Finding
Dorothy, by Elizabeth
Letts.Historical Fiction. 2019. This was an
exceptional story about the making of the movie, ‘The Wizard of Oz’,
narrated from the perspective of author Frank Baum‘s widow, Maud. It takes
place in 1938 at MGM studio as Maud, age 77, 19 years after her husband’s
death. Many flashbacks to her early life tell the secrets of the ‘The Wonderful
Wizard of Oz’. It is a fascinating novel; I’d never been a big fan of the movie
but of course had seen it a few times over the years with my children. And I
always loved Judy Garland’s rendition of ‘Over the Rainbow’. I was pleased to
learn that this song was voted the No. 1 song of the 20th century by the
Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment of the
Arts. And I learned from this novel that ‘Over the Rainbow’ was almost cut from
the film because it was so long.
A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis, 1961. Nonfiction. This is a small book that is not tarnished by time. He wrote it while grieving the death of his beloved wife. Grief is grief, regardless of when it occurs. I bought it for a dear friend who recently lost her husband. I hope it will be helpful to her. The longing for a departed loved one is universal and timeless.
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis, 1942. Fiction. I decided to re-read this book after learning more about the author in recent weeks. It’s impressing in a much different way than it did when I read it back in my 20’s. It’s truly a classic, “A masterpiece of satire on Hell’s latest novelties and Heaven’s unanswerable answer.” Uncle Screwtape writes letter after letter to his nephew, Wormwood, to convince him that Christianity is a passing phase and Hell will triumph in the end. When I was young - I laughed my way through this book. When I read it this time, I laughed very little, time has a way of changing a person’s perspective.
We finished watching the first 14 seasons of Heartland for the second time. My husband loves it so much, I think he’d watch it for a third time. But for now we are taking a break. We’ve tried a couple other series and have a list to go through that have been recommended to us. Nothing has clicked with us yet.
We went to see Downton Abbey and Top Gun at the movie theater. Loved them both!