xoxoxoe

I am an artist, blogger, and culture critic. I write about movies, books, television, pop culture—old and new—with a feminine/feminist perspective. sometimes I post pictures of the kid, too. Check out my blog, xoxoxo e, for all of my recent interests, exploits, and opinionated opinions.

xoxoxoe's Reviews:

Madness, Illness, Grief, and The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

November 14, 2018 by xoxoxoe 2 Comments

Beware of mild spoilers … I recently finished watching The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. But it is still with me. It was at times an uncomfortable watch, but it also may be one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time. It can’t really be called an adaptation of the immortal Shirley Jackson novel. That classic book could be considered more of a jumping-off point for this, an original, deeply-felt horror story. The original novel, first published in 1959, concerns a group of disparate people who have come together to study a house with a bad, […]

11/14/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:22 |

And Then There Were Satanists … The Legacy

The Legacy by John Coyne

October 8, 2018 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

The Legacy, by John Coyne, is a mixture of an Agatha Christie whodunnit, as members of a house party are knocked off one by one, and an occult thriller. It’s not always clear how much of the menace is due to dark magic or just plain old greed, as six people have been elected to inherit a legacy — of vast wealth, property, and possibly, supernatural power. Coyne wrote the novel as a tie-in to the successful film starring Katharine Ross and Sam Elliot (and The Who’s Roger Daltrey in a small role). He wrote a number of other horror […]

10/8/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:21 |

Wonderful, Lyrical, Practical Magic

Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman

October 1, 2018 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

I saw the movie Practical Magic with Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman quite a few years ago. It’s one of those movies that I wanted to be better than it was — it seemed to have so much potential, but it just didn’t work, even with the wonderful Aidan Quinn as Bullock’s love interest. I have been in the mood lately, Halloween coming up I guess, to read some witch-related books, so even though I didn’t love the movie I had heard good things about the book by Alice Hoffman, so I thought I’d give it a try. I am […]

10/1/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:20 |

“It Was A Pleasure To Burn” – Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

October 1, 2018 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

The kid is in high school now, and although her getting older must mean that I, too, must be getting older (yikes!), there are a few perks. One of them is getting to watch her discover things, like some great books that I read when I was around her age. First up is Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian masterpiece. The story of a society, perhaps our own, that has decided that the ideas included in books are dangerous, seems eerily prescient. The floor-to-ceiling view screens that most of society, including the protagonist Guy Montag’s wife Mildred spend their days […]

10/1/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:19 |

The Truth About Cats and Werewolves

The Wolfen by Whitley Strieber

September 17, 2018 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

I’ve been in the mood for classic horror paperbacks lately. I recently read Whitley Strieber’s Hunger trilogy and liked the first book, so thought I’d try two more of his earlier works. His first book. The Wolfen, was written in 1978. It follows two New York City police officers, Rebecca Neff and George Wilson, who try to solve a seemingly unsolvable case — the brutal attack of two fellow officers. All the signs seem to point to an animal attack, but not just any ordinary animal. The book is fast-paced, and for the most part a great read. Strieber tries to […]

9/17/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:18 |

A Book Series from Hunger

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber

September 17, 2018 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

Whitley Strieber wrote The Hunger in 1981. It was his second novel and featured Miriam Blaylock, a glamorous female vampire, her current companion John. A third side to the triangle is a brilliant young doctor, Sarah Roberts, whose research may provide an answer to Miriam’s immortality and what it might mean to the human race. The book was memorably made into a sexy, campy feature film by Tony Scott in 1983 with Catherine Deneuve, David Bowie, and Susan Sarandon as the trio. What makes The Hunger different from other vampire novels is how Strieber presents a scientific approach to vampirism […]

9/17/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:16 |

This Perfect Day, This Perfect Society?

This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

September 4, 2018 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

Wow, This book. I had never heard of it before, but I am a completist, and I have been reading a lot of Ira Levin lately. I found this copy at a used book store. But I don’t think I’ll be trading it back. I might like to re-read sometime. This Perfect Day was first published in 1970, but the dystopia depicted in the novel may sound eerily familiar. The story follows Chip from the age of about 6 until around 37 or so. He has been born into a world that is controlled by one large, global computer system, […]

9/4/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:13 |

still in the mood for thrillers

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

April 19, 2018 by xoxoxoe Leave a Comment

Still in the mood for thrillers. Here are some recent reads: And Then There Were None, 1939, by Agatha Christie This one is unlikely to be reimagined by Kenneth Branagh, but you never know. And Then There Were None is one of Christie’s grimmest, and most famous tales. Due to its original title, it is also one of her most controversial. Christie loved to use nursery rhyme references in her book titles, and this book actually incorporates an entire rhyme in the book as a twisted framework for a crime: Ten little Indian boys went out to dine; One choked his […]

4/19/2018 xoxoxoe's CBR10 Review No:12 |

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