Dennis Lehane, Roth, Jane Eyre and Miette Macaroons

BOOKS:

Went to see Dennis Lehane speak. I don’t usually raise my hand when other authors come to visit, I’m too shy, but I did this time and asked him if he could talk about having a hand in the HBO series, THE WIRE and also his research for Darkness Take My Hand. He was happy to oblige and asked in what way I felt the two were connected so he could speak to my question and I said they weren’t. I just wanted to gush about THE WIRE : )

He had an interesting anecdote about the two characters from GONE BABY GONE, Detectives Kenzie and Genarro. He had tried to access their voices again after (I think) the third book in the series and couldn’t. Some years went by to where he believed he thought they were gone for good (no pun intended), but then a few years back he hailed a taxi and in the middle of the ride the main character’s voice, Kenzie’s voice, came back to him. Just picked up a conversation in his head as if he’d never left.

I latch on to this story because as a writer there are times when we try to grind the voice out and I think that tactic has the opposite effect. At times, the situation calls for waiting and giving the story time to breathe. But it’s scary right? The white noise of silence and a blank page? The impulse is to write anything, one word, a period, an exclamation mark. Anything. But there’s a reason for the quiet, for the break in momentum. Perhaps, we need to go through changes in our own lives to make room for the character’s voices to come. Lehane felt that the first books were about the main character’s premise. The question for Kenzie was always, ‘would he become the man his father was’--- and then Lehane went through changes in his own life. He became a father himself and that’s when this latest book and Kenzie’s voice returned to him.

A more fitting and immediate anecdote for me regarding writing slumps, is watching the Giants on television right now. My favorite broadcasters, Mike Krukow and D. Kuiper said that at times you hit a slump at bat and that you’re grinding for that hit, when the best thing to do is (easy for them to say, they admitted) relax. The same is true for me when I swing a golf club. Think too much about mechanics and you lose the gift, the beauty, of the swing. Writing is the same way. Relax, breathe, if it doesn’t come to you walk it off, reflect, and most of all, enjoy what you’re working on, the love of the game. The love of story. {Side note: Since I began writing this, Lincecum struck out 10 last night to break a Giant’s record of most double digit strike-outs, Huff’s bat is heating up, and the amazing Freddie Sanchez made a golden glove like catch, followed by a throw to Posey to keep a runner at third, bringing a second win against the NY Mets. Sigh----All is right in the world).

J.D. SALINGER BIOGRAPHY – by Kenneth Slawenski. I’m on the first pages of this one and am enjoying the ride. It sheds light on the pieces in Salinger’s life that brought Holden Caulfield to life: the prep school, the acerbic wit, the earnestness, his idea of what was ‘phony’ and even the chain smoking : )

INDIGNATION – by Philip Roth
It’s the second year of the Korean War and 19 year-old college student Marcus Messner, a butcher’s son, flees his father’s increasing paranoia. Obsessed with Marcus’s well-being, Mr. Messner chases Marcus away from the safety of his home town, a school where he is thriving and into the great abyss of college and the threat of war. I found the scenes with his father’s irrational paranoia hilarious.
They brought back old memories of my own mother working my father up. She was constantly worrying where I was, what time I would be home, how I was spending my afternoons. Funny because I was the least likely of my siblings to get in trouble. The three of them had already put my parents through the worry wringer and house mandates that should have been enforced on them were belatedly used on me. I belonged to the stamp club for goodness sakes! I was afraid to sleep in the dark. I kept my security blanket to a ripe old age! I was pigeon-toed, gap toothed, and a bookworm to boot. That type of nerd. The fast crowd would reject me in a heartbeat. I often wondered who my parents they thought they were dealing with when it came to me. A possible Bonnie looking for her Clyde…

LES MISERABLES – by Victor Hugo. Of course it’s a masterpiece, a classic. Still, as I turn the pages I’m trying to understand the puzzle of why I keep turning the pages. And why, as it competes with my reading of David Copperfield, do I keep returning to this book? I’m gleaning some insight, it’s Hugo’s painstaking set-up that keeps you hooked: We’re introduced to The priest, his character, his moral struggles, next comes the convict, and I begin to understand that it’s the gray area that the characters struggle with that keeps me coming back. Today I moved onto Fantine and the tooth buyer and oh lordy, I’m hooked. I’m miserable. I can’t wait to keep reading! I understand the title now. Goodness. And yet there’s hope. Or I’m delusional and projecting hope into the story. Still I read. I wrestle with myself each time to pick something up with a faster pace, a current topic, something I can learn from, so much so that I’ve picked up and finished Philip Roth’s INDIGNATION and finished it in three sittings. But it’s back to Les Miserables, as the story weaves its magic through my veins.

