What are you reading? Avoiding reading? Watching?

What are you reading? What do you really want to read? What have you avoided reading that you should read? What are you watching on TV? At the movies? What's your opinion of new shows like Revolution?
As for me, I'm very absorbed in Justin Cronin's The Passage. I've never read a book this long (900+ pages!), and I keep being amazed that it's totally holding my attention! Has anyone read it? What did you think? (No spoilers, please). It occurs to me that it's had a huge influence on other plotmasters, including Eric Kripke, the creator of the new TV show, Revolution, where the batteries and power all blinker out in a post-tech world. But if The Passage just came out, that cross-pollination would be impossible, right? I guess it proves that ideas truly ARE "in the air".

Which brings me to Revolution. I found that in the first episode, I was chuckling at the "wrong" places, like the scene where the militias and the villagers exchange fire. No, I'm not a lover of violence. It had much more to do with the fact that this battle seemed so predictable, and staged, and the villagers seemed so perfectly put together in their survivalist gear: patched American Eagle jeans and artfully sweat-dotted tee-shirts. Each woman had a crossbow a la Hunger Games huntress, Katniss Everdeen. Call me cynical, but these types of shows (and novels) need to go further than simply window-dressing a post-apoc, post-tech setting. The one shining gem in the first episode, for me, was the geek guy (worked for Google?) who was really out of shape but super-witty and charming in his dark asides. I am eager to see how this geekster does on a long, grueling hike with only a sinewy squirrel for dinner!

As far as other reading material, I am thoroughly enjoying a client's middle-grade fantasy manuscript, the second one that I've worked on for her. I LOVE it when I can see how much better someone's writing is getting, partially from my counsel. I feel like a proud mama bear.
As far as reading that I should be getting to? Well, I need to re-read Vonnegut's BLUEBEARD, a wicked send-up of the art world of the sixties. I'm teaching this book in a few weeks, and I need to write up class discussion questions and essay prompts. So, it's the surrounding work, not the book itself, that has me a little anxious.
Now, tell me all about what you're reading, avoiding reading, watching!

A BEAUTIFUL SHORT FILM, INSPIRED BY BOOKS - AND A HURRICANE

Morris and Humpty Dumpty [source]

Have you seen the Oscar nominated short film, "The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore"?  The animation is riveting, but so is the story. The first scene opens, with "Pop Goes the Weasel" playing in the background, and the camera shot panning down to Morris. He is sitting on his (New-Orleans-French-Quarter-looking) balcony, humming to himself and writing in his journal when, suddenly a strong wind kicks up, blowing his words right off the page.  Ultimately - in true Wizard of Oz style - he and all his books are swept away as well.  This occurrence, like the song accompanying it, seems nonsensical.

"Why" and "Where" are the questions that make you want to watch until the end.  And the engaging little Humpty Dumpty flip-book character, stylized animation, and Buster Keaton dance numbers (albeit with stick-leg books!), won't let you look away.

In doing some quick investigating, I discovered that the impetus for this film, all about Book Love, was born in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  These words of author/creator/director William Joyce brought tears to my eyes:
"The main thing I guess," Joyce said, "was going into the shelters and seeing the displaced people and seeing the kids in these, usually a sports arena, with no privacy or any of the stuff they knew as home. But they had been given books -- there were different organizations to make sure kids had books to read while they were in the shelter. Seeing these kids reading these books and being able to shut out all the sadness and the uncertainty and lose themselves in a book..." [source]

I don't know how long the film will be available to view on YouTube, but I've embedded the link - enjoy! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adzywe9xeIU] (And if you would like to give a book to a child in need, or support groups doing this, visit one of these sites: BookEnds, Better World Books, Reading Is Fundamental [RIF], or Save The Children.)