pity me

I was all feeling depressed and mopey last night for some reason, and it only got worse this morning, when I was listening to Kiri Te Kanawa sing "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi, which is used about halfway through the clip from Room With a View below, which happens to be one of my favorite scenes from that movie, which happens to be based on one of my favorite books, when I realized, mouth flapping open like a fish:
I'm going to be living ...there. THERE. In about a month, I'm going to be LIVING THERE (there being Florence).

I mean, URGH. How depressing! I'm going to have to deal with eyesores like:and
and
and, worst of all:

Poor me!



...Uh, rest assured that I'm elated and that I'm just trying not to gloat too much. (Okay, that last statement was a lie. But you know what, I haven't been on a decent vacation in YEARS, and I deserve one.) I'm excited and terrified--I don't speak Italian, and did I mention I'm sharing an apartment with 6 other people who are in my graduate program? ... I just can't wrap my head around it. Awesome. One of my many goals is to return with a decent salami. Mmmmm.

And sorry, no, there is no extra room in my backpack for an extra person. Though if you send me your post address, I'll mail you a gloating postcard.

I will not be watching Valkyrie

I saw The Lives of Others last year and it's so incredibly great that I can't even begin to explain. It's a caper! And a spy movie! And the music is great! And the acting is phenomenal! And my German teacher knew the lead actor!*



If you haven't seen it, RENT IT--it's fabulous. Even the music gives me a frission. Don't ask me why Berlin holds such a fascination for me (well, the answer is pretty simply that I lived there for 3 months working as a walking tour guide), but I've read a pretty significant number of books on Berlin/German history (I consider myself somewhat better acquainted with Berlin & German history than the average person yet somewhat far from a scholar; the books I have listed at the end fo the post after the jump).

...So when I say that I already knew the plot for Valkyrie, that Stauffenberg (that's Lt. Col. Klaus Philip Schenk, Count von Stauffenberg to the history books) is somewhat of a national hero in modern Germany, and that the idea of Tom Cruise with his Chicket-gum teeth swanning about with his ridiculous American accent and Disneyfied script makes me want to VOMIT, then perhaps you can understand why.
Whenever Tom Cruise speaks I find myself torn between laughing and crying (the words in italics are to be read with a slit-eyed INTENSE WHISPER):
At 0:16: "By nightfall I want to know that Hitler's Germany has seen its last sunrise."
At 1:31: "Anything... is a very... dangerous word."
At 2:45: "Action... is inevitable... as are the consequences."
....................ARGGGH. Shoot me.


...I mean, given my Berlin obsession, I'm going to have to see it eventually, but URGH.

* You know, some of the other movies I feel as strongly about as The Lives of Others include Hot Fuzz, Ocean's Eleven, and Sneakers. Go figure.


Berlinobibliophilia after the jump--
I have read the following books on Berlin/Germany
Stasiland by Anna Funder









The Fall of Berlin 1945 by Antony Beevor**









Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege: 1942-1943 by Antony Beevor**









Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich by William L. Shirer** (P.S. Try wandering around Germany while reading this book. It's a little awkward.)








The Ghosts of Berlin: Confronting German History in the Urban Landscape by Brian Ladd








Architecture in Berlin: The 100 Most Important Buildings and Urban Settings by Arnt Cobbers







Speer: The Final Verdict by Joachim Fest, Ewald Osers, and Alexandra Dring








Berlin: A Novel by Pierre Frei and Anthea Bell** (this was not actually a very good book)

The point is: I'VE READ A LOT ABOUT BERLIN. TOM CRUISE AND BRYAN SINGER AND THEIR WEIRDO HOLLYWOOD AMERICAN CHEESEBURGERS CAN SUCK IT.

** These books were all vacation books. As in, I read them on the beach instead of novels. Possibly the best non-beach beach book -- The Zanzibar Chest by Aidan Hartley, which still counts among the most important books I think I've ever read -- I read while on the blissful sands of Zanzibar. There was nothing to put my days flopping around drinking beer and agonizing over a death-spiral relationship in perspective like recollections of Ethiopia, Somalia, and Rwanda in the 80s and 90s.

romance novels I've read

As what I consider to be a relatively erudite person, I used to hang my head in shame for having devoured the following books. But now I just shrug and tell people to get over it. If Mary Bly can do it (and do it so damn well), then I feel okay about unmasking myself. The list below represents my best guesses as to what I've read since approximately 1993 and does not include the hundreds--yes, literally hundreds (well, over a hundred at least) of "short" form Harlequin/Silhouette/Harlequin Desire novels I would buy 5 for $1. There were some summers I remember spending entire weeks holed up in my room reading about 8 of them a day. Yes, 8 (they're short!). To put this in perspective, this past summer I read about three books a day on and off for about a month.


