Best of the Best of the Best 2014!

Aloha! I'm writing this post from my private cabana on Disney's Castaway Cay!

...

No, just kidding. I'm sitting in my bed and I need to shower.

Anyhoo! I know you're all dying to know: What did Jessica love in 2014? What books moved her? What movies thrilled her?

WAIT NO MORE!

I now present to you: THE BEST OF 2014 ACCORDING TO MOI!

Beginning, as ever, with the movie picks:

Movies for Grownups:

Guardians of the Galaxy (So much to love, from the story to the humor to the action to the characters themselves. We ARE Groot!)
The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (I had to watch it twice to really appreciate it. It really leads in so well to the Lord of the Rings movies.)
Interstellar
Maleficent
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
Winter's Tale
Live. Die. Repeat. (aka Edge of Tomorrow)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Chef
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
The Monuments Men

Movies for Kids:

The Lego Movie
Big Hero 6
The Secret of Kells (This movie is several years old, but I finally saw it, and it was gorgeous!)
Muppets: Most Wanted
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Planes: Fire and Rescue

And now, the books! BOOKS! BOOOOOOOOKS! So many good books this year! So many! As those of you who follow me on Goodreads know, I actually made my goal of reading 160 books in 2014! I'm so proud of myself! And so pleased, too, that I discovered so many great books!

Also, for the most part, these lists are all ten-way ties. To choose which one I liked better, LANDLINE or ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, is simply ridiculous, because they were both amazing, and so different. It's like asking which I like better: steak or dark chocolate.

Books for Grownups, Fiction:

LANDLINE - Rainbow Rowell
ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE - Anthony Doerr
THE BONE CLOCKS - Brian David Mitchell
THE ROSIE PROJECT - Graeme Simsion
WINTER'S TALE - Mark Helprin
THE HUSBAND'S SECRET - Liane Moriarty
THE SILKWORM - Robert Galbraith
DANIEL DERONDA - George Eliot
GIDGET - Frederick Kohner
DEATH OF A POLICEMAN - M. C. Beaton

Books for Grownups, Fantasy/Sci fi:

SOME KIND OF FAIRY TALE - Graham Joyce (Graham, who was so kind and hilarious and wonderful, passed away this fall after a long battle with cancer. If you haven't treated yourself to one of his gorgeous books before, start with this one.)
MY REAL CHILDREN - Jo Walton
WORDS OF RADIANCE - Brandon Sanderson
ANATHEM - Neal Stephenson (It took me two tries to get into this book, because the language is so different, but once I did . . . WOW.)
THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS - Patrick Rothfuss
THE BONE SEASON - Samantha Shannon
BLOOD OF TYRANTS - Naomi Novik
ODD THOMAS - Dean Koontz
FARTHING - Jo Walton
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS - M. R. Carey

Books for Grownups, Nonfiction:

THE EGG AND I - Betty MacDonald (I loved the movie as a kid, and just recently discovered that it was originally a book, which was autobiographical, and by the author of my beloved Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books!)
EVERY LIVING THING - James Herriot
AS YOU WISH - Cary Elwes

Young Adult, Fiction:

I'LL GIVE YOU THE SUN - Jandy Nelson (Definitely for older teens and adults, but so beautifully written and heart-breaking, it's my pick for the Printz Award!)
THIS SONG WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE - Leila Sales
WHERE THE STARS STILL SHINE - Trish Doller
NOT IN THE SCRIPT - Amy Finnegan (Amy is a good friend of mine, and this debut YA book of hers is simply to die for! A fabulous rom-com!)
THE EAGLE OF THE NINTH - Rosemary Sutcliff
MY TRUE LOVE GAVE TO ME - edited by Stephanie Perkins
THE SCANDALOUS SISTERHOOD OF PRICKWILLOW PLACE - Julie Berry
SKINK - NO SURRENDER - Carl Hiaasen
THE CHAPEL WARS - Lindsey Leavitt
THE OUTSIDERS - S. E. Hinton (Nope, I've never read it before. Yep, it was great!)

