To Read
1. Loitering with Intent, by Muriel Spark (Rec. #13): You'll want to become the main character. Restrain yourself.
2. The Gate of Angels, by Penelope Fitzgerald (Rec. #79): It has a nice mix of the cerebral and the earthy. Plus bicycles!
3. Human Croquet, by Kate Atkinson (Rec. #137): A touch of surrealism is the icing on the well-mixed cake.
4. Here Beneath Low-Flying Planes, by Merrill Feitell (Rec. #151): A collection of highly-relatable tales of small transformations.
5. I Wish Someone Were Waiting for Me Somewhere, by Anna Gavalda: You will feel so, so, so French after reading this. So French.
6. Do the Windows Open?, by Julie Hecht: This is modern life as we know it.
7. Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K. Jerome: This was an inspiration for Connie Willis. The subtitle is "To Say Nothing of the Dog."
8. The Center of Things, by Jenny McPhee: All about a (fictional) legendary film star. And physics.
Three Page-to-Screen Combos
1. Tales of the City, by Armistead Maupin (Rec. #67), and the 1993 miniseries adaptation: A saga of San Francisco in gumdrop-bites. Laura Linney is a perfect Mary Ann Singleton.
2. Auntie Mame, by Patrick Dennis (Rec. #70), and the 1958 film adaptation: If Rosalind Russell doesn't make you want to be Mame Dennis when you grow up, you're not the person I thought you were.
3. Personal Velocity, by Rebecca Miller, and the 2002 film adaptation: Miller wrote the book and directed the movie, which is based on three of the stories in the collection. It's not fair that she can do both so well.
To Watch
A New Leaf (Rec. #56): Elaine May is a genius, and we should all take more time to celebrate that.
Inconscientes (Rec. #86): It's a super fun movie, but honestly, you'll be really excited about the protagonist's hair, I bet.
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men: Given all the constraints for this adaptation, it's actually pretty successful. And it's nice to see a shout-out to feminism.
Next Stop, Wonderland: As far as I'm concerned, this is the Boston movie. Too bad all the posters for it are pretty terrible and non-representative.
Again, you are a treasure. This is wonderful. And it will get me out of my "Oh, it's by the BBC, it must be good" rut.
ReplyDeleteThough generally that's true.
I also really appreciate that this indulges the Anglo/Franophilia, which I try to hide from my husband. I don't want him to think I'm unpatriotic. But he's gone right now! So I will indulge away.
ReplyDelete