Anyone recollect this storyline in a movie or book?

King of Hearts - yes! I like your tastes.

Another book/movie success was Catch 22. Great book, great cast! I saw the film first and was amazed when I read the book, it seemed that the film was quite true to the book but that might have simply been my perception due to the order in which I saw/read them.

Enchanted April, Waking Ned Devine, Dr. Strangelove, Duck Soup, Amadeus, Do the Right Thing. Just a few.

I rather enjoyed Under the Tuscan Sun book but the film was a Hollywood makeover that was very disappointing.

Oh cool, great suggestions! I already have Harold and Maude, probably one of the first I purchased when I set up my system. And Amadeus is here too. King of Hearts, Babette's Feast, must have's too! I don't think Do the Right Thing rings any bell at all for me. Thanks for all the suggestions. Cinema Paradiso, My Life as a Dog, Being There, Hanna and Her Sisters, It's a Wonderful Life, Charade, When Harry Met Sally, Forrest Gump----hoping to jump start some memories here in hopes of getting more great ones. Maybe I should have put this request in the media forum but I liked the group of minds in this thread and knew something interesting would come of it.

My personal favorites: The lion in Winter....Becket....Taming of the Shrew....A Man For All Seasons....Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf...The Goodbye Girl....Barefoot in the Park....none of them new films, but goodies!

More recently: Pretty Woman....and I just bought De-Lovely and Shall We Dance but haven't watched them yet. How bad could they be with the music of Cole Porter in one and Richard Gere in the other! LOL
Pati

mariajose, where were you when you read the book with your husband at the waterfall in NC? It would be amusing to find out which one, since there are so many here..
We had a thread for awhile where we all read books and then sent them to others who wanted to read them, with a promise to keep passing them on. I'm not sure why it died out. Anyone interested in doing that again?
I'm reading the Short Novels of John Steinbeck. What an incredible writer! Even subjects that I would never have thought being interested in were a literary experience.

woodspirit, we were at Mortimer Park, in the boonies, near Lenoir. We drove from Grandfather Mountain, which was a bit of an experience with the narrow dirt roads with hairpin turns. No electrical wires or phone lines, no road signs... We were looking for a quiet romantic area and we could not have found a more pleasant spot. There are two campgrounds, one on a lower level, one higher. We were the only campers in the higher area. We spent a very pleasant week there. It has a lovely creek running through it. Beautiful country!

We followed a path back into the woods and discovered the waterfall and pool. We put the book inside a plastic bag to prevent water from splashing on it but we could still reach in and turn the page. I think we had found the book in Blowing Rock a few days earlier. My husband had never read it prior to that - he loved it.

There is a website where you can register a book you own and are willing to part with, take the assigned registration number and write it in the front of the book and leave the book somewhere for someone else to find and read. The finder can log onto the website and report the finding, read it, then leave it in a new location for someone else to find, etc.. http://www.bookcrossing.com

I am certainly interested in reading/trading books!

All we did was read a book, let others know if we liked it and the first one to ask for it, we simply mailed it to her/him. Whoever received it, read it and posted again when it was available. Of course, anyone can continue to post books that they got elsewhere. Would it be fun to start a new thread, entitled "Book Swap?" Anyone else interested?

I picked up 84, Charing Cross Road tonight and am delighted with it. What a wit Helen was!

Try to get the sequel, The Durchess of Bloomsbury Street1 This is just as wonderful, its like seeing London through her eyes. Her dream was to go and see the bookstore, its such as heartwarming story.

Doh! If I'd known about the sequel, I would have grabbed it while I was there! Thanks, Doris!

GW, SO glad you liked 84, Charing Cross Road!

I'm gonna have to see if my library has 84 Charing Cross Road. Sounds like a good read.

Patischell, you will LOVE 'Shall We Dance'. It's a great movie! But then, I love Richard Gere in any movie, so maybe I'm biased. :)

As you seem to be jumping on these sort of books, has any of you read "Parnasus on Wheels" - should be available in the library systems.
It's an old [written in 1917] classic by Christopher Morley and I also treasure his other one "The Haunted Bookshop". If you can find them I guarantee y'all a good read.

As to movies, one of my favorites is "Medicine Man" with Sean Connery. for some reason I find it a positive film. Just the thought that someone might exist who fits the mold in that movie. Plus I just wanta be Her. LOL

No, I sure haven't read those. I'll look them up. Yes, I did see "Medicine Man" - it wasn't one of my favorites, but it was good. I'd have to see it again to remember all the details. Like one comment at IMDB says "Bad Sean Connery is still Sean Connery". LOL! http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104839/

Lookie here, 84 Charing Cross fans: http://www.84charingcrossroad.co.uk/

mariajose, I have Dorothy Parker's book, "Not So Deep As A Well," which I loved. It's a book of poems and she is both funny and insightful. If you would like it, just e-mail me with your snail mail address. Do you have anything interesting also? If you want the Parker book, you may do whatever you want to with it but hopefully someone else here on DG would like it.

woodspirit, yes I would love to read Dorothy Parker! She is wonderful. Thank you so much for offering! I am writing during my lunch hour at work, so I will check our library tonight when I get home and drop you a list of titles/authors, along with my address. When I finish the book, I will post it on DG.

This is great, thanks so much!

