third in line...

Here here are, the third post in my alphabet series on favorite stories.  Are you ready?  Here's C!

Cold Comfort Farm

Can we say quirky? Can we say delightful? Can we say quintessentially British?

Hope so, because that about sums up Cold Comfort.

This is a story set in the early 1930's and tells how a young woman with only 100 pounds a year goes to live with distance relatives she has never met on their farm, Cold Comfort.  There's all the token characters: the poetic waif, the lusty farm boy cousin, the ranting father who becomes a hell and brimstone preacher, the nervous mother, the overbearing grandmother.  And then there is Cousin Flora, and she can't abide a mess.  So she sets about fixing up the farm and it's occupants. 

I've read the novel and watched the film, and I have to say, I prefer the film slightly over the book.  You get a better feel for the story with the very unique characters fleshed out.

I can't remember who introduced me to this gem (very possibly it was Dara, but it might have been a fellow English student during my Jane Austen class...the memory is vague), but I'm ever so thankful.

The fact that the story of young Flora Post hits on so many Austen truisms didn't hurt at all.  It's like a slightly updated Austen mash-up.  And you just have to love a girl who says, "I just love the phrase, 'A marriage has been arranged.' When I feel like it, I'll arrange one."

Save yourself a few hours and go straight to the movie on this one, and don't forget, there is something nasty in the woodshed!

and then came b...

Might as well blog while I'm thinking about it and have the time, right?

I started a series yesterday on favorite stories, and I'm picking one for each letter of the alphabet.  Today's letter is B.

The Book of Eli

This is a fairly new addition to favorites--I've only seen it twice.  But powerful story can capture you the first time around, and that's the case with this Denzel Washington film.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic world where there isn't lot to eat and water is a precious resource.  We meet our lone traveler, Eli (Washington), who is headed west.  Eli carries a book.  Turns out this book is THE book (the Bible), and that a wannabe lord has been searching for a copy for quite a while now.  When he and Eli cross paths, things get a bit crazy.

This movie is gritty; there is nothing really pretty to be found.  Yet there is beauty in the motivation, in the determination, and in the outcome.

I find in The Book of Eli a story about God's love, protection, and mysterious ways.  Which is sorta funny, since the movie wasn't made by a Christian outfit.  And perhaps that makes me love it more, because it reminds me that Truth doesn't require perfection or even someone who agrees with it; it will shine through if the storyteller is willing to honestly tell the story.

start at the very begining...

So, there is a thing going around the blogverse about doing 26 posts with each one being based on a letter of the alphabet.  I've been a very lax blogger as of late, so I think this might help get me posting on a regular basis.  I don't promise every day, but I do promise to make it to Z!

And because I need some structure, I'm going to tell you about my favorite stories--might be books, might be movies, might be a song or a person (hey, we are stories, too!).

Here we go with A...

The Abhorsen Trilogy: Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen

Written by Garth Nix, this fantasy series is a bit more grit and dark than many offerings out there.  But somehow, that makes it feel so much more real to me.  The series follows Sabriel, a young woman who has gone to school on the other side of the wall from the kingdom she is born in.  Little does she know, her father happens to be a powerful mage (called Abhorsen) who has the power to send the dead back when they escape the boundaries of death.  Through the books we see Sabriel taking on the mantle of Abhorsen, then we meet Lireal, a woman raised in the icy north where she lives with the clairvoyant sisterhood but never receives her calling (though she gets to hang out and work in the most amazing library EVER!), and then on to the final book, where stories and characters collide in a final effort to keep the world from ending.  Classic fantasy mixed with some very unique features.  And of course, a mention has to be given to the Disreputable Dog, who is one of the only dogs in all of literature that can make me laugh.

If you can handle a bit of magic and things that go bump in the night, and you haven't read this series, I highly recommend it (15 and up).

unexpected journey...

It's a new year.  Welcome!

I have to say, never have I been so eager to leave a year behind.  But 2012 was a doozie, and I was more than happy to see it go.  I have to say, the best thing that came out of it was a movie and some renewed friendships.  Let's talk about the movie, because it really highlights a lot that is going on in my life right now.

The Hobbit (part one) came out in December.  Now, I waited for this movie with more than normal excitement.  Mostly because it has been far too long since we got to tarry in Middle Earth with fresh scenery and characters.  What I didn't know was how much my soul NEEDED this Hobbit story.

Let's be clear up front--this movie is NOT the book. It's more than the book, it's the book and lot of history (taken right from Tolkien), and it's also more than that.  It's not just an adventure for kids.  This is a story about a hobbit who is stuck, even though he doesn't know it.  He needs change, he needs meaning, and he needs to become so much more than he even knows he can be.

I've heard a lot of mixed reactions to The Hobbit--people who said it was a waste, people who were sad because it wasn't the book, and those that loved it.  A friend had a good theory--that people who are Tolkien fans would love it (because it adds so much more of the world Tolkien created, even with some minor deviations, they still get more than just The Hobbit story), that people who aren't familiar with the story will enjoy it (because it's a good story), and those who are "casual fans" (his words, not mine) will be disappointed because it is NOT the book, and they won't appreciate the depth the background story lends to the story at hand.

