Time and Place: 8:30 a.m., at my desktop computer at home, fresh off of a visit to the gym.
Reading: As always, I have multiple books underway right now. With all the recent furor surrounding the supposed “unmasking” of the formerly pseudonymous Elena Ferrante (here’s a fine summary and commentary by Dayna Tortorici from n+1), I decided it was about time for me to see what all the acclaim her Neapolitan Novels have received is all about. Halfway through the first volume, My Brilliant Friend, I can begin to see why so many readers are enthusiastic. Along with that, I am currently reading A Fearless Heart: How the Courage to Be Compassionate Can Transform Our Lives by Thupten Jinpa (the Dalai Lama’s English translator). To help push me forward in my writing endeavors, I’m also slowly working my way through Julia Cameron’s The Right to Write.
Viewing: There hasn’t been too much film viewing recently. I did finally watch for the second time Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour, and loved it again (as I pretty much always love his films). I’ll be writing about it soon. I also watched The Innocents on Turner Classic Movies last night, and, aside from wondering if Deborah Kerr was quite the right actress to be playing the governess, thought the film was wonderfully dark and atmospheric. Tonight, TCM is showing a couple of the Hammer Studios Frankenstein films, and I’ll probably be there.
Listening: Julia Wolfe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Anthracite Fields impressed me as much as I’d hoped it would. More to follow in this space soon, probably later this week.
Blogging: Last week was comparatively slow for the blog, although some good stuff got started and is in the pipeline. I did manage to post…
* The Original Winnie-the-Pooh
* The Dull Men’s Club
* Hiroshige’s Autumn Moon at Ishiyama Temple
* Some thoughts on celebrating, as opposed to criticizing
* A great dog quotation from Moby
Pondering: I try not to ponder too much. Thinking hurts my brain.
Anticipating: This is the week for the launching of FilmStruck, the new collaborative venture for Turner Classic Movies and the Criterion Collection. With its mix of foreign and independent films, not to mention the Criterion Collection itself, it’s likely I won’t be able to resist subscribing. Impressions will surely follow soon.
Gratuitous New Yorker Cartoon, by Arnie Levin…
Thirty-Two Minutes 
Is The Innocents based on The Turn of the Screw? I think I may have seen it, or at least watched part of it. Turn of the Screw is genuinely frightening. I just picked up My Brilliant Friend for the reasons you cite; haven’t started reading it yet because I’m reading Tim Johnston’s Descent. I’m in love with old movies too–too bad I don’t have time to watch television on Sunday nights, I’d definitely watch the Frankenstein films….
Thanks for reading! Yes, The Innocents is based on Henry James, and is definitely worth a look. I did end up watching the Frankenstein films as well, and liked them. Do consider My Brilliant Friend for future reading, although I’ll warn you that you might become so immersed in it, as I have, that you’ll want to go straight on to reading the three sequels!