RECOMMENDATION SUNDAY
BOOK: For their 2nd unit I've had my students read Agatha Christie's The Secret of Chimneys, so I'd better recommend it now before I've read 21 essays about it! One of Christie's stand-alones (some recurring characters but no Poirot or Marple), this mystery has a light tone, international hijinks and a dash of romance. It also, in true Christie fashion, succeeds in making you suspect everyone of the foreign prince's murder at the British country estate, and succeeds in pulling the rug out from you at the end.* Fun!
FILM: My roommates and I recently rented Julie & Julia and I am utterly charmed. The story moves back and forth between Julia Child learning to cook in Paris (did you know she was middle-aged when she became a chef? So encouraging!), and the blogging adventures of a young woman who tries to work through Julia's famous cookbook in one year. (steve_mollmann, are you taking notes?) Amy Adams does a fine job as quarterlife-crisising Julie, but as you'd expect, a plot about blogging simply can't compete with Julia's rise to fame in 1950s Paris. Meryl Streep as Julia is vivacious and wonderful and completely gives me flashbacks to watching "The French Chef" as a kid.** Stanley Tucci as her supportive husband and Jane Lynch as her sister are also a delight.
SONG: My latest favorite from the Vampire Diaries soundtrack (no, I still haven't actually seen the show): Kate Earl's When You're Ready. Poppy + full of longing + word "masquerade" in lyrics = loooooooove it.
*Fairly? You decide.
**I was into cooking shows as a small child. Explanation? I have none.
FILM: My roommates and I recently rented Julie & Julia and I am utterly charmed. The story moves back and forth between Julia Child learning to cook in Paris (did you know she was middle-aged when she became a chef? So encouraging!), and the blogging adventures of a young woman who tries to work through Julia's famous cookbook in one year. (steve_mollmann, are you taking notes?) Amy Adams does a fine job as quarterlife-crisising Julie, but as you'd expect, a plot about blogging simply can't compete with Julia's rise to fame in 1950s Paris. Meryl Streep as Julia is vivacious and wonderful and completely gives me flashbacks to watching "The French Chef" as a kid.** Stanley Tucci as her supportive husband and Jane Lynch as her sister are also a delight.
SONG: My latest favorite from the Vampire Diaries soundtrack (no, I still haven't actually seen the show): Kate Earl's When You're Ready. Poppy + full of longing + word "masquerade" in lyrics = loooooooove it.
*Fairly? You decide.
**I was into cooking shows as a small child. Explanation? I have none.