What I'm Binge-Watching: 11 February 2021

What I'm Binge-Watching is a new meme to document all of our favorite binging obsessions. Follow along and let me know what you've been binge-watching lately!

Continuing

Current Episode: Season 4 Episode 19 - Exposure

The end is near, I can feel it. I've been watching this show on Hulu for about a month and I'm ready for it to end. I loved it in the beginning but in my opinion - SPOILER ALERT - the worst plot choice was bringing David back from the dead. Plus there are so many characters I just can't stand - Victoria, David, Margeaux... and now Courtney Love is an assassin?!?! What a cluster...

Current Episode: Season 4 Episode 20 - Dead Ringer

I started rewatching CSI again when I moved back into my mom's house. We watch a few episodes at a time then take a break to watch some of our other continuing binges.

Current Episode: New York - Whatever Discovery+ Plays, Atlanta - Season 1 Episode 2

My mom and I love watching Say Yes to the Dress. With the new Discovery+ App it plays whatever of the New York episodes it wants, sometimes on a loop since it runs all day. But with my sister's boyfriend living with us we usually only watch it when he's not around.

Current Episode: Season 2 Episode 7 - Tender Loving Care

I watched these on tv as they aired but we are rewatching them now on the Discovery+ App.

Current Episode: Season 1 Episode 6 - Who Killed Katie Autry?
We love watching true crime shows and we're just about caught up on all the current episodes of Southern Gothic. We're also watching Murder in the Heartland and A Crime to Remember.

New Obsessions

I don't know why streaming services are getting flooded with all of these documentaries about the Cecil Hotel all of a sudden but I'm obsessed! I started with the Ghost Adventures episode, moved on to ID's Horror at the Cecil and I see that Netflix just added a new documentary!

Just Added to My Watchlist

Yep, you guessed it. The newest addition to my Netflix queue is the new docu-series Crime Scene: The Vanishing At the Cecil Hotel

I've heard of this show before but I just saw a clip for it when I went to add Crime Scene to my Netflix Queue and it looks good so I added it at the same time.

I'm a sucker for teen dramas, especially ones with fantasy elements. I'm not sure how soon I'll get around to this one but it just got added to my queue. 

What are you currently binge-watching? What are some of your latest obsessions that you couldn't get enough of? Let me know in the comments!
Happy binging!

Friday Night Frights: Bird Box Spotlight & Movie Rec

Hey Bookdragons! Welcome to the 3rd week of the Friday Night Frights meme!

How It Works:
On your blog feature a horror novel you loved (it doesn't have to be a new release) and recommend a horror movie you love then come back here and post your link in the comments! That's it, as simple as that! 

Bird Box by Josh Malerman

Now a Netflix film starring Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson, Rosa Salazar and John Malkovich!

Written with the narrative tension of The Road and the exquisite terror of classic Stephen King, Bird Box is a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat horror thriller, set in an apocalyptic near-future world—a masterpiece of suspense from the brilliantly imaginative Josh Malerman.

Something is out there . . .

Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat—blindfolded—with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children’s trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster?

Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey—a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside—and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?

Interweaving past and present, Josh Malerman’s breathtaking debut is a horrific and gripping snapshot of a world unraveled that will have you racing to the final page.

What I loved about Bird Box (the book):
Bird Box isn't strictly a horror novel. It's more sci-fi horror. 

What Bird Box is, is a fast-paced novel about the worst kind of monster... the monster we cannot see. An unseen threat that robs people of their minds should they "see" whatever it is that drives them to kill themselves. Nobody is safe, the madness could come for anyone. 

Bird Box moves back and forth between past and present, from the beginning of the occurrences to Malorie's journey down the river with the two children. 

I love that this book is set in Michigan. I love the idea of the madness and the need to cover one's eyes. It's a whole new kind of terror than the standard haunting or psycho killer.

Movie Rec: Bird Box

I didn't know what to expect when I watched this movie last Christmas. I didn't expect to become as engrossed in it as I did. I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. I didn't expect for it to stay with me 7+ months since the first time I watched it, like I just watched it yesterday.

"Five years after an ominous unseen presence drives most of society to suicide, a survivor and her two children must make it through a forest and river blindfolded in a desperate bid to reach safety."

Sandra Bullock is fantastic in this movie, really she should get some sort of award for her performance in my opinion. The supporting cast is great as well and the screen play brings the novel to life in horrifying detail. 

I love that this movie didn't stick spot on to the novel, instead changing a few small details to increase the tension. 