BRANDO:

WIN-WIN – I wish I'd written this story. There's so much to like about it. Paul Giamatti plays small time lawyer and high school wrestling coach Michael Faherty, a father and husband who is struggling to make ends meet when Kyle, a quiet, troubled, teenager shows up on a doorstep. Actor Alex Shaffer (who in real life---at the age of 17 won the New Jersey State Wrestling championship) plays Kyle, a kid with a mysterious past and connected to one of Giamatti’s clients. Faherty’s wrestling team is in desperate need of muscle and talent, is Kyle the answer?

I loved this movie. One of those small gems that don’t make a big splash but completely stay with you. It wasn’t perfect, but maybe that’s what made it so charming. There are some funny scenes and touching ones as well. Teenager, Shaffer channels a little of Sean Penn’s old time Spikoli. Bobby Cannavale and Jeffrey Tambor play Giamatti’s best friends and they are hilarious during the wrestling meets. Amy Ryan (from the WIRE) is terrific as Giamatti’s wife. I wanted more scenes between Giamatti and Shaffer, but I guess that’s a nice problem to have for a story, leave you wanting more!

JANE EYRE – Starring Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, The Kids are All right) and Michael Fassbender (Inglorious Bastards—I love that line when they find out he’s not German and he has one last drink---“Well, if this is it, old boy, I hope you don't mind I go out speaking the Queen's”) The chemistry between Wasikowska and Fassbender, er----Jane and Rochester is electric.

Wasikowska is riveting in her quiet, elegant, plain-Jane beauty. Fassbender is exquisitely unpredictable, menacing. Their repartee was a perfect chess match.
Spoiler coming----I wished they hadn’t left out the Fortune Teller scene from the book---I’m just a sucker for séances and fortune telling scenes. I never grow tired of them. If you haven’t read the book I don’t want to give too much away. My husband wanted me to set up the movie for him, but in this case I told him, “Setting up the story is to tell you the whole movie. It’s Jane’s life.” So just go see it. The actress who plays Jane as a child also deserves credit.

VAMPIRE DIARIES – Klaus! Joseph Morgan is a perfect cast to the first immortal vampire. I recognize those cheekbones from the movie Master and Commander. Glad to see him around. He’s a great foil to Damon’s crazy. I love that line, “I hear your brother and you fancy my doppelganger.” I’ll probably go around the house saying it with that same accent until I grow tired.

Okay, so it’s not a movie but if you’re in the Vancouver area, go see the play THIS. The cast is entertaining and magnetic and we made it to the theater with one second left to go, parked in what I’m pretty sure was not a parking spot and didn’t get a ticket!

SECRETARIAT. I’d forgotten how important adversarial situations are to a character’s growth. I avoided this movie because I thought “I’ve already seen Sea Biscuit.” But no, each story stands on its own. Diane Lane and John Malkovich are terrific as always. I’m so glad Lane is back in pictures. I’ve missed her. Now if we could only get Jodie Foster back in front of a camera.

BURGERS:
Miette – Macaroons. Nope not the thick, pound cake, shaped like an oyster, coconut macaroons. Just throw that image out the door. These are not your grandma’s macaroons. These delicate goodies are like little rosebuds: Vanilla! Rose Guerlain! Chocolate. Wait until you sink your teeth into them. Chewy freshness followed by vanilla in the center, cool and sharp as whip cream. Like biting into a dreamy cloud.

INCANTO – Noe Valley http://incanto.biz/food-wine/sampler-menu/
I looked at the menu. I didn’t want to eat anything. Hearts and belly and ears. My friend K ordered the item I wanted to order but was too chicken to do so. I didn’t want to eat tuna heart. Honestly, I didn’t. No, no, no…but then…she ordered it: Spaghettini, Sardinian cured tuna heart, egg yolk & parsley. Blow-you-away-delicious.