I’m back on track a little with my reading. An audiobook on my 2-hour drive on Thursday helped with that some. My TV viewing has been adversely affected by my new sleep pattern of going to bed early because my dog won’t sleep past 5am.

Movies – We watched The Predator. It is a new sequel to Schwarzenegger’s movie from the 80’s. We enjoyed it. It’s not going to win any awards, but it was a fun way to spend a couple of hours. I think sometimes the critics forget that it’s OK for a movie to just be a fun distraction. I don’t need an award-winning movie al the time.  My wife never wants to watch award winners. She finds them boring. The loves dumb action movies, so The Predator was perfect for her.

TV – We started watching the Jack Ryan series on Amazon this week. I was a big fan of the first few books in the series so I’m always interested to see how the new adaptations work.  I’m enjoying it so far. I think Krasinski is good as Jack Ryan and I like Wendell Pierce in everything he does. We will keep watching. I watched the first episode of the newest seasons of Mr. Mercedes and Dear White People yesterday. I’m looking forward to watching more. Only a few weeks until the new TV season. I also need to clear some space on my DVR soon.

Books – I finished two books this week.

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins – It is weird and could be hard to follow when I was listening instead of reading, but I really liked it. It’s hard to give a basic premise, but I will try. There was a man who might be a god who adopted some kids and taught each of them a specific skill(healing, language, fighting, etc) with a rule that no one was to study outside of their catalog. We start with the “dad” missing and possibly dead. Add a plumber/thief who might have a connection to the “family” and a legendary soldier/now Homeland Security agent and you get a weird, but an enjoyable mystery.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe – I agree with a friend who rated it on Goodreads with 5 stars for the message, three stars for their enjoyment of it. I’m glad the book exists. I’m glad I read it. I didn’t think the writing was that good.

On Deck – I have Little waiting for me at the library and now that I know my daughter will come home next weekend I will also get my copy of The Sun is Also a Star to watch with her. I’m sure we will watch more episodes of Jack Ryan and I will watch more Mr. Mercedes and Dear White People. I’m in the middle of The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavelle and then I will read Chaos, a book about the Manson murders.

It’s time again for my recap of what I’ve read and watched this week. I’m sure everyone is extremely excited.

Movies – I have three movies for the week. The first was a rewatch of Endgame since my wife and son had not seen it yet. It was still good. I’m sad that Spiderman will no longer be a part of the MCU. We also watched The Mule. I’m impressed that Eastwood is still acting and directing. I liked the movie. I think I could be a drug mule. I’m an old white man with a spotless driving record. Where do I apply? I watched Long Shot alone because my family tends to not care about the comedies. I’m a Seth Rogen fan, so I was predisposed to like it. I think a lot of people will be surprised at how good it is. Rogen plays a journalist who knew the Secretary of State when they were kids. She hires him as a speechwriter They fall in love. Charlize Theron and Rogen have great chemistry and the relationship is believable. It was a fun movie.

TV – I watched the first episode of The Righteous Gemstones. It stars John Goodman, Danny McBride, and Adam Devine as father and sons televangelists. John Goodman is good as always. Danny McBride plays Danny McBride. Adam Devine is great as the younger brother. Edi Patterson is funny as the sister who feels left out. I think it would have been better as just a comedy about the family, but they threw in a blackmail storyline that seems like it will be the main story for the season. That’s a little disappointing. I do like the cast enough to keep watching and Walton Goggins shows up soon.

Books – I didn’t finish a book this week. I was listening to a book on part of my 4 hours of driving yesterday but did not realize it had not completely downloaded until t stopped playing. I was driving so I couldn’t fix that. I also forgot to take a bok with me to read during the time I had to kill before it was time to go to the funeral home. So, it was an all-around fail day for me and reading. I’m way behind in my reading this year.

On Deck – I have Tolkien on DVD, but I don’t think anyone else wants to watch it. I will probably start the new season of 13 Reasons Why this week. I still need to watch the latest seasons of Luther and Dear White People. I will have a lot of time alone now that my daughter is going back to college. I should use that to catch up on my reading as I’m way behind this year, but I’m sure I will use that time to watch TV instead.

