Two Recommendations

I have been thinking philosophically about my life of late and have been enjoying it more. It started when I read the novel Water for Elephants written by Sara Gruen. If it is not already a bestseller it soon will be.

If you are a mystery lover that needs high-caliber excitement with surprise endings, you won’t care for this book. If you need deep intellectual obtuse writing, you won’t like this book. If you like books that are extremely well written, have an entertaining story that is hard to put down, and the author uses wonderful technique, then this may be the book for you. Without ruining anything about the story I can tell you it is about an old man in a nursing home that keeps remembering back to his youth, during the depression, when he ran away with the circus. That may sound boring, but I promise you there is more life in this book than anything I have read in a long time.

Just after finishing the book Water for Elephants Dulcinea and I went to the Tivoli Theater Saturday night to watch the film, The Namesake. We almost went down to the plaza to see one of the “blockbusters” playing at the local theater chain. But as I couldn’t remember much about the first Spiderman and never saw the second Spiderman I didn’t feel like doing Spidy III. And I’m so glad we went back to Westport.

The Namesake is a simple, beautifully told story about a family. A love story if you will, between husband and wife, parents and children. A love story between cultures and between countries. I recommend this film.

I think perhaps I was a little too busy last semester and became a little lost. I lost sight of what I wanted out of life, misplaced some of my priorities and made myself a bit too alone. After a few weeks off, relaxing, being around friends and family, reading the book and seeing the film I recommend above I now feel better balanced.

I find it strange and wonderful that just when I needed balance it came to me. I don’t know why it happened, perhaps because I was seeking without acknowledging that I had a need. But it did come, in the least expected forms, and I won’t complain about that.