Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the category “Movies”

18 Aug 2012

The Portrait of a Lady and Wandering off the TBR Trail


image: thebooksavenue.com

Henry James tends toward florid and superfluous narrative descriptions, at least so in The Portrait of a  Lady. I cannot fault him too severely since the novel appeared as a serial in a magazine, which meant he got paid for the word.  Today’s editors probably wouldn’t be so generous, being space is more valued than profundity in current publications. Nevertheless, Mr. James is in good company in terms of wordiness since much of Charles Dickens’ works appeared as monthly features as well. One problem with my current reading of TPOAL is after two or three chapters I have this urge to get up and read something that requires coasting instead of constant pedaling to get somewhere.  I have wandered off my TBR trail more than a couple of times, and I’m sure Robert Frost would have approved my trail wandering.  Although he might have been more in the manner of path resistance than not.

Here are a couple of easier reads I’ve slipped off and enjoyed.  DISCLAIMER: because the are labeled “easier” does not mean they are not of merit.  I’ve recommended them to other readers and I hope you will consider them if you are casting about for a coaster versus a peddled read.

image: amazon.com

I picked this one up off the freebie cart at our local library.  I needed a book for my four hour flight and it seemed the right size and the title intrigued me.  I thought the book would be a cheesy murder mystery and instead I was treated to a humorous, bordering on fantastical, character ensemble tale.

From Kirkus Reviews

By the author of the arresting Max Lakeman and the Beautiful Stranger (1990): a Marty-themed, whimsical novel with flashes of bright fantasy and high hilarity–all about two losing loners who find each other–and love. The story begins with the death of retired hardware-store owner Atlas Malone–no simple affair, involving as it does greetings, conversing with, and digging the message of a most familiar angel. Here, dying is a far from peaceful matter–whether in the Malone preserves, where live Atlas’s wife Gracie and horribly disfigured son Louis, or in the Intensive Care Unit of the local hospital, where toils short, squat, unlovely Iris. Take one long-term patient, the dying comatose Tube Man who will speak–one ghostly word at a time. Then there’s the town undertaker, who grabbed a gold ring after dying–for a reason having to do with an old dirty deed. Another wrongdoer will show up in the hospital, the ever-drunk Harvey, a link to Louis because Harvey had shared a transcendent moment with Louis 16 years before, when the teen-age and then handsome Louis had yet to be disfigured by the fire Harvey claims he set. Of course, Louis, a recluse these many years, always encased in a scarf and hat, and Iris the lowly and lonely, do get together–but it’s only after Louis’s plummet (or was it an ascension?) from a second-story window and a gathering of the world as represented by the neighbors who accompany him in a loud caravan to the hospital. Then, while Iris and Louis heed the incredible summons to love, Gracie and Iris’s tottery father also pair off. An attractive flight into romance’s more fabulous dimension- -but whether or not the fantastic palls, the ructions and crackings wise by the nurses laboring at incredible machines and patients are a fascination and delight. Cohen continues to bemuse and entertain. — Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

During the summer I attended an AP Conference and my brain fell into mush after a week of intensive how-to-teach-literature training. After a week of such intensity I wanted to relax with a book not from the 19th century and considered a classic in need of a lengthy analysis.   I found all that and then some in a new-to-me author Jetta Carleton and her book Claire de Lune.  Although initially elated I had found a new author I immediately wandered about in glumsville upon learning she only wrote two books before her  death. I thoroughly enjoyed her writing and only wonder what her writing career would have amounted to with subsequent offerings.

From Harper Collins:

The time: 1941, at the cusp of America’s entry into World War II. The place: southwest Missouri, on the edge of the Ozark Mountains. A young single woman named Allen Liles has taken a job as a junior college teacher in a small town, although she dreams of living in New York City, of dancing at recitals, of absorbing the bohemian delights of the Village. Then she encounters two young men: George, a lanky, carefree spirit, and Toby, a dark-haired, searching soul with a wary look in his eyes. Soon the three strike up an after-school friendship, bantering and debating over letters, ethics, and philosophy—innocently at first, but soon in giddy flirtation—until Allen and one of the young men push things too far, and the quiet happiness she has struggled so hard to discover is thrown into jeopardy.

