What books have had the most impact on your life? I'm talking about the kind of books that you read once and hold on to to read again and again over the years...the ones that you think of at odd moments, like little golden threads woven into your mind; the books that, when you're on the last page, you feel a sense of loss because you didn't want it to end...or books that wake you up to certain parts of your life that you have lost focus on....or books that just make you stop and go *hmmmm* in a deep and profound way.
I have many of these, but this weekend, I rented a movie based on a book I read last year for a class, which has become one of these books, so..since it's the one I'm focusing on right now, I'll share it.
The book is Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, which he won a Pulitzer for in 1928 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_of_San_Luis_Rey )and, as stated on the Wikipedia site I linked to, has regained popularity since Tony Blair quoted from it during the 2001 memorial service for victims of September 11th. There are many sites you can go to to learn about it, so I won't get into that here, but this page http://www.netalive.org/topics/32776 is quite touching, and references the same quote that I have held on to (which I also posted on the obscure movie quotes thread) : "But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
It's on sale here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060929863/102-4341750-3428118?v=glance&n=283155 for as little as 26 cents, used.
The movie was made in 2004 and stars F. Murray Abraham, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, among other foreign actors. http://www.thebridgeofsanluisreymovie.com/ It got a lot of bad commentary, but I think if you watch it after reading the book, it's a pretty good attempt.
I'm sure this book won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's one of my little treasures.
I have many of these, but this weekend, I rented a movie based on a book I read last year for a class, which has become one of these books, so..since it's the one I'm focusing on right now, I'll share it.
The book is Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, which he won a Pulitzer for in 1928 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bridge_of_San_Luis_Rey )and, as stated on the Wikipedia site I linked to, has regained popularity since Tony Blair quoted from it during the 2001 memorial service for victims of September 11th. There are many sites you can go to to learn about it, so I won't get into that here, but this page http://www.netalive.org/topics/32776 is quite touching, and references the same quote that I have held on to (which I also posted on the obscure movie quotes thread) : "But soon we shall die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten. But the love will have been enough; all those impulses of love return to the love that made them. Even memory is not necessary for love. There is a land of the living and a land of the dead and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning."
It's on sale here http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060929863/102-4341750-3428118?v=glance&n=283155 for as little as 26 cents, used.
The movie was made in 2004 and stars F. Murray Abraham, Kathy Bates, Gabriel Byrne, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, among other foreign actors. http://www.thebridgeofsanluisreymovie.com/ It got a lot of bad commentary, but I think if you watch it after reading the book, it's a pretty good attempt.
I'm sure this book won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's one of my little treasures.
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