I am reading "A Suitable Boy" by Vikram Seth

I am about halfway into "A Suitable Boy" and seem to spend a lot of time filling in at the computer looking at different clothes mentioned (kurta/dhoti/shalwar kameez), trees (pipal, neem, etc.) and different kind of paan. Hundreds of words and references don't really ruin the flow. He isn't a great writer, but the breadth of coverage of the minutiae of Indian life is wonderful. I am beginning to get a better feeling for the Hindu/Moslem differing lifestyles and feelings toward each other -- also various castes. I just read a part of the book where Lata, principal of many many characters, meets a man her mother likes very much, but Lata is put off because he is wearing "co-respondents shoes". I found a long exposition about that one on a review of the book at Amazon.com. If they put this 1400 pages book on a Kindle with a full glossary, I'd buy a Kindle. Definitely a book to read more than once. Sal is out for today's Singalong at Kenneth Aitken, so I am going to treat myself with a warm summer afternoon read. We had lots of fun Saturday watching the Cal Bears and yesterday the Niners, and loved seeing the Jets beat the Cowboys. Lots better when your favorites win!

Anna Deveare Smith - American Treasure

We saw, heard and felt her recently at a Berkeley Repertory Performance.

http://www.ted.com/talks/anna_deavere_smith_s_american_character.html

I Clean Up the Neighborhood

We had a Saturday clean-up day at the triangle entrance to our Greenridge Neighborhood. My job was the wall leading up the hill. I filled my bag with dried weeds.

Jaycee Dugard's "A Stolen Life"

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Lee Dugard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I thought this was a powerful book and read it in one gulp. Jaycee writes with a strong, simple and direct voice and I came to understand how she could have remained with her captors - the so-called Stockholm Syndrome. It was amazing how the abuse she suffered never changed some inner purity and sweetness in her character. There is something miraculous about her and her story. After reading it, there remain a million more questions you want to have answered.



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We go to the Farmer's Market

Greenridge Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN4-2BGszOQ

Little Bee

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this for my book club and could never get the feeling it was real. The author has a story he wants to tell that points up problems of immigration (Little Bee) and shallow values (Sarah)and it fails for me in the same way that Poisonwood Bible did. Neither of the women or the places described seemed very real to me. There was some delicate and thoughtful writing here and there but all in all I would have been more moved by a straight journalistic piece on the whole subject.



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Goodreads Listing

Sylvia's bookshelf: read




More of Sylvia's books »

Interesting Flow Chart

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Netflix Review - Summer Hours

On reflection we like this film more and more. It is about letting go of the past, the cultural and social changes in France, and for that matter all of Europe. Will we be sorry we threw away humble belongings that meant something to our parents in a headlong rush towards freedom to move from place to place and embrace the new? Are we to be frozen in place in our homes and be "curators of our own belongings"? The top review on this site by "RJP" can't be improved on. I would just add that there is a lot of dialog in the beginning, very fast French and subtitles whipping by. I love hearing French spoken but this took some effort. I loved the honesty of the film, no bad guys, just difficult decisions from a family with different needs. I thought the daughter interesting as she was almost "American" now -- how the siblings felt about that. I loved the fact that the offspring were conflicted in their views about the artwork of the almost too much adored (by their mother) uncle. It was interesting that their suspicions about the relationship were true but none of them wanted to accept or think about it. It was an amusing touch that the family housekeeper walked away (after having been given a free choice of what she wanted) with what she felt was not a valuable vase and was, on the contrary, extremely valuable. I loved the bit at the end when the older sibling visited the Musee d'Orsay to see their mother's objects (that had been donated as mother wished) displayed in a very stark, but effective, setting that exposed the full beauty of the furniture - but it looked "caged". Here is a film that raises many important questions and is far from just being a French language movie to pigeonhole as such. APR10

Netflix Review of "The Boys Are Back"

We enjoyed this film a lot. Although it is annoying to watch the father (Clive Owen) indulging his younger son, it makes sense and you see Owen developing a better awareness of what is involved in being a father. We especially liked his growing relationship with his older son and how the father didn't give up after setbacks. We liked the photography and sense of place in the film and although it is slow and you don't agree with all his choices, we think it made a lot of sense and was absorbing to watch. FEB10

Think Government's Bad? Try doing without.

This is the morning after the 2010 State of the Union Speech by Barack Obama.  I decided to add the story below to my blog because it is so descriptive of why we need government:

Tuesday, October 27, 2009 (SF Chronicle)

Well, it's also your government, and to appreciate what that means, all you have to do is go outside and stand in front of where you live or work.

 First, the sidewalk I'm standing on was poured and paved by city

government. So were Stanyan and Waller streets and all the streets running parallel and perpendicular to them. The sewers below are the work of government, as are the Municipal Railway power lines running above, the buses attached to the lines and the traffic lights, crosswalks, lanes (both auto and bicycle) and signs directing the traffic flow.


Drivers and the cars they operate are licensed by government. Automobile safety regulations, highway safety standards are all set by government.


Across Stanyan stands a McDonald's, its meat, dairy and other food

products subject to government inspection. Its food preparation is

examined by city health inspectors.



Next to the restaurant is a row of apartment buildings, all kept livable in adherence to government building codes and zoning regulations. Pipes bringing water in and sewage out of the apartments are financed and maintained by government. So are the streetlights.


Behind me is Golden Gate Park, a thousand acres of city-owned,

city-maintained parklands, set aside for the enjoyment of San Francisco's 750,000 residents and visitors from around the world. The park contains gardens, hiking trails, bike paths, a children's play area.


At the northern edge of the park is government-run Kezar Stadium, used for high school track meets and football games (and used by thousands of freelance joggers in between).


