On my quest to read through this list of “100 Great Novels” I knew I’d find at least a few I didn’t much care for. I finally found one at # 8, The French Lieutenant’s Woman by John Fowles. It’s not a terrible novel and is obviously well thought of, but it isn’t my cup of tea.

As a reader, I like to immerse myself in the book I’m reading. I like to think that what I’m reading can exist in another world, that I see the characters as real beings. Even the most outlandish sci-fi can come to life in my mind and be real when I turn the pages. In Woman however, we are told early on by the writer (in first person) that it is a work of fiction and he is but telling a tale. Fowles even goes so far as to change his story here and there, where he will write a chapter or two, and then in Clue-like fashion say, “It may have happened like that, or it may have happened like this.” In this way, it is hard to truly care for characters that you can’t even envision as real. Furthermore, he treats this novel almost as a conversation he is having with the reader, or a point of debate (obviously a one sided debate as you cannot discuss with him, just hear his point of view).

The plot follows Charles, a mid-19th century entitled rich man in Victorian England society. He is wealthy to a point, but is in line to inherit much more when his heir-less rich uncle will die. Charles is engaged to Ernestina, daughter of a “new money” family who’s merchant father is looking to raise her to a higher society. They are wintering in the small town of Lyme, where Charles comes across the “French Lieutenant’s Woman,” Sarah. Sarah is a depressed for having been spurned by a marooned French soldier who she says she deeply loved. Charles is immediately moved and over the course of the novel, grows to have feelings for Sarah. After a book full of hand wringing and deep introspection, during which his uncle marries (thus leaving Charles out of his inheritance), and some minor revelations about Sarah, Charles finally decides to leave his betrothed. By this time Sarah has left too. When he finally finds her a couple years later, she seems to only wish to enjoy her misery.

This book is at times esoteric, with Fowles becoming very philosophical. He will spend whole sections of chapters discussing the meaning of thoughts and ideas, some that seem to only superficially pertain to the story at hand. He is obviously well read and a deep thinker, and while I do like a book that makes me think, sometimes I just want to be engaged in a good plot.

The One I Love is a cute little romantic movie with a science-fiction twist. Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) are a married couple trying to work through his recent infidelity. Their therapist sends them to a picturesque weekend getaway to try to renew their love. Upon arriving, they discover something fantastical about their retreat: in the adjoining guest house, they are able to see a more perfect version of their spouse. When Ethan walks in, he finds another Sophie, one who is attentive and thoughtful and dresses herself up. When Sophie enters, the new Ethan inside is spontaneous, caring, and willing to discuss his emotions rather than walling himself off. Both are obviously weirded out at first, but Sophie is quickly attracted to the new Ethan and implores her husband to enjoy this new change, to help reconnect them to each other. Ethan is analytical and since he can’t explain what is going on, he refuses to spend much time in the guest house, while Sophie spends more and more time there.

This is a pretty heart warming tale, and takes a close look at how easy it is for a couples’ relationship to become stale and monotonous when you aren’t working at it. At one point, Ethan is upset and asks Sophie if she thinks the new Ethan is a better version of him, and Sophie responds with something like “He’s not a better version of you, he is you, or the you you used to be.” The ending of the film, and identity of the “guests,” isn’t quite what I was hoping for, but it is still a poignant movie.

In Your Eyes is another odd little romance. This one is written by Joss Whedon, of former Buffy and more recent Avengers fame. It is obviously a bit of a departure for him, but a well done one. This one never hit theaters, it was distributed online last year.

Dylan (Michael Stahl-David) and Rebecca (Zoe Kazan) share a telepathic link. They’ve had it their whole lives, but never consciously knew about it until one day they can start to hear each other’s voices in their heads. Dylan is an ex-con, from running with the wrong crowd, and Rebecca is married to a caring, but sometimes cold and detached husband. The film follows them as they get to know each other. Eventually they begin to fall for each other. They can’t hear thoughts, only spoken word, so some parts are comical as others around them think they are each talking to themselves. It takes a serious turn though when Rebecca’s husband has her institutionalized, and Dylan breaks his parole by leaving the state and trying to rescue her.

Kazan is cute as a button as she has been in the last few films I’ve seen, but that doesn’t save a fairly lackluster movie. It has a neat paranormal concept, but in the end feels like a gushy romance novel turned into film.

