My Two Blessings

  Happy holidays out there, folks.  Remember Deadpool? Merc with A Mouth? Ryan Reynolds' top movie role? Sorta the Austin Powers of Marvel but R-rated? Who can forget him and his amazing first movie in 2016? Today, we're here to discuss his 2018 sequel, Deadpool 2. And, after that, no more Deadpool because I don't like Deadpool anymore. HA! KIDDING! There is no way I don't love Deadpool, you can't fall outta love with Marvel's most iconic folks. Anyways, so what is the story all about? A while has passed since Wade "Deadpool" Wilson saved his fiancée Vanessa and killed Ajax aka Francis and the merc is killing bad guys. One night, he comes home to the girl of his dreams and plan to start a family, only for a criminal to come in and kill Vanessa despite Wade's efforts. Vanessa's death badly impacts Mr. Pool and he attempts to join her in the afterlife, but he can't die. After trying to blow himself up, Deadpool winds up at the X-Mansion when ...

  He is vengeance. He is the night. He is Batman. For decades across many comics, the caped crusader has fought injustice in Gotham and mesmerized many readers. However, his comic roots are not the only area where to find Batman. In the 1960s, a campy version of the Dark Knight, played by Adam West, graced the small screen alongside Burt Ward's Robin at a time when comic book adventures of superheroes in DC were more goofy after a big scare in the 1950s. In the 1980s, Batman returned to his darker roots and in 1989, the world saw Michael Keaton's Batman. After the success of Tim Burton's movie, a sequel dropped in the early 90s. And it was in the 90s when a new Batman arose, starting a new era for DC on TV. But even though the DC Animated Universe wasn't fully established until crossover events came up and the Justice League aired, this was the beginning of Batman the Animated Series, starring the late Kevin Conroy as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Starting in early September of 1...

  For many decades, the team at Marvel Comics have created many iconic characters that have been viewed highly by fans in the pop culture community, from Spider-Man to Captain America to Iron Man. However, one character in the cast of the mutant team -The X-Men- has proven to be the most popular of all Marvel heroes; Wolverine aka Logan aka James Howlette aka Weapon X. In the early 2000s, 20th Century Fox, with the rights to the X-Men characters, produced and released the first X-Men film, which starred Australian actor Hugh Jackman as Wolverine alongside Patrick Stewart as Professor X and James Marsden as Cyclops. Once again, out of all the heroes of the X-Men and other Marvel legends, Wolverine was popular and, in 2009, Fox released X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which focused on Logan. The film failed. A few years later in 2013, Fox released another Wolverine-focused movie directed by James Mangold and was somewhat more successful than its predecessor. However, there was one issue wh...

Robin Hobb’s Assassins Apprentice #1 in the Farseer Trilogy (438) was excellent. Hobb’s writing is really good and flows. Her world building, empathy, and emotions are so well done, you’d think you were watching a movie. Looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy and explore more books in that world.  5 Stars Andrew and Lee Child's In Too Deep, #29  in the  Jack Reacher series (224) was unfortunately a miss with me.  I’m sad to say Andrews’s writing isn’t up to par with his father, so I won’t be continuing the series from here. I’ll have to go back and read earlier novels in the series because I missed a bunch.  This always happens, same as with Tom Clancy and other writers who let others take over their series. They are subpar and I can tell the difference in the writing styles.  2 Stars Fredrik Backman’s Britt Marie was Here (324) was a very moving story.  She’d  lived her life for some one else and lost herself in the process.  S...

  I did a lot of reading during October and recovering from gall bladder surgery.  Quite a mixture of scary, thrilling, mysterious, with some lighthearted moments thrown in. My October Spooktacular Wrap Up: The Cautious Traveller’s Guide to the Wastelands by Sarah Brooks was a fascinating close room take of what happens when the unthinkable does.  5 stars Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen was full of mystery and secrets and bad guys and what happens when your ex husband appears after 15 years.  4 Stars New Dragon City by Mari Mancusi which was a great middle grade story about survival, lore, hate, acceptance, and resilience. Lots of dragons involved. 4 Stars The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown which was a scary good book about a woman who stumbles upon a door created by the Book of Doors which opens a world of travel, lying, killers, time loops, and all kinds of trouble.  5 stars The Forest of Lost Souls by Dean Koontz – a megalomaniac, a criminal depute, sha...

