Finished it -

While I was at Eliza's, I ran out of things to read. I found this on her shelf and started reading it. I asked her about it - and she told me that I had given it to her one year for Christmas!! I need to start writing down the gifts I give people - because I truly had no memory of the event or the title!

It's an odd kind of book - some very quirky characters, lots of agricultural references that have no familiar ring to them - but the story line emerges. You feel an affinity for the characters - and I wished I could know more about them.

Maybe she writes about them in her other stuff.

A Movie Weekend

In a last hurrah for summer, I went and saw two movies this weekend. They were both based on books I had read, and I actually had not planned to go see them. Generally speaking, I like the book better than the movie. For this reason, I find that seeing the movies is usually disappointing. There are some exceptions - I love Gone With the Wind - book and movie. And I loved Giant - book and movie.

I read The Help and enjoyed it while I was reading it. After I had finished, though, I found myself feeling like the story was not truly a depiction of the civil rights movement, and in fact had been somewhat disingenuous. There is lots of current controversy on both sides - especially since the movie has been such a big hit. But it was not quite "gritty" enough as a book. The movie, on the other hand, focused more on the individuals and their relationships with one another. I think this factor helped the movie succeed where the book did not.

A couple of years ago, we decided to read this as a kind of family "book group" reading - and to compare it to Suite Francaise - since it covers the same time period in France. After reading the book - which was compelling in its own way - I felt manipulated by the author. The ending was "pat," the story was a little hackneyed, and you knew how it would end after you read the first chapter.

Suite Francaise, on the other hand, was a much more nuanced depiction. You were caught up in the events as they unfolded, the writing was excellent, and the story rang true.

That being said, the film version of Sarah's Key was much better than the book. The filmmakers took the story line and gave it substance and meaning. The parts added up to more than the whole. The acting was good and the back and forth with subtitles was handled well.

I'd recommend both movies. And one book!

Sunday Night at the Movies

A lazy Sunday - we ate dinner in front of the TV while watching A Place in the Sun, the movie version of An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser.

It's another from the list I got from the LA Times about great movies that didn't win Oscars. You can tell it's from the 50's, but Elizabeth Taylor is gorgeous. And Montgomery Clift ain't so bad either!!

And Raymond Burr played the District Attorney!!

(But the novel was better.)

On the film/literary front

It's been a busy summer indeed, but I have been doing some reading and seeing some movies. Ella and I enjoyed watching this film. It had come highly recommended, and I have to agree. If you are interested in autism and it's ramifications, you should see this movie. It looks like Claire Danes studied the real Temple Grandin, and she does an excellent job of genuinely portraying an individual with autism.

A while ago I read the first Theo Boone book by John Grisham, and I enjoyed it - as did everyone I gave it to! Once again the intrepid author has found a ready market - and tapped it wisely. It's for teens, but I enjoyed it too - vintage Grisham in a fast, easy format!

Hannah introduced me to Wendell Berry, and I must say I really enjoy his writing. I keep going to the library - because of my new-found resolve to quit buying so many books - and they don't have the Wendell Berry books I'm looking for - so I check out what they have! This one doesn't show up on a lot of the lists, but it was really very good - an excellent description of life and a marriage - how they failed and how they succeeded.

Ella said she read the book on this movie and loved it, so we watched the film too. It was not great art, but it was informative and entertaining - and clean enough to show my students!!

Right now I'm reading Quite a Year for Plums by Bailey White. I ran out of stuff to read at Eliza's and found this on her shelf - she said I gave it to her for Christmas one year. I don't remember doing that - or why I chose it either. It's well-written and quite charming - brings a smile not a chuckle - but it's a bit hard to follow. Maybe the end will tie it all together.

I'll let you know!

In the Garden of Beasts

The time is 1933. The place is Berlin, Germany. The new government in power is being crafted by Adolf Hitler.

Into this setting, Franklin D. Roosevelt sends William Dodd, a University of Chicago history professor who loves spending time on his farm in Round Hill, Virginia. According to the author, Ambassador Dodd "proved to be exactly what Roosevelt had wanted, a lone beacon of American freedom and hope in a land of gathering darkness."

The story of his first year there - he ended up being there for 4 1/2 years - is the basis for this work of non-fiction by the author of Devil in the White City. Harry heard an interview with the author on NPR and thought I'd like it, so he ordered it for me.

It's a good read - and quite compelling. I recall asking my mother once how Hitler managed to come to power so easily and for so long. She told me that no one could quite believe that what they were hearing was true. So they chose not to believe it. This book probes some of the attitudes and individuals that allowed these ideas to flourish long enough for Hitler to gain absolute power.

Erik Larson is a good story teller. His works are non-fiction, but they read like a novel. I have read lots of books about World War II and the Holocaust, and it is certainly enlightening to read about the conditions and events that preceded those horrific times in history.

(The title of the book refers to the term they used to refer to the zoo there in Berlin - and maybe all zoos - my German is non-existent. The irony is apparent - the zoo near the Ambassador's home is full of beasts - as is the government Mr. Dodd is there to deal with.)

Third time's a charm!

Just finished this series. There are some "holes" and some hasty transitions that don't work entirely, but overall it was a satisfying end to the series.

I hope my students will respond to them when I introduce it next school year. It is thoughtful fiction - and fairly well-written. Really makes you think about a lot of things, like being prepared for what life throws at you and the importance of human relationships.

My book group is reading the series for their summer read and we will discuss it in September.

Want to join us??

wastelands

just finished "wastelands" for last month's book group, which goes along with mom's latest reads in terms of genre. i am a big fan of post-apocalyptic movies so it's not surprising that i was a fan of the short story format. there are familiar names like orson scott card, cory doctorow, and stephen king in this collection. i think post-apocalyptic sci-fi can be difficult to take in large doses (like "the road"... what an intense book) so i liked the short story format because it was only 5-15 pages of feeling sorry for the characters, then moving on to the next, haha. overall i'd definitely recommend it. not something i'd pick up on my own but i'm glad it was chosen for the month's read.