Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

As promised, I finally read the original Truman Capote novella, 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. I'm also reading a long (760 pgs!) Sci Fi book recommended by Brian H. It is good, albeit a long read. We are on vacation next week, so I should have some reviews ready to post when we return. k

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote (4)
After reading ‘Fifth Avenue: 5am…’ (see March 2011 Book Reviews),  I expected to find this novella to be darker and more scandalous than the movie.  I was pleased that this was not exactly correct.  It had much of the whimsy and even some of the best dialogue word for word.  Until reading both the original and the recent analysis of the movie, I didn’t appreciate the freedom writers and movie makers have today compared to the 60’s.  Capote wrote of a free spirited young woman who mainly took ‘bathroom’ money from men for the benefit of her company.  On occasion, it is intimated that more occurs, but it is very subtle.  At one point she claims to have had 11 ‘lovers’, but the definition of ‘lover’ seems to also be ambiguous.  Even with all the subtlety, the movie version made some interesting changes.  She discusses getting money for the bathroom at restaurants, but never implies in any way that she is sleeping with her dates.  In order to soften the impact of her male friends, in the movie they added the sugar momma character of ‘Apartment 23’ for Fred.  I always thought that felt a tad disingenuous and didn’t flow well in the movie.  Overall the book is filled with little gems that aren’t in the movie and is very worth reading.  The ending is very good and true to Holly’s character.  My library’s edition had a couple of Capote’s other short stories.  I would also recommend reading ‘A Christmas Memory’.  It was very touching.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Into the Wild by John Krakauer

If you looked at the blog last week, you probably saw some odd things happening. Sorry - but Blogspot had some troubles. Their hosted blogs were down for a day or so and they lost some of the edits from that time. I've tried to recover all that was put on the blog. Hopefully it was not too off-putting!


Into the Wild, John Krakauer (3.5)
‘Into the Wild’ is the true story of a young man, Chris McCandless, who abandoned family, friends and possessions in order to live off the land on a 2 year adventure culminating in a trip to Alaska and his eventual death.  It is a sad and bittersweet story where you struggle to understand his drivers and his demons.  He has the typical 20-something idealistic tendencies, but comes across as an anomaly of smart-college graduate with manners versus hippy hitchhiking bum.  His charisma is enticing to all who meet him on his travels, but his stubborn nature and youthful feelings of invincibility appear to be his downfall.  John Krakauer always tells a good story, though this one may be too close to home.  I struggled with being annoyed at his inserted personal stories to appreciating his point of view, given their similar stories.  I also struggled with the rating for this book.  I think the book is very interesting and recommend it to anyone who likes adventure stories, but I have a hard time giving a ‘4’ if I had said anything negative in the review.  

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

LOTR

Ok, sorry for the delay, but last night I finished the last of the Lord of the Ring books.  I won't review them as I don't feel I could do them justice and I believe many of you have already read them.  I will say, for those of you who have not, if you liked the movies, you will love the books.  They are much richer in description and characters. Also the movies left out a few character favorites, such as Tom Bombadil! My all-time favorite sections of the books had to do with the Ents, and I don't feel the movies did them justice.  I just love Tree-Beard and his concern about anything done 'hasty'.  Given he is a millinnia old tree, one can only imagine how hasty little hobbits seem.  Scott is also re-reading the books and, in tribute, we had 'eleven-sies' this weekend :).

I am now reading 'Into the Wild' by John Krakauer and also finished 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' by Truman Capote (the novella) and will review them next.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Tropical Citrus Shrimp

I have moved the yummy Shrimp Ceviche recipe to the Recipe Page....KC

Friday, May 6, 2011

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Last night was our May book club meeting.  For our virtual members (or those who just couldn't make it) below you will find a summary group review of 'Little Women'.  I have also added a Book Club Recipe page where we'll post recipes from the meetings/parties.

The next book will be 'Just Kids', the memoir of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe when they were young and before they were famous.  It has gotten great reviews and was awarded the National Book Award.


Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (3.5)

Many in the book club had read ‘Little Women’ in their childhood, so a big question was: did we feel the same way reading it as an adult?  The responses were quite interesting.  Most of us appreciated the characteristics of the girls more when we were young, but found their language and antics a bit cornier as adults.  We also recognized the theme of family more strongly now.  One of the group (we’ll call her Lawyer-K) even found it tougher to read as a mother – she associated more with Marmee and found her to be so perfect as to be intimidating.  We assured her that the situation was far more idyllic than humanly possible, both in terms of the mother’s and the girls’ behaviors.  The morals of the story (family=good, money=bad) came across as very clear and even a tad heavy-handed to the adult readers. Overall many of us had good nostalgic feelings about rereading the story, even if they were slightly different feelings from our younger selves.  There is something for people of all ages to appreciate in the cleverness of the post office and the Pickwick Portfolio, particularly when compared to the entertainment available to kids ‘these days’.  What imagination can do when there is no TV or computer available!  Our rating of 3.5 is an average of the group’s ratings (from between 3 and 4).