BOOKS:
ON WRITING:
I just read a great quote regarding the writing process and self-examination. It’s from Jonathan Franzen’s (THE CORRECTIONS, FREEDOM) interview in the Paris Review. It made me laugh, because it’s so true. “You always reach for the easy solution before you, in defeat, submit to the more difficult solution.” Sigh, how many other things does that apply to in our daily lives?
WHAT I’M READING NOW:
THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE – by Julie Orringer. And loving it.
YOUNG ADULT:
REVOLUTION – JENNIFER DONNELLY
I reviewed and raved about Donnelly’s book, A NORTHERN LIGHT a few posts back. Now she’s written another, REVOLUTION and it is so good! I get pumped when I find a good book. It inspires me, it gets me going on my own writing. Once again Donnelly plumbs history to meld it with the present.
Donnelly writes about Andi Alpers a teen musical prodigy attending a fancy school who is going through a very tough time since the death of a family member. Frightened about her well being her father whisks her to France where Andi’s life begins to strangely echo another teen from the French Revolution.
Coupled with the story of Marie Antoinette’s family is the intriguing mystery of a child’s heart perfectly preserved from the revolution. But to whom does the heart belong? The mystery and the transformation of both girls will keep the pages turning.
I loved the rich tapestry of history that Donnelly weaves into the background. I felt I was there with Alexandrine “Alex” Paradis as the politcal climate came to a roiling boil.
I could not stop turning the pages. You know it’s a good book when you’re bummed your halfway through it and you want more, more pages!
One of the wonderful things about reading Revolution for me right now, is that half of it, is set in France right before the Revolution and I’m reading Les Miserable which is set in 19th Century France during the political upheaval. The stories worked together to ground me in that region, during that time period, superimposing their tales, so that I feel as if they belong in the same fictional world happening at the same time.
In VANITY FAIR magazine – Actor Rob Lowe talks about his memories of auditioning for the movie version of S.E. Hinton’s, THE OUTSIDERS, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. . I’m not sure if it’s an excerpt from his autobiography that came out last april, STORIES I ONLY TELL MY FRIENDS, but the story of how the cattle call came down to him and the handful of actors that were finally cast for the movie, is engrossing. It brought me back, to the other teen movies I loved SIXTEEN CANDLES, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, THE BREAKFAST CLUB, and all of the young actors vying not just for that movie, but for their futures. Reading about Tom Cruise’s confidence, Patrick Swayze’s swagger, Matt Dillon’s charm, and the enigmatic, He’s the next James Dean---Mickey Rourke’s acting buzz was a fun ride.
LES MISERABLES – HUGO
Yes, I’m still plowing through Les Mis and loving it. Here’s my update if you’re following.
His observations! He really wrings out the most of a situation. He takes his time so that the reader feels every nuance. The themes of redemption and second chances at life are planting seeds in me. If you give someone rotten a second chance, there’s no hope. If you give a second chance to someone who was good to begin with, the path changes. Then there is the theme of misplaced goodness in the hands of someone treacherous, a frightening thought.
The storylines have built up to a frenzy. Marius is studying the next door neighbors, the mysterious, Jondrettes--- who I know---(spoiler coming) are going to turn out to be the Thenardiers. Hugo didn’t put that trump card in early on regarding Marius’s father saving Thenardier (when he was really trying to rob him) for nothing! Is that all it takes? Mentioning a scene where Thenardier saves a man on a battlefield and we’ll keep that in our memory bank until he shows up again 100 + pages later? I love how Hugo calls the wife the Thenardiess like she’s a tigress or something….
Hugo’s use of aliases is interesting. Is this like Nabokov’s use of doubles?
BRANDO:
BUCK - This stunning documentary (by Cindy Meehl) on Buck Brannaman horse trainer and consultant for Robert Redford’s HORSE WHISPERER made me cry. Buck is more than a horse trainer, he’s a gift to horses, he’s another way to be. Also, Buck the man, is funny. Just his explanation on what a human climbing atop a horse feels like to a horse is pretty comical yet true. The documentary follows Buck’s childhood and the tragic moments of his life that created who he is now. Buck’s philosophy confirms what I’ve always thought about the animals we have the privilege to raise: they reflect who we are inside. Sort of like the idea of a witch’s ‘familiar’.
