My partner in crime (and science fiction and horror and drama and Etc) in what I ended up tagging the joint post series has a wonderful summary of what we analyzed over the years (with charts! be still my heart!) which you can find here:
Seven Years in Parallel at It Rains... You Get Wet
Have a wander over there to see exactly what we've been up to over the years. That includes genres, authors, directors, etc. It's an excellent breakdown.
I'm truly surprised 7 years went by for this series without me really noticing that holy shit(!) 7 years have gone by! What a fun ride it's been. Finding Michael in the blogiverse (back when we were only a car ride apart rather than an ocean) and then finding our Craisie love overlapped in scifi as well, is what got this whole ball rolling. I asked Michael if he would (please, please) review Minority Report because I loved the movie and his film reviews and wanted to see what he would have to say. He's a clever one and said "Yes, but..." And that resulted in me reviewing the short story that inspired the film. I love that that one kicked us off as I still watch and enjoy the film these 7 years later; and it's fitting for a Duo that had the most overlap of enjoyment in that genre.
My favorite reviews for whatever reason
I'm definitely also including Minority Report. I'd never reviewed a short story before and hadn't thought to give it a re-read after seeing the film. Jurassic Park and Life of Pi were definitely up there as faves since they are enduring favorites in my reading life. A Scanner Darkly was a true delight as I'd never even heard of it and ended up loving it. I'm going to throw Hombre in there as well as I'm not a huge fan of Westerns but this one charmed the heck out of me (but please don't be confused, it's not charming:)
My favorite reader pick
Movie: Edge of Tomorrow
Book: Breakfast at Tiffany's
My favorite collection of reviews is also 2011's.
My favorite and least favorite reviews to do for titles we each picked
Me
Favorite: Jurassic Park
Least Favorite: Gonna repeat on that Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Michael
Favorite: Empire of the Sun
Least Favorite: Hell House
Thanks for an amazing run, Michael! Without you I'd never have learned to listen to audiobooks, read so many books published in the 70s or had this much fun spread over 7 years! Cheers.
rating: 5 of 5 stars ;-)
I hear ‘ya, Rachel. Hard to believe it’s been seven years! SEVEN! And I so remember doing Minority Report, this time re-watching it a bit more critically knowing I was going to put pen-to-paper on whatever came of it. Talk about pressure. ;-)
ReplyDeleteStill, wouldn’t change a thing…though I think came to learn to not fret the ‘draft’ in getting something down not soon enough.
Nice to see a few our favorites coinciding. Wow, 2011 was a good year. I had a feeling you were going to say something like that for Hell House, and I understand. Nice to see Hombre making your list. Thanks so much for the push with that Philip K. Dick short story, Rachel. This has been something very special and I’ll cherish this run of ours, always.
Yes there were many faves that overlapped and I'm sure more that one has to leave off simply because then it's not much of a favorites list. :)
DeleteTruly was a great time, thanks again!
Scientist Rachel! After long hiatus on blogs (the reasons for which I shall not bore you with), for some inexplicable reason I thought of you today! Of all days! Lo and behold your swan song blog. I can't believe it. Coincidence? Karma? Some other cosmic cross-oceanic thing? Hopefully not too late, I will say that I have enjoyed your blog immensely even if there have not been posts to prove that in the last not so little while. I sincerely hope you may turn your entertaining insights to more Goodreads reviews, or something, where I might still catch glimpses of your brilliance.
ReplyDeleteMy own writing has taken a sad but necessary back seat to work type writing as well as developing the young writers who share my house with me. I am at this very moment discussing Harry Potter Book 1 for a Grade 9 homework project, and a Holocaust story in French for a Grade 4 homework project.
Anyway. I wish you well off in New Zealand. Hope you are not affected by mudslides. Wonder if you are relieved to be far away from the political unusualness right now (I am so depressed by it even though I am a country away). Stardust and fairy dust and blessings and whatnot on your future path.
Maya aka former apprentice writer
Maya, so delightful to hear from you! I'm sorry to hear you're currently waylaid re writing but it's always there waiting so you can go back anytime. :) And mentoring young writers exercises the writing brain so it's all good.
DeleteNot that it makes much of a material difference these days (you're not the only one whose life is getting in the way of writing) but this is only a wrap on our joint post series; I'll still be posting items from time to time but I'm sure it's super obvious I haven't been able to focus on writing much these days. But oh well, it'll be waiting for me when I get back. I still take tons of notes for my short story ideas... some day I will even write them.
We felt the earthquake here at home but no damage in my town. We are very thankful and lucky. I can't even talk about the political situation in my home country without bursting into tears. The Handmaid's Tale is closer than we think. What a nightmare. I think I'll take that Stardust.
OK. I went to your drop biscuit list, and added "Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Woo" and, God help me, "Jurassic Park" to my TBR ( the latter of which I would never have thought to pick up without you). I totally agree with you on Life of Pi and Codename Verity being on that list; we have some same authors with slight variations in titles, I see. In Chase, I prefer "Mr. Impossible" and "Miss Wonderful", in Bourne I will always love "Forbidden Rose" best, in Kinsale, it's the one with the inventor heroine and "My Sweet Folly". I was always too creeped out by "Handmaid's Tale" to consider it a favorite though it is a very compelling story. Somehow I did better with "Alias Grace" by the same author.
ReplyDeleteMaya
I'm so interested to hear about what you think of Wondrous Life. I highly recommend it on audio. The narrator was amazing and really brought it to life. I had no idea there were so many footnotes until I opened a paper copy.
DeleteJurassic Park rules!!!!!! :) Hope you get some enjoyment out of it.
I don't know of anyone else who picks Lion's Daughter for Chase but I think it's such an amazing book. It's 4 stories higher than any of her others for me in rankings. It just blows me away. And you're not the only one to choose Forbidden Rose. For whatever reason that one did not speak to me at all. If she wasn't such a great writer I might have even disliked it! (!!!! I know !!!!?!?) The Kinsale you're thinking of is Midsummer Moon. I do adore Merlin but Ransom is my least favorite Kinsale hero so it makes that book harder for me to recommend. Folie is lovely, isn't she?
Adding Alias Grace to my TBR! I also know I have some comments to share on goodreads on a recent review of yours so see you there. :)