  For September, I ready 6 books for a total of 2233 pages in which 2 were new to me authors  1) Every Summer After by Carly Fortune:  304 pages   3 stars  "“I fell in love with you when I was thirteen, and I never stopped. You’re it for me.” Sam closes his eyes for three long seconds, and when he opens them, they are glittering pools under a starry sky.” 2) The Book that Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence:  559 pages   3 Stars “All of us steal our lives. A little here, a little there. Some of it given, most of it taken. We wear ourselves like a coat of many patches, fraying at the edges, in constant repair. While we shore up one belief, we let go another. We are the stories we tell to ourselves. Nothing more.” 3) Neuromancer by William Gibson  304 pages   4 Stars “His teeth sang in their individual sockets like tuning forks, each one pitch-perfect and clear as ethanol.” 4)  Bel Canto by Ann Patchett  318 pages  ...

  Neuromancer by William Gibson, a science fiction published in 1984 (304) was supposedly a reread but I didn't remember a single thing. Of course that was only 12 years ago which seems like a lifetime. I made the mistake of reading this at bedtime so it kept me up several nights in a row until 1 - 2 a.m. engaged and immersed in this weird cyber world. Reminded me completely of the matrix movies. People could hack into the internet and be somewhere else, bodily present yet not. A world of artificial intelligence, space travel, espionage, secrets, double crossing, intelligent computers, and of course, body hacking.  Is it real or is it an illusion? Are the characters real or constructs? Is Case actually alive or in the real world at the ending? Hell of a story!  4 Stars  "Case was the best interface cowboy who ever ran in Earth’s computer matrix. Then he double-crossed the wrong people…"

  In Seanan McGuire's Silver and Lead, 19th Installment in the October Daye series, as ridiculous as it may seem, in typical beaten and bloody fashion, at 8 1/2 months pregnant October finds the culprits, has the baby on the warehouse floor with May doing a c section, then continues on until she save the day. 4 stars  "Something is rotten in Faerie. In the aftermath of Titania's reality-warping enchantment, things are returning to what passes for normal in the Kingdom in the Mists―until it's discovered that the royal vaults have been looted, and several powerful magical artifacts are missing. None are things that can be safely left unsecured, and some have the potential to do almost as much damage as Titania did, and having them in the wrong hands could prove just as disastrous At least the theft means that Sir October "Toby" Daye, Knight errant and Hero of the Realm, finally has an excuse to get out of the house. Sure, she's eight and a half months pregn...

  Bel Canto by Ann Patchett is a closed room tale, a microcosm of what happens when a bunch of disparate people are thrown together.  It was interesting and engaging and so sad.   Bonds are formed, lessons are taught,  different languages learned. Some learn to be more self reliant, some grow a spine. But in the end, the guerillas who would never bend, want their demands to be met no matter what. 4 stars "Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of the powerful businessman Mr. Hosokawa. Roxane Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening—until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different co...

  Framed in Death is the 61st book in the In Death series by J.D. Robb (aka Nora Roberts) (355)  Excellent as always with Eve pursuing an artist who kills and dresses up the corpse in authentic clothes to look like masterpiece paintings.  Also Maeve and Peabodies joint house is finally done and reflects their personalities.  Beautifully written and engaging. "Manhattan is filled with galleries and deep-pocketed collectors who can make an artist's career with a wave of a hand. But one man toils in obscurity, his brilliance unrecognized while lesser talents bask in the glory he believes should be his. Come tomorrow, he vows, the city will be buzzing about his work. Indeed, before dawn, Lt. Eve Dallas is speeding toward the home of the two gallery owners whose doorway has been turned into a horrifying crime scene overnight. A lifeless young woman has been elaborately costumed and precisely posed to resemble the model of a long-ago Dutch master, and Dallas plunges into h...

  The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence (559) is a convoluted story that turned into a slog towards the third half of the book and the continued spiral turned me off. I didn’t care whether I finished it or not, but did just to find out what happened. Definitely won’t be reading the rest of the trilogy.  An alternative world where life sized bugs were the enemy and life kept recycling.  The centerpiece, a library, which was a maze and a portal to different world. A brother and sister are stuck in the world of books, an assistant and a soldier with a mechanism that took one in the world of the book.  Librarians and apprentices, the keeper of the books and many, many secrets.  Books that would turn one into a ghost, floating through the stories.  At the end I didn't know if any of the characters were real or ghosts. 3 stars “The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities. The girl has been...

