I’ve got a bit of reading and movie watching done lately–partly due to all the traveling I’ve been doing. Here’s a bit on each.
Books
The Known World by Edward P. Jones won the Pulitzer Prize back in 2004. As far as Pulitzer winners goes, this book is pretty good (though I did enjoy 2001 winner Empire Falls). It’s about a slave plantation with a former slave as the plantation owner. Some of the flashbacks and flash-forwards are confusing but not too detrimental to the overall value of the book.
Pompeii by Richard Harris. I enjoyed immensely Fatherland, a previous novel by Harris, which takes place in 1964 and after Nazi Germany defeated Britain in WWII and controls most of the European Continent. (I think Trench recommended it.) Anyway, Pompeii is no Fatherland. This fictional history details the couple of days leading up to the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the subsequent destruction of Pompeii. Its main character is an aqueduct engineer who discovers the impending doom just moments before the commoners though he had ample warnings. My real gripe about the book–as I detailed to Trench and Stephanie a few weeks ago while in Chicago–was the constant use of modern curse words. Maybe Harris was simply converting ancient Roman curses to modern American ones, but it was definitely distracting and, to me, unnecessary.
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier. My faraway favorite of these three, though it’s not cracking my favorites list. And Trench was correct (see the comment), everybody dies.
Movies
Holly and I went to see Little Miss Sunshine last week. It is great. Make sure you see it.
I watched L.A. Confidential and Collateral on my Helsinki trip. LA Confidential isn’t exactly a new release, but I had not seen it before. Very good film. Collateral stars Tom Cruise (strike one) and Jamie Foxx. I was on board with Cruise as a cool guy in Top Gun, Risky Business, and Cocktail. Maybe as a tough guy in Mission Impossible. But I just didn’t believe him in this movie–besides, he’s crazy now.
Finally, I watched The Royal Tenenbaums again. I love this movie. Holly? She’s not a big fan.
