A really big fan.  Always have been, always will be.   She was the greatest actress of her age, and one of the most beautiful women of all time.

Well, there’s a new book out.

Furious Love, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger.

The title comes from a quote by Richard Burton:  “Our love is so furious that we burn each other out.”

He wasn’t kidding.

I got a Border’s Gift Card from “the boy” for Father’s Day, and the book was in plain sight when I walked in; no need to browse.

It’s a page turner, and can’t putterdowner, and filled with information a LizanDickophile like me has never heard before.  And believe me, I’ve read plenty…and lived through it on TV when I was a kid.

Yeah, some of it was old news, Debbie, Eddie, Liz, Cleopatra, and on and on.

But these two non-fiction writers, a married couple themselves, write like fiction and had access to Richard Burton’s letters to Elizabeth Taylor.  And though the book is not entirely “blessed” by Dame Elizabeth, their access to the letters is an unprecendented event.

The love story alone is compelling, the life style they lived – yachts, jewelry, furs, travel, entourage, etc…well, we little people just don’t live that way.

Reading like a novel, it’s full of details on what they bought, wore, ate, where they lived, cruised, fought, and made UP!

And did they every drink, fight, and make UP?  Oh My Cow, these two personify the very term “celebrity marriage” and their lives, loves, and lifestyle gave full employment to hundreds, if not thousands of paparazzi.  They were condemned by the Pope and one Georgia Congresswoman, Iris Faircloth Blitch (seriously, that’s her last name…I did NOT make it UP!)  wanted the two stars, then traveling outside the country, to be denied re-entry into the U.S. “on the grounds of undesirability.” 

 It isn’t for the kiddies; Elizabeth was a potty mouth, and Richard a total womanizer…we don’t want the younguns’ a growin’ UP too fast now, do we?  It’s an awesome read, and even though Summer’s over(ish), if you’re going to the beach, take it with you.

Just remember to turn over each time you turn a page, who wants an uneven tan?

Blogging, working full time, life, it gets in the way.

There was a time that nothing got in the way fo my reading and I would read many, many books each year. 

But lately, with the bad eyes, the $800 glasses I still can’t see out of, and life…not so much.

I was travelling this week and spent a few days with my brother and his wife in Virginia. 

No I did not travel blog, I just relaxed.  And I read.

I finished Ford County byJohn Grisham.

I’m a big Grisham fan; not all of his stuff has been stellar, and a couple could have been a whole lot better. 

But Ford County is really good.

It’s a collection of short stories.

He referred to them that novels that didn’t become novels. 

The topics are varied, the writing his best in a long time.  He covers topics - very well - that show us how things have changed in the last 20 or so years.

Check it out.

It’s a good read.

It has the UP seal of approval!

I’ve been rather bookish this week, and it’s only right that today, July 11 is the 50th anniversary of the debut of the book, To Kill A Mockingbird. 

Excepting the Bible of course, I can think of no other book that has had a greater impact on my life.

Nelle Harper Lee wrote the book in two years, thought it would die a “merciful quick death” and be forgotten.

Boy was she wrong!

TKAM tells the stories of an Alabama family, their neighbors, friends, enemies, and servants.  It tells a story of racial injustice, ignorance, and bias.

Lauded by many and abhored by others, TKAM has been banned, ballyhooed, and beloved. 

It’s the perfect novel to teach in school.  It has all the literary elements writers use from allusions to foreshadowing and beyond.   It’s a great book to teach kids about literature. 

The story line is what gets people, and what shook UP a nation back in 1960.  Banned in some school districts then, it still remains the 21st most objectionable book according to the American Library Association!  It uses racial slurs (get over it, people talked like that in the time it was set), profanity (see previous note), rape, and the attraction of a white woman to a black man – which then and now, is one of it’s biggest complaints.  There are many who think the book’s treatment of racism does not condemn the small Alabama town enough, and it’s use of the “N” word (48 times) demeans readers. 

Again, it’s set in the 1930s, things were different, they may not have been right, but they were what they were.  Facts are Facts!

The only book that rated higher on the “hate list” in 1968 was Little Black Sambo.

Harper Lee wrote a book so good that she never had to write another one. 

Truman Capote, a childhood friend of Harper Lee, on whom the book’s character Dill is base, one of my favorite writers,  and a literary genius said, “Someone rare has written this very fine first novel: a writer with the liveliest sense of life, and the warmest, most authentic sense of humor. A touching book; and so funny, so likeable.”

He was exactly right, if you haven’t read it, do!

What drugs did they do?

Really, UP is tres anti-drug.  Yet it worries me that Cheech Marin was able to trump one of the biggest names in News Broadcasting and one of the Funniest Comic Ladies around. 

Sadly, none of them got the Final Jeopardy question.

The Question in Question:  “In 1890, he witnessed a mild cyclone in Aberdeen, S. Dakota, and it became fodder for his novel.”

Well, I guess Jeopardy Questions aren’t really questions, but statements begging a question.

The Answer, er, Question:  Who was L. Frank Baum?

The book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Ok, how could Anderson Cooper not know that?  I’m sure thousands of his fans were sorely dissappointed.

