Book Club Movie Afternoon

Last Sunday we met at Sheila's for a movie afternoon. Sheila hosted a viewing of "The Five People You Meet in Heaven," which we discussed at the last book club meeting. If anything I felt the movie was even better than the book. The photography was beautiful and Jon Voight's acting has always been excellent. They did a great job making him look like a man in his eighties, when he's probably 20 years younger than that.

For some reason I found the story more touching when I was viewing it. That's the opposite of my experience when I read most books. Generally I enjoy the book and find myself disappointed by the movie. But this time they were very true to the book and only left out a few nonessential scenes. Everything of importance was there, unchanged.

When the film was over, I wasn't the only one wiping away tears. We briefly discussed the movie and then headed out to dinner at El Greco.

Next month we'll be discussing another fantasy of a sort, a speculative fiction by Philip Roth, The Plot Against America. I've already read it but may look at it again before we meet. Kudos again to Sheila, who runs such a great book club. I feel I've learned quite a lot since we started.