September 02, 2010
Fiction: The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
Re-read for me; new to Dad. Our June challenge book.
I lovelovelove this book a completely crazypants amount. I read it shortly after I had moved to Chicago and there were so many great details from my new city in it, places I had been, places I needed to then seek out. For me, it's incredibly romantic; but some of it may be related to being single for a very very long time--this idea of him being there, he's off in another time, visiting a different you, but he exists, he is there, you just have to wait... It's probably a selfish veneer but feels like there's something very (sadly) (poignantly) romantic about that lonely yearning life...
Also I thought the (admittedly few) times you get to hear about Claire's art were just FANTASTIC. I could picture her works so vividly. Why can't someone make me wings? WHY!?! So amazing.
So yeah, I went completely ga-ga for this book and was sending it out as gifts to everyone I knew. bought it for my parents the Christmas after I read it (maybe 2003?) and waited and waited for them to read it. Eventually Dad saw the movie. While most of my friends who had seen the book didn't love the movie (Jenni said it was like watching the Cliff Notes), he said he liked it (well enough). Really liked the chemistry between McAdams and Bana--although he hasn't had any particular urge to see it again.
So on to his reaction to the book: Yeah. He did NOT like it. Thought it was an OK book about a relationship, liked some of the scenes, the monopoly game, little things like that. But just thought it was so weird overall. What a weird life for this woman and got to the point where he needed the story to straighten out (2/3 way through). Felt he didn't need to read about Henry being 105 and Claire being 2 months old...said that every time he turned to the next chapter and read that paranthesis, he just wanted to throw the book across the room!!
Also felt like what if the 15 year old horny teenager Henry shows up when she's 16. why didn't that ever happen? [Of course that can't happen! When he's 15 he doesn't know she exists yet...] He couldn't finish it. Too frustrated by the time / couldn't go with the story anymore. Also didn't like the drawn out stuff around her mom's death.
SO...after Dad's reaction to the book, I decided to try the movie. I couldn't make it past the first 15 minutes!!
A) The movie makes it HIS story, which really takes away the whole point. Yes, in some ways, he is the more interesting or unusual character, but that's part of the point, it's not about him! it's about being his wife, being the one that's NOT that.
B) The movie makes the accident HIS FAULT!! Noooooooo. That's just completely wrong. The accident is how he figures out his ability and it's what saves him but it was NOT the cause. SOOOOO WRONG. And it's SO irritating when stupid people connected with making movies out of good books make a BAD decision about something like that. How could they possibly think that was something that either 1) needed changing or 2) was a good idea to change? Increasing dramatic tension? Please. This story already has plenty of that. DISAPPROVE.
C) The casting of Gomez is just WRONG. I'm all for Ron Livingston in other roles but SO NOT HERE.
Verdict: I still love this book SO MUCH. Dad did NOT. He likes the movie OK. I could not even get through it. Disagreement reigns! ;)
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Fiction: "Possession, by A.S. Byatt
Re-read. Our April challenge book.
Speaking of academia (as we were when reading Davies)...very dazzling. Funny and wicked about the academy and these kind of blighted lives; people that love literature and get trapped where they're just drudges to this work--in this case especially, the woman with the index cards about the wife. Such a miserable life, inflicting misery on each other.
Really makes us laugh when the American woman sweeps in and creates all this sturm und drang--of course that's how the Brits see us. We come in and just start breaking stuff!!
Maude = very well-written character. Interesting person with her own hurts and wounds, but a really good person. Always think it's cool that they got together in a way.
The book itself is really a literary tour de force when you think about all the stuff Byatt wrote for it! Not just the book itself, but also Ash's poetry, Christabel's poetry, their letters, his wife's diary, Sabine's diary, various letters. Re-reading it though, we find ourselves skimming some parts. Artistically great, but do we need to read 8 pages of a Spenserian poem before moving on to the next chapter? Even in earlier readings, we remembered being kind of impatient at some parts--want to go on with the story. Didn't need that much extra to see the ability--sometimes clogged the narrative flow. And the characters give you the exposition so you don't need to have the whole thing.
Always knocked out by that connection with the mystical weirdness, the seance--when you realized she made him think the kid was dead. Very moving at the end--when you see he did get to meet the kid and realize the truth / and watching his wife thinking she's hiding it from him. Byatt really projected you back into this other story--the modern story in a way was a happier one. This is one of those books that breaks my heart every time I read it.
Some scenes such a rush, and have a great mystery feel, as when Maude figures out the letters are hidden.
Verdict: still really good. So worth re-reading.
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Fiction: The Fool's Progress, by Edward Abbey
Re-read for Dad; new to me. Our May challenge book.
