Reading books and watching films are two of my favorite activities. Talking about books I've read and movies I've watched is another of my favorite activities! Yours, too, probably.

This page is where I recommend the good books I've read and good DVDs I've watched lately.

Online book shopping, online library reservations, audiobooks from Audible.com, and renting DVDs from Netflix.com have all changed my life so much, I sometimes think I've died and gone to heaven.

Then the bills come, and I realize, nope, I'm still in the real world...

Summer 2009: Books

Quite by chance, I picked up a copy of Dominick Dunne's double-book nonfiction collection of his previously-published Vanity Fair articles, Fatal Charms and The Mansions of Limbo. Although his subject matter is nothing I've ever been particularly interested in (lifestyles, scandals, and criminal trials of the rich and famous), and although the collection is out-of-date (from the 1980s and early 1990s), I found Dunne's writing so compelling that I raced through the book, staying up too late several nights in a row, and have since then re-read several of the most fascinating parts. So next I went out and read most of his novels. Again, they cover subject matter that's not my usual sort of thing (scandals among filthy rich "high society" people who think you're disturbingly ethnic if you're, oh, Catholic), but I just love the way Dunne tells a story. The two novels I enjoyed most are the two I've listed here, People Like Us (about a social-climbing billionaire couple in New York, as observed by a writer dealing with personal tragedy) and Another City, Not My Own, a largely autobiographical novel about a writer covering the O.J. Simpson double-murder trial.

This hilarious nonfiction book is so short you can probably read it in one sitting. Rob Long was a writer/producer on the hit TV show Cheers... who discovers he can't even get a lunch table at a cafeteria once the show goes off the air, because writers are NO ONE in Hollywood. This amusing, tongue-in-cheek book follows Long's attempts to get another series on the air. Much of the story is told through conversations with his agent that made me laugh until my face hurt.

This is the ideal biography for someone like me, who wanted to know more about Winston Churchill but had no idea where to start since he's one of the most-written-about people in history. The book looks at 40 key aspects of Churchill that have long interested and confounded biographers (his childhood; his marriage; his wartime acts; was he an alcoholic? what kind of parent was he? was he a racist? and so on) and presents the various views (many of them conflicting) that have been propounded by biographers over the years. What you come away with is more knowledge about the events of Churchill's life and a better understanding of the controversies surrounding him.

The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula

by Eric Nuzum

This is an engaging, interesting, and often quite funny nonfiction book about our culture's obsession with vampires. In his quest to understand the phenomenon, the author meets self-proclaimed vampires, goes to vampire discos, travels to Transylvania, studies the career of Bela Lugosi, and even drinks blood (which turns out to be every bit as disgusting as he expected).

Society's Child: My Autobiography

Grammy winner Janis Ian's career has so far spanned more than forty years, and she's been one of my favorite musicians since I was a teenager. She's also turned to prose-writing in recent years, particularly science fiction/fantasy, and her autobiography is as well-written as it is interesting. Bonus point: She's a good friend of my dad's, and my parents appear in this book. So, after all these years, Mom and Pop are now Officially Cool. (And how disorienting is THAT?)

Linda Fairstein has spent many years prosecuting sex crimes as an assistant D.A. in New York City, and now she writes a suspense series featuring a protagonist who does the same thing. This is (I think) the eighth book in this series, and I've enjoyed them all. In addition to knowledgeably writing about fascinating legal and criminal cases in her novels, Fairstein's elegant, enjoyable books always feature some interesting aspect of New York's culture and history. One book is set mostly at the Natural History Museum, another at the New York Public Library, another at the ballet, another at Roosevelt Island, and so on. The books are always well-written and feature engaging protagonists. I listen to most of them on audio, but they make excellent reading, too.

Laughter of Dead Kings

Although she's best known for her Amelia Peabody series, about a family of eccentric English archeologists in early-20th-century Egypt, Elizabeth Peters' Vicky Bliss novels are my favorite Peters series. This is the most-recent Vicky Bliss book, and I think it's the seventh. Vicky is a medieval art historian at a museum in Munich, and she gets involved in bizarre arts-and-antiquities mystery-adventures with her enthusiastic boss, Dr. Schmidt, and her longtime love-interest, the notorious art thief Sir John Smythe (not his real name). In this latest novel, Vicky, Schmidt, and John wind up chasing a missing mummy all over Egypt while someone else is chasing them.