Not knowing I was reading her undiscovered manuscript (it was thought to have been blown away in a tornado, but a friend had been safely keeping it and it was found something like 50 years after Carleton’s death) I immediately sought out her first book when I returned home.  There it was waiting for me on the shelf!

Again from Harper Collins:

On a farm in western Missouri during the first half of the twentieth century, Matthew and Callie Soames create a life for themselves and raise four headstrong daughters. Jessica will break their hearts. Leonie will fall in love with the wrong man. Mary Jo will escape to New York. And wild child Mathy’s fate will be the family’s greatest tragedy. Over the decades they will love, deceive, comfort, forgive—and, ultimately, they will come to cherish all the more fiercely the bonds of love that hold the family together.

A fourth diversion was not quite as enthralling, and I read it mainly for another slant on Shakespeare.  The concept proved more fascinating than the actual read and I found myself skip reading through it.

From the New York Times:

May 9, 1999

By ALLEN LINCOLN

image: amazon.com

I

f what we don’t know about the life of William Shakespeare could fill several books, Robert Nye’s entertainingly overstuffed novel bursts its bindings with gossip, rumors and outright fabrications about him. Its fictional author, Robert Reynolds, an actor who when young played female lead roles in many of Shakespeare’s premieres, is writing his version of his mentor’s life. Reynolds — or ”Pickleherring,” as he prefers to be called — possesses not only an excellent memory for trivia but a wide-ranging, wandering mind that makes rival biographers like John Aubery look like models of objectivity and concision. The few records and confirmed dates in Shakespeare’s life form the smallest part of Pickleherring’s red herring-stocked chronicle, which incorporates not only familiar rumors — for instance about Will’s lost years, which he possibly spent as a lawyer, or a sailor, or a deer poacher — but also folk tales, riddles, songs and a constant bombardment of allusions to works by and about Shakespeare. Among other true-to-life details, we learn about the four dozen different ways to spell his name; about his favorite oaths while playing tennis against the scholar John Florio; and about his interest in flowers and especially weeds. Engaging if overly discursive, Nye’s novel has more of the real Shakespeare in it than the souffle-light ”Shakespeare in Love.” 

True, it was fascinating learning so much about Shakespeare (although much I had already read elsewhere) and I did at first embrace Pickleherring’s loquaciousness; however, Pickleherring  did *ahem* have some personal issues that well, hmm, let’s just say that got in the way of reading.  If this had been a movie I would have fast forwarded some parts. Well, he was living in a brothel…

I did manage to finish The Portrait of a Lady and the second half had me breathless as I anticipated what Isabel would do about Ralph, her husband, and the continuing dedication of Caspar Goodwood.  I ordered the movie version primarily because Viggo Mortenson plays Caspar and all through the book knowing soon I would be watching Viggo kept me going when James’ snail pace bogged down (I try to read the book first before watching the movie)

The book’s ending is so perfectly rendered I will encourage my students to read it for AP.
“Go after her, Caspar,” I encouraged him, especially after that amazing kiss. I will always want to know if Caspar pursued Isabel to Rome.  Someone want to take on a sequel?

I am next on to Ellison’s Invisible Man, which is the most mentioned novel for AP exams (coming in a 26 times!).

Related articles
Posted in Books, education, Movies, Reading, Teachers, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
19 Jul 2012
2 Comments

A Room with a View by E. M. Forster or Lucy Goes to Europe and What She Found There


Cover of "A Room With a View (Two-Disc Sp...

Cover via Amazon

One goal this summer is to meander through the Advanced Placement books I inherited from former teachers and determine my own class reading list.  Some books are friends (Hi, Jane, good to see ya) and others I am waiting for an unspecified time to introduce myself (Portrait of a Young Man). Length is a consideration at this point, meaning reasonable so I can get through as many as possible. Fortunately, there are many in that category and are  waiting patiently for my in my book bag.  I am concerned my students are going to be better read than I when it comes to the suggested AP reading list.  Can’t have students being smarter than teacher, eh?