Young Adult, Fantasy/Sci fi:

DREAMS OF GODS AND MONSTERS - Laini Taylor (Gorgeous ending to this trilogy!)
MIDWINTERBLOOD - Marcus Sedgewick (The Printz winner, and so deserving of it!)
A BREATH OF FROST/WHISPER THE DEAD - Alyxandra Harvey (The first two books in the Lovegrove Legacy and I couldn't put them down!)
IN THE SHADOWS - Jim diBartolo and Kirsten White
IN THE AGE OF LOVE AND CHOCOLATE - Gabrielle Zevin (Another great trilogy ender!)
THE SHADE OF THE MOON - Susan Beth Pfeffer
BLACKOUT - Robison Wells
CHASING POWER - Sarah Beth Durst
STEELHEART - Brandon Sanderson
AFTERWORLDS - Scott Westerfeld

Middle Grade, Fiction:

LIAR & SPY - Rebecca Stead
WEST OF THE MOON - Margi Preus
HOMECOMING/ DICEY'S SONG - Cynthia Voigt
CHARLOTTE'S ROSE - A. E. Cannon (This book is hard to find, and has been out several years, but it is just gorgeous, and fans of Little House on the Prairie will love it!)
THE SECRET OF THE FORTUNE WOOKIEE/THE SURPRISE ATTACK OF JABBA THE PUPPETT/PRINCESS LABELMAKER TO THE RESCUE/EMPEROR PICKLETINE RIDES THE BUS - Tom Angleberger (Basically, if you haven't read this series, you really must!)
THE MYSTERIOUS HOWLING - Maryrose Wood
LIFE ON MARS - Jennifer Brown
THE SPY CATCHERS OF MAPLE HILL - Megan Frazer Blakemore

Middle Grade, Fantasy/Sci Fi:

THE HERO'S GUIDE TO STORMING THE CASTLE - Christopher Healy
NIGHTMARES! - Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
THE NIGHT GARDENER - Jonathan Auxier
THE MAGIC HALF - Annie Barrows
IRON-HEARTED VIOLET - Kelly Barnhill
THE SEARCH FOR WONDLA - Tony DiTerlizzi
THE WIDE AWAKE PRINCESS - E. D. Baker
THE PRINCESS IN BLACK - Dean and Shannon Hale
THE QUIRKS: WELCOME TO NORMAL - Erin Soderberg
THE FAIRY TALE MATCHMAKER - E. D. Baker

Graphic Novels:

TREATIES, TRENCHES, MUD, AND BLOOD - Nathan Hale
EL DEAFO - CeCe Bell
SISTERS - Raina Telgemeier
WHY GRIZZLY BEARS SHOULD WEAR UNDERPANTS - The Oatmeal
DRAMA - Raina Telgemeier
RESIDENT MAD SCIENTIST - Howard Tayler
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 1: COSMIC AVENGERS - Brian Michael Bendis
ANDRE THE GIANT - Box Brown

Picture Books: 

SAM AND DAVE DIG A HOLE - Jon Klassen and Mac Barnett
MOO! - David LaRochelle and Mike Wohnoutka
GASTON - Kelly DiPucchio and Christian Robinson
HUG MACHINE - Scott Campbell
THE TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES - Brigette Barrager (My daughter has had the Princess Matching Game based on this for years, and I just realized that there was a book featuring this beautiful art, and the princesses are all flower names, too!)
UNI THE UNICORN - Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Brigette Barrager
WAITING IS NOT EASY - Mo Willems
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS - Jan Pienkowski
THE PIGEON NEEDS A BATH - Mo Willems
FOUND - Salina Yoon

Movies of the Year!

In years past I've done movie lists and kept it to ten or eleven movies, but this year I pretty much enjoyed everything I saw, so I think I will take a page from my friend Howard Tayler's book and just list all the movies I saw, in order of personal enjoyment.  (Howard Tayler is a web cartoonist and the creator of Schlock Mercenary.  If you don't know Schlock, check out www.schlockmercenary.com, and you're in for a treat!)  I was looking at my list of movies and thinking, am I just not as discerning about FILM as I once was?  I searched in my heart and the answer that I came up with was . . . Well, sort of.

Once upon a time, Webmaster Mikey and I used to go to the movies every week.  We saw things like Zoolander, and Drop Dead Gorgeous, and also things like Mirrormask and The Whale Rider, because we could!  We could drop everything and go to the movies any time we wanted!  Because there were no children who needed babysitting, and so it was very easy!  But now there are three children, THREE, and one of them will not even sit still long enough to see a Disney movie, so now we are more choosy.  How badly do we want to see this movie, and is it getting good reviews?  Has my sister seen it?  Does she think it's worth getting a babysitter for?  These are questions that we must first ask, and so the list of movies I've seen has narrowed.

Also, it rarely includes poignant films in which ugly people talk about their issues.  But it does include movies in which superheroes save things and stuff gets blown up, because if I'm going to drop $25 for a babysitter plus the price of movie tickets and popcorn, I want to see a Hemsworth brother with no shirt on, and that's that!

