Three Day Road -- Take 2

I've had Three Day Road for a long time, probably 15 years.  I only finally read it because I had put it on my 2024 (yes, 2024!) Reading Challenge; it was my December selection: a book with a number in the title. I am sorry it took me so long to get to. 

Let me be clear, it's a dark read.  It's about war and addiction and trauma and loss and aloneness.  It doesn't, or perhaps really can't, do much to rehabilitate what occurred during World War I, but it does make a run at friendship and recovery and healing.

My reading experience has been pretty lacking in the Native American and First Peoples department.  I read Killers of the Flower Moon a few years ago, The Painted Drum, and The Light in the Forest way back in the early grades.  (I don't think The Indian in the Cupboard counts.)  I have a few others on my list: Braiding Sweetgrass and some more Louise Erdrich are high up there.

This all is a way of saying that I don't have much experience with writing about native peoples of the Americas, so I didn't quite know what to expect from Three Day Road.  And even now that I've read it, I'm certainly not qualified to judge the cultural aspects.  I can say, though, that the story is told from two points of view - there's "Nephew" Xavier, who goes off to fight in WWI with his best friend Elijah, and there's "Auntie" Niska, who stays back in the Canadian woods, living in the old way.  The difference in their two outlooks, experiences, and voices is appreciated as a novice to the subject.  More perspectives equal more information, and they both feel genuine and true to their respective characters.

The book opens with Auntie retrieving Xavier at the train station when he returns from war.  Elijah is not with him, and Xavier, who has lost a leg and been shot in the arm, is badly addicted to morphine. Auntie has no idea what has happened to him during the years he was away.  She doesn't know where Elijah is, and Xavier can't bear to think about it.  As the two of them leave the train station and she paddles them back towards home in her canoe, Xavier relives his wartime experiences in flashbacks.  To bring him back to her, Auntie tries to counter his dark daydreams and nightmares with stories from her childhood and his.  But the question remains: what happened to Elijah?  The answer comes out, but I don't want to spoil it for you. 

It took me a little while to get into this one, probably 50 pages, but once I got there, I was hooked. 

Misadventures in Nature's Paradise -- Take 2. And a Question.

Many moons ago, I began reading Misadventures in Nature's Paradise: Australia's Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island During the Dutch Era. I was hopeful prior to beginning it that it wouldn't be the PhD dissertation it sounded like it might be, but what has kept me from writing about it here (and frankly even from finishing it) is that it was pretty dry. 

I don't often give up on books (more below) but I gave up on this one and even skipped some portions before I got to the "I give up" stage.  This is not to say that it was either entirely uninformative or entirely dull.  To the contrary, in the former case, it was quite the opposite - perhaps overly informative at least for the casual historian.  I don't need to know every version of every map which was ever made (including where and by whom) which may or may not have had an island on it that may or may not have been one of the islands in the subtitle.  That's too much! But there were some interesting tidbits buried throughout, especially about the discovery of Christmas Island and the accidental ownership of the Cocos Islands.

So, if archaic maps and misdirected European explorers really float your boat (so to speak), you might consider giving it a try.  But for most folks, its a pass. 

A Question: 

It is difficult for me to quit reading a book once I have begun it.  However, with the number of books in my library and the number of years I have left, I believe I ought to develop this skill.  What are your thoughts on this issue?  

Happy Thanksgiving!

What I Watched -- Game Night

Have I mentioned recently that I love Jason Bateman?  (I feel like I have.)  I lucked out recently with his films on back-to-back flights.  This time, it was Game Night.  And I have to say, the plot sounded not too promising, but I didn't want to doubt JB, so I have it a go. 

It turned out to have that sweet, goofy comedy quality that Jason Bateman is so great for, and he is ably supported by Rachel McAdams. They play a married couple who, along with some friends, get accidentally wrapped up in a crime ring that they have no business being involved in. They dope their way through it, and of course it has a terribly predictable ending...

...or so I think. I didn't actually see the ending because the airplane's computer system restarted. I could have very slowly fast-forwarded to the end of the movie, but instead, S (who by total chance happened to have picked the same movie) and I discussed the probable ending and decided to leave it at that. I think our suspicions are correct, but if you watch it, let me know how it actually ends so I can confirm!

What I Watched -- The Life of Chuck. Plus: Stephen King

The Life of Chuck was another airplane watch. The plane's system only had short blurbs, and the blurb for this one said something like, "Chuck examines love and death." Together with the pensive-looking guy in the photo, it seemed like it might be something I could come across at a film festival. 

