Trailer: Elegance of the Hedgehog

I must be on a foreign film run, because here's another one! This one's based off of the book The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I remember thinking the book was something I considered reading maybe two years ago, but the style just wasn't something I'm used it. However, I think I'm going to enjoy the movie much more than I would have enjoyed the book.

Book: Shockaholic

Once you finish Kaling's book, read this one! Actually, read her first book Wishful Drinking and then read this one.

Book: Woody Allen on Woody Allen

If you haven't noticed, I'm a pretty big fan of Woody Allen's. I found this book at my local library, and I love it! 

Each chapter is dedicated to a conversation between Allen and filmmaker Stig Bjorkman about a particular film. Other books featuring Allen's thoughts exist (such as Erik Lax's Conversations with Woody Allen) but I prefer Bjorkman's format. So after I watch an Allen film, I can read all about the decisions behind casting, cinematography, producing, directing a particular scene, etc. Lax's book is divided into chapters based upon the different elements of film--casting, directing, cinematography, etc. 

Click here to learn more about the book and to read an excerpt. 

I'm pretty sure this is common knowledge, but I didn't know it til I read this book--Annie Hall was based off of Diane Keaton in real life! Allen and Keaton shared a famous relationship for many years, and a lot of the film characters' relationship is based off of this. Keaton's original name is Diane Hall, which she changed upon registration for the Actor's Guild, because Diane Hall was already taken. 

Books: Wishful Drinking

This book is pretty hilarious. I haven't read the other works of Carrie Fisher (more famously known as Princess Leia), but maybe I will once I get more time! I was interested to find out that the movie Postcards from the Edge featuring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine is about Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds (of Singin' in the Rain fame!).

Update: Books and Film

Recently, I've made my way through some books and film (see title). I enjoyed all of them a lot, and they'd be nice additions to anyone's summer.

Katharine Hepburn: A Life in Pictures

This book was such a nice read. After having just finished the Finkler Question, I wanted to get some pictures and visuals in. I love big movie book anthologies that either summarize particular film eras or the life of a specific film star, and this one fit the bill. It also happened to be priced at a lovely $5 at my nearest Borders' Bargain-priced shelf. There book boasts a nice summary of Hepburn's life, huge picture spreads, and quotations peppered here and there.











The Finkler Question

I liked this book a lot, mostly because of the character Julian Treslove, who definitely spends a little too much time in his head and too little time with his feet on the ground. Jacobson really gets us in the character's head, and the result is pure joy for the reader. I liked the first half, and then the book got more political than I would have liked, but around page 225 the writing returned to the thoughtful and hilarious musings of various characters.












The Trip

This movie was so much fun. It's currently out in select theaters, but individuals who are Comcast subscribers can watch it On Demand. Go to On Demand, Movies, Search, and type in Trip. You should be able to find it. After paying $7.99, individuals will have 2 days to watch the film and replay moments if desired.

Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon play exaggerated versions of themselves in this film, which is a compilation of episodes of The Trip, which aired in the U.K. on television. The movie has many moments of seriousness, in which themes of loneliness and love are explored, but I appreciated the film for its stand-out comedic bits. Brydon does brilliant impressions, and Coogan does an equally great part mocking those impressions or trying to improve them. The banter in this film is par none, I think, in terms of buddy comedies. The film is said to be partially improvised, and you can totally tell in their verbal back-and-forth. Definitely a must see!




Woody Allen on Woody Allen

I'm a huge Woody Allen fan (see here for an old post), and I was delighted to find this book in my local public library when I browsed the film section. Each chapter is an interview with Allen about one particular film. I didn't get to finish the chapters of interest, but I hope to soon!

Woody Allen makes as strong an impression on paper as he does on film. For film lovers, this would be a great read.









Midnight in Paris

I've been wanting to see this film for ages! I finally did, and sure enough, it was pleasurable to watch but not in the way I'd expected. Ever since I saw the commercials, I thought Owen Wilson was perfect for taking on the role of a neurotic Allen-esque character. Yes, Wilson was a little on the hyperthinking side, but not as much as I'd expected. This film is less overly self-critical as it is more fantastical with some nice, clean lessons learned for the audience and main character. Wilson's character makes routine trips into 1920s France post-midnight, and his experiences with individuals such as Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald are a real treat.

I don't think it's as hyped up as I thought it to be (which is very fitting given one of the messages relayed by the film), but I'd still recommend it to those considering.

Excerpt: Snow Falls and Then Disappears

'The violin goes out of tune whenever it enters a new environment, as though it loses confidence before a performance.'
--From Simon Van Booy's short story Snow Falls and then Disappears


This quote doesn't have much to do with the plot of the story, but I just liked the way he described the instrument going out of tune.


