Rotten Movies We Love

This book catalogs movies that critics may not have liked, but that people enjoyed. It is written from the perspective of the website Rotten Tomatoes. I was surprised how many of the movies I recognized and saw. There were a few before my time. There was a ton of commentary which I skimmed.

I was hoping for some deeper insight. Like finding a list of B-movies that I needed to watch. Unfortunately I had already seen all the B-movies this book lists. So the value was not strong in this book. Luckily I did not spend a lot of time on this one.

As Fast As Her

This book is the autobiography of Kendall Coyne. Growing up, she played a number of sports. But she saw her older brother playing ice hockey. So at a young age, she talked her parents into letting her play too.

Kendall often tried to play on boys teams. There was a lot of resistance to that. When that did not work, she would play against girls older than her. This was to push her limits and increase her skills.

One of the highlights of the book was when Kendall was recruited by a number of colleges. She decided on Boston College, who promised a full scholarship. She declined all other colleges. But when she called Boston College to indicate her acceptance, her guy would not answer the call. Eventually he called her mom and said due to circumstances, they were not able to offer her a scholarship.

Kendall regrouped with a counselor, who talked her into taking a fifth year of high school. Then she applied again for college a year later. She almost had deja vu. When she called a year later to accept at another college, she also had trouble getting in contact with her guy at the college. Luckily it was just a mishap, and she got a 5 year scholarship. She decided to use that money to get a bachelors and masters degree at the same time.

Kendall eventually met and married an NFL football player. She has fought for the right of girls to play hockey, and to get the same financial backing that boys do.

The Year of Living Biblically

A.J. Jacobs decides to spend 12 months following the rules dictated in the Bible. He is Jewish. So naturally he starts with the new testament. He is overwhelmed with all the rules. He seems to live in New York with his wife and young son. His wife is pregnant during this journey.

One specific aspect of the journey is that the guy let's his beard grow out. He travels to meet people of different Bible-based religions. He even goes to Israel to meet up with Uncle Gil, an outcast of his family. He also travels to Tennessee to meet the pastor of the snake handling church. The assistant pastor is tasked with warming up the tiny congregation. But he spends 1.5 hours speaking, thereby being the entire service.

The author's reclusive neighbor dies near the end of this experiment. She was working on writing a book herself. The guy and his wife ended up having twin boys at the end of the year. There did not seem to be any real conclusion. The author shaves his beard, and starts reverting back to life before following the Biblical rules.