SONATA FOR MIRIAM

Sonata for Miriam - by Linda Olsson is about a musician from New Zealand who loses his daughter, but then sets out to find himself. His life had been shrouded in mystery, and a chance visit to a museum opened his mind to the possibilities of figuring out his true identity. It's a good book, uneven reading for me, as I couldn't put it down at times, and then alternately didn't care to pick it up.

Cover art - When I search online for a picture of the book or movie I'm reviewing, I often come across different images for the same story. I always show the image that was on the cover of the specific copy that I had, since cover art is what often inspires me to read or watch. The most I read of other reviews is a sentence or two to find out whether I'll go for it. It turns out that Sonata for Miriam has a number of different covers. The one above is the one I checked out of the library. The ones below are the other choices at Google images:


I guess different covers must appeal to different people and demographics. I might not have picked this one had it had any of the other covers. The cover got me to read it, and I kept with it only because I was out of town and needed a book and it was convenient to be reading something that I didn't care about. This has already taken up too much of my time! So long, Sonata.

CATCHING FIRE * MAN FROM ELYSIAN FIELDS

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - This is the second book in a teen/young adult trilogy that began with The Hunger Games. Once again, I couldn't put it down. Katniss and Peeta are back in District 12, living more comfortable lives as Victors of the previous year's Hunger Games. Things are changing in the District, though, and there is an even greater air of unhappiness and dissatisfaction among the citizens. The Capitol will stop at nothing to keep its power intact, and Katniss becomes a pawn in their plans, while the Mockingjay gains power as a symbol.

The Man From Elysian Fields - I'd wanted to see this movie forever, and finally saw that it was on the Encore Love station, so I dvr'd it and watched it the other night. Although I fell asleep in my chair near the end of the movie, I kept replaying it until I'd seen the whole thing in waking moments. It is a sleeper though. Not the kind of sleeper that's so good, but you miss it, but the kind of sleeper that makes you fall asleep in front of it. Andy Garcia plays a broke writer, and Mick Jagger his "savior". I really enjoyed watching Mick, in a suit, dapper, older, smooth and maybe vulnerable. Something about Angelica Huston's more-than-a-cameo was good too.

I think Scrabble might be scrabbling my brain. Although it's good to exercise with letters and words, there becomes this mindless component to it. It's almost like it's robbing me of original thought on some level. How can something that exercises your mind so much also rob your mind? This might be about mindful yet mindless gaming and screens. I have some Scrabble goals to attend to, though, so for now I'm not going to give it up. The screen makes it so easy to play, and there's just enough help (because you have trial and error for making words - and when you make a new word that you didn't know was a word, you learn from it - like a little cheat or lifeline) to keep you in the game. The Bingos also keep me going, beacuse on any day, in any game, I might get just the perfect set up and letters with which to create a Bingo. Bingos are the words that have the potential to be one's highest scoring word. Maybe on some level I need Scrabble now. So much else is going on in my life that it's good to have this game that is shared with others, in addition to my other escape, reading, which is so solitary. And of course, this escape, blogging, which can be done in between Scrabble turns, but which is difficult to do during Scrabble which started this whole chain of thought. OK, I'm off to fb to see if I have any turns awaiting my attention.

THE INVISIBLE BRIDGE

The Invisible Bridge by Julie Orringer - This soaring novel follows the life of Andras Levi, a Hungarian Jew who by luck, moves to Paris to study architecture. It's 1937, and Andras is changed by his experiences in Paris. With the Germans moving around Europe, Andras ends up back in Hungary, where his war experiences continue to change and shape his existence in ways he never would have imagined. Julie Orringer writes as if she were telling you a story. This is the history of a man and the family and friends who accompany him as he struggles to survive on his life's journey. It's an amazing way to learn about Hungary and it's history during World War II. I loved this book.
At the end of the book, there is a poem about surviving, or being the one who survives:

Any Case

It could have happened.
It had to happen.
It happened earlier. Later.
Closer. Farther away.
It happened, but not to you.

You survived because you were first.
You survived because you were last.
Because alone. Because the others.
Because on the left. Because on the right.
Because it was raining. Because it was sunny.
Because a shadow fell.

Luckily there was a forest.
Luckily there were no trees
Luckily a rail, a hood, a beam, a brake,
a frame, a turn, an inch, a second.
Luckily a straw was floating on the water.

Thanks to, thus, in spite of, and yet.
What would have happened if a hand, a leg,
One step, a hair away?

So you are here? Straight from that moment still suspended?
The net's mesh was tight, but you? through the mesh?
I can't stop wondering at it, can't be silent enough.
Listen,
How quickly your heart is beating in me.

-Wislawa Szymborska
translated from the Polish by Grazyna Drabik and Sharon Olds.

THE MESSENGER

The Messenger - The U.S. Army's employs Casualty Notification officers who knock on doors to announce that a family member has died while in service to their country. There is protocol to be followed, and the script is in stone. In this case, the messengers are played by Woody Harrelson, a career Army man and Ben Foster, just back from an injury in Iraq, and recently assigned to this job for the remainder of his service. The story is gripping, and it's a film to make you think about incredible sadness and what happens on the home front when there is a war. It's about relationships and life and endurance. This is a story of two men and the people whose lives they touch.

DANTE NIGHT

Date Night - Last night my good neighbor and wonderful friend Susan (I love having so many neighbors who are friends more than neighbors) brought over some birthday treats including her latest dvd from Netflix. Steve joined us and Tina Fey and Steve Carrell entertained us all with this silly and fun movie about a married couple in a rut who, through a series of misadventures, have a crazy night in New York. Every line is funny. Tina is Tina and Steve is Steve, and the character actors are half themselves, too.