Denis Johnson - "The largesse of the sea maiden"

The semi-autobiographical stuff is not great. It's not bad. I'm just not that interested. But there are beautiful parts in the early stages of the book.




This morning I was assailed by such sadness at the velocity of life - the distance I have travelled from my own youth, the persistence of the old regrets, the new regrets, the ability of failure to refresh itself in novel forms - that I almost crashed the car.



She said how much she'd been hurt, and how badly she wanted to forgive me, but she didn't know whether she could or not - she hoped she could - and I assured her, from the abyss of a broken heart, that I hoped so too, that I hated my infidelities and my lies about the money, and the way I'd kept my boredom secret, and my secrets in general, and Ginny and I talked, after forty years of silence, about the many other ways I'd stolen her right to truth.

1917

Breath taking film by Sam Mendes about two boys in WW I who need to find a regiment and stop the attack as to avoid a trap set by the Germans. Mostly continuous shot, amazing camera work. The scene where he runs through a night city only lit by flares repeatedly send up is amazing.

Simply beautiful.

Amy Hempel - "Sing to it"

Same style as previous books; short stories.

Again, really well written. But also; things become familiar now. Too familiar. "They know us as..." about the dogs in the rescue center. Have read too often about this now.

Scarface

Finally saw it. Good stuff.

Unbelievable

Heart wrenching story of a girl being raped who is not believed by the police. Only through sheer luck is her case - and that of other girls - finally resolved. True story but reenacted.