Sam's movie list

First I'm just going to tell you the reviews for Batman Begins, Four Christmases, and Rush Hour 3. Batman Begins 9, Four Christmases 7, Rush Hour 3 8. Now I'm going to tell you my top ten favorite movies that I saw in theaters of 2008.
1. Iron Man
2. Get Smart
3. Journey to the center of the earth 3D
4. The Incredible Hulk
5. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets
6.Drillbet Taylor
7. Walle
8. Hellboy 2 The Golden Army
9. Madagascar Escape 2 Africa
10.Ghost Town
Those are my favorite movies of 2008 that I saw in theaters. Now here are my 5 favorite actors of 2008
1. Robert Downey Jr.-Iron Man
2. Steve Carell-Get Smart
3. Brendan Fraser- Journey to the center the earth
4.Ricky Gervais-Ghost Town
5. Edward Norton- The Incredible Hulk
Those are my 5 favorite actors of 2008. And our last list the 3 movies in 2009 that I want to see.
1. Transformers 2
2. Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince
3.Night at the musuem 2
That's it for today. More reviews to come and MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Sam

Magnolia Tree Balls

Tree balls grew a new branch in MS this year. Our neighbors made four balls with us with their kids. We had a great time roasting marshmallows on the fire, drinking wine, and, of course, cutting our fingers on chicken wire. Who knows, maybe tree balls will take off and before you know it, the state of Mississippi will be covered.

Sam's movie recommendations

I'm sorry I've haven't blogged in a while but I've got three new reviews: Bolt in 3D, Madagascar Escape 2 Africa and Twilight. Since the first one I saw was Madagascar 2 I'll start with it. I thought it was hilarious. Ben Stiller and Chris Rock are Great. The review is 8. Next we switch to the vampires of Twilight. I thought the book was better. Well, I mean, don't get me wrong, the movie was not bad, just it wasn't one of my favorites. I give it a 6. Next, Bolt in 3D. Well, first of all, the 3D was great, but my favorite part of the movie for sure was the hamster, Rhino. The hamster was brilliant. But Madagascar 2 wins in the reviews because Bolt gets a 7. Next time I will bring the review for Batman Begins because yesterday I rented that. More reviews to come.

Sam

Sam's movie reviews

Today the only movie Iwill be blogging about is King Kong. The movie is brilliant. During the great deppresion a filmaker named Carl Denham (Jack Black) sails to a uncharted island called Skull Island with the leading lady in the film Denham is making Anne Darrow(Naomi Watts) and also traveling a man named Jack(Adrien Broody)At Skull Island they battle giant dinosaurs,leaches and cockroaches. And Anne Darrow begins to care for a giant gorilla named King Kong. Well I should leave the rest a suprise. The movie is stunning from beggining to end. The final review is 9. Sam

Football Rivalries

Football is still on my mind as the fiercest rivalry of all takes place this Friday night in Jackson: the Jackson Academy/Jackson Prep football game. It is a playoff game, which makes it important enough, but to understand how serious this rivalry is, you had to be sitting in my car with me yesterday afternoon. I was waiting for the boys after school, parked as I always am, on Sheffield Dr., the road adjacent to the football field, when a helicopter gets my attention on a beautiful fall day. I think it is the WLBT traffic copter as the TV station logo is emblazoned on its side,and don't think much about it. However, when it circles back and starts to hover and lower itself above the football field, my interest is piqued. Is it going to land? There are cheerleaders performing routines, elementary kids running on the track, football players practicing--it can't be. Suddenly, its mission is revealed: red and blue pieces of confetti come spiraling downward, like snowflakes from the sky. "Go get the coupons," I scream at Sam, who has just reached the car, and he hurries back to the field. Chilren are running all over the place, thinking the confetti masks candy or prizes like a pinata that has suddenly exploded. To their dismay, however, the confetti simply has mean messages written upon it about the game Friday night: "Remember last year" (a reference to Prep's win in overtime) and "Kill Raiders!" Horrible, awful, evil stuff floating from the sky! As a Duke grad, I didn't think any rivalry was fiercer than Duke/UNC, but I have never witnessed anything as impressive as the hiring of a helicopter to get one's message across!

