Hi All, how was your week? Don’t forget to set your clocks forward on Saturday night. I like Daylight Savings Time — as the light seems to stay around longer in the evenings. And there’s more time to work in the fields, lol. But at first, the time change usually throws me off for a while.
And if you’re planning to watch the Academy Awards it’s this Sunday, so mark your ballots. I suspect that Oppenheimer will win some big awards and perhaps Killers of the Flower Moon. We just finished watching American Fiction and the chilling WWII movie The Zone of Interest, which were our last ones over the past year we’ve seen of the Oscar nominees, which include:
- Oppenheimer
- Killers of the Flower Moon
- Anatomy of a Fall
- The Zone of Interest
- Maestro
- Napoleon
- American Fiction
- Past Lives
- Golda
- The Holdovers
- Society of Snow
- Nyad
- Priscilla
- May December
They were all pretty good. We haven’t yet watched the film Poor Things, or the Ukraine war documentary 20 Days of Mariupol, which looks harrowing, but I hope it wins Best Documentary to bring more attention to Ukraine’s plight. Happy Oscar viewing.
Meanwhile in addition to the five library books that came in last week that I posted – I received three more this week. Have you read any of these? They look like winners, but how do I squeeze them all in before they’re due, lol. Usually I juggle and pick and choose and then I have to get some back another time.
And now, I will pose this week’s survey question which is: what is the name of the last indie bookstore you visited? And what did you buy? I will start. At Christmas time, I went into a very small bookstore in Alberta called Yooneek Books, which is a different way to spell unique I gather, and I picked up a nonfiction book entitled: Daughters of the Flower Fragrant Garden: Two Sisters Separated by China’s Civil War by Zhuquing Li. I have not read it yet, but the author teaches East Asian Studies at Brown University, and it looks like a sad and informative story about her aunts’ lives. What about you — what was your last indie visit?
And now I’ll leave you with reviews of what I finished lately.
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips / Knopf / 304 pages / 2023
I loved the storytelling in this novel, which I listened to on audio. Much of it is about a 12-year-old girl ConaLee and her mute mother Eliza, who are being taken by a depraved ruthless man called “Papa” to a lunatic asylum in 1874, where he says Eliza will be cured. The asylum, run by real-life Dr. Story Kirkbride, offers the two refuge from the dangerous world where they’ve come from.
Since the Civil War days of 1864 mother and daughter had been living in a cabin up on a mountain ridge in West Virginia trying to avoid thieves and stragglers from the war, soldiers up to no good. Eliza’s husband left years earlier to fight on the Union side and he hasn’t been heard from since. Neighbor Dearbhla takes the horse to search for him believing him injured in a hospital. While she’s away, the Confederate-sided Papa makes his entrance terrorizing Eliza in a scene that will set off trigger warnings for various readers. By the time, ConaLee and Eliza get to the asylum you feel as about as much relief as they do. The place seems to have an interesting night watchman, a benevolent founder in Dr. Story, an orphan named Weed, and a tough woman who runs the kitchen.
As the story bounces between 1864 and 1874, connections begin to form of who the real father of ConaLee is and what happened to him and what will become of Eliza, her care, and ConaLee, who joins the staff at the asylum. It’s a wonderfully told story that’s both dark — for its wartime shatterings — and light — with the refuge of the asylum. I didn’t know of author Jayne Anne Phillips before, but I’d like to read more of her books in the future.
My Friend Anne Frank by Hannah Pick-Goslar / Little Brown Spark / 2023
The author’s own story and her friendship with Anne Frank are very powerful in this recounting. Although she shared her life story for many decades after the Holocaust, this was my first time knowing about Hannah Pick-Goslar and her friendship with Anne Frank. I feel remiss in not knowing about her earlier.
Hannah and Anne met and knew each other as young neighbors and classmates in Amsterdam and into their pre-teen years when the Nazi roundups began. Like Anne, Hannah suffered much during World War II, though her path differed a bit. When the roundups started, Anne’s family disappeared and went into hiding in 1942, but Hannah’s family stayed and got caught up in 1943 and was sent to Westerbok transit camp. Later in Feb. 1944 Hannah and her family were taken to the concentration camp Bergen-Belsen, where she says her path crossed once again with Anne’s sometime early in 1945.
