Blurbs From the Branch: Rhoda Penmark: The Ultimate Bad Girl

The first time I saw The Bad Seed was in high school, and I immediately loved it. This Warner Bros. film from 1956, starring Nancy Kelly and Patty McCormack , is a creepy tale about Rhoda Penmark, an 8 year old girl who coldly kills any person that stands in the way of what she wants. The story centers not on Rhoda herself, but on her mother, Christine Penmark. Christine is torn between revulsion at her daughter’s murderous personality, and a desire to protect her child at any cost. It wasn’t until my senior year of college that I discovered that the movie is actually based on a novel by William March, published in 1952. I have since read the book twice and seen the movie countless times. The book is subtle and introspective, with most of the suspense coming from Christine’s thoughts and discovery of Rhoda’s evil nature. Less than a year after its publication, the book was adapted for the stage. The movie uses the same script as the play, and stars six of the original Broadway cast, including Kelly and McCormack. Because of this, the movie is a tad over the top and melodramatic, but this only makes me love it more. The ending to the movie is different from the book, and I can’t decide which one is better, although the book’s ending is a little creepier. The book and movie can be taken either as two halves of the same whole, or as separate entities. I highly recommend both to anybody who loves a good psychological thriller.

-Becca

Inside Scoop: Wax on… Wax off…

Last night I was watching the newer Karate Kid for the zillionth time (it’s a guaranteed favorite for foster kids). The training that Dre Parker goes through using the jacket and “hang it up, put it on, drop it, pick it up…” reminded me of several books I’ve cataloged recently about forming new habits and willpower, and the brain activities involved in doing this.

The field of brain science has exploded in recent years moving beyond biology to include chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics, medicine and allied disciplines, philosophy, physics, and psychology and the social sciences. This is due in large part to advances in genetics, electrophysiology, computational neuroscience, and molecular biology. The implications for continued discoveries using a multi-disciplinary approach is, well… mind blowing.

We don’t break habits, we replace them with something else, and we can’t fix problems, but we can discover what’s missing that, if it were to exist, would shift us into no problem. These books might lead you to something that works for you:

The power of habit: why we do what we do in life and business by Charles Duhigg and Breaking the habit of being yourself: How to lose your mind and create a new one, by Dr. Joe Dispenza both deal with the topic of habits but from very different angles. Duhigg became fascinated with how we create habits while working as a newspaper reporter in Iraq. He learned that the military are experts on habit-formation, and that much of their methodology is used by corporations to market products to the public. Applying their techniques he has been able to lose weight, train for a marathon and produce more. 

Dr. Dispenza, a practicing chiropractor, who was also featured in the movie  What the BLEEP Do We Know!? combines research from a mix of disciplines including quantum physics, neuroscience, brain chemistry, biology, and genetics to develop a program that bridges science and spirituality.

Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength, by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney, is strongly recommended by Nancy here in Tech Services. This book looks at self-control through psychology, and discovers that willpower actually operates like a muscle, and can be strengthened with practice and fatigued by overuse. They also found that willpower – essentially a mental activity, is fueled by glucose, and it can be bolstered simply by replenishing the brain’s store of fuel. That’s why eating and sleeping or failing to do so can have dramatic effects on self-control. This book supports the idea that improving willpower is the surest way to a better life and conversely, most major personal and social problems center on failure of self-control. Stories are included about Eric Clapton and his love of alcohol and drugs; Stanley who discovered Dr. Livingstone, and Oprah Winfrey and Drew Carey.  — Erin

Books to Film – Winter Edition

In theaters now:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer – Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is a precocious Francophile who idolizes Stephen Hawking and plays the tambourine extremely well. He’s also a boy struggling to come to terms with his father’s death in the World Trade Center attacks. As he searches New York City for the lock that fits a mysterious key he left behind, Oskar discovers much more than he could have imagined.  

One for the Money by Janet Evanovich – Out of work and out of money, Stephanie Plum lands a job as bounty hunter and her first prey is none other than Joe Morelli, the macho pig who deflowered her in high school and bragged on the lavatory wall of Mario’s Sub Shop. Now a cop, he is wanted for murder. The intriguing thing is she still rather fancies him and even more intriguing is that he will save her life.

Big Miracle (also published as Freeing the Whales) by Tom Rose – Feb. 3rd – The real story behind the remarkable, bizarre, and often uproarious event that mesmerized the world for weeks. On October 7, 1988, an Inuit hunter found three California Gray Whales imprisoned in the Arctic ice. In the past, as was nature’s way, trapped whales always died. Not this time. Rose compellingly describes how oil company executives, Greenpeace activists, Eskimos, businessmen, and military officers heroically worked together to save the whales.

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill – The classic ghost story about the haunting of a small English town.

The Secret World of Arrietty, based on The Borrowers by Mary Norton – Miniature people who live in an old country house by borrowing things from the humans are forced to emigrate from their home under the clock.

Coming to theaters soon:

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss - The Once-ler describes the results of the local pollution problem in Dr. Seuss’ classic environmental tale.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday – This UK bestseller introduces us to an unlikely hero who learns to believe in the impossible.

The Inside Scoop: You Saw the Film – Now Read the Book!

Attention Anglophiles! If you loved the movie “The King’s Speech”, the book of the same name, written by Mark Logue, grandson of Lionel Logue, will add to your enjoyment. Letters, photos and diaries that are in the grandson’s possession were shared with filmmakers and became the basis for this book. Details of Logue’s ancestry and life in Australia are included, as well as comments about speech therapy over the years. When I watched the movie, I never got a true sense of the timeline of events, as none of the characters aged visibly. The movie covers the years spanning from 1926 through 1939. Logue was summoned to the Palace often when the King was due to give a speech. He spent many Christmas days with the Royal family so that he was present for the annual Christmas Day message from the King that was broadcast live. Their friendship continued beyond the point where the King felt enough confidence to speak in public without Logue at his side and lasted till the King’s death in 1952. The fabulous Mozart and Beethoven pieces that are part of the soundtrack are wonderful to listen to also. Enjoy! -Rita

Books to Film: Holiday Edition!

Check out these books that inspired current feature films!

In theaters now:

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré – British agent George Smiley hunts for a mole in the Secret Service and begins his epic game of international chess with his Soviet counterpart, an agent named Karla.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - This is the second film in this series loosely based on the Sherlock Holmes books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Coming Soon to theaters:

The Adventures of Tintin by Hergé – The film is based on the series of comic books about a young Belgian reporter named Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson - The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger, a young scion of one of the wealthiest families in Sweden, gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist, recently at the wrong end of a libel case, to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance. Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old, pierced, tattooed genius hacker, possessed of the hard-earned wisdom of someone twice her age–and a terrifying capacity for ruthlessness–assists Blomkvist with the investigation. This unlikely team discovers a vein of nearly unfathomable iniquity running through the Vanger family, an astonishing corruption at the highest echelon of Swedish industrialism–and a surprising connection between themselves.

We Bought a Zoo by Benjamin Mee – A former British newspaper columnist describes how he uprooted his family to the English countryside and purchased a dilapidated zoo, home to more than two hundred exotic animals, which he planned to refurbish and reopen as a family business, a scheme complicated by a lack of money, skeptical staff, family tension, and his wife’s devastating illness. 

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo – Joey the horse recalls his experiences growing up on an English farm, his struggle for survival as a cavalry horse during World War I, and his reunion with his beloved master.