I just finished reading Grand Central, a collection of short stories about the various people coming and going through Grand Central Station on a September day in 1945. I first picked up the book because I love Grand Central; its history, its architecture, the whisper corners, and because I was intrigued by the idea of a book about the stories behind all the people whose paths cross at the busy terminal. It isn't a light-hearted look at intersecting lives, though. Because it is set at the end of World War II, there are some very disturbing stories behind what brought particular characters to the station that day. Pick it up if you are looking for historical fiction, or if you thought your days of reading short story anthologies were behind you. It will bring you back to school. If you aren't familiar with Grand Central Station, itself, here a post that I wrote for literacyconnectionsblog during the 100 Anniversary exhibit at Grand Central:
February 25, 2013
Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Station is home to an exhibit honoring the 100th anniversary of the Grand Central Terminal. Hurry to see the exhibit before it closes on March 15th, but take time to admire the beautiful architecture of this historic building. While taking in the beauty and history, why not try some science in the "whisper corners?"
Kids are sure to love the experience, and you can discuss how the domed ceiling helps the sound waves travel. For a literary connection, you can read about this phenomenon in the "Whisper Lake" scene of the book, If You're Reading This it's Too Late, by Pseudonymous Bosch. And if exploring Grand Central makes you hungry, I highly recommend Michael Jordan's Steakhouse overlooking the Main Concourse.
When I read this USA Today piece on the 25th anniversary of When Harry Met Sally, I couldn't help reflecting on what a great movie that still is. Of course, if you've read my blog before, you know what a genius I think Nora Ephron is. Here are a few of my previous posts about her from my Literacy Connectionsblog:
June 27, 2012
Tonight, from 6:30-9:30 you can join an online discussion of Mark Harris's ballpark novel, Bang the Drum Slowly. The novel is about a pitcher for the New York Mommoths (supposed to be the Yankees) and his ill teammate. The discussion takes place at the City Room blog.
The city and the world lost a literary luminary last night when Nora Ephron died of pneumonia brought on by leukemia. One of my favorite filmmakers and writers, Ms. Ephron was a master of the romantic comedy. When Harry Met Sally is still one of my all-time favorites. Her movie, You've Got Mail, is more love-letter to the city of New York than love story. I want to stroll around Manhattan every time I watch it. I loved her last two books, I Feel Bad About My Neck: and Other Thoughts on Being a Woman, and I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections.
To the feminists who criticized her for not writing strong enough women in her books and movies, I can only say that Ms. Ephron, herself, should have been a strong enough role model for you. She was a White House intern at a time when that was something to be proud of, a journalist, and talented writer. To Carl Bernstein, I can only say, "What were you thinking letting someone like that go?"
Happy reading,
Christine
June 28, 2012
Nora Ephron taught us the difference between high maintenance and low maintenance women, and gave us the classic line, "I'll have what she's having," but what she really did was articulate perfectly what so many of us were really thinking. Her work resonates with female fans because many of her observations feel like someone verbalizing our inner thoughts much more eloquently than we could ever hope to verbalize them ourselves. Watching her movies, reading her books, seeing her being interviewed felt like spending time with girlfriends. She got women; she got the importance of female friendships; and she got what we were hoping for in a romantic relationship.
Some of her most memorable lines are below:
On Writing:
"I don't care who you are. When you sit down to write the first page of your screenplay, in your head you're also writing your Oscar acceptance speech."
"If you were a college graduate (like me) who had worked on your college newspaper (like me) and you were a girl (like me), they hired you as a mail girl. If you were a boy (unlike me) with exactly the same qualifications, they hired you as a reporter and sent you to a bureau somewhere in America. This was unjust but it was 1962, so it was the way things were."
-I Remember Nothing
On Relationships:
"Verbal ability is a highly overrated thing in a guy and it's our pathetic need for it that gets us into so much trouble."
- Sleepless in Seattle
"You don't want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie."
-Sleepless in Seattle
"Well it was a million tiny little things that when you added them all up, they meant that we were supposed to be together...and I knew it. I knew it the first time I touched her. It was like coming home...only to no home I'd ever known...I was just taking her hand to help her out of a car and I knew. It was like...magic."
