I have been wanting to present you a new book for some time now, but I haven’t been able to find one worthy of a blog post. Mallory sent me ‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ by George Saunders which I thought would be a winner as it won the Man Booker Prize. But it just made no sense to me. I was already a hundred pages in until I figured out that the dead are actually ‘talking’. I am planning to start anew in a couple of months.
By then, I had started a different book on the side: ‘The Meursault Investigation’ by Kamel Daoud. Again an award-winning book, but it just didn’t do it for me. It has this Sartre existentialism writing style to it, which, honestly, I cannot stand. Not very philosophical of me, but I rather watch trash tv. Which is exactly what I did for a couple of months to get into sleep mode. But now, after finishing all the episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, I am back at it, enjoying ‘Homegoing’ by Yaa Gyasi. If it is worth a blog post, you will read about it here.
In the meantime, I am happy to suggest a movie to you. One that Frederik suggested to me. I had never heard of: Call me by your name. It was so beautiful and one of the best movies I have seen on Netflix in a long time. If you are homofobic, don’t watch it. All others will enjoy this beautiful coming of age story between two young men enjoying a summer of love. Nothing else happens in the movie other than this. And nothing needs to happen. The scenery is beautiful, the acting exquisite. Just a magical two hours. I cannot wait to get my hands on the book.
One scene was debated by the producer and the main actor if it was even plausible. If you see the movie, you will know what scene I am referring to. Wikipedia claims that they both tried it independently: “To their surprise, it worked, so Guadagnino shot the scene and ultimately included it in the film.” I would not have included it, but I am a bit prude.
Apparently, they are making a sequel, based on the sequel book: ‘Find me’. I can’t wait, even though it can never be as good, I am sure.
By the way, if you know of any other gems on Netflix, please let me know. It is hard to find the gems through the rubble there.