Behind Kezar is the San Francisco Police Department's Park precinct, providing public safety for citizens of the Haight and denizens of Golden Gate Park. Next to me is a call box for the San Francisco Fire Department.


On the hillside up Parnassus Street looms UCSF, where government-financed medical research, training for doctors, nurses and paraprofessionals takes place.


Overhead a commercial jetliner flies westward from

government-owned SFO, conforming to safety regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration, the guidance of federal air traffic controllers and the protection of federal air marshals and Homeland Security contractors.


You get the picture. We live in a civilized society with an array of

sophisticated public services (this account didn't even include the

military). Those who claim they don't need government should try living one day without it. Then, it is hoped, they'll stop advocating its starvation and pay their share.



Jeff Gillenkirk is a San Francisco writer. His novel, "Home, Away," will
be published in April by Chin Music Press.

Copyright 2009 SF Chronicle

The Van Akens 2009

Mark and Dolores Van Aken -- I have been trying to add their edited photo to their Netflix site today.  This is a test!

Christmas is Over!

Well, all the decorations have been stored away for another year and it is extremely pleasant to have the house back to a simpler state.
For local neighbors, I might suggest a new Ning website called: www.greenridgecv.ning.com . I didn't realize that "Ning" is evidently a social networking site and I already had a sign-in password I was using for the Netflix Community site (This is a site separate from Netflix for sharing info).

January Book Group Selection

The Outcast by Sadie Jones


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I found this book readable and interesting once I put on my "protection from relentless pain and cruelty" shield. I agree with one reviewer here who called it an "Atonement" wannabe. Still, I guess it was realistic enough. I couldn't recommend it. Just read it because it was a Book Group pick.

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Have a life? Have a blog?

I got three emails today advising me to update this blog.  Son Greg tells me that if you post only once a week (or month?) you don't really have a blog.  If you post several times a week, you don't have a life.  OK, as soon as the Christmas stuff gets put away!  Now I'll just post a picture of us this summer at the Cajun Music Sunday at Chouinard's Winery up Palomares Road!  With us is June Wallace, Bruce Roeding and Ruben Anderson -- his wife Lillian is taking the picture.

"Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali



My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have been reading here (http://www.goodreads.com/) through other reviews, especially the ones who rated it low. Hirsi Ali has a way of remembering her childhood so vividly you feel you are experiencing it with her. You follow her emotional and rational life step by step until she reaches the point of apostasy.

For those who say Islam is similar to all religions, and time will soften the rough edges, I say look at her statistics. In just two regions of Holland they collected statistics of girls killed by their families in "honor killings" -- it came to 11 girls in one year -- out of what, 40 regions? In Holland? In this day and age? As she says, how long does a young girl have to wait? Looking at statistics from all over the world, I would agree with Hirsi Ali that this is a major issue of our time.



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Lionsgate releases "The Dead"

Lionsgate released "The Dead" on video to a chorus of complaints that 10 vital minutes in the beginning of the film were inexplicably missing.  They have recalled the DVD and will re-release the video later in November of 2009.

Here are some reasons to love this production:

James Joyce's "The Dead"—the final story in Dubliners—is considered one of the great short stories. It was also considered impossible to translate to film. It's a story of thoughts and interior monologues, a period piece without melodrama or pretty much anything in the way of action. The story climaxes with a middle-aged woman weeping over a memory of lost love triggered by hearing a folk song, and her husband ruminating to himself about the meaning of life. How could this ever be filmic and true to the spirit of Joyce?

It's the stuff of legend now—Huston directing from an oxygen tent, would not live to see the film's December 1987 release. His son, Tony, wrote the script (and received an Oscar nomination) and served as his father's assistant. Huston's daughter, Anjelica, was cast in the pivotal role of Gretta, and her scenes at the end—her quiet, pained reverie on hearing the song, and later, her emotional telling of the story of a young man who died for love of her—are just beautiful.

Donal McCann is very good as the slightly too-assured and responsible Gabriel. McCann is tasked with delivering the closing monologue, an almost five-minute speech taken almost verbatim from the story, which plays over simple scenes of a snowfall mixed shots of the actor's face and the character's thoughts and memories of the evening. Wisely, McCann and Huston let the words speak for themselves; as such, the words retain their power, unadorned.

Many of the roles are played by Irish stage actors and actresses (though Carroll is originally from Scotland), and their modestly heartfelt and authentic performances fit the bill very well. Huston's camera is unobtrusive, like another party guest, gliding from this face to that, panning slowly to an old woman's face as her eyes sparkle with the memory of an exceptional tenor she once heard, slipping at one point away and peeking around a room at the souvenirs of a life, the inconsequential things that tell so much about people. Huston knows these people, and he presents them with such affection. Through small talk and quiet interactions, Huston opens up an entire world, and by the end, these people are as familiar as they'd be if we'd always known them.

Castro Valley Library Grand Opening

Castro Valley Library Grand Opening

Review of "Cheri" for Netflix

I enjoyed this tremendously and Sal found it disturbing and somewhat boring. What can I say? I was madly in love with Colette and all her novels and writings as a teenager -- especially Cheri and the Last of Cheri. I felt Michelle Pfeiffer was a little too much the modern idea of a beautiful woman. I imagined Lea as a plush, comfortable woman (like Polly Walker from the series "Rome") who dealt with the loss of Cheri with more equanimity - as a woman ready to give up all the work of being constantly attractive to a man, letting herself go. Anyhow, the basic premise is fascinating -- a totally babied and cosseted young man is totally unprepared for life and cannot and will not face it. It is supposed to be a sad story. I thought Rupert Fried was perfect for the role. In fact, none of the reviews prepared me for the fact I did indeed very much enjoy this film though it could have been better.