-Sleepless in Seattle
On Aging:
"Oh how I regret not having worn a bikini for the entire year I was twenty-six"
-I Feel Bad About My Neck
On Reading:
"When you read a book as a child it becomes a part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does."
-You've Got Mail
"Reading is one of the main things I do. Reading is everything. Reading makes me feel I've accomplished something, learned something, become a better person. Reading makes me smarter"
-I Feel Bad About My Neck
Check back in tomorrow to see my favorite of all Nora Ephron quotes!
Happy reading,
Christine
June 29, 2012
Well, as promised, here it is - my favorite of all Nora Ephron quotes. Enjoy!
I love this story.
If you are unfamiliar with the war between Amazon and Hachette Publishing, you must watch the clip of Stephen Colbert explaining the issue. Go ahead, open another tab and watch it right now. It is that funny. Then, read this New York Times article. (To fully appreciate it, you have to do it in that order - watch the clip, read the article)
There is a beautiful post about Walter Dean Myers on the beyondliteracylinkblog. Full disclosure: The blogger, Carol is a friend of mine and the specific book she is writing about is a book that she gave to me. I appreciate it even more now, knowing how much it meant to her and her teaching.
My reading this week has left me feeling sandwiched between two generations. First I read a book that I gave to my mom, I See You Made an Effort: Compliments, Indignities and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50, by Annabelle Gurwitch. She enjoyed it so much that she let me read it after she was through. It was a funny look at the terrible crime of getting older in our society. For all of the wry wit, there was, however, one heartbreaking part that I was not prepared for.
Then, this weekend, I went shopping with my children and some of my nieces and nephews. Feeling like the young, cool aunt taking the kids to places like American Eagle and Abercrombie, I proudly held up outfits that I thought were cute, only to have one niece shake her head at me.
"Aunt Chrissy, with a high-waisted skirt like that, a person would need a belly shirt."
Needless to say, I was not a cool enough aunt to buy anyone a belly shirt. The skirt went back on the rack, and I went home and read two Lauren Conrad books that I have seen my students read, Beauty and Style. And after that reading, am I any more beautiful? No. Any more informed about style? Maybe, but I still wouldn't count on any 'tweens wanting my fashion advice. My credit cards, yes; my fashion sense, no.
Yesterday, a friend and I took our children to the New York Public Library to see an exhibit of one of two known surviving copies of The Declaration of Independence, written in Thomas Jefferson's own handwriting. According to the exhibit, before the Declaration of Independence was ratified on July 4th, a number of revisions were made to Jefferson's original text. Concerned about the revisions, Jefferson made several copies of the text he originally submitted to the Continental Congress. He underlined the passages which had been revised. One of those notable revisions, was Jefferson's lengthy commentary on slavery:
"of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people, who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. this piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought & sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished dye, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another"
This section, which was omitted to appease Georgia and South Carolina, could launch several class discussions and debates, but there are several other revisions worthy of analysis and debate as well.
Most surprising to me, was how small this 4-page copy of the Declaration of Independence was. I imagined a large parchment, but each of these sheets seemed no larger than an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper. The Bill of Rights, on display for the first time with the Declaration of Independence,was much larger, but due to age and low lighting in the exhibit area, it was much harder to read.
Today is the last of this three-day exhibit, so I urge anyone near New York to try to see it. It was amazing to see these founding documents of our democracy on display in a free public library, which, like a free public education, is a bedrock of democracy.
Happy Fourth of July!
On this rainy Independence Day, I've been thinking about my favorite summer movies, and so far my favorite movie of this summer is Blended with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Hysterical!
Enjoy the clip below.
Kids are sure to love the experience, and you can discuss how the domed ceiling helps the sound waves travel. For a literary connection, you can read about this phenomenon in the "Whisper Lake" scene of the book, If You're Reading This it's Too Late, by Pseudonymous Bosch. And if exploring Grand Central makes you hungry, I highly recommend Michael Jordan's Steakhouse overlooking the Main Concourse.
