a rewind of the reviews

I never blogged about the books we've read in book club or recent movies we've watched, so just an update of what to read or not to read based on the very opinionated R. Herken.
RATINGS: • = good, • = not good


Rating: •••••

The Poisonwood Bible is about a missionary family surviving in the Congo. Their story also parallels Africa's problems as a country as well. The story is told through the eyes of the family's four daughters and their mother.

I can not lie. I didn't like this book. In fact the more I read, the angrier I got. I think the majority of best sellers are best sellers because the emotions with the reader and the writer run very high. For book club I think I came up with some positive points because I didn't want to be the negative nancy and I know that there were people that did enjoy this book. But since this is my blog I'm posting whatever I want. I also enjoy reading books with happy endings, if this helps explain why.



Rating: •••••

Ok so this book isn't really a "happy ending" sort of book, but I still very much liked it. It’s based on a true story of a brutal murder that happened in a rural town in Kansas in the late 1950s. The way Capote wrote the story is interesting because it wasn't so much reading a book as it was more like reading an article out of the newspaper in that the facts were laid out for you. The murder was explained in that you knew it was gruesome but it didn't dwell on anything and was over in the first few chapters. The rest of the 250 some odd pages were chasing the killers, figuring out the motive and putting the pieces together. And maybe this explains why I also liked the movie Public Enemies and why I wanted to marry into the mob back in the day.

Up next:


I've actually already read this book, but we aren't meeting until a couple of weeks so I'll wait to post the review.


We really haven't seen any movies in the theater since Public Enemies but we did have a movie marathon on Saturday with the Hathaways in which we rented and watched 4 movies in one day. (You can also check her blog for a picture of our most recent book club meeting, it's missing quite a few people.)



Rating: •••••

Yeah, I actually thought this movie was kind of good. It wasn't scary in that I ever screamed or had to hold onto a pillow. The plot turned into the good taking revenge on the bad and it was a good change. The posters make the movie look ten times scarier and I think that's why I never went to see it the theaters. Give it a chance if you feel like watching a movie like that.


Rating: •••••

Please tell me that if you saw this you didn't like it either. It dragged on and on. I didn't really understand their "mission" or why they were out all night, hanging out in clubs, and getting drunk when they were supposedly in high school. The only funny parts were in the previews. It was just too ridiculous.



Rating: •••••

Just because there's a lot of famous people in one movie doesn't mean it's worth seeing. Please, just take my word for it, if even for the fact that you're still reading this post and you haven't believed any other thing I've said....please belive this and just save your money and your time. Don't watch it. It's similar to Crash in that it's based around one event but follows different people's lives and how they were affected.


And finally....


Rating: •••••

I'm not saying this movie was the best I ever saw, but seeing as how it was the last movie we watched and based on the previous reviews....well there has to be at least one great movie. And this was it. Good story line, good actors, great action. Karen fell asleep but this isn't saying much as she tends to fall asleep on our sofa at least once when she's over (although she did better in summers--when she doesn't work).

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend!