Thursday, August 03, 2006

Below the Mason Dixon Line

Recently I chatted with a few colleagues at work trying to identify what we would consider American Icons.

Both friends quickly suggested that the novel Gone With the Wind was surely among the top ten. I'd seen the movie but never read the book.

Well...I'm reading it now. Perhaps it isn't at the pinnacle of American Literature but I have to say that I find it a complex and fascinating story. As a matter of fact - - someone should remake Gone With the Wind - - with a screenplay that more fully honors the novel.

Since I'm on a role I also rented Cold Mountain. It's a great movie - - a painful movie, but I'm glad I saw it.

Rhett Butler was right. Almost all wars are about money and greed. It's a rich man's war and a poor man's fight. Just like Iraq. Nothing's changed.

1 comment:

ellesu said...

Since I'm a daughter of the South, I should be embarrassed to say that I haven't read GWTW. I guess I should also be embarrassed to say that, in the movie, Scarlett bugged the hell out of me. I wanted to snatch her bald headed.

I am proud to say that my daughter also had no patience for Miz Scarlett. Ummmm, odd that I used the word "proud". I'll have to think about that.

I just might give the book a try.

Have you read "To Kill a Mockingbird" lately? I reread it a couple of years ago and was blown away. I'm reading "In Cold Blood" now. I had no choice after hearing that Harper Lee traveled with Capote to Kansas and then helped him write the book.