  Every Summer After by Carly Fortune, a romance story published in 2022 (304 pages) You know those stories in which the past haunts you until you fix it, then everything is okay after that. Years go by and old hurts, old wounds are opened, examined, and broken, new wounds are created, until all is forgiven. Yep, this is one of those.  2.5 stars  "They say you can never go home again, and for Persephone Fraser, ever since she made the biggest mistake of her life a decade ago, that has felt too true. Instead of glittering summers on the lakeshore of her childhood, she spends them in a stylish apartment in the city, going out with friends, and keeping everyone a safe distance from her heart. Until she receives the call that sends her racing back to Barry’s Bay and into the orbit of Sam Florek—the man she never thought she’d have to live without. For six summers, through hazy afternoons on the water and warm summer nights working in his family’s restaurant and curling up to...

  All The Beauty in the World by Patrick Bringley (nonfiction) which gave me an appreciation for art and how to look at it. It was a delicious read with made me want to back to New York and explore The Met for several days.  5star read.  "Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the two million square foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Patrick Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. So he quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew. To his surprise and the reader’s delight, this temporary refuge becomes Bringley’s home away from home for a deca...

  Back in 1986, DC introduced the world to the WATCHMEN universe, igniting a legacy that thrived for decades. Initially a standalone story, WATCHMEN, which showed what if superheroes existed in our world, eventually spawned merchandise, a couple movie adaptations and, wouldn't you know it, prequels and sequels as well as a TV series on HBO. The HBO show is our topic for today and, wouldn't you believe it, it's a sequel to the comic. Set in a world where superheroes existed and America wins the Vietnam War with help from a god-level superhero, WATCHMEN (2019) takes place thirty-four years after the events of the comic, which ended with the main antagonist Adrian "Ozymandias" Veidt dropping a giant alien squid on New York to stop a nuclear apocalypse. While Dr. Manhattan, Laurie "Silk Specter II" Jupiter and Adrian return, we meet new characters such as Angela "Sister Night" Abar and Wade "Looking Glass" Tillman, who witnessed the 1985 ...

  I read 7 books this month of which 4 were new to me authors for a total of 2464 pages.  The stories ran the gamut from 3 stars to 5 stars.  my grandmother asked me to tell you she's sorry by Fredrik Backman -   5 Stars "Every seven year old deserves a super hero. And whoever disagrees with that need their head examines."   In Five Years by Rebecca Searle  - 4 Stars "But all of that is an hour from now. Now, on the other side of midnight, we do not yet know what is coming. So let it be.  One Last Breath by Laura Griffin - 3 stars  “She’d been played all along. Once again, the dumb blonde." The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley - 4 stars “It’s a beautiful building, but there’s something rotten at its heart. Now he’s discovered it he can smell the stench of it everywhere.” Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley - 5 stars "We're the whole damn cake." Said Bea. "The whole damn cake." echoed Iona The Zero Game by Brad Meltze...

  I finished Susanna Clarke's Piranesi which had been sitting on my shelves forever and it took a couple tries to get into it. I loved Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell so was looking forward to reading it. 3.5 stars  "Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known....

  Hey, believers of justice. Your old pal is back... after quite the lengthy hiatus and we're discussing WATCHMEN. Specifically, the animated two-part movie adaptation. Quite recently, I saw this with dad and both parts were an enjoyable watch.  Watchmen Chapters I and II adapt the 1980s comic story and follow it to the letter despite taking creative liberties at certain points, but the soul of the comic remains. The animation is 3D with a bit of 2D as well as some slowness to certain movements and is similar to Marvel's WHAT IF combined with the Spider-Verse movies. In relation to this adaptation resembling the former Marvel show, it makes sense given that WATCHMEN is set in an alternate world where superheroes are real and the only popular comic genre out there is pirate comics. If you want to watch this, go ahead. But be warned, Watchmen was never for kids. Both parts are R-rated, so brace yourself for some bloody moments and pretty mature themes that come up throughout. As...

  This week I finished Clare Pooley's Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting which was a wonderful story about 6 strangers who ride the London trains every day and start talking and form friendships which changes their lives forever as they work through job losses, bullying, and marriage troubles.  5 Stars "Every day Iona Iverson, a stylish, opinionated, larger-than-life magazine advice columnist, rides the train to work with her dog, Lulu. Every day she sees the same people, whom she knows only by nickname: Impossibly-Pretty-Bookworm and Mr-Too-Good-to-Be-True. Of course, they never speak. Seasoned commuters never do. Then one morning, the man she calls Smart-But-Sexist-Manspreader chokes on a grape right in front of her. He’d have died were it not for the timely intervention of Sanjay, a nurse, who gives him the Heimlich maneuver. This single event starts a chain reaction, and an eclectic group of people discovers that talking to strangers can teach you quite a bit about the wor...

