From Me To You - Sept2023

I began this summer fully intending to make a sizeable dent in my rapidly growing pile of books ‘to be read’. The guilt of amassing books one after another all was crushing me. Well, perhaps that is an exaggeration, but I did get a pang of remorse every time a new book was added to the bookshelf without detracting one from the other end.

 

What stopped me? I had a whole summer of very little responsibility, sparse travel and comfy chairs with perfect lighting. I am embarrassed to say it was television. After years of resisting adding new channels to our streaming line-up - let’s face it those things can hit your pocket pretty hard if you don’t keep an eye on them - a whole bunch were added to my existing stations without any help from me. I now have access to a library of new-to-me, pre-approved, award winning series, and who looks that horse in the mouth?

 

The first show we binged (not intentionally, but it was so good we couldn’t help ourselves) was Ozark. A gritty, somewhat violent and acerbically funny look at a world where Jason Bateman, through no fault of his own, becomes a money launderer for a drug cartel. And he was good at it! I found myself rooting for the character to get better at being bad.

 

Following the dip into organized crime I fell into watching Ted Lasso. I know I am very late to this particular game but I loved it. I finished the show, tears streaming down my face, and immediately wanted to watch it again. There are so many wonderful lessons to be learned here and I wish everyone had a Ted in their lives. I feel this world would be a much happier place for it.

 

Swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction, I have now almost finished Homeland. Wow, the backstabbing, conniving spycraft - and that is just from the good guys! I wish I could tell you more but Carrie is trying to save the world again and, even though my books are calling me, I want to watch one more episode!

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Catherine Uretsky

Editor in Chief, Estrella Publishing