Fourth Quarter 2025 - Books, Movies, and Goals

[fauxklore]

I’ll do my year in review when I get back from a trip to New England. But, in the meantime, here is my 4th quarter 2025 wrap-up.

Books:

I read 22 books this quarter, which is considerably more than I have been reading, but significantly less than I used to manage in the days when I was working and spending 45 minutes each way on the metro.

1. Sam Haines, MAGAs vs. Zombies: The premise of this short novel is that there’s a virus that turns people into zombies. You can catch the virus from being coughed or sneezed on or from being bitten. Some zombies keep their brains, but most don’t. All of them are hungry. Eventually, the virus takes over the entire federal government. There’s a lot of amusing political satire. I found this scarier than an actual horror story would be.
   
   
2. Sara Nisha Adams, The Reading List: This was for my book club and I had suggested it based on recommendations from a few friends. The story involves an ethnically Indian man in England whose wife died. He found and read a library book of hers and, when he goes to the library to return it, a teenage girl working there gives him a list of 8 books he might consider reading. There are other copies of this list circulating and it ends up bringing several people together. I tried to get my book club’s members to suggest books they would recommend for such a list, but they didn’t bite, alas. Overall, this is a lovely book and I highly recommend it.
   
   
3. Liz Clay, Nuno Nuevo: This is a how-to book on nuno felting. There are some lovely pictures, but there isn’t much detail in the instructions. Frankly, I didn’t feel inspired.
   
   
4. Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird: (reread). I read this in high school and hated it. I reread it because various people keep talking about how much they love it and it was one of the books in The Reading List. Sorry, but I still hate it. I think it’s preachy, for one thing. But, more importantly, no actual 6-8 year old girl talks and behaves like Scout. No. Just no.
   
   
5. Lara Prior-Palmer, Rough Magic: I read this for my travel book club. The author entered what is considered the world’s most difficult horse race, crossing 1000 kilometers of the Mongolian steppe and changing horses every 40 kilometers. At 19 years old, she was seriously unprepared for the race, but ended up winning it. She’s not particularly likable, but if you have the natural tendency to root for the underdog, you can’t help but cheer her on in between the times you feel like strangling her. Entertaining.
   
   
6. Ryan Browne, G-d Hates Astronauts: This is, essentially, three comic books, collected in one volume, with a bunch of background / supporting material tacked on, The plot is silly, the characters are unlikeable, and the artwork failed to engage me. Meh.
   
   
7. Vogue Knitting, Accessorize: It is unfair to judge crafts books by the same standards as books with an actual narrative. This is, essentially, a collection of patterns for shawls, ponchos, wraps, hats, scarves, and so on. The patterns are charted but the charts are hard to read. I did like a few fair isle and argyle patterns, but I don’t have the patience to work those, so this quickly landed in the discard pile.
   
   
8. Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane (editors), Cursed: This is a collection of short stories on the theme of being cursed. It starts and ends with short poems by Jane Yolen, who also co-authored (with Adam Stemple) a n interesting twist on “Little Red.” Another story I thought did a good job with a familiar theme was “Troll Bridge” by Neil Gaiman. The creepiest stories in the collection were “Again” by Tim Lebbon and “Listen” by Jan Williams. Overall, I thought this was an interesting collection and worth reading.
   
   
9. Chic Simple, Women’s Face:. It appears that the primary author of this book, which is largely a guide to make-up and skin care, is Rachel Urquhart. I found it surprisingly practical and thought it had a refreshing sense of humor. But it isn’t a subject I really care about.
   
   
10. Dawn H. Li, New Dao Fables: The author gave me this book after hearing me tell stories at the Washington Folk Festival. The stories involve pairs of animals and are intended to illustrate Daoist ideas about the balance of nature. It’s designed primarily for children and the stories could use some more fleshing out to be tellable, but the book does provide some insight into Chinese religious values.
    
    
11. Evan Hunter and Ed McBain, Candyland: (reread). The gimmick here is that both authors are the same person, who used different pseudonyms for different types of stories. The first half (written as Hunter)has to do with an architect who pursues sex while on a business trip and gets beaten up outside a brothel. A prostitute from that brothel is raped and murdered, providing the McBain part of the novel, which is a police procedural, It was an interesting approach and I liked this book, though I did think the second half was stronger than the first.
    
