I actually prefer the book myself. It's over a 1000 pages so it is a bit of a long read, but it fleshes out the characters much more than the movie does especially the slaves.

FWIW, I think Leslie Howard was the go to guy for MGM if they needed someone to play a dreamily romantic character which Ashley Wilkes was supposed to be.

I'm reading a really good book now called "Fat Girl". It's a memoir about growing up fat in America. It's funny and sad at the same time.

Oh and right before I started reading "Fat Girl", I finished "Peter Pan". Ironically, I started reading it the day Michael Jackson died. Supposedly, that was his favorite book and he always wanted to play him in a movie.

Did David McCullough write the John Adams biography? I really enjoyed his Truman biography.

Yes David MCcollough wrote John Adams. He is a terrific writer.
I'm reading The Story Sisters right now by Alice Hoffman. I like her books ,they have a fairy tale style to them.

You know that John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died on the same day. In fact, John Adams' last words were "Thank God Jefferson survives". Actually, I think Jefferson had died a few hours before.

American Sphinx by Joesph J Ellis
The Road to Monticello : The Life and Mind of Thomas Jefferson by Kevin J. Hayes.
The Hemmings Of Monticello by Anette Gordon Reed. This book is about Jefferson's offspring with Sally Hemmings.

Jefferson was a fascinating man. He was a genius I think.

Thanks for the recommendations.

I finally got around to reading Twilight, which I was only peripherally aware of. It was pretty good for a young adult book and I can definitely see why it is so popular. The funny thing was, I kept picturing Adam Lambert as Edward. :)

Oh, does anyone know if the new movie about John Dillinger is good? We were just this past weekend at the house my husband grew up in, in a little tiny town in Indiana, and it was rumored that Dillinger had visited there as he was known to have friends in the area so my husband and I thought it might be interesting to see.

I tried to read Twilight. I just do not like it. The writing is just not that great. Plus the character is so weak , I do not think see is a good role model for girls. Also they mess too much with the vampire myth.I mean a vampire still is a monster. But it is popular. My niece was here and that is all she did was read those books.

We saw Dillinger and enjoyed it. You would probably like especially since you have some connection. he was a very interesting person that's for sure.

Zara - I loved Twilight - the book and the movie! I have since bought the entire series - just haven't gotten around to reading them yet! Adam would be awesome as Edward - but if you see the movie you will get why Robert Pattinson is so popular in the role

My 18 year old son saw that Dillinger (Public Enemy?) movie on Saturday night. He said it was good - not great. I think his expectations were too high. But he was not sorry he spent the money to see it.

That's JMO about the books. I am a vampire geek and I just did not find them to my liking. I also do not like those Anita Blake vampire books , they are horrible.

I agree Public Enemies was good , not great. B-.

I saw the movie Twilight, I didn't like it so I gave away the book without reading it. I guess it was too 'young adult' like.

Right now I'm on book two of the Sookie Stackhouse books.

I just got done reading a really good book called "The Lost German Slave Girl" by John Bailey. He's an Australian writer who was doing research for a book he wanted to do about the legal implications of slavery came across this case and decided to write about it instead. .

Synopsis and review of the book

Quote:

The Lost German Slave Girl is a remarkable account of a German immigrant (Sally Miller) and her legal battle for freedom in antebellum New Orleans. Her story is widely acclaimed in early Louisiana legal history, in part because it featured a suspenseful courtroom battle between the astute legal minds of John Randolph Grymes and Wheelock Upton. The fate of Miller, whether she be proclaimed a free white woman or thrown back into the depravity of slavery, twists and transforms throughout the 1840s in the controversy over whose life into which she was born. John Bailey unravels the complex story of Miller, a fair-skinned slave woman in New Orleans. While sitting on the doorstep of a tenement building, Miller was approached by a member of the New Orleans German immigrant community, who thought her to be their long-lost relation. Miller wholeheartedly accepted her invitation into the German community, which embraced her as one of its own after 25 years of absence, even though she was still legally a black slave. The better part of the study revolves around a dramatic legal battle about identity. Miller, who cannot remember anything from her childhood and refuses to speak openly about her past (supposedly, she was stricken with yellow fever at an early age, thus erasing her memory), plays only a minor character to the legal wrangling between Upton and Grymes. While the two barristers dog it out in the courtroom about the childhood of Miller, she sits mute. It is discouraging to the reader that the fundamental theme of identity in The Lost German Slave Girl is not disclosed by the central character in the study, nor does she, herself, reveal a single piece of her past.

If you enjoy legal thrillers, you might like this book.

I guess I'm a "young adult" then! WEEEE! I'm young again!!!!!!!!

(or I'm just a lousy reader )