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A Manual for Cleaning Women Selected Stories by Lucia Berlin - I'm blown away by this book and the stories by an author who lived more than nine lives in her one life. Technically these are short stories, but really they form a memoir that chronologically tells the tales of her remarkable life. I didn't realize that it was moving chronologically until the middle of the book; before that I was recognizing characters reappearing in stories, but once I knew that we were moving forward, the book was even more enriching. One of my best. It's raw and beautiful in its truth and its exaggerations, and sometimes its even funny. In the end there is a great story that's also sad when thought about too deeply, but the funny line was "If you ain't doing the D you can't get the DWI!" Lucia is the kind of person you never meet in Chicago, but always seem to be meeting in California.
Finding Vivian Maier - We've been a little over-Vivian-Maier-ed these past few years, so I never watched the movie. I guess sometimes the crowds are right! Her story is fascinating and brought to life on film as a documentary about a real, yet secret documentarian. The author, if you will, keeps asking why. Why did Vivian take pictures? Why was Vivian a nanny? Why did Vivian stay in the background? I can answer it all as someone who is a small kindred spirit to Vivian the contrarian. But I won't right now. I've got this whole other image that I've always projected even when it wasn't true. Nancy B. says "fake it until you make it" and I'm more the image than the Vivian at this point in my life. All this blog writing has helped. Age and experience have helped. Motherhood has helped. So that's all good. And it's good that I understand what drove Vivian. Even though I wouldn't have liked her, I would have gotten it. The hoarding, the picture taking, the wandering around observing, the fascination with the ordinary. The movie is good.
Bridge of Spies - Huh? Sorry, if this was everyone's fav good movie, I'm swimming against the tide. It was OK, but not the bestest. I'd send it back to the 60s if I could.
Carol - Yeah, no. Again, the story not that great, the acting, really? You need at least a little bit of a story and characters doing stuff in the story to make the thing look good. Send this one back to the 80s. There
were good movies in 2015, but I am the only one who liked them. If the
Oscars didn't have fashion and stars and a funny host, I wouldn't have
watched. Since the most of the nominated movies weren't any good, the
show wasn't as good as it could have been. I still have to watch
Spotlight, so stay tuned. Somehow Brooklyn and Room made it into the mix
but where was Age of Adeline? Where was Concussion? Chiraq? Straight
Outta Compton? I'd rather watch Shades of Blue or the Chicago shows any
day of the week over this year's Oscar movies.
Good Moanin' The Best of Bob Talbert - Bob Talbert was a columnist in the Detroit Free Press from 1968 to his untimely death in 1999. I started reading his column at the top of the Free Press Features page (last inside page of the front section of the paper) probably as soon as he started writing. It was a free wheeling column about Detroit, his family, his southern heritage, current events and random thoughts he called "Out Of My Mind on a Monday Moanin'". I bought this book at Hudsons ages ago, but after I'd moved away from Detroit, read a few columns and put it down. It made its way to our guest room; I thought it might be pleasant reading for guests from home or anyone who wanted to read a short little something before bed. In this latest big purge I put it in my reading pile, and I finally read it with the fondness one has for an old friendship restored. I remember every one of those column photos. These columns reflect so much that has changed in the world as well as so much that hasn't changed at all.One of the biggest moments of my life as an 11 year old was getting my name in his column. He would do this thing where he'd go through the phone book and find unusual names and list them in the column, which I loved. So I went to the phone book and found some more and wrote him a letter with my findings. A couple of weeks later....surprise! there was my name in the paper, in my favorite column! I think I wrote a few more times, and every once in awhile I come across those columns and enjoy reminiscing. I'll never purge those. I wonder where they are now? And who would have ever thought that I'd someday be writing my own column of sorts? Called this blog, but still. Bob would have loved blogging, that's for sure. Thanks for the memories old friend. I just ran across another blog post from another Bob Talbert fan.
The Martian - Wait, why wasn't Matt Damon voted best actor and The Martian best movie in the white guys 2016 Oscars? Oh, because the academy was out to lunch this year, that's why! I hope that's enough reason for you to watch this entertaining story of a guy who didn't give up in the face of incredible odds. (same theme as The Revenant but with talking and creativity). If not, then you're missing a good one! P.S. Nestled within the pages of Good Moanin' was a piece of scratch paper with my dad's writing on it! It says "Glenview Naval Air Stat. - 657-1000- Store hrs Sunday Open 10-5". So my dad must have been reading the book! He's been gone for almost 18 years, and the Naval Air Station is gone too now, but the memory is sweet.