Total black comedy with incredibly (surprisingly) sad moments; you get to like the guy more than you ever though you could. The first chapter is just outright hilarious. Dad remembers hearing about Abbey at a reading once, picking that chapter, and apparently some women walked out. Personally, I feel you have to be able to enjoy well-written things (or even to apply this broader, well-done art in any genre) without imposing your filter. If you can never enjoy writing that doesn't agree with your (for example) feminist viewpoints, you're shutting out a huge portion of the world.
Abbey just reallys wrings out the in your face redneck stuff; takes a hard look at the mess a person can make of their life. He's pretty hard on the guy for making dumb choices. But there's always this underlying hopeful place--"maybe we'll find a way to make it work" enthusiasm.
Dad has been going back and reading biographies of Abbey, trying to parse out which bits are autobioraphical and which aren't--all the wild stories about Abbey and women stop the day he married his last wife. Both Abbey and the main character here are so involved with people: so much fun, so attractive, so adventurous, but (until the end) not a long-term guy.
Dad felt that on his second time reading it, some of it got a little tedious: got kinda tired of the trip, didn't always enjoy the flashbacks--felt like they were always pulling you out of something you were enjoying (the current trip more engaging than the past memories).
A lot of individual scenes were so much fun. Love how he has all these horrifically failed relationships but also has friends pretty much everywhere he goes. Clearly this guy is bringing something to the table that makes keeping him around worthwhile.
For me, it's reminisicent of Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theater--the dark, dark humor of it, a voice you're not going to meet a lot in ilterature, a part of America that doesn't get chronicled a lot.
Verdict: both enjoyed it a LOT.
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Fiction: Rebel Angels, by Robertson Davies
Re-read. Our March challenge book.
Love reading novels as saturated in the world of academia as this one. Also adds something to the mix that there are people that weren't quite in that world--Maria and her crazy gypsy relatives; Parlabane. Great mixture.
Davies is really funny about the academic stuff--and then the mystical stuff is his own spice. Very much a social comedy, like Trollope or someone; reading this right after reading Gatsby (with that veneer that social class matters), you do kind of live and die with Maria and those people, they become important to you. Maria's so smart that when she gets pulled back into the gypsy world she's pissed off.
Thinking about wacko Parlabane's ability to just be in and around academia even though he's so beyond the range of it; is it still like that? (Academics more tolerant of nutters in their midst?)
All the art stuff is so vivid that you're picturing those drawings in your head, Davies really brings that stuff to life. (And in the third book of this trilogy, they do an opera that makes you believe that this thing exists. Same is true of Francis' paintings in book 2.)
In this first book, Francis is like one of those planets exerting all this force, everything sort of orbiting around him, this figure you can't quite picture.
Davies is more than a clever writer--very wise.
Verdict: Very enthusiastic double thumbs-up, both in previous reads and now.
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September 01, 2010
À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for August.
Bought:
- Mockingbird, by Suzanne Collins
Read:
- Midnight Falcon, by David Gemmell
- The Eye of the Storm, by Jack Higgins (borrowed from Dad)
- Within the Frame; The Journey of Photographic Vision, by David duChemin (gift)
- Memory in Death, by Nora Roberts writing as J.D.Robb (laundry room pickup)
- White Teacher, by Vivian Gussin Paley (laundry room pickup)
- Mockingbird, by Suzanne Collins
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Fiction: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Re-read. Our February challenge book.
Dad comments that he always enjoys it when he's reading it, but later he never remembers what it was about: a year from now he'll think: "What was the plot of the Great Gatsby? I know it's in the '20s..." My friend Cathy loves this book...but she always teaches it to her high schoolers every year--the plot would definitely stay in your memory if you were doing that! :)
It's well written, nice voice, really easy to pick up and read, has a nice conversational tone, Nick is really likable. But doesn't necessarily take you somewhere. Similar to Austen it has that veneer of society being worthwhile. Very cool tone to it.
Easy to forget the hollowness in Gatsby--it's so much all show. All the characters are so shallow, see, for example, Gatsby putting up a huge facade to chase this really childish illusion of the perfect romance, the kind of thing you believe when you're 12. Everybody's living a fake life, cruising along as if, if they keep moving, nothing's going to catch with up them. Even Nick's psuedo relationship with the tennis player. She's a real slippery character.
Dad remembered the movie from 40 years ago - just a clunker. Robert Redford played Gatbsy, Sam Waterston played Nick - it was a huge flop.
A very Midwestern exchange:
Me: I found all the MN stuff really surprising. didn't remember that at all.
Dad: The Great Gatsby is like War & Peace to Minnesotans. Once heard a professor at a conference in Minnesota being asked how wonderful it was and he gave a very careful answer: "Well, you know it's one of those essential works of a period where, in America, you just can't approach the '20s without reading the Great Gatsby" i.e., worth reading for its picture of a time and place, but not putting it up with the great novels.
