“Inspirational stories for the damned” is the label given by one blinded soldier to survival tales like his in Testament of Youth — it’s also an apt description of this rousing, robust adaptation of Vera Brittain’s landmark First World War memoir. Previously adapted by the BBC as a television serial in 1979, Brittain’s 1933 tome has taken decades to reach the big screen.
The first feature film version opened in the U.S. on June 5, starring Swedish actress Alicia Vikander (“Ex Machina”) as the indomitable heroine. Vikander earned a British Independent Film Award nomination last year for her illuminating performance.
“It’s such an amazing story,” said Vikander, who worked with a dialect coach to perfect her British accent. She had read a lot about the First World War but hadn’t seen the conflict from a female perspective until she read Brittain’s book. “It is such a story about youth.”
It’s also a love story.
Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones’ Jon Snow) plays the Roland Leighton, the fiancé of Vikander. Leighton would go on to become a soldier on the front lines, which was partially responsible for Brittain choosing to leave Oxford to become a war nurse.
When asked if he had every played a real person before, Harrington told Variety, “No, I haven’t. I thought I would have a ghost on my shoulder the whole time, but I didn’t. I was just very happy to have this source material, the book, to really find out who he was. And I had these letters he’d written, I could read them every day and remind myself of the kind of stupid and brave young man he was. He was a teenager experiencing first love while being shot at on the front.”
In her memoir, Brittain spoke for the ones who couldn’t speak, who were robbed of their futures for reasons they couldn’t understand at the behest of men who couldn’t have explained if they’d tried. Watching the final scenes of Testament of Youth, it’s clear that her stand on war is as outspoken today as it was then.
Watch the Trailer below:
It’s time to gather up mystery fare for the long, lazy days of summer. If you are a fan of Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, you’ll like two new best sellers.
Of course, there are many well-known writers on the best-seller list this summer–James Patterson, David Balducci, John Sanford, etc.–but if you’re tired of urban crime detectives, try these alternatives. First, how about a trip to Wyoming’s high plains to meet Craig Johnson’s Sheriff Walt Longmire? In Cold Bones, Longmire investigates whether a local Cheyenne man’s murder is related to valuable dinosaur bones unearthed on his property.
Katherine Sharma’s family roots are in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. But after her early childhood in Texas, she has moved around the country and lived in seven other states, from Virginia to Hawaii. She currently resides in California with her husband and three children. She has also traveled extensively in Europe, Africa and Asia, and makes regular visits to family in India. After receiving her bachelor’s degree. in economics and her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Michigan, Katherine worked as a newspaper and magazine writer and editor for more than 15 years. She then shifted into management and marketing roles for firms in industries ranging from outdoor recreation to insurance to direct marketing. Although Katherine still works as a marketing consultant, she is now focused on creative writing.
When you said “I do,” you promised you’d stick it out no matter how sick, poor or miserable you got. Now you realize till death do us part is a really long time. Happily ever after? Perhaps a slight exaggeration.
With ballsy wit and bawdy humor, she explores everything from male domestic idiocy and the frustrating misfires in spousal communication to how to stay true to the peskiest of vows: forsaking all others. Part in-your-face guide, part brutal confession, this book is a must-read manifesto on surviving marriage in an age when everyone seems to live forever and getting a divorce is as easy as ordering a latte.
“Like I said, my husband is a decent guy. No, he’s a great guy. But living with the same person day in and day out, for years on end, is no confetti-dusted cakewalk. I once saw a comedienne slay an entire audience with this line: “When I said ’til death do us part, I had no idea it was going to take this long.”
“Make me a sandwich!”
“Honey, this is the best sandwich ever!” . . . And then, he dropped a bomb me: “You’re, like, 300 sandwiches away from an engagement ring.”
300 Sandwiches is the story of Stephanie and E’s epic journey of bread and betrothal, with a whole loaf of recipes to boot. For Stephanie, a novice in the kitchen, making a sandwich—or even 300—for E wasn’t just about getting a ring; it was her way of saying “I love you” while gaining confidence as a chef. It was about how many breakfast sandwiches they could eat together on future Sunday mornings, how many s’mores might follow family snowboarding trips, how many silly fights would end in makeup sandwiches. Suddenly, she saw a lifetime of happiness between those two slices of bread.
From culinary twists on peanut butter and jelly to “Not Your Mother’s Roast Beef” spicy French Dip to Chicken and Waffle BLTs, Stephanie shares the creations—including wraps, burritos, paninis, and burgers—that ultimately sated E’s palate and won his heart.