Fourth Grade Football & Other Musings

It has been a while since any Browns have blogged, and I apologize for that. Our excuse? School and sports, and the activity that has taken up the most time has been football. When we first moved to Jackson, I wondered whether Sam would become a true Mississippi boy and play football, and it only took a year to get my answer. Whether I want it or not, Sam is a football player. His fate was sealed at the last game when he intercepted a handoff and ran in for the touchdown. It was an incredible heads-up play! The week before Sam's team had faced a team made up of "country boys" that wanted to beat the city boys of Jackson. And beat them they did, 30-0, sending our quarterback to the hospital after the second play of the game and leaving our remaining players crying in the huddle. They were big and scary ("corn-fed" is what the city Moms called these boys!) My son survived that game with a bruise the size of a dinner plate on his arm. Coached by two fathers that were former NFL players and a former Mississippi congressman, fourth grade football has been an authentic Mississippi experience!

Football has taken hold of our whole family and we enjoyed a trip down to New Orleans recently to the Superdome to see the Saints play. It was a lot of fun and very comfortable in the climate controlled indoor arena. However, as I sit here and type, Will and I are watching a pre-season NBA game so I know football fever cannot last; basketball is about to arrive and that's the true sport of the Brown family. Go Duke!

So what am I reading lately? Nothing, really--I have had a hard time sticking with a book. My next blog will get me back on track with my reading life.

Sam's Movie Recommendations

I have recently seen three new movies: Ghost town,What Happens in Vegas, and The Love Guru. Let's start with Ghost Town. I thought this movie was really good. Ricky Gervais and Greg Kinnear were really good. On the scale: 8. Next, What Happens in Vegas. This movie was not very good. I didn't think the idea for the movie was very good and they didn't make it work. On the scale: 4. Last but not least, The Love Guru. I thought this movie was very funny. It was a little stupid at the beginning, but it got better and better. On the scale: 6. More reviews to come. Sam

Presidential Elections

Sure, McCain and Obama are running for President, but the most important election just happened this week on the campus of Jackson Academy in Jackson, MS. Will Brown ran for President of the 7th Grade. It was a hard fought race (seven students battled it out), and unfortunately, Brown was not the winner. His remarks following the results of the election proved to me he is handling his defeat just fine: "Mom, none of my friends won their races either so I would not of had the staff I wanted," and "Mrs. Keenan (faculty adviser to the 7th grade) said after the results were announced that she wanted to see all new student council members in her classroom during break on Monday morning because quote "We have a lot of work to do." Maybe it is good I didn't win." Words of wisdom if I have ever heard any (whoever loses on the first Tuesday in Nov. may not be as upset about it as we may think because the winner is going to have a lot of work to do and the loser can just kick back and have break!

On the reading front: I had stalled out as I attempted to read Skinny Bitch and The Duchess. Both were unreadable for me: The Duchess was a dissertation in a pretty cover (sleeper!) and the bad language in Skinny Bitch, which is its distinguishing trademark, is simply gratuitous. Both were terrible. So I moved on Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, a beautifully written novel about a marriage in the 1950s and I am currently rereading Pride & Prejudice because I am teaching it and it never gets old!

Sam's Movie Recommendations

Sorry I have not blogged in a while but I have 5 new movie reviews for you. I have seen Men in Black 2, The Lord of the rings The Two towers , Jumper , The Rocker and The Mummy Returns. Lets start with Men In Black 2. I thought the movie could have been a lot better. I thought the idea was stupid and the movie was not funny. From now on I will rate The movie a review on a scale from 1 - 10 Men in Black 2 is a 3.Well next let's do The Lord of the Rings The two Towers. My word for that movie is Brilliant on a scale of 1-10 I'll give that movie a 8. Next let's do Jumper. I actually just watched Jumper last night. I thought it was a real good movie. I thought the story was good and so was the acting. On a scale of 1-10 I'll give it a 9. Next The Rocker. The main character played by Rainn Wilson from The Office. I thought Rainn Wilson played the part really good and the movie was Hilarious. I would not say it was better then Jumper but on the scale I'll give it a 7. And last but not least The Mummy Returns after seeing the first and the last Mummy movie I wanted to see the 2 one. I thought Brendan Fraser was good and Dwayne Johnson played a good villiain in the movie. But I thought the first one was best then the second then then the third. On the scale 8. More reviews to come. Sam

