Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang

When I started this book, the first chapter made me think twice about continuing with this "over-the-top" entertainer/writer. Is she just going to dribble on about the same old disgusting habits that make her famous, and do I want to really spend my time reading this junk, but then as I sloughed through another chapter she caught me, and I stayed up all night reading this latest little book, laughing all the way. OMG! I haven't had the chance to see her on TV, but she really can write funny, and I am always looking for my next funny book. For the same reason I like David Sedaris or Seinfeld, I do enjoy finding the funny in things, and I admire the people who can do it, even if it is crass and embarrassing.

Great Movies

I just watched two great movies back-to-back, mostly because I was home by myself this past weekend. The first, Young Victoria, is on DVD and available from our library system. The actors, Emily Blunt and Rupert Friend, play Queen Victoria and her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha so well. It is a beautiful film in exquisite accuracy to detail. One of the producers is Sarah Ferguson, and she is on the DVD featurettes explaining more about the Queen. After the film I reached up to find my copy of Queen Victoria: a Personal History by Christopher Hibbert, a gift from my brother, with more interest. I would like to dedicate a month of serious study of this fascinating woman.
The other great film is Bright Star with the actors Abbie Cornish and Ben Whishaw. This is the story of John Keats, one of the famous English Romantic poets, and his muse, Fanny Brawne. He meets her when he is only 23 and she is 18. They fall in love, but he is penniless and unable to marry. The scene beings in 1818, when  Fanny and her family make the acquaintance of John Keats. She is frivolous, interested in dancing and fashion; he is the serious philosopher, tending to his dying brother. He lends her books, and tries to teach her about poetry, as she confesses she is unequipped to evaluate. He begins to write love poems and letters to her. Through the two years they are to know each other, his grief over his brother's death is assuaged by her attention and devotion. Like many Jane Austen film's, the story is between the few people they know, in a small English town, and their real depths of discussion take place in the English country side, or by the fire in each other's homes. I would recommend this for aficionados of the Jane Austen films. This is one of the best of this genre. These letters were unknown until after Fanny Brawne's death at the age of 65. The director of this rich film was Jane Campion, and I was astonished by the beauty and the acting. Released in 2009, the DVD came out in 2010. I believe it was Andrew Motion's biography of Keats, 1987, that Jane Campion alluded to in the featurette at the end of the film.

Mistress Shakespeare

Karen Harper has written a first person account of Anne Whateley, lover of William Shakespeare, as historical fiction. Visit their collaboration in his world of theater and share in the passion the two of them had for each other and their work. Tipp City's Booklovers discussion group is Monday, November 22nd. at 7 pm. of this wonderful novel.

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen first wowed his audience with the novel, The Corrections back in 2001. Oprah picked it for her book group, but Franzen was afraid that men wouldn't read it if it was labeled on the cover as an "Oprah" book. Well, it went on the best-seller list, and this new one was named by Oprah again. This new book, Freedom, had been heralded as a work by a literary genius. I did find it interesting, but more important, I didn't like any of the characters. His characterizations were well done, his expressions well-written and original, and his study of American culture was spot-on. Maybe I just don't read enough by men authors, maybe I didn't relate to his political agenda, maybe I missed the point, but I wouldn't rate this as A that reviews gave him. Maybe compared to the bestseller style, Franzen's is more genius than most, but I probably am not impressed enough. Picking up some of the words from the back cover reviews: "satirical, brutal, merciless," true enough. The book paints a pretty depressing view of a couple who fall in love and create a family in American in the 30 years this book takes place. In regarding the beginning of the Berglund marriage, the autobiographer says, "He may not have been exactly what she wanted in a man, but he was unsurpassable in providing the rabid fandom which, at the time, she needed even more than romance." And the rest of the book goes on to explain what happens to a marriage when one partner is more in love than the other. I am sure there will be mixed feelings about this book.

The Good Good Pig

I read this book to a group of seniors. Christopher Hogwood was not only a good pig, but a very lucky pig. He was born the runt of a litter, rescued by Sy Montgomery, vegetarian and animal lover, and her husband, a Jewish writer who did not eat pork. He becomes famous in his rural town in New Hampshire as he learns to maneuver the gates and escape to the road. His home is so warm and inviting, but there are greener pastures and bigger gardens to explore. Soon he is enjoying spa treatment from the neighbor children, delicious slops from the gourmet restaurants, and photography sessions with the media outlets. Read this and find out what makes Christopher so good, and so good for Sy Montgomery.

Daphne by Justine Picardie

I just finished this interesting book by the British author, Justine Picardie. Any bibliophile who loved reading Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca would find this an interesting read. Mapping out how I even found this novel shows me that even using the computer can incorporate the serendipitous discovery of gold among the dross. Looking for movies about Daphne du Maurier in the library catalog, I found one simply called Daphne, and that put me on the quest to find the book. This book is not the book in the film but some of the same events are alluded to. The author is imagining Daphne in 1950 as she tried to write her biography of Branwell Brontë, Charlotte and Emily's young brother. Ms. du Maurier is in contact with a former librarian who has access to some of the Brontë manuscripts. Letters between them have survived and make interesting reading. Superimposed on these two lives is the researcher in modern day with a obsessive fascination with Daphne du Maurier as she imagines her thesis and how to conduct the research. The author points out in the acknowledgements, "Like the contemporary narrator of my novel, I became utterly possessed by the story, and obsessed by the paper trail of Bronte manuscripts and what passed between Daphne du Maurier and John Alexander Symington; like her, I burrowed through the catacombs of library archives and second-hand bookshops to discover lost or forgotten letters..." This was an enjoyable, but disturbing novel, as we learn of some of Daphne du Marier's own demons. We also become acquainted with the tie between James Barrie and the du Maurier family. After reading this novel I am interested in her latest, Coco Chanel: the Legend and the Life, 2010.