Although I gave up on Gabaldon's bestselling Outlander series several books ago, I've become a big fan of her Lord John novels, which is a spin-off series. Lord John is a British army officer on active duty in the Seven Years war. He's also gay, at a time (the 18th century) when that was a capital crime. The books are historical mystery-adventures, well-plotted and very well-written, and John is an appealing and intriguing protagonist. The Private Matter and Brotherhood of the Blade are novels. The Hand of Devils is a novella collection, and I don't recommend starting with it; one of the three novellas is very good, but one is weak, and one makes more sense if you've read Brotherhood of the Blade first. In almost every book, the text brings in or brings up Outlander characters at some point; but the Lord John tales work independently of Gabaldon's other series and can certainly be enjoyed by someone unfamiliar with the Outlander novels.

The Megalithic European

by Julian Cope

I have a mild obsession with the Neolithic era and megalithic monuments. (But I'm in control! It's only a stone monument. I can stop following Neolithic news whenever I want to.) Neolithic archaeology is well-developed and much-written-about in Britain, but it's harder (at least in English) to learn about megalithic monuments in the rest of Europe. Until now! Rock musician and respected amateur historian Julian Cope spent years working on this outstanding guide to megalithic monuments on the European continent, complete with maps, diagrams, and many full-color photos. (Prior to this, Cope wrote The Modern Antiquarian, covering British megalithic sites; but it's out-of-print and quite expensive, so I've yet to get my copy.)

Nigella Express
Nigella Bites
Forever Summer
How To Eat

by Nigella Lawson

I love to cook! It's the antithesis of writing. Cooking is physical and sense-oriented; and the food is ready to be enjoyed and shared with others the same day I make it, rather than a year after I complete the manuscript and the book is finally published. British food writer Nigella Lawson has become my new favorite cookbook author, and I find myself using these four cookbooks all of the time since first stumbling across her work in 2008. (She's written two additional cookbooks that don't suit me, since I don't bake and I don't do truly elaborate meals.) I love Nigella's recipes, I thoroughly enjoy the way she writes about food, and the attitude she expresses in Nigella Bites is perfectly in keeping with the way I cook: a recipe is a starting place, and the cook should tinker with it to suit her own preferences. Forever Summer was the least successful of these four books, though I can't understand why, since a number of its recipe are favorites/keepers for me. Nigella Express is a collection of recipes for good food that require minimal effort, and it may be my favorite of these four books. How To Eat is a great "staple reference" sort of book, with a lot of information about food and a lot of classic recipes.

Outliers: The Story of Success

by Malcolm Gladwell

The author of the fascinating nonfiction books Blink and The Tipping Point has made me stay up too late again, with his third book, this interesting and well-written exploration of the nature of success. The book looks at the broader societal factors involved in an individual's success, discussing the importance of age, birthplace, social background, opportunity, timing, geography, etc.—and discussing how our society's mythology consistently dismisses, discounts, and ignores these crucial factors in favor of the less demonstrable but more romantic notion of the individual's unique gifts. One of my favorite parts is where Gladwell talks (for a full chapter) about the "Ten Thousand Hour Rule." I wound up quoting this in a speech I gave recently about writing professionally. In the end, if you want to get good enough at something (such as writing) to compete among the best (i.e. get paid money for your books), you've got to put in long hours of practice (ten thousand hours, researchers say) on your craft.

Past Imperfect

by Julian Fellowes

Julian Fellowes is an English character-actor, director, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Gosford Park). I previously recommended his first novel here, Snobs. This is his new novel, which I also enjoyed. I particularly recommend the audiobook, which Fellowes himself reads—and being both the author and an experienced actor, he really brings it to life. Fellowes comes from an upper class background (but made the unconventional choice of going into acting), and in this new novel he once again translates the contemporary (and anachronistic) upper class way of life for the reader. In Past Imperfect, the 50-something protagonist re-visits the abandoned people and places of his aristocratic youth in attempt to discover which long-ago debutante's legitimate heir is actually the illegitimate child of a dying billionaire. Although it's more melancholy than Snobs, Fellowes' elegant writing and dry wit make this book another pleasure to be gobbled up.