My list began with Room with a View. Though the book is not overpowering in length, I moseyed through it.  Forster is not a dine and dash author; one must read and relish. Vocabulary, writing style (that omniscient narrator is a little cumbersome at times), and pacing are all considerations. These are not insurmountable problems. My real problem was how Helena Bonham-Carter’s face kept popping up during my reading. This stems from having watched the Bonham-Carter adaptation ever so long ago and her white linen suit and expressive face would hover at the edges of the novel.  It wasn’t terribly disconcerting, although it makes it difficult for a clean read,*

 

Having finished the book, I have decided it’s a definite keeper, and to interest my students in reading it I’ve pulled some snippets to share with them.

  • Mr. Beebe was right.  Lucy never knew her desires so clearly      as after music.  She had not really      appreciated the clergyman’s wit, nor the suggestive twitterings of Miss Alan.  Conversation was tedious; she wanted something big, and she believed that it would have come to her on the wind-swept platform of an electric tram.
  • Why were most big things unladylike?  Charlotte had once explained to her why.  It was not that ladies were inferior to men; it was that they were different.  Their mission was to inspire others to      achievement rather than to achieve themselves.  Indirectly, by means of tact and a      spotless name, a lady could accomplish much.  But if she rushed into the fray herself she would be first censured, then despised, and finally ignored.  Poems had been written to illustrate this point.

 

These passages spotlight why Room With A View is a TBR (to be read.) Forster underscores Lucy’s quest for what makes herself tick, and she wants to do it on her own.  She is tired of others telling her what to say, what to think, and how to act, for it has numbed her creative aspirations to do for herself.  The only time she feels moved out of this numbness is after playing music.  Music becomes a catalyst to opening up her emotional pores, so to speak.  The music stirs a yearning within, although she is not quite sure of what, but she does know it involves moving from where she is, hence, the train metaphor.

After my booktalk on RWAV I will end with a clincher as to why they should select it for their TBR list: And is Lucy’s predicament of finding herself so different  your own desire to break free and become your own person? (So, try it, you’ll like it).

If the selected passages don’t tempt my students I intend on nudging their interest through sex and violence, which are spices few resist, especially among youth.

 

Throughout the book Lucy experiences life by increments and when she tries to rush into larger experiences, the results are tragically unexpected.  About on her own she witnesses a murder in the public square and that incident is the catalyst for other events. Having been protected from the baser aspects of life, Lucy does not know how to acknowledge this unexpected violence.  Nothing like an old-fashioned impassioned stabbing to open the eyes that life is not all lace and crumpets. She is rescued by George.

  • In chapter six we find Lucy is unsure what to do about the attentions of  George Emerson:
    • In an open manner he had shown that he wished to continue their intimacy. She had refused, not because she disliked him, but because she did  not know what had happened, and suspected that he did know.  And this frightened her.

Lucy refers not to the incident when George in an impetuous moment kissed her, rather she refers to how he came to her aid after she had witnessed the street murder.  To talk of death, seemingly creates more intimacy than sharing life through a kiss.  Neither event had she partaken prior to coming to Italy, and both significant events are shared with George.  No wonder the poor girl is not ready to continue on—she must be thinking whatever is the next step, and that is the page-turning question:  How awakened is Lucy going to become?  And will it be with George?

Lucy Honeychurch—I believe we all have a bit of Lucy within us, and it doesn’t necessarily take an Italy to find ourselves, but I hope we all have a George in our lives, someone who prevents us from making a costly mistake, and someone who helps us realize how alive we really are.

After the book I sought out the movie versions.  Helena, not being available, I checked out the Masterpiece Theater version.  Andrew Davies is masterful at sifting through the dross to pull out the shiny bits of a novel.  Sadly, I was none too happy with Mr. Davies in how he ended the MT version.  Major spoiler if I continue.  Excuse me while I go out to find if Helena is still busy.

