B6: Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco (301 pages)

The Ilustrados- (Spanish for erudite, learned, or enlightened ones) constituted the Filipino educated class during the Spanish Colonial period in the late 19th century.

This sharply written debut novel by Miguel Syjuco has more layers than kindergartener’s outfit, fit for braving a crisp winter morning in the heart of New England. The combination of historical fiction and who duunit, makes for a truly enjoyable read. His command of the English language is nothing short of commendable, and the ambitious construction this story is impressive. Miguel blends several stories that he has written from the perspective of the character in question, with realistic blog posts and ultimately the ongoing biography written by the protagonist about this particular character in question. The voice of this book is not only refreshingly original, but also filters in a historical sense about the Spanish occupation of the Philippians that I really enjoyed.

The story begins with body. Crispin Salvador, Filipino champion for all things revolutionary, has been found floating in a river.  The polarizing Salvador has spent his life challenging the political and agrarian system in his native country, only be run out of town by those in power. He reconstructs a life for himself in New York and takes on a researcher, Miguel, to help him prepare for the release of a book that has been in the works for 10 years. This new book will “set the record straight” and promises to peel back a snap of corruption within the current Filipino government.  After his body is discovered, and the manuscript vanishes, it is Miguel who sets out on the trail to the missing novel with hopes of unwrapping the mystery of why Crispin died.

“In its efflorescence, Salvador’s life projected genius and intellectual brazenness, a penchant for iconoclasm and an aspiration to unsparing honesty during obfuscated times.”

I loved the rare mix of politics, history and philosophy and humor in this book and believe that it is a remarkable read for something in dire need of something different. Viva la revolucion!

B5: Leaving Van Gogh by Carol Wallace (265 pages)

"I did not understand at the time to what extent the way one dies can color people's memories of the way one lived."

This book was given to me by someone very dear to me, and is the subject of someone very dear to me. When I was a kid I used to stare for hours (in kid time, but minutes in real time) at Van Gogh's paintings and be captivated by the vivid splashes of color smeared across the canvas. Most paintings left little to the imagination, but the shear beauty that Vincent brought to simple, humble objects always did, and always will make me smile. You could see the genius in his brushstrokes and if you looked deep enough, you could make out the acute touches of madness harboured within those strokes. I knew back then very little of his calamitous personal story and under appreciated the raw genius that envelopes his work.

Reading this book was like sitting down with an old friend at a sleepy little brick cafe tucked smartly in between a consignment shop and old movie rental store struggling to stay afloat. The comforting essence of Carol Wallace's writing is a real breath of fresh air. She brings a graceful sense of storytelling to the last year or so of Vincent's life and a new approach to one of Van Gogh's most famous paintings: The Portrait of Dr. Gachet (which in 1980 sold for a then record of 82.5 million).

The novel is told through the eyes of Dr. Gachet and teases out the relationship between Gachet and Van Gogh and the tragic events that ultimately led to Vincent's death. Although this book is historical fiction, there is some foundation to this approach as Dr. Gachet was a very enduring advocate for the arts and a mental illness physician. Van Gogh did know Gachet and did live with him for some time, giving the story the historical threads needed to become plausible.

"He was able to create haunting images that reached the heart of the viewer. That was his astounding gift to the world."

I highly recommend not just this book, but also Van Gogh's Women: Vincent's Love Affairs and Journey into Madness by Derek Fell. The story of dear Vincent is one worth learning about and will undoubtedly unlock a new dimension of brilliance for you. Just fair warning though, it is the type of story that will make you want to sneak onto a plane and jet across the pond to Amsterdam, home of the remarkably brilliant Van Gogh Museum. Nothing wrong with a little madness from time to time. 

F4: Another Earth-Directed by Mike Cahill

If you just so happened to bump into yourself, what would you say? 

