En Garde!

I just recently re-watched the film The Princess Bride for the billionth time. As I watched it, I was reminded, yet again, of how much I love the sword fights in that movie, which then prompted my little brain to start reminiscing about other cinematic sword fights, which then prompted a blog post. This is how my funny little world works. So, without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite cinematic sword fights. (I tried to keep my discussions spoiler-free, in case you haven't seen the films yet.)

1. Robin Hood vs. Sir Guy of Gisbourne (The Adventures of Robin Hood)
Errol Flynn is the granddaddy of swashbuckling adventures and sword fights. If you've never seen one of his films, you should Netflix one immediately! (I also recommend Captain Blood.) His final duel with the evil Basil Rathbone in Robin Hood is something to be seen, and set the precedent for all cinematic sword fights to follow.

2. The Dread Pirate Roberts vs. Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride)
Take one cunning and relentless pirate, add in a Spaniard who has studied sword fighting his whole life, stir in some witty banter, and a mutual respect for each other's skill, and you have a recipe for one of the most fun and funniest sword fights ever. This battle is second only to Inigo’s sword fight of vengeance later in the film.

3. Darth Vader vs. Luke Skywalker (Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back)
Okay, so they're lightsabers, not actual swords, but I think this still counts. When you start watching the Star Wars trilogy for the first time, this is the duel that you are just dying to see. Remember how scary, intimidating and evil Darth Vader was, the first time you saw these films? Remember how scared you were for Luke, the young, inexperienced, newly trained jedi? This is a pretty intense sword fight, complete with flying objects (courtesy of The Force) and it ends in a climax that no one saw coming...

4. Tristan vs. Prince Septimus (Stardust)
I could go on for days about my love for this movie, but I will try to refrain. In this fairy tale (which is a good rival for The Princess Bride, by the way) a poor shopboy, Tristan, has gone on an adventure and along the way he was taught how to sword fight by Lightening Pirates (now doesn't that alone just intrigue you to go out and rent it?). This sword fight is hard to talk about, without giving away a fun plot point. Let's just say the fight choreography is imaginative, hilarious, exciting and unlike anything I'd ever seen before. I still marvel at it every time I watch it. 5. Rob Roy vs. Archibald Cunningham (Rob Roy)
I actually didn't care for this film, but it has one of the greatest sword fights in it, with one of the most evil villains I've seen on screen. Suffice it to say that Rob Roy's life throughout the first part of the movie has been like a bad country western song and Archibald is to blame for all of it. Rob Roy is an injured broken man. Archibald is smug and cunning. The fight goes for eight minutes on film, and the intensity is palpable; you feel every slash and parry of the swords.

6. The Bride vs. Elle Driver (Kill Bill: Vol. 2)

This one was hard to chose, because pretty much any sword fight from Kill Bill 1 or 2 is awesome and each one is completely different. There's the mega sword fight with The Bride and the Crazy 88 or the quiet, calculated intense fight she has with O-Ren Ishi in the snow, or the seated-in-a-chair sword fight she has with Bill. However, I would have to say The Bride's fight with Elle in Budd's tiny trailer is the one I enjoyed the most. Trapped in that confined space, where they can't even fully unsheath their huge samurai swords without knocking into a wall, you spend half the time laughing and the other half in awe at how they manage to sword fight and destroy a trailer all at the same time.

7. Yu Shu Lien vs. Jen Yu (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon)

Welcome to the dojo! In this corner we have Yu (Michelle Yeoh) the wise, calm, seasoned veteran who knows her stuff. In the other corner we have the much younger Jen (Ziyi Zhang) who has raw talent, a cocky attitude and is wielding the Green Sword of Destiny. Who will win? It's fun to see the fear and uncertainty in Jen's eyes as she is confronted with a master. It's also fun to see Yu pull every sword and weapon off the wall and use it during the battle. This is another movie where there are so many fabulous fight scenes, it's hard to pick a favorite, but this is the one that everyone seems to remember.

8. Will Turner vs. Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl)
It has a pirate you want to love, a young hero you want to root for, and a donkey...what more could you ask for? Out of all the swashbuckling in this trilogy, the initial meeting of Will and Jack in the blacksmith's shop is still the best sword fight of them all. The use of the space is clever, both of their characters fight in a way that is a reflection of their personalities, and you're not quite sure yet who you should be rooting for. It's just pure fun!