The Razor's Edge

by W. Somerset Maugham

I rarely go to the cinema, because somehow, even in a mostly-empty theater for a mid-week matinee, I invariably wind up sitting directly in front of people who've come to the theater to carry on a long conversation (and who take bitter offense if I turn around and suggest they wait until after the movie to discuss the meaning of life, the universe, and everything), and directly behind someone who's determined to narrate the entire plot for the rest of us. ("I think Luke's going to confront Darth Vader now... no, no, wait! Maybe he's going to try to free the hostages instead? What's he DOING now? Oh, he's pulling out his light saber. Good idea, Luke!" And so on.) So I prefer to watch DVDs in the comfort and blissful silence of my home. Therefore, everything I recommend here can be found on DVD.

This is the story of the English radicals who spent decades working to get the trans-Atlantic slave trade outlawed in Britain (though Americans continued the trade). As dull and worthy as that sounds, it's actually a riveting, absorbing, fast-paced movie with colorful characters, sharp-edged dialogue, and a fair bit of action. The stellar British cast includes Ioan Gruffud, Rufus Sewell, Ciaran Hinds, Michael Gambon, and Albert Finney. A friend of mine who'd previously researched these events for a novel tells me that the film is an accurate account of what happened. And how the Abolitionists actually got their anti-slave-trade legislation passed, after years of trying, is a shrewd lesson in politics, the art of the practical.

This excellent British police-procedural series has released four seasons so far (though a "season" in British TV is different than in the US, so there are about 20-24 episodes so far, not 80-100). Set in Manchester, Blue Murder follows the career of a female chief inspector with a mixed-bag of colleagues and a complicated personal life. The mysteries are interesting and well done, but the characters are what really make the show. (And after every episode I watch, I always wind up wondering how many American production companies would do a series about a plump, tough, middle-aged woman running a police division who has four children at home and an occasional love life? Answer: Probably ZERO.)

Casanova

(2005)

I don't know how I missed this film when it was first released, since it's everything I love in a movie! This witty, sexy, elegant, beautifully costumed, swashbuckling movie was filmed on location in Venice. The story follows the adventures of the notorious Casanova as he meets his match in a sword-wielding young woman who's got a dangerous secret life that could get them both killed. Heath Ledger is charming, dashing, and amusing as Casanova, Sienna Miller is appealing as his romantic foil, Oliver Platt is delightful as a pork merchant looking for love, and Jeremy Irons steals the show (no easy task) as a sinister Inquisitor sent by Rome to clean up sin and scandal in Venice.

(2007)

This is said to be the most expensive movie ever produced in China—and every scene is so lavish, that's easy to believe. Set in the tenth century, it's a colorful action-drama about the Chinese imperial family... who are so vicious, scheming, and twisted, they make the back-stabbing English royals in The Lion In Winter look like a Walton family picnic by comparison. China's most famous actress, Gong Li, is as fabulous as always in this film, playing the scheming, bitter, and seductive empress, and Chow Yun Fat is riveting as the ruthless emperor who's trying to assassinate his wife while playing his sons off against each other.

A History of Britain

(2000)

I'm not a big fan of documentaries, since I prefer to sit down to an absorbing fictional story when I turn on the DVD player. So a documentary has to be pretty engaging for me to recommend it! This series is produced and presented by Simon Schama, a writer, producer, and academic who's done a lot of interesting work. Even though I thought I knew British history well, I learned a lot from every episode of this well-paced, well-produced series. If you're interested in Britain, this is well worth watching.

Hustle

(2005-2007)

This is another British TV series that's got me hooked. It's about a group of London-based con artists running "the long con," i.e. playing out complicated cons in pursuit of big stakes. The cast includes some familiar British actors, as well as the still-dapper-at-75 American actor Robert Vaughn. A couple of people to whom I've recommended this series didn't like it because, as they reasonably pointed out to me, the protagonists are con artists, so it's pretty hard to like them or get invested in their goals (since their goals always involve cheating someone out of his money). Fair enough. Nonetheless, I love this show—mostly because I find the cons, i.e the actual plots, scams, and scenarios, and how they work—so fascinating.

