Monday Moments - Intermezzo

 I keep feeling that Sally Rooney is an author who's making her mark now, but will be used as an example of the era in years to come.  I've read her  very literary books - Conversations With Friends, Normal People, and Beautiful World Where Are You with mixed reactions. She can be almost too observational in her writing, and yet the descriptions of  the situations are spot on. Her characters are very flawed, and often not nice people - and yet that's very true in life. There are times when I question why I'm reading her books, and yet I'm intrigued. 

So - this new review of Intermezzo continues the same way. I'm glad I read it, but it wasn't "easy". This is not an entertaining book.  The brothers are a mess. The women they are with seem too clever, frankly, to be with them. And yet, I was compelled to find out how they all would fare.  Ivan is twenty two, his older brother Peter is thirty two, and their father just died. We follow them as they grieve, face each other emotionally, and react with their loves. It's a new interlude- possibilities abound, and old hurts must heal. 

Tough read, but interesting. Sally Rooney does tap into deep feelings and her writing is rather gorgeous. 

Finally Friday - September 5 (the film)

 Munich 1972

Olympics

September 5 - a day the terrorist group Black September invaded the Israeli rooms in the Olympic Village, they killed, took hostages, made demands, and the sports viewing public saw the tragedy unfold before us thanks to ABC coverage. 

The film September 5 is a stirring, fast paced ninety minute recounting of how a normal sports coverage broadcast day became THE top news story of its time. Peter Sarsgaard plays Roone Arledge, the sports director. He recognizes that he and his sports crew have the inside angle and wherewithal to scramble for the best reporting.   

Keep in mind it's 1972. No cell phones. Filming is done on big reels. Graphics are hand cut letters. CBS has some key satellite usage times and ABC has to negotiate for it. This was not a 24/7 instant news world.  

So, not only is the actual story sadly gripping, but just observing the  technology of the time is "entertaining".  I found myself holding my breath at times, even though I knew the outcome. And tears welled up at anchor Jim McKay's words.    At the end, Ray said, "Wow, that was really good." 

September 5 is a very worthy film to watch.  Kudos to the ensemble cast and the production crew. 

Whatever Wednesday - Winter Art

Remember I zoomed up to Delaware to hang with my sister and we went to Longwood  Gardens?  Here are a few treats from their conservatory.  This is a wire sculpture "tree" in a planter.  Very cool, right?

 And here's another.  My pictures  don't really show the haunting shadows, but I liked the window  reflection. 

Then walking outdoors, this illuminated structure and its shadows left me in awe. 

I hope your January or February has a moment of wonderment.  If it's outdoors - bundle up!

Monday Moments - Finding Freedom

 For someone who doesn't cook very well, I do like cooking stories. I was a huge fan of Anthony Bourdain. I've watched a lot of Ina Garten shows.   Martha  Stewart is entertaining. And I've read a lot of cook  memoirs.  Let's add Finding  Freedom to the list.  

Erin French, from Maine, grew up working in her dad's diner. She thought she'd escape small town by being  the first in her family to  go to  college.  But, an unplanned  pregnancy brought her "home". A jobless single mother, she thought she  found salvation with an older  man willing  to  love her  and her  son.  Oops. 

In this memoir, Erin French writes about her struggles with the wrong man, her addictions, her goals to  have  a restaurant, the loss of it,  and her fight to  rebuild  her  whole life and culinary career.  She has packed a lot of living  in  a short  time.  

Now her Lost Kitchen is a cooking achievement, with folks clamoring to book reservations a year in  advance. This book is  honest, bold, and shows a woman with a food passion who found herself again.  

cover blurb - There's a timeless connection between food  and  generosity, renewal, and freedom. 

P.S. I want to  visit  her restaurant. Or  just hang out on her patio. I'll  take leftovers!  

Finally Friday - A Real Pain

By the time you read this review, A Real  Pain might be streaming. It's a small artsy film created and directed and acted in by Jesse Eisenberg.  I've always liked him - he plays an excellent nerdy, angsty dude with a good heart.   His close cousin in this film is played by Kieran Culkin - a rather eccentric actor with soulful  eyes. 

The two are off on  a special Poland tour with an emphasis on Jewish history and the Holocaust.  They leave the tour a day early to visit their grandmother's town to see where she grew  up.  Both men fondly remember the grandmother, but Benji (Culkin) talked to her weekly and took her death hard. He's a "lost boy/man" and even attempted suicide. David (Eisenberg) is married with a young boy, but worries about Benji and is trying  to understand his cousin.

Benji is the charmer and makes friends with all in the tour group. He's extra sensitive and seems to extract MORE from the whole experience. David just wants to not make waves in the world.  The movie is "small" and yet is filled with great acting, a lot to think about in regards to family and connection, and it respects history.  The Poland backdrop is a bonus. 

