Grim is the word for this novel. I really enjoy Wharton’s works, and while I wouldn’t call the bulk of her work happy, Ethan Frome really seems to carry alot of post-Puritan New Englander baggage.

At the least, the novel is very picaresque, and Wharton is almost too effective at illustrating lives of oppression with only glimmers of passion and truth that spark out before they can blaze to life. If I had read this in the middle of the Northern California rainy season instead of in the middle of the summer, I may have killed myself, or at least sat in a puddle of self-pity long enough to consider it.

A suggested read for the emotionally stable.

For some reason I had a misty idea of Forster’s work.. spawning, no doubt, from some panoramic Out of Africa scene with Meryl Streep, a white dress, and a tidy Victorian hat. Nothing really prepared me for the very incisive and very tart social commentary and comedy of A Room with a View. Although Forster is lampooning much of the implied proprieties of Victorian social order and social self-consciousness, human nature is human nature, and therefore Forster’s commentary is as appropriate today as it was when he wrote it a hundred years ago.

Never thought this novel would have me laughing out loud, but it did. It also provided some wonderful nuggets of wisdom, and some stunning and thoughtful phrases.

A highly suggested read.

A decent film, but I thoroughly agree that it was overlong, and the romantic subplot seemed totally extranneous to me. Not to mention that Catherine Zeta-Jones’ character was utterly irritating. Tom Hanks’ performance was really impressive, though, and reminds me that he has some talent and doesn’t always have to play “that character” that he plays in so many other films.

But worth it. It took me about six months to finish, and it was arduous going at times, but Roberts’ writing makes tackling a tome of this size possible; his smooth tone, varied style and occassional wit are rewarding, and make reading the book a pleasure. The book is great for those interested in a general sense of world history. Due to the scope of the book, of course, details are covered in brief, but this makes for a great jumping off point for reading about items of interest. Overall, it left me with a sounder sense of world history, which can help make sense of the forces at work in our very confused modern day.

Wii Sports exemplifies what is interesting, innovative, and ground-breaking about the Wii system. We had a party a few weeks ago, and our television room was full of people playing Wii Sports, even people who are affirmedly “not video game players.” It’s pick-up-and-play gaming, with no intimidating button combos to ward off the shy. My 76 year old Mom played Wii Sports and had a good time, and if she can, anyone can. Great for people who enjoy video games and want to share them with friends and family.

I have really enjoyed two of the other Sears books, The Pregnancy Book and The Baby Book. Both were well-balanced, informative and, when I needed it, comforting.

The Birth Book is where the Sears really lost me. There was something about the tone of the book that really grated on me… some underlying current seeming to insinuate that if you didn’t approach your imminent birthing experience the way that they suggest, then you’re really falling short. I forget which comment it was in the book that made me hurl it into the hallway and force my husband to throw the book into the recycling bin, but it was something along the lines of, “Of course you’re going to do it this way! You’re a great mother!”... propaganda via flattery.

I guess, aside from the irritation, one should be aware that this book very much argues the case for a certain type of birth. It isn’t a level, unbiased edification on the ways and whiles of modern birth. It’s a tract, of sorts. If you are looking to have the sort of birth the Sears promote in this book, then you are certain to benefit from their information, angling, and cheerleading. If you are still looking around for a particular birth philosophy (or aren’t even convinced you need to have a birth philosophy) this may not be the book for you.

I just saw this two days ago, so I’m what… like three years late to the hype around this movie? In other words, I got to see it outside of the hype-context, and I think my viewing benefited from that.

What I really think Spurlock seemed to be presenting was not a scientific test of the effect of a glut of McDonald’s food on the system, but really an excuse to analyze the MINDSET and OUTLOOK regarding food that we are/have been cultivating in this country. (And which, thanks to our corporate diplomacy, is now being cultivated in the rest of the world.) We’ve moved away from food being an itegral, sensual part of our lifestyle, to it being a matter of time and economics. And corporate America, or fast-food America, has both encouraged and exploited that drift.

As someone raised in an Italian home, eating home-cooked meals my entire life, and living with food as a very important, binding factor in my family, the notion of low-priced, quick, superficially-satisfying food was never really in my consciousness. But when you are watching television, and Kentucky Fried Chicken is pimping out its bucket of wings as a way to “bring the family back to dinner,” you know that we’re a long way from celebrating and being enriched and nourished by food in any way that makes sense.

That distortion in our relationship to food, it seems to me, is what Spurlock was really focusing on in this movie.

Yes, Bogie is pretty amazing in this movie. But for me, it’s all about Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo. “Look what you’ve done to my shirt!”

I enjoyed this movie, but I wonder if Ed Harris and co. decided from the outset for the movie to be so goddamned dark. Granted, Pollock’s story is imbued with a heavy dose of tragedy, but the man also had a powerful creative spirit and artistic sense. It seems like his prolific years are captured in a mid-movie montage while the beginning and end of the movie fixate on his self-destruction and torment. Again, I grant that this is a theme in his life, and therefore is going to be present in the movie, but art seemed to come second to alcoholism in this film, and I wonder if that does Pollock (and the body of work he did leave behind) justice.

Classical music with a very modern ear. Good for classical music fans with broad minds (i.e., those who can listen outside of the standard canon). Would be fantastic as a bridge-album for a music lover in your life who hasn’t really gotten into classical but needs to! Has a great sense of drama, tenderness, and beauty.