“Forever alone” is such a daunting phrase, isn’t it? Sure, it’s thrown around occasionally as a joke (because everyone knows you’ll find someone eventually, right?) but it can quickly send you into a frenzy to find “The One.” We all know that process just can’t be rushed (otherwise you might settle for a d-bag), so here is a list of some of our favorite products, rated from crazy to cool, for the “forever alone” (or “temporarily single,” as we’d like to rebrand it) that’ll help you keep your cool and satisfy your need for affection (however fake it may be) while you await your happily ever after.
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Girlfriend Leg Pillow
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It must be those countless number of men and women searching for true love who inspired Chris Harrison to write The Perfect Letter. Harrison has been the host of ABC’s The Bachelor and The Bachelorette since 2003 and has seen his fair share of true love and heartache. A romantic through and through, Harrison decided to create his own version of a true love fairy tale with his first book, which is a romance novel. Here’s the plot:
Out of reasons to say no to a free trip, Leigh sees the conference as a perfectly timed escape—just a few days away to catch up with old friends, meet a few potential authors, and clear her mind. But Leigh’s plans for a quiet retreat quickly dissolve when a stack of deeply personal letters from the past are left in her hotel room. After all these years of running, Leigh has nowhere to hide. In her hands she holds the letters that bare her soul and her secrets, the letters she wrote to one man, the love of her life—Jake. With her past and present crashing in around her, Leigh must decide just how much she’s willing to risk for love.
I’m a fan of fiction, but I also love biographies and memoirs–from weighty tomes like Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson to slim books heavy with inspiration like I Am Malala by the youngest Nobel Peace Prize-winner Malala Yousafzai, from souffles like Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert to the hard-to-swallow agonies of Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, from the laughter of Bossypants by Tina Fey to the lyrical grief of The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion.
Whether to describe, how to describe and when to describe a character’s physical traits are among the conundrums of fiction writers. Many great writers have provided only minimal clues to a protagonist’s appearance and thus freed the imaginations of readers–who are more interested in a character’s, well, character than eye and hair color–to conjure up images that satisfy personal tastes and experiences.
However, men also have different standards for sexy vs. competent women’s looks. For example, an Elmhurst College study found that, in job interviews of women, men awarded mature women, with smaller eyes and larger noses, more respect. Take a look at 2014’s top five actors (Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson) and top five actresses (Angelina Jolie, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, Mila Kunis) to see how well study results fit popular beauty tastes.
So you’ve loved and you’ve lost. Or you’ve hated and that’s why you’ve lost, but either way, who is to say you won’t love again? Nobody. (Nobody also says you won’t hate again, but let’s face it, the world is full of schmucks. But I digress.) The thing is, the first thing a friend will tell you in attempt to comfort you is almost always that there’s tons of fish in the sea, but the thought of throwing your metaphorical dating net back out into those rough waters is pretty daunting. (Think “Deadliest Catch”, minus the sailor mouth.) So in order to give some more realistic advice to people hoping to get back out into the dating game, I pulled some inspiration from a few close friends of mine, who’ve had far too many off-seasons on the S.S. Still Single.
Meaning, don’t take anything he or she says to heart. You should go into a relationship feeling confident in yourself and happy with who you are; you shouldn’t rest the fate of your self-esteem on someone else’s comments. They should only be reinforcements of how perfect and absolutely flawless you are. (Yes, I’m looking at you.)
This one shouldn’t need much on an explanation, however, far too many people that deserve much better than they’re getting stick around because they’re unaware of their worth. Here’s a quick, easy way to figure out if you’re worthy of a healthy relationship: if you’re not an ass, you deserve it. There ya go.
If somebody’s just not funny, don’t feel pressured to laugh. This one is specifically directed towards the ladies, since we often feel obligated to keep a man’s ego inflated in order for him to like us better. Let’s get real, if he’s not funny to you, it will never work out, and giving him false feedback is not doing him any favors, either. Be yourself and you won’t have to worry about a relationship working out…it’ll work out, naturally.
A good idea when getting back out there is doing activities you like, like kayaking, hiking, or painting. It’s always good to try new things, too, but NEVER pretend to be gung-ho about something for somebody when you’re just not. Nobody wants to get caught pretending they know football, and who wants to spend a date bird-watching? Probably not most people.
This could also mean to just take it easy and enjoy the ride of the relationship, but really, don’t worry about dating at all if you’re not ready. It can be hard when friends and family want you to be happy again (or just want you out of their hair), but don’t let the pressure get to you, because getting into something when you’re not ready is also unhealthy. Dating is fun, but the single life can be liberating. Go find yourself. Then find your soulmate.