Near the end, Clive James said we should read books that make us want to deface them. Underline, scribble notes in the margin, etc. This is one of those books. And now thanks to this book I've got a list of fifty or so authors to discover.

Near the end of the book, he demolished a belief I held dear about five years ago. Recently I'd sensed that it was a self serving and shabby belief. I'm in his debt for putting into words why.

The kids liked it. I was glad it was over.

What I saw and read the last couple of weeks

Melissa is pregnant. This will be child number 5. Now when I tell people they either look with pity, horror (let your wife rest, please), or pleasant and polite incomprehension.
Good heavens do I love Dr. Who. Eli has been writing Dr. Who scripts during the week for us to film over the weekend. Since it is a British show he puts in a lot of references to tea. He assured me the actors and actresses would just be drinking water.


Keaton's favorite apparently. I don't agree but it wasn't that bad.
Soon to be a Daniel Radcliff movie. It will be quite good.
What a good biography. What a sympathetic portrait. It wouldn't have been easy to live with the man, but it would have been rewarding.

I'm a huge Dr. Who fanatic.

What I saw and read last week

I remember being surprised that Charlton Heston was so good as the Player King in Hamlet. And he's really good as Marc Antony. Jason Robards is stiff.
When William Goldman was a boy he had horrible night terrors. He constantly yelled out for his mom. One night, after yelling for help, his mom threw a candle, a candle holder and a box of matches at the wall over his head. He was six or so.
I read this in bits and pieces over the last year.
Disturbing stuff. Read three quarters of it about a year ago. Picked it up this Tuesday and finished it.

Also, nice interview about The Book of Mormon musical. Warning, I think there is some profanity, but I liked the story of how they researched. I like these guys. www.aintitcool.com/node/48344

The past week

I also read another book but didn't care for it and won't mention it. I don't want to hurt the author's feelings in case he Google alerts.

It was an interesting story but the characters would not stop bantering and this author can not write banter. If you were talking to his characters in a party you'd be force to fake laugh every few minutes. That's fine at a party but this was novel length and it wore me down.

Also the characters kept laughing at what the other was saying. I don't know why but it was really off putting.


We were doing family scripture study the other night and talking about Solomon and the two mothers. I suggested that if Solomon really wanted to be fair, he should let one mother do the cutting and the other choose which side she wants. My children were horrified and explained several times that that wasn't a nice way to do it. I felt really bad. I should have held my tongue.

What I saw and read last week

Alane Ferguson did an author skype visit for us tonight. She was fantastic. The teens really liked her.

Film I saw and books I read last week

What I watched and read last week

I loved this movie. The version of Julius Caesar was fantastic. It made me realize why people would put up with Orson Welles. Just to be a part of the play. Great movie.