Movies of the Month: April 2008

Lest you think all I do is sit around day in and day out with a book in hand, I'll have you know I also watch movies. Sometimes. Not as much. Here's an April wrap-up (*= saw it in the theater).

Books of the Month: April 2008

Dear Readers,
It's the last day of the month. I've read just enough these past thirty days to qualify for a free personal pan pizza at Pizza Hut. Or I would if they still had that greasy incentive and if I were still nine years old. Although I've been on a book-buying binge for several months, it seems like I've really kept the library in business in April. Here's the list of what I've read (*= library book). They're all winners in their own way.

Love in the Time of Cholera

The film Love in the Time of Cholera (2007), directed by Mike Newell, is an accomplished and faithful screen adaptation of the modern classic, CliffNotes on Love in the Time of Cholera. This film brilliantly hits all the major plot points whilst successfully avoiding Nobel Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez's arrestingly beautiful language, complex themes, and challenging character development. Missing is Garcia Marquez's consideration of the multiple types of love -- filial, marital, or what have you. Instead, the film's viewer is exposed to only the obsessive and sexual variety of amour. Viewers needn't bother themselves with metaphor or struggle with complex characters and themes. I highly recommend this film to any high school student who must turn in a term paper or take a quiz on Gabriel Garcia Marquez's challenging work tomorrow. Indeed, high school boys will surely appreciate the abundant nipple shots placed at regular intervals throughout the film. To most anyone else, skip the movie. Read the book.

Library Economics Revealed

To follow up on my previous posts about the Friends of the Seattle Public Library book sale and Freakonomics, I'd like to offer you, dear readers, some inside tips on the seedy underbelly of library economics.

This morning's sale represents one of the very few times when the public library offers a fair deal on books to the local community. Books! All the books you want! Only one dollar (each)! It's a great deal, and it's unfortunate that the library has chosen to be hospitable and affordable only twice a year.

Normally, the library lures readers in with its vast array of fiction and non-fiction titles, not to mention magazines and newspapers. Patrons' eyes glaze over and they fail to read the fine print on the price tag. I have simply been taken in by this no-money-down deal one too many times. Sure, life is great with your new book during that first three week grace period. For houses and La-Z-Boy recliners, a no-money-down purchase is always and unambiguously the best. Not so with books.

Book Binge

Dear Readers,
I spent the morning with my friend Julia at the semi-annual Friends of the Seattle Public Library book sale. (If you missed out today, you can still go tomorrow. Failing that, mark your calendar for September 28-29, 2008.) I maniacally grabbed then lugged nearly two dozen books around the drafty hangar in Magnuson Park for hours. (How could I not, at just $1 each?)

My bookish behavior this morning made me think fondly of Seattle's own librarian-turned-action-figure, Nancy Pearl. Ms. Pearl is the author of Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason, More Book Lust and Book Crush: For Kids and Teens - Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment and Interest. This lady knows her books. And she wants you, dear readers, to know them too.

But why hasn't she penned Book Binge, the definitive guide to buying and hoarding books, many of which you may never even read? Or its sequel, Book Purge, a guide to weeding your home collection and making room for more books on your shelves? Are not these important reading skills, crucial to keeping the used book economy robust?

Perhaps Ms. Pearl is under contract for these very titles right now. If not, I think I may just write them myself. After this morning, I'm confident in my abilities in this area. Dear readers, do you want all my book binge secrets? Just send $9.95 plus shipping and handling to me and they can be all yours.

Freakonomics

Of all the interesting books I've read lately (and I've read a lot), Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (HarperCollins 2005) is one of the more fascinating.

I have both a retirement fund a savings account with more than $50 in them and I'm nearly 30. So I figured it was time to start caring about economics. In school, I always found economics to be a freakishly boring subject. Freakonomics is an excellent, intellectually gentle, thought-provoking, and feather-ruffling entrée into this unsexy social science.

Would You Like Hep With That?

Yesterday, my new doctor suggested that anyone who eats out in Seattle more than two to three times a week really ought to get vaccinated against Hepatitis A. That's the dirty food born variety of the disease. Apparently, this city is lousy with it, and perhaps our restaurant workers are too. I didn't want another needle in my arm, so I've decided to wash my hands and eat in more. Yuck.

Don't Try to Reason with a Crazy Dog

This morning, Jake and I were out on a walk with our crazy-but-oh-so-lovable-when-you're-not-around dog. Essie has a reputation for being skittish, irritable, overprotective, and just plain nuts. She was edgy this morning because we had to walk past the vet's office. So of course jumped out of her skin as a man - a perfectly normal man, not an ax-wielding drunk, mind you - had the audacity to walk on the narrow sidewalk in our same general vicinity. I didn't see his reaction. I assume he shook it off, didn't read too much into it, and carried on his innocuous way. As it should be. Carry on, dear sir.

But we were reminded of how many times people take our crazy-but-oh-so-lovable-when-you're-not-around dog's melodramatic overreactions personally. "But I'm friendly. I'm a good person. I'm a dog person. Dogs like me. Babies like me. My mom likes me. Why is your dog quivering and slowly backing away as I approach you with an outstretched hand full of bacon? Maybe I'm not such a good person. Maybe I'm not friendly. Maybe dogs don't like me. Or babies. Or my mom. And why should they? I'm such a horrible person...No one could ever love me."

Don't let a crazy dog dictate your self-esteem. And never, ever, ever try to reason with a crazy dog. Trust me, you almost always lose.