I have to admit, I love it.  Partly because I can't read a lot of the history because it's so dry (and I'm slightly ADD, so if it's dry and boring, I'm not going to pay attention), but I LOVE the world Tolkien created.  I get more of his creation this way, and in a way that I can appreciate and pay attention to.  But that's not the only reason I love it.  I love how this movie has made Thorin a sympathetic character.  In the book, I never liked him.  He wasn't fleshed out and he was too focused.  Here we get a very focused, a very passionate, and very driven young dwarf prince (and yes, he is also very good looking, which helps, but hey!).  This Thorin has capacity to grow, to change, to become a better dwarf.  I know how the story ends, but I'm still enjoying this Thorin, and I look forward to two more movies with him.

That's not all. I also love the Gandalf we get here.  A more mischievous, more tender in ways, and one who is humble.  I really love the part between him and Galadriel (and the smirk we get from Elrond).  It really builds a depth to the characters that we never see directly in the words, but it fits it perfectly.  I also adore Martin Freeman as Bilbo.  He is perfect.  He is delightful.  He IS Bilbo.  His performance is excellent and heart-warming.  And the scenes with Gollum are heart-wrenching and funny and sad.  It's fantastic.

But that's not the main reason why I love this movie.  I love it because, like Bilbo, I need an adventure.  I need to get out of my rut.  I need to believe that I am capable of so much more than I realize.  I need to fight for others that they might have what I have.  As I watched the movie again this afternoon (for the fourth time), I was deeply struck by the part where Bilbo explains to Thorin why he came back--because the dwarves don't have a home because it was taken from them. And if he, Bilbo, can help them take it back, he will.  Because he has a home to miss.  He has books and an armchair and a garden.  It reminded me so much of the scene from Fellowship when Arwen says over Frodo, "What grace has been given to me, let it pass to him."  Bilbo recognizes the grace given to him, and he wants to extend that grace to the company of Thorin Oakenshield. 

And if that isn't beautiful, I don't know what is.

And that's part of what I am longing for.

There are things brewing in my life that I am not at liberty to share just yet, but I can say that adventure and grace and being more than I can realize that I can be all play a part.

So yes, I love this movie.  Not just because it's a beautiful sojourn in a favorite place; not just because it's a good story; not just because it's well-acted with stunning performances that move my soul to laugh and pause; I love this movie because I'm just a hobbit who is in need of an adventure.  And I'm a little afraid, and Bilbo Baggins gives me hope, too.

(photo from TimeWarner)

confessions of a recovering scrooge...

I used to like Christmas.

I used to love Christmas.

As a child, I never slept much on Christmas Eve.  I'd sneak up to the living room after the family had gone to bed, and I would sit in front of the tree (which we left the lights on all night, just that night), and sing all about that baby in a manager.

Christmas was magical, and filled with fun times, special visits, and of course, presents.

Even as I got older, I still had a hard time sleeping.  I still loved the twinkle of lights and the baking and wrapping that went on.

And then, the magic was shattered.

It happened in stages, but shattered is shattered.

From suddenly having a broken home (and trust me, getting "two" Christmas' is not nearly as fun as it sounds, when there is the tension of having to split time and affections, not to mention wanting to have gifts for your siblings at both places), and then having parents out of state who still wanted to do Christmas together, to the final straw of working retail.  It shattered.

And like Humpty Dumpty, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put my love of Christmas together again.

With the retail world pushing Christmas earlier and earlier, it's no real surprize that it pushed me over the edge.  They started playing Christmas music in October.  Thanksgiving barely got a nod.  And with such overkill, can you blame a girl for suddenly becoming both Scrooge AND the Grinch?  I don't blame me one bit.

But I left the retail world in 2010.  I spent that first Thanksgiving blissfully NOT shopping.  And I didn't do a lick of decorating for Christmas.  Sure, I still bought gifts, and wrapped them up nice.  But I wasn't going to sing a Christmas song until the very day.  The next year I was a bit better, allowing the music for a week ahead of time, but no more.

Trust me, when you've heard every bad version of The Christmas Song, you are ready to start setting heads to rolling!

But this year I felt like I needed Christmas.  I didn't need it in October or even November, but my heart needs Christmas now.  What I need most is not the presents or the trees, the lights or the music.  What I need is the reason we celebrate.  I need Jesus.

I've had a hard year--and trust me, I know it's not the hardest year of the people I know, I'm not special in this regard.  But it's been rough.  This month is beating me up pretty bad between the overtime and the grief, and the general feeling of suffocating that I get from my life these days.

So I need Christmas.  I need to remember that in a dirty stable halfway around the world, many years ago, God decided to come to earth.  He came to walk among us, to be with us.  To touch us and love us and weep with us and for us.

I need that Jesus.

So this year, when the thing at the top of my list is never going to happen this side of heaven, I am trying to reconnect with Christmas.  I am trying to remember that the presents under my tree (the tree I dug out of storage and actually decorated) represent the gift God gave us.  I'm trying to remember that the words behind the songs mean something.  And I'm trying not to let the sadness that I feel for both myself and my friends who are struggling with life and all it can throw at us get me down.

I need Christmas.  I need to sit by my tree and sing songs late into the night.  I need to know that somewhere in all this mess, there is joy.

Maybe next year I'll tackle going to the mall...