So far, Snow Falls and then Disappears has been my favorite story in his book. I want to tell you about it, but writing about it will spoil it! (As is also the case for most Doctor Who episodes) I had to reread it again to confirm that I understood it properly. What a story! If you can somehow find it, read it! It's only 6 pages in my small paperback.

Excerpt: Preface to Shakespeare's Kitchen

Let me preface this excerpt from a preface with: 'No, not that Shakepeare.'


Today, I visited B&N (yet again). I decided to plop myself in front of the B section, but there was nothing to my liking. In fact, most of the books seemed to be romance novels etc. I migrated then to the S section. Just like in Hangman, Ms and Ss are safe bets. After looking at this book, this one, and this one, I finally found one that seemed more like my kind of thing. 


A book called Shakespeare's kitchen? I thought it was some kind of clever little thing that re-imagined what 'ol Will Shakespeare had in his cupboards. After reading the back cover, I found out that one of the character's surnames just happens to be Shakespeare. Well, guess I was wrong on that count.


I became more interested when I saw the NYT snippet of "Lore Segal is an astute and gentle observer." Aha, seems like my kind of thing. 


And so I opened the book, with the intention of reading the first few pages. But lo, to my surprise, there was a preface by the author herself! I really enjoy reading author's personal opinions on their works--if only to gain more insight into the writing. This was also the case when I read the personal statements made by Budd Schulberg in What Makes Sammy Run?, a book from the 1940s exposing the wheelings and dealings of Hollywood execs. 


But back to Lore Segal's book. In the collection of short stories (my favorite genre!), the main character finds herself among members of an intellectual think tank. 


A quote from Booklist:
'Her entry into the claustrophobic academic setting, combined with Segal's wonderfully funny power washing of conversational dynamics, is a perfect way to explore the roles we play and the truths and lies we tell ourselves about ourselves. Yes, at some level it's a comedy of manners set in academia, but given the light touch with which Segal shares her immense powers of observation' 





When I was reading the preface, I found this statement to be particularly striking: 
'I want to translate Gothe's Wahlverwandeschaften as 'elective cousins,' the cousins we choose. I was thinking about the sometime-comedy of providing oneself with such a new set. How do we meet people we don't knove? How do acquaintances become intimates? And I was thinking of the sadness when we divorce friends and they turn back into acquaintances who are less than strangers because they can never become future intimates.' 


I thought that last line was so sad. 


This book should be an interesting read. It's a little more than a dozen short stories, but they fit together nicely to make a novel. Originally, the stories appeared in various magazines. 


Check it out here.

Excerpt: The Secret Lives of People in Love

'When I watch people line up at the check-in desks [at the airport], I sometimes try and make eye contact with children so when I pray to allay their fears [of flying], I can see the pools of their eyes and then drop my prayers into them like coins being dropped into a well.'
--From the short story, The Shepherd on the Rock, in Simon Van Booy's book

After reading this, I thought it was one of the most darling images I'd read in a while. I reread the sentence a few times. It brought back childhood memories of throwing a penny into a fountain, the high-pitched 'plink' as it hit the water, and the coin's slow descent to the floor. As I felt it leave my fingertips, the weight disappeared as suddenly and impressively as if I had just released a bird from my own hands.

Back to the story--tossing positive thought pennies into the wells of children's eyes? I love it.

Book: The Secret Lives of People in Love

Recently, I revisited a book that I had only partway finished. It was Simon Van Booy's The Secret Lives of People in Love, which is a collection of short stories.

Last night, I read 'Distant Ships,' and I found a few things that Van Booy wrote to be particularly meaningful.

In a child's handwriting, language is exposed as the pained and crooked medium it really is.

• What an interesting and accurate description Van Booy came up with! I loved this statement on two accounts. First, the image of childhood handwriting and the rough texture of crayon immediately came to my mind, and for some reason (most likely nostalgia) it made me happy. Second, Van Booy got me thinking about the nature of language. Because it is almost impossible to find the right combination of words that express a sentiment precisely, language is in fact a 'pained medium.' However, I found it funny that Van Booy's (seemingly easy) proficiency with words was used to express just how difficult writing is. In fact, his entire collection of stories contains literary 'moments' that just make me pause and sigh--how can one writer express things that I believe I have felt all along, but just could never express myself? I think this gets to the heart of what all my favorite writers have in common. They write things that I, upon reading, go, "Why didn't I think of that?" They master words in a way that I don't think I ever will. They can voice thoughts and ideas with a clarity that I envy. 