Verdict: Thumbs up for an enjoyable easy read, but would not appear on our Greatest Hits list.
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Fiction: A Study in Scarlet, by Arthur Conan Doyle
Re-read. Our January challenge book.
Having both seen the movie and, while agreeing that it is a decent action flick, both agreeing that it really wasn't our Sherlock Holmes, it seemed like a good time to go back for a re-read, this being the very first SH book (and ACD wasn't even sure he was going to continue with Holmes--this could have been the only one!!).
Interesting to go back and read -- we all come to it knowing the character already, whether through RDJ or Basil Rathbone, or memories of other stories... Fun watching Holmes and Watson bond on the page in front of you. Always think back on these as "Holmes stories" but in re-reading, really realize how much of the OTHER story you get here: the Westward expansion story, the spooky cult aspect of the Mormon setting, the hero who becomes an anti-hero--he becomes such a different person, an unstoppable avenger, and his heartbreak defines the rest of his life. You're almost sad when Holmes catches him; the people he murdered deserved it!!
Full of dark sharp bitter elements, this is not a POP book. The hero goes down. In memory, you often soften Holmes a bit; you meet him here again as acerbic, rougher, dismissive (of Watson, among others), boxing. Watson always comes off a bit of a bumbler in the Rathbone films--really he's "normal" right? He's the "us" or "you" in these stories.
As with other Holmes' stories, the everpresent suggestion of a ghost / pushed aside by Holmes who is always the one pointing out the physical evidence. Thought this was a weakness of the RDJ film as well--seemed like Holmes was falling for the mystical a bit too much.
According to an article in the Smithsonian (awhile back), Holmes was partly based on a doctor ACD knew and the bohemian / nonconformist aspect was based on Oscar Wilde (note that Dorian Gray and Study in Scarlet were put out by the same publisher). Holyroyd thinks the actor Henry Irving was one of influences for the illustrations of Holmes (haunted police courts, played lurid characters on stage).
Favorite new (to me) expression I had to ask Dad to define: "sere and yellow" = late autumn (here, of life).
Verdict: thumbs up from both Girl and Dad.
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August 05, 2010
Overcome with WANT WANT WANT.
Every single pair of shoes in this blog post. EVERY SINGLE PAIR.
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August 02, 2010
À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for July.
Bought:
- All Mortal Flesh, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (iphone/kindle)
- I Shall Not Want, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (iphone/kindle)
- Sword in the Storm, by David Gemmell
- Stormrider, by David Gemmell (used: $2.50!)
- The Lyre of Orpheus, by Robertson Davies (used: $5!)
- Curse of the Wolf Girl, by Martin Millar
- Midnight Falcon, by David Gemmell
- Ravenheart, by David Gemmell
Read:
- In the Bleak Midwinter, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (borrowed from mom)
- A Fountain Filled with Blood, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (borrowed from mom)
- Out of the Deep I Cry, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (borrowed from mom)
- To Darkness and to Death, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (borrowed from mom)
- All Mortal Flesh, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (iphone/kindle)
- I Shall Not Want, by Julia Spencer-Fleming (iphone/kindle)
- The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger (re-read)
- Sword in the Storm, by David Gemmell
- Curse of the Wolf Girl, by Martin Millar
- Slut Lullabies, by Gina Frangello
Bad month for slipping up and buying books. ;(
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July 27, 2010
I would SO go to Pacey-Con.
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July 18, 2010
Late-Night Grocery Shopping
- 1 pint butter pecan icecream.
- 1 bag sweet hawaiian onion potato chips.
- 1 box rootbeer/lemon-lime/banana popsicles (three of each, NOT mixed).
- 42 packets of black cherry Koolaid mix.
It was still 88 degrees when I was walking home at 2 a.m. Can you tell?
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July 16, 2010
L'alone. Sigh.
Some of the writing on this site is a bit too ouchy to read (without crying anyway). But I love all the photos and the illustrated sayings. I just do.
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Trying out some summer TV: new and old.
The Bridge - sorry, Chief Tyrol, but this show isn't good enough to keep watching. Too many corruption plotlines even for a two-hour episode. Choppy editing, bad dialogue.
The Glades - The character is a bit too arrogantly "I am so funny" for me. And I thought it was a little bizarre how many times he went back to the crime scene and found yet another clue. Don't they have forensics down there? Wouldn't that stuff have all already been catalogued and filed into evidence?
Rizzoli & Isles - Actually really good. Tightly plotted, well acted, nice chemistry between a bunch of the characters, not just the main two. Thumbs up. (Bonus = creepy backstory scars.)
