What We're Watching: Cathy

A Cat in Paris (DVD)

 

A little girl, Zoe,  who hasn't spoken since her father was killed. The evil villain who killed him. The neighbor who takes her cat, Dino, with him when he burgles other peoples' homes at night. Zoe's mother is a police detective who is hunting both the villain and the burglar and is very surprised to find that her own household is involved in both problems. This is a wonderful family film with chases over the rooftops of Paris and a dramatic ending at the cathedral of Notre Dame. The animation and the colors are great. The film was made in France but this edition is totally in English with the voices of Anjelica Huston and Marcia Gay Harden. You can also view it in the original French if you like. Magnifique!

What We're Watching: Cathy

Bag It
This film starts out as a protest against the ubiquitous plastic bag and how these bags are found all over the earth on land and water. It becomes a more general inquiry into how plastic has invaded our lives. Narrator Jeb Berrier looks at plastic bags, then all single-use plastic, the actual recyclability of plastics (not much is really recycled), and finally how plastics have got into our bodies and - as they are hormone interrupters - may be responsible for some of the developmental problems in young children - problems like autism, allergies, thyroid problems - and fertility problems in adults. He uses lots of humor but he is also very serious. At the end of the film he gives us a list of things we can do:  bring our own cloth bags to the store, don't use single-use plastics (plastic knives, forks, plates, bottled water, disposable cameras, take-out cups, etc.), don't microwave your food in plastic containers, choose products with less packaging, buy used items when possible, buy less stuff. All great New Year's resolutions!

What We're Reading: Debbie

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin
A gentle orchardist, known as Talmadge, tends his rows of apples and apricots in the turn of the twentieth century Pacific Northwest. His quiet, solitary life is interrupted when two pregnant, starving, teenage girls enter his orchard, and his life. He ends up risking everything, even his own freedom and life, to give them a chance at life that they had never been given. I loved reading this book. The writing is beautiful, and the story, though one relating unspeakable cruelty and misfortune, is one that really got into my heart. The many moral questions in the plot would make this a great selection for discussion in book clubs, and the beauty of the setting and the depth of the characters would make a great movie too. This novel is one of my all-time favorites.

What We're Reading: Cathy

The Burning House compiled by Foster Huntington

What would you save if your house was burning down? This question, posed first at a dinner party and then on the author's website is an interesting peek into other people's lives. Each person chosen for the book has a list of what they would take and a photo of the items. The range of things varies from "nothing" to "my baby." The number of laptops, smart phones, and hard drives is surprising until you realize that people really do "put their lives on their computers" these days. I was interested to see how many would save their childhood teddy bear (or equivalent). A lot of them included pets: cats, dogs, birds, rabbits. Other people went into survivalist mode and took food and guns. It makes you think about what you would take, what you have that is irreplaceable, what you couldn't live without.

What We're Reading: Jan

When I Stop Talking, You'll Know I'm Dead
by Jerry Weintraub

Hollywood producer Jerry Weintraub recently released his documentary “41” about the life of his dear friend, President George H.W. Bush.  Just how did a Brooklyn-born and Bronx-raised “street kid” become friends with presidents, become a concert promoter for Elvis with no experience and produce movie hits like “Ocean’s Eleven” with George Clooney?  The answer is precisely the storyline of Weintraub’s autobiography.  In a candid, conversational tone he describes his father’s influence to work hard and dream big. He believes in never taking “no” for an answer.  From starting his own talent agency in the 1950’s to getting his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Weintraub has taken chances, taken advice and taken advantage of breaks that have come his way.  Now 74, there is still magic for him when he can produce a show or event and say “Jerry Weintraub Presents”. 

What We're Reading: Abby
Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor

Natalie Taylor was young, married to the love of her life and four months pregnant when her husband was killed in a freak skateboarding accident. Her life went from extremely happy and full to uncomprehensibly sad and very, very tragic. This memoir is based on journal entries she made during that first year or so after her husband's untimely death. The journal can be harsh at times but when you realize what Natalie is dealing with you appreciate her honesty and humor. She details how aggravating her in-laws can be without having the buffer of her husband. She has times when she can't hold it together but tries very hard to manage knowing that everyone around her is expecting her to collapse. When her son Kai is born she has to navigate through all of the difficult first months with a newborn alone while still grieving for the husband who was lost so young. Though she has a very tight group of close friends and family ultimately it is up to her to navigate through this difficult time and find the strength to endure. Natalie is from Michigan. She grew up and went to school in Birmingham and now teaches literature at Berkley High School.

What We're Reading: Edward

Archive 17: a novel of suspense

by Sam Eastland

     Stalin again needs the investigative skills of Pekkla, the Emerald Eye. Pekkla is sent back to the Gulag where he was imprisoned. He is to solve the murder of one of the four remaining Tsarist soldiers. They were part of a protection detail for the gold treasure of the Tsar. Pekkla slowly realizes that Stalin sent him not just to solve the murder but to find the gold. Stalin needs the gold to support the war effort. Pekkla tries to gain the trust of the remaining soldiers. When he gains their trust he realizes that there really is gold to be found. Will Pekkla be able to survive the murderous soldiers, the Gulag guards, the local tribe, and Stalin?