Rudyard Kipling’s Kim was published in 1901, and is titled for the main character. Kim is a young man in India, about 13 or so. His parents were Irish, but both died when he was very young, so he has raised himself on the streets and is so ingrained in the local customs that he is able to blend in seamlessly.

The book opens with him helping a Tibetan lama, or holy man. Kim begs for food for him and immediately is attracted to his cause. The lama is on a holy quest to find a sacred river with healing properties. Kim decides to join along, and is promptly given the title of chela, or disciple. On their way out of town, they are aided by Kim’s friend Mahbub Ali, a successful horse-breeder and trader. When Mahbub’s camp is raided by unknown spies, Mahbub sends Kim off with a note, a coded message, to deliver a couple towns over. Kim does so, and eavesdrops afterwards to realize the note was a warning of an impending troop deployment in the ongoing conflict between British and Russian forces, who have been opposed for decades over the land in Afghanistan and India.

Shortly after leaving the village, the duo comes upon a British regiment. Once Kim’s ancestry becomes known, they take him under their wing to raise him as a Sahib (Arabic for holder or master, but in this book really means any Euro- or Russian- caucasian). The lama is amazed Kim is actually British, but now that he knows he wants him to be educated as such, agreeing to pay the fee for a good school for Sahib children. Kim is reluctant at first, not wanting to be taught English math and writing, skills he sees as useless, but he is approached by Mahbub again, and initiated into “The Great Game.” Because Kim is fluent in the local customs across India, but has a British background, he is going to be taught how to be a spy for the British government, which Mahbub has been all along.

For the next 3 years, Kim is educated in English skills in school, but spends his holidays learning from Lurgan Sahib, a master spy. Here he trains his memory, and how to disguise his look and speech to blend in no matter what region he is in, and from fellow spy Hurree Babu, about medicines. Finally he sets off from school and rejoins the lama on his quest, who is unaware of Kim’s new career. Several rapid adventures happen in succession, culminating when the pair inadvertently come across a couple Russian spies for the other side, who Babu has been guiding while waiting for the right moment to steal their papers. A conflict sets off, which leaves the lama sick in spirit (he gave in to anger, putting him “off his path,”), and the Russians’ papers in Kim’s hands. He slowly treks the ailing lama south, growing physically weaker himself with fatigue and illness, until they finally collapse.

When he comes to a few days later, he finds Babu has caught up to him. Babu looks through the papers and finds they are very important, detailing Russian spies and movements, and future plans. He congratulates Kim on his work and agrees to meet him when he returns to town. Kim also finds the lama is restored, he has found his spiritual awakening, his “river” that he has been seeking this whole time, and promises to now impart his wisdom to Kim. The novel ends not knowing what Kim will do, if he will go to town to immerse himself as a full time spy, if he will follow the lama on a spiritual quest, or if he will continue to try to do both.

This was a fascinating book to read. It is extremely detailed, as the reader I was fully immersed in the Indian customs, lifestyles, and view of life. Kipling is so matter-of-fact about things that are so foreign to me as an American, that you really feel at ease in the culture. The caste system is on full display, showing Kim’s reactions to different people solely based on where they are from. The entire way of life is different, from how certain groups are treated, to how beggars are tolerated, to their speech, which is full of metaphors and colorful descriptions. It is a very rich and fulfilling read. While Kipling’s The Jungle Book will forever be what he is most known for, Kim is an engrossing and mesmerizing tale.

Should have just listened to the reviews and avoided this one. Tusk is the newest from Kevin Smith, and finds him making a departure from his usual teen-focused poop jokes. It is a horror film, about a juvenile radio jock going to Canada to make a podcast about a person there. He comes across an old man with stories to tell, but ends up becoming said man’s experiment. The old man starts slowly turning the radio dj into a walrus, with skin grafts and whatnot, while he is being sought by friends back home.

A terrible movie, with terrible dialogue and a thin, terrible script. The acting is just as rough. The only highlight is in the last third when inexplicably, Johnny Depp shows up. How this movie got made is beyond me. Don’t waste your time.

