The LJ/School Library Journal team of readers went to the movies (and to the theater, the zoo, and on a quick trip to the land of dragons) as antidote to real life this week. Come join us as we laugh in the face of fear and refuse to let the terrorists win.
Mahnaz Dar, Associate Editor, SLJ Reviews
This weekend, LJ colleague Liz French and I saw actress Illeana Douglas (Goodfellas, Cape Fear, Ghost World) speak about her memoir, I Blame Dennis Hopper: And Other Stories from a Life Lived In and Out of the Movies, in conversation with director Kent Jones. The meaning of her seemingly cryptic title? After seeing Easy Rider, Douglas’s father, inspired by Dennis Hopper, embarked upon a bohemian lifestyle, dragging his wife and kids along with him in what resulted in a less-than-idyllic childhood—and plenty of good stories—for Douglas. (Reusing tin foil! Playing the recorder instead of the clarinet! Food stamps, food stamps, food stamps!)
The highlight of the evening was a brief reading by actor Kevin Corrigan (who was also featured in the movie Goodfellas, as Henry Hill’s wheelchair-bound brother) from a chapter in the memoir about—who else?—Robert De Niro. The excerpt illustrates so much of what makes the title compelling: that sense that Douglas is “one of us,” so to speak. While Douglas is a celebrity, she presents herself in terms readers will easily relate to: as a die-hard movie fan idolizing the likes of Lee Marvin and Liza Minnelli and viewing the likes of De Niro with the same mix of awe that any of us might experience.
I had another routine called “Raging Bullwinkle.” Basically, cartoon characters Rocky and Bullwinkle acting out a scene from Raging Bull as Jake and Joe LaMotta. So with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci both staring me down, I did my Rocky the Flying Squirrel. “You’re nuts! You let this girl ruin my life!”
Then Bullwinkle, “Rocky. Did you fuck my wife?”
Then Squirrel, “How could you ask me that? I’m your brother.”
People ask me if making Cape Fear was scary. No. Doing “Raging Bullwinkle” for Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci was much scarier! But I got my laugh. I made Robert De Niro laugh.
Kate DiGirolomo, SELF-e Community Coordinator
I’ve got Hamilton on the brain and so should you! If you have been lucky enough to score a ticket to what is essentially the best musical to ever grace the Great White Way (in my humble opinion), then my sincerest congratulations, and if you have not? Well…I can only apologize because you’d honestly have an easier time finding the Holy Grail. However, I can offer up the extensive biography on which Lin-Manuel Miranda cleverly crafted his show: Alexander Hamilton (Penguin) by Ron Chernow. I admit that before I lost all sense of time listening to the cast recording on an endless loop (listen to it, trust me), I didn’t know much about this founding father beyond his famous death and place on the ten-dollar bill. Shock and awe, there’s so much more to learn, from his illegitimate beginnings in the Caribbean to the sheer volume of words spoken and written by him through his political career to the sex scandal that pretty much put an end to it all. And while I am eager to glean as much information as I can about the man, I am just as excited to read about his wife, Eliza, who is shamefully often forgotten despite living to nearly 100 years and having such a profound impact on propagating Hamilton’s legacy. It will certainly take some time to come out the other side of this 800-plus-page history, but I’m hoping it will serve as a nice companion with the musical that has quite honestly taken over the lives of myself and my friends.
Kristen Droesch, Editorial Assistant, LJ
In the face of all these troubling events of late, I’ve turned to a comforting standby: fantasy. My favorite of the week is Naomi Novik’s Uprooted (Del Rey: Ballantine). Aptly called “bewitching” by Gregory Macguire, Uprooted is a gorgeously told and paced story of Agnieszka, a young woman who is chosen to be the servant/companion for the Dragon, the immortal wizard who guards her valley, for the next ten years. Everyone in her village is sure the Dragon will select the beautiful, accomplished Kasia, but it is a completely unprepared Agnieszka who must leave her family and journey into a magical world she has never known.
Uprooted has a mature feel to it that many fairy-tale fantasies lack. Agnieszka and the caustic Dragon make a wonderful pair, battling other wizards, court machinations, and the evil, sentient Wood that looms over them all. I both can’t wait to get to the end and yet dread finishing, as I have no desire to leave such a perfectly executed world.
Liz French, Senior Editor, LJ Reviews
As my workmate Mahnaz mentions above, she and I attended a very entertaining Q&A with actress/director/producer Illeana Douglas on Sunday, and we both were totally sold on her new memoir, I Blame Dennis Hopper (Flatiron: Macmillan) after listening to Douglas and Hitchcock/Truffaut director Kent Jones banter. The Q&A, held at New York’s jewel of a movie house, Film Forum, was laced with film clips, including a scene from the 1935 fantasy movie She, starring Douglas’s step-grandmother, Helen Gahagen Douglas (second wife of Melvyn Douglas, Illeana’s beloved grandfather). I scribbled a quick note to self to find a copy of She and also to take a look at the 1995 Dennis Hopper/Illeana/Christopher Walken/John Turturro/Griffin Dunne vehicle, Search and Destroy, for a possible film club entry. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy the talk, but once I got Douglas’s main point—movies made me what I am—I was on board. Plus, she has some great stories about Hollywood personalities. And Kevin Corrigan reading from I Blame Dennis Hopper (doing a great Marty Scorsese imitation, btw) was worth the price of admission.
Barbara Genco, Manager, Special Projects, LJ
I just picked up an August middle school title that I had stockpiled. Set in August 1961, Jennifer A. Nielsen’s A Night Divided (Scholastic), which got a starred review in SLJ, is a wonderfully detailed and resonant historical novel about 12-year-old Greta and her family. Greta, her mother, and her brother, Fritz, live in East Germany, the Soviet Sector of divided post–World War II Berlin. Her father and her brother live and work in West Germany (divided into sectors controlled by France, Britain, and the United States). As the Cold War grows even more heated, and the Soviet/East German wall is built almost overnight, Greta and her family become desperate to be together. The danger amps up, the stakes become higher. Very little is certain. Will the family be reunited? Can they effect an escape? Will they survive? It’s gripping stuff. I am still reading, hoping for and expecting the best.
I grew up during the Cold War and remember the terrifying images of this divided city in the pages of Life magazine and on a flickering black-and-white TV screen. Though Nielsen may be known to many as the author of the well-received “Ascendance” fantasy trilogy, I had not previously read her work. I had put this book aside because I had a librarian friend who served in the U.S. Army in Berlin just before the wall was erected. He told vivid stories about slipping into the Russian Sector with his German girlfriend (later wife).
For me, A Night Divided is linked to Steven Spielberg’s compelling and atmospheric movie, Bridge of Spies. There, too, the bleak, cold, realities of the Eastern Sector are pretty intense. If you loved the Printz Honor–winning World War II espionage tale Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, you will probably want to give this a try.
Henrietta Verma, Editor, LJ Reviews
I haven’t read too much lately besides the awful Star Wars book my son is addicted to, interspersed with repeated readings of And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (text) and Henry Cole (illus.). We have the 2015 Little Simon board book edition of the controversial 2005 title. Yesterday, we went to the Central Park Zoo to see penguins Roy, Silo, and Tango, but a zookeeper said they had “moved,” which, given her facial expression, I think is the equivalent of “went to live on a farm.” I’ve also been absorbed by coverage of the political side of mass shootings, I’m very sorry to say. (I recommend the Guardian for an international view of the controversies.)