READING: MY FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR
On average, I read a book or more a week, a mix of literary fiction, thoughtful nonfiction, and the occasional light stuff. Here are the twelve books I liked the most this year along with the covers of some of them.
Becoming Madam Secretary by Stephanie Dray (historical novel about Labor Secretary & Mainer Frances Perkins; her homestead in Damariscotta has just been named a national historic landmark)
Challenger by Adam Higginbotham (nonfiction, deconstruction of a space shuttle disaster)
Codename Charming by Lucy Parker (just for fun romance between a body guard & a personal assistant to a royal couple)
The Comfort of Ghosts by Jacqueline Winspear (the last Maisie Dobbs mystery)
Forty Autumns by Nina Willner (family memoir, living on both sides of the Berlin Wall)
A Fever in the Heartland by Timothy Egan (Ku Klux Klan dominance in 1920’s)
Gray Matters by Theodore Schwartz (nonfiction, comprehensive brain anatomy by a neurosurgeon)
James by Percival Everett (re-telling of Huckleberry Finn story from slave Jim’s perspective)
Long Island by Colm Toibin (sequel novel to his Brooklyn)
Lovely One by Ketanji Brown Jackson (memoir by this Supreme Court Justice)
Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips (Pulitzer Prize winner, post-Civil War novel)
An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin (memoir of her & Dick Goodwin’s involvement in 1960’s national politics with JFK and LBJ)
WATCHING: MOVIES CLASSIC & CONTEMPORARY
White Christmas
In honor of the season and because, surprise, we had never seen the entire film, the Chief Penguin and I watched White Christmas. Two men and two women, in a break from their usual singing and dancing commitments, take the train from Miami to Vermont to a charming inn to see and enjoy snow. The inn is being overseen by their retired Army general friend and is suffering from a lack of guests. Principals Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye, along with Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen, decide to bring their entire show to the inn.
Set in 1954, it’s sentimental, patriotic, and dated, but also fun. Songs are interspersed throughout with masterful dancing by Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen, and finally, near the end when there’s snow outside, you get to hear “White Christmas” in Bing’s mellow tones.
Anora (Prime Video or Apple TV, $19.99)
As my regular readers know, the Chief Penguin and I try each year to see the most noted films and particularly those that have a chance of being nominated for an Oscar. Anora showed up on a list of five possible nominees and, since it was available online, we watched it. Not our usual fare, for sure, but worth it for the stellar performance by Mikey Madison as Anora or Ani, as she prefers. Also of note is Russian actor Mark Aleksandrovich as Ivan.
Ani, a stripper in a gentlemen’s club, lives a hard life in a downtrodden Brooklyn neighborhood. When she engages the attentions of Ivan, son of a Russian oligarch who asks her to be exclusive, she snaps up this chance for the high life. How this Cinderella tale plays out once Ivan’s family knows about them is action-filled with an ending rife with ambiguity and open to multiple interpretations. The film is billed as a comedy, but I didn’t find it especially funny; expect lots of foul language and sex.
Note: Header photo of bookcases ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.) Book covers all from Amazon.com except for Lovely One from Random House.
You probably knew this but I was surprised to learn that Rosemary Clooney was George Clooney aunt.