Monthly in a Month #32: The Hiatus Edition

My recommendation is “Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell”, which was adapted into quite a good TV show, but started out as an exceptional book. Neil Gaiman said it was the best English fantasy novel of the last 70 years, and who am I to disagree. It’s a long book, but it needs to be long to have such a grand, epic scope. It’s absolutely worth the effort. Honestly, I wish it was longer! It could keep going and going.

It’s set in England in the early 1800s, in a world where it is widely recognised that magic used to exist, but is no longer possible. And then stories start to be spread that magic has returned… And the way magic is described in the book is just perfect for me; you can try to treat it as a meticulous science, or an instinctive art, but either way it is actually this hugely volatile and mysterious force, which you can never entirely predict, and never be sure if you’re going to accidentally bring about dire consequences for yourself or others.

I absolutely love it.

I'll go with my favorite movie: The Shawshank Redemption. It's a kinda old one, so hoping you don't know it and can discover it.

Book: the novel every sane and relatively educated Russian reads or re-reads these days is Vladimir Sorokin's "Day of the Oprichnik", it's a brilliant prophetic satire written 16 years ago, and it describes modern Russia perfectly (not to mentions that it's both creepy and hilarious and is a rare pleasure to read; must be a nightmare for a translator though).

Movie: this one you all know. "Apocalypse now" is still the all-time best movie about the absolute horror of war and about possible consequences of one person's madness.

Show: "The Leftovers". It's a criminally underrated masterpiece about a mass psychological trauma after 2% of Earth population suddenly disappears. My second all-time favourite TV show (first being Twin Peaks, of course).

Movies:
Tangerines
A Taxi Driver

So... do I have to play only non-monthly games? I'm so lost 😂

I don't read much, I have a hard time immersing myself in reading, but from time to time I do a little "Choose Your Own Adventure" since I have a hundred books from this collection
I have a little more trouble with the movies I've seen recently so I'll just quote the best of all in my opinion: Usual Suspects
I recently watched the first season of Severance and I recommend it, it's very nice

Thanks for the giveaway
I had to think about the recommendations, but these are my picks:

Book: Inferno by Dante - classic trip through hell
Movie: Cloudy with a chance of meatballs - Its a kids movie, but surprisingly enjoyable, there is a sequel too
Show: Dark - Its a german series about time travel, best show I have seen in a long time!

I CANT RECOMMEND ENOUGH: Shogun, by James Clavell (book)
His entire asian saga is good, but shogun is particularly stellar and chronologically the first (feudal japan)

He lived in japan for some decades, got enchanted by the culture, did a whole bunch of research and to this day i havent seen a better peek and deep dive into the roots of Japan and China like his books. Japan and Chinese authors of course are also a great dive, but they write already in their cultures mindset to like minded readers, so diving into then is like diving into uncharted waters and only getting half of what they actually put into the pages and in-between lines... Clavel books are from a western perspective and finger the cultural clash wound right on, without any apparent bias, exposing the ugly on both sides in a very realistic and respectful way

And if not interested in the culture, i consider Clavel one of the best in writing realistic historical pieces - and in shogun`s case its an awesome and heartbreaking romance as well.

For the more sensitive reader just glance/skip over torture scenes and similar. Game of Thrones is a trip to disneyland next to his books, and unlike GoT/Ice-Fire all the ugly comes from a very real place of our ugly history. He doesnt preach anything, just lay things as they were and beats as they come wich makes him one of the greatest reads i had in subjects like war and warrior mindset, politics, the list goes on.

Oh and both good guys and bad guys are crushed by the unfair world equally. Barely any plot armor and when it happens it shatters and doesnt repeat. Feels like history/facts as they happen, as if he rolls dice and things could turn any number of ways

Ps: oh i almost forgot- thanks for the GA!!

Okay this is a bit older but a Trilogy I always enjoyed and recommend is the Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant, starting with the first book that's called "Feed".
There are a dozen of great books and shows about a zombie apocalypse, but this trilogy shows the world years after that. How have humans adapated to that new threat? What is the new normal way of living? The story follows 3 bloggers that make videos and articles about a new presidential candidate. I can't really summarize the book well but I just love so much about it. It has science and research (which animals are affected by the virus, which are safe to eat), a ton of internet culture and how some people just stay home, typical dare-devils that go poking at zombies for the entertainment of others, politics and it's ugly sides even though I don't really care for that normally. It's just so well written, I have read the trilogy multiple times and the emotions still run high every time.
Also I always had to think about this book when Covid broke out and you had to get tested everywhere to get entrance and how a lot of things got adapted so people wouldn't have to leave their home.

I haven't read many books, so I tried to think of a movie I really enjoy that may not get mentioned by other users and I came up with Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland. It's one of the movies that made a big impression on me at a very young age and I have always loved. I don't know if it's as good as I think it is or if it's just the overwhelming nostalgia.