9. Alejandro and Don Diego (The Mask of Zorro)
Not so much a sword fight as it is a training session, I love the scene in this movie where the retiring Zorro (played by Anthony Hopkins) schools the new Zorro (played by Antonio Bandaras) in the ways of sword fighting. There's some very fast and very well choreographed swordplay throughout this movie (and a story that isn't dumbed down for the masses). It lives up honorably to the Zorro tradition.


10. Connor MacLeod vs. Kurgan (Highlander)
This movie has it all: science-fiction, Scottish claymores, immortality, time travel. They're battling over control of the universe. And there can only be one...


Honorable Mention: King Arthur vs. The Black Knight (Monty Python and the Holy Grail)
'Tis but a scratch...


As I made this list, I noticed a pattern emerging. Yes, most of these fights are expertly choreographed, utilizing some amazing sets, and was filmed in the most artistic way, but the thing that I think makes them stand out the most is how emotionally charged they are. These fights all feature two complex and thoroughly fleshed out characters that have serious stakes on the line. There is so much more behind the encounter that informs the scene, and it is about more than just two people waggling swords at each other. This is film making at its finest. Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know which ones I missed (or ranked too low/high).

Burton (and Luna) Invite You To Visit Wonderland

Well, hello there! It has been such a dreadful long time since I've last seen some of you. As I am sure you are quite all aware, it is so very easy to get lost in Wonderland. My sincerest apologies for such a long absence. Oh my! And there are several of you here whom I have never made your acquaintance. Let us be polite now. Introductions all around. My name is Luna Spinner. My sister, Raven, and I have been lost deep in the Forest of Forgetfulness for some time now, which has made us quite mad. But do not fear, we are all mad here!

As some of you know, Raven and I used to watch over a portal into Wonderland a long time ago. The passageway still exists, if you're clever enough to search for it, peering through your Looking Glass. (I am told that you refer to them as "computer screens" in your modern parlance.) However, I must warn you, it is quite filled with cobwebs and dusty memories now. Raven and I see that the World Wide Web has moved on quite a bit since we first opened our passageway, and your modern modes of transport into Wonderland are so mind-boggling and beautiful, compared to our humble little door. It does seem that our writing spaces are the only things left from our Wonderland that seem to be advancing along with you. Raven has her writing desk, and I have my little storm in a teacup.

The reason for my writing to you, is that I met a very strange and quite gloomy gentleman recently: Mister Timothy Burton. He makes pictures that can move! It is the greatest type of magic I've ever seen. Not only that, but the dear fellow has found his own portal into Wonderland and has made one of these "moving pictures" about it. As you know, entrances into Wonderland are few and far between, so I made great haste to write and tell you all about it. The portal opens on the 5th of March, 2010, which does seem like such an awful long time to wait. I thought I would share a few snapshots with you, that he so graciously revealed to me.

My my, but has Miss Alice all but grown up! And our dear friend, the Mad Hatter, seems to have grown quite strange in countenance, since last we saw him. But Wonderland is still as beautiful and mysterious and dark as it ever was. With a guide like Mister Burton, I am sure he will reveal to us beauties never yet to be seen.

I will close this missive now, as I must attend to my spinning. If you would be so kind, please send me a polite "comment" and let me know what you think of these stunning pictures.

Most sincerely yours,

Luna Spinner

Great Purge of 2009 (Part 3)

I've been occupied over the last several weekends with a huge de-cluttering, de-junking, and organizational project, which I like to refer to as The Great Purge of Ought Nine. In my last post, I discussed the de-cluttering of my kitchen. Today I’ll talk about how I conquered my living room, family room and linen closet.

I will confess it right now. My husband and I are media junkies. We voraciously consume books, DVDs, and CDs. As a result, we are always having storage issues and challenges. We’re pretty good about semi-regularly sifting through our books and taking them to the used book store (Thrifty Joe’s or Bookman’s) for a little extra cash. But if it’s a favorite book, we will keep it and read it again. We’ve also been known to mark up our books for future reference. So, storage was the main problem in both these rooms.

My husband tackled the bookshelves. He reorganized them by genre and then alphabetically. This took more than one weekend for him to accomplish, and frankly, we're still not done, because we have bookcases in every room of the house. While he worked on the books, I attacked the DVD collection. I sorted out the duplicate DVDs (we’d switched to the Blu-ray format and had movies in both formats), pulled out the DVDs we didn’t like which had been gifted to us, and I tried to pare it down to only the movies that we watch repeatedly. This could still use some more refining, but at least for now, they are in alphabetical order and put away.

