Book Review - Golden Age

Golden Age by Jane Smiley is the finale of her trilogy which included Some Luck, and Early Warning.  She’s covered a century of life for the Langdon family – touched on America’s history as a backdrop, and brought to life the turmoil and triumphs of generations.  Golden Age opens in 1987 – economic, social, political, and personal challenges face the current tribe.  Michael and Richie, the twins, now work on Wall Street and government – high stakes fields. Charlie, a newcomer to the family, proves a worthy rival, and Guthrie who should run the family farm is deployed to Iraq.

Climate change concerns Felicity and could prove the undoing of the Langdon legacy. Here in the 21^st century, the Langdon women find themselves charged with carrying their storied past into an uncertain future. (cover blurb)

Jane Smiley digs deep into the characters and the family. You, the reader, will find an underlying thread of similarity in all family travails. Love, hate, revenge, and faith all play a part as the family works through its struggles to maintain dignity and their heritage. And despite luck and early warnings, it is a golden age of life and writing. Enjoy this saga.

Monday - Memorial Day

For love of country they accepted death -  James A. Garfield

Ah! never shall the land forget - William Cullen Bryant

True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost - Arthur Ashe

Friday Flows into Memorial Weekend

It's Friday and we are amped for Memorial Weekend. Summer temps sizzle already in Texas. No doubt, we have the grocery list ready - hot dogs, burgers, rolls, chips, and don't forget the beer.

Let's also remember. Let's not forget...our fallen soldiers. Reflect on America and fly your flag. A lot of history brought us to this weekend.

The dead soldier's silence sings our national anthem - Aaron Kilbourn

Stay safe my friends. Use sunscreen. Enjoy your weekend and reflect

Movie Review Madness - Huntsman: Winter's War

The Huntsman: Winter’s War is entertaining, but could use editing to tighten the story.  This is a prequel to Snow White and the Huntsman and thankfully does not have Kristen Stewart in it.  Eric and Sara are raised in ice Queen Freya’s army. Eric evolves into Chris Hemsworth (oh, he is mighty and beautiful),  and Sara is played by Jessica Chastain (lovely  and fearless). Queen Freya (Emily Blunt) is heartbroken from the death of her child and is frozen in hatred for the concept of love. She rules the north. Her evil sister, Ravenna (the gorgeous Charlize Theron) is trapped in the magic mirror.

Eric and Sara try to hide their growing love, but Queen Freya, aware of their plot to flee her kingdom manages to stop them and both think each other died. They then move, unaware, in fighting circles drawing ever closer to a huge battle between Freya and Ravenna. When they do encounter each other and join forces to nab the mirror from the ogres, there is still a lot of mistrust – abandonment issues. The final epic battle between fire and ice has some excellent special effects. This movie is full of eye candy and well done scenic richness.

The cast seems like they worked well together and enjoyed their roles. I think the writers could have upped the humor quotient a tad, but the drama overflowed. The Huntsman: Winter’s War is a good Saturday rental. Order your pizza, settle into your comfy lounge chair, and place your bets on Freya or Ravenna – ice or fire, or….?

Wordless Wednesday - Shadows

 Filmy curtain shadow in my reading room

my shadow head on the wall (dang, it's big enough)

What the heck - random pics on a Wednesday

Is it Memorial Weekend YET...?

Movie Review Madness - Jungle Book

The Jungle Book, 2016 version, is beyond fantastic. The CGI animals are uncanny. The jungle is lush and richly filmed. And Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli, is just a charmer with his huge brown eyes and resourceful manner. I highly recommend this film for young and old, but for teeny kids there are some scary parts. Heck yeah, I jumped when the tiger leaped from the field. Yikes!!!

Rudyard Kipling wrote this classic story about a boy, Mowgli, raised by wolves and hunted by Shere Khan, the tiger. In his attempt to go to humans, he encounters all sorts of animals and is guided and lured into trouble along the way. The animals are voiced perfectly – Ben Kingsley is the protector panther, Lupito Nyong’o is the mother wolf, Idris Elba is Shere Khan, evil tiger, Bill Murray as Baloo the bear offers humor and zany along the way, Scarlett Johansson hisses as Kaa the snake, and Christopher Walken is King Louis the mighty ape. Through it all, Mowgli has his human tricks to keep himself alive, and he uses and sees the trouble that the “red flower” (fire) gives humans.

The Jungle Book is very worthy of the big screen. This is what movies are all about –a magical world, a classic tale, a journey, and a boy united with the earth and animals.

Book Review - In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri

Cover blurb:  In Other Words is a revelation. It is at heart a love story – of a long and difficult courtship, and a passion that verges on obsession: that of a writer for another language.

Jhumpa Lahiri, a Pulitzer Prize winning author, chose to move to Italy with her family. She immersed herself in the country, in the language, and then chose to write this book about her journey. She wrote it in Italian, her third language. She grew up in India, her native tongue Bengali. Her parents brought her to America and she learned English, becoming a scholar and award winning writer. But she always loved Italian and wanted to immerse herself in the language. Do you comprehend how difficult that is to do as an adult? To dabble in a new language is one thing. To learn it well enough to write a book in it is another. In turn, her original Italian version of this book was translated back to English by Ann Goldstein, a respected translator. Wow.

If you love words, writing, language, linguistics, learning, scholarship, perseverance, and more – then In Other Words is for you. I’ve always loved Lahiri’s writing – it’s quite lyrical and smooth. Her characters are rich and well developed. In this case, working in non-fiction memoir, her character is flawed and frustrated. She writes of her doubts as she tackles this project. She recognizes the risk she takes to put these words to paper – questions the quality. But she climbs the mountain of words, and while still aware of her baby steps, is proud to share the struggle.

Any writer will appreciate In Other Words – the writing, the process, the constant need to check a dictionary, the constant pruning and cajoling needed to finish a thought.

And you’ll want to travel to Italy….. Pronto