User:AnnaKucsma/Favorites

Books
Titles in bold are highly recommended. I've begun adding ISBN's to the books listed here. (If I think a book should be read, I should make it a little easier to find a copy, right?) Where two ISBN's are listed for one book, it means I read the book in hardcover (probably via a used book store). Usually the second of these is the ISBN for the paperback edition. See also, my full booklist.

I now have a list that points to some of my favorite bits of text on Wikisource. It's located at User:AnnaKucsma/From WikiSource.

History
The following books cover various aspects of history.


 * Norman Cantor, The Civilization of the Middle Ages. ISBN 0060925531.


 * Gail Collins, America’s Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines. ISBN 0060185104; Paperback, ISBN 0060959819.


 * Jane Dunn, Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. ISBN 0375408983.


 * Antonia Fraser, The Wives of Henry VIII.


 * Frances and Joseph Gies, Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages.


 * John Guy, Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart. ISBN 0618254110; paperback, ISBN 0618619178.


 * John Guy, Tudor England.  (Less recommended than the above, but not for being not as good. I would recommended for those specifically interested in the period, rather than its inhabitants.)


 * Alfred Habegger, My Wars Are Laid Away in Books: The Life of Emily Dickinson.  (I skimmed the first few pages of this one. It might be a good book. Sooner or later I'll be able to say for certain.)


 * John Kelly, The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time. ISBN 0060006935.


 * David McCullough, 1776. ISBN 0743226720.


 * Régine Pernoud and Marie-Veronique Clin, Joan of Arc: Her Story. Translated by Jeremy duQuesnay Adams. ISBN 0312227302.  (A good, thurough biography, but probably a bit long for those who aren't especially interested.)


 * David Starkey, Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne. ISBN 0060959517.


 * David Starkey, Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII.


 * Barbara Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century. ISBN 0345349571.  (A good book; worth reading, even if it is limited to a very small slice of history. Read my review at Amazon.com, titled "A Thourough Description of the 1300's.")


 * David von Drehle, Triangle: The Fire that Changed America. ISBN 080214151X.  (A description of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.)


 * Retha Warnicke, The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII.  (The last third of the book pushes the limits of plausibility. I do accept the cultural basis of the theories Wernickie puts forward — which fourmed part of the cultural background for the Salem Witch Trials. I just don't see how her theories of Anne's downfall is the only probable outcome. That said, the early part of Anne Boleyn's life is obscure, and the first two thirds of this book seem plausible.)


 * Alison Weir, Henry VIII: The King and His Court. ISBN 0345436598; paperback, ISBN 034543708X.


 * Alison Weir, The Life of Elizabeth I. ISBN 0345425502.


 * Alison Weir, The Princes in the Tower. ISBN 0345391780.


 * Alison Weir, The Wars of the Roses. ISBN 0345404335.

Fiction, Literature, and Drama
This section is shorter because I honestly don't read as much of it.


 * Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale.


 * Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace. ISBN 0385490445.


 * Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.


 * Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre. (Predictable in places, but worth reading.)


 * Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair. (First of a series of books, all of which is good. Also in the series are Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots and Something Rotten.)


 * William Shakespeare, King Lear. (Less often taught than Macbeth, but of equal merit and not much longer.)


 * William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing.

Movies
These movies I thought were above averege enough to make a point of listing (which is why some classics and/or really popular movies don't show up here -- either I haven't seen them or I didn't think they were worth the hype). The ones in bold are the ones I think you should put some effort into seeing.


 * All the President's Men, 1975. Directed by Alan J. Pakula; starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman.  → Not a bad movie to watch while knitting (so long as what you're knitting doesn't require a lot of mental work).


 * Apollo 13, 1995. Directed by Ron Howard; starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton.


 * Charade, 1963. Directed by Stanley Donen; starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.  → Hepburn is cast here brilliantly: her role here is unlike her roles in, say, My Fair Lady or Breakfast at Tiffany's.


 * Desk Set, 1957. Directed by Walter Lang; starring Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.  → Hepburn runs the library at a telivision network, in which Tracey has been hired to add a computer — a premise which hasn't gotten old (or at least has become relavent again). Wit runs amok in this one.


 * Erin Brockovich, 2000. Directed by Steven Soderbergh; starring Julia Roberts.


 * Henry V, 1944, released 1946. Directed by and starring Laurence Olivier.


 * Hotel Rwanda, 2004. Directed by Terry George; starring Don Cheadle.


 * Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 1975. Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones; starring the entire Monty Python squad (Gilliam, Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin).  → Still a classic, and full of great one-liners — something of a specialty for these guys.


 * The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928. Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer; starring Maria Falconetti. Silent.  → Hard to find, but a moving film and very "modern" in appearance. Einhorn's music (a more recent addition) adds to the movie, but can stand up well on its own, too.


 * The Philadelphia Story, 1940. Directed by George Cukor. Starring Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart.


 * Richard III, 1955. Directed by and starring Laurence Olivier.  → This movie clocks in at over 2&frac12; hours, and of course there was some limit on the available special effects when the film was made. That said, it's still a good film, with little of the Autopilot-Shakespearishness that one could easily expect from a 'classic Shakespeare movie'.


 * Roman Holiday, 1953. Directed by William Wyler. Starring Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and Eddie Albert.  → Hepburn's film debut, Roman Holiday was filmed entirely on location in Rome — a rarity in the early '50s.

Music
Though unable to play a musical instrument, I enjoy listening to various forms of music. My favorite genre (as a whole) is Celtic music, including such groups as Altan, the Battlefield Band, Cherish the Ladies, and Solas, and the Celtic Fusion band Shooglenifty. Recently, I had a chance to hear Natalie MacMaster play a lively, if damp, concert five minutes' walk from home as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn festival. I sometimes listen to rock music, such as the French group Autour de Lucie, and I am not averse to classical music, favoring contemporary composers, such as Aaron Copland.

Feel free to stop by User:AnnaKucsma/Music/Albums

Album recommendations
The list below contains various albums which I recommend. Again, the ones in bold are the short shorter list.


 * Altan, The Blue Idol. Shanachie, 2002. (Though a reasonably strong album with a number of good tracks, Local Ground is a stronger album when taken as a whole)


 * Altan, Local Ground. Shanachie, 2005.


 * Autour de Lucie, Immobile. Nettwerk, 1998.


 * Battlefield Band, Across the Borders. Temple Records, 1997.


 * Battlefield Band, Out for the Night. Temple Records, 2004.


 * Battlefield Band, Threads. Temple Records, 1995. (Many of the tracks on this album also appear on their live album, Across the Borders; the band is great on stage, the guest mucicians make that album the better of the two. That said, this album is great in its own right.)


 * Cherish the Ladies, The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone. Windham Hill records, 2001.


 * Cherish the Ladies, Threads of Time. RCA, 1998.


 * Cherish the Ladies, Woman of the House. Rounder records, 2005.


 * The Chieftains, The Chieftains 8. Claddagh Records, 1978; re-released by Columbia Records.


 * Natalie MacMaster, Blueprint. Rounder, 2003.


 * Natalie MacMaster, A Compilation. Rounder, 1998.


 * Natalie MacMaster, Fit as a Fiddle. Rounder, 1997.


 * Shooglenifty, Venus in Tweeds Greentrax, 1995.


 * Solas, The Hour Before Dawn. Shanachie, 2000.


 * Solas, Waiting for an Echo. Shanachie, 2005. (Though this is certainly a strong album, I'd suggest starting with The Hour Before Dawn.)