Junk Journal Week 36

Since the ICAD challenge ended this summer I have not made too much art. But today I made this simple collage with a picture I took of a flower in my front yard this summer.

My week in reading was made up of three good books. Grace Lin’s book is a children’s novel about a girl on a quest and the story itself contains quite a few very short stories. Sara Levine’s forthcoming novel is a satire about a woman in Chicago and the week she spent watching her six year old nephew who had a dog living inside him — yes, it is not a realistic book. And I expect to finish a review later today of Souvankahm Thammvongsa’s forthcoming book about a Laotian woman  who used to be a boxer operating a Toronto nail salon.

Still Walking is a family drama made by one of the best directors working in Japan, Hirokazo Kore-eda. Noah Baumbach’s The Meyerowitz Stories is about a dysfunctional family I would never want to be a member of, but they are entertaining to watch. And after seeing Mad Max Fury Road on the New York Times list of best pictures of the twenty-first century, I was curious to watch. The driving and stunts are quite impressive (no CGI), the story is engaging, and the most important characters are women which is quite different than the earlier Mad Max pictures.

What about you? What books and movies have you enjoyed recently?