"Not so," I thought as it began. It's told in reverse (a neat trick), and it begins as an apocalypse film. I did not care for that portion. 

But as it goes on, it gets better. The beginning of the movie (actually the end of the story), though I never came to like it, at least finally starts to fit with the the rest of the plot as it goes on. I really liked the middle and end of the movie (really the middle and beginning of the story), and that's when it all comes together. I don't want to say too much about it because it was an interesting journey which I enjoyed taking.  I'd hate to ruin it for you!  (And it does become sort of a film festival movie by the conclusion.)

The film is based on a short story by Stephen King.  Not long ago, I listened to a podcast that in which each of the hosts set forth their argument for a writer for the reason of the day. One of them made such a strong argument for Stephen King - whom I've never read a word of, though I have seen several movies, including this one - that it made me want to read some of his stuff. Any recommendations on where to begin, besides this very short story?

What I Watched -- Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows

The Sherlock Holmes franchise of visual entertainment is vast. It includes a streaming series starring one of my faves, Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch, which of course I have watched. (This doesn't even get into the original books or any fan fiction that has come along since.  Like I said, it's a vast world.)

Two of the movies star another fave, Robert Downey, Jr., in the lead role. I knew I had seen one of them, but I couldn't remember which. (Fortunately or unfortunately, Holmes suffers from the same fate as action and other extensive film franchises; unless you're a real fan, eventually the casual viewer can't remember which ones they've seen and which they haven't. The basic plot of good versus evil with a heap of mad genius and a dash of dutiful sidekick are just too similar.) So, I selected the second, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, for my airplane viewing pleasure, hoping that I would have started with the first one.

Game of Shadows boasts a basic plot of good versus evil with a heap of mad genius and a dash of dutiful sidekick. Have I said that before? But it satisfies.

Here's the funny thing (you may have seen this coming) -- now that I've seen the second one, I'm still not sure which one I had seen previously! I'm not sure what that's a sign of (besides the aforementioned plot similarities), but there you have it.

And that's just the visual world of which I am aware. Let's not forget it all started with the written genius of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, though to be honest my literary experience with Holmes is not nearly as extensive as it should be. Though I feel I should get some credit for having spent some time on Baker Street!

What I Watched -- This Is Where I Leave You

I found myself on an airplane recently with limited options as far as in-flight movies went, and This Is Where I Leave You stood out as one of the better possibilities. I love Jason Bateman and his incredibly expressive face, and the rest of the cast (including, but not limited to, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Jane Fonda, and more) is pretty impressive as well.

I also thought that it was one that had been on my list of movies I wanted to see (though, being airborne, I couldn't access that).  I checked later and it turned out that I was right!  So satisfying to be able to mark anything off any kind of list, even a movie!

The four siblings all come home after their father's death.  As if just his death weren't enough stress, they all begin to push each other's buttons in ways both good and bad.  They are also in their hometown again, which brings up all kinds of memories and the presence of old friends.  

It was everything I expected and hoped. It's about how family, though messy and complicated, is still family for good or ill -- even through all the secrets and deep ways of knowing each other. It's a sweet dramedy with a few genuine laughs.  

And, aside from a couple of quick scenes, it's a great airplane watch. (I always feel self-conscious about about airplane movie choices. Am I the only one? One of my favorite pop culture podcasts did an episode on good airplane movie choices, which highlights a lot of good things to think about in making an airplane movie choice. Check out their suggestions here.)

What I'm Reading Now -- A Simple Act of Violence

In my continued (and of late, disappointing) attempt to find a good, page-turning murder mystery, I downloaded the ebook version of A Simple Act of Violence. 

The case with this one, as happens to me frequently, is that I can't remember why I had jotted its title down. Probably I read about it somewhere or someone recommended it to me and, knowing that I would forget the title if I didn't make a note of it, I made a note. What I consistently neglect to do - often because I'm in the middle of a conversation I'd like to continue - is also include any detail about any of the Ws of the source: who recommended it, what it's about, why it came up in conversation, when in my life it seemed relevant.  (I don't really have a "where" for this particular topic.)

As expected, I didn't know what it was about when I downloaded it but it seems to be set in Washington, DC, and have a somewhat political bent. Not usually my favored subject area, but we'll see.

What I'm Reading Now -- Three Day Road

Three Day Road is a selection from my 2025 Reading Challenge that I'm taking out of order.

It's the story -- so far as I an tell, a few pages in -- of two Native American boys who go off to fight in World War I, then have to return home and deal with the fallout of the war at home and on the survivor of the two of them.

