Trawling Through The Thrift Stores with Joseph Finn

Happy Thursday, everyone!  I'm back from a working vacation of helping the in-laws out as they prepare to move to another state and frankly, I could use a vacation.  So let's dive into what I've found at the thrift stores!

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I know Fowles mostly for The French Lieutenant's Woman, a novel I found interesting and well-written and kind of confounding.  But my father-in-law insists this a good novel worth my time.  So hell, I'll give it a chance.  And I'm intrigued by this: "Its title, as the author explains in the prologue, is taken from the archaic sense of the word that means "whim", "quirk", "obsession", or even a snatch of music (see earworm)."  And really, if you've never seen The French Lieutenant's Woman, check it out.  The movie is similarly confounding and has fantastic performances.  

The French Lieutenant's Woman is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.

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I'm honestly curious how many people actually remember this NBC miniseries from 2000.  It's your standard "you discover fairy tales are real and have to deal with whatever big quest is coming your way" stuff.  I would never claim it's especially great but...but in the middle of this, there's a performance by Dianne Wiest (excuse me, the GREAT Dianne Wiest) as the queen from the Snow White story, back from her exile for revenge.  She has a monologue in this about bringing down the House Of White that reminds you of why the heck she has an Oscar.  

My apologies for the 2000 tv-level CGI in this trailer.

The 10th Kingdom is streaming on Roku TV, Hoopla, IMDB TV and Pluto.  Oddly, not on Tubi.

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Ah, the "Leslie runs for office" season.   A really fun season that also was, for a lot of people, their introduction to Kathryn Hahn.  And wow, what an intro to her as she comes in as a campaign manager who just can't wait to get out of Indiana.  I've been so happy for people who've never encountered her before who discovered how amazing she is through WandaVision this year.  Now that was a show that knew how to use gher particular skills.

Spoilers, obviously, for WandaVision.

Now let me recommend one of the best movies of the last few years: Private Life, where she and Paul Giamatti play a married couple dealing with infertility and possible adoptions and all of the emotional issues therein.  This movie affected me so, so much in ways I wasn't even expecting.  

Parks and Recreation is streaming on Peacock.

WandaVision is on Disney+.

Private Life is on Netflix.

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So I read about 30 pages of this over the pandemic before it had to go back to the library and finally, I just bought my own copy from a lovely little bookstore in Wayne, PA.  (Main Point Books, which I'll miss since I'm probably not going back there at any point but you should absolutely check them out and order from them.)  Anyway, N.K. Jemisin is one of our best living authors.  No, seriously.  She's simply great and you absolutely should check out her Broken Earth series.  

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So with my in-laws moving, I was going through their books to see if I wanted to take anything that they didn't want to move and found these two really interesting-looking books about WII and the Holocaust and surviving the center of that in Berlin.  I'm halfway through Jews In NAZI Berlin and this is an invaluable book so far telling the story of those who got out and those who survived and unfortunately,  those who didn't.  Underground In Berlin is one womans story about going undercover as an Aryan during the war years and just trying to survive.  Both are welcome additions to my WWII shelves.

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Time for my Recommendation Of The Week!  Hey, do you want to see a movie that will confound you in absolutely the right way?  Because Green Knight the movie for you.  An adaptation by David Lowery (known for Pete's Dragon and Ghost Story and  Ain't Them Bodies Saints) of the 14th century Arthurian poem, it's beautiful and  lyrical and weird and poetic.   Come for the great performances (this is an all-star of people who've been in previous A24 productions), especially Dev Patel, who should definitely be facing another Oscar nomination for his soulful performance as a man trying to do the honorable thing and being tempted all along the way.   This movie will totally not be for everyone (I had one walkout when the semen showed up) but for people into weird and soulful takes on classic literature, this is for you.

The Green Knight is in theaters now.