Movie Mondays

About a Boy

Book, 1998 by Nick Hornby

Will is thirty-six and doesn't really want children. Why does it bother people that he lives so happily alone in a fashionable, Lego-free flat, with massive speakers and a mammoth record collection, hardwood floors, and an expensive cream-colored rug that no kid has ever thrown up on? Then Will meets Angie. He's never been out with anyone who was a mom. And it has to be said that Angie's long blond hair and big blue eyes are not irrelevant to Will's reassessment of his attitude toward children. Then it dawns on Will that maybe Angie goes out with him because of the children. That maybe children democratize beautiful, single women. That single mothers -- bright, attractive, available women - were all over London ... Marcus is twelve and he knows he's weird. It was all his mother's fault, Marcus figured. She was the one who made him listen to Joni Mitchell instead of Nirvana, and read books instead of play on his Gameboy. Then Marcus meets Will. Will belongs to his mother's SPAT group (Single Parents, Alone Together), and Will is cool. Marcus needs someone who knows what kind of sneakers he should wear, and who Kurt Cobain is. And Marcus's mother needs a husband. They could all move in together! Marcus and his mother, Will and his son, Ned. Then Marcus follows Will home to his flat, where there are no toys or diapers, no second bedroom, even -- and certainly no Ned. This was valuable stuff. If Marcus went home and told his mother about this right away, that would be the end of it. But something tells Marcus that he should hang on to this information until he knows what it's worth.

Movie, 2002 directed by Chris & Paul Weitz

Features: Hugh Grant, Nicholas Hoult

Tagline: Growing up has nothing to do with age.

Awards: Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay



Have you read the book or seen the movie? Have you seen other Nick Hornby movie adaptations...High Fidelity or Fever Pitch?

I have seen all 3 of the movie adaptations but haven't read any of his books. I really liked About a Boy. It's worth seeing if you haven't already.

Sunday Survey

There's only one week left to finish The Condition!

5=I love it!
4=I really like it.
3=I like it.
2=It's just okay.
1=I don't like it.

Saturday Spotlight

Today's author is Kitty Kelley.


1. She was born born April 4, 1942 in Spokane, Washington.
2. She received a B.A. in English from the University of Washington.
3. She moved to Washington DC and became a freelance journalist.
4. Her first book, The Glamour Spas, was published in 1975.
5. She continued in investigative journalism and soon became the author of various best-selling unauthorized and controversial celebrity biographies.
6. Her first celebrity biography was Jackie Oh! (1978).


7. She then published The Last Star (1981) about Elizabeth Taylor.
8. She followed that one five years later with His Way: The Unauthorized Biography of Frank Sinatra.
9. In 1991 she published Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography.
10. In 1997 she published The Royals about the British Royal Family.
11. The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty, was published in 2004.


12. Her latest unauthorized biography is Oprah Winfrey: A Biography.



Have you read any of her unauthorized biographies?

Feature Fridays

Today's classic is Middlemarch (1872) by George Eliot.

Dorothea Brooke can find no acceptable outlet for her talents or energy and few who share her ideals. As an upper middle-class woman in Victorian England she can't learn Greek or Latin simply for herself; she certainly can't become an architect or have a career; and thus, Dorothea finds herself "Saint Theresa of nothing." Believing she will be happy and fulfilled as "the lampholder" for his great scholarly work, she marries the self-centered intellectual Casaubon, twenty-seven years her senior. Dorothea is not the only character caught by the expectations of British society in this huge, sprawling book. Middlemarch stands above its large and varied fictional community, picking up and examining characters like a jeweler observing stones. There is Lydgate, a struggling young doctor in love with the beautiful but unsuitable Rosamond Vincy; Rosamond's gambling brother Fred and his love, the plain-speaking Mary Garth; Will Ladislaw, Casaubon's attractive cousin, and the ever-curious Mrs. Cadwallader. The characters mingle and interact, bowing and turning in an intricate dance of social expectations and desires. Through them George Eliot creates a full, textured picture of life in provincial nineteenth-century England.

Did you know? George Eliot is a pen name. The actual writer is Mary Anne Evans.

You can read Middlemarch for free at Read Print.

Have you read Middlemarch or anything else by George Eliot? Have you seen the TV mini-series adaptation (1994)?

May Book Choices!

Here are the book choices for next month...vote for the one you think sounds the best!

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul, he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast. Using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate all of life's ordeals.

On the eve of his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through: the sacrifices Denny has made to succeed professionally; the unexpected loss of Eve, Denny's wife; the three-year battle over their daughter, Zoë, whose maternal grandparents pulled every string to gain custody. In the end, despite what he sees as his own limitations, Enzo comes through heroically to preserve the Swift family, holding in his heart the dream that Denny will become a racing champion with Zoë at his side. Having learned what it takes to be a compassionate and successful person, the wise canine can barely wait until his next lifetime, when he is sure he will return as a man.

A heart-wrenching but deeply funny and ultimately uplifting story of family, love, loyalty, and hope, The Art of Racing in the Rain is a beautifully crafted and captivating look at the wonders and absurdities of human life . . . as only a dog could tell it.

For One More Day by Mitch Albom

Charley Benetto is a broken man, his life destroyed by alcohol and regret. He loses his job. He leaves his family. He hits rock bottom after discovering he won't be invited to his only daughter's wedding. And he decides to take his own life.

Charley takes a midnight ride to his small hometown: his final journey. But as he staggers into his old house, he makes an astonishing discovery. His mother - who died eight years earlier - is there, and welcomes Charley home as if nothing had ever happened.

What follows is the one seemingly ordinary day so many of us yearn for: a chance to make good with a lost parent, to explain the family serets and to seek forgiveness.

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

Will you do my eulogy? With those words, Mitch Albom begins his long-awaited return to non-fiction. His journey to honour the last request of a beloved clergyman ultimately leads him to rekindle his own long-ignored faith. Albom spends years exploring churches and synagogues, the suburbs and the city, the 'us' versus 'them' of religion. Slowly, he gravitates to an inner-city pastor of a crumbling church that houses the homeless, and is stunned at how similar belief can be. As his own beloved cleric slowly lets go, Albom writes his final farewell, having learned that a faithful heart comes in many forms and places.

Linda is hosting the May meeting!