Merry Christmas!

 Details on my holiday festivities to follow ... hopefully!

What I Read -- Lost Treasures of St. Louis

I don't recall where I heard about Lost Treasures of St. Louis, but it sure was a fun look back at the St. Louis that once was.  Probably about 10% of the "lost treasures" were things that I actually remembered, but most of them were gone long before I made my appearance. Regardless, it was a fun journey through the history of town.

The content is divided into categories, so if for some reason you have a particular interest in shuttered department stores, bars, or movie theaters, you can tailor your review to your interests.

What I Read -- Morning Poems

My 2023 Reading Challenge is still substantially behind schedule, but I have not thrown in the towel just yet.  As a quick way to tick another book off the list, I have elected to read the shortest one remaining to be read: Morning Poems, by Robert Bly.

I am, as a rule, not much of a poetry reading.  It's challenging reading, and frankly I'm just not that into making my recreational reading difficult.

One thing I can say for Bly's poems is that at least some of them are reasonably approachable, which is nice.

The other thing I can say about them is that many of them are quite dark.  Some samples:

The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog
I never intended to have this life, believe me --
It just happened.
...
Sparrows in winter, if you've ever held one, all feathers,
Burst out of your hand with a fiery glee.
You see them later in hedges.  Teachers praise you,
But you can't quite get back to the winter sparrow.
Your life is a dog. He's been hungry for miles,
Doesn't particularly like you, but gives up, and comes in.

A Family Photograph, Sunday Morning, 1940
They've gathered on the farm lawn, ten people, all ages.
...
One boy smiles---it is me---and looks down.  He seems glad,
But his sweater sleeve is too short. The men's hands,
None placed in pockets, all hang down.
...
The men smile, but their eyes say hard things.
'The world pulls at me---it tore my father
Away already.  That forty-acre farm he bought
By Marietta is still black.  I have to go now.'
...
Two old women who guard the group on both sides
Take nothing on trust. "I trust my hands, and that's all."

For a Childhood Friend, Marie
She knew a lot about life on a farm: wagon
Poles that sometimes broke, and grown men
Pinned against the fencepost by a bull.
Sometimes you tie a favorite lamb
To a tree so that the old bucks will not kill him,
And he hangs himself from the rope.
...
Marie, thirty years old, still loved
The high school, the tall boys, gossip
About the teachers, the proms. She also
Loved our lives that were not going
So well.  She married the hired man---
My grandmother told her not to---and he drank.

Wanting More Applesauce at a Conference
It's something about envy. I won't say I'm envious,
But I did have certain moods when I was two.
Now of course I can't remember any of that.
I'm happy if another receives some attention
That's really mine.  ...
This is hard to bear.  ...
And I am no longer small.  Let's call it a mood
When we can't remember.  Let's call it a habit
Of opening the mouth when we, who have
Much, want more, even what belongs to the poor.

My Doubts on Going to Visit a New Friend
I have to ask myself what kind of friend I can be.
...
I am afraid there'll be a moment when
I fail you, friend; I will turn slightly
Away, our eyes will not meet, and out in the field
There will be no one.

Perhaps my favorite, because it is truly inspirational and not super dark:

Things to Think
Think in ways you've never thought before.
...
When someone knocks on the door, think that he's about
To give you something large: tell you you're forgiven,
Or that it's not necessary to work all the time, or that its
Been decided if you lie down, no one will die.

Kindred -- Take 2

I owe thanks to K for picking out Kindred as our postal book club book. I had been meaning to read it for quite some time, and I sure am glad that I finally did.

It's a difficult book to read, in the way that all books which are about slavery are difficult, especially when they are intensely personal.  But it's also incredibly well done in that the characters, though there are "good" and "bad" people, are almost all complicated.  Very few of them are entirely good or entirely bad; just when someone is approaching despicable, there is a scene that evokes just enough empathy to give you hope for a turnaround.

It also made slavery -- which seems to most of us like a nearly-ancient historical circumstance -- seem suddenly not so far away.  I give huge credit to Octavia Butler for that.  So many books which talk about difficult and embarrassing historical circumstances suffer from the collective volume of their brethren; it can quickly become tiresome to read more than a few books about slavery, Nazi Germany, persecution of any kind.  This one provides a new and interesting perspective which keeps the topic fresh.

