March 2023 Media Round-up
Apr. 2nd, 2023 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rhysianaThis month I rediscovered my library's e-lending catalog (by which I mean, found my login info again), and it's truly amazing how much more I read when I have the pressure of needing to return the book looming over me. 6 books and 6 shows completed this month, although I confess I didn't keep track of random movies we rewatched in the evenings or shows I watched a couple of episodes of and then put down.
Books
-The Forest of Stolen Girls, June Hur - The second Joseon mystery I've read by this author. Great historical details, very vivid imagery, but this one was a lot more gothic in atmosphere than the other one I read: A girl travels back to her hometown to solve her father's disappearance, and must confront both her estranged sister and her own lost memories to do it, which ends up resulting in them needing to solve their father's last case, the mystery of why so many girls go missing in this one tiny village. There's a lot of mist and foreboding trees and ominous maybe-magic from her sister the shaman's apprentice.
-A Restless Truth, Freya Marske - Another cruise ship murder mystery! This one more of a fantasy Victwardian setting instead of in space, in the sequel to A Marvellous Light. I probably should have gone back to reread the first book, as I'd forgotten a lot of character names, but I remembered enough to keep going and found the whole thing very fun. Sapphic self-discovery in the midst of intrigue and murder and a bit of farce! Sheltered young woman meets libertine actress with a penchant for trouser roles! Honestly, what more does one need?
-Vampire Weekend, Mike Chen - Do you like punk rock, vampires, and overthrowing the ruling class while also healing multi-generational diasporic family trauma? Then this is the book for you! There is also a corgi.
-A Spindle Splintered, Alix E. Harrow - This is very "a chronically ill tumblr user's portal fantasy" and that is not a complaint. I need to get the sequel.
-The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, Natasha Pulley - Sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, and much like the first one, I went into it knowing only the vaguest hints of the premise, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this one takes place almost entirely in Japan and deals a lot more with Mori's background/life, but it was also quite a bit... I'm not sure "darker" is exactly the word I'm looking for, but most of it is definitely not particularly lighthearted. It really gets into the real difficulties/horrors of trying to live as a clairvoyant. Glad I finally got to read it!
-The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, KJ Charles - It's KJ Charles, so I was pretty much guaranteed to love it. Great beginning to a new setting/series for her. Love a good discussion of the ethics of smuggling as the stumbling block for the romance, and I say that with utter sincerity. I also appreciate the upper class character trying to learn more about his father after his death to understand him better, and simply discovering he was, in fact, a jerk, but at least he left all his natural history research behind. Sometimes humanizing a person doesn't make them any better.
TV Shows
-Love to Hate You (Korean, Netflix) - Tough lawyer who believes men are inherently inclined to cheating meets heartthrob actor who specializes in romances but believes all women are only using him as a stepping stone, and of course they end up needing to fake date. What could go wrong? This show is really just a series of meet-uglies between these two as they keep running into each other just in time to see the other at the worst, most misinterpretable moments, but eventually they realize they've formed some mistaken impressions and actually start really seeing the other person. Fun, often kind of dumb, worth it for his eventual "my girlfriend is so cool" attitude when he gets her to fill in as a stunt double on his new movie and she causes the director to change his entire concept for the female lead from helpless mafia girlfriend to woman who can rescue her man on her own. Some good famous/not famous trope usage as well.
-Doctor Blake Mysteries (English, Britbox) - Australian 1960s period piece mysteries featuring a doctor/medical examiner. We were watching these while crafting, and they were good for that. Nothing new or amazing being done here, but perfectly serviceable. Several of the antagonists in the police department are very grating, in a petty politics, abuse of power, leveraging the Red Scare for their own gain kind of way.
