Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self

Rating:	★★★
Category:	Books
Author:	Claire Tomalin

I've been on a history kick this year, trying to catch up on all the stuff I don't know. I find the 17th century fascinating for some reason. I read James Gleick's biog of Newton (bit dry) before tackling Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver (fictional, but with some historical characters).

I'd heard that this Pepys book was good. Tanya devoured it while I was still on something else. It's generally good stuff, but drags a bit in places. He was a bit of a character. It's taken me a good while to read it due to general lack of time and I didn't even read all the notes. I did in the Newton book, but it's a pain to keep jumping to the back of the book to find them, even with two bookmarks.

I'm not sure if I'll tackle the actual diaries and these are pretty long and the language can be hard work. There's a bite-size version at Pepys Diary that gives you it day by day, with notes.

Good Will Hunting

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Movies
Genre:	Drama

I know it's getting on a bit, but I hadn't seen it. I got the DVD with vouchers ages ago, but only watched it this week.

It's a very good film about a maths prodigy (Matt Damon) who has a few social problems and is working as a cleaner at MIT. He gets discovered by an ambitious prof and Robin Williams is the shrink who tries to sort him out. It's not a totally happy film, but it has some great performances. It moved me. Damon and his mate Ben Affleck wrote the script.

No extras at all on the DVD

It's in my DVD library for friends to borrow