The Sunday Salon

Hello fellow Sunday Saloners. I haven't done a regular meme in such a long time due to busy-ness. But hey, here I am, and I'm going to blather on about books and stuff.

Actually before I get to books I want to talk movies. I just saw the movie Up last night, and I can't say enough good things about it. It was visually stunning, it had extremely well-crafted characters, and it had just the right amount of action, adventure, humor, and fun. The question in my mind as I left the theatre though, was, "Is Up even a kid's movie?" It's certainly marketed as one. However, during the course of the movie, I could hear a young one sitting a few rows behind me asking her mom every so often what was going on in the movie. During a 10-minute sequence at the beginning of the movie, we watch the main character, Carl Fredericksen, meet his wife and life out a full and happy life with her. They exerience the ups and downs of life. Saving money for a dream trip to South America, breaking into the savings to fix a tire. Settling into a house together. Longing for babies. Finding out they can't have any. And finally, Carl, sitting at his wife's bedside as she slips away.

It's a powerful sequence. My husband and I were both very moved by it, and I suspect many adult viewers will connect with that part of the movie as well. But for the majority of the audience, the entire thing would have gone over their heads.

Now, there are plenty of kid friendly scenes throughout the movie. Carl, who is facing life in a retirement home, attaches his house to balloons so he can fly away and visit Paradise Falls, the place he and his wife had longed to see. He ends up with an inadvertant stowaway in the form of a young Wilderness Explorer named Russell, and together they have a number of adventures. The kids in our showing really loved the dogs who could talk because of a translation collar, and the giant bird who follows Russell around. But most of the kids who watch the movie aren't going to grasp what made Carl decide to attach balloons to his house, or why he's so cranky.

It's interesting to me that with each movie, Pixar pushes the limits further and further of what an animated film can be. Their first movies were definitely kid's movies, except that they had enough plot and sophisticated enough themes that parents could enjoy them. But with movies like The Incredibles, where infidelity is a major plotline, and this one, it seems that Pixar is making movies for adults that kids can still enjoy. I will be interested to see what they come up with next.

Last night I also ended up watching I'm Not There, which is really hard to summarize other than saying its about Bob Dylan. Okay I'll try to explain it. Six different actors portray different aspects of Dylan's life and persona. Except that doesn't really capture how trippy and hypnotic the film is. I didn't actually know that much about Bob Dylan before watching the movie, so I just let myself sink into this movie and not try to "understand" it. Afterwards, I had to google Dylan's life and I could see the connections between how different parts of his life were portrayed by the various actors.

Most talked about (and deservedly so) is Cate Blanchett's performance as Dylan. Her appearance, her mannerisms, her rage are completely uncanny. It's almost eerie. Other portrayers of Dylan were Heath Ledger, Christian Bale, and (of all things) Richard Gere.

Having rewatched Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash biopic recently, it was interesting to compare the two. Both Cash and Dylan lived through similar eras, had similar struggles with fame, drugs, and bitter ends to their marriages. But the way each movie went about portraying their lives could not have been more different. Walk the Line is a very conventional movie, while I'm not There is so unusual, someone who didn't know that it was about Bob Dylan might think it was a strange movie with a lot of Dylan music in it.

Now that I've watched both of those movies, I really need to go listen to more of both Dylan and Cash. Maybe while I'm looking at their music on Amazon, I can start finding some new books to read, because I'm about to go to the library and return a big stack of books.

I have been reading. I know I haven't done many book reviews lately, but maybe I'll get to some mini-reviews this week.

Seriously... Is it Friday Yet?

I know I just had a three day weekend for Memorial Day, but I. Want. Friday.

It isn't that I have any big plans. I just think that Wednesday should have the decency to skip right over Thursday to Friday. What say you? Should I start a petition?

Books I Done Dropped

I've been awfully fickle lately with my reading choices. I've picked up a few books only to set them aside for one reason or another. All of these three books are from the library so I doubt I will be going back to them (unless I really get into the mood). Although I don't attempt to review books I don't finish, I thought it might be interesting to see which books I just couldn't get into and why. Here, in no particular order are my meh books of the week:

Zoe's Tale by John Scalzi. I don't know why I can't get into this one. I liked other of Scalzi's Old Man's War books. My husband had rave recommendations of this one. But I just couldn't get into it.

Away by Amy Bloom. Although I have read a few books I didn't enjoy for my IRL book club, this is the first one I set down with the determination there was no way I was going to finish it. The writing is very beautiful, but I just can't get into the characters. At all. Because of the way the book is written, I feel extremely removed from the inner workings of the characters.

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin. The concept totally sounded like something I'd love. A girl wakes up without any memory of anything past sixth grade and has to rediscover her life. Up to the point I've gotten to though, the characters seemed flat and the plot feels predictable. It doesn't help that this book reminds me a lot of The Adoration of Jenna Fox, a book I enjoyed from start to finish.

What books have you not been able to get into this week?

Apparently there is a dog underneath all that fur

Wanna know a quick way to lose 5 pounds (sorry this only works if you are a tiny, cute ball of fluff AKA Cavalier King Charles Spaniel)?

Apparently all you need is a haircut. Now for the winter months, the long coat is great for things like leaving bits of yourself all of the couch, the carpet, and the bed, but in the summer, a more stream-lined look is called for. Less brambles and stickers to get caught on your coat. Lighter weight for the 90 degree days. Stylish, don't you think?