Apparently one day Hannah heard Anne’s voice on the other side of a fence. When I was listening to the audio — I could scarcely believe it, so emotional to even imagine. Did they really briefly reunite once more?! I like to think or hope so. But by that time Anne was starving and not well and Hannah tried to throw her some food. But then didn’t see her again. Near the war’s end, Hannah tells of how she was one of thousands of Jewish prisoners forced onto the Lost Train to Poland where she was without food or water for 13 days … before being liberated by Russian troops.
Hannah’s years post-war, which she also writes about, are interesting … how she became a nurse and moved to Israel and was in touch with Otto Frank, Anne’s father, who was on a quest to publish Anne’s diary. It goes on to describe how Hannah went on her first speaking tour in the U.S. about the Holocaust in 1957, letting people know of the horrors and genocide and what happened to her friend Anne. And she continued nearly until she died in October 2022, giving talks about Anne and the Holocaust and letting students know.
Hannah was an amazing heroine and one of the last eyewitnesses to the Nazi genocide. Her memoir was made possible thanks to Tel Aviv journalist Dina Kraft who began a series of interviews with her before she passed. This moving and scary memoir is worth its weight in gold and then some.
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read these books and what did you think?
I still have 5 films I want to watch before the Oscars on Sunday—Anatomy of a Fall, Poor Things, Nyad, Rustin, and The Color Purple. I liked American Fiction, The Holdovers, and The Zone of Interest, a great deal; together with Oppenheimer and Society of the Snow were the movies that I enjoyed the most amongst the whole bunch. The Night Watch was on my radar because of the National Book Award, but I still have some books from last year that I would like to read, and likely won’t have time this year either if I keep up the pace at which I’m reading. My Friend… sounds like a story that needed to be told. Since I read ebooks, I don’t visit brick and mortar bookstores. I either get them from Amazon or Netgalley. Good luck movie watching, and have a great reading week!
Hi Carmen, yeah I guess I rarely go into bookstores much either as I try not to buy more books but get them at the library. It’s amazing that indie stores can even make it these days. Sometimes I read ebooks but lately it’s just library print.
I hope you get to see a few more films before the Oscars … Anatomy of a Fall is a bit interesting in a murder mystery kind of way. We finished with American Fiction but I might watch parts again as I was so sleepy last night. What are you reading these days?
It’s likely that I’ll watch just the two Best Picture nominees out of the 5 I need to watch before the ceremony. Nowadays I’m reading The Morningside by Tea Obreht. I’m making good progress.
Okay great Carmen. I’ll be curious to hear about Obreht’s latest when you finish. I wonder if the movie Poor Things is good or just weird? We haven’t seen it yet and I’m not sure if it’s my type of movie but maybe … it’s not high on my list but has gotten a lot of buzz.
I think the last independent bookstore I visited was either Blue Willow or Murder by the Book in Houston. Most likely it was Murder by the Book since both of my daughters spent some time working there while in college. I have to admit I hardly ever visit bookstores anymore since I do my pleasure reading on my Kindle these days.
Hi Dorothy, interesting. Your daughters must be big readers like you. I agree I don’t visit bookstores much anymore. Isn’t that a shame. The Kindle makes things so easy at home and I read most of my books from the library too. Have a nice weekend.
Aarg. Daylight savings time. Less time to read, watch tv? Just have to get up earlier, lol. Have a good week.
Harvee @ https://bookdilettante.blogspot.com
Hi Harvie, I take it you don’t like DST much, lol. I know that changing the time really throws me off for a while but I like it staying light later. I hear that Mexico gave up DST in 2022 … it might happen here sometime too. Cheers.
I hate Daylight Savings Time and having to change my clocks and lose an hour of sleep. And it really doesn’t give you more daylight…that’s determined by the revolution of the earth around the sun, NOT by changing the clocks forward or back. I wish they would just pick one time and stick with it! Sorry, that’s my rant for the day. ;D And I think that book My Friend Anne Frank looks like a good one. Enjoy your weekend.
Hi Lark, you make a good case against DST and not changing the clocks. The spring & fall clock changes are pretty disruptive to people. It’s okay for the rant. Someday I think it will be abandoned. Have a great weekend. & happy reading.
Your book list is intriguing this week. You make me realize that I very rarely enter a bookstore at all. I think the last time I did so was in Baltimore in October! It was a great one, with its own unique political point of view.
