My mother once told me that during a particularly trying Summer day when she was a teenager she found herself contemplating her coming apparent oblivion. As she walked and wrestled with her demons, she found herself next to Central Park in New York City. She wandered into the park and found a bench to sit upon. She remembered that she happened to have a book in her bag, “To Kill a Mockingbird,” by Harper Lee, which she decided to start reading. Several hours later she found that it restored her equilibrium and she was then able to face the unbearable travails which plagued her and thus continue to fight on against the darkness. I like the idea of having a book or movie which is a ballast for a person. A place where they can return in times of need to help find themselves again.
Is there a book or movie which serves this purpose in your life?
29 comments:
Anything by Jane Austen.
There are so many books that made me who I am today... Funny books also proved to be helpful! I remember a book I borrowed from a friend about a man who owned two labradors and who adopted a border collie, I had fits of laughter so hard that my family thought I would die, there, in front of them...:-)
There are two books I always recommend: "The Cider House Rules" of John Irving and "The Prince of Tides" of Pat COnroy.
I read "To Kill a Mockingbird", when I was a student, but I think I didn't master the english language enough to really take advantage of the story... (I read it in English, but I am French speaking - French is not my mother tongue, Dutch is).
I read several books of Andrew Cronin when I was a teenager (in the early seventies) and they made a very good impression on me, but I am afraid this author is forgotten by now...)
I love to read, but for me, painting serves this purpose. I lose track of time when I'm focused on art and not my issues.
John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany" did that for me. I should probably revisit it, so thank you for the reminder via your question.
The World According to Garp got me through my divorce. I'd read a lot of self-help books, but when Garp bit off a piece of the dog's ear, something in me lifted and I was on my way to normalcy.
Seems like John Irving touches a chord in a lot of people.
Laoch, what a beautiful post. I don't have a single book that does this for me. More that books as an army stand against all manner of anxiety, despair and senselessness.
I love this post.
Just read Kass's comment and I love that, very much, too.
"A Dog's Purpose" by W. Bruce Cameron
This post reminds me of this quote: "It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness"
Movie: The little princess (1939)
Book: One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García Márquez.
Anything by Agatha Christie but my go to book is "Still Life With Chickens"
I read it after my divorce and although it parallel my life, her husband was great my x was hell, it made me laugh and gave me some hope.
I still grab it and what ever page the book opens to I read.
Made me want to raise Chicken !
cheers, parsnip
kanani, I read Pride and Prejudice long ago. Is that the best one?
looloo, do you mean A.J. Cronin? If so I really liked his books when I was a boy. I also loved a book by Pat Conroy called The Lords of Discipline.
meg, painting looks very soothing.
bette, I haven't read that book. I will add it to my list.
kass, I liked Garp when I read it long ago.
suze, thanks for your kind words.
mei lian, I looked this book up and it sounds wonderful. Thanks for naming it.
jolene, well said. I love Solitude. Was The Little princess a Shirley Temple film? They were popular still when I was a boy.
ap, I read all the Christie books when I was small. I especially loved The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
Movies that do it for me are romantic comedies, where despite living in the world of bitter stories of love, heartache and despair, there is some sort of hope with a happy ending. Yes, you can say I am a Pollyanna. I am used to it!...
I also go to Youtube and listen to motivational speakers like Les Brown, Zig Ziglar, Joel Osteen, Tony Robbins who can teach me how to overcome adversity by using my mind.
Yes, it's a Shirley Temple movie :)
I watched this movie a million times (I was an itty bitty girl) and I loved it. Still do. I'm such a sap.
nsss, as I get older I value the happy ending more.
jolene, they are emblematic of another era.
What a good question. I started, but never finished a post, in which I asked myself what 10 books I would take with me if I had to fly away on a space ship, forever. My collection changes, and I don't know how I would narrow it down to one. But here are a few:
A book of collected poems by Mary Oliver.
EB White's Charlotte's Web
The LOTR
Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte (sheer melodramatic escapism)
Collected stories of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
I'm a book lover, so there are so many more. I find it interesting that none of us commenters have mentioned the bible or the torah or the koran.
kerry, I know my answer has changed over the years which my guess is that is true for a lot of people.
Yes, I meant A.J. Cronin...
And I forgot to mention a book that I really loved and borrowed to many people who loved it also: "Behind the Screens at the Museum" by Kate Atkinson.
About the Bible or the Coran, I know many people who bought it, but I don't think one of them read it! :-)
Have a nice day!
looloo
I'm fortunate in that I've never suffered the waves of dark depression that seem to afflict so many.
Maybe it's because I'm Scottish, and we live in a continuum of dark depression, or maybe it's because of something else, but I've never had to use a book or a movie to dig me out.
My favourite books do change according to my mood and advancing years.
Believe it or not, Ray Bradbury's "Dandelion Wine" is a book I have read with the same eagerness and pleasure at least...at LEAST 25 times. It is filled with things that seemed almost as though I were reading of my own life and feeling... from the age of 17 onward. Though very female I was/am Douglas Spaulding.
looloo, I have not read the Atkinson book. I will have to get it from the library.
tsb, I do find that my favorites change and evolve over time.
ro, that is a wistful book reflecting another era quite nicely.
I think you will not be disappointed!
I can't read a book more than once, sometimes I read excerpts again, but never a book in full.
Like Jolene, I read "One Hundred Years of Solitude"; about 35 years ago, I woke up with "One Hundred Years" and went to sleep with "One Hundred...", I gave it as a present to many people, they all loved it, and... a few years ago, I decided to read it again,...I was so disappointed because it was so different from my remembrances...
looloo, I have found that by waiting a long time between readings I often misunderstood the book originally or that it has a different meaning than I originally thought. My conclusion has been that some books are meant to be read at certain developmental points in your life and that you may not fully appreciate them if you read them before or after that point.
That's true, Laoch! I once read a book, it is too cold to try and find in our library the title and the author of the book, but it said, and it is something I never forgot "you cannot tell a truth to somebody who is not ready to hear it".
I come from a very poor family,we just had food and clothes (not clothes for the pleasure, just clothes enough so that one could not say we were naked), and I was so hungry for books! Unfortunately I read books too early (the books my older brother had to read for school - "Germinal" for example - I was too young and never was able to read Zola again...)
We all are so different from each other... :-)
Favorites are so individual that it's difficult to know what one would respond to.
My guilty pleasure during stressful times are technothrillers. Riptide by Preston/Child would be one, but not sure if that is of interest.
Churchill wrote that we read too many of the noteworthy books too young and I would have to agree.
If you ever posted a list of your favorite recommendations, I would appreciate it.
For something light and humorous: Three man in a boat by Jerome K. Jerome.:)
looloo, being deprived of books is a very sad thing. They were certainly my best friends growing up. I read Zola as a boy and did not appreciate it at all.
ac, I like techno-thrillers although I find good ones to be pretty scarce. I will work on a book list which is a hard but fine idea. I like Jerome as an author. I think he was witty.
will sitcoms do? if so then seinfeld. m*a*s*h too.
I'm with Suze...just the act of reading (hopefully a good book) can do wonders for me.
I laughed and cried at Lonesome Dove (possibly an odd choice, but I'm from West Texas and the characters and setting rang so true to me), re-read King's The Stand every few years or so (I want to be Stu), and hesitantly, and painfully, made my way through Cormac's The Road (think I've shared all this with you before, too!)
Just love books (particularly those books). And your blog.
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