Let’s see. I saw the movie Life of the Party, and I saw it with friends which is I think the best way to see it.
I will see pretty much anything Melissa McCarthy does. And I want YOU to, too, because I want Things Melissa McCarthy Does to be profitable and therefore abundant. This movie was as good as I expected, though not quite as good as I’d hoped. It is a nice fantasy movie, like Bad Moms.
I also watched the royal wedding, and I hope for that hugely publicized event we were all remembering that it adds nothing to the world to volunteer one’s own scornful lack of interest in something other people are happy and enthusiastic about. My interest levels were much lower than for the Will & Kate wedding, and I wasn’t even sure I was going to get up early to watch it—but I DID get up, and I was so glad I did, because it turned out to be a MUCH MORE INTERESTING wedding. There was this strong thread of “Oh, you don’t think the monarchy should be including a biracial American? Huh! LOOKIT WHAT WE’RE GOING RIGHT AHEAD AND DOING ANYWAY!”—with a sweet, sweet smile.
I read Natural Causes: An Epidemic of Wellness, The Certainty of Dying, and Killing Ourselves to Live Longer, by Barbara Ehrenreich.
(image from Amazon.com)
There was a lengthy middle section I found a little sloggy to get through (something about cells, and it seemed important but it also seemed like it went on forever and at a much lower entertainment-value level than the rest of the book), but I liked the first part and the last part. Do you remember awhile back, when a lot of people were writing really interesting articles about how Fitness/Food has become something much more like Religion for a lot of people: rituals, superstitions, purity/sin values, righteousness rankings, warding off fears of death? This book is along those lines.
I read American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, at Paul’s suggestion.
(image from Amazon.com)
I read something somewhere about why did some website/store have a Women’s Fiction category but not a Men’s Fiction category, so I will make a point of saying that this is Men’s Fiction: more talk about pissing and penises than I would think anyone in the world could possibly be interested in. TONS of fighting. A fair amount of grossness. Plenty of unlikely fantasy sex. But a really good book anyway, I thought, with interesting themes and ideas. I felt like about 90% of the particulars about gods/goddesses was going right past my limited knowledge, but the book was entirely readable without that knowledge: the author helps the reader get the gist of what they need to know.
Breaking Cat News is a huge hit at my house:
(image from gocomics.com)
We are all reading it. Also, Henry is getting the book for his birthday. There will be jealousy.
“This is men’s fiction”. YES. Good fiction, but definitely written for men the way that Georgette Heyer wrote for women.
I also really enjoyed the royal wedding. Of course I thought it was lovely and romantic, but I also thought it was an important moment in history made more so by the purposeful inclusivity.
Did you share any thoughts on the most recent social security baby names list? I don’t think I’ve seen anything here or on your naming blog yet…
I did, but only on Twitter. I find I never have enough to say about the new rankings to make a post, but I can say a bunch of short things! I THINK this link will get you to the Twitter thread: https://twitter.com/Swistle/status/994937964110270464
Perfect! Thank you!
I love Melissa McCarthy and that movie looks adorable/hilarious.
The royal wedding was not something I woke up for, but has been so fun to hear about my friends who DID wake up and to read articles about all the traditions (the forget-me-nots in Meghan’s bouquet makes me feel teary!!!) and to see pictures of all the beautiful dresses and wild hats.
I have been all over the royal wedding. I got back from London two days before it :). I’ll admit that I find the whole thing incredibly sweet….he married someone older, who’d been married before, and who is African American. And the way he looks at her…..SWOON! It’s like every cheesy hallmark movie I don’t like to admit I watch. I am very invested in their marriage.
I just looked at the official wedding portraits. He just looks over the MOON, doesn’t he?? So cute.
As someone who is employed by four cats, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Breaking Cat News.
“The woman is in the bathroom and the door is closed.”
I just read Natural Causes as well and I wholeheartedly agree with your review – I loved the beginning and ending but the middle was a slog that seemed somewhat unrelated, at least to me.
As soon as I saw that she had this book out, it took me back to this piece she wrote. I’ll give her this–she knows herself, and that is a strength.
https://www.scribd.com/document/345289235/Barbara-Ehrenreich-welcome-to-cancerland-pdf
I’ll definitely read the new book as I just like her no-BS style. I can be that way myself. In some ways, it makes life easier. In others, it makes life harder.
Your description of Men’s Fiction is perfect. I would also note that there is an abiding preoccupation with excrement. Do men’s lives revolve around poop and related functions? Also the fantastical women who populate men’s writing, from the overly quirky pixie to the bombshell type to the girl-next-door-who-doesn’t-know-how-hot-she-is, regardless of how homely and unimpressive the male protagonist may be, drive me batty.
This is why I mostly end up reading women writers, though fortunately there are men who are exceptions (Amor Towles springs to mind) and I’m always open to new suggestions so I will take the Gaiman recommendation under advisement.
Alliteratively, it’s a beautiful fit: pissing, penises, pooping, and p0rn.
Okay, but WHEN there is a Men’s Fiction section in bookstores this is exactly what I want the sign to read:
“Men’s Fiction: more talk about pissing and penises than I would think anyone in the world could possibly be interested in.”
I didn’t wake up early to watch the wedding live, but I did watch parts of it, twice later that day. Once on my own so I could weep in private, then later that day with my kids and be desensitized enough that I could just dab at my eyes instead.
I nearly broke a nail rushing to the interweb to buy Breaking Cat News – Youngest’s birthday is in July and she is going to LOVE it. Thank you for the recommendation!
I love Breaking Cat News! And I started reading it because someone recommended it when you did that post asking for comics recommendations a couple years ago. There’s a neighbour cat that has been hanging around our yard, so we’ve been referring to him as Tommy after the visiting cat in BCN.
Your link to the Active Uninterest post reminded me of one of my favorites of yours, Yuck/Yum. “Don’t yuck my yum” has entered the lexicon of our home and I’ve even heard my husband tell his mother that, lol!
Watching Melissa McCarthy movies with my mom is one of the keenest joys of my life. The dancing scene in The Heat.
The day I rented Spy I was home alone. That was perfect because it is definitely not kid-friendly. I watched it 3 times.
When the movies I downloaded for my last trip were Spy, The Heat, and St. Vincent, it occurred to me that my favorite movie is Melissa McCarthy.