Tag Archives: reading

Books, Movies and TV

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Lisa Kudrow in The ComebackHere are two intelligent and talented women I’ve been spending Home by Julie Andrewssome time with this week (other than female friends and family members, of course!): Lisa Kudrow and Julie Andrews.  I scored this DVD of Kudrow’s late and great HBO series “The Comeback” at the TJ Maxx checkout counter for $5. I loved this show and so did most critics. It was sharp and subtle, poignant and witty. Kudrow stars a former TV star who’s the subject of a reality show filmed as she makes a hoped-for comeback in a standardly trite sitcom. It’s a treasure that’s even worth the $30 price the DVD normally retails for. And then there’s “Home, A Memoir of My Early Years” by Julie Andrews. Who among us who grew up with “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music” does not love Julie Andrews? I always thought of her as elegant upper-crust British nobility. Surprise! She is none of those things — she actually came from a dysfunctional alcoholic/philandering family and got her start in the dying days of pre- and post-World War II vaudeville. Her autobiography has gotten well-deserved rave reviews. It’s a spare yet richly-layered look at a childhood that will horrify modern parents and leave you amazed and inspired by Andrews’ tenacity.

Note: I got this book because my mom gave me an autographed copy. Autographed by Julie Andrews herself! My mother is like Mrs. Super School Board (actually — chairwoman of her local school board) and attended the National School Board Association meeting in San Diego a couple weeks ago. Julie Andrews was one of the speakers and autographed books — two each — for 150 people. My mom stood in line for over an hour with her books but was thrilled to meet Miss Andrews, who was so nice and pleasant, my mom said, and complimented my mother on her jacket. A definite class act. Both of them.

Book Clubs

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Harry Potter and the Socerer's StoneIn the spirit of trying new things, I’ve joined a book club called “Reliving Harry.” It’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowsfor folks who’ve read the Harry Potter books already but want to reread and discuss from a long-range we-know-how-it-ends perspective. What a great idea! We meet every month at the library and already have done the first book. The group mostly is 20- and 30-year-olds who read the books as teenagers and still can’t get enough. There were a couple oldsters like me who first bought the books for their own kids plus a 10-year-old boy who is just beginning the books and already is quite fluent in Hogwarts-speak. As in all book-club discussions, I learn so much from everybody else and enjoy picking up details I completely miss on my own.  I’m constantly amazed at how the Harry Potter series touched so many different people — everybody has their Harry Potter stories. Go to http://en.wikibooks.org and http://www.scholastic.com for discussion questions.

Books

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loving-frank1You must put “Loving Frank,” by Nancy Horan, on your must-read list. It’s the story of Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah Borthwick Cheney and their clandestine and infamous love affair. The pair fell in love after Cheney and her husband commissioned a house from Wright. Both Cheney and Wright left their spouses and children for the other, but Cheney — an intelligent, educated and talented woman — suffered the most. She lost her children, was the subject of scorn and scandal and could barely support herself as a single woman. This is billed as an historic novel, but don’t let that put you off. Usually I’m irritated by authors who try to retell actual facts with their own creative spin, but it works here because of Horan’s extensive research and obsession with the truth. Horan lets Cheney’s voice — one that history and public relations seem to have silenced — come through strongly and authentically. This isn’t what Horan thinks happened, but what, as we come to know Cheney, must surely have happened. It’s a compelling love story, an intriguing look behind the historic facts and a damning treatise on the restrictions and injustices that hampered American women just 100 years ago.

Just a note here: In the interest of honesty, I did read this book. For one of my book-club meetings. Which I missed. Because I thought the meeting was on Tuesday night when it actually was on Wednesday night. But when I showed a night late at the house of my friend who was hosting the meeting, she graciously poured me a glass of wine anyway and we sat and talked about everybody who had been there the night before. In a good way, of course.

An Epic Read

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Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon were among the women singers/songwriters whose music defined a generation: the hippie baby-boomers coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Sheila Weller’s book, “Girls Like Us,” explores the trio’s intertwining lives and how their successes changed the music industry. It’s a fascinating look at these women’s beginnings, their personal and professional struggles and the men who inspired them (although not always for the good). It’s also an homage to the rise of feminism and the fast-track advances in women’s rights from one decade to the next. Sounds like a must-read, right? Well, maybe. It’s long — more than 500 pages — detailed and peppered with references and observations that do nothing to move the story along. Also, Weller writes with interminably long sentences, relies on distracting hyphens and parentheses and can’t disguise an annoying sort of exclusionary elitist attitude that’s prejudicial and unattractive. For example, she believes that the only smart and progressive women found in America in the early1960s were at the elite Northeastern women’s colleges. Really? Hmmm … That’s just one instance of Weller’s biased and insider approach. But, that being said, I’m glad I read this book. If you’ve ever belted out Simon’s “You’re So Vain,” if King’s “Tapestry” is on your best-album-ever list or if a mellow mood sends you to Mitchell’s “Clouds,” this is the book for you. But if you like quick reads and straightforward writing, it’s not.