MY, oh my….did I open a can of worms! In my last posting, I mentioned I had been doing some heavy duty reading…..time spent reading, not heavy duty subjects.



I have been reading the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child. These fun novels are full of the FBI, CIA, and military. Jack is a former Army Colonel, who took early retirement and is now wandering about doing his save-the-world-kind-of-stuff.

My first response was an email stating their love of the Jack Reacher novels, but questioned how in the world Hollywood could put Tom Cruise in as Jack. It turns out, that was just the beginning of many email, bemoaning the choice of Cruise. You see, Jack is 6’5” tall, really BIG! Hollywood’s choice of, as some referred to him as “the runt” we know as Tom Cruise is apparently not going over so well. On a good day, Tom is only 5’7” tall, and is getting up there in age to be playing a big tough guy. Now, I want you to understand, I am only 4’11” tall and I am old enough to be Tom’s mother (God forbid!), so I’m not saying older short people are bad….no, they are good….generally speaking. But TOM CRUISE? Give me a break!


As much as I love the Reacher novels by Lee Child, I am really turned off by the casting of Cruise in the lead role. I will probably skip the movie. So often movies of books I have read just never meet my expectations anyway. I cannot imagine Tom Cruise helping this one.

One movie I am looking forward to is Janet Evenovich’s Stephanie Plum novel, One for the Money. I always pictured Sandra Bullock as Stephanie, the very Italian, big haired girl from New Jersey who is a bounty hunter, but that was probably 10 years ago when I imagined Bullock as Stephanie. If you haven’t read this series of 18 books, I recommend them. they are a HOOT! Now, when I heard they had cast Katherine Heigl as Stephanie, I was confused, to say the least. I kept thinking of Heigl as the blond in Grey’s Anatomy. But she is funny! She can have dark hair; I understand she had to go with a wig to get that really Big New Jersey Hair! I am looking forward to the movie coming out at the end of this month. I can’t wait to see Debbie Reynolds as Grandma Mazur! I am not familiar with the Sherry Shephard, the actor they cast as Lula, Stephanie's ex-hooker sidekick, but the part is an outstanding chance for a comedy actress. 
I hope the movie does Evanovich's novel justice. It should be exactly what it is…a fun time!
But, back to Jack Reacher....
I suppose I have to admit I am very much affected by Hollywood’s efforts to change our world into a very liberal world. Their outspoken views on politics have done much damage to their appeal, in my humble opinion. Tom Cruise and his Scientology connection is about on the same level….strange.
Just to give you an idea of the comments about Tom Cruise (and I will tell you not even one was a positive)….
“Once again Hollywood shows what idiots they are. Are we surprised?”
“OMG! You have got to be kidding!”
“I will just read Jack Reacher novels, no movie for me!”
“BARF!”
“Why didn’t they just hire Justin Bieber for the part?”


That about sums it up! Time will tell…………

Here I am, 3:20AM and I am wide awake. It isn't uncommon for me, but it is frustrating. I read until 2AM, then tried to tire myself by watching some boring middle of the night television. Figuring I would accomplish sleep by watching something like Murder She Wrote, I was clicking on the "up channel" button when I happened upon Book TV.

From the 11th annual National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC, historian David McCullough was presenting his book, The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. McCullough became a favorite of mine when I read both John  Adams and 1776. As wonderful as his writing is, Mr McCullough himself is the fascination for me. Listening to him speak on why he wrote the book, and why he felt the need to write it was inspiring. I will be buying the book this week.
One of the things he spoke on in this interview was his views on the importance of the written word. He challenged each one in the audience to start a diary; to keep a record  of daily events, no matter how mundane is important more than ever because no one ever does it anymore. He spoke of the diaries and letters written by both John and Abigail Adams. He said they both wrote beautifully and left such incredible documentation of our country's history.  He laughed when he said no President would dare to leave a diary in today's world....they would be scared to death  to document their days in office! How true, how true.
But by encouraging us to start a diary, he was trying to impress upon us the fact that no one keeps a diary today, and that is so sad for tomorrow's generation. Their lessons will be learned from what is in the press, from newscasts. We know for a fact that is certainly not an accurate source!
When the program ended, I turned off the television and tried to fall asleep....but, here I am at 3:50...wheels are still turning. So I started thinking about my blog. It is sort of a diary....nothing that will ever contain anything for the history books,  but if it survives out there in space for years to come like they say it will, maybe my grandchildren, great grandchildren will get to know their Mimi even though I will be long gone. I think that would be cool!  I also think maybe I need to watch my spelling, edit my thoughts; I don't want my future generations to doubt my intelligence.
Thanks to David McCullough for giving me a swift kick in the pants!