what I’m reading and watching

Oh, goody! Disjointed ramblings on what I’m reading and watching!

— Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I’m embarrassed to admit that I started reading this years ago, when I know I was FAR too young for it and I think I was just freaked out by it. Because of that initial impression, for years I wouldn’t pick it up again. But now, I AM JUST LOVING THIS BOOK!! SO glad I picked it up again. SO. GLAD. I think I want to live in this book. (Now, shhhh! I’m sure many of you have read it, but I’m not finished yet! Don’t give anything away!!)

— One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I absolutely love his writing, but, well, here’s a list of some of the characters:

Jose Arcadio Buendia
Jose Arcadio
Arcadio
Aureliano
Aurelianos
Aureliano Jose
Aureliano Segundo
Jose Arcadio Segundo

“and the rest …..”

Does anyone else see the, uh, potential for confusion? Or is it just me? And if you say it’s just me, I WILL delete your comment. The man is just a genius and the book is so odd and sweeping and whimsical, but would it have killed him to name someone Bobby? And then to name a completely different person not Bobbie, but, say, Johnny? And then another completely different person, oh, Huey or something???

I’m constantly pep-talking myself through the book like this:

“Okay, Tracey, now remember: That’s the brother and then THAT guy is the uncle — no, no, the SON — and you just keep reading! — but walk over here and reward yourself with a cookie because on THAT page you understood who everyone was! Now just stay calm. You are brilliant. Just because you can’t keep the freaking names straight does not mean you are a sorry idiot. Not at ALL. And frankly, I SO agree with you that Huey is a great name and — wow, you make some REALLY good cookies! You just keep reading, girl! I’ll bet if that chick in the book had one of these babies she wouldn’t eat dirt anymore ….”

I love the book, his writing — I do! — but the name thing is DRIVING ME CRAZY! And I know I don’t have one hundred years of solitude to get through it!!

Please pray for Dumb Li’l Bunny.

— Disappointment with God by Philip Yancey. I’ve read this book several times. It’s brilliant; Philip Yancey is brilliant. An absolute favorite. Everyone should read this.

(That’s about as many books as I can actually read at one time. On to the watching!)

— “I Know Where I’m Going!” (1945) starring Wendy Hiller. A REALLY obscure little gem. Even I can’t remember how I heard of it. I’ll be watching it again before I have to return it and then doing a whole post about it. I can’t even begin to describe it right now.

One of the directors of the movie, Emeric Pressburger, said this to his partner and co-director, Michael Powell:

“I want to do a movie about a girl who wants to get to an island but is prevented by storm. By the time the storm dies down, her life is changed and she no longer wants to get to the island.”

Powell apparently said, “But WHY does she want to get to the island?”

Pressburger replied, “I don’t know! Let’s make it and find out!!”

I love that, the excitement, the sense of discovery about to be made, the innocence, almost.

More on this one later. Just ….. wonderful …. and you don’t realize just HOW wonderful until it’s over.

— “Hustle and Flow” starring Terrence Howard. Howard is nominated for Best Actor for this. He was also phenomenal in “Crash” — an actor who WILL win an Academy Award some day, but, sadly, probably not this year, what with “Brokeback Mountain” and Heath Ledger and all.

In this movie, he’s a somewhat half-hearted pimp and drug dealer with a dream to make it in hip hop. A character you think you’ll hate, you begin to understand and cheer for. It’s a movie where the hero is an anti-hero and I love those kinds of movies. He’s complicated and volatile and not just washed all squeaky with goodness. His layers are maddening and beautiful, too.

There is a scene Howard does with one of his prostitutes where she gives him a gift and thanks him for something and it is SUCH a beautiful, real moment — that actress! Gah! I can’t even remember her name! I must find it out. I rewound it over and over again so I could watch that scene and see the wonder of this MOMENT and cry.

Some may be offended by the subject matter. I suppose from a Christian perspective, one could find ways to condemn many things, but I’d still say “rent it, watch it, enter that world as that person and see what choices you might make, see what hopes you might have, see who you might love.” I don’t know. I felt utterly moved by these people.

With certain eyes, I think there’s beauty to behold in their struggle.

— Lastly, we went and saw “The New World” with Colin Farrell. I do not generally care for Colin Farrell. I STILL do not generally care for Colin Farrell. But the young actress who plays Pocahontas is amazing, riveting, camera absolutely loves her face. And the beginning portions of the movie are visually stunning. You are THERE. You feel that snow. You nearly brace against the coldness of that water. You smell that grass, those trees. Cinematography, breathtaking. But then …. then …. well, I don’t know. I just got TIRED. Tired of the story and the length — and that actress is still so lovely — but I just didn’t CARE anymore. I think the movie swept itself off its feet and in the end, well, actually, My Beloved said it best in his exhausted, terse review in the car on the way home:

“The New World, otherwise known as Nature is Pretty.”

(Hahahaha! Have I mentioned he kills me?)

Okay. Rambling OVER!