-Crash Course in Romance (Korean, Netflix) - I was watching this one in tandem with my aunt. Cram school star math teacher who is so stressed he can barely eat anymore meets local home-cooking restaurant owner whose food he actually likes. Things of course get complicated when her daughter (actually niece) starts attending the academy as well and destabilizes the intense academic rivalries of the rich kid set. (Warnings for secondhand academic stress, awful rich parents, and kids who are definitely not okay.) This is one of those odd shows that veers between very cute romcom moments and a background series of murders that all appear to be related to the math teacher, which was... a choice. Also, the restaurant owner's brother is autistic, so I have now seen two Korean shows where autistic adults are shown having real agency over their romantic lives while not making light of the challenges they face in other parts of their lives, a thing I have seen on US TV approximately never.
-First Love (aka First Love Hatsukoi) (Japanese, Netflix) - An excellently interwoven story of two people who first fell in love as teens and are now meeting again many years later as adults. That part I'd picked up from tumblr gifs; the long-term amnesia on the female lead's part I was not expecting. I also enjoyed their romance being mirrored in the current experiences of her son, who is going to both of the lead adults for advice, not knowing they have any history with each other. (Content warnings for a car accident (not shown) leading to amnesia and references to the pandemic in the final episodes.)
-Shadow & Bone s2 (English, Netflix) - Wesper!!! All of their moments were perfect. Generally great new character introductions this season all around. Honestly, I'm really enjoying the show's completely anarchic approach to book canon, where they just threw everything in a pot and stirred for the best character interactions. I still don't particularly care about the Alina and Mal storyline, but their whole deal was definitely improved by Nikolai arriving on the scene to have distinct tension with them both.
-The Glory (Korean, Netflix) - Everyone has been talking about this since the first half dropped back in December or whenever it was, but I waited until the second half came out, and having now watched the whole thing, I get it. I get it now. There's a reason everyone ends up binging this as fast as they can. Smart revenge drama at its finest. Carefully crafted Rube Goldberg cascades of consequences for awful people who 100% have it coming, that would never start cascading if they'd actually changed over the years and become better people, but of course they haven't. A very good boy who is all in for our revenge-seeking lead who believes she has turned herself into an unloveable monster. I love them both. I watched the whole show in 3 days; I want to watch it again. I haven't been able to concentrate on a single individual show since I finished this one, because I'm still coming down from the high. (Content warnings: pretty much everything you can think of except animal cruelty)
Books
-The Forest of Stolen Girls, June Hur - The second Joseon mystery I've read by this author. Great historical details, very vivid imagery, but this one was a lot more gothic in atmosphere than the other one I read: A girl travels back to her hometown to solve her father's disappearance, and must confront both her estranged sister and her own lost memories to do it, which ends up resulting in them needing to solve their father's last case, the mystery of why so many girls go missing in this one tiny village. There's a lot of mist and foreboding trees and ominous maybe-magic from her sister the shaman's apprentice.
-A Restless Truth, Freya Marske - Another cruise ship murder mystery! This one more of a fantasy Victwardian setting instead of in space, in the sequel to A Marvellous Light. I probably should have gone back to reread the first book, as I'd forgotten a lot of character names, but I remembered enough to keep going and found the whole thing very fun. Sapphic self-discovery in the midst of intrigue and murder and a bit of farce! Sheltered young woman meets libertine actress with a penchant for trouser roles! Honestly, what more does one need?
-Vampire Weekend, Mike Chen - Do you like punk rock, vampires, and overthrowing the ruling class while also healing multi-generational diasporic family trauma? Then this is the book for you! There is also a corgi.
-A Spindle Splintered, Alix E. Harrow - This is very "a chronically ill tumblr user's portal fantasy" and that is not a complaint. I need to get the sequel.
-The Lost Future of Pepperharrow, Natasha Pulley - Sequel to The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, and much like the first one, I went into it knowing only the vaguest hints of the premise, so I was pleasantly surprised to find this one takes place almost entirely in Japan and deals a lot more with Mori's background/life, but it was also quite a bit... I'm not sure "darker" is exactly the word I'm looking for, but most of it is definitely not particularly lighthearted. It really gets into the real difficulties/horrors of trying to live as a clairvoyant. Glad I finally got to read it!
