibly declines. No one can ignore the fact that something is very wrong with Liz. When the trip spins out of control they realize that whatever happened with Liz and her baby isn't over. None of them are safe.

My thoughts:
The movie starts with some scary “facts”.  If this is not just for cinematic effect, it must be the most scary and invading kind of crime.  Our story starts with a cesarean theft.  Liz is seven months pregnant and she is the victim of a violent infant kidnapping (also known as Fetal abduction).  I have heard of some cases where a “baby” has been stolen out of their mother’s body but I have not heard of the mother surviving.  That in itself is a terrible image. 

The whole movie is part of the sub genre of “found footage” movies that was such a hit for a while (and that I am a huge fan of!).  I do not want to say more about the plot because it will be impossible not to give spoilers, so just read the blurb above. 
I thought the love between Liz and her brother Evan was beautiful.  Liz has raised Evan even since their parents died when he was twelve and I could feel Evan’s anguish trying to make Liz smile and forget about the last few weeks (if that is possible).  For a while, Erin became more than a shadow of her former self and she was such a sympathetic character – loved her.  

This movie was all about the relationships.  The love between Liz and her husband was gentle and convincing and as I already mentioned, Liz and Evan really connected on screen.   The action comes in little bursts but this movie is all about dialogue.  
I LOVED it and would recommend it highly for a little distraction.


Edited 04/05/2014 - Available on Netflix

My blog joined Facebook

I made the big step and my blog joined facebook. 

Welcome to the techno age! 

I would love if you come say hi - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Just-Reading-For-Fun

Bookish Bingo

I love Bingo!  I really do.  For a while I even played online – it is so exciting!  So being able to combine my love for bingo with my love for reading . . .

I found this Bookish Bingo – hosted by Great Imaginations.   All you have to do is try to get Bingo by June 30th, or fill the whole card! They’ll be posting a new Bingo card every 3 months. 

Rules:

• Sign-ups close on April 9th (hurry, hurry, hurry!).
• All reading and reviewing must fall between April 1st and June 30th.
• One square per book.  For instance, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater is both the first in a series, and a YA book, but it can only count for one square.
• Extra entries can be earned with multiple bingos or by filling out the whole card!

What happens next:

• Declare yourself!  This can be in a blog post, a tweet, a FB status - anything, as long as you are declaring your participation in this season's Bookish Bingo.  
• Don’t forget to enter the link to your declaration in the linky on the blog of Great Imaginations.
• Read, read, read!  Read and review books that fit with the tasks on the card.
• At the end of June, write a wrap-up post with your completed tasks. Come back for the wrap-up linky, to be posted on June 30th.

 

Let the reading begin!