books and movies and tv, oh my!

Today is World Book Day (did you know?) (you DO still read BOOKS, don't you?...I mean, e-readers are cool and all, but I bet they're very similar to going from smoking real cigarettes to smoking e-cigarettes--gives you the same kind of high, but something's just OFF) (Maybe cigarettes was a poor choice of example...next time I'll use gluten).

At any rate. World Book Day. So I have a list (with some side thoughts) of my Top Ten All-Time Favorite Books I Absolutely Cannot Make It Through This Life Without and You Should Read These Too If You Haven't Already and If You Haven't Already Read Them What The Holy Hell Is WRONG With You?! World Book Day list. Here it is:

1. THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ by L. Frank Baum. 
Seriously, if you haven't read this book and you've only watched the movie? You aren't really getting it. This is like a book-movie companion kind of thing. Symbiotic. Binary. You are NOT a real Wizard of Oz fan if you haven't also read (and made notes in the margins) Baum's book. The ORIGINAL book; not any kind of abridged crap (stop being lazy). The WIZARD OF OZ is a Life guide; it will teach you about what's important, what's not, and what to do when you're really in a quandry. (Which is: sing a song, and believe in yourself.)

2. THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE by Kate DiCamillo.
Kate also writes the Mercy Watson series, which are really wonderful. But this book. THIS book!!  O.M.G. Seriously, your whole life will be changed. Your heart will never be the same. You will never, ever know at what True Love is until you read this book. And when you're done, go read Margery Williams' THE VELVETEEN RABBIT, because (like the WIZARD OF OZ book-movie companionship), these two books should be the two books on which you base your entire philosophy on Love and Life.

3. PETER PAN by J.M. Barrie
Peter Pan isn't just about a boy who won't grow up. It's about the power of imagination and possibility. It's about courage and fear, and being Who You Are. It's about acceptance and love, letting go, and how to handle fairies and pirates. (Which I think are symbols of good angels and evil angels, but that's just me pontificating.) When I was growing up, I wanted to BE Wendy...and I wanted to marry Peter Pan. And I wanted to be a pirate and a Tiger Lily and a Tinker Bell, too. This is a ageless tale threaded with fibers of magic and, just like WIZARD OF OZ, if you're just watching the movie versions and/or movie interpretations of it, you seriously aren't getting the core meaning of it and you're doing it wrong. 


4. EAT PRAY LOVE by Elizabeth Gilbert
Elizabeth Gilbert is my writer hero. She is my female aspiration, both in writing and spirituality. Liz has gone to the rockiest depths, clawed her way out, and eaten some excellent pizza in Sicily while doing so. Whatever Liz says about life, love, and spirituality I pretty much agree with. And she usually favorites everything I @gilbertliz tag her with on Twitter. She's my hero, and her memoir of her own personal Hero's Journey is something I've written in over and over, dog-eared, slept with, eaten with, cried over, and whispered a million thank yous into. It's a Bible of sorts, and I think the Holy Spirit gets me on that even if you don't.

5. STORIES OF ANTON CHEKHOV by Anton Chekhov (and some editors)
Oh, Anton Chekhov. Anton, Anton, Anton! What a yummy writerly dish you were, back in the turn of the century. And with every single short story, he'll show (NOT tell) you how to write right. If you are a short story writer, and you have not ever read a short story by Chekhov? You're doing it wrong. Get thee to a bookstore (NOT an e-reader store--a real, physical BOOK store) and pick you up a copy of Anton's short stories. Go home, get comfy, and start to learn, grasshopper. 

Master. Storyteller.

6. EAST OF EDEN by John Steinbeck
Steinbeck was a master storyteller and a master (a MASTER) of the descriptive paragraph. When you start this book, your brain is woven a tapestry of what California looked like, in Steinbeck's--and his characters'--eyes. And then you're given an ancient tale of Cain and Abel, good and evil, right and wrong, and the temptations and horrific choices we all have to make. It's a subtle Bible for how to live, and who not to be. With tapestries of How To Write Descriptive Narrative woven throughout.

