Sunday, March 2, 2014

Hoping For Oscars For True Stories- "The Lady In Number Six"

The Academy Awards will be on tonight.  As someone who always wants to get people to read non-fiction books, may I please say that I am hopeful that the films that are nominated which are based on the lives of real people will be the winners.  It is a sad truth that in our world today, a thing is not considered "real" until there is a film made about it. 

"Twelve Years A Slave"    

"Philomena"

"Saving Mr. Banks"

"The Lady In Number 6: Music Saved My Life"


I am sure you have heard of the other films but that last one is a short film documentary that was made about the oldest surviving Holocaust survivor, Alice Herz-Sommer,  who at the age of 110,  passed away just one week before the Oscars. She lived for the last 34 years in London.  What a remarkable woman, I found a video on Youtube about her. 
 
 
 
A few years back, there was a documentary about Miep Gies, the woman who helped the Franks in their hiding place in Amsterdam. (Please tell me that you have read "The Diary of Anne Frank". If not, then please do so immediately, thank you.)  Miep Gies wrote a book entitled, "Anne Frank Remembered".  Read that one too, after you read Anne's diary!  The documentary about Miep Gies did not win an Academy Award but I am hopeful that the fact that it was filmed encouraged more to  read about the Holocaust.  The same goes for this documentary.  Mrs. Herz-Sommer did not live to see the Oscars but perhaps the documentary of her life will make people remember her and all the millions of others. (Richard tells me that HERZ means heart and sommer means summer...very appropriate for this wonderful lady, I should think!) So, in her honor, I have a photo of summer...
 
AND...I hope that my one blogging friend in Germany will read this and let me know if Richard's German is correct!  But of course, it is!  You know my Richard!  :-)

25 comments:

  1. Hi Kay! You are definitely a wonderful advocate for reading non-fiction. And I found "Unbroken." I showed it to Terry, and he said he had thoroughly enjoyed it. It's now in my gigantic pile of books to read! I, of course, read "The Diary of Anne Frank" when I was a young girl. One of the most powerful events in my life was visiting where she and her family hid. Even though it was more than 40 years ago (yikes!!!), I remember it vividly. Have a happy week!

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    1. The book by Miep Gies, "Anne Frank Remembered" is also very special. Read it when you can or else, put on a future list, like I have to do now!
      I have never been to Amsterdam but have always wanted to see it, I feel as if I know it from Anne's diary.
      And read "Unbroken" before the movie comes out at the end of the year!

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  2. Yes! I read "Anne Frank's Diary" when I was a teenager but it was the expurgated version edited by her father, which was the only one available until he died. I mean some day to read the full, unedited diary. Apparently Anne explored her sexual questioning in the diary too and that's what got suppressed.

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    1. Well, you can't blame him for not putting absolutely everything that she wrote, you know what people are like, they would have only focused on those sexual questionings and very little else, that's human nature I suppose. I am thankful that Leo Frank shared her diary with the world.

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  3. I saw the programme about Alice Herz-Sommer a short time ago. A wonderful old lady so alert, funny and still playing the piano. The absolute determination to live through the most terrible time - her music was her life saver. She really put everything into perspective for me. x

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    1. Lucky you, you have seen the documentary! I know that this the kind of person that I really admire, I have found another book about her, so I have a list of things to watch and read about her! Thanks for letting me know you have seen this and that you really liked it!

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  4. Hi Kay,

    Tell me - Is your header picture of Stone Mountain?

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    1. Hey Pat!
      It LOOKS like Stone Mountain, but it is ARABIA Mountain. It is also a granite monadnock but it is much older than Stone Mountain, by about 100 MILLION YEARS! So, Stone Mountain is a little brother!
      If you scroll down to the very bottom of my blog, there IS a photo of Stone Mountain, it is the walk-up trail!

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  5. The Diary was a set text at school so everyone of my 'o' level generation should have read it. I hadn't heard of that film and haven't seen any of the shortlisted films - really need to get out more! I just watch the Oscars for the lovely frocks though :) xx

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    1. I can't remember if we HAD to read it at school or not...probably so, but in most cases, I had already read almost all the books that we had to read!!
      I must admit a real fondness for the dresses too, I can be very girly that way!

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  6. I will have to see this film , or get the book.....I like these true stories. Aren't they so much better than all that fiction. Hope you had a great weekend, xoxo,Susie

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    1. I know that fiction is much more popular but honestly, I love the true life stories of real people. So much more interesting to me!! xxx

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  7. There was an edition of the diary published a few years back that included everything she wrote, plus some of the notations her father made in the margins when he came back from the camps, and a lot of research, very fascinating.

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    1. I think that you would like that book by Miep Gies also. Miep helped them while they were in their hiding place, she is mentioned quite often in Anne's diary.

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  8. I love true stories too. Much more fascinating than fiction. Enjoy the Oscars and I hope you have had a wonderful weekend- xo Diana

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    1. Thanks, Diana! Hope you had a great one too! xx

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  9. I'm watching the Oscars at the moment...and am enjoying the programme...I always do. I love Oscar night (or day as it is here)!

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    1. Some of the antics were even too silly for me (and that is really saying something.) but I tend to overlook things I don't like and concentrate on the things that I do! I have watched the Oscars since I was a kid. Do you remember when David Niven got streaked? I do!!

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  10. Haha.. I'll ask my husband; he speaks German. That documentary sounds awesome; I'm not much of an Awards follower, but will watch a film if it looks promising :)

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    1. Hey! We both have husbands who can speak German! They must be brilliant, they married us, didn't they? HA!
      Most of these Awards shows seem all the same, but if you record it, you can fast forward through the bits you don't like!

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  11. Just in case you meant me with "your German friend", yes, of course Richard is right about Herz and Sommer meaning heart and summer - the words are so similar, their meaning can't be mistaken :-)

    Thanks to you, I now know a bit more about Alice Herz-Sommer. At work, the starting page of my internet browser is wikipedia, and the wikipedia landing page always lists things as "in the news" and "recent deaths". Under the latter heading, you always get a handful of names plus their ages, and last week, I saw her name and the number "110" behind it for a few days, without really knowing much about her.
    The awards leave me quite cold, but I do think nothing beats a really good documentary, just like nothing beats a good non-fiction book.

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    1. "My one blogging friend in Germany", so, yes that would be you! And there is no way I would know what those words mean, but I liked that that was the meaning since the woman seemed to have such a sunny outlook on life! That is my kind of inspiration!
      I can never push non-fiction enough. Someone needs to speak up for it!

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  12. When a survivor of the Holocaust visited a school nearby to my town, I went to hear him. I also bought his book The Boy Who Wouldn't Die. The children had done a mural and time-line of the author's life. The whole school read the book. It was an enlightening presentation. I find it amazing that the author and this lady harbor no bitterness for the horrors through which they survived. What a talented and wonderful lady she was. Thank you so much for sharing this.Oh, yes, I have read The Diary of Anne Frank; it has the added notes from her father.

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    1. http://www.thebreman.org/exhibitions/online/newlives/profile.php?ID=184
      There, if you click on that above, you can read about the Gross brothers who survived Auschwitz, came to America and settled here in Rockdale County, Georgia. I remember Ben Gross, I used to book airline tickets for him. Besides being a big name in land development here, the brothers were instrumental in bringing soccer to Rockdale County.

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  13. Oh yes. I did read Anne Frank's Diary and even visited her home when we were in Amsterdam. It really made it so real then.

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