With this puppet string of a question looming over this eccentric indy film, we peer into the life and thought process of Rhoda (Brit Marling), a character who has committed a grave mistake. Her life as a promising MIT student quickly blinks out while driving home from a raucous party with her graduating high school classmates. A freshly discovered planet is being talked about on the radio and as she steals a glance towards the ink black sky, she plows into John Burroughs and his family. John's son and pregnant wife are killed instantly and John, a renowned music teacher at Yale, is left in a coma.

This movie is less about the science fictional notion that there could be mirror Earth out there somewhere and more about how wonderfully delicate life can be. The trajectory of life can change in an instant and as fallible creatures, do we ultimately deserve to be forgiven for mistakes we make? Now the town pariah, Rhoda sets out to make amends for what she has taken from John, and the two are able to briefly find comfort in each other.

I adored this film and the lens director Mike Cahill told this story through. His turning of simplistic shots of ordinary actions into works of art and his herky jerky camera style provide the grit necessary to almost make this story believable. The marriage of plausible and unbelievable is seamless, and this beautiful, intricately layered movie will give you something to think about. Even more impressive is the fact that Brit Marling co-wrote the film with Cahill.

I highly recommend seeing it.....you won't have to forgive me.

B4: The Murder of Jim Fisk by H.W. Brands (206 pages)

"A gray blanket cloaks the trees of Montparnasse on a late autumn morning. Smoke from the coal fires that heat homes and shop along the narrow streets swirls upward to join the fog that congeals intermittently into drizzle. This part of Paris hides the sign of the Great Depression better than the blighted districts and tattered storefronts....."

Looking for a dash of tightly written tragic history from the Gilded Age? Check out this short read by H.W. Brands. Being a passionate paramour of history, I really admire Brands for this work and his conception of bringing little known American history tales to light. The first in a continuous series called The American Portraits, Brands tells the yarn of the notoriously haughty James "Diamond Jim" Fisk. As so eloquently put by the title, Jim meets an untimely, abrupt ending resulting from years of rowdy behind the scenes behavior regulating the Eerie Railroad Company. Set in the mid 1800's during a time when life in NYC was far from opulent, Jim Fisk was financially thriving. Gregariously bumbling around the town, Jim was both well know and well liked. Enter Josie Mansfield, showgirl extraordinaire. Commence downfall.

This book is worth mentioning due to the astute angle with which Brands writes from. While most historical books are verbose accounts, the author gets to point and recaps the little known story of Jim Fisk within the confides of 206 pages. Wealth, exuberance, scandal, moustaches and murder all grace the pages of this historical account. His documentation is both colorful and absorbing; I will be anxiously awaiting the next portrait in the series to be released.

F3: Beginners-Directed by Mike Mills

We saw this flick last night and both my fiance and I loved it. For all the blow em up, high speed chase-animated-sequel based films that roll out of production studios for the summer, this film showcases all that is missing from movies today. While lacking exotic locations and CGI, this movie more than makes up for it in good old fashioned in depth storytelling. Less effects and better acting. Smaller budget and raw emotion. By stripping away all the bells and whistles that are so commonplace in movies today, Mills creates a beautiful, touching film that ambitiously takes on more than its share of historical and modern issues.

We follow the life of Oliver; a dry humored, quirky graphic design artist of sorts (most likely a reflection of director Mike Mills) and his spiderweb of relationships. His father Hal, played by the legendary Christopher Plummer, has revealed to him that after 44 years of being married that he in fact has always been gay. Just as Hal (75 years old now) begins to pursue this uncharted aspect of life, he get diagnosed with cancer. The outlook for Hal is grim and Oliver moves in with his father to help him pen his final chapter with the help of Hal's new boyfriend, Andy. With this backdrop, the rest of the film follows Oliver's new found struggles to connect to the rest of world following Hal's transition into the next plane of existence.