7. THE BLUEST EYE by Toni Morrison
This is the book that made me understand what it's like to not be in the Majority. It's about quietly fighting a system that is set up to invalidate and demoralize and keep you from soaring to your highest heights. Love yourself, as is...even when They tell you that you as is is simply never going to be enough. On the surface, it's about what Jim Crow and slavery and The Good Ol' Boys network has done to our country, our black women, our society, and our world. But underneath all of that, is something that--no matter your gender, nationality, or race--we can all connect with: the need to belong. It's just amazing. Please read it if you haven't.

8. WUTHERING HEIGHTS by Emily Bronte
I read this book over and over and over and over when I was in high school. I wanted to be Cathy...but I wanted to be Cathy before she went nutters. And I desperately, seriously, deeply longed for Heathcliff. I still do, quite frankly. Also, there are ghosts. And ghosts, in my book? Are always good. 

9. ROOM WITH A VIEW by E.M. Forrester
This is about keeping a chick down; clipping her wings and--like THE BLUEST EYE--fighting a system set up to invalidate/demoralize/keep you back from living your dreams. It's also about not succumbing to someone else's opinions, being really real, and that British class system? Gots to GO. (Sadly, I don't think it has and here in America we're making it worse.) But I love it because it's about being loved for Who You Are, as is. I cannot stress how important that is. 

10. BIRD BY BIRD by Anne Lamott
Annie is funny and sincere, irreverent and serious, all at once. She knows your pain because she's been there, sister (or brother). She's been down and out, up and over, and she's got the scars to prove it. And she will tell you about them, how she got them, AND give you a lot of good tips on how to Do Writing Right. One little step at a time. Baby steps. Tip toes. Bird by bird. It works for writing, but it's also just a smart way to live a life, the end.

And, just because I like them, I'm going to extend World Book Day further by listing movies based on books I personally love a lot and think are excellent filmatic takes on the written word, even if famous film critics disagree with me. Here it is:

1. WIZARD OF OZ
This is L. Frank Baum's book...with some artistic license...in technicolor (and black & white for Kansas, which I think was a really brilliant creative decision for MGM in 1939--ahead of their time). I used to LIVE for the airings of this movie, and I wanted to BE Judy Garland/Dorothy. I can't even calculate how many hours I spent, in my room, as a child re-enacting this ENTIRE movie. 

One time, my mom didn't feel like braiding my hair so I could put on my Oz play in my room, and she suggested I pretend to be Glinda the Good Witch instead. Drama actress ego meltdown ensued. I was Dorothy! Only I knew how to interpret the role of Dorothy! and HOW DARE SHE.

2. PETER PAN (2003)
The Disney version is cool and all, but PJ Hogan's 2003 adaptation is just magically superb. And I promise I'm not saying that because Jason Isaacs plays Captain Hook and Mr. Darling AND responded to a dry erase easel board note my class wrote together and sent him on Twitter. You should see this movie because, like MGM's 1939 WIZARD OF OZ adaptation, this IS J. M. Barrie's book...with some artistic license...in CGI magic technicolor. 

I used to spend hours re-creating the story of PETER PAN in my bedroom too, as a child, but I wasn't as attached to the role of Wendy like I was to Dorothy.

3. LIVING OUT LOUD
Simply, this is my all-time favorite movie made for grown-ups. This is an independent film made in 1999 by Richard Lagravenese. It's based on two short stories by Anton Chekhov, and it's about being true to yourself, finding out who you are, being accepted and loved as is, and forgiving yourself. Like Elizabeth Gilbert's EAT PRAY LOVE, whenever I'm in a what-the-hell?? kind of moment, I re-watch this movie. Every woman in the WORLD should be exposed to it. 

4. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT
There are fish (I'm a Pisces), there is water (I'm a Pisces), and there is Brad Pitt AND Craig Sheffer in it (I'm a heterosexual woman). This is about family, ultimately. And addiction. And struggling. And knowing that you can really, really love someone a lot but not like them very much. It's about how people who need the most help are often the ones who least want it; and so then it's about growing through and in spite of that pain. A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT is about letting go, and it's about trusting in something a lot bigger than your limited self. It's about the ancient art of growing up, breathing in spite of the pain, and acceptance of the unknowable. It's about how the "river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of those rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters."

5. APOCALYPSE NOW
In 12th grade AP English, we had to read Joseph Conrad's THE HEART OF DARKNESS. What a freaky book. What a freaky movie based on that freaky book. On the surface, it's about some dudes traveling up river through war torn Vietnam and all the freaky crap they saw and endured while doing that. But underneath, like Conrad's book, it's about Us vs. Them kind of thinking, which leads to all kinds of stupid shit...like, oh I don't know, The Vietnam War. And people killing each other for dumb reasons. As humans are wont to do.