Sequel to The Eye of the Red Tsar

Great Read!

What We're Reading: Edward

The Spy Who Jumped Off the Screen


by Thomas Caplan


     Ty Hunter was an Army intelligence officer (special-ops) until he was wounded and given a medal. After surgery for his injuries, Ty became a media darling and was offered a movie role. Several successful movies in a row make him a star. Ty wants to take off for a much needed rest, but he gets a phone call to come and see the President. Ty was promoting a movie in France when he was invited aboard the yacht of Ian Santel. The President wants him to return to the yacht to find out if Santel was involved in the theft of three Russian nuclear warheads. Santel's protege Philip Frost and Ty seem to be competing for the attention of Santel's niece. Their competition turns deadly as Ty tries to stop the delivery of the nuclear weapons. Interesting mix of paparazzi, patriots and the perverse.

What We're Reading: Edward

The Mountain of Gold

by J. D. Davies

Captain Matthew Quinton has a new ship. While on convoy duty in the Mediterranean, he captures a pirate ship. Its captain is an Irishman masquerading as a  Muslim. The pirate weaves a tale about a mountain of gold in the interior of Africa. Quinton returns to England with the Irishman. King Charles needs gold to consolidate his reign. So Quinton and the Irishman are sent to the Gambia to get the gold for the King. The cover for this expedition is a possible war with the Dutch. Quinton is beset with problems while sailing up the Gambia to the mountain of gold. Will Quinton lose another ship?



What We're Watching: Cathy

The Way

Martin Sheen plays a father, Tom, who must travel to Spain to bring back the body of his son, Daniel, (played by Emilio Estevez) who has died at the beginning of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. He decides to do the pilgrimage in his son's place and cremates his son so that he can take him on the journey. At the beginning of the walk, Tom refuses to have anything to do with his fellow pilgrims, not sharing his grief or hardly even the time of day. Three of those pilgrims: Joost from Amsterdam, Sarah from Canada, and Jack from Ireland don't seem to want to leave him alone.  Eventually he comes to see that he does need other people to help him through. It's a wonderful, quiet adventure with comedy and sadness thrown in too.

What We're Reading: Edward

The Temple Mount Code (Thomas Lourds, Book 3)

by Charles Brokaw

     Harvard Professor Thomas Lourds is again in the thick of an archeological mystery that involves the fate of the world. While visiting a fellow archeologist working in China, Lourds translates writing on a bit of tortoise shell. This leads to an important find in the Himalayas. While there Lourds gets an urgent message from a colleague in Israel. When Lourds arrives in Israel, he learns that his colleague is dead. But Lourds knows that a message has been left for him to find. He is soon on the trail of Mohammad's Koran and a scroll said to foretell the future. Lourds travels to Vienna and Tehran in search of clues to the book and scroll.Will he be able to find the book and stop the end of the world?

What We're Reading: Cathy

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

This is the continuation of Thomas Cromwell's story which began in Wolf Hall. Ex-Queen Katherine finally dies but this doesn't bring the legitimacy to her queenship that Anne Boleyn thought it would. Instead, on the day of Katherine's funeral, Anne miscarries a boy. Her last chance at keeping Henry VIII is gone.  And Henry has decided he wants to marry Jane Seymour. The book covers only about 6 months (1535-6), in which we see Cromwell amassing the evidence needed to annul Henry's current marriage and convict the queen of adultery and treason. He gains new allies in this endeavor: the old noble families who want to restore the Catholic Church to England. Cromwell is leary of them but they are useful in their support of Henry's marriage to Jane. The foundations for the final part of the story have been laid.

The author says in her note at the end: "I am not claiming authority for my version; I am making the reader a propsal, an offer." I think this is a wonderful way of looking at historical fiction.

What We're Reading: Cathy

London Under: the Secret History Beneath the Streets by Peter Ackroyd

Did you ever wonder what is under your feet as you walk around a city? Well it turns out there's an awful lot down there. Peter Ackroyd gives us a short account of what's under London - the historical items such as Roman tile floors, Saxon ruins, coins, monasteries, graveyards, medieval tools, etc. He tells us about the wells and streams that used to flow through the area now covered by London's streets. Unseen and unheard by today's Londoners for the most part but definitely still there: London must pump 15,400,000 gallons of water a day from below to preserve the city. You can get a map and see where they used to be by following his descriptions (this book really should have had a map in it). He tells us the story of the sewers. And, of course, he tells about the building of The Underground. It opened in 1863 and has served not only as a convenient transport system but also as a bomb shelter in WWII. The deepest tunnels are over 200 feet below the surface. Lots of interesting stuff!