  Laura Griffin's One Last Breath in her Borderline duology was not that great. It has been sitting on my shelves forever and I thought I had read it, but turns out I never did.  "When pampered former cheerleader Feenie Malone takes a job writing fluff pieces for her South Texas paper, she has no idea she's about to stumble into a juicy news story that could launch her career -- if it doesn't get her killed first. Almost as soon as she breaks out her press pass, she crosses paths with Marco Juarez, the macho PI obsessed with solving his sister's murder. The information he has might be the perfect lead -- but his dangerously sexy looks could be a deadly distraction. Juarez has zero patience for reporters, especially mouthy blond ones. But with the evidence pointing to Feenie's ex-husband, Marco thinks she could be useful. Confident he can keep her on a tight leash, he lets her in on his investigation. He quickly discovers he's underestimated his new partner,...

  I was supposed to be reading Ruth Ware's Zero Days, but I got distracted by Lucy Foley’s The Paris Apartment which was clever and interesting. “Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question. The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows...

  I’m currently still on Y for the A to Z and Back Again alphabet challenge so reading In Five Years by Rebecca Serle which has captured my attention. Not easy to do these days. “Where do you see yourself in five years? When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Kohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan. But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future. After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt mu...

  War. It claims lives, it changes history and the Second World War was one of the most infamous of these wars. However, war can be entertaining to watch in movies and TV shows with many works of historical fiction set during World War II. And yet, many of these movies and shows try to be accurate to history despite the creative liberties. Released in 2001 on HBO, Band of Brothers follows Easy Company during WW2 In Europe with the first episode dedicated to their training & their bonds before episode two throws us into the action starting with D-Day. Created by SAVING PRIVATE RYAN’s Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks, the show is based on Stephen E. Ambrose’s book BAND OF BROTHERS and most of the series’ ten episodes start with interviews with the veterans of Easy Company.  My father and I watched it months ago and this was worth a watch, with a moving intro complete with incredible music, and well-crafted war scenes with fantastic early 2000s special effects. Bloody, in...

  I finished Fredrick Backman’s My Grandma Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry .  Such a sweet, heartwarming, hilarious, intense, imaginative story.  Made me laugh, made me cry, made me wonder, as well as want to shake a couple adults for their attitudes. All the feels. At first, all the bickering between every one turned me off. But once I got past that, the story started to get better. “Elsa is seven years old and different. Her grandmother is seventy-seven years old and crazy—as in standing-on-the-balcony-firing-paintball-guns-at-strangers crazy. She is also Elsa’s best, and only, friend. At night Elsa takes refuge in her grandmother’s stories, in the Land-of-Almost-Awake and the Kingdom of Miamas, where everybody is different and nobody needs to be normal. When Elsa’s grandmother dies and leaves behind a series of letters apologizing to people she has wronged, Elsa’s greatest adventure begins. Her grandmother’s instructions lead her to an apartment building full of drunk...

  For the month of June I ended up reading 10 books in which 3 were new, 1 was a known to me author, and the rest were rereads for a total of 3638 pages.  Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewel (360 Pages) is a Jessica Jones Marvel Crime Novel published in 2024 which was a modern day Dorian Grey tale and Jessica is a downtrodden detective with so so powers and never uses them to solve the crime.  2 stars as it failed to live up to expectations Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand, the 4th book in the Nantucket trilogy which James picked up for me at Target on a whim.  It's the last book in the series which was full of back tory, an unknown narrator, a new couple trying to bilk every one for money and things, thinking they could get away with it. The ending was very anticlimatic.  2 stars as it failed to live up to expectations. Unlikely Story by Ali Rosen (306), published this year. Ali's in love with J, her editor, who she's never met. She also has a contentious relations...

  Welp! I usually enjoy Emily Henry's books but this one. Oh boy! A dysfunctional woman with a dysfunctional family and life and history invite two more dysfunctional writers to interview her about her life, pitting the two against each other. And wouldn't you know it, they fall into a dysfunctional relationship along the way.  There are many secrets and lies. What is the truth. I didn't like any of the characters. There was much to do about nothing.  To sooth my reading palate, I resorted to rereading my favorite author Nora Roberts with the Three Sisters Trilogy as well as the Born in trilogy.  

