Happy almost summer! Need something to read, watch and/or listen to? I’ve got you!

Books

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Warning, this is not easy reading. (Shout out to Chris W for keeping on me about it.) Like a Hunger Games for prisoners, Chain-Gang All-Stars is set in a mildly dystopian, current day setting in which convicts (disproportionately black) can “escape” their prison sentences by competing in live-broadcast, to the death, battles against other convicts. Fighters are divided into teams, Chains – in which they can help each other or kill each other, with the hope of winning enough matches to earn eventual freedom. As repulsive as this sounds, you can see how this “sport” would be alluring and “good tv” to people, almost like a live video game. This fictional world is anchored to our reality via the footnotes at the bottom of many pages noting actual facts, laws, real-life victims, etc. It’s a sobering read, not without humor or emotion, and with a lot to say about our current penal system, among other things.

How to End a Love Story – Yulin Kuang

On a much less-violent note, I really enjoyed How to End a Love Story. Kuang is the adapting writer/director of Emily Henry’s Beach Read and the adapting screenwriter of Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation which is a good enough pedigree for me! Her debut novel follows Helen and Grant, who are linked by a tragic accident from the past and must figure out how to work together despite it and move on. Theirs is a love story that can never be…?

Movies

I really enjoyed The Fall Guy! Funny, entertaining, action-packed and well-acted (Ryan Gosling! Emily Blunt!) – exactly what you want out of a summer movie at the theater.

Meryl Streep appreciation corner

I try not to write about books/tv shows before I finish them because I take pride in offering up options to you that I have fully endorsed, but I’m about to do it. Let me also remind you that I prefer reading/holding an actual book to listening to it or using a Kindle. Every now and then I make an exception. When I heard that Meryl Streep was the narrator for Ann Patchett’s latest book, Tom Lake, obviously I was going to choose listening. (Shout out to Shari for making that possible!) (Side bar, friends and I went to go hear Ann Patchett on her book tour for Tom Lake and she is delightful! I could listen to her talk all day. If you feel the same way, or, if you have no idea because you haven’t heard her speak before, you should follow her on Instagram via the account of the bookstore she owns in Nashville, @parnassusbooks.) I’m only halfway through the book and am in no rush to finish it because I cannot get over how delightful Meryl is to listen to. (I know I used “delightful” twice. I mean the adjective wholeheartedly in both instances.) I listen while I go on walks and I catch myself smiling and laughing as I walk alone, surely looking like an idiot. I don’t care. So far, the book is perfectly diverting, although it almost doesn’t even matter to me at this point. I am thoroughly enjoying Meryl describing Lara’s tenure acting in a production of Our Town in Michigan, and then recounting that time, much later, to her daughters. 

While we’re here, let me also plug the third season of “Only Murders in the Building” because, again, Meryl is awesome. All the other actors are great, too, (Paul Rudd!) and the plot gets better every season, but Meryl steals the show for me. Bonus, she will also be in season 4, premiering August 27th!

Father’s Day suggestion

My 17-year-old son wanted to watch the South Park special roasting Ozempic, titled “South Park: The End of Obesity” (it’s a little long but it is funny), so we got a trial for Paramount +. If you subscribe to this streaming service, or go the route we did, let me add to the many people who told us to watch and recommend “The Offer.” Not to be too stereotypical but, assuming your husband’s/father’s favorite movie is The Godfather, he will love this. Albert S. Ruddy was the producer of the film and this limited series (10 episodes) follows his experience in getting the movie made. Some stories I knew, most I did not. More importantly, my husband loved it and yours probably will too.

Hamas

The hostages need to be freed/released. Hamas does not care about a ceasefire. They want the bloodshed. People do not understand that there is no negotiating with Hamas because it is not a rational thinking organization. Please listen to this podcast: The Bright Line Between Good and Evil with Sam Harris (linked). 

Thanks for reading and use SPF!