What I Enjoyed in November
TV, movies, & books that inspired me
I almost forgot to write this because I still haven’t reconciled in my brain that it’s already December. I’ve been feeling behind on life lately, like I need to take a couple of extra days just to binge through my priorities. But anyway, here we go!
This past month I’ve read more and watched more movies than usual. Probably still powered through the same amount of TV shows however. The increase in book consumption has been due to my insomnia. Waking up at 2 or 3 a.m., I’ve been picking up my Kindle instead of my phone, which I hope is the lesser of two evils, and getting lost in book after book. My husband said this was a common practice in olden times during the winter months, where there was less sunlight and frozen grounds, so therefore less that could be done on the farm or whatnot, before electricity. People would sleep longer, and wake in the middle of the night for a “reading break”. I try to think of what I’m doing as a reading break in the middle of my sleep, instead of what it actually is, only getting four hours a night.
The first book that really stuck with me in November was What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher. It’s the second book in the Sworn Soldier series, and it was quite fitting for my insomnia. I find when I’m reading something that picks up on my current mood, I dive even more into whatever habits it’s relating to. I don’t want to spoil the story, but a few of the characters struggle with sleep as well, until they fall ill, due to supernatural forces. Kingfisher has a way of writing beautiful, seemingly simple (but not actually) prose. This book made me want to relay more of my own emotions into my characters, to make them feel more real.
Another book I read was Charlaine Harris’ An Easy Death, the first in the Gunnie Rose series. Charlaine Harris is my favourite author. I’ve read all her books prior to the Gunnie Rose series multiple times. This was the second time I’ve read An Easy Death, but I haven’t read any of the other books yet in the series. This first time I read it a few years ago, I wasn’t really feeling it. I decided to try again, since I’ve been on a western kick lately. This time around I did like it better, and will continue with the next book. This book was a pretty big departure, in my opinion, from Harris’ other books, and I found this inspiring to see that she can go in a different direction and genre. It’s inspiring that after all her success, she’s still growing and evolving as an author. If I hadn’t known it was her book, I wouldn’t have guessed she wrote it.
The last book that has stuck with me was Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. This book was short but effective, and masterfully wove two themes into one by the end. It was slow for me at the beginning and I almost gave up after chapter three, but I’m glad I stuck with it. The story seemed to slowly open up to me, the reader, like a slow blooming flower. All of a sudden it clicked and made sense, and my patience was rewarded. I might be wrong, but it didn’t seem like there was a big climax in the first act. I like when the “rules of writing” aren’t followed, and the author does what they want. Especially when it pays off.
In my weekly movie watching group, there were two movies that stood out. The first was called Frozen (not the Disney one) about three skiers being stuck on a ski lift for four days. The majority of the movie is based around this one location and three characters, and yet it didn’t get boring. It was a good study in how to carry a story without needing much more than character development and a strong theme.
The second movie was called They Nest. It was based in a remote location (love) around an outcast (love) who becomes a hero trying to save the small town from creepy bugs (LOVE). Since most of the things I write are based in small towns or remote locations, this was my kind of movie. What it did well, in my opinion, was creating fear of the creatures without any crazy CGI, and giving the main character more struggles than just combating the bugs, by having him also deal with the stubborn and violent townspeople. I’m currently editing a creature feature I wrote, and it made me want to add more struggles for the protagonist, so there’s not as much pressure on having all the issues come just from the creature.
Keeping on with my western trend, I watched Hostiles starring one of the best actors of our time, Christian Bale. He was what pulled me into watching this movie, but Rosamund Pike stole the show. Her character went through every trauma possible, and she conveyed each emotion so well. This movie actually reminded me of Charlaine Harris’ An Easy Death quite a bit, other than it didn’t have any supernatural elements and wasn’t an alternate timeline. However, the character development was so strong in this film, that it was almost as if you could imagine what each person was thinking and feeling, a hard feat for film.
Lastly, a few days ago I started watching a TV show called Baskets. I had no idea what it was before I randomly clicked it on Disney, while looking for a new lunch time show to watch. This show is a perfect example of a dark comedy drama. The absurdity of it caught me off guard, and I thought it was just a silly goose type of show, but slowly each character gets more and more layers. The interpersonal relationships within the family initially seem wild, but they become almost heartbreaking and relatable somehow. Plus, I had never seen Louie Anderson in a role like that. He was amazing.
So I guess that was the main topic last month, characters. Maybe I focused on the characters so much because I feel like my current WIP is lacking, or maybe it just worked out that way, that I unintentionally chose a lot of character driven stories. Either way, I was given a lot of inspiration that I’m grateful for.
If you have any recommendations for December, whether it’s a book, show, or movie, feel free to comment below!