Ready to take a break this summer from the Internet and the TV?   Here’s a great list recommended by various  panel members on today’s NPR’s On Point program.  On Point Summer Reading List.   My first choice is one that’s fresh off the presses, “The White Tiger“ by Aravind Adiga (April 2008).

On another note, the last video shop standing here in Concord, MA, announced  that it’s going out of business in a few weeks.  Good deals to be had, yet even a video at ten dollars makes me wonder if I really want to buy it.  With Netflix and Comcast’s On Demand, the only videos that seem to be worth buying any more are your all time favorites.   The All Time Favorites Question was one of my favorites in Hollywood.  My list is topped by The Princess Bride, written by William Goldman.  Comedy is king in my book with Wedding Crashers also on the list.
My seminal teen ‘awakening’ movies were Ordinary People and Breaking Away.  Both depicted people breaking free from insular worlds, with some terrifying side effects.  Troubling, yet eye opening.  One of my most disappointing films was Prince of Tides.   What a great book but Nick Nolte and Barbra Streisand?  What were they thinking?