Not only do we enjoy our media, but we’re also collectors by nature. On the shelves in front of the books were all our knickknacks. I knew they were tacky and that they were less “interior design” and more “junky clutter”, but I liked them. (Does this mean I have white trash, modern mobile home taste? I hope not.) We have a lot of interests, and when people find out what you’re interested in or what you like, that doesn’t help the matter either, because then you get gifted with a bunch of stuff. This was a difficult thing to de-clutter. I ended up coming to a compromise, like I did with the magnets on the fridge, because even if these items aren’t 100% aesthetically pleasing to the average eye, they make us happy.

So instead of getting rid of everything, I tried to pare them down as much as I could, and tried to keep only the items that really were little works of art. I would hold an item in my hand, trying so hard to put it in the “Sell” box. Then I’d hold it up to the husband and ask, “Sell or keep?” He’d think for a minute, then say, “Sell.” Then I’d hold onto it for a few minutes longer and finally, reluctantly, put it in the “Sell” box. Part of the problem was the memories I associated with the items, or the people I associated them with. I had to recognize that memories and friends are still there and don’t change, just because I threw out the physical item connected to them. I also tried to keep reminding myself that it would be less stuff to dust.

Some of these decorative items were easier to part with than others. We’d been given some wall art, decorative plaques, and other things over the years for our wedding and such that were very sweet sentiments, but were never really my style. I only displayed them because of my feelings for the people who gave them to me, not because I particularly liked the item. Most of these things, strangely enough, were pink or had pink accents on them. The last time I was into the color pink, I was probably 8 years old. It’s just not my thing anymore. Not only that, but pink is not even in the color scheme in either one of these rooms.

These two rooms were fairly easy to de-clutter, especially after the huge task of de-cluttering the kitchen. The last area left, before we started on the back end of the house, was the linen closet in the hall. Since it's just the two of us, we don't have a ton of bed linens or towels to store, but this area had become a catch-all for all kinds of other things. We love to play board games, so all our games had found their way to this closet. I also like candles, so all my decorative candle holders, candle refills, etc. were there as well. It really just needed some tiding up and some better organization. I moved the games from the very bottom shelf (where you had to get on your knees to search for a game) to a middle shelf, where it would be easier to access them. I collected up all the little games, dice, packs of cards, etc. and put them in a plastic bin/box so they wouldn't get lost. I removed the games we didn't like and put them in the "Sell" box. I left the candles on the same shelf, but organized them better. Some candleholders that I never use made their way to the "Sell" box as well. (This is going to be one ginormous yard sale by the time I get done!) Lastly, I put seasonal bed linens, such as heavy winter blankets (which we hardly ever use in Arizona) up onto a higher shelf, and moved the every day linens to a more central, middle shelf

Thank heavens our community yard sale is in October. I think this project is going to take me all the way up to that date! If only I didn't have to work during the day, I could spend more time on it. Up next… the guest bedroom and our two bathrooms. Everything in its place, and a place for everything!

P.S. An update, in regards to my kitchen... Since the de-cluttering, I'd hoped the prepping and logistics of cooking would be easier, and would propel me to continue towards my goal of cooking at home, and making more healthy meals. I'm pleased to report that we're almost on WEEK THREE of eating at home (almost every night)! Who knew that de-cluttering could be so life changing?

Book Bite - Overseas Adventures

It’s said that there are only two ways to hone your writing craft and become a better writer: read a lot and write a lot. Not only should you read great works of fiction, but you should read pedestrian or even bad works as well, so that you learn what not to do. In the fast-paced world that we live in, even with the best of time management skills, I never seemed to have the time to work on my writing or to spend time reading. This was a serious crime, considering my love and passion for both things. How did I let this happen? I asked myself.

The good news is I’m working on ways to improve upon this, and make time in my life for those things which I truly love and give me pleasure. I’ve dedicated my lunch hour at work to reading time. I’ve also tried to dedicate more time in the evenings and weekends for my writing. However, one of the great developments in the last year has been the book club that I was invited to join. This has forced me to read at least one book a month, and it has also forced me to read outside of my favorite genres and explore other styles of writing that I might not have otherwise been exposed to. The following is a brief review of several of the books I have read over the last few months, all of which by coincidence happen to take place overseas.
The historical fiction, Moloka’i by Alan Brennert, follows the story of a young Hawaiian girl who develops leprosy and is exiled to the leper colony on the island of Moloka’i. Set in the 1800s, it is a heartbreaking look at the misunderstandings of leprosy, and the shame and ostracizing of those who contracted it, as well as their families.

