For the Children Within Us All:
Mortgages. Car repairs. Root canals. Taxes. Wrinkles. New aches and pains. Retirement planning. Sweaters when it hits 68 degrees. Is that a gray hair? Where’d I put my stupid keys? Wait, where’d I park the car? All of this either has or will happen to you. Why? Because you’re an adult and you’re getting older by the second! You are being stalked by old man time himself. Rip Van Winkle was make-believe, Peter Pan was a fairy tale, the fountain of youth is bull-hockey, time stops for no one and that just plain sucks. But, wait…what’s this? Is it magic? Why, yes, yes it is.
Do you want to feel the vigor of youth again shoot through your brain without thought of needing a nap? Do you want to giggle like a gap-toothed school girl? Do you want to have the aged curmudgeons in your life look at you like you’ve lost your mind? Well, then, Pixar Short Films Collection, Volumes 1 and 2 (both available at Acorn), are here to save you from becoming your parents! In fact, if you can watch these without a single moment of childlike glee coursing through your oh-so-grown-up self, then it’s just too late for you. Don’t let it be too late! Go now. Save yourself. Just don’t trip on your way…you might break a hip.
Danielle - Tech Services
The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls:
I finally got around to reading Walls’ first novel this past weekend. I read it within a day and I couldn’t help but embrace Walls’ rejection of strong female characters. Characterization of the fairer sex can be a bit daunting in books and movies (see this great article by the New Statesman) and we get used to the old stereotypes. The characters of Bean, Liz, and their Mom, Charlotte, all start out being typical “strong females”. But by the end, these women have defied that role and have been vulnerable, scared, incensed, forgotten, and annoyed. The relationship between Charlotte and her daughters is a strained one (to say the least) - yet the power struggle between them is so level that it is hard to tell who’s the mother and who are the daughters. But the fact remains: these women are real. They make mistakes, they sometimes don’t know what to do, and end up living out the consequences of their choices. You’ll end up rooting for them, even when they are completely in the wrong. The Silver Star is available on our Hot Copy display or holds can be placed through SWAN.
-Judy, Reference
Gabriele D'Annunzio: Poet, Seducer, Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett:
Gabriele D'Annunzio was, as the subtitle suggests, a multi-dimensional figure. Hughes-Hallett can easily have added "psychopath", "monster", or "fascist" to her title. That fact that she does not do so is impressive and it benefits her storytelling. D'Annunzio, for those who are unfamiliar, was an Italian poet, playwright, and novelist who almost single-handedly led the Italians to war on the side of the Allies. The proto-fascist did it for glory, not for any noble reason. As a fervent nationalist, he was a precursor to Mussolini and actually made himself dictator (Duce) of Fiume (in Yugoslavia) for 15 months.
Hughes-Hallet chose to write on a series of non-chronological themes and events that shaped D'Annunzio. It is a puzzling look into the creation of a monster in a society that was rapidly going mad itself. If you’re interested in 20th century European politics, art, or the Great War you need to read this book. It can be found on our New Books shelf and is available through SWAN.
-Mike, Reference
Days of Heaven
This 1978 movie is a singular tale of struggle and love, American style. Richard Gere plays Bill, a volatile steelworker who flees 1916 Chicago for the Texas Panhandle after a violent encounter with his boss. He brings his sister, Linda, (the excellent Linda Manz), as well as Abby (Brooke Adams), his girlfriend who poses as his other sister for the sake of propriety.
They begin working for a young farmer (Sam Shepard), a man in possession of a great fortune and a gloriously madcap Queen Anne mansion. He's also in want of a wife, and quickly falls in love with Abby. Tension, deception, and tragedy mythically unfold.
Though it was panned upon its release, it is now regarded as a masterpiece, as well as one of the most beautiful films ever made. Indeed, director Terrence Malick and his cinematographers turn everything they observe--trains, blast furnaces, horses, storms, artificial light, oceanic wheatfields, human frailty--into resolute poetry. Acorn owns Days of Heaven, and it can be requested from SWAN.
-Megan, Reference
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