Here’s his website: http://brannaman.com/
Here’s the movie’s website: http://www.buckthefilm.com/
GO SEE IT.
SUPER 8 – J. J. ABRAMS, Produced by Steven Spielberg, Starring Elle Fanning (who steals the show), Kyle Chandler (FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS), Joel Courtney, Ryan Lee (so funny!), Ron Eldard.
First off, Mary, if you’re out there on Goodreads, yes, I really enjoyed the movie. Elle Fanning does steal the show, and it’s a testament to her acting that I literally forgot she was Dakota Fanning’s little sister. The camera loves Elle.
In the summer of 1979, a group of friends witness a mysterious train crash in the middle of the night. Soon, unsettling events begin to unfold in the small town. Who can they trust with the truth? The movie is about knowledge and power, how we choose to wield it, how it destroys and how kindness can literally set a soul free. It’s about the friendships you form, the jealousies, the hopes and goals. And oh yeah, there’s something that’s not of this world in the small town. I must say, I grinned each time young Ryan Lee had a line. Those braces! He’s like that kid you remember from elementary school! It’s impossible to tell more without revealing the plot. The texture of the movie reminded me of Stephen King’s short story that was made into the movie STAND BY ME, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Will Wheaton and River Phoenix.
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS – Woody Allen, starring Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates, ---and (wink, wink) Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Salvador Dali, Gertrude Stein, Pablo Picasso, Laurtec and many others...
Owen Wilson plays a struggling writer who accompanies his fiance and his potential in-laws on a trip to Paris. On a midnight walk he discovers an enchanting part of Paris few people have ever seen. Inspired by one of the writers he meets, he leaves a restaurant only to turn around and find the restaurant gone…Alison Pill was delightful as Zelda Fitzgerald and Kathy Bates is always good. Adrian Brody is a dead on Dali look alike. It’s about inspiration and conversation with people we feel a kinship to; how passion and encouragement and nurturing the soul as a writer nurtures a story. It’s about looking back and seeing the past as golden, and really posing the question of why that is, is it because the present isn’t all that great and what can we do to make it better for ourselves so that we don’t long for the past and instead want to be in the here and now. It’s about finding a place you feel you belong.
BURGERS:
5A5 Steakhouse lounge– 244 Jackson Street, SF.
Our friend JJ arrived from San Antonio and we went to AS5….They had these amazing, amazing, Toro sushi shooters: toro, fukujinzuke, soy-dashi sauce, massago….lordy. They come in a little shot glass, cut up like cerviche, little cubes, but ten times more delicious. The ambience is pretty cool. It had sort of a 60s throwback feel. The overhead lighting looked like the bottom of a space ship. How have I missed this place? The only reason I can think of is that ALWAYS amazing, Kokarri, is right next door.
EL PASEO House of Chops – Throckmorton, Mill Valley http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2011/03/22/tyler-florences-el-paseo-opens-here-are-10-fun-facts-about-the-new-mill-valley-restaurant/
So I was excited to check out this restaurant because it was an old mainstay of Marin, and I didn’t bother to visit it then, because I thought, well, it’s old and like, been here forever, and yes it’s good, only everyone’s been here. But my husband booked us for the new version. Tyler Florence and Sammy Hagar have revamped and rekindled the place. The restaurant and bar section are separated by just a sliver of a charming alleyway of cobblestone. Each cottage feels warm and cozy and new. There was outside eating, a long table nestled into the little kidney shaped hollow of the bar-restaurant cottage. There was a heating lamp and tons of charm. I made a note to return with friends on a hot summer night and eat at that spot. Great service, lively atmosphere. The cobble stone alleyway is now jumping with people and the delicious smells hit you the moment you walk in the door: baked bread, and garlic and pesto and steak. Yum. I had the filet with the house steak sauce and that was delicious. The steak didn’t even need sauce and I’m a sauce girl. So I did half sauce, half no sauce, and yes I gobbled the steak up. The chicken fried steak floated by on someone else’s platter and looked out of this world as did the rhubarb pie. But I was stuff, those are some big portions. Um…Dorothy, we’re not in Kansas anymore, we’re in TEXAS! At least the portions felt that way.