I don't scare easily, but I know a lot of people found this movie bone-chillingly terrifying, so if you're surfing Netflix and in the mood for a truly scary movie tonight, give Bird Box a watch. You can thank me for the nightmares later! 

Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts

Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts is a Weekly Meme hosted by Christine @ Bookishly  Boisterous.

Happy Thursday Bookdragons! I hope everyone survived Christmas and got everything they wished for.

1. Sometimes I wish I could go back to being book-blind. What I mean is, before I was a book blogger or bookstagrammer I could walk into a bookstore without pressure, browse the aisles and pick out books that called out to me without having any prior impression of them (unless they were a continuation of a series I'd been reading). Now I'm always influenced by blogs I've read, publisher newsletters / ARC sign-ups, posts I've seen on instagram. Sometimes I wonder if I read certain books because I want to read them or because everyone else had read it and is raving. And I'm an odd duck. Yeah - the book everyone hates on? I probably love it. The book everyone gushes about? Yeah - I probably couldn't get past the first page. Sometimes I wish I could quit it all - the reviews, the deadlines, the expectations - and read for me again.

2. Christmas was pretty good all around, I can't complain. I went a bit overboard buying for myself but I managed a few surprises with my Fairyloot & Unicorn Book Boxes. Fairyloot remains a favorite but Unicorn Crate was nice also.

3. I got my grandmother's cat, Houdini, a little chick stuffed toy that chirps... and I didn't realize how sensitive it was going to be. You barely have to touch it for it to chirp. And Houdini touches it. All. Night. Long. 

4. Vikings was awesomely violent last night! I know, I know - that sounds awful of me to say but its my favorite show and they do a great job with the battle scenes. 

5. I cannot believe the people terrified by Netflix's BIRD BOX. We watched it on Christmas and I loved it! I've been in a post-apocalyptic mood lately after The Hallowed Ones and Pestilence so Bird Box was right up my alley. I didn't find it scary at all, but it takes a loooooottttttt to scare me. But 1/2 the people I talk to were scared $#!+|3$$.

6. My current read is Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman and I was hooked from the beginning. I just hope it stays that way. I've been in and out of slumps all month.

7. I seem to run on a different temperature than everyone else. My grandmother keeps saying she's warm but I'm so, so cold!

Book Review: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Blurb

You can’t stop the future. 

You can’t rewind the past.

The only way to learn the secret . . . is to press play.

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker—his classmate and crush—who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. 

                

Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and as he follows Hannah’s recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

My Review:

***Fair warning: This will be more of a "compare and contrast" review where I talk about both the Netflix series and the book, as opposed to a strict "book review"***

Hannah Baker has committed suicide. Hannah Baker is dead. She didn't leave a note... what she left was much worse. 

Hannah Baker left behind 7 audiotapes, 13 stories about the people that made her life so miserable she thought suicide was the only answer. 

Clay Jensen doesn't know why he is on the tapes. He doesn't know what he would have done to Hannah to make her want to kill herself. Clay had admired Hannah Baker since freshman year, and other than one night - he never really had a chance with her. 

As he listens to the tapes, he learns the truth about the awful rumors his classmates spread about Hannah and the dark misdeeds that pushed Hannah over the edge. Could Clay have saved her? Could any of them? 

I did the one thing you're not supposed to do. I watched the Netflix show before I read the book. And to be completely, totally honest? I liked the show better. 

Since I watched the show first, I knew what was going to happen in the story so none of it was a total surprise to me. But strip away what the show created, you find the bones of the story. 

Hannah Baker was a troubled girl. Obviously something had happened at her previous school as well - both the show and the book hinted at it, but you never did find out what. But did any of the reasons she gave really add up to enough of a reason for anyone to kill themselves? No, at least not in my opinion. Maybe the author was trying to show that the culmination of all the events would drive anyone over the edge. 

In any event, this book for me was more about bullying that suicide prevention - which I know some critics of the show have been quick to point out. In my interpretation, it was a lesson that people should learn that gossip and rumors hurt people - that you should think of the repercussions before you open your mouth. That teens - or people in general - shouldn't hurt each other because you never know what that person is going through. And for that, I thought the writing was beautiful. 

What I didn't like was the way it was written, per se. I know it was supposed to flip between the stories Hannah was telling on the tapes and Clay's thoughts and memories as he was listening to them but it felt a little too in someone's head. Does that make sense? 

What I think I'm trying to say is that, overall I loved the bones that the story was, but I needed the Netflix show to give me the meat of the story. It felt like so much more happened in the show that made the story even better. 

My Rating:

3.75 of 5 Stars!