What I'm Reading Now -- Kindred

I'm pretty substantially behind on my 2023 Reading Challenge, but I have to take a break from it to read my next Postal Book Club book.  When there are these conflicts, what's a girl to do?

The book on offer, chosen by K, is Kindred, by Octavia Butler.  I've been wanting to read this one for a few years now, so I'm glad it's up next!

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XXXII -- The Biopic Edition

I have to give Spencer credit for being better than I expected.  It was intensely psychological and Kristen Stewart performed extremely well.  I don't typically care for her as an actor, but she was exactly the right amount of dark and moody and whiny to tackle this role.  I will say that I didn't realize it covered such a limited timeline in the Charles-Diana story, but regardless, it was well done.

I was on a flight when I saw House of Gucci.  I was disappointed.  It had such potential to be good, so many good actors, such a wild story, but it just ... wasn't good.  Compared to paying attention to the people around me on the airplane, it won out, but in other circumstances it would have been painful.  Also, I just don't like Adam Driver; I don't know why.  I recognize that he's a pretty good actor, but he just seems like sort of a slimy human and I can't get over that; maybe it's the hair.

It's hard not to love a movie like Hidden Figures.  It's a forgotten piece of some of America's favorite history (the Space Race), and it stars a trifecta of today's Black lady stars in Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, and Janelle Monae -- who of course save the day.  Of course there are also Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, Kirsten Dunst, and Mahershala Ali.  When you put that many phenomenal people in a movie, how can it not be good? (Unless it's House of Gucci.).

As a random Hidden Figures aside, it's based on a book.  During the Pandemic when nobody could see anybody, E ordered me a delivery from a local bookstore.  The package had a book, a coaster, a postcard, some pencils, and other gifts.  The book that was included in my package was Code Girls.  For a while, I thought that this was the book the Hidden Figures movie was based on; it's not.

I'm predisposed to like anything Amy Adams does, and Hillbilly Elegy is no exception.  I can't give this film credit, though, without also giving credit to Glenn Close, who's grumpy-old-lady persona was something for the record books. She really is the star of this show.

I have been wanting to watch All the President's Men for years, and finally got around to it. The good thing about the details that are portrayed in the film is that they were minute enough that I had overlooked them in the broad stroke histories that I had learned in school.  That meant that, even though I knew broadly how it was going to go, I didn't know the ins and outs that the movie would follow.  It was a win.

I didn't know quite what to expect from Colette.  I like Keira Knightly and Dominic West, so I watched it.  I like a good period drama.  And generally I liked the movie, even more once I realized that it was based on a true story.  I loved Keira's character, who was a total boss lady, not to mention a writer and actress to boot.

What I Read -- Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore

When I travel, I like to read a book about or set in or somehow related to the place where I am going.  S and I recently spent a week in Baltimore.  We were working remotely during the day, but we had afternoons, evenings, and a weekend to explore the city, specifically Fells Point, where we were staying.

I love walking.  I miss having my downtown condo and being able to walk to the dry cleaners, the grocery store, the library, and restaurants. 

Imagine my delight when I discovered that my library had a book all about walking around Baltimore: Charm City: A Walk Through Baltimore.  I started out reading it thoroughly, and the introduction gives some good background and city history.  I got through the first or second chapter when I realized that I wasn't really enjoying it.  It felt like I should be enjoying it, but I just wasn't into it.

Rather than giving up entirely, I skipped ahead to the chapter on Fells Point and the Inner Harbor.  That was a good move.  All the sudden, it was interesting again and I was fascinated to hear the details of the neighborhood in which we were staying.

I only skimmed through the rest of the book after that, but my experience with the Fells Point chapter made me believe that if I had more experience with Baltimore, I might have enjoyed the whole thing the way I enjoyed the Fells Point chapter.

I was interested to learn that this book is part of a series about walking.  I can't recall the name of the series now, but I added several other books from it to my reading list: On Island Time: A Traveler's Atlas: Illustrated Adventures on and Around the Islands of Washington and British Columbia, Hallowed Ground: A Walk at Gettysburg, and Time and Tide: A Walk Through Nantucket.