The Snack Thief -- Take 2

This was another murder mystery that was just okay.  I enjoyed the unfolding plot better than City of Buried Ghosts, though - as with so many of these stories - all disbelief must be suspended. This one involved some international conspiracy, disappeared people, a kiddo, and of course a troubled main character. 

I found him, Inspector Montalbano, to be nearly insufferable.  What perhaps were supposed to be this quirks (his constant need to put his desire to eat above all else, including relationships and the ongoing investigation) and sympathetic character flaws (a phobia of committing to his long-suffering girlfriend) to my mind just made him seem like a completely unlikable and self-centered jerk.  Not someone I'm particularly interested in spending more time with.

The beating heart of the story, though he makes few appearances, is the titular Snack Thief.

(To be fair to the author, Andrea Camilleri, this is a work in translation. Some of what I dislike about it may be the work of the translator. But to the reader of the English-language version, does the source of the flaws really matter so much?  Either way, they're there.)

A Day to Remember

Happy Birthday, Dad!

What I'm Reading Now -- Overwhelmed

I admit it, I'm not much for self-help books.  But I am trying to turn over a new leaf, broaden my horizons, and all that good stuff.  So recently I picked up Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time, by Brigid Schulte.

What I've covered so far seems to blame parenthood for most of the lack of leisure time that adults worldwide are experiencing, and obviously that is not my issue.  But, I can feel some of the pain of what she early on describes as "mental pollution" - that noise that's always in my head, the constantly, the always-updating, rolling to-do list. I expect, to the extent there is useful information to be gleaned by anyone, at least some of it will apply to non-parents as well.

I'll be back with any brilliant insights! 

What I'm Reading Now -- The Snack Thief

Someone gave me a copy of The Snack Thief after I had expressed my overall disappointment with City of Buried Ghosts.  I was told it was a pretty good yarn, so I'm hoping for a quick page-turner.  This one is nice because it's slim, so easy to carry around and pull out when I have a few spare minutes.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest -- Take 2

"Hooee!" What a change of writing styles to go from the elegant prose of The Prospector to the first-person asylum story which is One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest! 

I had heard somewhere along the way, but forgotten, that Cuckoo is narrated by Chief Bromden, whose self-described "deaf-and-dumb act" gives him a fly-on-the-wall perspective.  So while technically it's in the first-person, it has a very third-person feel to it.

What it also has, which you may have guessed because it's set in an asylum, is an unreliable narrator.  I very much enjoy a good unreliable narrator, but Chief Bromden was one I found myself needing to take a break from every few chapters.  Trying to untangle what's (for real) going on is a little bit like trying to read Jack Kerouac's Book of Dreams. Sometimes it just hurt my brain, especially near the beginning.

But buried in the Chief's narrative was commentary about life circumstances which extended far beyond the walls of the Day Room, as I suspect is often the case with someone suffering from mental illness.  One of my favorites:

"I thought for a minute there I saw [the Big Nurse] whipped. Maybe I did. But I see now that it don’t make any difference. One by one the patients are sneaking looks at her to see how she’s taking the way McMurphy is dominating the meeting, and they see the same thing. She’s too big to be beaten. She covers one whole side of the room like a Jap statue. There’s no moving her and no help against her. She’s lost a little battle here today, but it’s a minor battle in a big war that she’s been winning and that she’ll go on winning. We mustn’t let McMurphy get our hopes up any different, lure us into making some kind of dumb play. She’ll go on winning, just like the Combine, because she has all the power of the Combine behind her. She don’t lose on her losses, but she wins on ours. To beat her you don’t have to whip her two out of three or three out of five, but every time you meet. As soon as you let down your guard, as soon as you lose once, she’s won for good. And eventually we all got to lose. Nobody can help that."

Who out there hasn't felt completely helpless in the face of someone or something that seemed simply unbeatable? A gem of tragic brilliance, right to the end.

Happy Halloween!

What I'm Reading Now -- Monsoon Seas

S recommended Monsoon Seas: The Story of the Indian Ocean, by Alan Villiers, to me in furtherance of my reading about the world from Indonesia to Mauritius.

As far as I can tell after a foray into the first few pages, it's the Indian Ocean's equivalent to my recent read of A Brief History of Indonesia -- as concise of a history as is reasonable to write about something that has thousands of years of history. 

We'll see what fun new things I can learn!

The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. -- Take 2

The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B. was a thoroughly enjoyable read.  Whenever I am surprised by how much I enjoy a book which has sat unread in my collection for so many years, I'm a bit disappointed. It seems sort of silly, but I believe my brain is just wishing that it could have had that reading experience earlier, so that it might have been enjoyed for longer.