MJ

GW - you made me think of the time [many, many moons ago] when my two girls had been to see a Redford movie and I asked was the movie good...
The fifteen year old replied: "with those eyes how good does it have to be?" LOL

Oh, no doubt - what gorgeous eyes Redford has. I finished 84, Charing Cross Road last night and just loved it. I can't wait to get the sequel and read about her trip to London. I don't want to give anything away here, so I won't talk about specific elements. I'm also eager to learn more about Helene Hanff.

Kimberley, what's the name of the sequel? I'm going to try and get both on my next trip to the library.

Funny you should ask, for I just now reserved a copy at the local library and was coming back to post the title! It is The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, ISBN 0397009763. I also reserved the movie. If I can just get Howie to read 84, Charing Cross Road before I get the movie out!

Thanks. I was just looking on Amazon.com and there's a book by Helene Hanff called Q's Legacy. One reviewer said this was the sequel to 84, Charing Cross Road? I haven't read the reviews on The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street yet. I'm getting confused. LOL

I'm thinking of ordering one of the used copies of 84, Charing Cross Road from a seller there. It's only $1.50. It would be nice to find one seller that had both books.

Well, it appears to me that The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is the correct sequel.

Edited to correct Bloomsbury. I had Bloomsberry. LOL

This message was edited Mar 17, 2005 4:30 PM

She mentions Q in 84, Charing Cross Road. Q's Legacy looks to be a prequel of sorts, for it was Q's book and his reading recommendations which began her quest for second-hand titles. That quest brought her into her wonderful relationship with the London booksellers.

woodspirit, I am finally home and able to gaze into some of our boxes of books - we are rebuilding our library, so most of our books went into boxes last week. At quick glance (and without knowing your taste), a few that I would be happy to send:

Isabel Allende: House of Spirits
Laura Esquivel: Like Water for Chocolate
Joseph Heller: Catch 22
Sherman Alexie: The Lone Range and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (upon which the film Smoke Signals was based)

If these are not of interest, let me know. I have a library full of books, many nonfiction. I'm sure we have at least three copies of "Don't Know Much About History."

Thanks for sharing with me.

MJ


This message was edited Mar 17, 2005 8:56 PM

GW, I just saw your comments above re: Million Dollar Baby. That film deserved all the accolades it received, it was excellent. I particularly appreciated the fact that the scenes that were very moving were not backed by swelling, dramatic music. The film really stands on its own. Eastwood is an excellent director and the casting was superb.

Exactly! One thing that struck me was the lack of music - it wasn't an emotionally-manipulative movie. You weren't led by music to feel a certain way and the story told itself. Excellent film!

The music that was there, was written by Eastwood. Cool, eh?
mariajose, I have never read Catch 22. Please send me your snail mail address and I will send you mine.
Anyone else who has some books at home that they no longer want to keep storing but would like to swap them, please feel free to post here. If there is enough demand, we will start a special thread. Remember, you get a book for just the price of media postage and get to trade it after you read it, for another.

Catch 22 is on its way, woodspirit. I hope you enjoy it.

As my husband and I reorganize our library over the next several weeks, I will gladly post books to share.

Maria Jose

I do not see the media forum listed anymore. So I suppose if we want to start up a book swap, we should consider a thread somewhere or even a new forum and see if it works. Any input from anyone?

We used to have a media forum, but it had low activity and was put on sabbatical. I'd think General Discussion or Parking Lot would suffice in its absence.

Wow, clearly I hadn't frequented the media forum lately, I didn't even notice it was gone! I always thought it was kinda sad that no one contributed to that one. I'm an avid reader and I've been trying to beef up my collections of both CDs and DVDs and could use the input. This has been a great thread and I've added lots to my wish list from it.

The Parking Lot would be the preference I think, Terry wrote somewhere abut such posts. over in Gen Disc I think.

I can only add recommendations as I find it impossible to part with 90% of my books. I re-read. For the quick fix no think books I have local friends that pass em on and around. So exchanges wouldn't be for me.

I have really liked adding new ones to my someday list. With spring knocking on my door reading will take a backseat again 'til winter. ~Blooms

Most people have lots of novels that they've read and are just dust-collectors. So the idea was we could swap them around and not have to pay to buy so many books. Of course, the ideal situation is the library, but sometimes I can take a long time to read a book (like during planting season) and other times I just can't get to town.
I have asked Dave about a book swap/critique forum so we'll see what he says....

My husband and I take a reading vacation each year. We raid our personal library as well as the country library, put the books into boxes in our van along with a good floor lamp, our favorite foods, wine, and hiking boots, then rent a cabin for 10-14 days. It is the most important time of the year for us, the endorphins kick in about the second day and we simply zone out on work and home responsibilities and enjoy our books and each other. We also have a habit of visiting library sales and garage sales - I usually pick up a good book anytime I see one for an inexpensive price. We have found that folks like to borrow from us but they have difficulty remembering to return. :-) So scoring a duplicate of a good book for 25 cents is my idea of money well spent. I like to share books and I love hearing what other people are enjoying. Never enough time to read!

We have a lot of good thrift shops here and I get some of my books from them. Also the AAUW has a sale in the spring and the library has a fund raiser-sale in the fall. Lots of oppurtunities at each of those.