trying to grok

"Gates of the Alamo," an excellent historical novel, told as much from the Mexican as from the Texan side. "Troublesome Young Men," about the Brits (some of whom were acually women) who fought against appeasement during the late 1930s. "The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy," which puts some texture into the concept of globalization. "747" by the man who led the engineering development of this airplane.

Harry Po ... um. Letsee. Have you read Jane Austen? If so, _Persuasion_ starring Ciaran Hinds and Amanda Root is a far lesser known than Emma Thompson's _Sense and Sensibility_ but almost as good, including Thompson's sister as Mary Musgrove. And if not, well, read her. :)

Otherwise, I need a little more background ... do you like history? Biography? Fiction? Sports? All of the above? Movies only on DVD or out in theaters?

Ha, Anwyn, any goodies will do. We don't normally shell out theater money, but I can always see it when it comes to video. And I'm up for any genre; there's always something out there worth learning about.

Anything by David McCullough, particularly his _John Adams_ or _Path Between the Seas_ (about the building of the Panama Canal), William Manchester's Churchill biography, _The Last Lion_, two huge volumes (his post-stroke health and eventual death prevented his completing the third, most unfortunately, so it is really Churchill's life before WWII), _Once_ (indy movie recently in theaters), _Miss Potter_, out on DVD, _Come Early Morning_, should be out on DVD, _No Reservations_, romantic light drama either in theaters now or only recently, _Team of Rivals_, a Lincoln bio/history of his administration members.

Seems like I should have more movies than that, but I have a bunch stacked up on Tivo that I have yet to watch. If you like to get TV shows on DVD, get _Firefly_ and _Veronica Mars_ if you haven't seen them--_Firefly_ only has 15 hours or so, so it's a quick watch, and VM has only three seasons.

Laura Lippman's What the Dead Know. Jennifer Niesslein's Practically Perfect: My life through self-help and back.

I just saw "The Sea Inside" and loved it.

Anwyn, we're watching Firefly right now. My husband is LOVING it. He can't get the discs fast enough in the mail.

Sweet!

Firefly is the shiznit! Remember to get "Serenity" afterwards, the movie that ties it all up.
I can recommend a good author, Orson Scott Card, but to list the books of his that I like would take its own blog post.
Oh! And take a look at "The Dangerous Book for Boys" chapter by chapter... it's great!

PS, are YOU liking Firefly as well?

Anwyn -- HA, yes, of course. I loved the one where Jayne was a folk hero. It's just so nice to see my husband get excited about something. Me, I'm full of passion for every little thing, but he's not like that.

The Black Swan

Maybe for the Husb...

We need to go to the crap town where *I'm* a hero. :)

What? No Brad Thor on your reading list?

Sarah -

For you and your husband, try Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals: The political genius of Abraham Lincoln". She has a Pulitzer prize. Her book describes how Lincoln put everyone of his significant rivals on his cabinet. See it here

I just finished "Eat Pray Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I don't really know how to describe it other than to say I just loved it. I can send it to you if you'd like :)