Blue Jasmine

I watched Blue Jasmine (on Hulu or maybe Prime, I forget), and I did not fall into rapture over it like so many other reviewers. It was OK… well acted but ultimately meaningless. Frivolous widow Jasmine (Cate Blanchett) struggles to find meaning in life after her husband is exposed as a liar/ cheater/ conman (Alec Baldwin in his usual role as an ahole). Now supposedly broke, Jasmine goes to live with her blue-collar sister Ginger in SF, but instead of being grateful for a place, Jasmine is snarky and cruel and wrecks her sister’s romance. She’s also a substance abuser and blurts out her life story to strangers. It’s hard to care about what happens to her ~ she almost tricks a new man into a serious relationship, but it falls apart. Yada. Ginger gets back with her jerk, and Jasmine sits in a park muttering to herself as the film ends. No one has learned anything or changed. Where’s the plot? Where’s the character development? Meh.

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You know who has a great voice for narrating docus? President Obama! I’ve been listening to his nature series on Netflix when I need to wind down to sleep. His voice is so lovely and soothing.

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I read The Broken Places by Mia Sheridan and gave it three stars. It’s a psychological thriller/ love story with a jumbled up plot and way too much boring backstory. But it was relatively enjoyable regardless. I made up a category for it on my 2025 Reading Challenge: takes place in San Francisco. That’s no more arbitrary than other categories on the list. Shrugs.

I also finished Bride of Pendorric by Victoria Holt and gave it three stars too. It’s a romantic suspense story about an heiress who doesn’t know she’s one and falls in love with and marries a man who does know. Then someone repeatedly tries to kill her. The story involves two sets of identical twins (a category I created on the 2025 Reading Challenge), and the twists that arise from mistaken identity are somewhat predictable. The MC is kind of a dimwit, which is pointed out by other characters, so it wasn’t that compelling of a read. Nevertheless, Victoria Holt’s writing is superior to most contemporary authors.

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I’m going to adopt a kitty today!