update:
Empty - 4/50 books | 5/50 movies
finished two books today. the first was
maurice by e.m forster which i had mixed feelings about. it follows the coming of age of the titular character as his discovers his sexual identity as a gay man and tries to build a life on his own terms. written by forster in 1914 but not published until his death decades later, as he was a closeted homosexual himself and it was illegal in the uk till the late sixties, it's an interesting artifact of what it's like to be gay in britain at that time and i enjoyed it for that factor; how captures the profound sense of loneliness it can entail, as well as the beauty of doing something that seemed so new and exciting.
i had more reservations about the writing style however, which felt too aloof and detached and denied intimacy with the characters in times where you desperately wanted it, though i did warm to it by the end. i fairly recently read mishima's confessions of a mask, similar in its depiction of someone discovering they're gay in a society where such a thing doesn't exist in public, and where that felt so intensely frank because it takes you right into his mind, this felt unsatisfying in its distance by comparison. the story also rushes into a final act to get a happy ending that felt underbaked, especially as that section had a lot of potential to look at class issues but never gives it enough time to explore them.
also finished
the dark night returns by frank miller. this was the first batman comic i've read, though i've seen the nolan films, so i don't have much knowledge to really appreciate its importance to the character in general. i found it okay. i liked that batman was depicted as very twisted, sort of addicted to the role, unable to live life without it and whose only answer to any problem is relentless violence. i also liked how it showed you a lot of different perspectives on batman across the city, comics are way more suited to those asides than the awkward attempts in the nolan films to show gotham as a character. the plot was solid, there were some thin elements like robin jumping in suddenly and i wasn't fond of the final part with superman and vaguely fascist celebration of batman but i liked the joker and harvey dent sections. my other main issue was the art which i never really gelled with.
finally i saw
the secret life of walter mitty which i wasn't that fond of. a dramedy about ben stiller learning to live life to the fullest, it has a big heart but could do with a little more nuance instead painting with grand swipes and has a lot of dud jokes. highlight was adam scott's hilarious facial hair.