Here at home in Ann Arbor, our Whole Foods and Walgreens are in the same shopping center as a Barnes & Noble and I never even go in there. Downtown there’s a popular indie bookstore, but there’s a reason why I never go there: the books they display are virtually always the same ones that amazon is telling me I would like, so I never seem to learn anything from visiting them. Plus I mostly read new books on Kindle anyway. But thanks for asking!
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Hi Mae, yeah I hear what you’re saying. Most bloggers seem to be reading from their Kindles these days so don’t go to bookstores. Lately I seem to get books mostly from the library, so I haven’t been to a bookstore since Christmas. I try not to buy more books as my shelves are full. Have a great week.
The last independent bookstore I went to was the one up the street, Iliad! But that was over 7 years ago, before I went to Arkansas to take care of my mom. Now I’m back in L.A. but I’m trying to read my own books so I haven’t been back to Iliad. It’s a lovely little bookshop with cats and everything. The last books I bought there a whole bunch of Anaïs Nin diaries. Hardcovers, of course.
The Best Picture nominees. Wahhhhhh. One thing I yearned for my entire time in Arkansas was attending the annual AMC Best Picture showcase at my local AMC theater. So of course now that I’m back home they don’t do the back-to-back two-day marathon anymore. Oh how I loved spending the entire day watching movies in theater! Now they show the movies separately and each one is discounted at $5 a ticket and there’s probably a way to do it so that you can see them over the course of a weekend, but it’s just not the SAME. So, I haven’t seen any of the nominees except the first 10 minutes of Barbie. After all those “Hi Barbie!!!”s I couldn’t deal so it was a DNF movie for me. The one I want to see is American Fiction but I’m not paying $19.99 to rent it when I already subscribe to 20 million different streaming services. I’ll just have to wait and see them all after the Oscars. lol
I love Anne Frank and her diary so much. Sounds like Hannah’s book is a must read for me. Thanks for reviewing it!
Hi Jinjer, if you love Anne’s diary … you’ll probably need to read Hannah’s book too. Anne’s diary is special to me as well. And so reading both Miep Gies’s book “Anne Frank Remembered” and Hannah’s memoir were illuminating to me.
I have not been able to watch the movie Barbie either. It’s just not my cup of tea. But I think the rental for American Fiction is $4.99 now — so check it out. We watched it last night. It’s pretty good.
Interesting to hear about the Iliad bookstore. Good thing it’s still there after all the years you were in Arkansas. I understand about reading from one’s own shelves. Enjoy your Oscar Sunday.
Hi Susan, My Friend Anne Frank is such a powerful memoir and great review. I should reread The Diary of Anne Frank. I read it in school so long ago. I never reread it because it’s so sad knowing the horrific outcome. But that’s not right. Anne’s diary deserves to be reread and I would like to check out Hannah Pick-Goslar’s memoir as well.
Hi Kathy, yeah Hannah’s memoir was quite powerful to me to hear about Anne from another’s perspective – a childhood friend’s. Like you, I need to do a reread of Anne’s Diary … I last read it maybe 10 or 15 years ago. It is scary & upsetting to think about reading again — you have to get your mind ready first. But she had a lot to say. Have a great weekend.
I haven’t been in-person to a bookstore since before the pandemic, although I still order some books from our local indies.
The last time I went in person was to EyeSeeMe, a bookstore dedicated to racial representation in children’s books. It’s terrific!
Hi Joy, interesting. EyeSeeMe must be quite a bookstore! It’s nice you still order from your local indies … as I’m sure the pandemic made a lot of small bookstores go out of business. Happy spring & reading!
The last bookstore I went to was one of the local ones. I have been to some of their events really but I don’t really browse in bookstores anymore.
I love the start of daylight savings – the idea of being able to get outside and do things after work. The truth is though that it is very much an idea. It doesn’t happen all that often
Hi Marg, I like the idea too that people are doing outdoor things after work. It makes it feel a bit more like summer is coming here. I know you’ve already had summer there, so perhaps it’s the reverse. And it’s a bit sad that bookstore browsing has gone by the wayside … most of us do that online now. I rarely go to bookstores either anymore, sad but true. Have a great week.
When we take a trip, I make a point of finding independent bookstores and visiting them and buying books from them. I try to do this even when I’m taking a short trip, like a weekend trip to see family. I love to browse in an independent bookstore. I buy purposefully, like I’m giving a donation to a charity, like I subscribe to newspapers…to further independent thought.