And so, the lists!

Here are my favorite animated films from this year:

1. Frozen
2. Monsters University
3. Despicable Me 2

And the grownup movies:

1. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
2. Iron Man 3
3. Thor: The Dark World
4. The Way, Way Back
5. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
6. World War Z
7. Warm Bodies
8. Star Trek: Into Darkness
9. Saving Mr. Banks
10. The Lone Ranger
11. Man of Steel
12. Elysium
13. Pacific Rim
14. Gravity
15. Ender's Game
16. Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters
17. R.I.P.D.
18. The Wolverine
19. Jack the Giant Slayer

Voila!

Although, speaking of people talking about issues: I did go see Philomena last night, and it was wonderful!  Two thumbs way up for that sweet film!  And in the coming year I'm really looking forward to Winter's Tale, The Lego Movie, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and The Muppets: Most Wanted.

How about you guys?

Best Movies of 2012

I like movies.  Almost as much as books.  This year has been delightful in that both Boy and Baby Girl are old enough to sit through movies in the theater, and Baby Roo was tiny enough to just lie there as well, so I was able to catch almost every movie I wanted to see.  No, I did not take my children to see The Dark Knight Rises.  That's what babysitters are for.  But I was able to take the kids to see things Mirror Mirror, and The Lorax and Brave.  (We ended up going to Brave three times, actually.)

The Oscars are next week, and as usual I haven't seen most of the main Oscar nominees, and also as usual . . . I don't really care.  I'm going to the movies for personal enjoyment, not so I can watch Helen Hunt try to score more awards.  (Not that she isn't a fine actress.  But I have no interest in the movie she's nominated for.)  I would like to see Lincoln, and The Impossible, though.  And The Queen of Versailles.  I'm going to be catching them on DVD soon, I'm sure.

And allow me to also recommend (for the PG-13 eligible crowd) Warm Bodies, which was a fantastic riff on Romeo and Juliet.  I really loved that movie!  So much fun!

But now, without further ado, here are my top ten grown up film favorites that I saw in 2012:

    1.     The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

    2.     Skyfall

    3.     Silver Linings Playbook

    4.     The Dark Knight Rises

    5.     Argo 

    6.     The Avengers

    7.     Les Miserables

    8.     The Hunger Games

    9.     John Carter

   10.  The Amazing Spider-Man

  

    And the movies for the younger set:

   1.     Brave

   2.     Wreck-It Ralph

   3.     Rise of the Guardians

   4.     Hotel Transylvania

   5.     The Lorax

   6.     Mirror Mirror

   7.     Finding Nemo in 3D

   8.     Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted

   9.     ParaNorman

Now before anyone gets upset: I love Finding Nemo.  I really, really do.  But I've also seen Finding Nemo roughly 4,000 times.  So seeing it in the theater had less of an impact on me than seeing say, The Lorax for the first time, where I laughed so hard my face hurt during the "river rescue" scene.  And please also remember: some of Auntie Jessica's favorite grown up films are rated R.  Please view responsibly.  

Are You Ready?

I'm so not ready.

I'm getting there.

The good news is, last night, very late, I finally finished WEDNESDAYS IN THE TOWER!  Huzzah!  It's been a long, crazy journey with that one, but now it's in the hands of my editor, and we can all slump across our keyboards and breathe a sigh of relief!

And then pop right back up because there is much to do, kids!

First off: Christmas!  Christmas is coming!  Hooray for Christmas!  The best time of the year!  In about ten minutes, we'll be firing up the ol' Blu-ray player to watch Elf!  My son is already reading THE LEGEND OF HOLLY CLAUS, to himself this year.  *sniff they grow up so fast!*

And so, quick and dirty, here is what I will be reading/viewing/listening to in the month to come!

Books:

THE LEGEND OF HOLLY CLAUS by Brittney Ryan
MIRACLE AND OTHER CHRISTMAS STORIES by Connie Willis
THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER by Barbara Robinson
SAMMY KEYES AND THE RUNAWAY ELF by Wendelin Van Draanen
LET IT SNOW: THREE HOLIDAY ROMANCES by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
MISS DAVENPORT'S CHRISTMAS by Marion Chesney
A HIGHLAND CHRISTMAS by M. C. Beaton
(Fun fact: Marion Chesney and M. C. Beaton are the same person!)
A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens and illustrated by P. J. Lynch
A CHRISTMAS STORY AND OTHER COLLECTED WORKS  by Jean Shepherd

Picture books, which I am too lazy to find the authors and illustrators of:

