Monthly Wrap-Up | March 2017

Posted on by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

Hello lovely people!

Today we’ll revisit all the posts we’ve published, all the wonderful books we’ve discovered and all the great cinematic art we might have crossed paths with! Don’t be shy to share what you think about anything! 😀

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BOOK REVIEWS

– 06/03/17 – Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison | Read-Along

– 12/03/17 – One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel | Read-Along

– 14/03/17 – The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey

– 16/03/17 – Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk

– 17/03/17 – Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard

– 17/03/17 – King’s Cage by Victoria Aveyard

– 18/03/17 – The Nightingale Won’t Let You Sleep by Steven Heighton

– 19/03/17 – The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

– 26/03/17 – The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O’Neill

– 27/03/17 – How To Be a Bawse by Lily Singh

– 28/03/17 – The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

COMIC REVIEWS

– 04/03/17 – Batman: Detective Comics (Volume 1) Rise of the Batmen by James Tynion IV

MOVIE/SHOW REVIEWS

– 08/03/17 – Logan (2017)

– 14/03/17 – The Girl With All the Gifts (2016)

– 24/03/17 – Marvel’s Iron Fist Season 1 Episode 1 First Impressions

BOOKISH POSTS

– 10/03/17 – Bookporn: Libraries in Fiction & Where To Find Them

– 22/03/17 – The Struggles of Being a Book Blogger

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Hihih look at that all women’s world with these books LOL

Hotel World  & The Hating Game These are recommendations from Lara (a fellow goodreads member)  !

Pride and Prejudice by Marvel Comics : JANE AUSTEN AND MARVEL ❤

Nasty Women : «Keep telling your stories, and tell them loud.»
I discovered this while stalking my goodreads feed 😀

The Roanoke Girls:The Roanoke Girls: A recent discovery of mine that I haven’t got the time to review yet but oh myyy it was a thrill 😀 Flowers in The Attic meet Gossip Girl I tell ya.

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The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov: Besides the Foundation Trilogy (currently in the process of completing the third book), I heard this one is one of his best books with an ending that will blow your mind away. How could I say no? 😀

The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness by Elyn R. Saks: This is the true story of a law professor who had to struggle with a grave case of schizophrenia throughout her life. Her account of her breakdowns, the stigmatization and the challenges to overcome all this is definitely something that fascinates me. Definitely have to check it out.

Black Lightning Volume 1 by Tony Isabella: I’ve recently read one of the biggest DC Comics events written by Grant Morrison called Final Crisis and ran into Black Lightning, an African American character who has abilities related to electricity. As a kid I was a HUGE fan of Static Shock until the animated show was discontinued and the character disappeared from my life. Black Lightning is definitely the closest hero to Static Shock and one of the first major African American superheroes to appear in DC Comics. Definitely want to learn more on this guy! They even plan on making live-action TV series for the guy, to join the CW Network (with The Flash, Arrow, etc.)!!!!! 😀

Heirs of Empire by Evan Currie: I blame Bookstooge for adding this one to my TBR (among others). 😀 😀 This book sounds epic, and epic, I like.

The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld: Honestly, I didn’t know about this book until I heard about the author’s expected release of another book. But I’m pretty glad to have checked out what else she had published cause this one sounds amazing. I mean, read this Goodreads opening line for the summary: “A wondrous and redemptive debut novel, set in a stark world where evil and magic coincide, The Enchanted combines the empathy and lyricism of Alice Sebold with the dark, imaginative power of Stephen King.” Tell me you aren’t curious now! I’ll be careful with my expectations though…

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Lashaan: I haven’t had the chance to hit the theaters more often or to check out more movies  with school assignments in the way, but I did manage to check a couple of great shows/movie though. First of all, I completed season 1 of Iron Fist and am definitely curious to see how season 2 will be like. It was definitely slow at start, but the story starts to be juicy towards the middle and definitely has highs and lows throughout the season. It could’ve been so much more (I’d probably end up ranking it 4th behind the other three Netflix superhero shows) but it was definitely fun to some extent. I also had the chance to compelte season 1 of Taboo. This show is GOLD. I’m a huge fanboy of Tom Hardy and this TV series focused on Hardy’s portrayal James Delaney made my love for this guys acting skills go through the roof! Loved the atmosphere, the writing, the characters and the mysterious story in this one! HIGHLY recommend this! Obviously, I also had the chance to watch Logan in theaters. You can check out my review for more on my thoughts, but I can tell you right now that Logan is definitely the best movie in the X-Men universe. It definitely beats 95% of the MCU movies based around the Avengers. 😀

If you’ve seen any of these, feel free to mention it in the comment section. I’d love to fanboy with y’all! 😀

Trang: I’ve been binge watching Riverdale and I absolutely loveed it 😀 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST ❤ !!! Perfect in everywayyy ! Ghost in the Shell is G.O.R.G.E.O.U.S. I had the chance to go the avant-premiere and I might do a review of it real soon along with Beauty and The Beast.

