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Looking Back Over Some of My Fave TV/Movie Political Moments

We’re midway into 2025 and I have a confession to make. I feel like I’m failing my pop culture interests. 😛 Ultimately, at the end of the day, maybe peoples’ interests change. But I don’t quite like the direction I’ve been headed. Instead of watching shows when they air, I’m largely turning to YouTube content. And not the cool YouTube content like BookTube.* Instead it’s more chronically online…

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My 2025 Mid-Year Check-In/Freak-Out Book Tag!

Find the video here: https://youtu.be/0n4pXT_XHrc

How many books read: 49

Best Book: THE LATECOMER by Jean Hanff Korelitz: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7450695463

Best Sequel: HEIR by Sabaa Tahir: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7361011349

Best Short Story Collection: COWBOYS AND EAST INDIANS by Nina McConigley: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3926671845

Most-Read Genre: Jewish Fiction New Releases I Want to Read:

--THE ANATOMY OF EXILE by Zeeva Bukai: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/212232567-the-anatomy-of-exile

--THE THINKING HEART: ESSAYS ON ISRAEL AND PALESTINE by David Grossman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214100227-the-thinking-heart

--SUNRISE ON THE REAPING by Suzanne Collins: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214331246-sunrise-on-the-reaping

Most Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of the Year:

--WHILE THE DARK REMAINS by Joanna Ruth Meyer (7/29): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222208035-while-the-dark-remains

--HAPPY NEW YEAR'S by Maya Arad (8/5): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214678652-happy-new-years

--THE BELLES by Lacey Dunham (9/9): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224003653-the-belles

--AS A JEW by Sara Hurwitz (9/9): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222658326-as-a-jew

--AMONG THE BURNING FLOWERS by Samantha Shannon (9/16): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222376983-among-the-burning-flowers

--THE SOVEREIGN by C.L. Clark (9/30): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62563726-the-sovereign

--THE WAR BEYOND by Andrea Stewart (11/4): https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/228466301-the-war-beyond

Biggest Disappointment: THE MOTHER OF ALL THINGS by Alexis Landau: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6456945535

Biggest Surprise: THE HUNTER by Tana French: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7337318948

Favorite New Author: Elif Shefak, after reading THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7437373810) and in 2020 10 MINUTES, 38 SECONDS IN THIS STRANGE, NEW WORLD: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3552655131. On my physical TBR shelves: THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56587382-the-island-of-missing-trees

Newest Fictional Crush, Adapted to Favorite Relationship in a Book/Series: the Oppenheimer triplets in THE LATECOMER Isabel, Professor Connelly and the Wilder English department, MY LAST INNOCENT YEAR by Daisy Alpert Florin: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7563150973

Newest Favorite Character: Quill and Aiz in HEIR, Damien in OUR DEADLY DESIGNS by Kalyn Josephson: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7243178172

Book That Made Me Cry: THE SAFEKEEP by Yael van der Wouden: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7497798347

Book That Made Me Happy: HAPPINESS by Aminatta Forna: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4864347569

Favorite Review/BookTube Video: 2025 Gaithersburg Book Festival: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0WapomdXMs&t=1s

Favorite Book Adaptation I Watched This Year: Pachinko Season Two: https://chavalah.wordpress.com/2025/03/31/pachinko-season-two-you-cant-erase-the-past-plus-march-25-tv-shows/

Most Beautiful Cover I Bought/Received This Year: OLIVE DAYS by Jessica Elisheva Emmerson: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205673372-olive-days

Next Big Priority In My Reading: Hoping to make a significant dent in my TBR on an upcoming cruise in July, gulp!

My Bookish Highlight: Incorporating the Buzzwordathon Challenge from Books and Lala as a way to get through my 2024 Jewish Book Council "Raid the Shelves" TBR! See my Page 112 Tag videos for 2025 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNWZaEobSKhvJZ4Y4ppNv7EterSGEHMj5

What Books Do I Need To Read By the End of the Year:

--Top O' the Goodreads: HARDLY CHILDREN: STORIES by Laura Adamczyk: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37941816-hardly-children

--Top O' the GoodReads:THE ARCHIVE OF ALTERNATE ENDINGS by Lindsey Drager: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42770439-the-archive-of-alternate-endings

--Top O' the GoodReads: A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Michael Cunningham: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2137.A_Home_at_the_End_of_the_World

--Top O' the GoodReads: SPECIMEN DAYS by Michael Cunningham: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2136.Specimen_Days

--Women in Translation Pick: AQUARIUM by Yaara Sheroni: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57693573-aquarium

--Victober Pick: COSELLA WAYNE, OR WILL AND DESTINY by Cora Wilburn: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/46168436-cosella-wayne

--Novella November: IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH/YOM KIPPUR IN A GYM by Nora Gold: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/178811877-in-sickness-and-in-health-yom-kippur-in-a-gym

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“Between The Temples” Is About Lonely Jews Looking for Home

Carla (Carol Kane) and Cantor Ben (Jason Schwartzman) reconnect through chanting Torah. Jason Schwartzman plays Ben Gottlieb, a cantor who can no longer sing (or, arguably, function at all) after the sudden death of his wife a year past. Carol Kane plays Carla O’Connor (nee Kessler), a widow unceremoniously fired from her music teaching job who seems to be looking for new purpose in her life.…

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Pesach 5785: Feeling A Bit More Like a Community

The lemon, a new addition to the seder plate, is in honor of the 59 remaining October 7 hostages in Gaza, as suggested by the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin z’l. The lemon is something “that’s yellow, that’s bitter, hard to eat, hard to swallow.” My big theme in writing about Pesach on this blog is grappling with impostor syndrome because this is such a family holiday and I don’t really…