It's a disturbing movie, but then THE HEART OF DARKNESS is a disturbing book. Sometimes disturbing is bad, sometimes it's good. This is one of those times it's good.

6. THE COLOR PURPLE
Whoop Goldberg--I fell in love with her. She played a pure, gentle soul who went on an inner odyssey of figuring out who she was in and in the process discovering her own amazing strength. Sort of like Dorothy in WIZARD OF OZ, but black and living in Jim Crow times. This book/movie is also about family, growing up, and being loved as is. 

Best line of a movie EVER: "Everything you done to me, already been done to you.I'm poor, black, I may even be ugly, but dear God, I'm HERE..."

7. THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS
I'm not going to lie: Daniel Day-Lewis, in this movie, is someone who spends a lot of time in my night time fantasies (sometimes day time ones as well). Family, trust, respect, Man vs. Man, Man vs. Nature, staying true to your roots. It's all in there, set to gorgeous scenery and a sweeping soundtrack that makes your soul soar and spirit weep. 

8. DR. ZHIVAGO
I had to find a book that complemented FATHERS AND SONS by Ivan Turgenev for my senior year thesis, and this was it. So happy I picked it, because this was about a tough, kick ass woman. Oh, she LOOKED sweet and weak and naive on the surface, but ultimately men were broken by her and because of her. 

This movie is about love and grief and loss and it's all wrapped up in one amazing journey with a lot of snow in a country that is full of pain and horror and stark, unadulterated beauty. (I really wish Putin would stop mucking it up.)

9. THE GODFATHER
This is, literally, the ONLY mafia movie I can and will watch. I think Marlon Brando and a young Al Pacino might have something to do with it; I'll be honest. I read Mario Puzo's book, and then I saw the movie. Like WIZARD OF OZ and Hogan's PETER PAN, this is Mario's book but in visual format. 

I would like its theme song to play whenever I exit a room.

10. TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Gregory Peck. Social justice. Gregory Peck. Truth vs. Lies. Gregory Peck. A bildungsroman through a young girl's wide eyes. The way Law OUGHT to be. Gregory Peck. And also: Gregory Peck. 

I hope Harper Lee's new book will do just as well as this one did in both written and cinematic format. I mean, hello...she's had 50+ years to hone it. 


And last (but not least) I do have one favorite book that's been made into an excellent television show series: OUTLANDER by Diana Gabaldon.

It's got time travel, Scots in kilts, Scots speaking in Scottish brogue, and a lot (I mean a LOT) of sex. With some historical background. Or maybe a lot (I mean a LOT) of historical background. With some sex. 

Either way, Sam Heughan. And so watch it. It's On Demand. 

book porn.

Interviewing one's self seems weird. Because I'm weird, I'm going to do it. Plus, at this very moment I'm supposed to be organizing my classroom library. Mentally and emotionally, I'm having a hard time dragging myself into my classroom, much less its huge mess of a little library. So instead, I'm going to rip off an Entertainment Weekly interview I read recently with my favorite writer and all-around awesome human being Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm going to pretend I work for Entertainment Weekly, and that Entertainment Weekly is actually interested in my responses. Then I'm going to respond to my own Entertainment Weekly queries. Which is totally not weird at all (in the world of blogging.)

MY FAVORITE CHILDHOOD BOOKS

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. As a child, I was obsessed (obsessed!) with both book and movie version. I would spend hours reading the books in the series (the first being my most beloved of all), hours re-enacting the movie in my room, and just generally loved (still do, quite frankly) the entire idea of a land that exists somewhere over the rainbow, where animals talk and there are good and bad witches and sparkly red shoes will take you any place if you just click them three times and wish very hard. If only real life worked like this.

In a related note, I was also a huge fan of all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. And the tv show. And often pretended to be a pioneer girl on the prairie. In a little house.

THE BOOK I MOST ENJOYED IN SCHOOL

The Great Gatsby. Because it was like a soap opera, only classic literature. School opened up literature for me--I feel well-read today because of it. I'd be introduced to a great book (like The Great Gatsby), which would open up my curiosity for more, which would prompt me to go find other books by the same author or genre. I spent a good deal of time my 10th grade year reading a lot of early 20th century literature because of you, F. Scott Fitzgerald. I also learned to worship Dorothy Parker. So there you go.

