Favorites A to X - Part Seven "J-L"

J

Books
Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte) - some classics really do deserve the title
Jenna Starborn (Sharon Shinn) - an awesome sci-fi retelling of Jane Eyre. 

TV
Jeopardy- I love random trivia, and Jeopardy gives me my daily fix. 

K

Movies
A Knight's Tale - possibly the most anachronistic movie on the planet.  I love it anyway.

L

Movies
Little Women - this is slightly sacrilegious but I honestly prefer the Winona Ryder/Clair Danes version of this movie to the book.

Books
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis) - Really all of the Narnia books are good, but I don't think any of them are quite as magical as the first adventure of the Pevensie family.

Little House in the Big Woods (Laura Ingalls Wilder) - this was pure pioneer escapism for my elementary school brain.

TV
Law and Order - just recently started rewatching this show via Netflix and find it as fascinating as ever.  Though I can't watch too much of it or I start to think that everyone is out to get me :-)

Lost- I've already written several previous posts about Lost. For a convoluted show about a bunch of murderers, adulterers and other assorted miscreants it was quite uplifting.

Favorites A to X - Part Six "H-I"

H

Books
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling) - My favorite of the Harry Potter books, I
especially love Fred and George's dramatic exit from Hogwarts. 

Heart's Blood (Juliet Marillier) - a lovely moody fantasy that's a great take on Beauty and the Beast. 

Heist Society (Ally Carter) - one of my favorite contemporary young adult novels in recent years.  Sort of like a sweet version of Ocean's Eleven for teens. 

The Hero and the Crown (Robin McKinley) - honestly, picking a single favorite Robin McKinley book would be impossible for me.  It changes depending on my mood.  If I want tough, independent girl power then this is the book I turn to.  I like the Disney idea of "princess" don't get me wrong, but sometimes I think we need a few more princesses like smart, stubborn, sword-wielding Aerin in the pop culture mix.

The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova) - no other novel in the world makes historical research look so adventurous and glamorous.

The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet (Jaimie Ford) - Another gorgeous historical fiction novel that tells a great young-love story set in the extremely diverse world of Seattle during World War II.  Plus, even though it deals with difficult history it manages to do it with such warmth and hope that it never becomes to difficult to read. 

I

Movies
Incredibles - There isn't a lot of super creative filmmaking going on in mainstream movie making these days, unfortunately, but I think Pixar is an exception.  They always come up with great new ways of dealing with beloved elements and the Incredibles is my favorite example.

Independence Day - there needs to be some special sort of Academy Award for best odd couple buddy comedy, and it needs to go to Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith for Independence Day.  This is exactly what a summer action movie should be. 

On a Slightly More Serious Note

I'm a Sunday School teacher.  I teach the adult Gospel Doctrine class in our ward and have done so for over four years now.  I love doing it, and people seem to appreciate what I do. 

I always try to teach in the most positive way possible, to be as encouraging and uplifting as I can.  Yeah, occasionally I challenge myself and my class to better live a principle, but for the most part I try to focus on helping people feel the Spirit of the Lord and to feel the love, hope and happiness of the gospel of Jesus Christ.   I've wondered sometimes if the way I teach is too sunshine-y (ok, not a word but I'm using it), or that I need to be a more detailed scriptorian or something like that.  However, very recently I started reading the manual Teaching, No Greater Call for my scripture study and today in the second chapter "Nourishing the Soul"  I ran across this quote:

"Teaching that is nourishing to the soul uplifts others, builds their faith, and gives them confidence to meet life’s challenges. It motivates them to forsake sin and to come to Christ, call on His name, obey His commandments, and abide in His love."  (pg.5)

Now, I'm sure there are lots of things I can do to improve my teaching, which is why I'm studying the manual, but this quote at least made me feel like I was on the right track and also confirmed my testimony that the gospel is about love and hope. 

Favorites A to X - Part Five "F-G" and some Real Life Stuff

My Mom and John came to visit over the weekend.  It was a lot of fun!  On Saturday we went out to lunch at one of Tracy and I's favorite restaurants, Tin Roof Grill.  After that we went and flew our stunt kite for awhile.  The gusting wind made it quite and adventure to fly, but Tracy and John especially had a great time with it and were excellent kite pilots.  We were really glad they came! ....and now back to the list....

F

Movies
The Fellowship of the Ring - For anyone who knows me, this entry is not a shocker.  I think it's funny though that this movie, like Star Wars, doesn't really get interesting until the locals walk into the bar and meet the shady character who will help them finish their journey :-)

Books
Fire (Kristin Cashore) - When I heard about this novel and knew that it was about a young woman so beautiful and powerful it was a curse I was extremely skeptical about whether I would like it.  But I love it, which says a lot about Cashore's writing talent.

Fools Crow (James Welch) - This novel is told from the point-of-view of a young Blackfoot man just as white society begins to really change their way of life.  The native characters are dynamic and extremely easy to relate to.  When I read it as an undergrad it really changed my perspective on how native people should be depicted in fiction.

Forest Born (Shannon Hale) - My favorite Shannon Hale book, and that is definitely saying something. 