*reading the book FIRST and then watching the movie in order to form my own visuals of characters, etc.

Related articles
Posted in Books, education, Movies, reviews, Teachers, Writing and tagged
23 Jun 2012
4 Comments

Airport Moments


Cover of "The Terminal (Widescreen Editio...

Cover of The Terminal (Widescreen Edition)

 

I’m sitting here in the middle of a two hour layover at an airport that could use a serious makeover.  There is a pervasive nuance of worn out and drone in this place.  It’s not that I’m a world traveler and have a large repertoire of airports to pull out from experience to offer up comparisons, I’m calling it as I see it.  Plus, having caught a flight out of an especially aesthtic airport this morning (Portland–PDX–Orgeon progressive at its best),  it’s a real let down to spend excess time in a rundown terminal.  I shall not name it, except to say it’s in the Southwest and it’s hot out there.  Real hot.  Like I hope I have a covered tarmac to the plane because it’s heatstroke weather hot outside. (I didn’t–I nearly melted like a candy bar left on the dashboard)

Being between flights there is not much to do.  On the other hand, there is plenty to do in the people watching department.  My writer’s mind is storing all sorts of vignettes as I pretend I’m occupying myself with my laptop (well, I guess I am–this post is proof).

First Moment:
People-mover walkways never cease to amaze me.  Why do people walk on boring airplane motiff carpet when they can be transported on the rolling terminal sidewalk?  A fave is to stride aboard and walk with purpose, as if I am a Person Of Importance. Slow movers ride the right side as I power-walk down to my place of destination. The scenario:

“Sylvia checked her voice mail quickly, before reconfirming her flight and gate number.  Securing her phone into her purse, she mentally rehearsed her opening remarks  once again, allowing spots of applause and appreciative chuckles within the time frame.  Her thoughts were hampered by the incessant recording “the sidewalk is ending–please watch your step.”  Wait, that could be a metaphor.  Life is like a moving sidewalk in that we simply step on and roll through life and if we aren’t careful we can end up stumbling at the end.  Sylvia decided she would work it into remarks.”

Second Moment:
How does someone end up working behind an airport Burger King counter?  I pondered this as the cashier rang up my purchase. Did she think at fifteen that she would be handing back, “Have a nice day” with someone’s change when she was 32?  Would she go back, if possible, and say, “Girl, listen up to the counselor. You had better sign up for geometry, take that Biology II class, and don’t forget to study for your vocabulary test on Wednesday, otherwise you will be still wearing that zip up fugly polyster uniform when you get out of high school.”  She maybe took the wrong Frost path.

Third Moment:
“Look at this, no hands.  It’s self-propelled.”  This comment is directed to the woman in the airport courtesy wheelchair. The attendant grins widely as he walks alongside her.  She looks over at him like he’s popped a lugnut off his hubcap and his sanity is seriously wobbling.  Then, she smiles and they both share a laugh before he grabs a hold of the handle and continues pushing her towards her flight.  My thought: “Cool.  Way to make a rainbow in the middle of day.”

There are many more micro-moments: the guy in a ponytail, too tight plaid bermuda shorts and too small Calvin and Hobbes t-shirt and no visible carry-on luggage (hmmmm…), the grandma next to me reading her e-reader (who says Greys don’t do tech?),  the anxious bumped passengers waiting to get their name called off the short list (reactions range from resignation to disgruntled subdued rants shared on phones).

I remember watching a movie with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones a few years back, The Terminal,where due to circumstances beyond his control, Hanks ended up living at the airport, all the while harboring a passion for Jones, who is a stewardess.  I would not want to live at the airport, at least not this one.

Eve Bunting wrote a picture book, Flyaway Home,  about a father and young son who choose to live at an airport instead of the streets.  Both the movie and the book showed how airports are made for short visits and not lengthy stays.  Wait–my flight is finally being called.  I’m bound for home, or will be home soon enough.  Airports, are best suited for destination portals, and people watching.  Home addresses they do not make.