Bike Ride on the Trace

9/6/08
I took a ride on the Natchez Trace this morning. All my fellow biking friends in Greensboro were supposed to be riding the Tour to Tanglewood, but I read where the Saturday ride (the fun part of the event) was cancelled due to Hanna. So, I put on my Tour to Tanglewood jersey and drove out to the Trace Overlook Park to do what I used to do in Greensboro....ride a bike in the dark.

I have grown to love riding on the trace early in morning and enjoy the quiet and the wildlife. MS is pretty rural, so you don't have to go far to be in the middle of nowhere. Typically, there are very few cars...maybe five in an hour' s work of riding. This morning, I missed three deer crossing the road about ten feet in front of me. Deer in MS usually die at that range from encounters with people, but I was armed only with a water bottle, and besides, the hunting season doesn't start for another month or two. They surprised me, I surprised them, and we parted company.

The trace is flat, and the road is smooth, so the ride is quite pleasant and fast unless the wind is from the north..not usually the case in the summer. It's a great time to think. Good investments, bad investments, yelling at the kids, not yelling enough at the kids...it all gets analyzed and re-analyzed until a moment of wisdom strikes me or I get distracted by something like..a snake!

Or an alligator, or a turtle, or wild turkeys....I have had encounters with all of these things in the early morning hours on the trace. Usually, they are dead from encounters with Fords and Chevys.

Early in the morning as the sun is coming up through the pine and oak trees, while the mist is clearing, the trace is like a diner for turkey vultures. Every mile has a gathering. I see them ahead...freshest food in town! I pass them; they have no interest in me. (When it's this fresh, you just have to eat.)

There's a place called Yakanookany (I think...never can actually remember the place) where I turn around. It's really, really in the middle of the most remote definition of nowhere possible. It's ten miles north of nowhere. I have never encountered another sign of man there, other than the road under me.

I have my snack, a drink, a quick stretch, then it's back through the woods, across the big field with the wild turkeys, under the two bridges, more woods, the hill (one of only two, and not steep), more woods, more turkeys, cypress swamps, past the reservoir and back to the car. I've ridden it enough to know how many miles I have to go when I cross under the second bridge, how long it will take me from the boat landing on the upper Pearl (if I'm going 17.5), and when I can expect to get pelted by dragonflies from the lake.

I've ridden about 2000 miles on this 30 mile stretch of the trace. I know it very well, as well as I used to know Yanceyville Road, and Highway 150, and Spring Garden, and Summerfield Road. I certainly miss those roads, but I will also miss this 30 mile stretch when I quit the bike or move somewhere else. I know that road well. I would be easy to assassinate.

So, I had a nice ride, and Hanna rained on Greensboro. My gain and a loss for the TTT. I may ride in the morning, or I may sleep late. Either way, the wild turkeys will be there, and there will be plenty of fresh kill for the vultures.

More Gator Tales

In the news yesterday . . . an alligator was found under a car in the Entergy parking lot. Apparently, at night alligators travel, and this 5-foot guy left his Pearl River home and decided to go to town. When the sun began to rise, he quickly looked for shade and found it under Ms. Entergy Employee's car. Fortunately, some co-workers spotted him before she did and the Dept. of Wild Life was quickly called in. My favorite part of the story is her comment upon discovering the gator: 'I don't have time for this!" A classic mother-response when her schedule is so rudely interrupted, even by a 5-foot gator!

A robbery, caught on videotape, was broadcast on the local news last night. Two men, both wearing helmets, pulled up and parked in front of a convenience store. The man riding in the rear jumps off and enters the store. He announces that this is a robbery and demands the money from the register. Then he demands money from all the customers in the store. He goes around, one by one, taking money, but pauses at a young girl, and says 'I like you . . . you can keep your money." She replies, "Thank you." Then he leaves. So girls, make sure you always look nice--it may save your wallet during a hold-up!