This book was very depressing, with one terrible turn of events after another. The subject matter was so sad; it was hard to force myself to continue reading it. However, the main character was plucky and engaging and I kept reading because I wanted to know what happened to her. This book does have a victorious, redemptive end, but after slogging through so much misery, it seemed like too little too late. But maybe that was the point? For these misunderstood and mistreated people a cure and acceptance came too late.

At times the writing was effectively sensitive while at other times it was very melodramatic. Although the descriptions of Hawaii and the settings are vivid, I think the author tried to do too much in one book: recount medical history of leprosy, discuss the fall of Hawaiian culture as it is taken over by the U.S.A., tell the personal story of this young girl, as well as discuss the pagan spirituality of the Hawaiian natives versus the new influx of Catholicism and Christianity. All of this was written with an often detached, non-committal point of view, which I suppose is a common problem with historical fiction, it reads more like a survey of history than a compelling story with heart.

Another work that felt like a real-life story thinly veiled by fiction was Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. The novel is told mostly in backstories, by the narrator, a journalist stationed in Thailand. He begins to investigate the suicide of an American anthropologist in a Thai jail, where she was serving 50 years for murder, and as he delves into her story, he becomes more obsessed. He goes into great detail about the native Thai tribe that the anthropologist lived with and their culture, religion, rituals etc.

Then, mid-story, Berlinski takes a huge detour and spends quite a bit of the book describing a missionary family’s journey to Thailand and their work there trying to convert the natives. He describes in detail several generations of this family. I figured all of this would intertwine and become important to the main plot line with the anthropologist, but it turns out it really has nothing to do with it, which was frustrating and felt like a waste of time. Not only that, but this detour slowed down the pace of the murder-mystery that is at the heart of the book.

Fieldwork has the same problem as Moloka’i, in that the author describes both sides of a culture war, but refuses to choose a side. I don’t need to be told what to think about any given topic, but when a fiction author is non-committal about who is in the wrong and who is in the right, it leaves for lukewarm feelings about the whole story in general.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell takes place in England in the present day. In the modern day, we meet Iris, a single woman who runs an antique clothing store. She is contacted by a mental institution. They notify her, the next of kin, that her great aunt, Esme Lennox, is being discharged into her care. The only problem is Iris never knew the great aunt even existed. Her grandmother always spoke of being an only child. The rest of the book bounces back and forth between the present day and the 1920s when Esme was a child. We see how Esme affects Iris’ life and challenges her, in the present day, while we also see into the past, how Esme’s free spirit didn’t sit well in the repressed British culture she grew up in. In contrast to her wild spirit, we also meet Esme’s sister Kitty, and are shown the events that unfolded that lead to Esme being committed at the age of 16.

I really enjoyed the flashbacks to Esme as a child. The author’s depictions of that time period are very vivid and Esme is an interesting character. She was a creative, imaginative girl who had the misfortune of being involved in some tragic events. It was heartbreaking to see how mental trauma was dealt with, especially in women, during that time period. It was obvious the author had done her homework in regards to this history.

The book was a quick read, and in some ways a real page turner, as the author slowly reveals the events that lead up to how Esme “disappeared” from her family. However, the ending was cliché, predictable and unsatisfying. Additionally, I had a hard time connecting to Iris as one of the main characters. I found her unlikeable for several reasons, and felt that some of the side plotline with her and her step-brother to be unbelievable and forced. It was an interesting gothic family drama, but I didn’t appreciate the conclusions the author came to, after everything the characters had been through.

Regardless of how successful or unsuccessful the book club picks have been, they’ve all been useful in helping me to grow as a person and a writer. If you end up reading any of these three books, leave me a comment and let me know what you thought. Or, if you’ve read a book that wasn’t very good, but taught you a lot about “what not to do” when writing, I invite you to share your thoughts as well.

The Great Purge of 2009 (Part 2)

I've been occupied over the last several weekends with a huge decluttering, de-junking, and organizational project, which I like to refer to as The Great Purge of Ought Nine. In my last post, I discussed the decluttering of my garage and laundry room. Today I’ll talk about how I conquered my kitchen.