 

Related articles
Posted in America, Books, Movies, travel, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , ,
17 Jun 2012

What’s Love Got to Do With It?


What’s Love Got to Do With It?.

Posted in Blogging, Books, Movies, reviews, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
17 Jun 2012
3 Comments

What’s Love Got to Do With It?


Zora Neale Hurston, American author. Deutsch: ...

Zora Neale Hurston, American author. Deutsch: Zora Neale Hurston Español: Zora Neale Hurston (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Cover of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Cover of Their Eyes Were Watching God

Tina Turner belts out a great 80’s tune about love and relationships and her personal point-of-view on the whole age-old matter of that interpersonal sparking that goes on between man and woman.  That tune kept running through my mind as I read Zora Neale Hurston‘s Their Eyes Were Watching God.  I think Janie and Tina would have been soul sisters or at least would have gone out for a girl chat at the local Starbucks.

TEWWG is not a title I would have picked up on my own.  I’m not a fan of dialect-heavy text, hence I don’t do a lot of Mark Twain either.  Simply tell me the person is Irish, Swedish, Southern, or illiterate Northern and I get the idea.  All the enhanced ‘taint so, hissa, and blimeys wear on my inner ear after awhile. Since Hurston’s book is on my list of AP Literature texts we will explore in class next year  I have plucked away at Janie’s vernacular and have come away an enriched reader. Why? Hurston’s writing style is mesmerizing.  I also came away with another plucky female protagonist to add to my list.  Janie is a survivor, and an admirable individual with or without a man in her life.  She’s got chutzpah. Janie is one of literature’s greatest philosopher’s concerning love:

“Love ain’t somethin’ lak uh grindstone dat’s de same thing everywhere and do de same thing tuh everything it touch. Love is lak de sea. It’s uh movin’ thing, but still and all, it takes its shape from de shore it meets, and it’s different with every shore” (20.7).

We as readers witness how Janie experiences love in three different forms: an unwilling, immature teenager who’s ignited imaginings of love are reduced to serving as a farm hand; a trophy wife whose own needs become buried as her social position rises; and finally as the woman fulfilled in a marriage of choice.

Written in 1937 (literary wagging tongues say Hurston did so in seven weeks), Hurston’s novel covers many issues reflective of the times.  If we can set those aside and concentrate on Janie, I would comment on how Janie set a standard worth noting: marry for love, even if it cross grains tradition and common sense.

What does love have to do with marriage?  Everything, according to Janie.  Tina gave us her opinion about it in the eighties, but Janie had it hands-down in thirties. Let the love meet you on the shore of life.

Related articles

wikipedia image

P.S. Halle Berry presents an admirable Janie in the movie version of the book.  While the movie condenses the book greatly, Janie’s character is captured well by the beauteous Berry.

 

Posted in Blogging, Books, Movies, Reading, reviews, Writing and tagged , , , , , , , , ,
16 Jun 2012
9 Comments

Chocolate Fortune Cookies


This week is one of celebrations: school is out for the year (Yay!); I celebrated a double-digit birthday of significance (Nice!); and the blog rolled out 3,000 hits, 70 followers, and 65 posts (Way Cool!).  This calls for dark chocolate.

Image Detail

http://www.darkchocolatebenefits.org

My MEPA (most excellent personal assistant) spoils me by providing dark chocolate when I most need it: when I’m stressed and when I’m happy.  Not any dark chocolate, mind you, the best dark chocolate.  Bars are now in the past, lately my favorite brand comes out in bag style with individually wrapped morsels awaiting tasting and savoring.  The chocolate part is gratifying; however the best part is that each wrapper offers a profound, even witty saying–basically I’m partaking in chocolate fortune cookies.  Yummmm…

Here are my favorites so far:

