Thursday, October 02, 2014

But, in the Book....!

Katie and Ed have been watching the Anne of Green Gables movies. Tonight it was Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel. They watched it last night too, and you would not believe the constant howls of dismay coming from the living room! Last night she was practically in tears as she explained to me all the things they got Wrong. Katie's drama (melodrama) makes Anne seem prosaic and restrained.

We've actually watched the Anne movies before, several years ago. But at that time Katie hadn't read and reread and reread the books, and I read them so long ago that they are just a blur. We just didn't Know the awful things the script writers did. But now...

 Last night she told me that she didn't want the third movie. Which means that Gone With the Wind is next on the list. The girls in Katie's Bible study group told her at the last meeting that Gone With the Wind is amazing and wonderful, and they've all read it. To me it seems a sort of peculiar favorite for conservative Evangelicals, but what do I know. Anyway, I suppose that the movie qualifies in some sense as "cultural literacy" ("Frankly my dear..."), so I told her we could watch it (I've seen it, but it's been ages.). It's too bad that the scene with Bonnie Blue Butler's pony being condemned comes near the end, as I know for sure that that will be as far as we'll watch!

Speaking of, Katie has the Arabian Nights this week. She was barely a few pages in when she put the book down with force and, utterly outraged, began telling me about the horrible sultan, and just what she would have done, if she had been forced to marry him (her plan relied on the Sultan's security forces being rather lax in their duties). I insisted that the sultan would mend his ways (not that that does all the murdered girls any good, which Katie pointed out to me), and that it was assigned reading and she Would read it. So she did. And now she's really enjoying it. The funny thing is, I remember reading that book aloud to the kids, and also reading another version, with pictures, fairly regularly at one point. But, as Katie, also regularly, points out, I tend to forget that my having read something aloud when Travis was the right age to remember, really doesn't do her much good. Oops.

And, finally, we are now a little more than halfway through The Three Musketeers. Katie has insisted several times that we Have to stop reading it because it is so Awful, but Travis likes it (ironically, the way he does everything), so I've kept going. Last night, though, I was about ready to give it up myself. D'Artagnan is shown seducing Milady's lovesick little maid, blatantly using her, and taking advantage of her charms as a bonus. Constance was silly and and an unfaithful wife, but it still seems pretty harsh to forget her so quickly, and we still aren't sure whether or not Porthos fed his friends the horse D'Artagnan had earlier given him. Even Travis was disgusted when the "noble, intelligent" Athos gambled away his own horse and gear, D'Artagnan's horse and diamond, and then talked his friend into taking money instead of getting the horse back when he finally won a round (wise Athos promptly spent D'Artagnan's cash on booze). Of all the characters, the only one who doesn't come across as some sort of idiot is the cardinal. Sigh.

Oh, and, really finally.... Katie has started a blog. Legit Lit (only, not with capital letters. or complete words. because it's cooler that way!). Take a look, and leave her a comment!

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