We were seated inside next to the big hearth we sat down and EVERY THING was good.
Lets just put it this way, the complimentary sweetbread came in a cast iron pan with a handle, the entire loaf broken up into six parts was about the size of a domino case, the bread warm, melty, and the bottom layered in like a quarter inch of pesto butter or something equally yummy. I had to stop myself from eating it like an entrée and I actually asked the server if I could take the rest home in a doggy bag and to please leave the pan out so I could dip whatever else I could in it to sweep up the very last remnants of whatever that delicious pesto oil was. My steak was D-licious and I loved that my server knew his wines and was confident about which one to get. Lawdy. I must go back again. It was a real treat.
AND BASEBALL: (friendly rivalry, comments, heckling welcome):
So I’ve become a new fan of Baseball because of our 2010 SF Giants. And I have to put in a few disclaimers:
1.I’m still not sure I’m a fan of baseball as much as I am a fan of these 2010-11 GIANTS team. It’s like when Jordan was with the Chicago Bulls…I was a fan of basketball. And now? I can’t get back into it. I was born and raised in San Francisco and never batted (no pun intended ) an eye towards the Giants. Barry Bonds? Couldn’t care less…But now? This team of misfits like the band of brothers in Saving Private Ryan have got me hooked. On any given night, someone else can be the hero!
2.Our good friends, brothers, who played ball for the Toronto Blue Jays and Southern Arkansas University in another life, suggested one weekend that I start writing about my new found love of the Giants (and baseball in general), because I kept speaking to them in my own made-up baseball lingo. And this disclaimer goes for everything on this blog. I’m not going to worry about grammar or misspelled words, though I’ll try…If I do that too much I’ll freeze up and never write this blog. Okay? So, alright. Play ball!
Speaking of which. We went to see the Giants Vs. Dodgers game last night, July 18, 2011. Vogelsong shut them out, 5-0. Sandoval aka Panda aka Pandoval hit a homer, a beauty that went out like a shooting star past center field. Somewhere around the third inning I noticed the couple to our right. The woman and I were chuckling over how when a tall person sits in front of you it’s like a nightmare. Where do you go? Which way do you lean? Thankfully, we had an open seat to our right, so we scooted closer to the couple. But then somewhere around the fourth inning the man started clapping whenever the Dodgers got on base.
I felt my hackles go up. I looked over at my husband, and I said between gritted teeth, “Is he clapping? For the OTHER TEAM?!!!!!” Seriously, like I felt a growl coming out of me. Have you ever tried to take a bone away from a dog? You know that growl that comes out of them sort of primal like? Yeah. That was happening, but it was all in good fun. To be honest, it was fun and festive to have the rival team supporters in the stands. It made the win even sweeter. A lot of good natured heckling was going on. A few games back, for the Mets series, a guy came in with a Texas Rangers hat and the group of guys behind him who’d been heckling him, a few innings later, went and bought him a Giants cap and plopped it on his head. The guy turned in surprise and they (including the Tex fan)-we, all started laughing.
So it’s two days later and it’s a gorgeous day in the city, I mean like Maui gorgeous, and why didn’t I buy tickets for the Timmy vs. Kershaw duel? WHY OH WHY OH WHY? Brandon Belt’s back, with a homerun last night on his third swing, thank you very nicely. Crawford is just incredible, we’ve got a new catcher to the roster, Stew is growing on me and the Astro traded guy makes his debut…Keppinger? Kepplinger? Last I checked it was the 6th inning and I’m sulking cause it’s 0-0 and why didn’t I BUY TICKETS? Can you spell SWEEP? Silent scream…….