THE CHRISTMAS MAGIC
THE WILD CHRISTMAS REINDEER/HOME FOR CHRISTMAS by Jan Brett
SANTA CALLS by William Joyce (So, okay, I know some of the people)
AUNTIE CLAUS
THE TWELVE BOTS OF CHRISTMAS  by Nathan Hale
LLAMA LLAMA HOLIDAY DRAMA by Anna Dewdney
OLIVIA HELPS WITH CHRISTMAS by Ian Falconer
RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER
THE POLAR EXPRESS
A CHILD'S CHRISTMAS IN WALES by Dylan Thomas
THE TOMTEN by Astrid Lindgren
RED RANGER CAME CALLING
A WISH FOR WINGS THAT WORK by Berkeley Breathed

Movies:
Elf
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
The Muppet Christmas Carol
The Nightmare Before Christmas
A Christmas Story
It's Christmas, Charlie Brown! (Or whatever that one is called.  You know what I mean!)
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Mystery Science Theater 3000 Edition
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street

Music and Audio Excitement:

Wintersong by Sarah McLachlan
A Christmas Cornucopia by Annie Lennox
Gabriel's Message by Sting
The Coventry Carol by Alison Moyet
Barenaked for the Holidays by the Barenaked Ladies
A Very She & Him Christmas by She & Him
Sleigh Ride by The Ronettes
O Holy Night by Celtic Woman
Polly Anderson's Christmas by Stuart McLean
Six to Eight Black Men by David Sedaris

But along with decking the halls and caroling the bells, this year we have one more thing to get ready for:

PRINCESS OF THE SILVER WOODS!

It will launch on December 11th, and I will be at The King's English Bookshop that very day, to read and sign and give away a prize!  There will be cookies and hijinks!

This will start off a week of signings around Salt Lake City and Provo/Orem!  Also, if you call the nice people at The King's English, they can take orders for signed books and ship them too you for a small fee!  Please see my events page for the exact details.

I will also be on a panel and doing a signing on December 8th, along with Ally Condie, Robison Wells,  Brandon Mull, Lisa Mangum and Dean Hughes!  That starts at 11 am, and should be really fun.  You can get most of your Christmas shopping done right there, boom!

Keep checking my website, too, for a fancy new SILVER WOODS look!

Where's My Tars Tarkas Action Figure? Or: Why You Should See JOHN CARTER

So JOHN CARTER came out this last weekend, and apparently is not doing well at the box office. This saddens me. I love movies. You all know I love movies. I post lists of favorite movies on this very blog! I used to review movies on a website back in the early days of the interwebs. Heck, I'm even IN a movie. (No, seriously! I was an extra in the airport scenes of THE RM. Check it out!) And more importantly, I loved THIS movie, and hearing people bash it is making me le sad.

You can imagine my excitement at hearing about JOHN CARTER. It's based on A PRINCESS OF MARS, the first book in the Barsoom series by Edgard Rice Burroughs, who also wrote TARZAN. I have never read the Barsoom books, but c'mon, these books were written over a hundred years ago, about a Civil War veteran fighting giant aliens on Mars! What's not to love? Also, it was directed by Andrew Stanton (No, not the Andrew Stanton I went to high school with, the director of FINDING NEMO and WALL-E). The movie had a huge budget, a great cast, and every clip and trailer looked like enormous fun. In fact, the first trailer introduced me to the song "My Body Is A Cage" by Peter Gabriel, which I loved so much I bought the single.

My sister, who knows of my love for movies and my excitement for this one in particular, offered to babysit for us, despite the newness and screaminess of Baby Roo, and so Mike and I were able to go on Saturday. And see what was one of the Best. Movies. I've. Seen. In. Forever.

It was fun. It was funny. It was exciting. It was romantic. It was dramatic. It was, in short, everything you might want in a movie. I have no idea how long it was, but when it was over, I wanted to stay in my seat, clapping my hands and yelling, "Again! Again!" like a Teletubby.

There were no inappropriately sexual jokes. There was no scatological humor. The dialogue wasn't embarrassingly cheesy (a failing of many sci fi movies). The special effects were amazing, I never once saw something and thought, Green screen! In fact, both my husband and I admitted to having the sudden realization that the Tharks WEREN'T real . . . Tharks are ten feet tall, have four arms and tusks, and we fully believed in them. The acting was excellent, too, both voice and physical.

In fact, the acting was stellar. Look at the cast!

