What are you reading?

[JackFavell]

We finished reading The Velvet Room by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, a book I read at Alice's age. Alice didn't want me to stop reading aloud last night, so I read the last three chapters at breakneck speed. We usually take turns reading aloud, but I just kept going, at her request. A lot of secrets are revealed and the main character has to learn to do the right thing despite what she wishes to do, and in spite of hardships. It takes place during the Depression, and the main girl is a migrant worker. When her family ends up getting a small house and a steady job at the end, I looked up and Alice was sobbing, and so was I. It was a lovely moment of connection. Reading aloud is one of the best things in the world.

[RedRiver]

I used to have a roommate who liked to read to people. I thought he was on an ego trip. I, after all, can accomplish the task for myself. But there is a sharing experience in that. Another person's interpretation can be just as entertaining as your own.

Miss Marple still sits comfortably on my coffee table. I haven't picked it up in over a week. I'm not going to care who-dun-it. I don't even remember who's dead!

[JackFavell]

Maybe that's the pleasure of them, Red? You can go back and read them over again and never remember what they were about the first time. Like the wonderful Bernard Lee as Sgt. Paine says to writer Holly Martins in The Third Man (I've always loved this line, it's such a slam wrapped in a compliment):

"That's what I like about them, sir. You can pick them up and put them down any time."

[RedRiver]

I'm so excited! I just found a copy of SWF SEEKS SAME. This John Lutz thriller was the basis for the terrifying SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, a movie that proves even a slasher film can be good if it's done right. I've been looking for this book for years!

[JackFavell]

That was a scary movie! Good cast.

Congratulations! Let us know how it turns out.... I mean, how good it is.

[CineMaven]

Hi JackaaaAaaay. Read this and thought you might be interested if you haven't seen this before:

http://selfstyledsiren.blogspot.com/200 ... ic_09.html

[JackFavell]

Thanks so much Maven! I have already read it, and I read it over again every now and then, it's that good. I think there's another Sanders post in Siren's blog somewhere, it's probably listed somewhere in that post. She really got him, in all his 'caddishness' and all his hidden vulnerability.

[ChiO]

Just in time for my annual journey to the Roxie, I finished an appropriate travel guide: Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia (Wheeler Winston Dixon 2009).

The title gives away the plot. The opening paragraph of the Introduction:

This is the age of film noir. Though the genre [Typist note: It's not a genre. But I digress.] dates from the late 1930s and early 1940s, its concerns of hopelessness, failure, deceit and betrayal are in many ways more prescient in the twenty-first century than they were at their inception. Then, too, most definitions of noir films are, it seems to me, excessively narrow. The classic archetypes of the lone protagonist in a dark, rainy alley, accompanied by an omnipresent voiceover on the soundtrack, of doomed lovers on the run from the police, or hard-boiled detectives unraveling labyrinthian mysteries with cynical assurance represent only one manifestation of this pervasive film genre.

Except for that pesky term, "genre," he generally hits my sweet spot. Throughout, he argues for an expansive view of Film Noir -- one that is more theme-driven than archetype- or style-driven -- and writes about many movies that are seldom seen in most books on Film Noir. I have never seen Freddie Francis' name pop up so often, and seldom has an author unapologetically discussed as many post-'60s movies.

The final chapter ("Living in Fear") is, perhaps the most interesting wherein he opines on the state of contemporary Film Noir, its programming and audience. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, anyone?

His general thesis (my words, not his): "Promise plus danger equals paranoia. If it can be seen, it can be taken away." That works for me.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

Michael Caine's second autobiography, The Elephant to Hollywood, is a dishy and grateful read. Janet Maslin called him "one class act," but this is also a breeze of a book, and I found something to savor on almost every page because it is cheery and upbeat.

I finished it much too soon.

[JackFavell]

You know, watching Caine the other day talk about Cary Grant on TCM, I realized what a treasure he is. If anyone has the right to be Cary's successor in Hollywood, it's Michael Caine. He can do it all, just like Cary - comedy, drama, you name it, whatever you give him. I haven'[t seen him for a while, but man, wouldn't it be great if they could get him for the TCM festival next year? He's so witty and marvelously humorous, he would be a huge draw. Maybe bring Sean Connery along for the week...

[charliechaplinfan]

I've only read his first biography and that was very entertaining, I'll look out for his second installment.

I read George Raft The Man Who Would Be Bogart by Stone Wallace who is our Western Guy. I couldn't put it down, George was born in Hell's Kitchen, he left home at 13. I thought Errol Flynn had had a colourful youth but it seems it was nothing compared to George Raft. Errol's was more privileged but George started from nothing apart from a friendship with Owney Madden, a man with a distinctly shady side and connections. George it seems would always have those connections and remain loyal to them. So much happened to George before he made Hollywood that his story reads like a novel, the pace doesn't slacken once he gets to Hollywood either. George Raft isn't an actor I'd given much thought to before but reading his biography, I certainly feel empathy for the man and have rarely read a biography that moves forward so quickly. It's well researched and sourced and has plenty of illustrations and is presented in an even handed way giving equal weight to George's faults and weakness as well as his charm and achievements.

[JackFavell]

Awesome! I'm going to get a copy for myself.

[knitwit45]

Me, too! It sounds like a great read.

[Sue Sue Applegate]

I have ever been much of a Raft fan, but charliechaplinfan, your short review sounds so intriguing, so I will have to check it out from the library.

And Jackie, having Michael Caine at the TCMF 2013 would be a treat. If both he and Connery could team up, they could intro The Man Who Would Be King, directed by John Huston, a film Huston had originally wanted for Bogey and Gable. Shakira, Caine's real-life wife, also starred in this Kipling adaptation that had fascinated Huston for so long.

I would love to see Connery intro a Bond film, and also, and I know it's silly, but also chair a discussion of Darby O'Gill and The Little People.

Connery was never lovelier to look at than in that sweet little film.

And Caine always comments on their enduring friendship in his books.

[RedRiver]

Michael Caine is a bundle of passion, exciting to watch. He and Connery played so well together. They're either good friends or the best actors in the world! About HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, Caine appreciated not being cast as an Englishman. He said some American filmmakers feel the need to "explain" his nationality. Woody Allen simply cast him as a person. Caine wore his own clothes and glasses!