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Trang: I’ve been obsessed with this sonng ! AND THIS CHOREGRAPHYYY

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Lashaan: SOOOO DAMNNN PUMPED FOR THIS MOVIE!!!!!!! ❤

Thank you all for checking out our monthly wrap-up and don’t forget to check out any posts that might interest you and that you might have missed out on!

So what’s going on with y’all? What have you discovered this month? What are your thoughts on the books/TV shows/movies we’ve mentioned?

Yours truly,

LASHAAN & TRANG

Published by Lashaan Balasingam @ Roars and Echoes

Reader. Reviewer. Researcher. Criminology Ph.D. Candidate. Montreal, Quebec (Canada). Want to know more? Connect with him!

55 thoughts on “Monthly Wrap-Up | March 2017”

  2. Wow you’ve both read some amazing books this month. I may be slightly biased because it is my all-time favourite book but any month that contains The Night Circus is going to be a brilliant month! 😀
    I LOVED Logan, I saw it a couple of weekends ago and thought it was a brilliant film, and I’ll be seeing Beauty and the Beast in a couple of weeks and can’t wait. Everyone seems to have loved it so far so my hopes are sky high.
    Great recap for March, and I hope you both have an amazing month for April as well! 🙂

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    1. Definitely agree with you LOL The Night Circus is a favorite of mine too and I was so happy when Lashaan finally gave it a go because I was totally not spamming him about the book. Beauty and The Beast was such an amazing experience!! LOGAN IS BEAST well mostly Laura 😉

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      1. Ahh the power of spamming people to read the books you love. I’ve done that more than a few times. But with a book as good as The Night Circus it’s needed I think.
        I can’t wait to finally see Beauty and the Beast, and yes Laura was my favourite character in that film! 😀

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  5. Lashaan – I absolutely LOVED Logan. Like, definitely one of the best X-Men movies. It really made all the other ones look…not so good. But I am more thinking of the older X-Men movies, like the Last Stand (I’m still super mad about how Rogue was portrayed in these movies, as she is one of my favourite characters from the comics/tv show). At the end of Logan, I was waiting for it to be not real and then it cut to “Logan” and credits…and I was in so much shock. But I can’t wait to see what they do with the new generation!! I still have to check out Taboo, it looks intriguing!!

    Trang – I am loving Riverdale too. I have to say that I am not the biggest fan of Archie, but I love all the other characters. I am going to see Beauty and the Beast tonight which I am super excited about!!!

    All in all you both had a productive month! I hope April is a good one 🙂

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    1. Logan was such an amazing movie 😍😍 But I consider all the xmen movies were necessary to arrive at this point. Also since I’m a die hard fan of X-men I’m probably biased too LOL totally agree with you for Archie. I watch Riverdale for Veronica Betty and Jughead 😍

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      1. Yeah they were necessary, and I still watch them. I think Logan was just a massive step up 😍😍 X-men have always been my favourite since I was a kid…I loved the tv series!! Lol I’m glad I’m not the only one who isn’t a massive gan of Archie. YES to Veronica, Betty and Jughead 💜💜💜

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    2. I know, right??? Before Logan, I thought First Class and Days of Future Past were the only two decent X-Men movies, while the rest were average or mediocre (sometimes just.. guilty pleasure.. cause X-Men are awesome and I have always been a fan of the Animated Series). Rogue was so much more than what we got in the movies, I still remember seeing her way more often, with much more of an imposing presence in the Animated Series too. Logan’s ending was brilliant! I’m really glad that they didn’t have claws popping out of the ground or something “cliche” like that. It ended on the right tone and left enough questions in the air for fans to wonder what’s next. Really curious to know what they will do next (besides the whole Phoenix Rising storyarc I hear they plan to do next, after Apocalypse). Yoooo, I’m really happy about your curiosity for Taboo though!!! That show needs more attention from people. It’s such a piece of art. It’s its own thing and I love it for that. If you’re a fan of Tom Hardy and a darker/mysterious/somewhat-mystical story, you have to try it out! 😀

      Thank you so much for dropping by and I hope April will be kind to you too!!! 😛

      – Lashaan

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      1. I agree the older ones were average /mediocre. I still love them even though they were sometimes corny…they at least got most of the casting right…except for Rogue. I don’t know if Anna Paquin was the problem or the Director…I just know it is my one major sore point with the movies. People seriously just don’t understand what an amazing character she is…I’m not going to go on about it though because I honestly could rant about it for forever. Lol maybe I’ll do a blog post on that one day 😊 Yes I’m really glad the end of Logan was perfect without the cliche stuff. I would LOVE to see the Phoenix Rising!!! That would seriously be AMAZING!!! Anyway, sorry for the ranting! X-Men makes me sooo excited!!!!