First of all, I should tell you that this little area of the home took me three solid days to declutter, clean and organize, which was surprising, considering how little I use my kitchen. During that time, we had to eat out, because the kitchen was a dismantled mess. Since this was an intensive area to declutter, this will be a somewhat longer post. So settle in…here we go…

I decided to tackle the pantry first. I have a large pantry, and it’s just me and my husband, so this area collects a lot more junk than just junk food. I pulled out the non-food items first, which included all my seasonal tablecloths, holiday dishes, good china, cake stands, cake decorating supplies, candy making supplies, popcorn popper, cookbooks and more.

Once I decided what to keep, what to toss and what to sell, I then moved on to the food items. I tossed anything that was past its expiration date. (There is a handy website here that will help you determine the shelf life of various items.) I felt bad throwing all that food away. If I had known those food items were in there, I would have used them, but the pantry was such a jumbled mess, I couldn’t see half of what I had. Lesson learned.

Then I decided what each shelf should hold. The left-hand side of the pantry would be for non-food items. The middle and right-hand side of the pantry would be for food items. I put things that I use less-often, like seasonal items, on the higher shelves and things I use frequently on the middle shelves, so I would have easier access to them. One shelf was for all my baking supplies, another for all my candy making supplies, etc. By the time I was done, it was a calm, logical, organized thing of beauty.

Next it was on to all the cabinets. Peter Walsh has some great tips and tricks to figure out what you really use and what you never touch, so that you know what to get rid of. I put all the weird kitchen gadgets and cooking utensils in the “sell” box, along with the pizza stone (never used), the fry cooker (unhealthy) and an assortment of coffee mugs (we don’t even drink coffee). Where do all these mugs come from? I only kept about a third of them, which are our favorites and the ones we use all the time. I organized all my special cake pans into one area, and went through my cookie cutters and only kept the ones I liked and used. When it came to the Tupperware, again, I only kept the useful pieces. The rest of them went into the “sell” box and I re-purposed a couple of them to be containers for smaller items in the laundry room, and for some of my cake decorating tools, etc.

The end was near! Now all that was left were the miscellaneous areas. I got rid of a bunch of knickknacks and clutter on the counters, including the TV, which we never watched anymore. This freed up so much counter space, I felt like I’d gotten a new kitchen! I got rid of the junk drawer, which is something Walsh also recommends, since it’s just a catch-all for junk you don’t know what to do with. I threw away most of what was in that drawer. I like tea, and had acquired a collection of teapots (some of them decorative) and tea cups which were displayed on top of my refrigerator. I forced myself to make hard choices, and only kept the ones that were functional, that I liked and used. Walsh believes that visual clutter causes mental clutter, and I wholeheartedly agree. He uses this reasoning to get rid of all magnets, pictures, drawings and other assorted nonsense that gets attached to the outside of your refrigerator. Well, I downsized as many of the magnets as I could, but I just couldn’t bear to get rid of everything. I’m always putting up new pictures of my friends and their kids, and the drawings they make for me. And every single time I go into the kitchen, I look at it all, and it makes me smile. So that was one concession I made.

The final step was to do some serious spring cleaning on the kitchen from top to bottom. I cleaned all surfaces, cleaned the inside of the refrigerator, and even conditioned my cabinets. When I first started decluttering the kitchen I was worried that I was going to have to get some organizational bins or shelf dividers. Surprisingly, no extra organizational items were needed really. I would like to make some little tiered stair steps for my spices, so you can see everything, and I would like to get a three-ring binder to put all my recipes in, but that’s about it. I did buy a couple of glass baking dishes to replace the cheap rusted tin ones that I threw away. I also bought a white board/message center type thing to hang by the phone, to help get rid of the paper clutter and mail that was always junking up the counter space. Now I sort mail over the trash can, deal with it immediately, and only tack up important things onto the board.

As I’ve admitted in a previous post, I am not the best cook. The only thing I know how to make is reservations. But I’ve been trying to work on that since that first post, and over the last year, I think I’ve made some good progress. I still don’t enjoy cooking, but at least it’s a lot easier now. I had no idea how much of an impact a clutter-free, organized kitchen would have on my prep time. Even cake decorating (something I do enjoy) was so much easier and quicker, since I could just pull out my tools and get to work. Hopefully, now that the prepping and logistics of cooking is easier, it will propel me to continue in my goal to cook at home, and make more healthy meals. Who knew that decluttering could be so life changing? Up next… the living room and linen closet. Everything in its place, and a place for everything!