I wish I saw more films that are nominated for the Oscars, but I honestly haven’t even gotten around to seeing Oppenheimer yet.
The book about Anne Frank’s friend sounds poignant. That photo on the cover with the two girls, one with a big smile…
Hi Deb, that’s great you support & browse indie bookstores. It’s always sort of fun to find ones when traveling … and to buy something you see there.
Oppenheimer is sort of a daunting film with lessons & warnings for us all.
And the Hannah memoir is touching and sad, but I was glad to know a little bit more about Anne – her youth and friends and the circumstances then.
Wishing you a great week.
The change for Daylight Savings Time always messes me up. I feel out of it for days. Even now that I am retired and could sleep late or whatever. But for the last 6 – 8 months my sleep in general is so much better, maybe it won’t be so bad this time.
We used to watch the Oscar shows religiously. I can remember way back in the late 1990s when we got mad because a work event made us miss half of it (my husband and I worked at the same publishing company for about 25 years). Then a few years ago we got disenchanted with the show and just stopped watching. We have seen none of the movies this time (pretty usual for us, we wait until they are available on DVD).
Our local independent bookstore (Santa Barbara) is Chaucer’s Books and it has been in the city at different locations since before we moved here in 1980. It is wonderful, has a great mystery section. One of the negative things about not buying books until late September is that we can’t buy books there… but it won’t last forever.
Both of the books you reviewed look good, I will put them on a list to check into.
Hi Tracy, Chaucer’s Books looks good! Are you near there or closer to San Jose? For some reason I thought you were more north. But it looks like a great bookstore to find new reads.
The time change really throws me off too. It’ll take about a week to get more used to it. I hope you can sleep.
The Oscars was a bit fun last night, but I’m sure it’s not for everyone. It seems Oppenheimer scored big with 7 awards, but it’s very long. We saw it in the theater last July. I can’t imagine doing that now. ha. Have a great week.
We live in Santa Barbara County and are very close to the city of Santa Barbara. Goleta and UC Santa Barbara are on the other side of us. Almost all of the 40+ years that we lived in this area we have been in unincorporated areas, on the outskirts of Santa Barbara. For about 3 years we lived in Santa Barbara close to downtown. The apartment was horrible. Being able to walk to the downtown area was great.
Oppenheimer is the only Oscar-nominated film that we definitely plan to see (on disc or streaming), not sure if we will split it up or attempt to watch it in one afternoon.
Nice. You live in beautiful country. We have driven down the coast before, from San Fran to L.A. Hwy 1 and 101. Gorgeous areas to see.
See what you think of Oppenheimer. It has two plotlines going on and one thread sort of got a bit long & dragged. Perhaps breaking it up into two nights is a good idea. It is daunting to think of its subject matter.
I’m not a fan of this time change because I have to get up earlier, and it’s dark when I leave for work again. I do like the extra light in the evening when I come home, though. I’ll stop grumbling when I get used to it, lol. Can you tell I’m not a morning person? I’m intrigued by Night Watch. I worry over what kind of horrors “Papa” doled out. It’s so awful that women are always at the mercy of men! It’s nice that for one an asylum is portrayed as a good thing instead of the nightmares they usually seem to be in books. I hope they were able to ditch that creep Papa for good!
Hi Rachel, it is dark again in the mornings, whoa. It’s hard to wake up, so I can see why you’re not keen on the change.
“Papa” is an evil character in Night Watch and one scene in particular is tough in the book to take … but luckily the story ends well after a flurry of action near the end. I agree it is great to see an Asylum being a good place for once! It’s a safe haven … I kept thinking it would turn bad … but luckily no. The story is based on a real life place and doctor post-Civil War I believe. It’s quite good.
Hope you have a great week.
It takes me longer to get my sleep regulated to the time change going in this direction, can’t just loaf in bed for an extra hour the first couple of days. lol But eventually, I do come to prefer this setting.
I’ve seen only Oppenheimer and Poor Things of this year’s big movies, and it’s probably blasphemous to admit it, but I enjoyed Poor Things the most, utterly weird as that movie turned out to be. Emma Stone is brilliant in it, and the cinematography is at a very high level with all of that switching from black and white, to washed out color, to the most vivid colors imaginable. Unforgettable movie for lots of reasons.