-The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, KJ Charles - It's KJ Charles, so I was pretty much guaranteed to love it. Great beginning to a new setting/series for her. Love a good discussion of the ethics of smuggling as the stumbling block for the romance, and I say that with utter sincerity. I also appreciate the upper class character trying to learn more about his father after his death to understand him better, and simply discovering he was, in fact, a jerk, but at least he left all his natural history research behind. Sometimes humanizing a person doesn't make them any better.
TV Shows
-Love to Hate You (Korean, Netflix) - Tough lawyer who believes men are inherently inclined to cheating meets heartthrob actor who specializes in romances but believes all women are only using him as a stepping stone, and of course they end up needing to fake date. What could go wrong? This show is really just a series of meet-uglies between these two as they keep running into each other just in time to see the other at the worst, most misinterpretable moments, but eventually they realize they've formed some mistaken impressions and actually start really seeing the other person. Fun, often kind of dumb, worth it for his eventual "my girlfriend is so cool" attitude when he gets her to fill in as a stunt double on his new movie and she causes the director to change his entire concept for the female lead from helpless mafia girlfriend to woman who can rescue her man on her own. Some good famous/not famous trope usage as well.
-Doctor Blake Mysteries (English, Britbox) - Australian 1960s period piece mysteries featuring a doctor/medical examiner. We were watching these while crafting, and they were good for that. Nothing new or amazing being done here, but perfectly serviceable. Several of the antagonists in the police department are very grating, in a petty politics, abuse of power, leveraging the Red Scare for their own gain kind of way.
-Crash Course in Romance (Korean, Netflix) - I was watching this one in tandem with my aunt. Cram school star math teacher who is so stressed he can barely eat anymore meets local home-cooking restaurant owner whose food he actually likes. Things of course get complicated when her daughter (actually niece) starts attending the academy as well and destabilizes the intense academic rivalries of the rich kid set. (Warnings for secondhand academic stress, awful rich parents, and kids who are definitely not okay.) This is one of those odd shows that veers between very cute romcom moments and a background series of murders that all appear to be related to the math teacher, which was... a choice. Also, the restaurant owner's brother is autistic, so I have now seen two Korean shows where autistic adults are shown having real agency over their romantic lives while not making light of the challenges they face in other parts of their lives, a thing I have seen on US TV approximately never.
-First Love (aka First Love Hatsukoi) (Japanese, Netflix) - An excellently interwoven story of two people who first fell in love as teens and are now meeting again many years later as adults. That part I'd picked up from tumblr gifs; the long-term amnesia on the female lead's part I was not expecting. I also enjoyed their romance being mirrored in the current experiences of her son, who is going to both of the lead adults for advice, not knowing they have any history with each other. (Content warnings for a car accident (not shown) leading to amnesia and references to the pandemic in the final episodes.)
-Shadow & Bone s2 (English, Netflix) - Wesper!!! All of their moments were perfect. Generally great new character introductions this season all around. Honestly, I'm really enjoying the show's completely anarchic approach to book canon, where they just threw everything in a pot and stirred for the best character interactions. I still don't particularly care about the Alina and Mal storyline, but their whole deal was definitely improved by Nikolai arriving on the scene to have distinct tension with them both.
-The Glory (Korean, Netflix) - Everyone has been talking about this since the first half dropped back in December or whenever it was, but I waited until the second half came out, and having now watched the whole thing, I get it. I get it now. There's a reason everyone ends up binging this as fast as they can. Smart revenge drama at its finest. Carefully crafted Rube Goldberg cascades of consequences for awful people who 100% have it coming, that would never start cascading if they'd actually changed over the years and become better people, but of course they haven't. A very good boy who is all in for our revenge-seeking lead who believes she has turned herself into an unloveable monster. I love them both. I watched the whole show in 3 days; I want to watch it again. I haven't been able to concentrate on a single individual show since I finished this one, because I'm still coming down from the high. (Content warnings: pretty much everything you can think of except animal cruelty)
no subject
Date: 2023-04-02 04:40 pm (UTC)I'm glad you liked A Restless Truth, as that is on my library list.
no subject
Date: 2023-04-02 06:41 pm (UTC)