Elaine B. Rybski

Knowledge is free at the library. Just bring your own container.
-- Unknown

Reading books and watching movies are two of my favorite ways to relax and have some quiet time. In books, I tend toward fantasy and science fiction; in movies, I go for the classics with a little bit of modernity mixed in. A third form of entertainment is Japanese anime. Paul introduced me to it and we have really enjoyed watching together. Find out some specifics for all of these below!

Here are some authors and books I have really enjoyed:

Anne McCaffrey - Pern books (14 of them), Freedom's Landing books (3 of them), Acorna books (3 of them)
Julian May - Pliocene Exile books (9 of them)
Stephen R. Donaldson - Thomas Covenant series (6 of them), Gap series (5 of them)
Katherine Kurtz - Deryni books (14 of them)
David Eddings - Belgariad/Mallorean series (14 of them), Elenium series (3 of them), Tamuli series (3 of them)
Isaac Asimov - Foundation series (7 of them), Robot series (4 of them)
L. M. Montgomery (not sf/f) - Anne of Green Gables series (6 of them)
J. R. R. Tolkein - Lord of the Rings series (4 of them)
Roger Zelazny - Amber series (9 of them)
Robert Heinlein - Stranger in a Strange Land
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - The Mote in God's Eye, The Gripping Hand

Here are some of my favorite movies:

The Philadelphia Story - with Katherine Hepburn, Cary Grant, and James Stewart - A real classic!
Top Hat - with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers; Great Quote: "We are Bates.". Classic boy-meets-girl movie with great dancing and singing.
The Gay Divorcee - again with Fred and Ginger (actually preceded Top Hat) - Originally called The Gay Divorce, but they didn't like the idea of a divorce being gay (happy! not homosexual). However, the person getting the divorce could be gay. (Again, happy, not homosexual. Those were simpler times.)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracey, and Sidney Poitier! A very controversial movie for when it was made (~1968), where Katherine Hepburn's movie-daughter is actually her niece in real life. Still applicable to issues even in today's society. Don't forget the kleenex!
Victor/Victoria - A wonderful musical starring Julie Andrews, with great dance music to boot.
Mary Poppins - with Julie Andrews and Dick van Dyke, of course! It's Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
While You Were Sleeping - with Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman; Little Known Fact: Grandma, played by Glynis Johns, also played the mother in Mary Poppins!
Sleepless in Seattle - with Meg Ryan, Tom Hanks, Rosie O'Donnell, and Bill Pullman - I wouldn't quite say a remake of, but definitely based on, the Cary Grant movie An Affair to Remember.

And here is the long-awaited information about anime! All anime is assumed to be Japanese - if it wasn't, it would be called something else. We started with a series called Ranma 1/2, and progressed on to other things:

Ranma 1/2 - about a cursed boy (Ranma) and his arranged fiancee
Chobits - about a robotic girl (persocon) with emotions
Inuyasha - about a girl who travels in time between the present and feudal Japan, and the adventures she has there
Trigun - about a feud between two brothers, one good and one evil
Dragon Half - two episodes about a girl who is half-human, half-dragon
Tenchi Muyo - about a boy who discovers he has incredible powers
Photon - the safety of the universe is fought out on a futuristic Earth

Of course, these one-line descriptions do absolutely no justice to the stories. But be sure to watch them subtitled, and not dubbed! Very few things in anime are done with the right inflections and matching types of voices when dubbed.