What I’m reading and watching

I found a book in a thrift store called, The Wilder Life, by Wendy McClure.  It’s a non-fiction account of Wendy’s obsession with Laura Ingalls Wilder.  I picked it up (I recognized the author’s name) and now I’m reading the complete set of “Little House” books because I feel like it’s only right to be up to speed on the series before I read Wendy’s book.  (Do you like how I actual as if we are pals, me and Wendy?)

When I was eleven years old, my dad gave me a paperback copy of The Little House on the Prairie, with an inscription on the first page.  I must have read it as a girl, then, and I imagine that I read the rest of the series as well, but I couldn’t be sure.  Plus, that’s been decades, so I settled in to read them all in order.

Except I discovered that the book I thought was first was actually second.  The first book in the series is Little House in the Big Woods  and weirdly, that was the book I didn’t actually own, so I had to order it.  Meanwhile, I read the second and third books and now I’m reading On the Banks of Plum Creek, the fourth book.  In it, I discover the characters I recognize and love from the television show (Nellie Oleson!).

Anyway, when I finish all nine books, I’m going to read the Wendy McClure book.

Incidentally, I’ve been tracking the books I read on Goodreads.com since 2013 and this year, finally, I’m on track to read more than 20 books.  The last time I read at least 20 books was in 2013, so I’m happy about this.  It’s hard to find enough time to read and when you choose fat novels, it takes even longer to get through books.  I’ve really focused on reading as much as possible this year.

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Tonight, I went to a free screening of Hacksaw Ridge.  I thought it was an excellent movie.  I just went to a website that compares movies to facts and found that the movie–based on a true story–stuck close to the real story, and an amazing story it was.

You know how sometimes in movies you look at your phone or watch because you’re thinking, “How long until this thing ends?”

That did not happen tonight.  In fact, my 14-year old daughter said, “I can’t believe it’s so late!  That movie went by so fast!”

The movie is rated R for extreme violence (war isn’t pretty) and subject matter and possibly for nudity because we saw one soldier’s entire naked backside several times.  Here’s how to annoy your teenage daughter:  Try to cover her eyes when a naked man appears on screen.

(For the record, I know a LOT of other ways to annoy a teenage daughter.  I never knew exactly how annoying I am until I had a teenager daughter.)

Anyway, go see that movie.  If you want.  I’m not the boss of you.