UPDATE - The Problem with Allegorical Novels (Part 2)

I thought I would clarify a few things about the post I wrote about a week ago, regarding allegorical novels that don't work. In my post, I wanted to talk about two things:

1. How The Shack just isn't a good work of fiction or a good use of allegory and

2. I wanted to talk about how people no longer discriminate between fiction and non-fiction in literature; how truth is relative; and start a discussion in the comments as to what we can do to correct that error in thinking.

However, I feel like I was a bit remiss or perhaps irresponsible in not pointing out more clearly the theological problems with The Shack. I was writing my post from the perspective of a Christian, with the idea of a Christian audience in mind. I get in my little bubble and forget that this blog is accessible to the whole blogosphere and there might be people reading this other than my friends and acquaintences.

If you are Christian who is grounded in the Word, there's nothing wrong with reading The Shack as a piece of fiction. As I said, it is an interesting, although not very successful or accurate, exercise in describing the Trinity. Christians should read all written work (both fiction and non-fiction) with discernment, and hopefully this book will spur you on to deeper study of the Trinity. However, this book can be potentially very dangerous for a new Christian, or for a non-believer.

I just read an extremely thoughtful, well-written critical review of The Shack and thought I would paraphrase the six major problems that were outlined in the review. Information about where to obtain the full review is at the bottom of this post.*

1. The book presents Christians as not having understood the faith. In the story, experience outweighs revelation and Christianity must be revised in order to be understood.

2. The book presents a false view of God, that is contrary to scripture.

3. The book claims that God does not need to punish sin, which is also in direct contradiction to scripture.

4. The book presents the false view of the person and work of Christ, and a false understanding of the Incarnation.

5. The book has a false understanding of hierarchy in the Bible and within the Trinity.

6. The book promises freedom without presenting the Gospel.

*The Shack: Where Tragedy Confronts Eternity, Book Review by William C. Roach, Christian Apologetics Journal, Volume 7, No. 2, Fall 2008, (c) by Southern Evangelical Seminary 2008

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

I've been thinking a lot lately about that old adage, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder."

For example, I really dislike the movie The Fifth Element. I could easily write a long essay on everything I think is wrong with it. If pressed, I would have a difficult time finding one redeeming quality about it (maybe the blue opera singer... she was kinda cool). Yet, for one of my dear friends, it is one of her top 10 favorite movies. What does she see, that I don't? How does this movie speak to her in a way that otherwise just escapes me? Conversely, my favorite movie of all-time is The Crow. Yet I'll be the first person to tell you that it's not an Oscar-caliber movie, that it can sometimes be cheesy and that it sometimes plays like one long music video. Even with knowing all its flaws, why does it still hold such a special place in my heart?

A while back, I wrote about popular songs that dealt with loss of a loved one. I found songs like "Tears in Heaven" by Eric Clapton or "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan to be beautiful songs in their own way, but I also felt like they were cliche hallmark cards that didn't speak truthfully about loss. They didn't strike me emotionally as did the song "Cancer" by My Chemical Romance. Is it because one song is better than another, technically? Is it the style of music? Speaking of styles of music, I can listen to some styles of rock music and be totally moved, while someone else can listen to it and hear "noise and screaming".

In yet another example, the book club I belong to decided to read one of my favorite books, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. It's a book I've read over and over again, I love it so much. Yet several of the book club members found it incredibly depressing, a chore to get through and just not very good. How could something that is so cherished and dear to me, be such a pain for someone else to read?

I think the answer to this question is that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. More specifically, we all approach art through the lens of our own experiences. We may have all experienced being in love, or the loss of a loved one, but we all express it in different ways. So what may speak to one person’s heart, may not to another, yet both works may stand on their own merits. That's what is so beautiful about the arts: they are so varied in their ways of communicating and connecting to people. I try very hard to remember this, and to be open to experiencing other art that may not necessarily be my cup of tea. Even if it doesn't speak to me personally, I just might learn something, and I think it helps me to learn more about the person who recommended it to me.

Thank heavens for these differences of opinion! Imagine if we all agreed on what was good art? Life would be boring, and the discussions at my book club would be short and unnecessary. (A big "thanks" goes here to my book club, for forcing me to read outside of my comfort zone and expose myself to other genres of literature that I might not have picked up otherwise.) How about you? Do you have a favorite movie, or book, or type of music, that is near and dear to your heart, but that no one else seems to appreciate? Why do you think it connects to you, but not to others?