The Book Thief wasn't on my list, but it caught my eye. It's a tribute, a supposition a...I'm not sure what. But it's beautiful and haunting and makes me want to hope and want to cry. Jesse Owens, a boy with the hair the color of lemons, a book thief, a fist fighter, an accordion, the war. Book Thief made me want to start sobbing, which was unacceptable, as I was on a PLANE at the time. Oh dear. It was brilliantly written.Even though it was a best seller in 2006, (and boy does that apparently make me behind with the times) I really recommend you pick it up and read it. The narrator is Death, which is fitting given that the story takes place in Germany during the war. It's also a reminder that there are no innocents in war. But there is still hope. Also, the whole death-narrator thing reminded me slightly of Terry Pratchett's Discworld, but it's not quite the same.
Similarly, I saw Emperor which apparently came out in 2012, but is only getting around to theaters these days? It's very good though, and it reminded me of why I chose to major in Asian Studies in the first place (even if part of that was because of the amazing professors). It also reminded me of a letter I read from 1945, after the war was over. The person writing it was an American girl, writing to an American solider stationed in Japan during the war. She thought everyone should hang. He didn't quite agree, though he never said so in as many words. I won't presume to put words in his mouth, especially not so many years later, but I think that he didn't percieve the war as being a black-and-white issue, which is also part of where the film was coming from. I really liked that.
EDITED: I forgot to mention, I generally don't wear Aviators because of General MacArthur. That is my actual, 100% true reason.
Archer's Goon is the complete opposite, something nice and light that I had been wanting to read, by an author who I've always enjoyed, but not always understood. And at 23, I was happy to know I could still revisit my childhood authors without being disappointed. Cute book, and took up some plane time (which I had a lot of) so no complaints here.
Around the same time, I had a conversation about good, American authors, as I've realized that a number of the books I've been reading lately are by English or Australian authors, and in fact, my favorite author is French (Dumas). Salinger was argued for, Twain was argued against (I like his essays, but I'm not in love with his fiction) and Poe received accolades. I also read an article which was about a number of authors and the books they find themselves rereading. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/apr/08/authors-reread-other-authors-novels#pictures within the grid
Funnily enough, it's from the Guardian, which I didn't realize until just now. Not the point. The point is, two of the authors state that they enjoy Jack Kerouac, specifically his book On the Road, which I learned was made into a movie this year (thanks to my double checking via Google how to spell Kerouac) about five minutes ago. Anyway, I figured I'd give it a read, as it's been sitting on my shelf for me to do exactly that. I'm nearly done with it, and it's really good, but it's, for lack of a better word, frantic.
On the Road is filled with this frantic, fantastic energy that is both compelling and exhausting. I'm not sure whether to go for a run or a lie down every time I read it, but I don't want to put it down. It's a cross-country drive, a get out a DO something kind of book, though even the characters aren't quite sure what it is they want to do at times. Lots of drinking, lots of smoking, lots of casual drug usage, so way to go beat generation of the late 40s, 50s. I'm including the late 40s, as this book is supposedly based on adventures from 47 or so. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_Generation)
I've attached the trailer below. I would like to point out, there are a few not quite right facts being stated by the narrator here, and by that I mean, things that were changed from the book. But I'll still see it when it comes out. Though for now, I'm off to see how it all turns out.
Finally, every time I say On the Road, I think of this:
Thanks Google Images for helping me get the pictures.
