The Devil Wears Prada (2006)

There was so much hype about the second installation in this coming 20 years after the first, and while I remembered liking this when I first saw it, I couldn't remember why, or really much about it, so while recovering from surgery and largely bed bound, I watched it again. Initially when I saw this it reminded me of a college friend who had interned for a year at Women's Wear Daily--which is down the fashion magazine rungs quite a ways from Runway (the magazine featured here) but the lifestyle, where you are on call 24/7, that your life is not your own, and that you are essentially enslaved for a year to an editor in exchange for an entree into a job in publishing that is more about your skill as a writer than as a personal assistant. Her stories and the story that unfolds here share a lot of the same qualities. The selling your soul aspect is the part I did not remember. Since the first time I saw this I have seen all the major characters (Tucchi, Blunt, Streep, and Hathaway) many times over, and have a lot of respect for their work, so fun to see this earlier work again, which was more at the beginning of a couple of their careers. Their work here couldn't have hurt. Overall, not having seen the second one yet, I would recommend a rewatch. It holds up well.

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan

This is a multi-layered story, where on the one hand it is about dinner parties and petty rivalries, men and their bright resentments and wars against misfortune. It’s about affairs and empty wine bottles and quail with mushrooms and A.I. and animals and how the best poets read their work aloud. Underneath, it is much much darker. This is a world that hasn’t ended, exactly, but has outlived itself. Civilization persists, thinner and more tentative. The seas have risen, archives have vanished and England has splintered into an archipelago. Yet the survivors remain civil--ignoring the roving gangs that are not the least bit lawful. They read poetry, debate the nuances of a long-ago dinner conversation and stroll through their ruined but beautiful world. It’s a very British dystopia—measured, melancholy and devastatingly polite. Set in 2120, the novel unfolds in the aftermath of climate and nuclear disasters that reshaped the planet. Civilization has retreated inland; knowledge is fragmentary; universities now study “the literature of the inundation.” The protagonist, Thomas Metcalfe, is a professor of literature—not a soldier or revolutionary—who becomes obsessed with reconstructing a lost poem. In the end, you have to choose what to save, and for him, this is it. It is a puzzling and unsettling read.

Robert Bosscher: Pushing Boundaries

I am a bottomless pit when it comes to watching lectures on quilting in general and modern quilting specifically. This speaker is a frequent flyer at QuiltCon and several of my guild mates recommended him--I saw him in conjunction with Libs Elliot's Sew Squad. There were two main points that he covered--the first is what is modern quilting. You have to have a working definition of it before you can talk about pushing the boundaries of it. As you might imagine, there are a lot of ways to look at it, going all the way from close to traditional quilting, with some modification in pattern and fabric, all the way to pure are quilts. Then he launched into some of the artists that he enjoys following. My favorite amongst them that I know was Bisa Butler, which he calls an artist working in fiber rather than a quilter, which I agree with, and the favorite that I was unfamiliar with was Kaitlim Rim, who does exploded blocks in a whimsical manner. He is well worth checking out if you get the chance, and he talks about a lot of different things in the modern quilting realm.

Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

This is the third instalment of the series, and I have to say that I am sorry to see the whole thing end, I have gotten to know this extended family, and am at the point where I feel like I can anticipate how each and everyone of them will react. The family comedy takes a more bittersweet tone, as the Shang-Young matriarch Shang Su Yi lies on her deathbed. Whereas the first two books lampooned the lifestyles of the rich and wealthy by presenting it through the perspective of an outsider thrust into that world, this installment discards the outsider’s surprise altogether and takes us into each character’s plans and motivations.  Whether it’s dealing with the potential loss of a loved one or fighting to keep the family’s legacy alive, and while their priorities are all messed up. It is a fun and relatable read.

The Royal We (2025)

There are, at this point, a seemingly infinite number of rom-coms about wayward princes and princesses from small made-up European countries that range from comfortingly mediocre to highly unwatchable. This one, which boasts not one but two fake fiefdoms, is both Hallmark Hammy and surprisingly self-aware and goofy, making it far more charming than expected. Plus, it has a whole plotline about its princess teaching girls leadership skills and kings conflict resolution, which really adds some oomph to its feminist fairytale kind of feel. I mean, please still keep your expectations entirely within check. In order to put to rest a 300-year-old feud between the kingdoms of Vostierrie and Androvia, Princess Coralina and Prince Desmond are set to get married, which will allow for the reunification of the Alsinian province and Castle Elora. Friends, that’s a LOT of silly names all squashed in together. Anyway, these two have basically been betrothed to each other since they were babes, so that when they wed the two countries can finally live in times of peace. Or that’s the plan until Princess Coralina ditches Prince Desmond and elopes with a plumber named Cody (Adam Woodward). As you can imagine, social media is all aflame about how you’ve “gotta love a man who can work with his hands.” You know who is not pleased by this? Well, both royal houses, obviously, but who is really peeved is Edwin, Prince Desmond’s butler/valet/main squeeze. The back up plan goes surprisingly well, and all in all it is a diversionary movie that was surprisingly fun.

