I love old films, and the watchlist you made for your sister is great. Have you ever seen Sidney Poitier in "A Patch of Blue"? I saw it as a child when it first came out, and it stuck with me all these years(I'm 72). My parents would often take me and my brother to see foreign and "art" films, but after "A Patch of Blue" I overheard them discussing that it was a mistake to have taken us to see it, as the themes were really not suitable for children. Some of it di go over my head at the time, I realized later what was going on.
I have not! Though we do love watching Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress wins, so I might be able to convince her to add it to the list for Shelley Winters.
My mom is 64 and as many similar stories about being taken to whatever my grandparents were seeing in theaters--her first memory in a theater is Doctor Zhivago at age 4! I can barely imagine getting my 26 year old sister to sit through a David Lean movie in theaters, much less a 4 year old.
I saw In The Heat of the Night for the first time in November as part of my list of Sidney Poitier films to watch before I read Percival Everett's I Am Not Sidney Poitier. Poitier is so great in the role and the movie felt like a good procedural, but the neatness of the ending was troubling to watch. Looking forward to digging into the Baldwin essays, thank you for sharing those! I've been reading Roger Reeves's Dark Days: Fugitive Essays and several of the essays engage with the fear of being falsely accused of a crime by white cops, among other possible lethal encounters, so I want to revisit the film soon in tandem with Baldwin's writing.
I also want to thank you for your many Mary Balogh reviews--my mother was a big fan, but Balogh's books never jumped at me when I was swiping her romance novels as a teen. I didn't really know where to start or how to think about her work, so your detailed discussions have been so helpful for jumping into series and figuring out which books have themes I care more about.
Looking forward to future giornate (settimanali?)!
I am reading all these Mary Balogh books for a big duel project, a podcast episode and a couple of newsletters! Maybe we can find the Balogh for you--it took me a minute to figure her out. The first handful of books I picked up I was fascinated by, I think in part because i don't see a lot of her influence on newer historical authors, so I felt really at sea with how to even talk about her. Part of this, I think, comes from her history as a category and Signet author. That exact feeling of "what is going on here?" is what brings me back to her again and again.
I will also check out that Everett book! It sounds fascinating and probably would dialogue great with The Devil Finds Work.
I have read a few Baloghs now--loved The Secret Mistress, I feel like I think about it every few months, probably because it felt a little unusual! I had more mixed feelings on The Devil's Web. I read Heartless last year and rated it 4/5 but unhelpfully left myself the note that I wanted to read it again at some point, but not 2025.
Also, I'm realizing Percival Everett's The Trees, which is maybe my favorite of his works I've read so far, has some ties to In The Heat of the Night--Mississippi and procedural elements and policing--so I do recommend that as well!
Oh I think The Secret Mistress is so fun for that exact reason! I've sold it before as a book about if the Palmers from Sense and Sensibility were deeply in love. I love when a romance is about a couple that you might see in the side of a normal romance plot, usually for comic relief. A Bride for a Prizefighter by Alice Coldbreath is another one like that!
I love old films, and the watchlist you made for your sister is great. Have you ever seen Sidney Poitier in "A Patch of Blue"? I saw it as a child when it first came out, and it stuck with me all these years(I'm 72). My parents would often take me and my brother to see foreign and "art" films, but after "A Patch of Blue" I overheard them discussing that it was a mistake to have taken us to see it, as the themes were really not suitable for children. Some of it di go over my head at the time, I realized later what was going on.
I have not! Though we do love watching Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress wins, so I might be able to convince her to add it to the list for Shelley Winters.
My mom is 64 and as many similar stories about being taken to whatever my grandparents were seeing in theaters--her first memory in a theater is Doctor Zhivago at age 4! I can barely imagine getting my 26 year old sister to sit through a David Lean movie in theaters, much less a 4 year old.
I saw In The Heat of the Night for the first time in November as part of my list of Sidney Poitier films to watch before I read Percival Everett's I Am Not Sidney Poitier. Poitier is so great in the role and the movie felt like a good procedural, but the neatness of the ending was troubling to watch. Looking forward to digging into the Baldwin essays, thank you for sharing those! I've been reading Roger Reeves's Dark Days: Fugitive Essays and several of the essays engage with the fear of being falsely accused of a crime by white cops, among other possible lethal encounters, so I want to revisit the film soon in tandem with Baldwin's writing.
I also want to thank you for your many Mary Balogh reviews--my mother was a big fan, but Balogh's books never jumped at me when I was swiping her romance novels as a teen. I didn't really know where to start or how to think about her work, so your detailed discussions have been so helpful for jumping into series and figuring out which books have themes I care more about.
Looking forward to future giornate (settimanali?)!
I am reading all these Mary Balogh books for a big duel project, a podcast episode and a couple of newsletters! Maybe we can find the Balogh for you--it took me a minute to figure her out. The first handful of books I picked up I was fascinated by, I think in part because i don't see a lot of her influence on newer historical authors, so I felt really at sea with how to even talk about her. Part of this, I think, comes from her history as a category and Signet author. That exact feeling of "what is going on here?" is what brings me back to her again and again.
I will also check out that Everett book! It sounds fascinating and probably would dialogue great with The Devil Finds Work.
I have read a few Baloghs now--loved The Secret Mistress, I feel like I think about it every few months, probably because it felt a little unusual! I had more mixed feelings on The Devil's Web. I read Heartless last year and rated it 4/5 but unhelpfully left myself the note that I wanted to read it again at some point, but not 2025.
Also, I'm realizing Percival Everett's The Trees, which is maybe my favorite of his works I've read so far, has some ties to In The Heat of the Night--Mississippi and procedural elements and policing--so I do recommend that as well!
Oh I think The Secret Mistress is so fun for that exact reason! I've sold it before as a book about if the Palmers from Sense and Sensibility were deeply in love. I love when a romance is about a couple that you might see in the side of a normal romance plot, usually for comic relief. A Bride for a Prizefighter by Alice Coldbreath is another one like that!