Reviews – Book and Movie

I have been very busy this week and have not had time to blog. Sorry.
I have reviews today. I will go in chronological order.

Last Saturday, The Girl and I went to see “Appaloosa”. It is a western starring Ed Harris (who The Girl declared ‘sexy”), Viggo Mortenson and Jeremy Irons, oh and Renee Zellewillger. It is a good western. There was more humor in it then I had expected and the plot moved along at a good pace. However, there did seem to be bits missing. The timeline was not always clear. There is a point when you are not sure if a week; six months, a year or 5 years have past. I am sure that it is because this is based on a book and they had to hit the high points. There was no real hand knits in it, which always makes me wonder since there had to be people knitting stuff during this time period. There was a shawl that one of the characters had, which might have been knit, but I could not tell. Regardless, the acting is really good. Both The Girl and I did not like Renee Zellewillger’s character, but it did lead to a good discussion after the movie about what one does for someone they love. I am giving the movie 3 out of 4 knitting needles.

RIP III Review
I just finished “World War Z”. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. It is just incredible. On the back, it says it is in like the work of Studs Terkel and I have to admit I was skeptical of such a claim because I love Terkel. However, it is very much in the vein of Terkel’s “Working”.
Of course, this book is an oral account of the Zombie Invasion, so it is fictional, but it seems real, which is a huge accomplishment. It is broken down in sections by time. There is one section about how people survived and rebuilt their communities. There is a line in which a guy states how he is wearing a sweater he knit from yarn from his sheep. I loved that. I have always thought that when someone asks a person why they are knitting a sock that she should say something about having socks after the fall of society, but now, I think they should say something about zombie survival. I have to say everyone should read “World War Z”. Go out and buy it or get it out of the library. I do not think you will be disappointed.
If you do not think you are up to zombies, go out and read some of Studs Terkel’s books. I would recommend either:
“Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do” - 1974.
“Will the Circle Be Unbroken: Reflections on Death, Rebirth and Hunger for a Faith” - 2001
Both of these are excellent books. When I read “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”, I thought that it should be required reading in high school. It deals with death and dying in a wonderful way. I think people today do not understand death very well.