Quite simply one of the best films I have seen in some time. Calvary stars Brendan Gleeson as Father James, a Catholic priest in a small Irish town. The film starts with James in confessional, and the confessor admitting he had been molested and raped by a priest as a youth, for 5 years starting when he was 7. He says that priest is long dead and cannot face justice, but instead he will kill Father James in one week, saying the death of James, a good priest, would send a stronger message than killing a bad one. It is a small Catholic-heavy town, and so James knows everyone and thus knows who is speaking, though we as a viewer do not know his identity.

The next week finds James dealing with his parishioners. He is a good man and a good priest, genuinely caring for his people, though many of them show little respect to him in return. He listens to the unrepentant adulterer, the egotistical millionaire, the convicted murderer, the shameless brother priest, among others, most times acting as simply an open ear while trying not to judge their ways. He also must deal with his daughter who has just attempted suicide (she from his previous marriage before the death of his wife, before he joined the church). The film raises many of the questions our church today is dealing with, and James responds to each with a caring heart and forgiving attitude. At the same time, the viewer sees the days ticking off, knowing his death is approaching, and also knowing one of these people he is seeing every day is the person who will kill him, yet he treats them all equally.

The movie is at times heart-warming and heart-breaking, funny and then tragic. I laughed out loud, and cried a bit too, and the ending is sharp and poignant. The cast is full of recognizable actors, and everyone is on top of their game. A truly tremendous film.

The Beautiful and Damned includes what may be the most terrible couple I’ve ever read about. Taking place in the mid 1910’s, it shows the very worst of wealthy America at the early 20th century.

Anthony Patch is a ne’er do well. Grandson of a multi-millionaire, he loafs through life waiting to collect on his inheritance, openly dreaming for the day his grandfather dies. He is well educated but has absolutely no ambition to ever work, thinking it beneath him. He falls in love (or at least in lust) for Gloria Gilbert, another socialite who is described as the most beautiful woman any have ever seen. She too has no ambition for anything in life, getting everything she ever wants from her beauty, and making sure she is always the center of attention wherever she goes.

The whole book is their miserable life together. In their early married days they have money to burn, but as the novel progresses they continue to churn through Anthony’s savings until, after just a few years together, money starts to get tight. They party and spend every weekend, not just on themselves, but on their friends and holders-on as well, always picking up the tab as the big shots they see themselves as. Anthony develops a severe drinking problem, while Gloria frets for the day when she turns 30 and loses her beauty, the only thing she really cares about (even more than her husband). When World War I comes and Anthony is shipped off to training, they hardly miss each other and spend their time apart thinking about the things that really matter (money to him, privilege and looks to her).

Finally the grandfather does indeed die, but he ends up leaving his entire fortune to servants, friends, and charity, and not a dime to Anthony. Anthony immediately sues, and while the case spends a few years in the courts, he and Gloria continue to spend, drink, and party. Finally at the end they have nothing. They have lost their high-rise apartment, have no savings, and no friends. Even then Anthony refuses to get a job and spends his days and nights drinking himself into a stupor. When the courts finally award him his fortune, Anthony has lost his mind to the point he isn’t even aware of his millions and Gloria has grown so far apart from him that she only cares to buy new clothes rather than take care of him.

In the book I read previous to this, Rabbit, Run, the author makes us like the protagonist before showing his true, selfish nature. In The Beautiful and Damned, we know from the beginning how much of a waste Anthony Patch is, so we can despise him from page one. F Scott Fitzgerald paints a pretty bleak picture of the lifestyle of the wealthy in this time period. Even the characters that do work show extreme contempt for the common man and only care about their own status. Well before the end, I was praying that Patch would not get his money and would end up dead or abandoned by all. He got the abandonment, but the ending was even more fulfilling that I could have hoped. He gets the money, but due to his insanity can not enjoy it.

I was pleasantly surprised by the film Life of Crime. Initially one I wanted to see during my “year of movies” last year, I missed it and so had to settle for the rental. It’s a decent film about a bungled crime that doesn’t go the way it was planned.

Ordell (Mos Def) and Louis (John Hawkes) are a couple of two bit criminals, who hatch a plot to kidnap socialite Mickey Dawson (Jennifer Aniston) for ransom from her husband Frank (Tim Robbins). Unfortunately for them, Frank was in the midst of serving Mickey divorce papers, and decides he doesn’t want her back anyway, and is cozy with his new girlfriend Melanie (Isla Fisher). Ordell and Louis are stuck holding Mickey in a Nazi-memorabilia collector’s house, trying to keep him from peeping in on Mickey, while still hoping to collect some kind of money.