Brown, Sandra:
(various)

Coulter, Catherine:
The Countess
The Courtship
The Rebel Bride
The Heir
The Duke
Lord Harry
The Wyndham Legacy
The Nightingale Legacy
The Valentine Legacy
The Sherbrooke Bride
The Hellion Bride
The Heiress Bride
Mad Jack
Warrior's Song
Fire Song
Earth Song
Secret Song
Evening Star (original title Sweet Surrender)
Midnight Star
Wild Star
The Cove
The Maze
Afterglow (a truly terrible novel)
Midsummer Magic
Calypso Magic
Moonspun Magic
The Sherbrooke Twins
Lyon's Gate
The Wild Baron
Warrior's Song
Fire Song

Deveraux, Jude:
A Knight in Shining Armor
The Heiress
Wishes
The Duchess
Someone to Love
Temptation
The Maiden
First Impressions
Lavender Morning
(and many many others, though I can't recall the names)

Feather, Jane:
A Wicked Gentleman

Foley, Gaelen:
The Pirate Prince
The Duke
Prince Charming
Devil Takes a Bride
His Wicked Kiss
One Night of Sin
Lord of Fire
Lord of Ice
Lady of Desire

Garwood, Julie:
The Bride
The Gift
The Wedding
(and many others)

Gracie, Anne:
The Perfect Rake
The Perfect Stranger
The Perfect Waltz

Hutchinson, Bobby:
You Go to My Head

*James, Eloisa:
· Potent Pleasures
· Midnight Pleasures
· Enchanting Pleasures
· Duchess in Love
· Fool for Love
· A Wild Pursuit
· Your Wicked Ways
· Much Ado About You
· Kiss Me Annabel
· The Taming of the Duke
· Pleasure for Pleasure
· Desperate Duchesses
· An Affair Before Christmas
· Duchess By Night
· When the Duke Returns
· This Duchess of Mine
· A Duke of Her Own

*James is currently my very favorite romance author--simply put, her writing is witty, sensuous, and very smart. In fact, she's a tenured English professor and wrote a 2005 NY Times op-ed article defending the romance genre (click to enlarge):



Jordan, Nicole:
Desire

Jordan, Sophie:
One Night With You

Kaiser, Janice:
Wilde at Heart

Kleypas, Lisa:
Because You're Mine
It Happened One Autumn
Devil in Winter
Scandal in Spring
Stranger in My Arms

Krentz, Jayne Ann:
(various and many; see also Quick, Amanda)

*Kurland, Lynn:
Stardust of Yesterday
A Dance Through Time
This is All I Ask
The Very Thought of You
Another Chance to Dream
The More I See You
If I Had You
From This Moment On
When I Fall in Love
With Every Breath

Lamb, Arnette:
(I have definitely read one of her novels, but I can't remember which)

Lindsey, Johanna:
*Man of My Dreams (I read this several times while living in Marseille; taken from a bookcase o' free books in Venasque)
Say You Love Me
A Loving Scoundrel
Captive of My Desires
You Belong To Me
Marriage Most Scandalous
The Heir

Mann, Catherine
Executive's Surprise Baby

McCarthy, Erin:
You Don't Know Jack

McNaught, Judith:
Whitney, My Love
Remember When
Until You
A Kingdom of Dreams

Medieros, Theresa:
Breath of Magic
Touch of Enchantment

Michaels, Lynn:
Second Sight HT-449

Miller, Linda Lael:
Taming Charlotte
Sierra's Homecoming
High Country Bride

Neggers, Carla:
Night Watch

Quick, Amanda:
Seduction
Surrender
Scandal
Rendezvous
Ravished
Reckless
Deception
Desire
Dangerous
Mistress
Mystique
Mischief
Affair
With This Ring
I Thee Wed
Wicked Widow
Slightly Shady
Second Sight
Wait Until Midnight
The Paid Companion

*Quinn, Julia:
· Splendid
· Dancing at Midnight
· Everything and the Moon
· Brighter than the Sun
· To Catch an Heiress
· How to Marry a Marquis
· The Duke and I
· The Viscount Who Loved Me
· An Offer From a Gentleman
· Romancing Mister Bridgerton
· To Sir Phillip, With Love
· When He Was Wicked
· It's In His Kiss
· On the Way to the Wedding
· The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever
· The Lost Duke of Wyndham
· Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
· What Happens in London
· The First Kiss from the anthology Lady Whistledown Strikes Back
· A Tale of Two Sisters from the anthology Where's My Hero?
· 36 Valentines from the anthology The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown
· Gretna Greene from the anthology Scottish Brides

Robards, Karen:
*Irresistible (I read this several times in Marseille; taken from the bookcase o' free books in Venasque)

Roberts, Nora: (possibly incomplete or over-ambitious)
Key of Valor
Key of Light
Key of Knowledge
Three Fates (in French!)
Hot Ice
Private Scandals
The Villa
The Reef
Midnight Bayou
Finding the Dream
Holding the Dream
Daring to Dream
Born in Shame
Born in Ice
Born in Fire
True Betrayals
Honest Illusions
Charmed
Entranced
Captivated
Jewels of the Sun
Tears of the Moon
Heart of the Sea
Dance Upon the Air
Heaven and Earth
Face the Fire

Ross, JoAnn:
The Prince & the Showgirl

Thomson, Vicki Lewis:
Talking About Sex...

Thorpe, Kay:
Bought By a Billionaire

Sanders, Glenda:
Dr. Hunk (4/1993) - HT-437

White, Tiffany:
Naughty Talk


(I'd like to get my hands on one called The Naked Duke by Sally Mackenzie. The cover looks interesting and funny. Also: The Proposition by Judith Ivory)