Regardless, here I am, finally having finished the first of the Josephine trilogy.  It's a based-on-a-true-story novel told through journal entries of the titular character plus the occasional letter.  I love the format, which so perfectly supports the goal of understanding the "secret sorrows" which Rose (later Josephine) endured.

I don't believe I'm spoiling anything (it's right there in the back cover blurb) to say that Josephine marries Napoleon Bonaparte. But she has a whole other wild, sometimes terrifying, life before she becomes Mrs. B, which is where this book spends its time.  Napoleon makes no appearance at all until the last couple of chapters.

A fun and fascinating read, and one more book to tick off on my way to completing my 2025 Reading Challenge!

What I Read -- The Prospector

I don't know much about Mauritius. I'm certain it has some European colonial history, definitely French and possibly also British.  But I'm going there, so I decided to see what I could pick up from a novel.

I selected The Prospector, by J. M. G. Le Clézio.  I didn't know anything about the author before beginning, and only learned when I got to the "About The Author" page at the end that he's kind of a big deal in his native France.  He lives part time in Mauritius, and it shows in how lovingly he writes about the island.

The Prospector is a tale of sorrow and growth and hope.

We meet our hero as a young boy, running wild through the woods with his childhood friend. We follow him through family tragedy and on his mad crusade to realize his deceased father's dreams.  He finds love, then war, then comes home again.  We follow him as his most important relationships change and are lost to time and circumstance.  We see him cope with those changes, until all that matters to him is gone.

I would not, you might guess from the above description, call this as a happy story.  But it is so beautifully told.  The words and sentences flow effortlessly one after another, expertly conveying the details of place (which, collectively, could rightfully be considered a major character) and the feeling of longing for something which remains just out of reach.

What I'm Reading Now -- The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

While simultaneously trying to catch up on my 2024 Reading Challenge with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, I'm hoping not to fall too far behind on my 2025 list by getting going on The Many Lives & Secret Sorrows of Josephine B.

This book is one that has been in my collection for years, ever since I bought it for $1.00 at the big book fair in St. Louis that used to happen every spring in the covered parking at West County Mall one year that K and I went together. (Does that book fair still happen? Looks like yes!) 

What I'm Reading Now -- Wolf Hall

This is my second time through Wolf Hall.  Perhaps inexplicably, I am again listening to the audiobook. It was several years ago when I tried this before, and I believe my failure at that time was one of attention.

There's not much I can do differently this time except really try to give the story -- especially the extensive cast of characters -- the focus I should have paid it last time.  I had initially downloaded a cheat sheet of the major players. but now find myself unable to locate it.

Regardless, I'm having far more success this time. I'm 16% into the story (according to my audiobook player) and have a good grip on who's who.  With their names and identities now solidified in the background, I'm able to relax a bit and enjoy the quality of the writing which escaped me previously.

So far, so good!

What I'm Reading Now -- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

You might recall how, for several years now, K and I have had an annual reading challenge. One ot the  books on my 2024 Reading Challenge list which I did not get to during that calemdar year was One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, the first novel by Ken Kesey.

I've seen the movie starring Jack Nicholson (and truly, why would you watch another version?), so I have a pretty good fix on the major plot points.

But I decided it's high time I read the book that inspired one of the big screen's greatest lunatics.

What I Read -- City of Buried Ghosts

I picked up City of Buried Ghosts, by Chris Lloyd, in a hotel where S and I recently stayed.  It's a detective mystery, and follows the genre tropes just as one might expect.  So insofar as that goes, it was not particularly clever or creative. 

Where it is challenging is that it's set in Catalonia, which is a region of Spain where a particular dialect of Spanish is spoken. Consequently,  the character names and place names are unusual, making them both difficult to pronounce and a tad harder than normal to remember. (At least that's the experience I have with words and especially languages that are unfamiliar.  I had a similar experience with my recent book on Indonesian history.  Or perhaps that's just me?)

Anywho, I didn't find much special in this book to recommend it over others of its kind, but if you're interested in a moderately sad page turner, this will get the job done.

What I'm Reading Now -- Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity

I have no idea where this book came from; I just found it in my reading app on my phone one day.  Not having any other audiobooks available at the time, I took the "something is better than nothing" approach and decided to give it a go.

Here are a few of the things this book told me before my time ran out and the library took it away:

 - Settlers in America have always been extremely mobile. The goal was to move up, get better economic opportunities, or escape your past.
 - People who moved had a higher-than-average rate of involvement in civic, religious, and community associations. People who stayed put had lower rates of involvement.

