HANGOVER PART II * LAND OF MARVELS

The Hangover Part II - Alas! The eagerly awaited sequel to The Hangover is here, and it was hilarious. Every single minute of this crazy movie was funny or cringe inducing and then uncomfortably funny. Just like Curb and South Park, when you think that the story is going somewhere and you can't believe that it will really go there, IT GOES THERE. A huge pre-requisite to seeing this movie is that you saw The Hangover at least once and liked it. Because if you didn't like that one, you will definitely not like this one. The things we liked about it were all the similarities....we know these guys, and we know the movie, so it's comfortable. But then there are the differences - ramped up foreign location, ramped up situations, ramped up raunch. Really ramped up raunch. Really really funny ramped up raunch. With surprises.

Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth - This novel takes place at the site of an archeological dig in Asia Minor just before World War II, so I thought it might be interesting to read for increased understanding about the Armenian Genocide and Greek Catastrophe which would soon take place there. No such luck. It's wordy and British-y, and more of a mystery of some sort, rather than a novel that lends historical light to anything. And it wasn't even a great story. I realized right away that I wasn't into it, but kept going for more than half the book until this morning, when I said that's it, I'm speed reading to the end just in case something does happen. And it happens, but I didn't care. If anyone reads it and feels differently, please call me on this. The book cover is attractive, and filled with glowing reviews. I've got two more books in the pipeline and hoping for better reading fare soon.