What Movies Are You Looking Forward To?

It seems like there are times when I’m watching movie trailers on TV, and there’s nothing that interests me. Other times, I want to watch almost every movie I see a trailer for. Right now, this is one of those times when I’m definitely in the mood to go to the theater, but the schedule is going to be so busy, I’m not sure that I’ll get to see all of them. For some, I’ll likely have to be content to wait for the DVD release.

Here are some of the upcoming movies I’d like to watch.

Lone Survivor – I’m always intrigued by movies based on actual historical events, especially where the issues are not clearly black and white.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – I haven’t really watched any Jack Ryan movies, but ever since Field of Dreams, I love Kevin Costner. Based on his appearance alone in the previews, I’m ready to watch this one.

August: Osage County – I like Julia Roberts, and the previews of this movie kind of remind me of one of my favorite movies, which also happens to star Roberts, Steel Magnolias. Therefore, I’m in.

Labor Day – I tend to like Kate Winslet and I’m intrigued as to what the story is of the drifter/escaped convict.

The Monuments Men – Again, we have a movie based on actual historical events, and with a cast of George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Bill Murray, why wouldn’t you want to watch?

3 Days to Kill – Just saw this preview last night, but it has Kevin Costner. If you remember my earlier comments about Costner, you know why I’m ready to watch this one.

Son of God – I haven’t seen this preview, but IMDB tells me it comes out in February. This movie is supposed to present the life of Jesus, so I’m interested to see how accurate that presentation turns out to be.

Divergent – I’ve just read this trilogy, and I’m intrigued to see how well the movie presents it. The trailer doesn’t reveal much about that, but based on the trailer, I think they’ve made a good choice with Shailene Woodley playing Tris.

Noah – Again, I haven’t seen a trailer yet, but IMDB tells me this movie comes out in March, and it has Russell Crowe playing Noah. And again, I’ll be interested to see how this biblical story is portrayed.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – I’ve become a fan of the Avengers heroes, and Captain America is my favorite (with Thor a close second), so, of course, I’ll be ready to watch this movie.

That takes me through April, and there will probably be other releases that I haven’t heard of yet. Hopefully, though, this means that 2014 will be a good movie year.

Some Reading Suggestions

Since yesterday’s blog was encouraging reading, I thought I’d share some of what I like to read just in case somebody’s looking for some ideas. My reading interests are very eclectic. There’s not really one specific genre I prefer over another. After all, a good story is a good story. There are some authors that I’ve enjoyed for years, and I’ll always come back to them. Then, I have some reading friends who make suggestions of new authors when they find somebody new they like. I also have students who make suggestions based on what they are reading. My biggest problem is finding time to read those authors I know I like and to try out the suggestions that are given to me. Often, I will put on hold my favorite authors or the suggestions of my adult friends to read something a student suggests. As a high school English teacher, I find it important to try to keep up with what the students enjoy reading. It gives us some common ground for book discussions, and if I know the kinds of genres they like, I can make suggestions of other books that they may like. Finally, sometimes I either see a movie preview or watch a movie that’s “based on” a book, and I like the story enough to check out the book, because the book is always better.

Some authors I’ve started reading based on the suggestions of my friends are Janet Evanovich (the Stephanie Plum series is hilarious; when you need funny, here’s where to go), Danielle Steel  (romance), Lisa Gardner (mystery), Nicholas Sparks (romance), and Catherine Coulter (mystery). My brother put me onto Brad Thor, David Baldacci, and Vince Flynn, who all write political thrillers, and John Grisham (legal thrillers) and James Patterson (mysteries).  After I started reading Stephen King’s books, my brother suggested I might like Dean Koontz, and he was right. As a result, I’ve been reading all these authors for years.

As a result of a friend praising Richard Paul Evans’s novel The Christmas Box, I have now read almost everything he’s written, most of which seem to be Christmas stories. Another friend suggested Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie, and although that book was nonfiction, I now read the fiction books that Albom publishes. I read J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series because my kids read them. I initially read the first book and wasn’t that impressed but after taking Cody to watch the sixth movie, I decided to revisit the series and give it a second chance. What I discovered is that each book was better than the one before.

