Reading for pleasure! What are you reading now?

[ralphinlaos]

I just finished reading Walker Percy's novel, The Second Coming. It's a wonderful book with some unique and memorable characters. Not much of a plot (middle aged man meets troubled young woman), but what Mr. Percy does with his characters (and the characters themselves) make this worthwhile. For example, the middle aged man has real problems - he keeps falling down! And the young woman is recently escaped from a mental institution (she is given shock treatments but realizes that after the treatments, her memory will be gone, so before the treatments, she writes letters to herself on exactly what to do after she comes out of the shock). There is so much more to this book than the inadequate description I have given. I don't know if it's out of print or not, but it's worth a trip to your library.

Does anyone use the library anymore? I wonder how the patronage of libraries has fallen-off in this age of the internet - or has it?

Now, I'm on to James Lee Burkes's A Stained White Radiance and one of my favorite fictional detectives, Dave Robicheaux. Looks like a good one.

Ralph

[Theomanic]

I was never a fan of libraries... I like to own my books. A lot of my friends use me as their personal library, actually. I'm a big supporter of libraries though, and I donate books or money when I can.

Also, I'm told books provide valuable insulation, leading to a lower cost in heating bills. How's that for justification?

[Ophelia]

I liked university libraries when I was a student but I've never been thrilled by the city libraries in the town where I lived, and also I like ordering my books and getting them in the mail.

The only library I used was the one in Southampton but once again it was just OK, no particular good memories from there.

There is a small branch from our municipal library two streets away from my home so for many years I kept bringing them boxes of books I couldn't keep in the flat. The last time I tried was two years ago, and they turned me down, telling me they had got instructions from the central library not to take donations anymore as it was too much trouble to process the books !
And I pay taxes for organizations like that!

They told me to go to an association, so now I go to the Abbe Pierre Foundation, 20 kms away from here-- they haven't turned me down yet.

[ralphinlaos]

Well, I sincerely hope we will not be bemoaning the passing of the local library soon, as we did the closing of the small-town movie theaters. Thousands of movie-theatees across the United States closed in the years after the introduction of television into our lives. Now, when we go to movies, we go and sit in some black box in a quad (or eight or twelve little rooms all crammed together), serviced by one ticket-taker, one concession stand, no ushers, no balconies, etc. I remember when going to the movies was fun, and an inexpensive night out which could be enjoyed by the entire family - maybe even a double feature!

And a movie ticket now costs what - seven or eight dollars? Ten or eleven in the big cities!

Ophelia, does any of this apply to France? Or, for that matter, to England, Penelope? Do you still have small-town cinemas in France and England? Have most of them closed?

I guess we get what we deserve.

I have fond memories of the nice library in my small town in Michigan - I could always find something out-of-print or something by an author who wasn't currently in vogue - Hemingway, Ferber, Maugham, Conrad, Melville, Capote, or even Jacquelynne Susanne. If they didn't have what I wanted, they would order it for me and I'd have it in a week. And I didn't have to shell out twenty or thirty dollars for a book I just wanted to read and didn't feel the need to own.

Support your local library - it may not be with us much longer.

Ralph

[Penelope]

I have been a member of public libraries since a was four years old and used to go with my Mum to change our books every Saturday morning.

I don't go often now because of working among so many books. I borrow any I want to read from work. Although I did buy a new copy of 'A Thousand Splended Suns'. Friend Andrea also keeps me supplied with books so that we can discuss having read the same novel.

I can remember Garison Keiler (sorry about the spelling) reading 'Lake Wobegon Days' on Radio here. I thought he was great.....but the wonderful accent and deep voice certainly added to narative.

Ian Rankin didn't write 'The Wasp Factory' it was another Ian, sorry. Ian Rankin features in the '44 Scotland Road' novels of Alexander McCall Smith. These books are about a block of flats in Edinburgh and the lives of the residents......gently amusing and easy to read. And I thought it was great that one best selling author made another best selling author a character in one of his books.

I'm sorry Ralph in Laos, I haven't been to the races yet.....it's next Wednesday - 7th May. Then we are going to Ypres for a long weekend the weekend following = I am sorry I mislead you....I guess you must have been mislead by my anticipatory comments.

I've got my big racing day hat though!!!! I'll tell you if I win - although when we do win, we usually share it and there is usually just enough to pay for the day and buy an Indian Take-Away meal for our supper.