Flashing ahead to at a Halloween party that he has been dragged to, Oliver meets the equally idiosyncratic Anna-someone he is able to find comfort with along with that spark of passion that his life has been missing since his father's death. This movie is about relationships big and small, but along the way reminds us of how delicate life can be while at the same time lending focus to how prodigious life on the planet Earth really is. Mills masterly combines love, attachment, sadness, vandalization, reinvention and history in his best work to date. A marvelously vintage soundtrack rounds out what will probably be the best movie you will see all summer. The dry humor will make you laugh, the tender portrayal of Olivier's relationships might make you cry, but all in all this movie is not one that you should miss.

B3: A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan (334 pages)

I am not quite certain how books win the Pulitzer, or how a panel could possibly decide upon one winner each year, but I do know Josef Pulitzer was Hungarian. And a supporter of the Democratic party. And was someone who hated monstrously corrupt corporations. I know this because my father is from Hungary and we Hungarians tend to stick together. Or better yet, because a few years back I wanted to learn all about him and read as many Pulitzer Prize winners in one year that I could, only to feel like the books that had won the prestigious title were selected the same big, bad corrupt organizations that Josef so fiercely despised. Talk about irony.

"So acutely had he been dreading this encounter that he felt no real surprise at the staggering coincidence of its actually taking place."

Anyhow, the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction is pretty quick read, great for short attention span summer reading. We follow a handful of characters that all have some tie to the music industry. With each chapter, we follow a different character's perspective. Each of the characters are linked in some capacity (my streak of this genre marches on) and we follow them throughout their respective careers. Some are producers like the neurotic Bennie Salazar; who sprinkles flakes of pure gold into his coffee in an attempt to find reprieve from an ongoing battle of impotentic proportions. Others are musicians, spouses and sidekicks all searching for a way to stay on top of the peruvial ladder of success and prestige.

I did find this read to be enjoyable as Egan is a talented author. The structure of the book makes following the lives of each character easy and she does a nice job of helping the reader connect the dots along the way. One of the final chapters is laid out almost in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, detailing the connections within the life of dear Alison Blake. One of my favorite aspects of this book is meaning behind the title. I dig the metaphor of time being a "Goon Squad", as the idea of time catching up with all of our characters is really is essentially what this entire book is about. I have heard that HBO is converting the novel into a series, which should be interesting to check out. Maybe they should also consider a mini series on Josef Pulitzer.......I would be all over that.

F2: The Tree of Life-Directed by Terrence Malick

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to post a write up about this film, but after thinking about it for a few days decided to. Let's start by saying this film is long, really long. 2 hours and 20 minutes long. While I think that there should have been some better editing, this was a film worth mentioning. I am not quite sold on saying that I fully enjoyed it, but it is an extremely unique picture unlike just about anything you will see this summer.


It is a story of a family living in the 50's in Texas. Brad Pitt plays role of a rigidly stern father of three. Most of the film is dedicated to the effects of his relationship with his eldest son Jack, and how Jack more or less loses his innocence due to this relationship. We then leave the 50's and jump ahead 15 years to find out that one of the brothers has lost his life while serving the military, devastating the family. After this chapter, the film goes off on a 20 minute sidetrack of non-dialogue, nature based scenes that are truly stunning. Volcanoes. Jellyfish. Bees. Waterfalls. DNA. Basically, a short visual history of life itself. While the director lost me when the injection of dinosaurs into this montage, the shots are incredible.


Sean Penn plays the role of Jack in modern times, reflecting back on his childhood and the loss of his brother. Religious undertones aside, this movie does get you thinking family dynamics and the rippling effects that parents have on their kids. Working with my sixth graders, I know all to well how they aim to please at this age and how sensitive they are to harsh criticism. The young Jack is no different and suffers greatly over how he is treated. His father does berate him, but also has a tender side and without fail is quick to wrap and arm around of his boys after a blowup.


Just like the Pitt's character, I felt this polarizing movie didn't really have an idea of what it wanted to be. It flops back and forth between all the above mentioned aspects without really driving home a central theme. The ticket bellhop told us he loved it, but I would say that I am leaning towards the other end of the spectrum. It will give you something to talk about though, so see for yourself and let me know what you think.