Mississippi Moment

I am communing with Nature again, but this time it is not snakes but frogs. Outside my kitchen window we have thick bushes and shrubs; it's where Buddy, our black lab, likes to hunker down in the dirt and stay cool. At night, attracted to our kitchen lights, all kinds of creatures gather, mostly insects of various types, but lizards and frogs as well. In August in Mississippi you hear the frogs; their chorus of croaking surrounds you as you drive into your driveway or take the garbage cans to the street in the evening. It's rare to actually see them, unless its splattered on the road, an unfortunate accident for many a frog crossing a street in our neighborhood. At our window, however, a couple of frogs have appeared regularly, one big, one small, and I am absolutely convinced that it is a father and son. Dad's teaching Junior the finer art of catch and grab. I can just hear him saying: "Son, be patient," or "Like this, Junior--just stay still and then make the leap." Lately the Browns have been greatly entertained by the show, which recently took a humorous turn last night. Junior appeared at the window sill looking straight into the kitchen at me so I decided to speak directly to him: '"How are you this evening?" "Going to eat?" "You sure do look handsome tonight." What do you say to a frog? Anyway, I think he enjoyed the conversation because he started opening his mouth right back at me and taking his froggy feet back and forth over his froggy head. Now, I am not familiar with frog mating rituals, but I think this frog was flirting with me. I know; it's pathetic, but I have recently entered that wondeful new phase of feminine life (Thanks, Emily, for the CD of Menopause the Musical) and have not been feeling too attractive lately. I will take any kind of attention, even from the green, bug-eyed froggy variety. Thanks, Kermit.

Vacation with the Browns

So, here we are in California. You can tell it's California because we have coats on in July...something unheard of in MS of course. It was great. That's not a particularly imaginative way to describe a vacation, but it fits. It was great in every way and if we were doomed to visit only one place over and over again for the rest of our lives, we would pick San Francisco at this point.










I included this pic because I haven't seen rattlesnakes eating squirrels in the wild very much (actually only this once), and I thought it would be nice to share. Gross, but interesting. My Wild Kingdom moment occurred at the base of Yosemite Falls. The snake was surrounded by tourists with cameras and cell phones. Poor fella couldn't get away because he couldn't let go of his lunch. I suspect that I will never be within a couple of feet of a big rattlesnake like this again...at least not on purpose.


Here is my lovely family visiting Alcatraz. We walked all over the place and Sam was distressed by the realilty of the place. He did not like the audio tour...the voices of the old inmates and guards made it a bit too real for him, I think. I told them if they made bad grades in school that they would end up in here. OK, so I don't win the good parenting award, but it was quite motivating for them.






Here's me and the missus. My nephew went to some island paradise with his new wife and posted great pictures of them in swimsuits drinking and having young fun. Well this is what fun looks like when you are nearing 50. We had a blast. I can't wait to see his pics after kids.







If you get our Christmas cards, you may see this picture again. This is Pt. Reyes. It's cold and windy and smells like sea lions, but I loved it.











If you liked these pics, let me know and I'll put up some more. I may also get motivated to post a photologue about Sam's new life as a Mississippi football player. I think he likes it. He wears my high school jersey. He is 10.

Latest Books

I haven't blogged in awhile, with the beginning of school, but I will comment quickly on two books I have recently finished: Fieldwork, by Mischa Berlinski, an excellent academic-inspired novel that reads like a memoir but is pure fiction (the lines continue to blur). The title refers to the work an anthropologist does when he/she goes into the field to study a particular group up close. The anthropologist at the center of this novel is a woman who, when the novel opens, is serving time in a Thai prison for murder. A curious writer researches her story and a complex and interesting tale unfolds that connects Christian missionaries to this anthropologist and the Thai natives she is studying. I also finished Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God which is essential reading, in my humble opinion, for women today. Books on tap: Revolutionary Road (Richard Yates); Frankenstein (Mary Shelley); and A Room of One's Own (Virginia Woolf).