    
12. Alison Bechtel, Fun Home: I’d seen the musical based on this graphic novel, but found this quite a bit different since its emphasis was more on her father’s struggles with his homosexuality and less on her own coming out. Overall, I thought this was an excellent book, though I did find the handwriting on her diary pages difficult to read at time.
    
    
13. Stella Sands, Wordhunter: The concept of this mystery is that that Maggie Moore isan expert on forensic linguistics and helps the police decipher notes left by a stalker. Her li fe is a mess with drugs and alcohol and her situation is definitely not helped by being raped by her professor. She does rescue two girls and solve a challenging mystery, but I really wanted her life not to be such a dumpster fire.
    
    
14. Ivo Andric, The Bridge on the Drina: This was a travel book club selection. Andric won the Nobel Prize for this novel centered on the history of the central Baltic region. Parts of the story are quite gruesome, with a man who tried to stop its construction being impaled alive on the bridge, for example, and numerous heads being displayed on stakes. Despite that, I found the book very interesting and it actually made me want to go to Bosnia to see the area for myself.
    
    
15. Kristen Hannah, The Women: This novel, which I read for my long-standing book club, follows a young woman who becomes an Army nurse in Vietnam both through the war and through its aftermath. The fight for acceptance as a veteran with PTSD was very interesting. Eventually, she does find her place in a changing world and then gets a chance at love again. Overall, I thought this was an excellent read and would recommend it.
    
    
16. Stephanie Land, Maid: Land went to work as a maid to support herself and her young daughter as her marriage collapsed. The job gave her flexibility, but was poorly paid and difficult. However, I didn’t think it was particularly well written. My major take-away was that it is probably better to use an independent cleaner than someone who works for an agency.
    
    
17. M.C. Beaton with R.W. Green, Dead on Target: I hadn’t read any of the other books in the Agatha Raisin series and, frankly, this book didn’t make me want to. The murder method was contrived and silly. There were too many irrelevant side plots, ranging from repeated damage to Agatha’s clothes forcing her to wear an ugly sweatsuit to dealing with her various suitors. Maybe the series was better before Beaton died, but I’m not inclined to find out.
    
    
18. Freida McFadden, The Housemaid: I read this not knowing it was about to be made into a movie. It was absorbing and decidedly creepy, But I felt manipulated by what was left unsaid and thought that some major plot holes were not adequately resolved. There are two sequels and I would read them if I got them free, but would probably not buy them.
    
    
19. A. J. Jacobs, The Year of Living Biblically: The premise of this book was that the author would spend a year trying to follow the Bible literally. He enlisted a panel of advisors, covering a wide religious spectrum and arranged to meet with groups as diverse as the Amish and snake handlers. It’s an interesting experiment for someone with a completely secular upbringing to undertake and I found his writing both interesting and often amusing. Recommended.
    
    
20. Linda Leaming, Married to Bhutan: I read this for an upcoming meeting of my travel book club. Leaming went to Bhutan in her late 30’s and fell in love, both with the country and with a Bhutanese artist, who she married. I particularly appreciated her sense of humor as she struggled with lack of some creature comforts, challenges with learning the local language, and the usual issues people have in their relationships. Enlightening and entertaining.
    
    
21. Alex Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here: Kotlowitz follows two boys in inner city Chicago who face poverty, violence, and lack of opportunity. They see friends murdered and get harassed by both the police and gangs. Girls often get pregnant before finishing junior high. Public housing is infested with rodents and insects and poorly maintained and education is inadequate. I wish that Kotlowitz had talked more about solutions and what some places are doing to try to fix some of these problems. Instead, I was just left depressed.
    
    
22. Paolo Giordano, The Solitude of Prime Numbers: This novel started out with an interesting premise. Alice has been crippled by a skiing accident. Matt blames himself for the presumed death of his twin sister. Both of them are like prime numbers, isolated by their childhood traumas. He sets things up so that you expect the two of them to find a connection. Instead, Mattia takes a job far away and Alice marries a doctor she meets during her mother’s final illness. There’s a chance for them to connect again later on. But nothing happens. In short, Giordano throws away what seems like a good premise for two damaged people to fix each other. Disappointing.
    

