Favorite Books:
* Beyond The Paw-Paw Tree < Palmer Brown > Technically a children's book. From the 1950's and, devestatingly, out of print. I searched for a year to find a hard-bound copy. Extraordinary illustrations by the author. Every book he wrote is beautiful. The story centers on a red-headed girl named Anna Lavinia (great name!) and her cat, Strawberry. She heads off, literally beyond the Paw-Paw trees that line her yard, on a lavender-blue day in search of her father who left years earlier to find the end of the rainbow. On the way, Anna Lavinia meets a large woman who gives her pastries and a tea cozy, visits a Middle Eastern city inside a mirage, and sings lots of silly and wonderful songs. Sequel: The Silver Nutmeg (Not nearly so good., but the songs are memorable.)
* Possession < A.S. Byatt > Two twentieth century scholars piece together the entanglements of two Victorian poets.
* Sexing the Cherry < Jeanette Winterson > Fables & georgeously visual writing. Title explained towards the end... it has something to do with horticulture, surprisingly.
* The Satanic Verses < Salman Rushdie > Religion, belief, and a Butterfly Girl.
* Sophie's World < Jostein Gaarder > Crash course in philosophy. Teeters on the edge of juvenile oversimplification and Maeve Binchy-esque longwindedness. But, since I could not survive even one day of philosophy class in college, I found it educational and rather enjoyable.
* Ways of Seeing < John Berger > Culture & criticism essays. Lots of nudie pictures for the apparent purpose of teaching the viewer how to "look" at things.
* Song of Solomon < Toni Morrison > My absolute favorite book she's written. And I've read them all. Paradise is amazing as well.
Films...
Apocalypse Now -- I had to watch this for university in England in 1995. My flatmate, Katy, had a copy, being as it was her favorite movie. That struck me as interesting considering Katy didn't seem that sort. Later I learned of her complete addiction to Harrison Ford (he has a very small, pretty geeky role.) The scene with the dancing girls made me cry. It really exaggerates the horror of war... juxtaposing sex and vitality with the jungle of death. The girls represent everything the soldiers want at that point: sex and home and familiarity. But the boys can't get to the girls, and when they try to cross the line and transform the illusion of the performance into a flesh-and-blood reality, all hell breaks loose and it crashes down, leaving them alone to fight their war. All illusions gone. The third time I saw this was in an IMAX theatre... the largescale violence overwhelmed me and I shut my eyes unexpectedly. Especially during the boat/puppy scene.
BladeRunner; Dangerous Liasons; Labyrinth; Ladyhawk; Leaving Las Vegas; Sense and Sensibility; The Hunger; What's Up Doc, When Night Is Falling
. Home, please