THE STONE ANGELI started reading

THE STONE ANGEL

I started reading "The Stone Angel" by Margaret Laurence last fall, but I didn't find it an easy read due to the subject matter being about an elderly woman, Hagar Shipley, and the challenges she was facing in her later years. Recently, I heard from my friend Edith in Toronto that the story has been made into a movie and she went to see it, as it has been released in Toronto already, and that it was very good. Thus, I decided to finish the book and when I went to see how much I had left to read, it was just a little bit. I read the last of it yesterday.

When I told Edith that I had been reading the book, she was quite surprised because she had thought "The Stone Angel" came out many years ago. I checked the copyright date and, sure enough, it was first published in 1964. However, it was reissued by what appear to be Margaret Laurence's children in 1998. (She passed away in 1987).

The movie, according to a site I found, will be released here in the U.S. on July 11th. It stars Ellen Burstyn as Hagar. This will likely be one that I see in the theater, if it comes to one nearby. Otherwise, I will definitely rent it from Blockbuster Online, providing that they have it to rent. (It isn't on their list of movies that I can save for when it comes out on DVD.)

The movie is set in Canada, and was filmed there last year. That may be one reason why it hasn't come to the U.S. yet.

I recommend the book as it is an excellently-written character study. It puts you into the heart and mind of Hagar and makes her seem very real.

*****

Happy Memorial Day to my readers! I am not doing a whole lot today. I'm not even eating anything all that special. I did take flowers to the Zion Church cemetery to put on Steve's grave, and I'm glad that we have had all the rain since then, as they are likely to thrive for a while.

Speaking of eating, my appetite continues to be small and I am down another pound. This loss certainly is needed. I hope I can continue to lose weight. I think I am largely feeling upset by personal and family concerns, so I just don't feel like eating a lot.

Steve would have been barbecuing, most likely. I used to have a picture of him barbecuing in the rain, holding an umbrella over the barbecue. LOL! I thought that was very cute.

I have mixed feelings about Memorial Day when it comes to honoring war heroes. I wish there was no such thing as war, but at the same time I am grateful to the soldiers that fought in World War II in particular, and the young people who gave and do now give their lives for our safety and protection. I question the rightness of sending them off into battle in Iraq, as they are presently doing, however. I will be glad when they can come home from there.

I received a picture from my British online friend Greg today, showing him with the British flag he put up on his and Alison's house in Virginia this morning. He said he hopes he doesn't get arrested. I'm sure he won't -- I think it is very amusing!