Sam's Movie Recommendations

After I saw The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor, I wanted to see the first Mummy which was much better than the Mummy 3. Yesterday I went to see Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, which was good and very Interesting. Those are two movies you should see.

More Reviews to come Sam

Sam's Movie Recommendations

I have recently rented Superhero Movie and School of Rock. I also saw The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. Superhero movie and School of Rock were good, but The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was just okay. I thought Superhero Movie was the funniest movie I've seen all year and it was very clever. School of Rock was also very funny and had good music. Sam

What I am Reading

While traveling I have been reading and want to suggest a few good books. I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road because I knew I had to--Entertainment Weekly named The Road the best book of the last 25 years and it is currently being made into a movie--both reasons enough for me. It was an excellent book: disturbing, fascinating, and important for the vision it presents and the issues it forces us to confront and discuss. I highly recommend it. Then I read another book on Entertainment Weekly's list and one I have meant to read for awhile: Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking. Another excellent book that distinguishes between mourning and grieving and made me appreciate my marriage. I thought it was more about love, not death. And, finally I read what I consider required Mississippi reading: Willie Morris's Good Ol' Boy, which paints a perfect picture of Yazoo City, Mississippi, through the eyes of an 11-year-old boy. A fun, lighthearted book about small-town Mississippi. What's next on the night table? I am still thiking; I will keep you posted.

San Francisco & Yosemite

The Jackson Browns are back from California and had another fantastic trip! We are now counting down until the start of school (August 8th here in Mississippi), but let me tell you the highlights of what might be our best family vacation ever:

Day 1: Arrive in San Francisco; check in to the Tuscan Inn at Fisherman's Wharf (a great hotel with an Italian theme which can't help but strike you as funny as Asian bellmen are dressed as Italian gondoliers!) First activity: eating tomato soup out of sourdough bread bowls at Boudin bakery and then walking over the Golden Gate Bridge.
Day 2: Take a cable car to Union Square and eat at Sears Famous Pancake House. Visit the Women Impressionist Exhibit at the Legion of Honor and end the day with a sunset tour of Alcatraz.
Day 3: Drive to Muir Woods and see the redwoods. Continue drive on Highway One to Point Reyes, a beautiful isolated national park where cows graze, deer roam, all beside the rocky cliffs of the Pacific. We first visited it during our honeymoon 14 years ago and enjoyed hiking to the Point Reyes lighthouse with the boys.
Day 4: Departed San Francisco and drove the 3 and a 1/2 hours to Tenaya Lodge located at the entrance of Yosemite. Beautiful resort with two pools, hot tubs, excellent restaurants, a game room--a good alternative if you prefer visiting national parks in comfort like I do. (Not a camper!)
Day 5: First day in the park. We take a tour and I immediately meet a young woman who has graduated from Duke and we buddy up. We see all the highlights of the park: El Capitan, Glacier Point, Half Dome, and all the waterfalls--Yosemite Falls, Bridalveil Falls, Nevada Falls, Vernal Falls--all spectacular! Highlight of the day: a rattlesnake eating a baby squirrel (literally had it in his mouth! a true National Geographic moment!)
Day 6: Go back into the park on our own and hike to different waterfalls. Have another great day exploring the park.
Day 7: Back to San Francisco and spend the night at the Westin St.Francis in Union Square, site of the marathon last October. Eat at Puccini & Pinetti, site of celebratory dinner after the marathon. Good, good memories.
Day 8: Back home to Jackson.
Lus will post photos later this week!

Meet Me in St. Louis

The Jackson Browns have recently returned from St. Louis and what a fantastic trip we had! I highly recommend St. Louis for a family vacation. We did a lot and there is still lots more to go back and do. Highlights included going to the top of the Gateway Arch; visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens; experiencing the St. Louis Zoo; stopping at Turtle Park (a children's playground with enormous turtle sized sculptures to climb on and when you do it with an imminent lightning storm in the sky it makes those turtles extra exciting!); City Museum (an urban indoor jungle with caves, tunnels, slides, bridges and all sorts of things to climb and get lost in); and walking down Delmar Ave. and seeing the stars on the St. Louis "Walk of Fame" and eating at the original Blueberry Hill. The only thing we did not get to do was see the Cardinals play at Busch Stadium due to the All-Star break, which was unfortunate because the stadium was walking distance from our hotel! We also did not visit the Anheuser-Busch brewery, but it was timely to be in St. Louis during the historic sale.

