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| L. Commencement, University of Tennessee May 2007 R. Graduation, High School at Moorpark College May 2012 |
Book description, from the publisher’s website
Roger Ebert is the best-known film critic of our time. He has been reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, and was the first film critic ever to win a Pulitzer Prize. He has appeared on television for four decades, including twenty-three years as cohost of Siskel & Ebert at the Movies.
In 2006, complications from thyroid cancer treatment resulted in the loss of his ability to eat, drink, or speak. But with the loss of his voice, Ebert has only become a more prolific and influential writer. And now, for the first time, he tells the full, dramatic story of his life and career.
Roger Ebert's journalism carried him on a path far from his nearly idyllic childhood in Urbana, Illinois. It is a journey that began as a reporter for his local daily, and took him to Chicago, where he was unexpectedly given the job of film critic for the Sun-Times, launching a lifetime's adventures.
In this candid, personal history, Ebert chronicles it all: his loves, losses, and obsessions; his struggle and recovery from alcoholism; his marriage; his politics; and his spiritual beliefs. He writes about his years at the Sun-Times, his colorful newspaper friends, and his life-changing collaboration with Gene Siskel. He remembers his friendships with Studs Terkel, Mike Royko, Oprah Winfrey, and Russ Meyer (for whom he wrote Beyond the Valley of the Dolls and an ill-fated Sex Pistols movie). He shares his insights into movie stars and directors like John Wayne, Werner Herzog, and Martin Scorsese.
This is a story that only Roger Ebert could tell.
“I believe that if, at the end, according to our abilities, we have done something to make others a little happier, and something to make ourselves a little happier, that is about the best we can do. To make others less happy is a crime. To make ourselves unhappy is where all crime starts. We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn't always know this, and am happy I lived long enough to find it out."
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| Rooting for the home team: the Memphis Redbirds at AutoZone Park, Memphis, Tennessee, May 2007 My photos, edited with Snapseed and collaged with PicFrame |
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“'This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. 'I never could get the hang of Thursdays.'”Rather than start this Book Talk post with the customary “Opening Lines” excerpt, I will refer you to this Quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide list on Goodreads for this and many other gems from the one-of-a-kind mind of Douglas Adams. It takes a one-of-a-kind mind to produce a five-part trilogy, and descriptions of each installment of the series are fairly meaningless--but just in case you happen to be completely unfamiliar with this remarkable piece of work, here’s what The Official Guide to The Hitchhiker's Guide says about the first three parts:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the GalaxyI first read these books during my freshman year of university, and I’ve re-read the first two several times since; I was less entranced with the third book and never felt drawn to pick it up again. One of the things that piqued my interest in the man who became my second husband was that his online-dating profile said that the last book he’d (re-)read was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy--”all four books of the trilogy.” (As I mentioned earlier, there are actually five books; my impression is that readership and affection for them follows a downward trajectory after the first two.) We both introduced our kids to the series when they were in middle school; my stepson read it last year, and we decided that we might both enjoy an audio re-read during our drives back and forth from school.
One Thursday lunchtime the Earth is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the galaxy is a very strange and startling place.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Facing annihilation at the hands of the warlike Vogons is a curious time to have a cosmically displaced Arthur Dent and his curious comrades in arms as they hurtle through space powered by pure improbability - and desperately in search of a place to eat.
Life, The Universe and Everything
The unhappy inhabitants of the planet Krikkit are sick of looking at the night sky above their heads - so they plan to destroy it. The universe, that is. Now only five individuals stand between the killer robots of Krikkit and their goals of annihilation...
“The third novel of Hitchhiker's Guide..., Life, The Universe and Everything, was originally intended to be a Doctor Who story. The Doctor was replaced with Slartibartfast, a planet designer from Magrathea, his TARDIS by the Starship Bistromath (which boasted a perception filter) and the Daleks by the Krikkiters.”Perhaps that’s why I liked Life, The Universe and Everything much more this time than I did when I originally read it, although The Restaurant at the End of the Universe remains my favorite of the entire series. The first two books fit together so well--although it now makes more sense to me why the third one feels not entirely of a piece with them--but Restaurant is just a little better realized overall.
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