August 2, 2004
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Stone Reader
I must have passed this video a dozen times at the videostore, picked it up and read the jacket, and put it back. Videos being one of my handful of active addictions to numb the pain of living in the real world, I usually go for something that will take me as far away as possible (note sidebar). But something about the subject – reading – kept drawing me back. It almost seems like a contradiction in terms – a video about reading. Isn’t that what’s happened to the most recent generations – they’ve gone electronic and the closest they get to a book is a film version of it. We didn’t have a TV when I was in grade school, and I saw reading happen as the main form of entertainment when my hardworking parents sat down in the evening. My dad taught me to read BEFORE I started school. I got skipped over second grade because I read all the first-grade books and second-grade books the first year. An aunt gave me every Oz book there was from #1 to #47 or whatever it was and I read them all. My mother became a children’s librarian for the last 20 years of her working life. And then, of course, in school we read for classes. As a college freshman I took a required Humanities course and read some of the world’s great literature with the kind of ear you have to have to write a paper on it. So today, all these years later, I still read, although I too have found the visual media and I’m busy as hell with survival. I now feel like an oddity that I read at all and am dumbfounded when I discover another reader. Well, to cut to the chase, I took the video home and discovered one of those readers. This is the true story of one man who loved one book enough to spend a journey on finding the author, who had apparently disappeared into obscurity after the book’s publication. Heralded by great reviews, the book itself fell between the cracks and out of publication shortly after it appeared. This one man went in search of an answer to this mystery. He got his answer, made a beautiful film about it, and because of him the book was re-released in print. I’ve ordered it from the library and if I like it as much as he did I just may buy a copy. And for sure I’m going to own a copy of the film. If you love books or writing – or even filmmaking – you will find this video still in the Current Films section of your nearby videostore.
Deep Thought: We’re all afraid of something. Take my little nephew, for instance. He’s afraid of skeletons. He thinks they live in closets and under beds, and at night they come out to get you when you’re asleep. And what am I afraid of? Now, I’m afraid of skeletons.
Today I am grateful for: Documentary films
Comments (11)
It sounds mysterious and interesting…
you always give us things to think about. thank you
mj
I will definately look this up! As a literature professor, I love the written word (old and new), but I like to “veg” with a good movie, too.
i do enjoy the daily deep thoughts. thanks for posting them — that was one of my favorite parts of SNL for a while.
thanks for the review
as someone who only actually found reading way after high school, this is fascinating…
I like documentaries too. The history channel is one of my fave channels to watch.
Sounds like a great book. Thanks for the preview. I have neglected my love of reading for far too long.
This sounds fantastic…well, now you have me curious! Hope I can get the video…as an English teacher I am so in hopes of my students loving to read. Fewer and fewer do so. Sigh. Seems the visual media is all they want…no word pictures! ‘Tis a pity.
I saw it too, and really enjoyed it. I was referred to it by the “Reading Makes You Boring” article in the Times. The director revealed a lot about himself in the movie, in my opinion not all of which is favorable. But I loved the whole mystery of the story and strongly recommend it.
The book sounds intriguing. I dare say I’m terribly lacidasical about reading good books. I go by spells, though, so I’ll only give myself three lashes with a wet noodle – this time!