divine angst

Haas Bloggisms and Fitz-Hume both requested, essentially, a list of favorites or essentials, so I’ll try to comply with that.

Keep in mind that this list is what I can come up with off the top of my head. I suspect that makes it pretty authentic, but remember also that mild ADD means I don’t always remember things that are important. In other words, don’t think badly of me if my lists are pedestrian.

Also, I’ve limited myself. No lists of 100 favorite movies here, sorry.

Books

• The Lord of the Rings. I read it in high school but didn’t really enjoy it then—I just read it because everyone is “supposed to.” I reread it about a year before the first movie came out and was hooked. I’ve read it two or three times more since then. It doesn’t get old for me.
• Night by Elie Wiesel. Not a pleasant book, but one that really impacted me. I’ve since read much more of his work, including some of his plays and other fiction and his autobiography. Night remains my favorite.
• Price and Prejudice. If you don’t know why, you aren’t a girl.
• The Clown of God. This is a childrens’ book, and I collect childrens’ books. It’s not so much that this is an essential book, but it’s so representative of the best kind of childrens’ fiction that I had to include it. If you want more recommendations of childrens’ books, I can give you a list. It will not include any celebrity-authored books, though.
• The Chronicles of Narnia and The Dark is Rising Sequence. C. S. Lewis and Susan Cooper, respectively. Again, young adult fiction, technically, but excellent. EXCELLENT.

Movies

These are in no particular order and have no theme. These are what I thought up off the top of my head. Don’t ridicule me, please. I know there are others I like, but these seem to be the ones I can watch over and over again.

• Zoolander
• The Wedding Singer
• Evil Dead
• French Kiss
• When Harry Met Sally
• Say Anything
• Miller’s Crossing
• The Godfather Parts I and II. III was not a movie. Sorry.
• Contact. I really don’t know why.
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• Splendour in the Grass
• Holiday Inn
• Star Wars (”Episode 4″) and The Empire Strikes Back
• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
• Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Weird Science.
• Private Benjamin
• Grosse Pointe Blank

Vacation Spots

These are the places I’ll go back to, over and over again (if I can).

• Lake Tahoe
• Italy
• Texas Hill Country
• Louisville, Kentucky, for the Kentucky Derby
• Washington, DC

What, you want more explanation of those? I’ll need more time for that, but if anyone wants to request a review of any of those locations, just ask.

Restaurants

There are a lot of restaurants where I live that I love. But I can’t share those without shouting, “Hey! I live in [city]!” But here are some of my national favorites.

• The Naked Fish, the best sushi I’ve ever had, in South Lake Tahoe, CA.
• Bookbinders, Philly
• Brenner’s, Houston (not to be confused with Brennan’s in NO and Houston)
• A Mexican dive in Corpus Christi called Elva’s. Best. Breakfast. Tacos. Ever.
• Fogo de Chao, Houston, Dallas, other places.
• Veselka, New York City (Ukranian food, awesome pierogis)
• Dreamer’s, a rib place in Tuscaloosa. No beans, no slaw, don’t ask. Request napkins only if you must—that’s what the white bread is for.
• Louie’s 106, Austin, Texas.

I may continue to add to these lists, because I think it’s good to have lists of favorites. Sometimes they remind us of the good things out there that we’ve forgotten about.