It’s a pretty clever film and downright funny at times. Plot twists abound, right up to the very end of the film. The acting is solid with quite a list of A-listers as mentioned, and also includes Mark Boone Junior of Sons of Anarchy fame and SNL’s Will Forte. My only knock is Aniston’s role didn’t allow her to show her spunky side, making her character pretty one dimensional and rote, but the others were all great. The film was based on a book by Elmore Leonard. Well worth a rental or a dvr.

Here’s a good, low budget, and quietly not-seen film that came out last year. Cold in July was in and out of the theaters in a hurry, amassing just under half a million total domestically. But it is a good film with a strong cast, and the plot features a couple decent twists that keep you on your toes.

It stars Michael C Hall, of Dexter fame, as Richard, a quiet unassuming father in a small town. At the beginning of the film, he kills an intruder in his home, and is eaten up by the guilt of it. When the dead man’s father, convict Russel (Sam Shepard) shows up threatening the family, Richard runs to the cops for help. Things start to go astray though when Richard realizes the man he killed was not Russel’s son, despite what the cops are saying. Investigator Jim Bob (played by Don Johnson) arrives in town and the trio start trying to find where the clues take them.

Most of the action in the film is short and intense, and a lot of the thrills come from building suspense throughout the movie. My only knock against it is it reveals too much too soon, so by the second half to final third, you all ready know what is going on and pretty much how it is going to go down. Getting to that point though is a whole lot of fun.

Rabbit, Run was published in 1960, the second novel and first of the popular “Rabbit” books by author John Updike. Cleverly written, Updike makes you feel one thing in the beginning, but has reversed it on you by the end.

Harry “Rabbit’ Angstrom is a 26 year old former high school star athlete, and is still living in the past. He dreams of all his high school triumphs, now nearly 10 years ago. He is married to Janice, a woman he doesn’t love; she’s an alcoholic and pregnant with his second child, and it was the first pregnancy that forced Harry into marriage in the first place. He is at a dead-end job that pays little, and one day wakes up from his stupor and decides to leave.

As a reader we root for Rabbit from the beginning. He is a likable guy, popular in high school and has a natural charm. I was a little torn at his decision to up and leave his wife suddenly, but she is made out to be such a lech that you don’t feel too sorry for her. Rabbit settles down with another girl, Ruth, one town over. He is good to her, in fact the first guy to be really good to her maybe ever in her life. She is guarded towards him but does start to open up. Once a week Rabbit plays golf with Jack Eccles, a young Episcopal priest. Ostensibly Eccles is trying to get Rabbit and his wife back together, but really he is just hanging out with the charming Rabbit as an escape from his own boring life. Rabbit’s little “vacation” is turned upside down 2 months later, when Janice finally has their baby and Rabbit comes back home, leaving Ruth suddenly on a very sour note.

By now in the book we are starting to see more and more that Rabbit is not quite the great guy we all thought and hoped he was. He has shown the reader a lot of his personal thoughts and feelings. We’ve seen him mentally undress women that he is around, including his friend Eccles’ wife. Egotistical, he believes others are always thinking about him. When he tries to get Janice to sleep with him, and she refuses due to just having gave birth, he flips out and leaves again. This time Janice, who has been clean and trying to be a good wife, slips. She goes on a binge, which ultimately ends with the tragic accidental drowning of their new baby.

Rabbit’s true nature is at last revealed. He returns for the funeral but can’t approach anyone, avoiding all confrontations and only really caring about what he will do next. He even shrugs when asked what will become of his son. He returns to Ruth, who has hidden her own pregnancy until now. Ruth is done with him, until he promises he is finally leaving his wife for good. He goes outside, but instead of going to get them lunch as he said, he takes off running again.

A very good read, and it does have 3 sequels which I’ll try to fit in to see how Rabbit’s life turns out, if he ever grows up and does anything for good. At the end, I felt sick at myself for ever having liked such a scum, but that is all due to Updike’s brilliant style. As Rabbit continued to do worse and worse things, Updike made it seem like there was some redeeming quality just coming up that would make everything ok, until you realize right at the very end no such enlightenment was coming.