  • Chocolate therapy is “Oh, so good.”
  • Stir your sense of pleasure
  • Be the first to hit the dance floor
  • Take time to notice the color of the leaves changing
  • Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.
  • Your smile is your best accessory.
  • Stop and enjoy the chocolate aroma.
  • Remember the simple pleasures in life.
  • All you really need is love, and a little chocolate doesn’t hurt!
  • The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
  • Renew your sense of discovery.
  • It’s OK to be fabulous AND flawed!
  • Feel free to be yourself.
  • Chocolate speaks the international language of love.
  • Life is good.
An added bonus of this chocolate therapy is if I buy two more specially marked bags I will receive a movie ticket.  Dark chocolate and the movies–almost as good as a book and my hammock.
Related articles
Posted in Blogging, food, holidays, Movies, summer, Teachers, Writing and tagged , , ,
03 Jun 2012
2 Comments

I Do So Appreciate My Readers


Cover of "Inception"

Cover of Inception

Cover of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"

Cover of Their Eyes Were Watching God

It is ever so wonderful to check notifications and discover the nomination of a blogger award.  This one comes  from AJ Jenner. She is doing what most of us writers would like to do–take a sabbatical from the workaday world and she is seriously pursuing writing.  Yay and hooray to live out that goal. News update: she just won a screenwriting contest.  Double hooray!

I’m a little fuzzy about the requirements of this award and so I will wing it (as usual).

First off: what have I been up to lately?  Hmmm, besides grading papers until my eyes and resolve give out, I’ve managed to smush in some fun stuff:

  • read a few books: Their Eyes Were Watching God (a possible text for AP literature), Insurgent (been waiting almost a year for the sequel to Divergent) .
  • watch a few DVDs: Inception (again). Flyboys (for my seniors as a means of emphasizing how WWI experience shifted the world’s paradigm and changed literature forever), Miracle Worker, Romeo and Juliet (both for classes, yet I don’t mind how many times I’ve watched them), Their Eyes Were Watching God (almost as good as the book), Garrow’s Law (series based on real life of the English lawyer who began defense for the prosecuted in 18th century).
  • garden–although I’m not enjoying it quite like I used to. Score? Weeds 5, Me-1
  • gelato walks: on Fridays they offer fruit flavors (strawberry on top and chocolate on the bottom…yummmmy)
  • procrastinate about editing my YA novel that needs to be sent off to a publisher I discovered at a recent writing conference.

Oh, and nap.  I turned to chocolate to relieve the stress of end-of-the year teaching, and gained two pounds.  Napping seems to be working better.  Somewhere I read that those who nap lose weight.  I still prefer chocolate though.

Another part of the award is to nominate other blogs?  I don’t know how many we are supposed to nominate so I will offer up those blogs who regularly respond and drop by:

Eagle-eyed Editor

Samir

Remco Coesel

Literary Tiger

Alundeberg

Merlinspielen

And I do so appreciate my readers, so if I left you off the list, my apologies.  I really need to finish this so I can take my Sunday nap.  Either that or I will succumb to popping down to the store for chocolate.

Related articles
Posted in Blogging, Books, education, Movies, Reading, reviews, Teachers, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , , , , ,
31 May 2012
9 Comments

Romeo, Oh Romeo…


Today will the last day of the Romeo and Juliet unit for my freshmen.  We will end it appropriately with an Insult-o-Rama, which is basically a member from each designated family, Montague vs Capulet, stepping up to the line in our market square and squaring off with insults ala Bard.  You know the ones:

“Thou art an apish, lily-livered bed presser.” If that one doesn’t sting enough:

“Thou be an insolent foot-licking parasite.”  These go beyond thumb-biting, and it is all in good fun.  I keep my door shut just in case, as it does get a bit loud.