We The People by Jill Lepore

This is it, the exhaustive look back at the US Constitution--well, not so exhaustive that it starts with the Magna Carta, and at no point does the author go back to what had happened in England that led up to England's colony rising up and breaking away--she really starts at the post war Constitutional Convention, and how we ended up with the mish mash that we got. The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world—and one of the most difficult to amend. At what cost? In this landmark, lavishly illustrated book, Harvard professor of history and law Jill Lepore argues that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. Challenging both originalism and the Supreme Court’s monopoly on constitutional interpretation, Lepore argues that the framers never intended for the Constitution to be kept, like a butterfly, under glass, but instead expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, improving the machinery of government. The argument against "originalism" is the best part of the book, where she refers to to the writers of the constituion said about it at the time--and that the Federalist Papers were published in a newspaper well after the constitution, and were not even generally available until the last 20th century. These originalists just basically made that all up and nobody fact checked them. At the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding and in an account as radical as Charles Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the United States, Lepore offers a sweeping, lyrical, and democratic constitutional history, telling the stories of generations of Americans who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend America by amending its Constitution.

Sarah Goer Quilts

My quilt guild had a spring retreat that happened two weeks after I had should replacement surgery on my dominant arm. I did not sign up for it, appropriately worried that I would not be able to participate, but then 5 days ahead I got my brace off and was just in a sling. When I asked if I could sew, the APP seeing me saud "Sure." Things were looking up! The next day they were again dashed, because my physical therapist said that I could do nothing that essentially required me to shrug for several weeks, if not months, and surely sewing was again off the table?? I got an adjustable table that made typing at least possible, and waited.

The day before the retreat I decided to pull the trigger. The cost was modest, and I knew I could at least attend the lecture--which was with this improv quilter--this was such a gentle gateway into how to start improving, I really loved it. She does teach some on line classes, and I will definitely consider them once I am two handed again. The retreat itself went well. It turns out I mostly sew left handed--not sure I could sew without the left, but sewing with an impaired right was quite doable. I had cut out my BOM and not gotten it together and managed to finish that month and start the next. I also won a door prize of essential notions and so the cost of the retreat was practically nothing, and the abilty to spend a whole day with my guild mates was both fun and distracting. Two thumbs up!

The Phoenix Pencil Company by Allison King

This was another miss for me from the Reese Witherspoon book choices--which is not the norm at all, but I am on an unfortunate streak. The Phoenix Pencil Company is essentially told via diary entries, whether electronic, handwritten, or magically recorded, split primarily between two perspective characters. One is a contemporary computer science student, working with a professor to code an app that connects people based on common interests expressed in social media posts and diary entries. The other is her grandmother, who had worked alongside her mother, aunt, and cousin at a magical pencil factory during World War Two before immigrating to Taiwan and eventually America. When the app puts one of the leads in contact with another university student who had met her grandmother’s cousin, it triggers frantic remembering on the part of her grandmother and a bit of romance on her own part, with both stories heavily seasoned with difficult questions about the ethics of privacy and preservation. There are a lot of good points about the story, and it is written competently, but it just didn't hold together for me.

Champagne Problems (2025)

This is a movie of the lightest variety--a romantic comedy that is heavier on the romance than the humor. I chose it because I am recovering from a choulder replacement on my dominant side and the inactivity has been quite challenging for me. Initially I read incessantly, but that got my brain revving along at a rate that was uncomfortably fast while my body was geared more for slow living. This fit the bill. The story line is entirely predictable and really, that is what I was going for. It is set in a French vineyard, and that was a definite plus for me. The timing is pre-Christmas--for some reason, a plot that revolves around a take over of a beloved company right before the holidays, where the person who goes to do the taking over seems to have no family obligations and no concerns about gettinmg back home on time--which is inevitably not going to happen--is a recurring plot line. In any case, this hit the spot, in the midst of working my way through some short listed international movies, which are weightier and require more bandwidth in terms of attention than I have had at times in the recovery process.

City Of Night Birds by Juhea Kim

I would not have found this book without it being a book of the month choice, and it is books like this that keep me reading the Reese Witherspoon choices. This is a story of what it means to be a performer, what might motivate those who choose that life, and what happens when it all comes crashing down. The added layer in the case of a ballerina in a culture that has many restrictions on it is the privledge that such talent afforded the performer. Here is the story-- Prima ballerina Natalia Leonova was once celebrated across the world, her signature bravura in demand on stages from St. Petersburg to Paris to New York. But at the top of her career, an accident forces her into sudden retirement. Injured and alone, she turns to pills and alcohol to numb the pain of her past, still haunted by her relationships with two gifted dancers, Dmitri and Alexander. These men were responsible for her soaring highs, her darkest hours and, ultimately, both played their part in her downfall. So when Dmitri resurfaces with a tantalising offer for Natalia, she must decide what she is willing to sacrifice in order to dance again – and for the chance to return to the great love of her life. Painting a vivid portrait of a world in which ruthless ambition, desire and sublime artistry collide, City of Night Birds unveils the making of a dancer with profound intimacy and breathtaking scope.