Reading, Watching, Listening...... June in Review

What I Was Reading in June
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
13 Ways of Looking at a Novel by Jane Smiley
Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher
The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
Soldier in the Rain by William Goldman




Young Adult/Juvenile Books completed in June
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
Crank by Ellen Hopkins
Across the Nightingale Floor:The Sword of the Warrior Episode One by Lian Hearn
Across the Nightingale Floor: The Road to Inuyasha Episode Two by Lian Hearn
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly
Boy by Roald Dahl

Other Books completed in June
Welcome to Fred by Brad Whittington
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer
Eleven on Top by Janet Evanovich

I have been somewhat permanently paused in my reading of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I am hoping that I will pick it up again soon. The same can be said for 13 Ways of Looking at a Novel. Is it because they are nonfiction? I hate to admit it, but maybe.

Instead I have been a sucker for the juvenile fiction genre this month. Perhaps I got a taste of it with those books I reviewed in May and since then I've been eating them up like candy. I reread the C.S. Lewis book prior to watching the film and I read Crank because it's been praised by my high school students and anytime I can't keep a book on the shelf because it's in that much demand, I tend to pay attention. Well, --I-- didn't love it, but that's okay. A Northern Light is a story set in 1906 and was inspired by the true story of a murder that occurred on Big Moose Lake, on the western edge of the Adirondack Mountains. The same story that inspired Theodore Dreiser to write An American Tragedy. I read Boy by Roald Dahl because I love him and I hadn't read it yet. It's his description of his childhood. I am hoping to read Going Solo sometime in July.

The biggest surprise to me this month was how Lian Hearn took me by storm. First of all, had I even realized when I bought the first volume that is was "episode one" I wouldn't have bothered. However, it conveniently left off right in the middle of the adventure and so I had to track down episode two so I could find out how it all ends. Then I immediately bought Grass for His Pillow which continues the story further. The other thing about these books is the setting/content. Feudal Japan is not usually my thing but that didn't seem to matter once I started reading.

The best book in the stack was A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park. Clearly, there are reasons it won the Newberry. This one was set in 12th Century Korea and focuses on the relationship between two cast offs who have only each other and the story of how ten year old Tree Ear turns his orphan status into that of an apprentice to one of the most esteemed potters in the village.

True to Evanovich style, Eleven on Top was as delicious as a boston creme donut which I begin to crave by the end of the first chapter and then continue to think about long after the book was done. Even though Stephanie Plum has tried to quit the bounty hunter biz she's still the target of car bombers, break ins, and a lustful tug of war between Ranger and Morelli. Yum. Almost as delicious as the donut references.

Everything is Illuminated? Well, I am not even sure WHAT to say about this story. I was stunned. It bore SOME resemblance to Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and I was fascinated by the style and the story. I am not sure I understood it and perhaps I was just reading too quickly. Though this is the book that took the longest for me to finish. It had at least three story lines going on and it was dripping with sex and that sort of aftermath of WWII loss. It was a book I'd like to read again with a group or a friend and discuss. Maybe I'll rent the movie?

What I Was Watching in June
On TV
TV Land (Three's Company, Wings, Night Court)
Will and Grace
Sex and the City
The Office

TV has been slow this summer. Even the DVR seems wasted when all I am doing is recording occasional reruns of The Office (which are often so brutal I can barely watch). I find myself watching a fair amount of rerun TV episodes of Will and Grace and all the rest listed here. I will say, that I can't get enough of Parker Posey's role on Will and Grace as Jack's boss at Barneys.


On DVD
My Life as a Dog
Good Night and Good Luck
Winter Passing
The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe
Mission Impossible II
Paradise Now
Aeon Flux
The Maltese Falcon
Young Frankenstein
The Great Escape
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Crumb
Stalag 17
Jesus of Montreal
Walk the Line
The Sting

In Theatre
The Lake House


It seems so long ago that I watched some of these. Funny, eh? Of the three foreign films I watched, My Life as a Dog, Paradise Now, and Jesus of Montreal, I would say that Paradise Now definitely left the biggest impression. I have never felt I understood much about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. However this film did offer another image. It was full of though provoking quotes and it made me incredibly sad to walk in the footsteps of the characters in this Palestinian film. This is a must see.

Good Night and Good Luck is a film I had rented from Netflix for a record number of days before I finally got around to watching it and when I did I was not disappointed as I thought I might be. One observation... they really smoked a LOT in that film. Another observation... what is wrong with our country that we can live through something like the whole McCarthy era and people STILL can't see the oppression right in front of them?

I watched a fair number of older films this month and I will say that The Maltese Falcon was pure pleasure. I loved it. I have a copy of the book on its way so I don't have to quite let go yet. The Great Escape and Stalag 17 were both WWII prison camp films and very similar, but each with their own flavor. I am not sure which I prefered. At first I thought it was The Great Escape, after all it stars James Garner... but upon further reflection I realize they can't really be compared like that for me.


Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was selected because of its recent release to DVD. And I loved this one too. I guess it's a bit funny that I say I don't like "westerns" and yet I loved this one. Guess I must just like stories about "outlaws" I thought Robert Redford and Paul Newman were wonderful and their respective characters had great lines. I loved Katharine Ross too. Now I'm gushing and not saying a thing. Rent it if you've never seen it before.

The Sting was a sort of follow up to the Redford/Newman combo and it was terrific too. I was curious about this one because Sus says it's one of her faves and I was actually in a high school play version of this way back when and yet I STILL couldn't summon up any kind of memory of the storyline. I love heist type movies and this one fits right in.... actually it probably paved the way for all the ones I've loved in the last 20 years.

Crumb is a documentary based on the life of Robert Crumb. It turns out I am not all that crazy about his art: neither the style nor the subject matter, but that didn't stop me from marveling over the documentary. It's mostly personal interviews with Crumb and his family members, some ex-girlfriends and some art critics. The part that held the greatest fascination for me was in hearing about his sad childhood and seeing the impact it had on him and his two brothers.

This was my second viewing of Walk the Line and it only served to solidify my love of Reese Witherspoon. She was wonderful in that film.

What I Was Listening to in June

A bit of everything....
Mamma Mia Soundtrack
Midwestern Mix
Desert Island Blues
Edie Brickell
Dwight Yoakam
Johnny Cash
Eva Cassidy
Martin Sexton ....

.... and a random sampling from my MP3 player shuffles for June

June 1

My Doorbell by The White Stripes
Blessed to be a Witness by Ben Harper
Blue by Lucinda Williams
Telling Stories by Tracy Chapman
Good Love Never Dies by Liz Phair





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June 8

I Will... But by SheDaisy
When I Grow Up by Garbage
Don't Let Him Go by REO Speedwagon
Solitary Man by Neil Diamond
Digee Dime by Burlap to Cashmere



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June 14
Nobody but Me by Lou Rawls
Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean by Susan Tedeschi
Combat Rock by Sleater Kinney
My Best Friend by Jefferson Airplane
Don't Stop by The Rolling Stones



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June 23

You Win Again by Wanda Jackson
Barabajagal by Donovan
Freedom of the Road by Martin Sexton
Sway by Michael Buble
The First Cut is the Deepest by Rod Stewart