Willem Defoe. Samantha Morton. Thomas Haden Church. Dominic West. Mark Strong. James Purefoy. Ciaran Hinds. Taylor Kitsch is great as John Carter, and I loved Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, Princess of Mars. LOVED her!

First off, she's a scientist and a fighter, not your typical damsel in distress. She also has a very nice body. Yeah, okay, that sounded weird. But I have a pet peeve with movies, especially lately. I have a little problem with people asking me to believe that Angelina Jolie, who looks frighteningly gaunt lately, can jump off a moving train and not snap like a brittle twig. Watching SALT I was cringing every time she did a stunt or got in a fight, she looked sickly and fragile. Lynn Collins has a shapely, healthy figure. She looked good in a bikini, but she also looked like she could swing that sword without falling over, and she totally did. She was tough without being masculine, intelligent without being portrayed as a nerd with no social skills. She was a REAL WOMAN.

Also, I totally want an eight-legged Martian dog. I just do, okay? Disney is really missing out on some marketing opportunities. If there were John Carter action figures, I would buy them all. And a plush Wolla. (I think that was the dog's name.) And some Dejah Thoris paper dolls. Where are my Happy Meal toys? I have a light up Jake Sully from AVATAR, and his six-legged blue horse. Where's my John Carter with glowing medallion, huh? HUH?

And here's the thing about this movie tanking, which Laini Taylor brought my attention to last week. She's started the hashtag #JohnCarterParty on Twitter, and has been encouraging people to see it. Not because she's a huge Barsoom fan, either, but because of what it represents. This is an intelligent, fun, big budget science fiction movie. If you want to see more movies like this, you need to show your support. More good sci fi and fantasy books can be adapted into good movies if Hollywood sees a profit. More good sci fi and fantasy movies can be made, period. Sure, there are some standouts in recent years like AVATAR or the new STAR TREK, but for every AVATAR, there's at least five MISSION TO MARS. (About about fifteen Adam Sandler movies. *shudder*)

If you need more convincing, allow me to sum it all up in this handy list:

Why You Should See JOHN CARTER:

1. Great cast, great acting.
2. A good story.
3. Great effects.
4. Excellent female role models. (Not just Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris, but also Samantha Morton as Sola the Thark maiden.)
5. Suitable for (nearly) the whole family, the violence was more science fictiony than gory/shocking, there was no sex, profanity, or poo!
6. (And most importantly) It will encourage Hollywood to make more fun sci fi/fantasy adventure movies!

New Year's Resolutions and TWO Movie Lists!

Hello!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year! I love December, and I also love the first part of January, when things are just getting back to normal . . . and yet not . . . because we're all busy getting set up for the new year!

I generally don't make hardcore resolutions, nothing that would be depressing or demoralizing if they fall through. That's generally not a good idea for someone who has depression to begin with, especially when you factor in that we're headed toward the bleak, cold, dark, awful time of year that affects many people anyway. But if you do, I salute you, because you are braver (and have better willpower) than I!

But this year I would like very much to:

Lose weight. (I know everybody says this, but I'm pretty sure I can do it, since a good 15 pounds or so don't belong to me, and will be "removed" by the end of the month . . .)

Have this baby. (I think I might start crying with joy on the day when I can put on my socks without panting and feeling lightheaded. Also, see above about the gratifying instant weight loss.)

Read a lot of books. (I currently have over 300 books on my To Read shelf over at Goodreads. I want to OWN that list this year. I know I can't read them all, but I would really like to be able to get that list below 200.)

Potty Train My Daughter. (I will pay good money if anyone wants to come and do this for me.)

See some movies. (Good stuff coming this year: The Hunger Games. The Avengers.)

And on that note, here are my Top 12 Grown Up Movies of 2011!

(For those of you who are new to the blog, I used to write movie reviews for a website my husband ran, before there was blogging, and I still like to weigh in on le cineme, if you will. Also, last year I did a Top 11 in honor of 2011, so I figure, why not a Top 12 for 2012? Also, I took my kids to a lot a movies this year, and thought I'd rank the kiddie faves separately.)

And now, for real, the list:

1. Jane Eyre
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
3. Super 8
4. Thor
5. X-Men: First Class
6. The Help
7. Crazy, Stupid, Love
8. Cowboys & Aliens
9. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
10. Captain America: The First Avenger
11. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol
12. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides

*Please note that not all of the above movies are suitable for all audiences.*

1. The Muppets
2. Cars 2
3. Winnie The Pooh
4. Arthur Christmas
5. Kung Fu Panda 2
6. Hugo
7. Hop
8. Gnomeo & Juliet

Coming soon: The Book Lists!