Tuesday Book Blogging: Reviews, Teasers, Scandals, Previews

I had a grand time this weekend reading Judi Dench's chatty book And Furthermore. Story after story about her time in the theater (mostly), television and movies. And let me tell you, she is quite the practical joker. For example:

"We had a big scene at Crewe Station with three big theatre companies all going off in different directions on other trains, with a huge number of suitcases. So we put two stage weights in the case for this particular person...Everyone used to take their case and swing it up above their heads, but of course his case was so heavy that it swung away from him and threw him on the floor...[Another actor told us] 'I have never seen anything in my life so amateur!' She was quite right of course,but oh gosh, it was an irresistible afternoon. Waiting for it to happen was the best bit, when everyone else picked up theirs, he was dragging his along the floor."

Don't worry; people get her good too from time to time. Just delightfully fluffy.

I also finished The Gifts of Imperfection which I highly recommend, enough so that I'm putting the purchase box here. Maybe it's the research part that appeals to me. Maybe it's how the research forced the author to recognize how her own life had been limited. Maybe it's because she's just such a companionable person. At any rate, I thought it was great, and I'm not one for self-help books usually. Here is a teaser:

I e-mailed her back and explained the relationship between shame and perfectionism: Where perfectionism exists, shame is always lurking. In fact, shame is the birthplace of perfectionism.

In other book news, if you are following the Three Cups of Tea controversy, in which 60 minutes revealed that parts of the book were exaggerated for dramatic effect and Greg Mortensen's charity suspect, Good Intentions Are Not Enough is collecting a wide range of responses to the subject. Very painful to watch this all go down.

And the trailer for the movie based on The Help has just been released. What do you think?