It's a very weird little thinking movie, and I liked it.  Not  for everyone, that's for sure. 
 

Whatever Wednesday - James by Percival Everett

 James by Percival  Everett is a Pulitzer Prize finalist  and very worthy of that title.  cover blurb: A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- both harrowing  and ferociously funny - told from the enslaved Jim's point  of view.    Who knew someone could match Mark Twain in clever observation of  American ridiculousness?  Mr. Everett has raised the bar immeasurably. 

Jim hears he's  about  to be sold.  Huck has faked his own death to escape  his violent father.  The two begin their dangerous  raft journey down  the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of Free States. (cover blurb)  

 From Jim's point  of  view,  we see his intelligence, compassion, and internal life  as a man not  a possession. He can read,  write, and speak the King's  English.  But he can turn around and speak as a slave, the way white men expect him to - example "Who  dat dere in  da dark lak dat?"

James is a commanding, entertaining, funny, and heartrending book. I give it a super WOW - must read!     And it's JAMES...not  Jim.

Monday Moments - Winter Wonderland

Well, I zoomed up to Delaware to hang with my sister, Lori.  Note to self: um, it's a bit cold in January. What the heck. We bundled up and went to Longwood Gardens (a glorious place) for the grand finale of their Christmas lights.  
 

Glistening frozen pond

That's me enjoying the lighted trees

We warmed up in their fabulous conservatory.  Gotta  love the Orchid room.  Wow!!!!!

And how about an all succulents Christmas tree.  So pretty.   A feast for the eyes. 

Don't let cold weather get in the way of fun.

P.S.  I believe the flag should still be at half staff in honor/memory of Jimmy Carter.

(get over yourself DJT and be the bigger man.  Ha - that will never happen)

Also - it's Martin Luther King Day. I salute his memory.  Folks are still trying to reach the mountaintop. 

And Good Luck America.  Buckle up, it's gonna be a bumpy ride

Finally Friday - Shake Down the Stars

 Shake Down the  Stars by Frances Donnelly is a deep immersion into England 1939 to 1945 and three young women. It's a turbulent time, six dramatic  years that shaped these women, friends, families, and lovers. 

At a village garden party, we meet Virginia Musgrave - gorgeous, spoiled. Lucy Hallett - sensible, compassionate. Beattie Blythe, intelligent and  lovely. Also the Musgrave's gardener's daughter.   Everyone knows their place in  this village hierarchy of wealth and privilege. 

Then war turns each woman's life upside down. No debut for Virginia - instead life is rationing, real work, and casual affairs. She's a classic bitch. 

Beattie - her first lover proves to be a bad decision. She's obsessed and that proves to  be trouble. 

Lucy - a sudden war bride, volunteer work that immerses her. She's a backbone to  the Virginia and Beattie story. 

Donnelly's work intertwines these women against the backdrop of war and strong airmen who fly each night and confront death.  This is not a frothy read. You will truly feel the struggles of  these women as they find their way. The emotions are real, the dialogue does deep, and you will be surprised at  some decisions.  Shake  Down the Stars kept  me engaged and intrigued, mad and annoyed. I felt  like  I knew these  women and I wanted to give my opinion on their lives.  Great writing!  

Whatever Wednesday - Going Dutch

We don't have to "go dutch" at the Kimbell Art Museum. I can treat you with my membership guest privileges.  A friend, Trish, and  I enjoyed a lovely hour or so visiting this new exhibit - Dutch Art in a Global Age.  

Artists with bold strokes showed the  power of  the seas as ships transported goods. The  swirling skies  and rough waters are presented in dramatic  renderings. 

The Netherlands, 1600s, was the world's marketplace.  The Dutch East India Company had trade routes to every exotic land. Commodities flowed. Money was made. Artists were fueled by Dutch society.  Hals, Rembrandt, Ruisdael - these artists commemorated their world with portraits, landscapes, seascapes, and rich silver and ceramic objects. 

This still life by Jan Davidsz de Heem shows the mastery.  The gleam of glass, the rich rare fruits, the realism.  From across the exhibit room, this painting positively glowed. 

Amsterdam was a cosmopolitan hub. Numerous  maps, paintings of homes and interiors, churches - all of the works demonstrated a rich and vibrant life.  This  exhibit brings home the power of  a small nation in a global economy. The Dutch had it all - tea, coffee, sugar, spices, tobacco, silks. One underlying issue is the slave trade that accompanied this  wealth.   There's always more to  the story. 

Well done Kimbell by way of Boston Museum of  Fine Arts. Start your year off right  and visit a museum.  Your eyes and brain will thank you.
 

Monday Moments - The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers

I loved The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers (as a debut  author).  This was a treat of a library find as I  browsed stacks  one day. 

Erin Connolly is reeling from a recent tragedy. She's trying  to shake up her life and cleans up her space.  She panics when she realizes she gave away her very annotated copy of To Kill a Mockingbird to a Book Swap box.   When it turns up a week  later, there are fresh notes in the margin and an invitation to Great Expectations.  

