Watching and Reading

Paul's friend, Bryan, is a serious baseball player so last night we watched The Perfect Game, based on the true story of the 1957 Little League World Series which was won by an underdog team from Monterrey, Mexico.  We all really enjoyed it, not only for the baseball, but for the history.  As mean-spirited as we can be now days to those who are different from us, this film is a good reminder that things have improved.   If you haven't seen it already, you can watch it via Amazon Prime's Instant Video or via Netflix's DVDs.  

Paul picked The Adventures of Tom Sawyer as one of his summer reading books and has just about finished it.   I had forgotten what a great writer Mark Twain is and have really enjoyed rediscovering him.  Tom was written in 1876 about a boy living in the 1840's, and both the writing style and actual language are quite different from books that Paul has read before.   For example, the famous scene where Tom convinces his friends that whitewashing the fence is jolly good fun makes little sense to a reader unless they know what "whitewashing" is.   It's been a good learning experience and I think Paul has enjoyed reading of Tom's time with Huck and Joe Harper on the island, with crush on Becky, their adventure in the cave, and Tom and Huck's scary encounters with Injun Joe.

Today's Swissmiss has a link to some fun and interesting "mini documentaries" about designers, photographers and other creative people made by Like Knows Like.  I've already watched two and can't wait to see the rest.

I'm still annoyed by the ending of The Blue Bistro by Elin Hildenbrand.  I found Thatcher to be a totally unsympathetic character and was amazed with the so-called happy ending of his relationship with Adrienne.  I had bought the paperback edition which also included Hildenbrand's The Love Season, but was so disappointed with the ending of The Blue Bistro that I only started it because I was desperate for something to read in the tub one night.  It turned out to be surprisingly good.  Hildenbrand's stories are generally set in wonderful Nantucket and both of these centered around chefs who own their own restaurants, so diving into them put me into the world of both beach and food, perfect for light summer reading.