The last indie bookstore I was in was Houston’s Murder by the Book. I bought several used hardcopies from series I read regularly because they have such an abundance of that kind of thing there. Love that store but I don’t get there much anymore because I hate the traffic inside Loop 610 – and how I always feel like I have to be looking over my shoulder these days when going places down there. Kinda sad.
Hi Sam, yeah the traffic in the Houston area can be intense — so I totally get not wanting to drive to the bookstore. Just too much congestion hassles.
I’m glad you told me about the movie Poor Things. You make it sound good and now I’m more curious to see it. It looks sort of weird from the trailer but Emma Stone is probably worth seeing as well as the film shots as you say. It got quite a few Oscar awards.
The time change could be tough for a while. It takes me forever to get on track after a change. But it’s nice in the evenings. Have a great week.
Just in case nudity in films bothers you, I want to mention that there is lots of total frontal nudity of both sexes in Poor Things, including Stone. A portion of the movie takes plays in a Paris brothel, so there’s lots of it, and it’s not very pretty. Also, some of it takes place in a scientific lab, and it’s pretty open and brutal. Just in case…
Ok. Thanks for letting me know. The heads up helps and I usually face such things better with a warning. We probably will eventually see it – but will be prepared.
We don’t usually watch the Oscars, but catch up on all the winners the day after the show. I’m hopping to watch a few of the films in the coming weeks.
As far as your books, I have a copy of The House Is On Fire, which my mom read and passed along to me. Not sure when I’ll get to it. You should see the huge stacks of books she has read and given to me when she’s finished!
I had to search my brain, but I think the last indie bookstore I visited was Window Seat Books in Nanaimo last fall. As far as what I bought, hmmm. I think I bought a gift for my stepmom but the title escapes me. Maybe something to do with the Salish Sea. The other is Upgrade by Blake Crouch, which I bought for myself. Still haven’t read it, though. Like Deb, I enjoy visiting indies when we’re traveling. I feel a moral obligation to support those small stores who struggle to make it every day.
Thanks for the recommendation for My Friend Anne Frank. It sounds like an excellent read.
Hi Lesley, do you think your mom liked The House Is On Fire? I guess it’s received some good attention. You mom is amazing. She reads like a gazelle, (if gazelles read lol). I couldn’t keep up with her book pile.
You have me thinking more about visiting bookstores when I travel — for some reason it’s better than just going at home, which I rarely do. They have quite a few bookstores on Vancouver Island. It’s a bookish rainy place, lol. It’s nice you support the indies. Perhaps I will check some out on our upcoming road trip.
I’m glad to be done with most of the Oscar films — but I’m curious a bit about Poor Things since we missed it. Looks a bit weird but maybe fun?
I hope you’re enjoying your March. It’s turned warm here — early. gulp.
I’ve watched Oppenheimer and Poor Things, but I pretty much haven’t watched any of the other movies! Poor Things was amazing, and it totally deserves all the awards they won! I’m excited to watch some of the other ones soon.
Hi Haze, good to know! I wasn’t sure about Poor Things but you’re the second person here that says it was great — so I plan to see it. It definitely looks creative. I hope you enjoy some of the other ones too. thanks for stopping by. Have a great week.
Daylight savings! I think that happens end of March here in the UK. Confusing that it isn’t syncronised. It is difficult enough as it is, to keep track of time zone differences, when working with people all over the world.
Since I started reading ebooks and listening to audiobooks, I rarely go to any bookstore, indie or not. So that is a boring answer. Specialist bookshops with travel books, art or science may still tempt me.
Didn’t watch the Oscars, but saw the iconic “I am Ken” on Youtube – and now I can’t get the stupid song out of my head. So annoying! 😀
Hi Stargazer, ha. I will picture you singing “I am Ken” for the week. Ha. It was pretty crazy Gosling’s performance at the Oscars. He really went after it. lol.
What is the international work you do? It does seem crazy all the time differences. I’m not sure what time you all are on there in the UK, but I hope you’re getting optimal sunlight hours.
And that’s too bad — you must have a dozen indie bookstores in downtown London — what is the nearest one? Actually I don’t visit bookstores either — as I don’t want to add to my bookshelves. Keep on with the ebooks. Cheers.