  Happy Father's Day to my hubby, dad, my brother's in laws and all the dads out there.  I unfortunately didn't get to any of the Wuxia reads. One author I really have enjoyed and learned much from is Qiu Xiaolong, author of the inspector detective Chen Cao who is a homicide detective in the Shanghai Special Cases Bureau in China. Inspector Chen Cao was introduced with the publication of Death of a Red Heroine in 2000. Set in the mid 1990’s in China, it was a police procedural blending fact and fiction delving into the politics and culture of the country. The character is in his early thirties and also writes poetry and works as a translator. Inspector Chen must navigate his way through government politics while trying to solve murders. The 13th book in the series Love and Murder in the Time of Covid was released in 2023. His latest stories are a duology series which takes place in seventh century China called the Judge Dee Investigations. The first book Shadow of the Empir...

I’m currently reading two flufferton books:  Ebook Unlikely Story by Ali Rosen and Swan Song by Elin Hilderbrand which James picked out for me the other day when we were at Target. It’s #4 in the Nantucket series so have no idea who most of the characters are, but oh well! “Chief of Police Ed Kapenash is about to retire. Blond Sharon is going through a divorce. But when a 22-million-dollar summer home is purchased by the mysterious Richardsons—how did they make their money, exactly?—Ed, Sharon, and everyone in the community are swept up in high drama. The Richardsons throw lavish parties, flirt with multiple locals, flaunt their wealth with not one but two yachts, and raise impossible hopes of everyone they meet. When their house burns to the ground and their most essential employee goes missing, the entire island is up in arms.”  This week our 52 Books Bingo category is Wuxia which is historical fiction stories in which the characters use traditional Chinese martial ar...

  Our 52 Books dragon of the month is Saphira from Christopher Paolini‘s Eragon. I happily supported the Saphira Figurine kickstarter campaign last year and look forward to receiving a collectable figurine of Saphira when it’s ready. I finished Breaking the Dark (jessica Jones crime novel) by Lisa Jewell which was mediocre at best, writing and story wise.  She hardly used her powers and most of her decisions were really dumb. James asked if it kicked a&% and I shared there wasn’t much kick a*& in the story. Also finished Nora Roberts newest Hidden Nature in which the villains were creepy and the reader knew from the start what they were doing, so the reader got to be involved not only with them, but  how the main character went about figuring out the mystery, in the midst of a lot of remodeling house talk. On the nightstand is Guys Write for Guys Read: Edited by Jon Scieszka “What is a typical guy moment, anyhow? Daniel Pinkwater remembers the disappointment of me...

  I'm still reading Lisa Jewel’s Breaking the Dark at breakfast time.  The writing is mediocre but James gave it to me so have to finish it. Meanwhile rereading Anne Bishop’s Other Series and currently on Vision in Silver. My bedtime reread is Nora Robert’s Three Island trilogy and currently on Dance Upon the Air. I love reading unique stories – some of which may be weird, mind blowing, extraordinary, and most often – unusual or unconventional. Stories like Hopscotch by Julio Cortazar, Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall, or 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.   Unique or unusual books I currently have on the shelves and will be reading eventually are Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics,  and 84 Charing Cross Road by Helen Hanff.  I’m looking forward to exploring more books from the lists highlights on 52 Books this week. Our Saturday Night Watch was a scary sci fi thriller, The Gorge on Apple Tv. Excellent!

  Time To Talk By Robert Frost When a friend calls to me from the road And slows his horse to a meaning walk, I don’t stand still and look around On all the hills I haven’t hoed, And shout from where I am, What is it? No, not as there is a time to talk. I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground, Blade-end up and five feet tall, And plod: I go up to the stone wall For a friendly visit. Why this poem is apropos for today! I had the exact opposite issue today – No time to talk, no time to post.  Hubby and I spent the day doing a deep clean at the shop.  My techs will probably hate me for reorganizing their benches in the process.  Oh well…. I finished Nalini Singh’s Archangels Ascension, #17 in the Guild Hunter series which was all about Aodhan and Blue, two male angels who are best friends and have to navigate Aodhan’s dark past to become lovers. Fortunately the story didn’t get too graphic. Currently reading Lisa Jewel’s Breaking the Dark which is the first book in a Marve...