My focus when studying Romeo and Juliet is not so much as an introduction and exploration of Shakespeare’s famous play, it is more of an exploration and introduction to Shakespeare himself.  Surprisingly, my freshmen come to class with about a teaspoonful of knowledge about him.  Then again, I didn’t have any exposure to Shakespeare until I began teaching him.  I had heard of him, of course, but I didn’t really believe he had much physical substance.  I placed him a little bit above the Loch Ness monster in that there might be evidence of his existence, but not totally proven. After about ten years into teaching Shakespeare I believe a bit more and in fact have become a proponent of making sure my students appreciate his genius.  Please, no theories on Bacon and company and “Will the real Will please stand up, please” comments.  I think his plays, sonnets, and poems rock.

And so our curriculum starts with Romeo and his Juliet.  I guess two teenagers who are heck-bent on breaking rules by disobeying parents, state law and such still resonates with the teens today.  It makes sense, since if we started off with Macbeth they might go into spasms of cerebral overload.  We start them off gently.  Good call, curriculum powers that be.

Overall, we read a little, act it out a little, and watch different versions.  By the end of the unit most of them can understand Shakespearean language without consulting their No Fear Shakespeare interpretations.  Some students go into unattractive fits of eye-rolling and twitching at the  thought that they will study Shakespeare in their sophomore and senior year.  I don’t know why we skip him their junior year. American Lit studies have no room for him I guess.

There are many faces of Romeo, and both the girls and guys relate to his brash impetuosity.  Who wouldn’t want to be that in love?  Oh, Romeo, thou art timeless.

I leave off with some of the many faces of Romeo with his Juliet:

image: wikepedia.org

image: wikipedia

image: http://www.etc.usf.edu

image: wikipedia.org

image: http://www.movieposterb.com

Romeo Juliet

Romeo Juliet (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Still of Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer in West Side Story

image: imdb.org
Related articles
Posted in Blogging, Books, education, Movies, Teachers, Writing and tagged , , , , , ,
20 May 2012
2 Comments

Nifty Fifty


Ta-dah! This marks my fiftieth post and to commemorate the event here are some random fifty trivia bits.

1.  This weekend my community celebrates Lost in the Fifties.  It’s a weekend where people dress up in poodle skirts and 501’s and saddle shoes and watch a parade of old-time cars go by.  There’s a street dance and a big dance at the fairgrounds with bands that are mock-fifty era sounding.  Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a biggie for tourist bucks.  We even showed American Graffiti at the local stage theatre.

designerjet.com

2.  Of the fifty United States I’ve only been to about seven.  Does airport transfers count?  Then make it about a dozen.

statecountymaps.com

Image Detail

flicker.com

3.  I don’t like weather colder than the fifties.  Forty-five is pushing my comfort zone.

writerleagueoftexas.wordpress.com

4.  If I could name my top favorite fifty books I would have to say To Kill a Mockingbird remains close to the top as my favorite reread.  Which is saying something since I teach just about every year to ninth graders.

5.  Should I set out to gather fifty quotes about reading, writing, and books I would include these gems:

  • The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. Agatha Christie
  • The desire to write grows with writing. Desiderius Erasmus
  •  My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living. Anais Nin
  •  If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it.Tennessee Williams
  •  The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them. Jeff Jarvis
  •  I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done. Steven Wright
  •  Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.Marsha Norman
  •  Be obscure clearly.E.B. White
  • The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.Gustave Flaubert
  •  Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers. Isaac Asimov

6.  Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover is one of Paul Simon’s songs that tends to loop in my brain now and then.Image Detail
7.  I figure I read over fifty books a year, between reviewing them, teaching them, and pleasure-reading them.  I dunno–is that average for a Book Booster?
Oh, hey–this also counts for my seven facts about me as part of the Versatile Blogger Award requirements.  Thanks Literary Tiger!
And a thanks also to merlinspielen.com for the One Lovely Blog Award.  Who knew turning Fifty could be so fulfilling?
Posted in Awards, Blogging, Books, creativity, Movies, Reading, reviews, Teachers, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , ,
29 Apr 2012
3 Comments

#7: Saw the Movie, and then I Read the Book (or intend to someday)