Gosling is a great actor and an excellent performer as well, it seems. I work in an international company related to finance and have colleagues across Asia, America and Europe. It’s great fun to work with people from different locations and cultures, but I still mess up the time differences after many years in international business. No idea what the nearest indie bookshop is. I live close to Charing Cross Road, which used to be filled with indies, but now the chains have taken over. There are still a few independent ones in the side streets. Let’s see how long they last. Otherwise, I love museum book shops, such as the ones at Tate Modern or the Science Museum
I think this is the first time in many years I haven’t felt the time change more acutely. It’s been an easier adjustment this time around. Although I really hate that it’s even darker when I get up in the mornings. It’s always dark when I get up, but at least I didn’t have to wait so long for it to start getting lighter.
I haven’t read your library books, but they do look good. I hope you enjoy them, Susan!
My last indie bookstore visit–that’s easy. I was last at The Cellar Door on Saturday, the 9th. And I bought three books which my daughter picked out (none for me, surprisingly); but I was also there the day before to buy a gift card and also got a copy of The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence, so there’s that. I am not sure when I will get to it. Like so many books I seem to collect, it sits on my shelf waiting for me to decide it’s time. Since the bookstore moved closer to where I live–and in an area I frequent–it’s been all too easy to drop in when I’m in that neighborhood. I really need to cut back.
I am adding My Friend Anne Frank to my wish list right now. I really need to read that one. My daughter is going to be reading The Diary of a Young Girl next year. I think I’m more excited than she is about it at this point, but I think she will like it.
I hope you have a good week, Susan. Take care and happy reading!
Hi thanks Wendy, that bookstore The Cellar Door looks nice. I might have to stop there when I’m in Redlands visiting my parents in April. We’ll be in the OC area a bit too.
I hope your daughter can handle The Diary — of course Anne’s personality shines thru wonderfully in it but it is sad for me to handle. I will probably do a reread next year. This memoir was good and I had no idea about Hannah’s story with Anne. See what you think. It’s a quick listen or read. I’d also recommend Miep Gies’s book about hiding the Frank family. It’s excellent.
I’m glad the time change went off without much trouble. I like it already — and it makes me think of summer. Have a great week.
I’m surprised you haven’t heard of Jayne Anne Phillips before. I remember her first novel Machine Dreams being quite a tour de force when it came out — I think it was unusual for first-time novelists to break out on the publishing scene then. Or maybe it was because she was so young. Anyway, that is a good one.
Our local bookstore here is Chapter One. The owner is good with recommendations and got me onto Olivia Hawker’s books. I thought both The Ragged Edge of Night and One for the Blackbird, One for the Crow were quite good, although very different from each other. Hawker’s latest, October in the Earth, is definitely on by TBR list. We have a very good library here, so I haven’t been to the bookstore in awhile….
Hi Sarah, Great you’re here! I must have blipped on Jayne Anne and her books; I’ll have to check out Machine Dreams. She’s quite a storyteller. I’m curious about what she’ll put out next.
And I don’t know of Olivia Hawker either, so thanks for the word on her.
I remember Chapter One Bookstore — I bought the book “Farewell to Manzanar” there — when they were doing a Japanese POW camp read in town. A few years back? It was an interesting read.
I get most of my books from the library too. But once in every blue moon I’ll stop at a bookstore. Like at Christmas. I’m glad you’re liking the library there. We checked it out as well and it looked good. Plenty of library loot. lol.
Happy reading…. and keep me posted on anything good. 🙂
I love your term “library loot!”
The Sun Valley Writer’s Conference will be here July 20-24. The full passes to it sold out in under 15 minutes! I’m pretty sure we won’t be in town then but it is an excellent line-up. Check it out at svwc.com
Wow great lineup of writers at the conference! Many heavyweights are there. Impressive. You better get on the wait-list just in case. Hangout with Atwood. lol.
It looks like a fun time. Too bad it’s already soldout. Hmpf.
More to add to the library loot!
I didn’t get as many of the Oscar movies in as I had planned on before the Awards night last week. I loved Oppenheimer and glad it won best picture. I also saw Barbie, Poor Things, Maestro, Past Lives, and The Holdovers. I really liked almost all of the movies and really feel 2023 was a great year for movies.
My Friend Ann Frank has been on my radar. Glad you recommend it. I definitely want to read it.