Sure enough, that book is in the Swap box and a conversation begins in the margins  of classics.  Who is the Mystery Man?  How are they so compatible?

cover blurb - But Erin and her pen  pal have a shared history that neither of them has guessed. Painful reminders of the past. No  forgiveness.  Erin finds  herself at a crossroads. One  that could change her life forever.  

This book is delightful, moving, touching, and very fresh. Twists and turns of life and feelings - all within a shared joy of books. 

Finally Friday - Learning to Talk by Hilary Mantel

 Learning to Talk by Hilary Mantel are loosely autobiographical stories.  back blurb: Her tales begin in the 1950s in an insular northern village "scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues." With a deceptively light tough, Mantel illuminates the poignant experiences of childhood that leave each of us forever changed.

Her descriptions are just  so rich and fun to read. I am in awe of her writing. 

p. 51 It was a small gray car, like a jelly mold, out of which a giant might turn a foul jelly of profanity and grease. 

p. 63  In that one moment it seemed to me that the world was blighted, and that every adult throat bubbled, like a garbage pail in August, with the syrup of rotting lies.  

Whoa. A bit dark, but thought provoking. 

Whatever Wednesday - Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

 I LOVE Kevin Kwan.  He knows how to write a trashy, classy, funny, fluff novel.   His style is all his own and it's awesome.  Crazy Rich Asians had me hooked.  China Rich Girlfriend, Rich People Problems, and Sex and Vanity - all  warm ups for this cheesy gem of a story.  Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan will be tough to top. 

I  laughed out loud at his dialogue. I find his footnotes on style and ridiculous details hysterical.  I truly don't know if I can explain how spot on he is in describing lifestyles that are beyond our imagination. This book truly is extremely well written ridiculous fluff and it's perfect. 

cover  blurb - A forbidden affair erupts dramatically amid a decadent Hawaiian wedding in this hilarious, sophisticated, and thrillingly plotted story of love,  money, murder, sex - and the lies we tell  about all of them. 

Beautiful people (Rufus,  Eden, Bea, Arabella, Martha, and more)  A mix of old England and new  Asian.  Secret tragedy.  A once great earldom. 

Old money gone.  New  money that's insane.    Read Kevin Kwan and just enjoy the insanity. 

Mic drop.    Oh wait.....there's more champagne......  yeah, you get the idea......um.....yeah....now the private helicopter picks you up and takes you....________________fill in the blank with more champagne.   HA!       Enjoy this ridiculous book.  Trust me.  

Monday Moments - Rest a Spell

We need a bit of a rest on  a Monday.   This photo is from a little Saturday jaunt at our local YMCA on a Saturday morning.  It's a 3/4 mile  walk around a little lake. There's a small fountain.  Generally ducks are waddling about.  And then you get a bonus egret, or whatever this bird is...

Calming and  wonderful.  Take a walk  at your local park  and embrace the spirit.  Aaahhh.  You need this. 

A bonus chuckle for the day.  My friend, Joan's, grandson Theo for Halloween

 

Finally Friday - A Complete Unknown

 Yea, you know him now - Bob Dylan.  But in 1961, Robert (Bobby) Zimmerman arrived in New York  City ready to make his mark  on the  folk scene. 

 In the film, A Complete Unknown, Timothee Chamalet brings Bob Dylan onto the big screen and  tells his story. Here's this kid who seeks out the "biggies" - Pete Seeger (an excellent Edward Norton), Joan Baez (Monica Barbaro), Johnny Cash (Boyd Holbrook) - and proceeds to wow them with his songwriting skills. 

He knows his history, is musically talented, and leaps from unknown to  girls screaming in  a few short years. He's playing small gigs and then moves up to the bigger venues, including the Newport  Folk Festival. That's huge.  But there's tradition in  folk  and  Dylan is squirming under the invoked  "rules" pressure. 

I'm not  "blowing  in  the wind here"...when he takes  the  Newport stage in 1965, and plugs in  his guitar along with his band...well the  "times are truly changing". 

This movie is fun, entertaining, informative, and musically wonderful.  I personally admire Dylan songs,  but was never keen on the man and his voice. Timothee Chalamet did  a super job and I appreciated the Dylan story and history that much more.  Thumbs up to  start movie review 2025. 

Happy New Year 2025 - Going Up or Down?

 A fresh start my friends for 2025.  Are you  going up?  Going down? Confused with the twists and turns of life? 

Deep yoga breath. 

Whatever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might - Old Testament

You may  be disappointed if you fail, but you  are doomed if you don't try - Beverly Sills

Begin at once to live...     Seneca

Good luck my friends with 2025.  Let's see where this nutso  journey takes us. Thanks  for being along for  the ride.   Cheers!