Fenixbird’s Comments (group member since May 10, 2009)

Fenixbird’s comments from the Between the Lines group.

Also there was the REAL life story of Hemingway, wasn't it? with a severe leg injury. In the movie Sandra Bullock played the role of his nurse--quite some years back! Does anyone else know whether a book was published which was the basis for this movie?

There is a movie "In Love and War," (1998) directed by Richard Attenborough, which I have on good authority was "based on the diaries of Agnes Von Kurowsky, who while serving as a nurse during World War I had a love affair with a young man who would later become one of the great literary figures of the 20th century, Ernest Hemingway."

In 1918, Hemingway was only 18 and volunteered to serve in the war but suffered a severe leg injury.

[Updated Just found this here on Goodreads:} Hemingway in Love and War: The Lost Diary of Agnes Von Kurowsky
by Agnes Von Kurowsky, Ernest Hemingway

WW II So much has been written and so many films, movies and documentaries made about it.

These are lovely works of art, only the first centers on WW II's events directly--as relates to the little Greek Island of Cephalonia.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernières

Snow Falling on Cedars
by David Guterson (also an amazing story which does cover the injustics of Japanese internment in USA)

Atonement
by Ian McEwan

I'd like to share separately (from WW II )books relating to WW I. WW I was almost an accident, or so history suggests, where Germany supported/defended AUSTRIA's decision to launch war against Spain for the assassination of a member of Austrian royalty....

Joyeaux Noel
by R. de Rousy de Sales
This is a story based on the truth that the ENTIRE WESTERN FRONT on one Christmas eve made a truce! A close German friend corroborates her soldier grandfather's recount of this event.

Also made into an amazing motion picture & share a portion of a fellow Netflix viewer's well-written review: "Another fine entry in the revival of World War I films that Europeans have been exploring lately, this one examines a legendary event that happened early in the war: on Christmas Eve, 1914, the soldiers from opposing trenches spontaneously initiated an unofficial truce in No Man's Land in honor of the holiday. This happened all along the Western Front, but the film wisely focuses on just one quadrant, containing French and Scots against Germans. A breathtaking widescreen epic, it may lose some visual impact in transfer to the small screen, but the power of the story will remain. There are a few clichés to be found, and some occasional treacly sentiment, but writer-director Christian Carion deftly maneuvers these shellholes with wit and irony. The acting is very, very good, with especial applause going to Guillaume Canet as the hesitant French lieutenant, Alex Ferns as the calm, capable Scottish officer and Daniel Bruhl as the firm but understanding German captain. . . Also, I found the film to be distinctly spiritual, rather than devoted to a single religion (a theme reinforced by the actions of the Scottish pastor). Bravo, too, to Phillipe Rombi's exquisite score. Most of all, I loved the minor details that are true to history: the football game in No Man's Land, the exchange of drinks, photos, mail, and even the humorous debate over the name of a cat (for comparison, read Stanley Weintraub's "Silent Night"). A wonderful, magnificent film, not to be missed."

Of course, the Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (compiled by Otto Frank, her surviving father**), which has quite the interesting story behind its lovely contents being "discovered" and causing its beautiful insights. There has been much dispute about the authenticity of this tale. http://www.hdot.org/en/learning/myth-... ** "The diary consists of three books - not one - and over 300 loose sheets of paper. It covers the period of Anne's life from June 12, 1942 to August 1, 1944. (The Franks were arrested on August 4, 1944).
Anne received the red-plaid covered diary for her thirteenth birthday in June 1942, and she began writing in it before she and her family went into hiding. Anne filled at least two, and probably more, black-covered school notebooks while in hiding. Only two of them survived.
After the Franks and their friends were arrested, Miep Gies found Anne's writings and saved them. Upon his return after the war, she gave them to Otto Frank who collapsed all the materials together into one narrative. He also edited out parts that discussed Anne's relationship with her mother (which was difficult) and other entries dealing with Anne's budding sexuality. Modern editions now include all the material originally edited out by her father.
Anne's diary was first published in Dutch in 1947 and in German and French in 1950. The first English edition was published in England and the United States in 1952. Since then it has been translated into over 55 languages and published around the world. Plays and movies have also been written based on her diary."

Catch-22 and All Quiet on the Western Front are 2 quite dramatic tales. Although fiction, All Quiet on the Western Front (Also an assigned read & report on for College History course) relates the impossibilities of war--How do people stay alive? with head lice, hungry, and battling for years on end? What food could be found with so much of the young and able-bodied sons off to war for years and years. Over 12 million were reported to have died during WW I, some of this was also from the dreadful "Spanish Flu".

Hello Fiona, Beth, Julie,Nancy & All Members!

Captain Corelli's Mandolin
by Louis de Bernières

Where do we discuss the themes? Here?

Well, I finally finished Dicken's A Christmas Carol and just wished to say how moved this story always makes me. Every year radio and TV personalities put on the play here in Arizona.

In Arizona our man-made reservoir "Tempe Town Lake" broke & began flooding from one of its corners, causing the "lake" to lose a significant amount of water so that fish were dying. News update indicated that alligators were being successfully introduced to eat the fish.

Name two things you often remember from your childhood.

Out of Africa
The Joy Luck Club
The Bourne Identity by Robert Ludlum(my very favorite as a teen)
and
LOTR Lord of the Rings....if ever a motion picture trilogy ever succeeded in coming close to as amazing as the written word, here is movie making worthy of J. R.R. Tolkien's wonderful fabric.

Nice to be welcomed into a new group here on Goodreads. I set up a profile & then wondered "where everybody was," I seem to recall about a year and a half ago! Then I wrote somebody who finally told me about joining a group.

Mysteries. I love a good mystery suspense, even a thriller. Anything culturally oriented I simply adore & that includes travel as part of a plot!

Of course, Goodreads has gotten me to expand my reading "reperatoire" by alot!

Book suggestion: May I recommended Rising Sun by Michael Crichton for my Feb 2010 book suggestion. Where do we make a book recommendation?

Teresa

Giving thanks to all of our friends
Salute to all mothers for the dedication
Sacrifice, Longsuffering & vigor!
Hooray for all mothers!