The Sunday Salon--I'm Reading Actual Books Again! And Thoughts on The Tree of Life

Happy Sunday before Thanksgiving everyone! Or if you're not in the United States or decline to celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Sunday. :)

Those of you that come here for books will be glad to know I'm reading again! I finished two books and my readalong section this week which is amazing compared to the past several months. And I have that greedy-must-read-everything feeling back and I'll take it for as long as it wants to stay.

My week looks to be really really low key as well, so hopefully I'll be able to get more reading in. Writing reviews, on the other hand, might prove to be a bit more challenging.

The weather is cooler here, finally! And overcast! It's wonderful! I had my first peppermint mocha of the season yesterday and loved it.

TV
Everything was boring this week.

The Tree of Life

I have a lot of feelings about this movie okay? I had been wanting to watch it since the trailer came out, but then the reviews were less than favorable from people that I expected to like it. I finally watched it Friday and I cannot remember the last time I felt a piece of art so deeply to be honest. Which isn't to say it was perfect at all. There's a huge sequence of the beginning of the earth or something near the beginning that I spaced out during and that I feel ultimately detracted from the film. But the cinematography and the music, and the sounds, were all so beautiful, like a rich feast. And the snatches of Young Jack's life-his coming of age and loss of innocence, the battle within him between nature and grace, the way all of life is experienced in the simple moments of childhood...I just don't have words for how moving it was for me, for how connected I felt to this story. I feel like there are far more intelligent things I should be saying about it...but all I can tell you is that by the end I was a crying mess and felt like I had been on a journey and that moments from the film keep coming back to me. If you don't have patience for non-linear narratives or Planet Earth and dinosaurs, this probably isn't for you. But for me, it is hands down the best film I've watched all year and I'm glad I decided to watch it anyway. The cinematography alone makes it worth watching, in my opinion, but I know without a doubt this is not a movie for everyone. Has anyone else seen it?

I hope you all have a wonderful week whether or not you are celebrating the holiday!