And let me comment upon the hotel: the Hyatt Union Station, so-named as it resides within a former train station so the hallways are extremely long as they were originally railroad tracks. The lobby is breathtaking with its stained glass windows and architectural detail. There is the famous "Whispering Arch," where you can speak to someone else located on one side of the arch while you stand on the other side and mysteriously and miraculously carry on a conversation as your voice is transported through the walls of the arch. The boys loved the fact that the hotel is adjoined to a retail mall that had many of their favorite chain restaurants, an indoor bungee trampoline and 3D putt putt. A 9-year old boy's dream!

The Browns are off again and when we return I will fill you in on what I have been reading while I have been traveling. I will just conclude by saying that I am ready for Brideshead Revisited the film now (and it better come to Jackson), and I am reading a book now which in style and subject is Brideshead's complete opposite, Cormac McCarthy's The Road. Both brilliant yet so different.

Sam's Movie Recommendations

The latest movie I saw was Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D. It was a great movie. You could probably compare it to Indiana Jones. The main character is an anti-Indiana Jones. They are both professers but Indiana has loads of students and the main character of Journey, Trevor,only has two. Indiana could solve a mystery by himself. Trevor coudn't have done it without a tour guide. Still it was a very good movie and it was very cool with 3D.

More recommendations to come.

Sam

Sam's Newest Movie Review

The latest movie I have seen Is WALL-E. It was a very interesting movie. To me it seemed like a fable. It showed how you could wreck your future with greed and selfishness. Sam

Back to the Blog

Wow! We just returned from a fantastic trip to North Carolina where Sam attended Duke basketball camp and we played in Greensboro, returning for the traditional 4th of July activities in Sunset Hills park. It was a great trip back, but now it's time to return to the blog and my book list because, even though I was on vacation, I tried to keep up with my reading. So for those of you keeping track with me, I need to add numbers 23 & 24:

#23: The Memory Keeper's Daughter: the entire time I was reading this book, I kept thinking these people need to be in therapy, which I guess is the point. The hero, of course, is the nurse, and her struggle to get services for a child with Downs. Many of us with children who need intervention for their children can relate to her struggle.

#24: *Governess, The Life & Times of the Real Jane Eyres: A book I read for school, since I will be teaching Jane Eyre in the fall. A great book for a book club, though, as Ruth Brandon writes about different 19th century governessess, some well known and some not. Provides important historical perspective for all women.

On the night table: I am debating between Bridehead Revisited since the movie opens next month and Nice Work, a very funny novel by David Lodge that I read over 20 years ago while in graduate school and the BBC World Book Club plans to tackle next week. I will keep you posted.

And what do you think Lus is doing right now? Reading? No--the tour is on!

Sam's Movie Recommendations

I saw two new movies: Get Smart and The Incredible Hulk. Get Smart was very good and very funny. The Incredible Hulk was also very good. Those are two movies you should see.
Sam

NBA

The NBA consists of 30 different teams. The teams I like are the Hornets, Suns, Cavaliers, Magic, Celtics, Rockets, Bulls, Lakers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Heat, Bobcats, 76'ers, Warriors, and Raptors. The teams I kind of like are Jazz, Nuggets, Nets, Blazers, Mavericks, Hawks, Wizards, Pacers, and Kings. The teams I hate are Knicks, Supersonics, Pistons, Spurs, Bucks, and Timberwolves. The best teams in the League are Pistons, Celtics, Magic, Lakers, Spurs, and Hornets. The worst teams are Heat, Supersonics, Grizzlies, and Timberwolves. As for the rest of the teams, some are good and some are bad.