Books: Maus
Movie: The Truman Show
Show: Love, Death & Robots

I haven't read many books nowadays.
Movie: Interstellar (2014), I watch it too many times I've lost counting
Show: Breaking Bad (2008) and then Better call Saul (2015); Altered Carbon (2018)

My book recommendation would be https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1232.The_Shadow_of_the_Wind
Really great characters

i'm not much of a reader anymore but i'd recommend lullaby by chuck palahniuk (who also wrote fight club). it centers around a book whose words can kill, and a man who figures it out and harnesses it, eventually getting to the point where he can kill people just by thinking it.

for shows i really only have the usual suspects like game of thrones / house of the dragon, breaking bad, things i'm sure you already know of.

with it being october and spooky season, i've been trying to find and watch more horror movies and one recent one i watched is called watcher. (not be confused with the upcoming netflix series the watcher.)

Movie: Europa Report

Show: Prison Break

Book:White Fang
Movie:Surviving with Wolves
Show:Tokyo Magnitude 8.0

Show: South Park

The crude humor was what attracted me and made me binge watch all the season starting from the very first. I found out about South Park through one of the playthroughs of its first game, The Stick of Truth. Watched through a playthrough by one of the famous Youtubers. First 5 minutes of watching the gameplay, I knew it is something I would definitely watch. So I push through Season 1 with its outdated animation and really fell in love with it. I've got all episodes in my hard drive as a backup so I can boot it up and start from anywhere when I want to.

Eventually this branched out to other animated shows that are leaning towards a mature audience such as: Regular Show, Rick and Morty, Family Guy (watched a few, still collecting), The Simpsons (haven't started yet), Bob's Burgers (currently watching) and I'm sure many more.

Book (a webnovel really) is Mother of Learning, a free to read time looping story in a fantasy world that isn't all about Groundhog day wish fulfillment...
Movie is 12 Monkeys, (surprisingly to me, also a time travel story :p ) which I can't exactly describe, since it's quite weird. But good weird.
Show would be Stargate SG-1, since it's all around good mix of characters, action, SF, adventure and mystery. All 10 seasons and 3 movies of it...

Once I took book Amazonia written by James Rollins. I finished it over one weekend when I put book away from hand only to sleep. Never happend to me with book to catch me like that, I really liked the scifi form it had. He even puts a list of facts at the end of book which inspired him to it and which makes you think "can it actually be possible?"
Than I bought a few more his books - Ice hunt, Innocent Blood, The Blood Gospel and The Last Oracle, but these were kinda weak, I think half of them I haven't even finished, they simply haven't catched me as Amazonia. Now when I googled english names, I see one of them is even 2nd book of a story, sadly they aren't marked, so I had no idea it is starting by end of short series.

Book: Darkwing
Movie: Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
Show: N/A

Darkwing is the fourth book in the Silverwing series, but you can read it as a stand alone; the main character is Dusk, one of the first bats. (takes place 65 million years before the events of the first book)
Nausicaä is a post-apocalyptical world with toxic jungles and giant insects, and considered a Studio Ghibli work even though the movie was made before it was founded.

I don't have any tv shows because I stopped watching tv in 2016; it was causing me unnecessary stress and anxiety. I don't ever recall it showing any good news, and I've been better off since.

Book: The Dresden Files series. (Author's Goodread's page)The stories of a wizard working as a detective in Chicago, defending the city from the increasingly supernatural events that affect it. The main overarching plot of the series doesn't start to take real form until the 4th book of the series, but the first books are still a good read and provide the main pillars upon which the rest of the series lays.

Movie: Gladiator (IMDB page). Starring Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, it narrates the story of a roman general fallen into disgrace and turned into a gladiator slave who fights to take vengeance upon the new emperor who killed his family. It has a quite well made story IMO, with a wonderful OST. Many memorable scenes and quotes.

Show: Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (IMDB Page). A hilarious series where the protagonist, Bobobo, user of the Fist of the Nose Hair, and his group of friends, fight against the evil Tsuru Tsurulina IV and his Maruhage Empire, who try to conquer the world by shaving everyone bald. The series takes absurd to the extreme and produces an experience like no other. Author might have been on drugs while creating it.

I just finished Ready Player One book so can recommend that one. It made me want to rewatch the movie. Havent seen it since it came out.

I will recommend series I am reading right now: currently mid part 6 so far one of the top fantasy series I've ever read.
Malazan Book of the Fallen

Book (fiction): Quincas Borba, which kinda is a spin-off from The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas.

Book (nonfiction): If this is a man

Show: Twin Peaks

Movie:Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Haha it's been a while since I read...have tons of shows I love though but only will state 1!:

Book: The Lightning Thief (percy jackson)
Movie: Catch me if you can (nice classic)
Show: Bob's burgers (nice wholesome comedy)