It was back to a somewhat normal week. My daughter came home on Friday. My wife came home on Sunday. I finished a couple of books, but they were books I had already started. Other events of the week did not make for a calm enough mind to sit and read. I did watch a lot though.

Movies – I watched one of the four movies I had from the library. My son came home Sunday specifically to watch Shazam with us. We all really liked the movie. It was nice to have a light, funny DC movie for a change. They did a good job with it. Zachary Levi was great as Shazam. Mark Strong was a good villain. Jack Dylan Grazer was really good as the best friend of the kid who became Shazam. A good cast and a good script make for a good movie.

TV – We watched the second season of Derry Girls last weekend. It is a very funny show. If you haven’t watched it yet, do it this weekend. It’s easy to binge. Two six-episode seasons and each episode is only 25 minutes or so. You can watch the entire run without a break. It’s one of the funniest shows I’ve watched in a long time. While my daughter was at a wedding I started watching Friday Night Lights.  I knew it was supposed to be a good show, but I never got to it while it was on Netflix. It is on Prime, so I decided to give it a shot. I watched six episodes while she was gone. I have not watched more mainly because I haven’t had the time home alone. I did really like it, but there are a lot of episodes and the new fall season is starting soon, so it might take me a while to get to the rest. If you have the time and like football/high school drama I would recommend it.

Books – I finished four books this week.

Neon Prey by John Sandford – I started listening to it because the CD was at the library where I work. I hated the reader. I stopped at my local library to pick up a movie and the had a print copy available in their 7-day collection(I love this idea. New releases available for a one-week checkout with no holds). I then alternated between the audio and the print. I generally like the Lucas Davenport books. This one was OK, but not my favorite. I’m not sure if it was the story or the reader that made me like it less than the others.

All the Days Past, All the Days to Come by Mildred Taylor – This is the last book in the Logan family series that started with Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry. The Logan kids are now adults. The story covers WWII to the early 60’s with the now adult Logan kids moving north and still dealing with racism. I enjoyed it. It is a very good look at historic civil rights events through the eyes of the Logans. It was a little long and a lot of time was spent on Cassie’s first love story. I felt like that could have been trimmed down quite a bit. I would recommend it though.

Short and Skinny by Mark Tatulli – a middle-grade graphic memoir about the author’s time as a short and skinny middle schooler. It was a nice, quick read and perfect for upper elementary and middle schoolers.

I Was Their American Dream by Malaka Gharib –  A memoir about growing up the daughter of a mother from the Philippines and a dad from Egypt and figuring out who you are. I probably would have liked it a lot more if I had not read it when I was stressed out and angry. It’s probably not a good idea to try to read a book in that mood. I should read it again.

On Deck – At some point this weekend I will watch Detective Pikachu with my kids. We might force my daughter to watch Top Gun tonight since she’s never seen it. I plan to go see Once Upon a Time in Hollywood this morning. I will watch BH90210 this afternoon while others are out shopping. We need to finish watching Flash and Deadly Class before my daughter goes back to school soon. I’m reading Raised in Captivity by Chuck Klosterman and then I need to get to reading my books for my work and personal book clubs.

I’m glad I went back and looked at last week’s post. I thought this was a light week, but then I looked at what I said I had on deck this week and realized I watched a lot this week that I thought I watched last week. I’m old and forgetful.

Movies – We watched two movies this week. When my son was home Saturday my kids wanted to watch Sandlot: Heading Home. They loved the first two movies and when they found out there was a third they insisted I get the DVD. It wasn’t terrible, but it was not nearly as good as the first two. The basic plot is that a retiring baseball player who has a reputation for being a jerk who only cares about himself gets hit in the head and goes back to his days playing on the Sandlot where he learns to be a team player. Squints and Benny the Jet return as adults. We also watched The Public. It is the Emilio Estevez movie set in the Cincinnati Public Library. During a cold spell, a group of homeless patrons refuses to leave the library.  A librarian stays with them and defies the police order to leave. I liked it. My wife and daughter liked it. It has a good cast and has several humorous moments. I would recommend it. Librarians might like it more than normal people. Librarians might hate it more than normal people.