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Pachinko Season Two: You Can’t Erase the Past, Plus March ’25 TV Shows

Noa (Kang Tae Jo) joins the season two cast, seen here with his mother, Sunja (Kim Min-ha). Min Jin Lee’s novel Pachinko continues its adaptation journey into multiple seasons (I reviewed the premiere one on my reading and writing blog.) This installment takes us through World War II and further into Solomon’s (Jin Ha) job stress in 1989. Last season, Solomon did what certainly his grandmother,…

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2024: Looking Back at Jewish Italy

Depiction of Jewish communities in Italy We’re almost into month three of 2025, so time to dust off my tradition of looking back on last year’s news about Jews and Jewish perception in Italy. As always, I rely heavily on JTA, with a couple of small concessions to MyJewishLearning and Tablet Magazine. This year I also link to the Times of Israel! Much of the coverage is about the enduring legacy…

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Two Science Fiction Shows Related to Rebecca Ferguson :P

I’m in a little bit of a funk with science fiction. I’m not finding a whole lot of 2025 book releases that speak to me (the year is still young, self!) And the recent television fare isn’t quite my tastes, either. I gravitated to two shows featuring strong (older) female characters and lots of politics, but they fell short for me. Definitely the first one more than the second. And yet…I kinda…

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#JewishBookMonth Challenge 5785!

Shalom! I’ve made a new tradition (three years is official, right?) where I celebrate Jewish Book Month by talking about my year in Jewish reading! Technically Jewish Book Month just ended, as Chanukah began. But I’m in the ballpark, and I’m utilizing Erika Dreifus’s bingo board for literary prompts, though sometimes I interpret things, er, creatively. 😛 If you’d like a diversity of Jewish rep,…

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The Rings of Power: Following the Light in Broken Times

Annatar/Sauron (Charlie Vickers) and Celebrimbor (Charles Edwards) are arguably the main characters of the season fourth and final post of NaNoBlogMo 2024! It’s taken me forever and a day to post about Rings of Power season two, and I also watched it over a protracted period of time. Honestly, I liked this season a lot! It’s not my most obsessive pastime but there’s still a fair deal to enjoy. I…

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Two Movie Reviews: A Blockbuster and an Indie about Nostalgia and Trauma

third post of NaNoBlogMo 2024! There’s really no reason for me to put these two movies together in one post, except that I can. 😛 Well, and they came out around the same time plus, broadly speaking, they have similar themes. With Gladiator II, the nostalgia is firmly rooted in pop culture, and whether Ridley Scott can recreate his Oscar-winning film from 24 years ago. The trauma is, once again,…

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GoodReads Choice Awards 2024: Predictions and Standouts

Hand Holds Up Award second post of 2024 NaNoBlogMo! The GoodReads Choice Awards for 2024 are now live! As is now the norm, they open in mid-November and promise two rounds, with winners to be announced in early December. But there are some new changes this year! They’ve done away with Humor writing, and added in Audiobooks instead! Maybe they’ve been talking to my dad, who lives for his World War…

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Grappling with the Elusive American Jewish Identity

Sketch of Ashkenazi Jews arriving in the United States in 1887 first post of 2024 NaNoBlogMo! The idea for this blog post grew out of several bits and spurts about the meaning of American Judaism, our legacy elsewhere, how media portrays our identity and how I see my personal journey. Of late, I recently watched the 2022 play, “Prayer for the French Republic” at Theater J. This play exhaustively…

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My Book Rankings for the 2024 MockReads Choice Awards!

My oh-so-original logo 😛 It’s the third year of my personal book award (technically more of a reading list with a tier ranking at the end.) Based, in part, off the GoodReads Choice Awards, this is my place to read a little bit of (often not too buzzy) frontlist. I’ve read and reviewed three books in four categories, and yammered about them and other intriguing 2024 releases on my BookTube…

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TV’s Alicent Hightower, and Choosing Life

Alicent the Blue replaces Alicent the Green The end of House of the Dragon season two might be the most divisive part of the season, where Alicent sneaks off to meet Rhaenyra and betray the Greens. One son has his foot in the grave, so far as she knows. The other is down the path of wanton destruction. With no way to stop this in King’s Landing, and no sense of self amongst the legacy of her…

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House of the Dragon, Season 2: Wait a Minute, Haven’t We Been Here Before? :P

I was expecting this season 2 showdown to be a *little* more metaphorical! 😛 I’m being a little bit cheeky with that title. I had fewer problems than most of the hardcore fandom (at least, going by what I see on YouTube) with how things turned out this season. Is it accurate to say that the war, beyond backroom planning and occasional retaliatory attacks, didn’t in fact begin? That in fact it’s…

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2024 San Diego Comic-Con: My Virtual Highlights

Things have certainly picked up again since last year’s Comic-Con. I’ve queued up the SDConCast to see what the insiders think about how everything went down. Watching from the sidelines it was a relatively chill year, though I did get to enjoy some things, like the trailer above. 😀 (I’m especially fond of the part where Disa says “I’m afraid, Durin,” and Durin responds, “Don’t be. They’d be…

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Looking Back Over Some of My Fave TV/Movie Villains

House of the Dragon season two has commenced and what can I say: I’m liking it more than I thought I would! I think it exists on a weird dichotomy with Game of Thrones. In my completely subjective opinion fewer of the characters have endeared themselves to the audience; the young kids don’t have story arcs, say, like Bran Stark did, and even some of the older ones are a bit unfamiliar. Many…