There are some classics that I like. Contrary to popular belief, just because I teach English and just because I love to read does not mean that I love every piece of work that has been deemed “classic.” When it comes to Charles Dickens, the only work I really enjoy is A Christmas Carol; the others tend to bore me. Some classics I do like are Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, George Orwell’s 1984, Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and others. The problem with trying to remember everything I like is that invariably I will forget something. I’ve no doubt that after I publish this blog, I will remember other items I should have included.

I also like historical fiction. Authors from this area that I would suggest include John Jakes (started reading his after watching the North and South TV mini-series based on his books), James Michener (again, enjoyed the TV mini-series Centennial), Larry McMurtry (thanks to the TV mini-series Lonesome Dove), and Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (watched the movie before reading the book). I should probably include Alex Haley’s Roots here and Colleen McCullough’s The Thorn Birds, though I haven’t watched either of those TV mini-series all the way through; I did read other works by Haley and McCullough after reading those, though. While not historical fiction, I also started reading Michael Crichton after watching the movie Jurassic Park.

There are also several authors and books I’ve read thanks to my students. I first read Jodi Picoult after hearing the students talk about her book Nineteen Minutes. After that, I’ve read many of her other books. Her books generally present a moral dilemma of some sort, and she does an excellent job of presenting both sides, so that as a reader, you question which side is “right.” And just when you think you’ve figured it out, she throws another twist and you see yet again how most issues are not clearly black and white. I read the Stephenie Meyer Twilight series because the girls kept talking about it, and I read the Rick Riordan Percy Jackson series because the boys kept talking about it. I’ve since read not only the seven books in Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, but I’ve also read the five in his Heroes of Olympus series, and the first one in his Kane Chronicles series. I read The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and am now reading (and almost finished with) the Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth, because of my students. I also read Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why based on student recommendations.

Then there are books that I just sometimes stumble upon or hear folks talking about that I ended up reading and enjoying. Some of these include Robert Dean Myers’s Fallen Angels, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’s Left Behind series, John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany, Allan Wolf’s New Found Land, Paulette Jiles’s Enemy Women, Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief, Lee Goldberg’s Mr. Monk series, Penelope Lively’s The Photograph, Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, Steig Larsson’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy, Kathryn Stockett’s The Help, Kim Edwards’s The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants, and books by Nicholas Evans, Toni Morrison, Emily Grayson, Mary Higgins Clark, Dan Brown, Steve Berry, Steve Alten, Greg Iles, Sandra Brown, Nora Roberts, Richard Peck, Lisa Scottoline, Karen Robards, Richard North Patterson, Michael Connelly, the Robertsons (of Duck Dynasty fame), Debbie Macomber, Madeline L’Engle, Tim O’Brien, and Mario Puzo.

I also like to read nonfiction, and here are my suggestions for nonfiction reading: Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Elie Wiesel’s Night, Jennings Michael Burch’s They Cage the Animals at Night, Frank McCourt’s books, Dave Pelzer’s books, Stephen King’s On Writing, Lynn Truss’s Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward’s All the President’s Men, Robert Kennedy’s Thirteen Days, H.G. Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights, and Randy Pausch’s The Last Lecture. I also read autobiographical books put out by folks who are from my favorite TV shows or musicians. Some of those include Maureen McCormick, Rick Springfield, Patrick Swayze, Barry Williams, and Denise Jackson.

I’ve no doubt that I’ve omitted some good books that I would suggest you read. I still have a long list of books that I want to get around to reading. If I live to be 100, I don’t think I’ll ever finish the list. It just keeps growing. The authors I like keep writing, and my friends and students keep making suggestions. The bottom line, however, is that there are so many genres out there, if you give it a try, you’re bound to find something you like. Happy reading!