My mother slipped on some ice and broke her hip, then without any warning she died in the hospital. It was like the closing of a book I never thought could end.

• When I read this, my first thought was, 'What an elegant way of expressing every child's fear.' (Even after we become adults, we are still our parents' children). For most, parents are one of the few things that are constant in our worlds. Life without them is almost unfathomable. My second thought was less of a thought and more of a feeling. I felt sad. Sad about the fact that my parents, just as every individual, would eventually reach the last Decembers of their lives. 

In this village with its damp shoes and Sunday hymns, you are old the moment someone you love dies. 

• This sentence carried a similar sadness about death and losing loved ones. I think that the act of losing a loved one is worse than having a lost loved one. The absence created by death is violently sudden, whereas the existence of a deceased loved one leaves one with a duller but constant heartache.

Sometimes when I read old chapters [the narrator referring to a journal-like work], I am suddenly in the midst of how things were--it's like being on a theater set that someone has built of your life. Memory is like life but with actors.

• Immediately out of pure association, I thought of Shakespeare's 'All the world's a stage' line. This statement by Van Booy taps into a similar train of thought--one based on the fact that actors are exactly what their name implies. They are not actually the characters they play, but simply interpret what the author or playwright has written about a character. Just as actors mostly resemble their characters, memories mostly, but not completely, represent reality. Our recollections of the past may, for the most part, tell the truth, but the fine details slowly disappear, just as the textures of rock are lost to beating tides.

I wake up to rain tapping on the window like a hundred Welsh mothers. 

• This line just makes me want to smile and giggle (and I do!). The image of a hundred Welsh mothers (Welsh? That modifier is totally unnecessary. All mothers are like that. Especially mine!) with their faces up against a window, decorated with furrowed eyebrows and wrinkled foreheads, simply delights me. 

Isn't it interesting how we use the verb 'compose' for both music and sentences? Yes, everyone knows that people compose music. But, we also compose sentences! Remember back in grade school when you took a read and writing composition class? I think it is no coincidence that the two share this verb. Both writing and music have the potential to be viscerally powerful, and only a select few can arrange the notes or words in a way that evokes that beauty. 

And so I urge you all to read. You don't have to pick something up with the intention of finishing. Read. Read until you find something you like. Even if you don't finish something, at least you better understand what your likes and dislikes are. Read until you find your literary niche--books that you are comfortable reading, and books that you enjoy reading. If want to challenge yourself, read something not typically found in your library. 

We only have one life to live (no, I would not like to discuss the afterlife, etc.), and writing allows you to experience ideas and thoughts that you may never have the chance of encountering. So read. Read...and live! 

Excerpt: The Giant's House

A line of socks waited for their matches on the top of the dryer.
'These poor socks have lost their spouses,' said Caroline. She picked one up and talked to it. 'Poor widowed sock.'
'It's true,' I said. 'Socks mate for life. Socks and swans.'
'But you can't just throw them out, can you? I always introduce them to another abandoned sock.' She picked up two lone socks and began to roll them together.
'Still,' I said, 'they're never really happy.'
'Oh, I don't know,' said Caroline. She unrolled the socks and held up both to inspect them. 'Wash them together enough, and they grow to look like each other. Just like an old married couple.' Then she rolled them back up and threw them in the basket.
'A sock love story,' I said. 'I've never before thought of the laundry as romantic,'
'Everything's romantic,' she said. 'But I suspect you're a cynic.'

-From Elizabeth McCracken's The Giant's House: A Romance 

If you liked this quote, I highly recommend this book! These kind of off-beat (but really lovely, pause-and-reread-worthy) bits made McCracken's novel a real joy to to read. 

Tina Fey Excerpt: "A Mother's Prayer for its Daughter"

http://braiker.tumblr.com/post/4710736472/tina-feys-prayer-for-her-daughter

You can find the text at the website above. It comes from her book, Bossypants. This chapter gave me the most laughs-per-line so far! Enjoy. :)

Book Review: Bossypants

 

Tina Fey is kind of my hero. Her writing is smart and oftentimes laugh-out-loud (or at least guffaw-out-loud) funny. I'm sure this is the umpteenth time someone has used those same adjectives to describe Tina Fey, but it's probably because there's truth in it! I'm about halfway through, and I've been enjoying every page of it. 

Chapters of note:

• My honeymoon, or a supposedly fun thing I'll never do again. 
• Peeing in Jars with Boys
• I Don't Care If You Like It
• Amazing Gorgeous, Not Like That
• 30 Rock: An Experiment to Confuse Your Grandparents