[Ophelia]

Ralph,

Cinemas in France haven't disappeared, but there aren't any small ones left as far as I know. In a town like Tours some closed over the years, and they opened complexes with six large rooms somewhere else.

My criteria has always been: dubbed into French or not? I won't go and see an Indian or a Chinese film in French, and that's it.

When I was a student in Paris in the 1980's there were dozens of small cinemas where you could go and see non-commercial films.

I don't know about the general trend of cinemas in France, cinema owners have ben complaining ever since I can remember but I don't think the situation is bad, but there aren't any independent movie theatres, they're all national companies which show the same films at the same time in the same rooms.

By law French TV channels can't show movies on Saturday nights and also cinemas must show a minimum of 40 % French films, which means only 60 % American movies-- it's always a battle in international trade discussions, the Americans say that movies are just a commodity like cars and corn and demand free trade, and the French answer that no , (French) films are art and must be protected from (unfair) competition.

In Tours we are very lucky, we have a non-profit cinema with now six beautiful modern rooms (even air-conditioned) that was created when I was a child by a group of people with a vision
so no dubbed movies.

I remember dragging my Mom there when I was a teenager and she thought it was a strange place and there were all these subtitles, but after a year she was a fan.
My dad took longer but eventually stopped grumbling about subtitles and came, though less often.

Then there are commercial complexes, there is one a few minutes away from where I live. My Mum likes to go to see Sunday morning films when she vists me so I take her.
It's run American style, and horror of horrors, they sell you POPCORN!!!

Some clever businessman must have done a bit of research and found out that French movie goers only purchased their cinema ticket when they went to the cinema, and wasn't this a waste of facilities? So our young people have been introduced to the delight of eating-while -you-wait, eating while you watch your movie... And after the movie, well, the local McDonalds' is just fifty metres away.

So, in Tours, one way of finding out about people you've just met is to ask them which cinema they go to (!).

[Penelope]

Our little town cinema closed about a month ago. It was not really because it wasn't viable though. It was a family concern and had been for many years. There was no one left in the family who wanted to take over.

It is pity, although I never went very often - the last one I saw was 'Moulin Rouge' I think.

There is a multiplex in our larger nearby town.....but like Ophelia, I don't like all the popcorn eating during the show.

So when we have a night out we go to the theatre in Manchester.

[President Camacho]

Alright I guess the duty to defend popcorn rests on my shoulders.

Popcorn is awesome!

Just to let everyone know, Ophelia and I are going to start reading Cannibals and Kings shortly. The book is about anthropology and looks to be a pretty fun read. It's nearly 300 pages and some of the chapters are named murders in eden, origin of war, forbidden flesh, and one looks like it deals with the Oedipus complex.

It looks to be a pretty lively non-fiction book. Please let Ophelia or me know if you want to join us!

[Penelope]

OK - If I can get a copy I'd like to join in. I think I will eat popcorn whilst reading it!!!!!

[ralphinlaos]

I agree with you, Ophelia; dubbed movies are usually just awful. I would much rather see a movie with subtitles. All the American movies which come to Thailand are dubbed into Thai - and I think they use the same three or four people to do the dubbing - they all sound the same.

I watch French movies on TV5 from France - they show a lot with English subtitles.

But popcorn? Popcorn is a necessity; I eat popcorn when I watch movies on TV!

There are still a few movie theaters in small towns throughout America - mom and pop operations - but they generally are not thriving. And some of the larger cities have revival houses which play the good, old classics. There's one in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Harvard) which has been running Citizen Kane and Casablanca for years.

Maybe if they made more movies which appealed to adults, they would get some of their audience back (but then, they'd lose the 12 to 20 age group who do go to the movies, so I don't see a return to good, adult fare anytime soon).

Penelope, how much does it cost to go to the theater in Manchester? Theater in America is generally confined to the larger cities and it's very expensive. There are amateur (community) groups throughout the country, but most are just so bad . . .

Just wondering, Ophelia, what is the reasoning behind the law of no movies on French TV on Saturday nights?

I know that in the era of Jean Paul Belmondo, Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Deneuve, Simone Signoret, Yves Montand, Jeanne Moreau (of the lovely voice), the French film industry was thriving. Is it still? I don't hear that much about it anymore.

Have you seen the Edith Piaf film for which the young French actress won the Academy Award last year? I haven't seen a copy of it available yet, but I think it's the kind of movie I would enjoy (I was always a big fan of Piaf).

Ralph