Haven - Not great but definitely watchable. Like a less goofy/funny Warehouse 13. Plus several good-lookin' boys. So there's that.
The Choir - I liked it enough to keep watching, but not totally into it. But then I NEVER watch those reality shows y'all love. So maybe it's just that it's not my genre. The little Kenyan boy, Enoch (sp?), is not only so insanely adorable but dang, he may have the best voice in the choir. And I do love both the enthusiasm of the director dude and the fact that he's young and actually able to do himself what he's asking of others. Which is most certainly NOT the case on some of the reality shows I've seen an episode of here or there.
Also watching:
Lie to Me - It's similar to House in that it all really falls on whether you can tolerate the main character but it's different than house in that a) the main character isn't such a train wreck and b) the storylines each week differ a LOT more than the ones on House do.
The Good Wife - I find myself a little taken aback by how much older Julianna Marguilies looks. I guess I just remember her in the Clooney ER days and haven't seen her do that much between. It's OK. I have only seen scattered episodes though. (Chawne, if you're reading this, in another celebrity shoutout, I've actually played softball with [against] Chris Noth.)
Warehouse 13 - I thought the first ep was a little bizarre, didn't really have the same tone as last year's show to me. But I liked the second one better and you know I'm a) a big Eddie McClintock fan and b) a fan of any show with a purple-suited superhero. Come on now!
Burn Notice - The failing of this show this season for me is that they just never follow up on the Fiona/Michael relationship. The past two seasons were huge steps in him admitting he loves her, him being able to show it... and now every week maybe one tiny moment of flirting and that's it?!? COME ON PEOPLE. I need my virtual relationships to actually BE relationships. Throw me a frakking bone, here.
Friday Night Lights - This show will never be what it was to me in season 1. But there are several quality storylines going on and it's STILL some of the best truly real-life emotions (not TV emotions) acting there is out there.
Eagerly awaiting:
Dark Blue returns August 4. It's not the greatest cop show but it's all dirty and dark and sometimes that's what you're looking for.
Season 3 of Sons of Anarchy starts on Tuesday, September 7 and I'll be jumping out of my skin by that time waiting for its return. I've already rewatched both seasons 1 and 2 this summer (as well as all 4 seasons of BSG. Hey, I had the month of May off!!) and I just can't wait to see what happens next even as there's some stuff I'm just sooo worried about MIGHT happen!!
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July 12, 2010
One can see the appeal of disposal cook/eat ware.
1. One washes all the dishes.
2. Dinnertime! One cooks, creates some dirty dishes, puts leftovers in tupperware.
3. Breakfast. More dirty.
4. Oh, lunchtime! Take out tupperware (now dirty), heat up food in pan/pot/etc. (now dirty), and eat off plate/bowl/etc. (now dirty!)
5. Oh, dinner! Cooks. More dirty.
6. One washes all the dishes.
7. Breakfast! More dirty.
8. Lunchtime. Take out tupperware (now dirty), heat up (dirty), eat (dirty.)
9. Dinner. More dirty.
10. One washes all the dishes.
Ad nauseam, ad infinitum.
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A conversation.
C: Where'd you get that skillet?
Me: At that store that's exactly like Linens 'n' Things, but the other one.
T: Skillets 'n' Things?!
Me: Uh no. You know...
C: Ha! No, I know, it's called...
T: LINENS 'N' SKILLETS ?!?!
[queue hysterical laughter]
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July 06, 2010
À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for June.
Bought:
- Dead in the Family, by Charlaine Harris (iphone/Kindle)
Read:
- The Hidden City, by Michelle West
- A Distant Magic, by Mary Jo Putney (borrowed from Mom)
- Dead in the Family, by Charlaine Harris (iphone/Kindle)
- Still Missing, by Chevy Stevens (from Steph, thanks dude!)
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June 22, 2010
Books I Wish I Could Buy Right Now
- "A Visit from the Goon Squad" by Jennifer Egan
- "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet" by David Mitchell
"Slut Lullabies" by Gina FrangelloI have very generous friends!
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June 19, 2010
I have yet to see an episode of True Blood.
But this video is hilariously fantastic.
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June 16, 2010
À la Nick Hornby, books in/books out for May.
Bought:
- Magic on the Storm, by Devon Monk
- 61 Hours, by Lee Child (iphone/Kindle)
- The Hidden City, by Michelle West
Read:
- Magic on the Storm, by Devon Monk
- 61 Hours, by Lee Child (iphone/Kindle)
- The Fool's Progress, by Edward Abbey (library)
- The Photogenic Soprano, by Dorothy Dunnett (library)
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May 15, 2010
Dear Joaquin,
this entire thing just makes me so, so sad.
Seriously: WHY?
Sincerely,
someone who used to love you,
Duff.
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