TV – I finished Stranger Things season 3. I thought it was a good season. I think we deserve a spinoff of the further adventures of Robin, Steve, Dustin, and Erica. I agree with Drew’s rant about the ending.  Don’t read that unless you want spoilers. We spend a lot of time watching HGTV. If you had told me a year ago that I would happily watch HGTV shows for hours I would have laughed at you. They really suck you in. House Hunters, Love it or List It, Fixer Upper all draw me in quickly and I’m invested in which house rando strangers choose to buy. They are also good shows to have on while you read. I need noise when reading. I can read some during these shows and more during commercials. Having HGTV on increases my reading time. Other channels distract me too much. I also enjoy watching Chopped on Food Network and Buying the Beach on Destination America.

Books – I’ve read 448 pages this week without finishing a book. That’s because Wanderers by Chuck Wendig is 780 pages long. Maybe I will finish it next week. I’m pretty sure I will not make it to 100 books this year.

On Deck – I have Shazam! waiting for me at the library but I told my son we would wait for him to watch it. That means we have to wait until next weekend for that one. I have no other movies on DVD. We have a few on our DVR that I would like to watch, but no one else seems interested. I might not watch a movie this week. Like many other people, I read VC Andrews when I was younger. I liked the Heaven Casteel series more than I did Flowers in the Attic. Lifetime starts a series of movies based on these books tomorrow night. I will be watching them. My family thinks it is weird. I don’t care. I’m sure the movies will be terrible. I don’t care. I will still watch. I will continue reading Wanderers and I’m now listening to Neon Prey by John Sandford.

My first week back in the real world after vacation combined with terrible, extreme heat was tailor-made for me to sit on the couch and watch TV, so that’s what I did. I’m hoping the reading part will pick up once it is cooler and I can sit outside where there is no screen to distract me.

Movies – I almost made it through the week with no movie watched. I wasn’t going to count the dumb action movie my wife watched while I read/slept on the couch, so I had no movies on my list until last night. I had recorded The American President before we went to Kentucky because I thought my daughter would like it. We watched it last night. I told her that I thought she would like it because she loves The West Wing. I told her that without realizing Aaron Sorkin also wrote the movie. I was correct. She did enjoy the movie and I still liked it as much as I did when I first watched it. There were a lot of West Wing actors in the movie. If you are a West Wing fan you should definitely watch it.

TV – I watched more Stranger Things. I’ve got three more episodes of season 3 left to go. I just need to find the time home alone to finish. I think I might like season 3 more than season 2. We will see how I feel when I get to the end. The final season of Suits started this week. It’s not nearly as good as it was in the early days, but I still enjoy it. I’m curious to see how they end it. I’m watching the first episode of the spinoff, Pearson, as I type this. I’m not sure I will stick with it. Jessica Pearson was my least favorite character on Suits so the rest of the characters will need to be really interesting for me to want to keep watching.

Books – I finished one book this week, The Fifth Season by NK Jemison. I really wanted to like it more than I did. I can see why it won awards and why so many others like it. There’s just something about her writing style that doesn’t connect with me. I felt the same when I tried to read her short stories. The story was interesting, but I felt the structure of the book took away from my enjoyment of it. I can’t say more without spoilers. I did figure some stuff out early, so the aha moments hundred of pages later didn’t really have the punch I’m sure they were meant to have. You should read it, though, because I’m one of the few people who feel this way. I’m weird.

On Deck – I have The Public, Mid90’s and Sandlot: Heading Home on DVD. My kids apparently didn’t know that Sandlot movie existed and want to watch it tomorrow. I’m hoping people show up at the library today for my movie matinee so I can get paid to watch The Public. I hope to finish Stranger Things this week. I still need to decide if I care enough about Season 2 of Big Little Lies to go back to it. I have started reading Wanderers by Chuck Wendig last night. It is almost 800 pages long, so I doubt I will finish it this week.