Tigerheart

Tigerheart by Peter David
Reason for Reading: Once Upon a Time
Rating: 5/5

I will say this about Peter David. He has guts to take on a beloved children's story like Peter Pan. I don't know exactly what to call his book in relation to Peter Pan. Although it involves a good deal of the characters from the play/book, they are renamed. Peter Pan becomes The Boy, Wendy becomes Gwenny and so on. And furthermore, it doesn't really retread the events of the play/book, although it certainly echoes them. The main character in this (retelling? homage?) is a boy named Paul Dear, who has grown up with stories of The Boy, who likes to speak to the pixies in Kensington Garden, who sometimes dreams about going away to the Anyplace for adventures of his own.

Anyhow, I'm sure my description is extremely enlightening. Why don't I just get to the part where we talk about why you should read this book?

Okay. First and most importantly, the wholly enchanting style of the book. The omniscient narrator introduces us to characters with a small wink to the fact these are characters we already know and love. He (I feel safe calling him a he) is telling us a story, the type of story that one would tell a child at night just before dreams, and if sometimes the fourth wall is broken for the sake of dramatic effect, so be it. Here is a passage I particularly enjoyed:

Now – let us talk about the Irishman. It should be noted that the Irishman was a witness to all that transpired in Kensington Gardens. We made no mention of him at the time because it was really Paul’s business that was under discussion. The man would have intruded into the tale in a very noisy fashion; and he was disinclined to do so, because ultimately he is a rather polite sort, even if he does claim piratical leanings. So we respected his wishes and kept him out of the proceedings for as long as we reasonably could. But now we must clear our throat; tap on his virtual, if not literal, dressing room door; and bring him to center stage in order to proceed.

The Boy, although not the main character in this retelling, still remains a large presence throughout the book. Instead of coming across as stupid or pompous as he did in the Disney movie, in this book he is irrepressible, charming, and of course, cocky.

"Maybe. Or maybe I'm lying. I am after all, half brother to Coyote, the trickster god." The Boy always made boasts along those lines whenever his veracity was questioned.

The Boy and Paul Dear must eventually go on serious adventures together, but the cause of all their hardships in the first place is The Boy's own cockiness. Which seems fitting.

Should I read it? Only if you like to read really good fiction.

Library: An Unquiet History

Library: An Unquiet History
Reason for Reading: Dewey Decimal Challenge
Rating: 3/5

I don't read nearly as much non-fiction as I should, thus the reason why I decided to sign myself up for the Dewey Decimal Challenge. The goal is to read a book from each of the hundreds. So a book from the 000's, the 100's, etc. This will be a fun challenge to pick out books for. I don't research ahead of time, I just go to the library and wander through the stacks and pick a book that draws my attention.

Thus the reason I arrived at Library. It must have been a daunting task to try and sum up several thousand years of history of libraries, so wisely, the book selects a few interesting examples from each era and doesn't attempt to give a comprehensive history.

This is probably just the fault of the reader, but certain parts of this book really stood out to me, and other parts put me to sleep. I kept expecting to be really interested in the portions about book-burnings in the early 20th century, but I just couldn't get into the facts and numbers without a story to grab onto.

However, learning about the library at Alexandria was fascinating. Of course I knew academically that there weren't printed books back then, put picturing in my mind a library made up of scrolls stacked together, only organized in the vaguest fashion struck my imagination. A person could wander around the library for years and still find little treasures here and there.

Also particularly interesting to me was the final chapter of the book, where the author introduces us to the concept of the geniza, a Jewish tradition where books and paper that had been worn out are pushed through a tiny hole into a storage area, or geniza. All writing was considered sacred because it might contain the name of God, so it had to be buried with care. Battles describes the geniza as the opposite of the library, because it contains all of the writings that weren't important enough to preserve. However, in 1890, when a geniza in Cairo was discovered, it of course shed the sort of light on the Jewish culture that no library can shed, because it revealed the everyday life of the people who lived there. Exercises, journals, notes, lists, lying in piles.

Should I read it? If you like libraries and don't mind a very academic read.

My Fracking Mirror

I have been coveting my mother-in-law's little mirror for a while. It screws into the wall and is on a sort of hinge system where it can pulled pulled away from the wall, so it's really handy for putting on makeup. I had the chance to finally go to IKEA, where she had purchased it from, and pick up one for myself. One of my favorite things about IKEA is the funky Swedish names that they give to all of their products. My IKEA bookshelf isn't just a bookshelf, for example, it's a BILLY bookshelf. Our IKEA coffee table is the BENNO coffee table. And so on.

I am for some reason (it just might be watching too much Battlestar Galactica) I find the name of the mirror absolutely hilarious. It is the FRACK mirror. Now, to their credit, I doubt that the people who named this were aware that it is a swear word in a science fiction show. But STILL.

(Conversations heard around the Kim L household recently:)

Kim L: Sweetie, can you hang my fracking mirror this weekend?

Husband: Of course I can hang your fracking mirror this weekend.

Kim L: Because I really want to start using my fracking mirror as soon as possible.

Husband: Don't worry, I will get to hanging your fracking mirror. I'm going golfing, but I will squeeze out time to hang your fracking mirror.

Kim L: Oh good.