 - The rise of zoning laws (in California, primarily as a way to exclude the Chinese and Chinese-owned laundries through the mid- and late-19th century) began the trend of limiting mobility in order to satisfy the desires of the people who already lived in a particular area or neighborhood.
 - Zoning expanded and was further developed in NYC and Flint, Michigan, particularly in response to the first and second great migrations.

At which time, the library reclaimed its free mystery book, so I have nothing further to offer unless and until I finish up listening to it.

A Brief History of Indonesia -- Take 2

A Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, and Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia's Largest Nation is exactly what it purports to be, and I very much appreciate that about it. Specifically, it meets both the expectations set by its title and subtitle, and also in its introduction, which promises a non-academic review of the long and tumultuous history of this portion of the Malay archipelago.

For us westerners, it's easy for a country like Indonesia to be ignored.  It's not one of the world's military superpowers; it's not the exclusive source of any particular product which we Americans must have; its economy overall is pretty much in shambles domestically, not to mention internationally.

But that doesn't mean that it doesn't have a fascinating history of discovery, exploitation, and resistance.  As a nation of islands in southeast Asia, it was perfectly positioned to be central to the spice trade -- together with all the good and bad things that came along with that.  If you want to learn about them, this book is a pretty good introduction.

The Small and The Mighty -- Take 2

The Small and The Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, From the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement is a rare combination of quick, entertaining, and informative.  Where I find that it really shines is in finding little-known historical figures who did yoeman's work, often for years or decades, and giving color and depth to the story of their often Herculean efforts.

In the end, it attempts to convey the message that we all have a role to play in potentially changing history.  I'm not quite sure I believe I'm ready to go there.  It seems like a fun idea, but one that may only exist when there are certain circumstances present -- a certain social, cultural, or psychological stew that has been brewing already, some kindling already on the fire, in order for one's actions to light the inferno.

The author shamelessly plugs her own podcast at the end of the book ... but I was interested enough to want to check it out. If you're curious to check it out yourself, it's called "This is Where It Gets Interesting."

What I'm Reading Now -- Misadventures in Nature's Paradise

Further to my study of southeasst Asia, my next read is Misadventures in Nature's Paradise: Australia's Cocos (Keeling) Islands and Christmas Island During the Dutch Era. 

At the opening, my honest opinion is that this sounds a little dull and esoteric, and frankly I may not get through it.  But as with so much of the world, the current political, economic, and social situations in these places stem from their colonial history.  So, I'm going to give it a whirl and see what I can learn (or how far I make it...).

What I'm Reading Now -- A Brief History of Indonesia

My friend C lent me a copy of his book, A Brief History of Indonesia: Sultans, Spices, Tsunamis: The Incredible Story of Southeast Asia's Largest Nation.  Despite its long name, the introduction indicates that it was written by a non-historian traveler to Indonesia who, many moons ago, was looking for a readable yet reasonably comprehensive history.

When he could find none, he spent decades researching, and wrote his own.  I'll see how he did.

What I'm Reading Now -- The Small and the Mighty

K's next book for our Postal Book Club is The Small and the Mighty: Twelve Unsung Americans Who Changed the Course of History, from the Founding to the Civil Rights Movement.  It got a good review from E, and it sounds like the sort of thing that is right up my alley, so I'm looking forward to it.

Plus, I have already taken a peek at the introduction, and the author seems to have a good sense of humor.  I hope that carries throughout the book!

I Am Pilgrim -- Take 2

I finished I Am Pilgrim over a series of nights when I was having trouble sleeping.  Listening to an audiobook is a good thing to do because it requires minimal light and minimal movement, so I'm less likely to keep S awake.  (The one problem that it does create is that, when I eventually fall asleep again, the book continues playing for some amount of time, which means I have to back up the next day to the last thing I remember.  But, such is life.)  Despite my occasionally falling asleep, it was overall an egaging listen, especially -- as was its original purpose -- when I was already awake and doing other things but need a little entertainment.

It is a bit of a sprawling story with multiple plot lines that are left hanging until you get closer to the end.  There was a fair amount of political commentary in the one particular story line that involved a character referred to as the Saracen, but even at that it felt reasonably balanced to me -- some critical, some not.  There was enough nuance to make it feel at least a little bit thoughtful.  There was another line that started with a murder in a New York hotel, which opens the book.  Then it disappears for a long time but it does come back to set the scene for another murder later on.