What We're Reading: Edward



The Hope Vendetta: a novel

by Scott Mariani

Ben Hope was tired of all the killing he saw as an SAS operative. He tried working as a private contractor to right the wrongs in the world but ended up losing even more of himself. Ben decides to return to Oxford University and continue his study of theology and become a minister. But his favorite professor's daughter goes missing. Ben gets a former colleague to search for the girl. But when Ben's colleague is killed, Ben sets out to exact revenge on the party behind the kidnapping and murder.Ben ends up in the United States on the trail of a minister, who believes that the end of days is near. When Ben is almost killed, he realizes that there are forces at work that hope to bring about the final conflict for political reasons. Will Ben be able to stop these forces before they bring about the biblical end of the world?

Soon to be a major motion picture.

But read the book first and be sure to get more of Ben's story in the "Mozart Conspiracy".

What We're Reading: Edward

Weep, Shuder, Die: a guide to loving opera


By Robert Levine


Most people think that opera lovers are aging codgers. But Time magazine online states that the age of the average opera attendee is 48. In 2009 over a million tickets were sold for the Metropolitan Opera's HD Live Broadcast. In his book, Levine describes fifty of the most produced operas. First he divides the operas by country and composer. The Levine gives the plot of the operas act by act. Memorable music and performances are also mentioned. Opeera is even keeping up with the newest technology with the release of Bizet's Carmen on a 3D DVD. Levine's book would be great to read before attending one of the operas he describes. Excellent, si vous apprenez a aimer l'opera!

What We're Reading: Edward

Mozart's Last Aria: a novel


by Matt Rees


On her death bed Mozart's sister, Nannerl, gives her nephew, Wolfgang, a diary filled with the results of her investigation into her brother's death. Nannerl travelled to Vienna, when she learned of her brother's death. While in Vienna she meets with Mozart's wife, Constanze, his patrons and friends. Nannerl is able to fit into her brother's clothing.Dressed as Wolfgang, she participates in concerts celebrating his life. She hopes that this deception will reveal how and why Wolfgang died. Nannerl even meets with the Emperor and is almost killed. Was her brother poisoned? Was his death the result of his Masonic ties? Did he believe in too much equality? Rees makes Mozart's Vienna come to life. Could he be right about the reason for Mozart's death? One of the best books of the year!

What We're Reading: Edward

Revenger: a novel of Tudor intrigue


by Rory Clements


John Shakespeare, William's brother, is trying to live quietly as a school master. His wife, a Catholic, is almost caught meeting with a banned priest. John and his family are being closely watched by pursuivants. Five years ago John worked as an intelligencer for Lord Burghley. Now Burghley's son, Sir Robert Cecil, puts John to work on two tasks. He is to find a survivor of Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony. Raleigh is in the Tower of London and hopes to regain the favor of Queen Elizabeth. This would diminish the power of the current favorite, the Earl of Essex. John is also to spy from inside the Essex household for Cecil. John slowly learns of a plot on the life of Queen Elizabeth. Will he be able to stop the plot without losing his life?

What We're Reading: Edward

Ashes of the Earth: a mystery of the post-apocalyptic America

by Eliot Pattison

Twenty-five years after the world experiences a series of atomic and biological attacks, people are beginning to gather in communities for their survival. One of these communities, near the Great Lakes, is Carthage. Hadrian Boone was one of the founders of the community. But now he is on the outs with the current leadership. When the leading scientist of the community is killed, the violent underside of the community is revealed. Boone is given the task of finding out what is happening to Carthage. Neighboring communities want to change Carthage. Boone had hoped that the devastation of the Earth would change mankind. But evil and violence still seem to be a part of the human condition. Will it ever change? Start of a new series for Pattison.

What We're Reading: Edward

The Road to Rome: a forgotten legion chronicle

by Ben Kane

In this the third book in the Forgotten Legion series, twins Fabiola and Romulus are fated to find each other in Rome after many years apart. Fabiola is now an intimate favorite of both Brutus and Mark Anthony. She lives to seek vengeance on Julius Caesar for the past treatment of her family. Romulus was a slave serving in the lost Roman Legion in the East. Caesar spares Romulus the death penalty for this crime. Thus earning his loyalty. Tarquinius, a fellow legionnaire, tell Romulus of his vision of an auspicious death. As the Ides of March approaches, Fabiola and Romulus will meet again. Who will survive their meeting on the Ides of March?

What We're Watching: Jan

The Descendants.

Directed by Alexander Payne. Starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller.

This film is a powerful picture of a family in crisis . Matt King (Clooney) is a real estate lawyer in Hawaii whose wife is in a coma after a boating accident. He has been a “backup parent” to his two defiant daughters (Woodley and Miller) who like to remind him how absent he’s been. Moreover, Matt’s family is native to the Islands and his domestic troubles are complicated by descendant disagreements about the sale of real estate. Juggling all of these responsibilities and personalities in his life forces Matt to face realities about his family that he has missed. The film is set in the beauty and tranquility of the Hawaiian Islands - a contrast to the human turmoil caused by actions like betrayal and greed. The film is directed in such a way that both drama and humor contribute to the storytelling. All of the performances make the viewer care about the characters. However, George Clooney's acting makes us forget about his bachelor image as he struggles to father his precious daughters and cope with his lost spouse. It is a performance to be seen.