INVISIBLE ELLEN * AN INNOCENT ABROAD * INHERENT VICE

Invisible Ellen by Shari Shattuck - This is a sweet story about friendship and a person living a quiet invisible life who evolves with the storyline into a person with a "real" life. People generally don't notice her until one day when she gets noticed by an unlikely person. Joyful and inspiring. Sometimes all you have to do is reach out in a small way to make a big difference.  

An Innocent Abroad: Life-Changing Trips From 35 Great Writers - These mini memoirs take the reader around the world and evoke the times when we were young and traveled without cares. Some of the stories are good, but the book caused me to think about travel and wanderlust. I used to have a desire to see the world, but after years of marriage to someone who likes home better than travel, the lust to wander is gone. I tried to maintain it and pass it on to my son, but in the middle of a great trip, he'll comment that here we are "walking around another random city". Really? I've decided that pretty much any trip I take will have a time to live up to the places and experiences I had when I was young. I'm not totally hopeless - there are a few places still in my dreams: The Prado in Madrid, Bora Bora, more Greece, maybe the UK again, Andorra for some reason, the rest of the US Capitals, more California, maybe more Florida. And if I don't get there, it will be fine. That's how life goes. 

Inherent Vice - My friend Kim disliked this movie so intensely that it took me awhile to watch it. I finally started it and fell asleep - three times. The fourth time was the charm, and for some reason I liked it! It's a 70's thing about a Private Investigator named Doc who's usually stoned and who keeps hours at a Dr.'s office. The story is narrated by one of his friends, a girl with an amazing childlike voice. Doc is a mumbler, which is what Joaquin Phoenix always is to me, but Owen Wilson is in there and he always gives a great performance. So, yeah, if you like a convoluted strange plot with 70s characters who mumble a lot, this could also be a movie for you! I always thought it was Jo-a-quin, but it turns out is Wakeen.