As with most books that have larger-than-life, I-can-do-miraculous-spy-things-despite-pretending-to-be-a-totally-normal-guy main character, this one required some suspension of disbelief.  "There's no way he would have just guessed at that!"  Just keep going.  "He would never have survived that!"  Doesn't matter, just keep going. But I don't mind that for the sake of entertainment.  Proceed with caution, however, if you do.

In The Gloaming -- Take 2

I like reading short stories for the reasons I already said.  One of the difficulties with short stories, I find, is that you have to remember that (most of the time, anyway) the characters don't carry over from story to story.  They read like chapters in a book, but unlike chapters, you have to completely reset your brain vis a vis setting, plot, and characters with each new beginning.

The exception where, at least in this particular collection, one's brain does not have to be reset is theme.  The jacket notes describe the stories in In the Gloaming as ones that "reveal the ache of adoration and devotion that so poignantly [mark] our inner lives."

And for perhaps the fourth time ever, I don't think the jacket notes are a bunch of hooey.

These really are stories about devotion - between parents and children, between actual or would-be lovers, between siblings, between friends - and all the different ways a person can be wrecked by it.  They are not entirely melancholy; many of the stories have at least moments of joy and levity, and often leave a mixed taste at their conclusion, both bitter and sweet.  Regardless, the theme can get tiring; if you're looking for unmitigated joy, you won't find it here.

As with any collection of stories, some are better than others.  But overall, it was a good collection about love, loss, and the choices we make, even if we don't think about or aren't yet capable of knowing the consequences of those choices.

What I'm Reading Now -- I Am Pilgrim

Recently I needed something to keep me entertained while I did load of things around the house, a whole weekend full of chores, wall to wall. 

I wanted something entertaining and that would give me enough to think about, but not so serious that if I spaced out for a few minutes I would be completely lost.

I ended up with I Am Pilgrim, by Terry Hayes.  So far, it's a pretty entertaining pseudo-spy thriller. There are lots of storylines and it's not yet clear how they'll weave together, but I expect time will tell.

What I'm Reading Now -- In the Gloaming

In the grand tradition of easy-to-read-while-traveling books, my next pick is a short story collection called In The Gloaming, by Alice Elliott Dark. It's another pick from my 2025 Reading Challenge,  so I am moving right along on that!

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XLV -- American Stories from Recent Decades

Dazed and Confused follows a bunch of high school stoners through the end of one particular school year in the 1970s. Matthew McConaughey is the best-known star - and this movie is where his "all right, all right, all right" catchphrase comes from - but loads of other recognizable actors are packed in there as well. As for the plot, there isn't much of one; it's just a bunch of kids doing dumb kid things.  But it does capture a specific combination of age and culture in America.

While MMc may never escape the aforementioned "all right, all right, all right," Tom Cruise will never escape the scene from Risky Business where he slides into frame in his tighty-whities, button down, and socks singing "Old Time Rock and Roll" into various household implements.  And he shouldn't want to escape it, because it's iconic! A Chicago kid whose parents leave him home alone goes dancing around the house to celebrate his freedom? It doesn't get much more American than that.  In fact, two other similar stories spring to mind, and I'm sure there are others.

Okay, enough of Chicago.  Let's go to New York, one of my favorites and the fifth main character in the Sex and the City franchise. Sex and the City: The Movie remains set primarily in NYC and has some really great backdrops: the iconic main branch of the New York Public Library, a beautiful and expansive apartment that no one can actually afford, the Met, MoMA, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Ladies Pavilion in Central Park, and loads of others (this site has a pretty comprehensive list). The story is more of the same from the show, with the added delight of Louise from St. Louis, played by Jennifer Hudson, and her fantastic song "All Dressed in Love."

It's too much to say that Live Free or Die Hard is another New York City movie, but it does involve NYPD stalwart John McClain (Bruce Willis in perhaps his most iconic role) who is out to save America ... yet again. This time, some hacker baddies are taking down computer systems and financial networks all over the country and McClain comes to the rescue yet again, saving his estranged daughter along the way.  And if that's not a classic story of redemption, McClain style, I don't know what is.

Dark Waters is the next in a long line of based-on-a-true-story movies which expose corporate greed and malfeasance.  There was A Civil Action, Erin Brockovich, Flash of Genius, and the list goes on. Dark Waters' hero, played by Mark Ruffalo (who put on some serious weight for the role), turns against his own law firm to go after DuPont for dumping chemicals into groundwater which is killing local livestock and poisoning the people in the nearby town.  What's not American about that story? Sadly, if it weren't so true to life, there wouldn't be nearly so many versions of what is basically the same movie.

