Good Books? DVD's?

Howdy All,

I am in the market for new books to read. I love the histories by Alison Weir of the Tudors and Plantagenets. I adore Colleen McCullough's seven book "Rome" series. Armisted Maulpin and his "Tales of the City" series delight me. The history of the third Reich interests me. Augusten Burroughs entertains me. So that is a snap shot of my library.

I like books that are LONG, interesting plots, and interesting characters. Any recommendations?

Recently we viewed "The Blindside" that won an Oscar for Sandra Bullock. Both Otis and I were amazed that we so thoroughly enjoyed a movie with minimal violence and minimal profanity - that is rare these days in the USA for a popular movie. But "The Blindside" is such a compelling story about a Southern woman and her family ... really intersting and makes one cry for all the right reasons.

Ms. Bullock deserved the Oscar for no other reason than capturing not only the Southern accent beautifully, but also for portraying a strong Southern woman so well. Most excellent acting. I am sorry that such an artist is having her personal life spread over the tabloids ... and real sorry her family is going through what it is going through. I enjoyed her performance in "Speed" but I applaud her performance in "The Blindside." Must see DVD.

"Precious" and "Fame" were OK ... but I don't feel compelled to watch either again anytime soon. "Avatar" is on the shelf to be viewed this week sometime when we are both home and in the mood.

Have other DVD's delighted you recently? I say "DVD" because watching a film in a theater is just too enriched an environment for me. The Dolby surround sound, the volume, the quick changing images without a "pause button" ... no, I watch DVD's instead.

So team, what books and DVD's are entertaining you these days?

"Up in the Air" was a good movie, Richard. Plus, it has George Clooney in it. He could read the telephone book for 90 minutes and it would make good viewing! lol

"Did You Hear About the Morgans" was better than I thought it would be. It's a fish out of water story with Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant.

"The Time Traveler's Wife" was good. I read ½ of the book and enjoyed the movie much more.

"The Invention of Lying" with Ricky Gervais was funny. Better than it seemed it would be.

My mother read "The Reader" and we both liked the movie with Kate Winslet. It's set in mid 20th century Germany, fascinating.

"Grey Gardens" is a documentary and there is also a 2009 HBO movie about it with Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange. It's about a very eccentric mother and daughter who live in Manhattan and the Hamptons. Excellent!

"Frost Nixon" was very interesting. Frank Langella portrays Nixon.

"Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" with Amy Adams and the woman who played Marge in "Fargo"---excellent!

Since you like history, perhaps you'd like biographies? You might like to try bios of presidents?

Hope this is helpful,
£eslie

I like Wally Lamb's books, most recently "The Hour I First Believed." They are long, and you don't figure out from the beginning exactly how things are going to go. Very strong character development.

Have you seen the PBS series on John Adams? I enjoyed that, and learned some things, too.

"Defiance" was a pretty good movie, and based on a historical situation.

Maybe I will think of some more after awhile. With movies I tend to watch and forget almost immediately.

Norma

Norma, I believe the John Adams movie you are referring was on HBO....Paul Giamatti was Adams. Unless you know of a different one?

I just watched Persepolis, it's about a girl growing up in Iran after the Shah was deposed and the Taliban took over. It was originally a graphic novel, and the movie is done in drawings, too. It is in French with English subtitles. I don't know if the DVD is easy to find in the US, but the novel should be.

Since living in Au, I have come to love Australian movies. There is hardly and violence and most of the stories are about ordinary people. Skip Australiana, but Little Fish, Home Song Stories and the Love My Way series were good. The videos are a different format than the US, but the most recent one appear to be interchangeable.

I read Shattered Silence by Melissa G. Moore. It is a true story about Melissa's dad who turned out to be a serial killer. I saw her on Oprah a while back and wrote down the name of her book and got it to read. It was written well and kept my interest.

Steve and Me by Terrie Irwin was very good. About Steve Irwin and when the two of them met and their life together. After reading her book I felt the two of them were made for one another.

The Time of My Life by Patrick Swayze and Lisa Niemi was very good.

An in depth long read are the Outlander series written by Diana Gabaldon. In my opinion they are written very well. Everything is described such that you can truly imagine surroundings and what people look like etc...

I don't watch to many movies but I also enjoyed "Up in the Air". I have at home ready to watch "This is it" the Michael Jackson Documentary.

As for reading, I don't read much fiction. I did read "The Nazi Officer's Wife: How One Jewish Woman Survived the Holocaust" by Edith H. Beer, which was very good.

I just finished Slammerkin by Emma Donaghue. Set in the 1700 about a 14 year old girl set out on her own survival in a harsh world. Very compelling and well written. Great historical story telling and some deep thoughts woven in between.

Angela

Ohhh, Angela, that sounds wonderful! Kind of like "Island of the Blue Dolphin" one of my all time favorites.

paradox wrote: Kind of like "Island of the Blue Dolphin" one of my all time favorites.

I'll have to search that one out.

Thx

If I read ONE book that taught me about modern women - her ideas and feelings and life - what book would that be?

If I watched ONE DVD that taught me about modern women - what DVD would that be? How about "Steel Magnolias"?

ONE movie about what it is like to be a gay man today? "Torch Song Trilogy" by Harvey Fienstein.

One book? probably "Faggots" by Larry Krammer - though it is only a tad dated. Still a good book.

I'm averaging a book a day right now.

I'll have to grab my pile and list some of the better ones.

Richard wrote:"Avatar" is on the shelf to be viewed this week sometime when we are both home and in the mood.

"Avatar" is wonderful. I'm not usually in to that type of movie, but I enjoyed it immensely. We watched it on my son's blue ray--definitely the best way to watch it.

I watch very few movies.

Becky

Diana Gabaldon wrote new historical detective spin-off series about Lord John Gray
which you may like because he is gay.
I read one book, and a short novel,
and l liked it so much I am gonna read them all

It's a light read, funny, at times sad, on the whole quite entertaining, even bit educating in history.

http://rcplpicks.wordpress.com/2008/05/09/lord-john-series-by-diana-gabaldon/

Risa

Slightly off topic....my Mom celebrated her 85th birthday last night by seeing "Fiddler on the Roof" live, with Harvey Firestein as the father. My sister said he did a fantastic job!

I remember seeing Torch Song Trilogy in the 80s(?). I agree, it was really good.

Thanks for all the recommendations. As a way to say "thank you" here's a montage of the current Braodway show, "La Cage Aux Folles" starring Kelsey Krammer (Frazier).

Richard,
I LOVE Augusten Burroughs! His books are great.

I am currently reading Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler - a quick raunchy read, not as good as My Horizontal Life though. Also have Stiff by Mary Roach I've started, which is interesting... But i have discovered Kindle (which i said i would never do) and that's how i'm currently reading.

Movies... I know it's older but have you seen Sweeny Todd?? I LOVED IT!!

beth

We also enjoyed Avatar, I think you'll like it.

Blind Side was one of the best movies I've seen in a very long time.

If you can stand animated movies, UP is really good. Everyone seemed to think it was a children's movie, but the love story between the old man and his wife was very touching.

I'm going to look for them over here in Sydney. Her TV show is not available here, as far as I know.