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      2. Don’t worry about ranting or raving too long, I always love to hear more! 😀 Do you watch Legion? The TV show that is connected to X-Men movie universe? I’ve only watched 1 episode so far (Iron Fist came out and I had to put Legion on hold) and was pretty surprised by the direction. Definitely plan on continuing it! They even plan to release another X-Men live-action TV show; I think it’s going to be called The Gifted… or maybe they haven’t decided yet officially.

        – Lashaan

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      3. I haven’t watched Legion yet, but I’ve heard good things! I’m planning on watching it soon (currently re-watching Breaking Bad because I love stressing myself out lol). I’ll have to keep an eye out on the other X-Men show!!

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  6. Funny to see the mention of Black Lightning, I’m sure that I had never heard of the character prior to the announcement of the proposed CW series, might have to check him out but it’s a chore keeping up with the current DC CW shows as it is! Oh and that Justice League trailer was pretty promising!

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    1. Brooo, I don’t know if you used to watch Static Shock, but as a kid, I was always up in the morning (around the time The Animated Batman Series was on) to watch Static Shock in action. Black Lightning joining the CW network is the closest thing to a live-action Static Shock that we’ll get for now and I’m pretty interested to find out how it will fair, compared to Arrow, for example. I’ve heard of Black Lightning a couple of times in the past, and more recently because of Final Crisis by Grant Morrison. I think we should totally try out Tony Isabella’s first comic about the character to find out more on the guy. Got to admit, once Black Lightning’s pilot is released, it’s going to be a pain to keep track of all the superhero shows (including the Marvel side of things with the Defenders, Punisher, etc.

      I’m super optimistic about Justice League. When Bats vs. Sups was an absolutely entertaining movie, and still received huge hate, I can only imagine Justice League to either be the same or BETTER. Can’t wait to see how things will go. I just hope they won’t show Superman, any Green Lanterns or Darkseid in any upcoming trailers though (I do however plan on not checking any trailers whatsoever until release now though)…

      Have you heard that they now plan on making a Batgirl movie to integrate in the DCEU? She might even show up in the Gotham Sirens movie. Gosh, what a time to be a DC/Batman fan. 😛

      – Lashaan

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      1. Don’t think I ever saw static shock mate but I’m a massive fan of Batman TAS (who in their right mind isn’t?) which funnily enough I’m rewatching the DVDs at the moment!

        I actually have a digital copy of Final Crisis which, you guessed it, I haven’t got around to reading yet haha! We’re living in a golden time for comic book adaptations on the small and big screens and I wouldn’t want it any other way but yep it’s certainly time consuming. In all honesty I do prefer the Netflix model of having a few shows a year, spreadout as opposed to the CW four series running simultaneously but that’s not to say I don’t enjoy them a lot (especially the Flash which is right at the top of it’s game this season).

        I’m with you on Justice Leauge and likewise I’ll be avoiding any further trailers. I’d hope for Warners to keep any footage of Supes under wraps but I doubt that will happen. As for GL and Darkseid here’s hoping they see sense to save those surprises until we’re actually in our cinema seats!

        I did indeed here about the Joss Whedon Batgirl movie, definitely has potential (although I’d actually prefer to see a Batwoman film) as does the Harley Quinn lead Gotham City Sirens.

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      2. Batwoman would honestly be a nice thing to see on screen. Especially when we’ve already seen a “Batgirl” in the past; even if the movie in which she appeared…is… questionable in quality. Fans also would’ve preferred if Robin (any of them) would get a movie appearance before Batgirl. I mean, Red Hood or Nightwing are honestly two REALLY good characters that can even get the solo movie treatment if done properly. I’d definitely want to see those two characters before Batgirl, but hey! Can’t complain about Batgirl. More movies on DC characters will always make me crazy happy. 😀

        – Lashaan

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      3. I think there’s actually a Nightwing movie in the works mate and the Red Hood storyline may well be touched upon at some point given the grafiti scrawled Robin suit we saw in BvS! I like the fact the Warners/DC are looking to expand the Bat-universe but I just hope they don’t forget about the Superman solo outing, the Flash and Green Lantern!

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    2. Yes!! Logan was excellent! The best finale that the character could’ve got, ever. Wish the other two Wolverine spin-off movies were even 1/10th as good as Logan. It would’ve helped me feel even more emotions for Logan. 😛 Hell yeh for Justice League though!!! Can’t wait for it to release!! Can it be November already?! 😀

      – Lashaan

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  10. I have heard some really good things about Enchanted. I actually bought a copy a little while ago and I’m hoping to pick it up soon……I might say that about a lot of my books.

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    1. Hhahahaha same here! I think all my books would be staring at me with piercing eyes whenever I say “I hope I’ma read you next.” 😀 I’m only recently heard about Enchanted, but man it sounds like its really beautiful written and has the perfect mystery story to keep you hooked till the end. Curious to know how you’ll like it, when you get around to it. 😉

      – Lashaan

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