I started watching Miracle, and I was about 15 minutes in before I realized I may have seen it before.  Or perhaps I was confusing it with another come-from-behind, everybody-loves-an-underdog sports movie.  No matter, because I love an underdog sports movie, so I watched it (perhaps again) regardless.  And boy is it a good one! Kurt Russell plays Herb, the coach of the 1980 USA men's hockey team that's going to the Olympics which, that year, were in Lake Placid, NY. The kids he's coaching are mostly college players, young guys who don't have a lot of experience playing together (you'll recognize a lot of the actors). Their big rival is the team from the USSR, which is both more experienced and better trained at playing together. You layer all the lingering Cold War animosities on top of that, and it turns out that Herb and his little college players had quite a hill to climb.  But climb it they did. 

What I Read -- Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas

This was one of my 2025 Reading Challenge books. Why did I elect to read it in the summer, despite its subject matter?  Simple, and usually the reason that I'll pick a book our of season: convenience. We have been undertaking -as is common this time of year - some summer travels. This particular little book was perfect. Its attributes in that regard include the following: 

• It's pocket-sized, even for me (as long as I'm wearing pants with cargo pockets, which I usually do for travel). That makes it easy to stow away quickly when the line suddenly begins to move, but equally as easy to pull out again when it comes inexplicably to an abrupt halt a few steps later.

• It's unserious. There are a few moments of serious content, but even they are, for the most part, told in a pretty unserious way. There are one-liners. It's a little bit like reading the script of a stand-up comedian's set, and frankly I found it to be more entertaining if I pretended that's exactly what it was; timing is everything.

• It's made up of vignettes. This is helpful for the same reason that it being pocket-sized is helpful: it's easy to dip in and out quickly. Each story, told in chronological order somewhat in the format of a journal entry, is a stand-alone tale that may be as short as a few sentences. This is perfect for when your attention is regularly pulled elsewhere by the constant streams of people and PA announcements. 

Also, let's not forget that this was actually my June book selection ("something funny"), so I'm not that out of season after all.

Having said all those positive things, this is not destined to become a classic. It feels like the guy had some funny or clever stories he wanted to tell and used the hook of Christmas to string them all together whether that really made sense or not. But if you need a book for an airplane - especially in July - this one does the trick.

What I Read -- Courage Under Fire

Somehow - and right now I can't remember how this happened - Stoic philosophy came into my consciousness recently.  I took a couple of philosophy classes in college but, as a political science minor, they all leaned more towards political philosophy and ethics of governance rather than the management of oneself. 

By chance, I mentioned Stoicism to my very smart friend M, and she right away offered me up some reading material from her personal collection. Among her offerings was Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus's Doctrines in a Laboratory of Human Behavior, which is actually more of an essay than a book, but still worth a mention here.

James Bond Stockdale had been a wing commander in Vietnam when his plane was shot down. He spent over seven years as a prisoner of war in various North Vietnamese institutions, often tortured for information. He fell back on his earlier studies of Stoicism to see himself through those hard days. In his speech, he walks the reader through the application of certain Stoic principles to his circumstances to demonstrate how they look in action. 

As a newcomer to the ideas, this was a good introduction to some of the basics of Stoicism in a concrete form. I find that philosophy, broadly speaking, can be a challenging subject because so much of it is only ever discussed in the abstract, never applied.  This is applied.

Chop Fry Watch Learn -- Take 2

Chop Fry Watch Learn was E's latest pick for our Postal Book Club. I am sorry to admit that, prior to reading this, I didn't know much about Chinese food except what we can commonly get here in the U.S., which in so many ways is far from actual Chinese food.

This book served as an education in that regard, including culinary, cultural, social, and political history in the development of the story of Chinese and Taiwanese food in the 20th century.  This was all told through the lens of the life's work of Fu Pei-Mei.  She was a revolutionary home cook who gained notoriety through her popular television program and series of cookbooks which published recipes side by side in both Chinese and English. She was referred to over the course of her career and in the book as the "Chinese Julia Child," though the author makes a point to explain how and why that undersells Fu Pei-Mei's reach and importance. 

If you're interested in food history, Chinese and Taiwanese history, or ideally both - or if you just love eating Chinese food and want to know more about it - this is an enlightening and surprisingly quick read.

Happy Birthday, K!

