good reads

I recently finished Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen. I hadn't read any of her previous two novels and picked this one up after being intrigued by the cover. Yes, I'm a sucker for box art.

Water For Elephants is narrated by Jacob Jankowski, a ninety-something year old man in a nursing home. He recounts his time working on a traveling train circus during the Depression, after his life is turned upside down in a matter of days. The story floats between the present and his youth seamlessly. While essentially a charming and unique love story, I was highly amused by the tales of all the ~characters~ who work the circus, never having considered how seedy circuses once were. Sara Gruen obviously did a huge amount of research and accents the beginning of each chapter with a historical photo, many of which were provided by the Ringling Brothers Museum.

All in all, I read this very quickly and stayed up far too late in anticipation of what would happen. It has the best qualities of a great summer read, yet with a better tale and better characters.

The top secret weekend happenings that took me to the beach last weekend can apparently be revealed, so says the DIRECTOR.

A couple months ago, my younger sister Lauren told me about the film project she had to complete in order to get her degree (or at least one of them - we are a family of overacheivers, so she is getting a BFA along with her BA). She had pitched a project to her class and it was chosen, so she got to direct it. The plan was to do a short film of the story, Poor Man's Mermaid, written by Clay McLeod Chapman and included in his book, Rest Stop. He's also performed it as part of the Pumpkin Pie Show.

Her choosing this cracked me up, since I actually went to middle school with Clay. We ran track together and there were two of us girls who liked him. Of course, in the end, he chose to date the other girl (beeeee-atch!) and explained to me that he chose her because she was a year older than me. Boys.

Anyway, she thought that I would be the perfect actress for her film, which was hugely flattering, but very daunting. My first and last acting stint involved wearing tights and a leotard with felt feathers attached, rotating while flapping my arms, singing, "I'm a kolo kolo bird."

Then, I learned that the woman in the story is possibly a mermaid, but certainly dead and as such, has no lines. My dream role. Seriously.

Apparently, blonde hair, pale skin and a willingness to work for free were all they needed.

Here's one of the test shots we sent to the others in her group, to show that I was infact good at looking dead. (Impressive talent, I know.)

Patrick and my dad refused to look at it, because it freaked them out. One of Lauren's group members expressed concern about getting me out of school to film. Hello? Apparently, looking dead makes me look 10 years younger than I am....

This past weekend, we filmed it. And it was a very interesting experience. Check back for all the details in Part II. In the meantime, I'll be in my trailer!