TV
Firefly - So again I have a hard time wholeheartedly recommending Firefly to anyone because there are content problems. One of the characters is a "companion" and I find her character extremely grating, and not just for moral reasons.  But I have to be honest and admit that deep down in my fangirl heart I am a little bit of a Browncoat.  (For the non-geeks out there, that's what Firefly groupies call themselves.)

G

Books
The Goose Girl (Shannon Hale) - Lovely, lovely, writing.  Period.  Even my Mom who doesn't really like fantasy liked this book.

Graceling (Kristin Cashore) - When I read this book I was both annoyed and delighted.  Annoyed, because I feel like this book is very similar, genre wise, to my book Rell, and I was a bit jealous that this got published and mine didn't.  But I got over it, very quickly.  I do think Kristin Cashore's books (see Fire above) got better as they went, but this book still makes the list.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (Mary Ann Shaffer) - So if you haven't read this book, ignore the silly title and read it.  It's a stunning historical fiction novel.

TV
Gilmore Girls - Recently I was trying to decide what my favorite tv show of all time was.  The Gilmores are tied for first place.   The other first place finisher has something to do with the fact this list ends in X.

Favorites A to X - Part Four "D-E"

D

Books
Daughter of the Forest (Juliet Marillier) - I've written about the characters from this book before, so I'll add another note about why I like it.  Marillier writes historical fantasy, in this case an era when their were still druids but Christianity was also just taking hold, and Marillier balances this really respectfully.

TV
Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman - While there were some things about this show that bugged me, especially in its later seasons, I am constantly wondering why Netflix hasn't managed to add this to their instant play offerings. 

E

Movies
Empire Strikes Back - This is my favorite Star Wars movie, probably because it's the mushiest.  Apparently when Princess Leia says, "I love you" and Han Solo said, "I know" it was an ad-lib by Harrison Ford. George Lucas wasn't sure it worked.  He was wrong.

Ever After - Cinderella has never really been my favorite fairy tale.  This was the first version of it that I really loved.

Books
Ella Enchanted (Gail Carson Levine) -There are other books by this author that I like, but this is my favorite.  And the book is definitely much better than the movie.

Enna Burning (Shannon Hale) - the grimmest of Shannon Hale's books, but also one of the most powerful.

The Eyre Affair (Jasper Fforde) - An impossible to describe book  Alternate history?  Fantasy?  Science fiction?  All of the above and hilariously funny.

Favorites A to X - Part Three "C"

C

Movies
Casablanca - some classic movies don't age well, but this one is definitely timeless.  I'm not even a huge Humphrey Bogart fan and I still love Casablanca.  There is a reason that half of the lines in the film have become famous quotes.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - with subtitles of course, the voice over makes me a little nutty.  I heard that this is a Chinese take on Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility and I can completely see that.  Plus, women who can be feminine and still action heroes - I love that.

Books
Chalice (Robin McKinley) - a stunning short novel that makes bee keeping seem infinitely magical and cool.

Christy (Catherine Marshall) - I have at times been a little bit dismissive of "Christian fiction" but I shouldn't be - because Christy definitely falls into that category, and I love it.  The story of a woman who travels deep into Appalachia to teach school and tests her faith in the process.  Plus it has a good love story, which never hurts.

Crocodile on a Sandbank (Elizabeth Peters)  - Again, I've written about Amelia Peabody before and how much I enjoy her as a character.  I didn't think I really liked mystery novels - and then I read this.

Television
Castle -  Of course :-) 

Favorites A to X - Part Two "B"

B
Movies
Beauty and the Beast - I've written before about how much I like these characters so I'll just add that this is my favorite animated film of all time.

Better Off Dead - okay, so honestly this movie is stupid, really it is.  It's essentially about a guy who is really into skiing and keeps having delusions and trying to kill himself because his milktoast girlfriend dumped him.  However, it is also hilarious and extremely quotable. ("Gee, I'm really sorry your mom blew up, Ricky")  I read somewhere that John Cusack kind of hates this movie, which made me sad.

Bourne Identity- One of the best action movies there is.  Whenever I need inspiration for action sequences in my writing, this is the movie I turn to, it's my favorite car chase ever. 

Books
Beauty (Robin McKinley) - there are a lot of good retellings of Beauty and the Beast, but this is my favorite.  I think McKinley stays true to the original tale, while giving it a fresh and lovely spin of its own.

Bitterblue (Kristin Cashore) - oh, just realized I was wrong when I said The Avengers was the newest entry on the list, as I just finished this book last weekend.  Kristin Cashore has written three books, they are all on this list, and I think Bitterblue is the best of the three.  Also, since they are traditional fantasy and on the bestseller list it gives me hope that someday my books might have a chance.

The Blue Sword (Robin McKinley)- For a recent Relief Society activity we were asked to bring a favorite book to share.  I took this one.  The first time I ever thought "I want to write a book like this" I was reading The Blue Sword. 

Book of a 1000 Days (Shannon Hale) - I like that Shannon Hale took the inspiration for this fantasy world from Asia rather that Europe as is usually the case, it's a sweet, interesting story that I highly recommend.