I only saw this show once in a while during the years it was on TV, so now that it's on DVD, I'm watching the whole series. And I love it! Some episodes are better than others (and the first season isn't the strongest season), but it's overall a delightful series. The characters are engaging, particularly Ian McShane's portrayal of Lovejoy, and you learn a lot (in a fun way) about art and antiques. It also seems fresh and interesting to see a mystery series in which, for a change, there aren't murders; instead of corpses and killings, the plots and stories in Lovejoy typically revolve around mysterious objects and valuable oddities.

I'm not a fan of Agatha Christie or a fan of any previous incarnation of her famous spinster sleuth, Miss Marple. However, I adore this latest British version of Miss Marple, though (or perhaps because) it's a far cry from the Christie novels. The series stars the charming Geraldine McEwan and is set in post-WWII Britain. The costumes and the production design are breathtakingly elegant, and the guest casts for each episode are fabulous: Anthony Andrews, Greta Scacchi, Timothy Dalton, Jane Seymour, Edward Fox, Jack Davenport, Joanna Lumley, Simon Callow, Richard E. Grant, Zoe Wanamaker, Sophie Myles, and so on. My only caveat is that the previously-strong quality of the scripts was very poor in the third/final season.

This Israeli film is about ultra-Orthodox young women at a seminary in Safed, engaged in the somewhat-controversial (for their communities) activity of studying Torah and Talmud before they settle down to get married and raise children. The lead character is a brilliant and strong-willed girl who loves her religion but is in conflict with the narrow role it assigns to women, and also in conflict with its rigid strictures on who does or doesn't merit compassion and comfort. There are strong lead performances in this movie, but what particularly struck me about the film is how many of its characters wind up surprising me—in that pesky way that real people do, too.

I found this mini-series delightful. (I gather there is a subsequent weekly TV series of the same name, with the same characters and most of the same actors. I haven't seen that. This recommendation is specifically for the 6-part miniseries.) It's a sharp, cynical, colorful romantic comedy about a Hollywood wife whose producer-husband throws her over for a Britney Spears-like starlet. Our heroine retreats to a friend's gorgeous Malibu beach house to lick her wounds over the various humiliations she experiences as the now-former wife of a movie producer. Meanwhile, there's a mysterious beach boy hanging around the house; another movie producer seems to be making a play for her; her best friend has disappeared; her interior decorator's career has been destroyed by 12 of the ugliest chairs ever made; and our heroine winds up at the center of a homicide investigation. An engaging cast of characters, a fast pace, a lot of fun.

Here's another good documentary, this one recommended to me by my mom. It's a four-part series produced by PBS about the Medici family, who dominated Florence, Renaissance art, and finally the Papacy for more than 100 years. This is really well-made, holds your attention—and, BOY, were those Medicis busy dudes! There was almost no one who was anyone in the Renaissance who WASN'T involved with the Medici family, one way or another, and this documentary makes the valid argument that the great artistic, literary, and scientific innovations of the era may simply not have happened without this controversial, extraordinary, and sometimes terrifying dynasty.

I recently watched this film, which was a favorite in my youth, for the first time in many years—and, wow, does it ever hold up well! It's got an outstanding cast, of course: Richard Attenborough, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, David McCallum, James Garner, Donald Pleasance, Steve McQueen, and so on. But what really holds you in your seat is that it's a great story and it's told very well. Based on a true story, it's about a P.O.W. camp in Germany in WWII designed to hold recaptured Allied prisoners who've previously escaped (usually multiple times) from other P.O.W. facilities. The Germans intend this camp to solve their problem with escape artists. For the Allies imprisoned here, though, their duty is to escape again and keep as many German soldiers as possible busy looking for them rather than fighting the war. So they begin working on the most elaborate prison escape in history. If you've never seen this film, or if you haven't seen it in years, do yourself a favor and watch it!

Admittedly, this movie has plot holes you could drive a delivery truck through. (Ex. What happens to the scheming prince, who simply disappears halfway through the film as if he never existed?) Nonetheless, it's a great fantasy adventure. Antonio Banderas is very appealing as a Moslem poet from the sophisticated court of medieval Baghdad who has the misfortune to wind up on a deadly quest at the edge of the world with a bunch of unsanitary Norse warriors. It's a dramatic, rip-roaring tale of battles, courage, self-discovery, friendship, and facing the unknown. Banderas is supported by an excellent cast of Scandinavian and Eastern European actors, and the script, for all its logic flaws, has many excellent moments and scenes.