• Three wonderful children's stories that could do a lot of good in some of adult lives: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister, and Old Turtle by Douglas Wood.
• Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus--touching story with a great message.
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry--A wonderful young- readers book about the Holocaust.
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams--wondering where my IM name comes from? Read it... Extremely wonderfully fantastically warped humor.
• Anything by Douglas Coupland--weird and wired philosophy of the 90s.
• Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut--just weird. :) but wonderful.
• Joshua by Joseph F. Girzone--the amazing story of Christ's interaction with a small southern town. It changed my life...
• The Rapture of Canaan by Sheri Reynolds--The amazing story of a young girl growing up in a strict southern religious community.
• The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells
• Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts
• or for that matter, pretty much anything else from Oprah's Book Club
• Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder--the history of philosophy very well woven into a novel. The ending left me a tad disappointed, but the twists and turns getting there made it more than worth it.
• The Chosen (and the sequel, The Promise) by Chaim Potok--phenomenal story of 2 sons and their fathers learning about themselves and their faith. I learned a lot about Judaism, especially its history, from reading these books.
• Earth Prayers. A wonderful compilation of poems and prayers revolving around the themes of nature and the earth.
• The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes--I wrote a paper last summer based on his poetry from the 20s. Amazing work.

Movies
Anyone (especially my friends from CTY) can tell you that I love movies. Particularly, I enjoy...ok, I love connecting movies and actors to Kevin Bacon. Why Kevin Bacon? Who knows where it really started...there's controversy over that. So ANYWAY, instead of just putting up a measly list of my favorite movies, how about connecting them each to Sir Bacon? No, not Francis...KEVIN! :) Here are my faves, in a kind of order, but don't quote me on it, because I love them all. Links to one of my great friends, the (Internet Movie DataBase), thanks to their incredibly cool new "Link-it" service.

• Dead Poets Society!! The NUMBER ONE, ALL-TIME, BEST film I have ever seen, without a doubt. It's the only movie that makes me cry every time, without fail. The only movie that makes me cry, period. Ok, maybe not...see below...
  • This is one of my favorite links...It's not my speed route...I prefer creativity. :) Dead Poets Society--> Robert Sean Leonard --> Swing Kids --> Christian Bale --> Newsies --> Aaron Lohr --> The Mighty Ducks --> Emilio Estevez --> The Outsiders -- > Tom Cruise --> A Few Good Men --> KEVIN BACON !>
• The Cutting Edge Ok, you're either saying to yourself, "what?" or "WHY?"....call it my guilty pleasure. I just love it. :)
  • The Cutting Edge --> Moira Kelly --> The Lion King -- >Whoopi Goldberg-- >Ghost--> Demi Moore -->A Few Good Men --> KEVIN BACON !
• La Vita è Bella (Life Is Beautiful) I don't think this really needs an explanation. It's just amazing. The first time I saw it it was dubbed in French, but then I saw it in the original Italian with French subtitles after. Absolutely fantastic....
  • La Vita è Bella--> Roberto Benigni -->Astérix et Obélix Contre César-->Gérard Depardieu --> Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet--> Robin Williams --> see DPS...
• Newsies It may have been cheesy, but I really enjoyed it...
  • see DPS, again...
• The Princess Bride If you don't like this movie, get off my page. :)
  • speed route... The Princess Bride --> Robin Wright -->Forrest Gump--> Tom Hanks --> Apollo 13 --> KEVIN BACON!
• Shakespeare in Love Just wicked good...
  • Shakespeare in Love --> Gwyneth Paltrow -- >Seven-->Brad Pitt--> Sleepers --> KEVIN BACON!
• Patch Adams This was the first film that made me cry since Dead Poets Society!! Absolutely wonderful!
• Rocky Horror Picture Show You just gotta love this wacked out excuse for a musical...but only if you know the AP lines!
  • Rocky Horror Picture Show --> Susan Sarandon --> Stepmom --> Julia Roberts -->Flatliners --> KEVIN BACON!
• Forrest Gump one of the true 90s classics...
• Amadeus fantabulous(!) film about the life of Mozart...needless to say, the soundtrack is AWESOME!
  • Amadeus --> Tom Hulce --> Parenthood --> Steve Martin --> Planes, Trains, and Automobiles --> KEVIN BACON!
• Mr. Holland's Opus call me a sentimental...his performance was incredible and the music rocks.
  • Mr. Holland's Opus --> William H. Macy --> Ghosts of Mississippi -->Whoopi, who's in this mess somewhere already
• The Power of One not too well-known, but amazing amazing amazing film about a young boy in South Africa...
  • The Power of One --> Morgan Freeman --> Amistad-->Stellan Skarsgard --> Good Will Hunting --> see DPS for RW...
• French Movies...if I really tried, I bet I could connect them to Kevin, but that'll take some thought...patience, folks...
  • Au Revoir les Enfants
  • La Vie Rêvée des Anges
  • La Gloire de mon Père
  • Le Château de ma Mère

tv
Ok, I don't really watch all that much tv, but I must admit to being an extreme fan of the following...

• Ally McBeal on FOX.
• Real World, Road Rules, and Daria on MTV. (Does anyone else remember and miss The State?)
• Dawson's Creek on the WB.
• ER on NBC.
• The Pretender on NBC.
• I MISS PICKET FENCES!!!
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  All photos and html © Beth Simons, 1999. Comments and questions welcome.
  Last updated 20-Apr-1999.