Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Tomorrowland with Sebastian - and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

by Pa Rock
Busy Grandpa

Grandson Sebastian and I went to see the movie Tomorrowland this afternoon.  While the script was tedious, the special effects were amazing.  Sebastian sat enthralled for two solid hours - a major accomplishment for him - or any eight-year-old for that matter.  There was one notable exception to the bad writing, and that was near the end of the film when the Hugh Laurie character, Governor Nix, expounded for several minutes about mankind's disregard of the earth's fragile environment.  If I can find a good copy of the script, I may clip that part and post it in a future blog.

When I first began this journey west, I brought along the newest copies of the two mystery magazines to which I subscribe:  Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine and Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, sister publications that offer a smorgasbord of great short stories every two months.   I managed to read most of the Hitchcock during the early days of the trip, but then I unfortunately lost both when they fell out of my jacket pocket somewhere aboard the ship from hell -  the Celebrity Millennium.  Fortunately, I had purchased a paperback at the Kansas City airport - Larry McMurtry's The Last Kind Words Saloon, a volume which I too quickly consumed.

That left me, an avid reader, without a page to turn - until last night when  I discovered a K-Mart just down the street from my motel.   (Remember K-Mart - once a major retailer until it was relegated to life-support by the cancerous Walmart?)  This K-Mart had a nice book and magazine selection.   I bought a copy of  a new high school angst novel called Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews.  I am only a few pages into it, but am finding it to be a surprisingly good read.  The teen novel puts me in mind of two banned books that I read last year:  The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Looking for Alaska.  I am hopeful that Me and Earl and the Dying Girl will be good enough to eventually make it onto several banned book lists - one of the benchmarks of truly great literature.

This morning I went to the Salem Public Library with Molly and the kids.   While they were enjoying "story time," I was out exploring the library.  I soon discovered the room that houses a used book store - a place of wonder with hundreds of used books at bargain prices!  My purchases there included Valentines, a book of poetry by the late Rod McKuen, and Happy Trails, a Dictionary of Western Expressions compiled by Robert Hendrickson.  (I have a nice collection of different types of dictionaries.)  Those hardback library finds sold for $1.50 each.

This evening Willow brought me a copy of I Wish that I Had Duck Feet by Theo LeSieg to read to her - which I enjoyed doing.

So the book horizon which once was barren now hods plenty of promise for the long trip home!

Judah has been busy this afternoon riding his wagon and learning to ride his bicycle.

It's been another great day with my Oregon grandkids!

1 comment:

molly. said...

I'll be sure to send a video of Judah on his bike soon. He'll be riding on his own in no time! It sounds like you found your way to some promising reading. Next time we'll try to make it to the Book Bin and other good used book stores around here.