A BOOK I READ IN SECRET

As a teenager, I used to often sneak/slink off with a book my mom had. I've google searched for it, but I can't remember/find the title. Anyway, it was written in the 1960s by a mysterious woman calling herself "J." It was about sex techniques and ways to practice them without having sex. To this day, I cannot eat soft serve ice cream cones without feeling like I'm committing and/or practicing the act of fellatio in public. Thanks, "J." 

THE BOOKS I'VE READ OVER AND OVER

Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith by Anne Lamott. Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. They're my bibles. My go-to, what-the-hell-should-I-do-now??, go-to bibles. Prescriptions for life, I'd call these books.

A BOOK I'VE PRETENDED TO READ

The summer before my senior year in high school, we were given a reading list and, for each book, had to come up to school to take (and pass, with at least 8 out of 10 questions correct) a brief quiz--just on plot points, to prove you read the book.

The books I remember from the list were: Cry the Beloved Country by Alan Paton (loved it), Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy (loved), J.B. by Archibald MacLeish (I read this play 20 times, in an effort to figure out what the hell it was about, yet passed the quiz with an 8 out of 10 nonetheless), and King Lear. 

That's right--King frickin' Lear. By yourself. As a 17 year old ridiculous person who just wanted to hang out with friends and swim for two months. The theory was: we were going to read Hamlet that school year, and somehow the weird play J.B. and King Lear connected to Hamlet and somehow reading these first would help us when we read Hamlet. Did they? No. Do 17 year olds care about connections? To be or not to be. Nobody cares in July when they're 17. Even Hamlet knew that.

So I saved King Lear for last, knowing he'd be a doozy. I, Scout's honor, read all the other books and got a good, solid, honest 8 out of 10 correct on each of their quizzes. Not bad for a 17 year old who just wants to sleep in late and work on her tan.

Then I began King Lear. By page 5 I was in tears--no way could I read this play and every three seconds have to look down at the footnotes to figure out what was being said. Just. Speak. English, Shakespeare. I'm a 17 year old American girl who seriously doesn't care about your stupid horse.

So I went and got the Cliff Notes (which I believe are now called Spark Notes?). I read the Spark/Cliff Notes to King Lear. I took the 10 question plot quiz about King Lear. ....And got a 10 out of 10 on that quiz. Ten out of ten. Via Cliff Notes. I spent weeks really concentrating on the other books and couldn't even get 9 out of 10 right. I spent 3 hours on King Lear's Cliff Notes and got a perfect score.

There's a life lesson in that somewhere, but I feel it involves cheating and so I don't want to celebrate it too much. But here's a lesson from your Aunt Amy, kids: if they ever make you read Shakespeare alone, using the Spark Notes version is perfectly acceptable. Nobody gets hurt. And you'll get a perfect score on the quiz, with time to spare for the pool.

A BOOK THAT'S HIGHLY OVERRATED

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Good god, it's so horribly written. I think about all the wonderful books out there, all the books that could have and should have been made into movies by Ron Howard starring Tom Hanks that year, and I just want to weep that they picked this one. Please know: I love the concept behind it--I read it when it was first published because I was so fascinated by the ideas and the intrigue behind the story. I think Dan Brown did a really amazing job at some careful, extensive research.

But by page 40 of the book, I realized: oh god, this goes on for 556 more pages. Dear Dan Brown: they have things called thesauruses. And editors. These two tools are GOOD things for writers. And character development is always a good idea. And in real life nobody talks like these characters, Dan. And why are you re-telling the whole story at the end? Just end it, dammit. Wrap it up. Sincerely, all the other writers. 

Actually, to be fair to Dan Brown, I think he'd make an excellent screenplay writer. As I was reading the book, I kept thinking: they're going to make this into a movie. And then they did. And I thought the movie worked a lot better than the book. Dan, look into that! I bet Ron Howard will help you.

THE BOOKS I WISH I'D WRITTEN

Anything by Barbara Kingsolver, Jhumpa Lahiri, Elizabeth Gilbert, all of Mary Oliver's poems, and all of Anne Lamott's essays on life. 