Movies:

I had a lot of time to watch movies on flights during my trip in November and ended up seeing five. I also saw two movies in theaters. (Well, one theatre, namely Cinema Arts in Fairfax, VA. I love having an independent movie theatre near where I live.)

1. The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop: This is a documentary about board game culture, which I watched on a flight from IAD to SFO. As a person who enjoys board games, it was reasonably enjoyable, but a bit repetitive. The basic point is that many people play games as a way of finding community, which is at least partly true for me. It was especially true during the pandemic when a group of us from the Loser community played Code Names over zoom nearly every night, but it was also true way back when I lived in Los Angeles and some people I worked with had regular afternoon gaming sessions. I thought the most interesting part of the movie had to do with people who were developing new games and were having people at game conventions play test them. Overall, it made me want to play games more, so I suppose it was successful. By the way, there was apparently a 2012 documentary called Going Cardboard about the American adoption of German-style board games which sounds like something I should look for.
   
   
2. Coco: This Pixar / Disney movie was the first of three movies I watched on my flight from SFO to TPE. It’s about a young boy who dreams of becoming a musician, despite his family’s ban on music. He travels to the Land of the Dead and finds out about the true story behind the origins of that ban. This is one of the best animated movies I’ve ever seen, with an interesting (and somewhat unpredictable) story line, emotionally realistic characters and an excellent score. Highly recommended.
   
   
3. Uncut Gems: Adam Sandler plays a diamond dealer with a gambling problem who scams and lies his way to trying to make a big score. While Sandler’s performance was good, the character he played was so unlikeable and the movie was so violent that I can’t recommend it.
   
   
4. The Holdovers: Paul Giamatti plays a curmudgeonly teacher who is forced to chaperone a group of students who are left on campus during Christmas break. Eventually, he is left with just one student (Angus, played by Dominic Sessa)and the school cook and they take a field trip to Boston, where we learn about the back stories of the characters. It was reasonably interesting and well acted, though it was a bit predictable and the ending was sad.
   
   
5. Knives Out: I hadn’t gotten around to seeing this before and it was a good choice for my flight from BKK to FRA. While I read a lot of mysteries, I’m not generally a huge fan of mystery films, largely because I often find it hard to keep track of the convoluted plot lines. This one was above average, but I didn’t find it particularly believable. I will probably watch the sequels sooner or later, but there are other genres I prefer. (I spent the rest of the flight sleeping, reading, and watching several episodes of What We Do in the Shadows).
   
   
6. Rental Family: This movie has to do with an American actor in Japan, played by Brendan Fraser, who takes a job playing stand-in roles for strangers. For example, his first assignment is playing the groom at a wedding for a bride whose actual relationship is with another woman. He also gets jobs playing the father to a young girl whose mother is eager to get her into a particular school and playing a journalist interviewing an aging actor who worries about being forgotten. Both of those two roles were an interesting mix of comedy and moving moments, but raise questions about the ethical issues associated with the job. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and highly recommend it.
   
   
7. Song Sung Blue: Confession time: I believe that the very first record I ever bought (a 45) was Neil Diamond’s “Cracklin’ Rosie.” And, of course, as an ardent Red Sox fan, I find it nearly impossible not to sing along to “Sweet Caroline.” My adult tastes may be edgier, but I understand why Neil Diamond has been so popular for so long and, therefore, I was an obvious part of the target audience for this movie about a Neil Diamond tribute band in Wisconsin called Lightning and Thunder. The movie is based on a true story and stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson, both of whom give excellent performances. There are some details that aren’t completely accurate, but, overall, both of them make the characters feel real - and, most importantly, make them likable even when they struggle with life challenges. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie, though nobody had warned me to make sure to bring lots of tissues. And the anti-earworm medication, lyricease, exists only in my imagination, alas. Also highly recommended.
   
   

Goals:

There will be more details in my 2025 wrap-up.

• I circumnavigated the world going westward in November.
  
  
• I made progress on my Tunisian crochet afghan, but didn’t finish it.
  
  
• I’ve only managed 47 books for the year.
  
  
• I’m about halfway through updating my life list, but I am still vacillating on a few items.
  
  
• I can read some Hangul, but I am still slow and hesitant at it and make a lot of mistakes.