Though a professed Book Booster, I  freely admit I haven’t gotten around to reading all that I desire, or for that matter, should.  With time and interest constraints I tend to be selective in my reading, which can be received as either justification or a lame excuse.  I view my dosing of classics like one who would rather take a vitamin rather than endure the indignities of measured broccoli consumption.  Often I will watch a movie and decide, “Well now, I get the gist of the plot, let’s test drive the book.”  Or words to that effect.  Here are some movies which have prompted me to finally read the book:

1. Huckleberry Finn: As much as enjoy Mark Twain as a personality I’m not much for reading his books.  A  couple of summers ago I attended a week-long conference on Mark Twain, complete with experts and workshops, and still did not become a fan.  I will go on professing his genius and his contributions to literature, although I am a reluctant reader.  When I watched the movie I became drawn into the complexities of how a young man, namely Huckleberry, came to shed the baggage of his culture, slavery, being the biggest bag. Twain is an unmerited expert in taking on such a huge issue and presenting it so that it palatable.  Then again, Twain’s presentation creates a lump hard to swallow for many people, which is why Huckleberry Finn continues to be a challenged list somewhere at any given point.

Cover of "Les Miserables"

Cover of Les Miserables

2.  Les Miserables: Someone told me how they suffered the reading of this classic in their French class, and it made me leery.  He said it was not the  struggling through the actual reading of it–it was the sad, sad nature of the book.  I think absolutely depressing, was the term used.  Not exactly the best encourager to check it out for myself.  I watched the Liam Neeson version and went on emotional alert.  The acting, the story, the cinematography–all riveting. I wept, I commiserated, I rankled at the injustice, I shivered with anticipation, I was exhausted when the final credit rolled by. Shamefully,  I still haven’t read the book.  I am concerned I would compare it too much to the movie.  Yes, the movie was that amazing.

3. Little Dorrit, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Oliver–okay, okay, pretty much all of Dickens.  I’ve professed in a previous post my grievance of Dickens’ penchant for overwriting; nevertheless, it is no excuse for me not to read his books.  Again, I respect his tremendous literary influence, especially in terms of how his writings brought about social reform (child labor laws, especially). There is so much profundity in his writing I cannot properly chew and digest. Literary indigestion, I’m afraid.  Hence, I pop that cinematic vitamin pill and feel vindicated that at least I’m experiencing Dickens.  This is why I adore the British Broadcasting Company. All of the Dickens adaptations watched have been BBC productions viewed via the Masterpiece Theater on-line option.  My latest viewing involved the newest version of Great Expectations with Gillian Anderson as the imposing Miss Haversham.  Wow and my goodness, she was incredible.  Having invested heavily into the Thursday Next adventures by Jasper Fforde, I thought it essential to understand who and what Miss Haversham was all about.  Gillian Anderson provided the answers.

4. The African Queen: Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn.  How could I resist such a combination? After watching their captivating performance I sought out the book.  For once I will state  the movie proved better than the book.  Especially the ending.  No spoiler. Nuff said on this one.

Cover of "The African Queen (Commemorativ...

Cover via Amazon

5.  True Grit: My dad and I watched plenty of John Waynemovies together and I couldn’t believe someone would be bold enough to remake the one movie, his signature movie.  Staying true to the Duke I snubbed the Coen’s remake and simmered.  After hearing all the good reviews, and prompted by family members I relented finally and checked out the DVD.  This was no remake, but a recreation.  The Coen’s found an actress, Hailee Steinfield, who delivered a stunning performance.  She reminded me of Mary Badham’s performance in To Kill a Mockingbird.  I promptly checked Charlie Portis’s novel and found the Coen had paid fine tribute to a beautifully written story of forgiveness and redemption.  I plan on making this a required reading for my sophomores. Unfortunately, the publisher has no plans of reissuing it in a more affordable format as can be found for TKAM.  I plan on adding this movie and the book to my favorites list and will be revisiting them from time to time.

I might revisit my #7 at a later time.  Five seemed a good number for now.  Now, I pose a question for you:

Posted in Books, Movies, Reading, reviews, Uncategorized and tagged , , ,

Post Navigation

Newer Entries →