THE AGE OF MIRACLES * D'JANGO

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker - This unlikely story was the best book of my vacation.  It takes place in Southern California, and at the very beginning we find out that the earth has slowed its rotation.  This causes the days and nights to be unpredictably longer, and people are freaked because there is nothing they can do about it but adapt to an uncertain future.  The narrator and protagonist is Julia. She has a wonderful voice and she's telling the story as an adult who hasn't forgotten what it was like to be a smart, thoughtful and observant 11 year old who lived through the changes of nature around her as well as those happening to her personally as an adolescent.  She has close connections with the people around her, but as she grows up, she finds out that grown ups are not always grown up.

D'Jango - The best movie I've seen in ages.  But not for everyone.  I like how Quentin Tarentino asks the question:  What would have happened if.....?  And then he answers it with so much wit, action, excitement and violence that you just can't stop watching.  You know that there are going to be some sacrifices.  You know that your hero is going to win.  You know that it is not going to be pretty.  But you have to see it for yourself.  D'Jango is a slave with no hope, until, improbably, and luckily, he gets an opportunity.  And the story takes off.  Action, excitement and violence by themselves aren't enough.  For me it's the wit and the wink.