My Current Interest

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Photo of DVD cover taken by Kate Dorsey      There are some films and series that just stick with me. The Hobbit Trilogy is one of them.      In many ways, why I am stuck on The Hobbit doesn’t make sense. I’m not a big fantasy person. I tried to read both the book and the graphic novel, unable to finish either one. So how can I watch this trilogy over and over again? Well, a lot of good-looking men help. But I have a feeling it has more to do with the story.                   Bilbo Baggins ( Martin Freeman ) is perfectly happy living a quiet life in the Shire. It is what he wants to do for the rest of his life. Or so he thinks.      The wizard Gandalf the Grey ( Ian McKellen ) makes Bilbo question what he really wants. He shows up out of the blue, looking for his adventurous friend from years before. There is a mission Gan...

     I will warn you; the ending of A Night’s Tail is on the ambiguous side.   Not with who the killer is.   That is declared for certain.   The ambiguity has to do with Kathleen and Marcus’ relationship.   Because, at the end of the book, Kathleen reveals a secret she has been keeping for a long time.   With the secret out, Marcus has to figure out how he’s going to handle it.           It’s an exciting time for Mayville Heights librarian Kathleen Paulson .   Her brother is in town with his band, The Flaming Gerbils.   While Ethan is visiting, he plans on enjoying his sister’s new hometown , as well as her hospitality.      The visit goes awry when one of Ethan’s bandmates, Derek Hanson, is accused of murder.   Ethan is certain Derek is innocent of killing businessman Lewis Wallace, and wants Kathleen to investigate.   She refuses, only wanting to get involved if it is absolutely...

     The magical cats have returned!  As usual, they are doing whatever they want do to.  No one can tell them otherwise and have them actually listen.  Even when they’re magical, there are some traits all cats share.      A music festival is being held in the town of Mayville Heights, MN.  One of the big attractions at the festival is a young cabaret singer, Emme Finley.  Joining her in town is her assistant Miranda Moore and her sister Nora.  Emme and Miranda are practically identical in appearance.  It is very easy to mix them up.  Which is why when Miranda is found dead, people wonder if Emme was the real target.      While librarian Kathleen Paulson intends on staying out of the investigation, she gets caught in it from the start.  The reason for this: her cat, Hercules, found the body.  He was supposed to be posing for a calendar, but kept getting distracted.  When he went to inv...

A Rose in Bloom /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      Disney’s Beauty and the Beast has always been my favorite animated film.  Maybe it’s the seeing the good under the unpleasant exterior I can relate to (I’ve always loved what many would consider “ugly” dogs).  Or maybe it’s because, like Belle, I love books (if I could have the library in Beast’s castle, I don’t think there would be strong enough words to describe how happy I would be).  There could be so many reasons why this animated film has been my favorite for so long.  But it is this love of it that made me hesitant about the live-action version at first.      When Disney’s live-action version of Beauty and the Beast came out on DVD, I was willing to give it a try.   It helped that Luke Evans was in the film, and I also like Emma Watson, so I knew there would be actors I like in it.   So, I watched it.   I thought it was pretty good, but didn’t expect to ever watch it ...

Behind the Door /Artwork by Kate Dorsey      There have been a lot of Harry Potter marathons on TV these past several months.  Sometimes I watch.  Sometimes I don’t.  Sometimes I’ll watch one particular film, while other times I’ll watch another.  It really depends on how I feel at the moment.  In any case, I end up watching a lot of Harry Potter .      Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) is a boy who discovers he is a wizard on his 11 th birthday.   He lives with awful relatives, and finds it a great relief to go off to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.   It is here Harry meets his two best friends, Hermione Granger (Emma Watson) and Ron Weasley ( Rupert Grint ).   Together, through seven years of school and eight films, these three friends work together to survive school and take down the infamous villain, Lord Voldemort ( Ralph Fiennes ).      These three have to survive school in more th...

              Just as with Curiosity Thrilled the Cat , I swear I’ve read this book before.   Again, when I did, for some reason I did not continue with the series.   That is very odd, because now that I have finished reading Secondhand Spirits this time, I want to know what happens next.   It’s funny how things can change with time.   Before, I didn’t read the next book.   Now I eagerly await it.                 Lily Ivory is a witch.   While she fully accepts that is who she is, it is not exactly something Lily is thrilled to admit around others.   In the past, she has found people not too accepting of her witch status.   This is why Lily has spent many years of her life traveling around the world, hiding from those who wish to do her harm.   She would possibly still be doing that if she had no...

               When I saw the Magical Cats Mystery series in the back of another book, I did not know how I could resist at least giving it a try.   Magic and cats, for me what’s not to love?   So I began to read the first book in the series, and was surprised to find that instead of feeling I was discovering something entirely new, I found myself feeling as though I had read this book before.   So many things were familiar.   A lot of the characters, and even the situation the main character was in, I felt I already knew.   Fortunately, the familiarity did not leave me with knowing who the culprit was, so I could still enjoy the book, but it did have me wondering why I did not continue with the series the first time around.   Of course, there could be many reasons for this, including at the time there was only one book to read, but I spent a good deal of time wracking my brain as to ...

               Here I go again, trying out a bunch of new mystery series.   This time it’s a magical bakery.   When I saw that premise, I knew I had to give this series a try.                 Katie Lightfoot has moved to Savannah, Georgia to open a bakery with her aunt and uncle.   A trained baker, Katie is thrilled for this new opportunity.   Not only is this something she has dreamed about, but she will be leaving behind a bad work situation as well as a broken engagement.   This move from Ohio to Savannah is just the change Katie needs.                 What Katie finds, however, is much more change than she ever expected.   That’s because Katie discovers she is a witch.   She also learns that she’s not the only witch in the f...

              I am one of those people that find is difficult to just sit and watch television.   No matter what is on, it is rare when I am not doing something else at the same time.   That is not the case with Supernatural .   I have to sit and watch.   When I try and do something else, I usually find myself drifting to the show and not what I am doing.   This is very frustrating, but I have to watch Dean!                 My brother suggested this show to me awhile back, but it was my friend Jen who really pushed me to start watching.   Now, I have this thing where I do not like to start in the middle of a series.   Books I am most strict on this, but I figured I should start at the beginning with this show as well.   I began to get the series through the mail, and even though I have only seen four discs o...