And the Oscar goes to Hal Holbrook

Life has been going on.

I re-read Tiger Eyes (again). I read The Palace Thief, which had four really good and also really depressing stories in it. I was supposed to be studying at the library last night, but instead I wandered to a room full of children’s and young adult literature and scanned the shelves of my favorite writers. I came to Jean Little and let out a little squawk when I saw the spine of a book named Kate. Kate? KATE? Kate has her own book? I could not believe it. It is a sequel to my beloved Look Through My Window. I promptly e-mailed Lisa to inform her of this discovery. So instead of studying last night, I read the first half of the book. And it is so wonderful to be with Kate and Emily and Jean, James, John, and Anne again, only from Kate’s perspective this time instead of Emily’s. And I just finished The Road Home, which I liked very much. I’m not sure how I called myself an Ellen Emerson White fan for twenty years or so without ever reading this book. I thought a little about the character of Max in Across the Universe when I was reading it. And about China Beach. I guess I am lucky that all I know of war is what I see on TV or movies or read in books.

I saw not all but most of The War on PBS.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the latest Andy Samberg video. It’s one thing to make fun of GWB. But this very scary guy is basically our enemy at this point and we might end up going to war with him. Maybe it’s because I can’t stop thinking about The War, but it just seemed like a very modern and patriotic thing to do – to be able to be so crass and rude to this dictator and we have the freedoms that allow us to do that. I think I have dictators on the brain.

The War was harrowing and heartbreaking and sometimes very gross. But I think it was pretty great. I didn’t catch every night of it, but what I did see was good. Tom Hanks narrated newspaper articles written by a Minnesota reporter named Al McIntosh. I don’t know if it’s that the writings were really good or Tom Hanks just did a great job reading them, but every time he started talking, I immediately started boo-hooing. It reminded me of that part of Field of Dreams when Terrence Mann goes to hear about Doc Graham and the old newspaper lady reads his obituary and it turns out that she wrote it … Tom Hanks read that kind of writing by this Al McIntosh guy and it was just too much for me. It was kind of an overall weepfest, especially when old grandpas’ voices started quivering when they were talking about their experiences. A little American girl & her family were held among American and British “POWs” (they weren’t actually POWs, they were just normal people who were living in the Philippines when it got taken over by the Japanese) for several years in a shanty-town sort of POW camp there, and parts of her diary were read by a little girl narrator … I never knew about that … it just shows how widespread and truly world-wrecking the war was. It’s all very upsetting. It’s hard to explain. It blows my mind how many hundreds of thousands/millions of civilians got bombed to smithereens by the Allies both in Europe & the Pacific (not even counting Hiroshima & Nagasaki) and we were supposed to be “the good guys.” It’s a little much to take. I started thinking about The Book Thief. It was kind of a masterpiece, though, I think, and a staggering achievement. But I’m glad it’s over, because my eyes were starting to get bloodshot. I also think I need to start watching more sitcoms.

You can listen here to Tom Hanks as Al McIntosh. I still think about the people interviewed. Every time Sam Hynes would open his mouth, I would think, that is the most articulate man I have ever heard speak. I told B. that he talks like a writer. Well, duh. Turns out he’s not only a writer but professor of literature emeritus at Princeton. And because I am a total ignoramus and had no idea who he was, after watching him speak and share his experience night after night after night and being totally charmed by him, when the narrator said that Daniel Inouye got his Medal of Honor fifty years later as a sixth-term United States Senator, I burst into tears. I burst into tears throughout the entire thing.

Not to mention when Norah Jones sang as the credits rolled.

It’s been a while since I started this entry. I finished Kate, and I am with Lisa – it’s no Look Through My Window. Now I’m re-reading The Pigman, just because.

I went to see Into the Wild this weekend. I’ve never read the book, but my sister has, and I remember that she was very affected by it and she told me a lot about it. I don’t feel like I can really make a judgment about the guy; I didn’t know him and I don’t know why he did what he did or if he was just on a suicide mission or what. I don’t feel like it’s my place to decide whether the way he lived and died was right or wrong. All I can say is that it was a powerful and ultimately devastating film, and I’m glad I saw it. If Hal Holbrook does not win the Oscar for best supporting actor, I’ll think there is something very wrong in the world. A lot of things in this film moved me – the landscapes, the amazing nature photography, Emile Hirsch’s performance overall, Catherine Keener – but Hal Holbrook is who made me cry and cry and cry, and I was just blown away by him. HAL HOLBROOK, I LOVE YOU.