Barbara's comments
(member since Sep 03, 2007)
Barbara's comments from the Constant Reader group.
(showing 1-20 of 1,837)
What a wonderful scene you painted, Mina! Thank you.
Ruth, that is interesting that you knew Gregory Nava's brother and that he was an artist.
Sherry, I really liked The Great Debaters but can't remember many details about the end. Did you watch the special features? There was some very interesting information about the people it was based on. They brought the ones who were still alive back to talk about it.
Last night, we watched My Family, Mi Familia, a generational saga about a Mexican family in California. It was produced by Francis Ford Coppola, but written by Gregory Nava and Anna Thomas. It was done in 1995 and includes Edward James Olmos, Jimmy Smits and Jennifer Lopez in the cast. There are a few awkward moments, but, overall, it is well worth your time. It is visually beautiful, both funny and tragic and I loved the music.
And, tonight, we watched David Mamet's Spartan, made in 2004 with Val Kilmer and William H. Macy. It requires an assumption that the people who run our country are without souls but it definitely held my attention.
My mother always made what we called oyster stew on Christmas, but it was actually kind of a cream of oyster soup. I truly hated it, but her family was Danish and she said it was their tradition. Now, my husband usually prepares steak poivre and twice baked potatoes on Christmas Eve. We all live for that dinner and, for the past two Christmases, he has been teaching our sons to do it.
I just finished listening to South of Broad, Pat Conroy's new sprawling novel. There was just enough verbal magic to get me through, but Conroy needed a better editor on this one. I didn't really believe the characters and I was particularly impatient with the wealthy ones. I also thought that the plot was wildly implausible. This was an audiobook production and the reader was excellent. I initially had a difficult time adapting because I had listened to Frank Muller read 5 of Conroy's books and he became the right voice. However, since his death, there was no choice but to change. The new reader, Mark Deakins, did an excellent job.
Oh no! They owned the dvd of The Piano Lesson, but it's lost. Now, I need to look elsewhere.
I've been intrigued by the descriptions of this play and, since my library owns it, I picked it up this afternoon. Now, I need to check to see if they have the dvd.
Ruth, watching Omar on the witness stand comparing his role in life to the lawyer who was interrogating him was worth watching it all on its own. And, of course, the many versions of Clay Davis saying "Sheeeeeiiiiit" had me laughing out loud.
I would definitely recommend starting at the beginning too, Al. The 4th season is based in the school system and was my favorite. I don't think that is just because I am a teacher. It truly had excellent depth. And, the former Baltimore detective who cowrote the show also worked as a teacher after he left the police force, so he had real life experience. When I checked Amazon to make sure that I was right about the 4th season being based in the schools, they were making the same recommendation as your friend. But, I disagree. It's much richer if you know who the continuing characters are.
I read The Man Who Made Vermeers a while ago so I haven't had a lot to contribute but I am truly enjoying the discussion. Jonathan, I particularly appreciate your efforts to expand on the background. I love the idea that the Boijmans Museum in Rotterdam does display The Supper at Emmaus. This is an important event in art history.
I just finished reading The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro, my favorite contemporary writer. Munro based these stories on her own heritage which could have been a paralyzingly narcisstic experience in the hands of a lesser writer. In Alice Munro's, it was magic. I had been saving this collection because lately I'm afraid each one is her last. But, since I know she has another one coming out, I allowed myself the pleasure. I also had read a number of the stories in The New Yorker magazine, but reading them consecutively was a much more satisfying experience.
I heard that too, Al. I had a gift card waiting for me on Amazon and just used it to buy the Christmas album plus two books for our reading list.
Kenneth, one of our contributors from North Carolina who hasn't been around for a while recommended Ron Rash to us on the short story conference a year or so ago. I bought Chemistry and Other Stories and loved those stories. I'm currently reading Serena A Novel and am glad to see your other novel recommendations from Rash.
In case you haven't heard, Bob Dylan has a Christmas cd out. This is the video for one of the songs. It made my weekend:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/play...
I've been overwhelmed by preparing for and participating in parent conferences at work this week, so I haven't been on the computer at all. I need to go back and read this story again. For some reason, I was so immersed in the tension that I didn't pause to doubt the boy.
Al nominated this story and likes the author. I'm interested in her take on the story.
My son's girlfriend sent me this link this week and I finally got a chance to sit and enjoy it. God, I miss this show.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/16...
Ruth, we saw Do the Right Thing recently too. I'm pretty sure I saw it before, but it really hit me this time. There was a great article in The New Yorker recently about Spike Lee that I think you would like (in case you missed it):
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/...
I know that you are a subscriber, but I think every one else can access this article too.
Sheila finally got time to post her first update after arrival. This is so much fun for me to see this trip through her eyes.
This is an interesting point of view, telling the whole story in the 2nd person. It felt a little strange to me, but as the story progressed, it worked. What did you all think?
The character of the stepfather reminded me of the one in This Boy's Life A Memoir by Tobias Wolff. That's not to say that if felt derivative to me. It didn't. They both set up an atmosphere of tension that persisted throughout the writing.
And, what did you all think of the ending? To me, the leopard felt like the one force that could overcome the bullies, his stepfather chief among them.
Our next short story, "Leopard" by Wells Tower, is available online and is not in our anthology. You can find it at http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/feature...This is all the biographical information that I could find online. It was at the Macmillan site:
Wells Tower’s short stories and journalism have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, McSweeney’s, The Paris Review, The Anchor Book of New American Short Stories, The Washington Post Magazine, and elsewhere. He received two Pushcart Prizes and the Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review. He divides his time between Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Brooklyn, New York.
His one published book appears to be a collection of short stories entitled
Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned Stories. I'm assuming this story is included there.
Constant Reader