As to Aisha and Cheech, no surprise.

But, alas Cheech won.

Hmmm.

Poses yet another question, Did Cheech really do all those drugs?

And what was Anderson smokin’ back at Yale.  Yes, he’s an Eli!  Just like GW, Hillary, and Bill.

And what was Aisha doing at Dartmouth and the San Francisco School of the Arts?

But the real story here isn’t what they did in college nor what they didn’t know.

The real story is what inspires someone to write a story, novel, blog, letter.

A cyclone!

Something that simple, severe, enormous inspired L. Frank Baum to write one of the most beloved books and one of the greatest movies of all time.

So, dear readers, if you wonder, and I’ll not begin to compare myself to Mr. Baum, what it takes to inspire me. 

Well, not much.

It’s the little things that matter.

It was for me.  Germantown Public Library held wonderful treasures when I was a kid.  And I read as many of them as Mrs. Kindig would allow.

But for one Colorado man, the local Library may just remain a nightmare.

Aaron Henson sat handcuffed in the back of a Littleton, Colorado police car desperatly trying to figure out what freakish thing could have gotten him arrested on a snowy Interstate 70.  He was speeding, but really, arrested?

Seems Mr. Henson had committed the crime of not returning a library DVD back in 2004.

Dang!  That is one serious librarian.

He spent eight hours in jail until his Dad came and bailed him out.

When he called his Mother, she didn’t believe him, since “there is no book police”.

Well Mom, you’re wrong…and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that Mother’s Day Card this year.

Littleton’s Library lost $7,800. in library materials in 2009, and apparently they’re pissed about it.

The outstanding warrant was technically for “failure to appear”.   For the non-misdemeanorous of you, that’s  not showing up for a court date.

Aaron wasn’t aware he was a wanted man, didn’t know about the court date, and therefore – didn’t appear.

Oops!

While in police custody, the generally law-abiding gentleman was fingerprinted, photographed, and booked.  His car was towed, impounded, and marked with a driver arrested note.

The library doesn’t buy his story that he moved, never got the notices, and never got the court date information.

Henson claims he left the DVD with a friend and forgot about it.

Henson said, “I understand the city was following its procedure … but when somebody’s not informed of a court date and then they’re getting arrested on the side of the road, getting embarrassed, having fear (and I’m guessing craping himself the entire time.) and all that, it just doesn’t sit well with me.” 

I’m sure that’s an understatement.

The city has refunded the $460 the arrest cost Mr. Henson and promised to wipe the incident off his record.

“In the meantime the court and the police department have been directed not to issue any further summons for failure to return library materials,” stated city spokesperson Kelli Narde.

Probably a good idea.

But remember, keeping a library book is stealing a library book.  Don’t do it.

The local library had 81 instances last year that went as far as sending a summons to return the library book.

The local librarian said “80 of them were resolved without any problem.”

Well, that’s a pretty good percentage, unless you’re Mr. Henson.

I was a small child, a bit of a wuss, and I got beat up a lot.  My escape from the bullies  in the little town in which we lived and the real world was the Germantown Public Library.  It was a Carnegie Library, his bust stood in the lobby like a shrine, and there was a little old lady, Mrs. Kindig, as the librarian.  She was a saint.  She wore a ‘crepe de chine’ dress, ‘old lady comfort’ shoes, and a cardigan sweater.  She was probably the most well read person I ever knew, and she steered me towards books that I should read. 

I would have read every history book in the place, but she moved me around.  She directed me to things I didn’t understand yet, and she gave me a love for books.  

I still have it. 

What about you, are you still reading?  I’m always amazed when I hear someone say, “I haven’t read an entire book since high school or maybe college.”  It doesn’t take me long to figure them out either.  (I heard somewhere once that 74% of high school graduates never read another book, and 47% of college graduates don’t either….boy are they missing out!)  

Reading is a good thing. 

Good on rainy days, snowy, wintry days when you can’t get out.  Or just when you need a friend.  And that’s what books are to me, friends.  I have thousands in the house.  I’m surrounded by books.  I have books I’ve read, some I’ve read again and again, and some I’ve never finished. 

Life is too short to read a bad book. 

Oprah has a book club, so why shouldn’t I?  I have so many favorite writers; just listing them would be a book.  But to name a few – I’ve read everything John Grisham has published.  Even the mediocre stuff.  Most of David Baldacci, and all of John Berendt, a couple of Barbara Kingsolver, (I know, I know, …she’s one of the 100 people trying to ruin the country!), but Prodigal Summer is one of the best books ever written.  Carolly Erickson writes history and you feel like you’re there.  Anita Shreve can make you want to dive into the page and hug the characters.  And Chris Bohajalian, OH MY COW!  The boy can write.  Double Bind is awesome, and Skeletons at the Feast – well, I couldn’t put it down and my sister-in-law, one of the smartest people I know, read it in two days.  

I always get something from any book I read, even if it’s a feeling that I shouldn’t have wasted the money.  I learn at least one new word, I get a new idea, I get a new blog topic, I get a laugh, a cry, or food for thought. 

So, readers, read! 

It’s like milk, it’ll do you good. 

What are you reading?