WILL BROWN

More Book Thoughts

NPR is running a commentary on occasion this summer, "Three on a Theme," where a reader suggests three books on a related theme. Of course, I had to submit a suggestion to the powers that be at NPR, as I have taught this exact topic in my UNCG book groups. NPR did reply and apparently liked my idea (they even requested my phone number), but, alas, here I sit still patiently awaiting their call. So I think my two minutes of talking about books Oprah-style has passed and I will simply have to settle for my blog. Here are a couple "Three on a Theme," and if you have any other suggestions, please feel free to suggest, too:

1) "Bella Italia": Want to go to Italy but don't have the money? Then travel with Daisy Miller, Lucy Honeychurch, and Mary Leonard, as they experience Italy throught the novels of Henry James, E.M. Forster, and W. Somerset Maugham respectively. James' novel is titled Daisy Miller; Forster's is A Room with a View (which, by the way, is listed in Entertainment Weekly's list of one of the top 25 new movie classics of the last 25 years so read it and then watch the excellent film); and Maugham's Up at the Villa (which also was made into a film but I wouldn't bother).

2) "Governesses": This summer I am educating myself on all things Jane Eyre as I prepare to teach that novel in the fall in my Women in Art & Literature class. I decided to include it this semester rather than Madame Bovary (I love Flaubert; I just needed a change!). So my recommendation is to begin with the classic, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre; then read Jean Rhys's short novel, Wide Sargasso Sea, which tells the story of Bertha & Rochester before Jane enters the picture (their courtship and her ensuing madness); and finish with the recently released Governess by Ruth Brandon, which is about the real Jane Eyres of the 19th century.

One final book note: check out Entertainment Weekly's list of the top 100 reads of the last 25 years. It's an interesting list and includes one of my favorite novels of all time at #27, A. S. Byatt's Possession. I have read a great many of the novels on the list, but plan to work my way through the list. Who's with me? Let's have an on-line book club!

Sam's Movie Recommendations

The best movies I've seen in 2008 are Iron Man, National Treasure 2,Indiana Jones 4 The Spiderwick Chronicles, Drillbit Taylor,and Kung Fu Panda. I didn't like The Chronicles of Narnia 2 or The Bucket List. More recommendations to come.

Summer Reading List

Since many of you ask me what I am reading, I thought I would quickly catch you up on my 2008 list. I keep a log of the books I read, comparing the number I read to years past and to remember titles. So here's my list for 2008 thusfar (with an asterick by titles I highly recommend):

1. *Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
2. *Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
3. *Rachel Cusk, Arlington Park
4. Lloyd Jones, Mister Pip
5. *Nancy Horan, Loving Frank
6. Brock Clarke, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
7. *John Boyne, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
8. Sara Gruen, Water for Elephants
9. *E.M. Forster, A Room with a View
10.Philip Roth, The Human Stain
11. Greg Mortenson, Three Cups of Tea
12. *W. Somerset Maugham, The Painted Veil
13. Levitt & Dubner, Freakanomics
14. Mario Vargas Llosa, The Bad Girl
15. *Lionel Shriver, The Post-Birthday World
16. *Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre
17. Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture
18. *Geraldine Brooks, People of the Book
19. *Mary McCarthy, The Group
20. John Grisham, The Appeal
21. Baroness Orczy, The Scarlet Pimpernel
22. Jean Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea

It's a mixed bag: a combination of books I obviously teach (A Room with a View,The Painted Veil, Jane Eyre); Will's summer reading (Scarlet Pimpernel); and books for the various book clubs I try to keep up with (Freakanomics, The Bad Girl, People of the Book, Loving Frank, Three Cups of Tea, Mister Pip, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and Water for Elephants). Then, of course, books I simply want to read for whatever reason and really liked (The Group, The Post-Birthday World). A book without an asterick does not mean I disliked it, but would I read it again? Probably not.

WELCOME TO THE JACKSON BROWNS BLOG

As many of you know, since moving to Jackson, MS, exactly two years ago today, we have shared many of our favorite stories and memories in our regular "Mississippi Moments" e-mails. With our blog, we will continue to post these memorable moments, as well as let you know what we are reading, watching, and just thinking about. The Brown Family--Lus (49), Carolyn (45), Will (12)& Sam (9)-read regularly, and we intend to review the books we read as much for ourselves as for our friends who often ask us for recommendations. We look forward to your questions and comments. Enjoy our blog!