My Last Summer Matinee

I've read the book, so I thought I should see the movie . . .

Now that I've seen the movie, I want to re-read the book. This re-reading thing's getting out of hand.

Eat Pray Love

- 2hr 13min‎‎ - Rated PG-13‎‎ - Drama‎ -
Director: Ryan Murphy - Cast: Julia Roberts, James Franco, Richard Jenkins, Viola Davis, Billy Crudup

Liz Gilbert had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having -- a husband, a house, a successful career -- yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali.

Booking It--I Wanna Talk About Me

Which do you prefer? Biographies written about someone? Or Autobiographies written by the actual person (and/or ghost-writer)?

Biographies are fine. Autobiographies are better. But I'd really rather read a memoir.

Biographies and autobiographies are usually broad in scope, sometimes even covering the subject's whole life, whereas a memoir often centers on a particular aspect or theme.

Autobiographies and memoirs are fascinating because they reveal so much more than the plot the person chooses to tell. I read and wonder, why this particular focus? How do they select what to include? what to leave out? How are they shading and shaping readers' perceptions? How much is true and how much is wishful thinking? or morphed memories? Are they revealing themselves? or recreating themselves?

See what I mean?

What I'm Reading Now

(Thanks to JGR for the reccomendation.)

"An astonishing find - the landmark journal of a woman living though the Russian occupation of Berlin - which has already earned comparisons to diaries by Etty Hillesum and Victor KlempererFor six weeks in 1945, as Berlin fell to the Russian army, a young woman, alone in the city, kept a daily record of her and her neighbors' experiences, determined to describe the common lot of millions.Purged of all self-pity but with laser-sharp observation and bracing humor, the anonymous author conjures up a ravaged apartment building and its little group of residents struggling to get by in the rubble without food, heat, or water. Clear-eyed and unsentimental, she depicts her fellow Berliners in all their humanity as well as their cravenness, corrupted first by hunger and then by the Russians. And with shocking and vivid detail, she tells of the shameful indignities to which women in a conquered city are always subject: the mass rape suffered by all, regardless of age or infirmity. Through this ordeal, she maintains her resilience, decency, and fierce will to come through her city's trial, until normalcy and safety return.At once an essential record and a work of great literature, A Woman in Berlin not only reveals a true heroine, sure to join other enduring figures of the twentieth century, but also gives voice to the rarely heard victims of war: the women."

"When A Woman in Berlin was first published anonymously in German (five years after an English language version was published in 1954) it was greeted with disgust by German audiences and quickly went out of print. The author was so shaken by the response that she would not allow her diary to be republished again until after her death. In 2003 it was republished in Germany to critical acclaim and more controversy, but also to a great deal more recognition, empathy and understanding."

Pre-Selling Sarah

Only a day after HarperCollins announced the pending release of Sarah Palin's memoir Going Rogue (I'm not kidding; that's the real title), the book jumped to #1 on barnesandnoble.com and #2 at amazon.com, behind The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

What this says about the reading tastes of the American book-buying public, I'm not quite sure. (Do they admire her? Is it morbid fascination? Are they collecting material for their next Saturday Night Live skit? Looking for ammunition to trash her on their blog?)

I wish they'd call me. I could recommend some really good reads.

Booking It-Celebrities?

Do you read celebrity memoirs? Which ones have you read or do you want to read? Which nonexistent celebrity memoirs would you like to see?

I do like to read memoirs, but only of people I really admire or whose lives intrigue me. Fortunately for me, celebrities (if you mean the kind that grace the tabloid covers) rarely make my list. One memoir that's on my nightstand right now is Valdimir Nobokov's Speak, Memory. I bought it after reading Lolita a couple of years ago, but I just haven't found (made?) the time yet to read it. I will, though. One of the books I just bought at the CSC is a memoir, Barbara Brown Taylor's Leaving Church. I'll probably get to it before Speak, Memory--no offense intended, Mr. Nobokov.

I think that the last two memoirs I've read were Ayan Hirsi Ali's Infidel and Larry McMurtry's Books: A Memoir. I'd highly recommend Ali's. It's a very intriguing memoir that I've thought about a lot. McMurtry's, however, was only occasionally interesting. I had to make myself finish it. There were just too many boring sections about when, where, and how he acquired certain books and not nearly enough of his thoughts about reading and writing them.

A memoir I really want to read is former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's Reconciliation: Islam, Democracy, and the West, finished shortly before her tragic assassination.

Come to think of it, there is maybe one celebrity memoir I'd like to read--Meryl Streep's--but only if she analyzes some of her great roles.

Mini-Memoirs

The editors of Smith Magazine have published a compilation of mini-memoirs called Not Quite What I Was Expecting: Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. Here are a few samples:

“Our prison visitations were surprisingly romantic.” --Larry Smith

“Didn’t realize I’d still be lonely.” --Pamela Cash

“My marital advice? Marry an orphan.” --Kristina Wright

“It’s better when you’re the celebrity.” --Lux Alptraum

Neat idea, huh? Here’s mine:

“She went upstairs again to write.”

Care to give it a try?

Fooling Oprah

I like to read memoirs, and I’ve read several lately—Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s, Larry McMurtry’s, Azar Nafisi’s, Susan Campbell's, and more. And I’ve always approached memoirs with a level of trust. I realize that a memoir is an author’s presentation of herself/himself and therefore subject to a little slanting, some careful word selections, a few choice omissions, and I expect that. What I don’t expect is to be outright lied to, but I guess Oprah must be getting used to it.

First, it was James Frey. Next it was Herman Rosenblatt. Wonder who’s next?