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XLIV -- Great Styling

I'm not actually quite sure "styling" is the right word for what I liked about Look & See: A Portrait of Wendell Berry, because styling seems to me (someone not in the industry) to be more about costume design, set design, props, and that sort of stuff.  The beauty of Look & See was more in the camera work.  The film is an homage to American rural life, farming, and history more than it is a portrait of the poet who wrote about those things, though his poems do provide the audio to the beautiful, slow, sun-kissed landscapes.  And those photos are a nice reminder of what an incredibly stunning country it is that we live in, even as the subject of the film is that it's all being ruined by big ag.

I thought the set design of Devil in a Blue Dress was fantastic. It's a classic noir mystery, and when I'm in the right mood I really enjoy such films.  They're often somewhat predictable, the characters are more caricatures than individual people, and the plot leaves a little something to be desired, but they're fun and don't require much brain power.  S, as a consequence, was bored by this; I thought it was fun. 

If you're looking for a bathed-in-the-era love story, try If Beale Street Could Talk.  It's simultaneously sad and uplifting, but through it all is a beautiful portrait of life and love. Two young people fall in love. She gets pregnant.  He's accused of a crime he didn't commit.  But they continue to love each other and their families mostly support them.  It's not all sunshine and roses, but that's the gist of it; it's a beautiful portrait of life.  And, set in 1970s New York, the city as a backdrop is its own beautiful character and the outfits are nothing to sneeze at either.

The casting of The Sting is excellent, led by Robert Redford and Paul Newman. They play two grifters and con men, trying to make a quick buck by scamming whomever happens to cross their paths. It's set in the 1930s, so the clothing and set design are Depression-era chic.  It's not what one might call the best era in American history, but nonetheless it did have a particular design of its own.

The problem with Risky Business is that it's mostly known for its one scene; you know the one.  And, let's be clear, it's a great scene.  The reason it's a bummer is because there's so much other good stuff -- besides just pantsless dancing -- in the movie in terms of style. This gem is set in early 1980s Chicago, and the clothes, hair, and cars are everything you could hope for from that time.  The plot is entirely ridiculous, basically a rich kid behaving badly, but if you can suffer through one bad decision after another, it'll take you unapologetically back to 1983.

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XLIII -- War or War-Adjacent Stories

The Zookeeper's Wife follows a Warsaw couple through WWII as they use their zoo to guide Jews fleeing the Nazi occupation of Poland, while also trying to care for the animals who remain.  The couple's faith is tested as Jan leaves his wife at the zoo to join the Warsaw uprising.  I found the actors' accents distracting at times as they came in and out, but it was also nice that some of the cast were German or Polish, which mitigated that in some scenes.

I stumbled upon The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare on an airplane (I saw someone else watching it and had to figure out what it was!) and boy, was it a trip - and based on a true story! It's a little bit hard to comprehend something described as an "action comedy war film," until you realize that it's also a Guy Ritchie film; then somehow it all makes sense. A group of undercover renegade British soldiers aboard a fishing boat set about planning and executing an attack on a German resupply base.  Chaos ensues.  I didn't recognize a lot of the cast, but thought they were well-selected for their roles.

The critical reviews for All Quiet on the Western Front were what got my attention.  I had read the book a couple of times and may not have bothered with the movie if it had not been so well received.  (I have not seen either of the other two film adaptations, done in 1930 and 1979.)  The story more or less follows the book: a young, idealistic German boy signs up to fight for the fatherland. He quickly realizes that war is not what he imagined.  It's a dark, sad story; WWI may have been the worst kind of hell.  I would recommend steering clear of this one if you find yourself lacking the stomach for gore; "visceral" is a good word to describe it.  But other than that  I'll leave it to you to decide whether it stands up to the hype.

As you know, I adore Matt Damon.  The Good Shepherd is one of those sprawling spy stories (in this case, mostly fictionalized) that covers decades of someone's life - in part because the things that happened to them all those years ago shaped who they are and how they got here, and in part because the art of good spycraft often unfolds over years or decades. Matt Damon plays Edward Wilson, and we follow him all the way from his days at Yale to his ascension to the highest rungs of the CIA.  It's a long, slow, character-builder, but I was entertained the whole time not only by Matt's lovely face, but also by the historical clothes and styling, as well as the scenes set in England. If I ever thought, though, that I wanted to be in the CIA, this movie is a good reminder that it would be a terrifying way to live.

Ahh, what a classic G.I. Jane has become for me.  When I want to watch something that's not a war movie but has heavy military presence, it's always fun to watch Demi Moore become the world's most badass lady. And, though I didn't begin to like Viggo Mortensen until he transformed himself into Aragorn (which is really the version of him that I like most), he does a nice turn as Master Chief in this film.