Brave New World -- Take 2

It was a long time coming, but I finally finished reading my May 2023 Reading Challenge book, Brave New World.

In case you also managed to skate through life without reading it, here's a brief synopsis: we're in a future in England where people are genetically modified from birth to fall into certain predefined roles in society.  Because they are conditioned, they are happy with their lot in life and unwilling to challenge the status quo.  Along comes The Savage, who grew up on a reservation in America for reasons you'll learn in the book.  It is through his eyes that we get the critical analysis of the governing social order.

I found this an easier read than I expected; in the way that so many "classics" are sort of tedious, this one was not. I did not, however, do the full scope of possible background research that I could have done.  Though I don't have a substantial enough base of knowledge to appreciate the full depth of naming various characters after famous totalitarian dictators and thinkers -- Marx, Lenina, Benito, Bonaparte -- I certainly did pick up on use of their names and the references (and reverence) conveyed thereby.  And of course, there's Ford.  The whole society is built on and continues to be inspired by the efficient mechanization of Henry Ford's assembly line, only now they're doing it with people.

The luddite in me loved much about the critique advance in this book. I feel for The Savage, just wanting a simpler, slower-paced life and not a fan of the forward march of "progress."

Also, What Happened to September?

How are we in October already?  Time to get out the Halloween decorations, I suppose. 

Movies -- A Recap -- Part XXXI -- All About the Characters

Still Life is set in London, so I was of course predisposed to like it.  Eddie Marsan plays a low-level civil servant whose job is to track down friends and family members of people who died alone.  It seems a thankless task, but it's one he takes seriously and treats with the respect it deserves.  A great little hidden gem, sweet and sad, which I loved.

In Croupier, Clive Owen plays an aspiring novelist who, in lieu of success as a writer, takes a job as a dealer in a high-end casino.  A visitor to the casino piques his attention, but she may be a bit more than he bargained for.  In a very Stranger Than Ficton-type realization, his life becomes his novel.  I enjoy the noir-style filmmaking, and I was surprised that this movie is as old as it was and I had never heard of it.

Jake Gyllenhaal turns The Guilty into a one-man-show as a police officer who is demoted and has to work a job as a 911 dispatcher.  He takes a call from a woman who has been kidnapped by her estranged husband.  Their telephonic interactions are brief and tense, and most of the movie plays out in the responses of the disgraced officer.  (Overall, the movie was less than the character that Jake played, but it's worth seeing just for him.)  This is a remake of a Danish original, which I have yet to see, but I'll let you know if I can track it down!

The Tomorrow Man is a weird little story about two weird old people.  It stars John Lithgow and Blythe Danner as a pair of sweet, weird old people.  His quirk is that he's a disaster prepper; hers is that she's a bit of a hoarder.  Their families don't understand them, but they can understand each other.

I don't know what you know the lead actor in Saint Ralph from, but I bet you'll recognize his face. His name is Adam Butcher, and he plays -- you guessed it -- Ralph. Ralph is a boy who gets the wild idea that he's going to race in the Boston Marathon ... and win.  Ralph's motivation is to save his mother, who is in a coma; Ralph is living alone, under the ever-closer radar of social services.  Ralph gets support and coaching from one of the priests at his Catholic high school, and I appreciated the references to all of the obscure patron saints.

The Good Shepherd stars my boyfriend, Matt Damon, so I'm going to love it.  And it's set in England, so I'm doubly going to love it.  The styling is fantastic.  Really, this movie could do no wrong after these two points were established.  But the tension that is conveyed, the stress of living every day in the early days of the CIA, is so well-portrayed that I felt like I had aged 20 years just for watching the movie, much less living that life.

A Man Called Otto is another sweet, sad, darling little jewel.  It stars America's favorite good guy, Tom Hanks, as an old curmudgeon.  The cast of characters who surround him in this film are simply wonderful, and it's a reminder that there are deep, touching, human stories in every little corner of every little town.

Eddie Redmayne and Jessica Chastain are excellent in The Good Nurse.  Jessica begins to suspect that her co-worker has caused the death of several patients, but has to put her own career and health at risk to find out the truth.  It's especially horrifying when you realize it's a true story.