Good Authors Give Us Good Movies

I have been meaning to look and see what else has Amy Tan's written. After seeing the movie THE JOY LUCK CLUB, I looked her up. Actually that's always been a good tip for finding new authors. If you like a movie then check to see if it has been based on a book. Sometimes they are and that gives you a name to look up in the library catalogue.
Getting back to Tan, I did try to read one or two but my all time favorite is THE BONE SETTERS DAUGHTER. This book really had that special touch that has you intrigue and reading until the late hours when your eyes feel like they are on a paper plate!
Then came the autobiographical THE OPPOSITE OF FATE, which was great for me because I loved the JLC movie and the Bonesetters Daughter book so this book tied them up nicely to see what they meant in her life.

It's the same with some other writers like Leon Uris and two of his books MILA 18 and TOPAZ did he not also write EXODUS ? They all sort of tell us how life was;both in world politics and the characters of these stories, in the 40's up to the 60's.
And these where also made into great movies. But good authors sometimes don't make their way on to the big screen, like George Simenon, maybe because the few that were made didn't give us that deep study on the workings of the human mind, which books give you, the slow turns and time to get the point before the actual act or crime is committed?

BLACK HOLES

I just had to take time to see when was it that I actually wrote instead of thinking of this little blog, and I was shocked that it has been this long. I started to wonder if real time has black holes, like they say that exist in the milky way galaxy or just out there?

I was watching the French Open, which is the only thing I like that is French. It is sad that God gave them so many saints and pilgrimage sites and beautiful cathedrals and I can go on and on, and yet, I feel they are a sad society. You know what, there should be an -international - website where we can see the top selling books (fiction and nonfiction) from each of the countries that are members of the U.N.. That way we could see where the thinking of a nation is going. O.K. I guess I wouldn't want to find out that cartoons or moviestar magazines were the top of our country's list.

But watching top tennis being played and the rich tradition and high regards for its players is great to see. I compare it to reading a very good 600 page book (which takes just as long as the days for this tournament to occure).

Nothing is more changing that Life itself.

It is so true that we are all in God's hand. We can and really should make plans if only in an outline form, but as they say nothing is written in cement.
But to tell you the truth illnesses are at times also useful to have people leave you in peace to READ! I had just that kind of month so I really did get some reading in. But I get mad with myself for being anxious to read two authors I have in mind and their books are not yet out.
One of those authors is Daniel Silva, the other is Charles Todd. I guess I should remember that I also felt that way about Lawrence Sanders back in the late 1970's and 1980's until he started to write the dumb series with all those horse racing terms with the Florida background. Then there was James Patterson who was good until now when he can't write without someone filling all his stories (I wonder if he still lives?). Anne Perry is another good author but her stories are better explained on film-or the BBC crime shows. I wonder if age has anything to do with the style we like, I guess age gets into all our life's activities, but now I am able to understand and keep all of Agatha Christies' characters in her stories straight! Maybe one day I'll be able to do a Rubik Cube or whatever it was called, I'm just lucky I can park the car with the tiers all facing forward!

Philosophy Made Fun

I had to take time to let you know that if someone is looking for something light and funny, O.K. not ha-ha funny but the type of reading that makes your mind smile, I have a suggestion. It is the series ( one of them) that A. McCall Smith writes; 44 Scotland Street has a very highbrow cuteness to it. I was never good at reading philosophy books except to help my daughter get through an idea when she was at college. Which just means that I do understand the smart remarks but I also miss one or two points now and then in a story. I like this type of series which include a lot of characters but done in such a way that you can easily follow them in their different situations from book to book. I looked up the bio-info. on McCall Smith and found out he really is a very accomplish professor of law but has a degree in ethics and other very human studies. I am always surprised at the amount of information that is in Wikipedia (just remember it is not an exact information place). Your mind will thank you, I know a puzzle is better, but you won't lose any small piece !

O.K. this is a confession, I guess. As I get older I have found that audio-books are great.
You can be "reading" as you care for your 4 yr.old granddaughter or cooking or even just doing your ordinary things around your house. And if you fall asleep or get too busy to remember what happen you can go back and re-hear it. The public library has a great number of books on cassettes but now more and more on Cd's. Biographies and other non-fiction books are available.
But I still feel guilty because just the act of picking up a book is in my mind what Japanese think of their tea ritual. Am I normal? But I guess I'm at the point of life where books provide the stimuli for hope in humans. Religion is my daily bread but books in all it's forms are the spice or 'butter' on the bread. I remember as a pre-teen reading books on saints, they all (or almost all)
read constantly. When I walk into any office, when I see books or even better books on shelves it is a sure bet that the person is someone who is interesting, here I'll admit I may not end up liking this person, but that doesn't mean he or she would not be interesting.
So if you haven't tried audio-books you'll enjoy them; they read word for word the author's words and there are some really great readers. Books because of them I love authors!

On my last posting I forgot to mention that Charles Todd-the mother and son cooperation, are Americans living in different states but their policeman is a Scotland Yard detective!
I got hooked on British stories when I started reading Ruth Rendell, she is good but like Stephen King, she gets gloomier as she writes more, so in order to save my sanity I stuck to stories where the bad guys get caught. Still I think it is easier to see the 'whole picture' from a distance. As travel becomes more common and necessary, seeing crime elsewhere is easier to stay focus on the story and not worry on our national crime rate. Besides for some reason American writers use a lot of foul language. O.K. it is necessary at times put it hurts the eyes!
Well I just wanted to clear some points , happy reading.

Life is really going fast, can it be that as we get older, time starts to shrink?

I'm trying to ween myself from television, which isn't too hard since there are really few good programs. PBS is still the best around and here in Chicago we have 3 stations to pick from.

I take advantage to see those English productions of the Jane Austen's novels, which for some reason I find so long-winded to read. But on the opposite end of my reading skills I find Shakespearean plays fun and very witty if you just read them slowly enough. The BBC also does a great job with the Elizabeth George (American) mysteries. They are great police stories but easy to understand, I guess bad is the same everywhere.

They are also doing Kathy Reich's books on the forensic doctor, but to tell you the truth the
books are better, and more serious than the TV version.

I wonder if they (the TV people) will ever try to do the post-WWI detective stories by Charles Todd. Actually this is the first time that I heard that a mother and son were the writers in this very good and interesting series. Yes it is British but it still very good.

Now comes the American writer Daniel Silva, I could almost bet money on the fact that one of his books will turn up one of these days, as a quick moving movie. He has a great way of explaining some of the intricate issues with Israel, an easy read. I could go on and on.