I also wish I'd written Cutting for Stone by Abraham Vergese--what a sweepingly told story. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger--mind-blowing, heart-wrenching, and magical all at once. All of the books in Deb Harkness's A Discovery of Witches series--like Harry Potter and Twilight, but for grown up women. And she's a professor of history, so the scholarly research behind the stories is superb. 

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo, The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle, and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison--all of these books are stories containing huge, deep life truths buried in gorgeously constructed, simple yet stunningly powerful sentences that speak to all humans, and will for ages. 

THE NOVELS PEOPLE MAY BE SURPRISED TO LEARN I LOVE

I love the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. At first, you think: oh, this sounds so trashy. But then you start reading and realize: no! This is a story. A beautiful story full of tremendous alchemy. Set in Scotland, with a lot of men running around talking English with Scottish accents. And a lot of sex. Win win win! 

WHAT I'D READ IF I WERE RESTRICTED TO ONE GENRE FOR LIFE

Time travel romance. Specifically time travel romances set in the Revolutionary War era. I read a book called Out of Time by Deborah Truscott once, and it ignited my imagination. It's the book that led me to the Diana Gabaldon series. And made me wish I didn't love hot/cold running water so much, and indoor plumbing. And vaccines. And being a feminist. Because otherwise, I could so get into being a British soldier's wench in 1776. 

THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE LAUGH...AND THE LAST BOOK THAT MADE ME CRY

Bossypants by Tina Fey. I laughed so hard I cried. So I'm going to use that as my answer for both.

MY FAVORITE MOVIE VERSIONS OF BOOKS

Oh, so many! Sometimes, movie makers get it SO wrong. But sometimes, Hollywood really gets it right and when that happens, I think it underscores why people tell stories in all different formats. I think you have to start with a good script--if they can write the novel in script format and it's good, there's your foundation. Add a thoughtful director, some gorgeous cinematography, talented actors, a careful editor, producers who aren't total douchebags, backdrop it all with a mystical musical score that echoes through the soul, and ta da! Storytelling Magic. 

Some of the movies I think got it right:

The Wizard of Oz (it takes a lot of license with the book...but it sparked the sense of wonder and magic in children of all ages in 1939 and continues to mystify and delight people 75 years later, and so I think it's safe to say: this worked. Proof: I show it as contrast/compare to the book to 2nd graders each year, and they are always delighted--they've already seen it, are already in love with it, and can watch it over and over again)

Peter Pan (2003) (oh my god, what a beautiful movie--how this movie didn't blow up the box office and turn into a classic, I have no idea. Like The Wizard of Oz, they take some license, but it's just breathtakingly beautiful, and so it worked as well. Proof: I also show this as contrast/compare for the book each year, and they are just awed.)

Interview with a Vampire (it really just re-told the whole story in visual format, and did so in a hauntingly beautiful kind of way. Plus also: Brad Pitt. )

All the Harry Potter movies (I haven't technically seen all the Harry Potter movies, but I've seen bits and pieces of them and they are gorgeous things to behold.)

Dr. Zhivago (it makes me sad my mom didn't let my dad name me after the main character Lara. If I'd only known when I came out of the birth canal! I'd have argued for it. Also, I would like this movie's theme song to play whenever I walk into a room.)

The Godfather (This is the ONLY mafia movie I can watch over and over again and again. I actually think it's better than the book (please don't tell Mario Puzo I said that). Also, I would like this movie's theme song to play whenever I exit a room.)

WHAT I'M READING RIGHT NOW

I'm just finishing up The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert (please read this--it's magnificent). Then I'm moving on to The Sandcastle Girls by Chris Bohjalian. And I still need to start 11/22 by Stephen King (it's been in my e-reader since October).

SOMETHING I'VE WRITTEN THAT MAKES ME CRINGE....SOMETHING I'VE WRITTEN THAT MAKES ME PROUD

This summer I sat down and re-read a lot of my old journals, from 1998-present. Man, the late 90's and early 2000's were rough years for me. And Amy 2007 was just a wreck of a human being. All of it made me cringe. And pretty much a lot of what I write here makes me cringe when I go back and re-read it months later. 

I'm probably most proud of THIS entry. I think it's a bit too wordy, and I may actually have two essays in one, but it's about someone precious who helped me become who I am, and so. That's my proudest.