Autumn, finally

In two or three months, everybody (including myself) will complain about grey sky, rain, cold etc. I know, I know. But to see a leaden sky and hear the patter of the rain, and to feel that cool moist air come in through the open window is a blessing after almost three months of uninterrupted heat, dryness and obscenely blue sky. Too tired last night, but today I'll dig out the feather duvet... The lighter one which I've been using these last months (no, not using it. It remained folded at the foot end of the bed, just in case I got cold feet during the night--as if!) has some synthetic stuffing, which without doubt is very antiallergic and everything but can never, ever compete with a real feather duvet in terms of snugness.

( New books bought )

( Praise of Martha Grimes )

Started reading Mrs. Dalloway yesterday, but didn't get much farther than the introduction, which was interesting.

( Bad nightmare )

And now, just to end on a more cheerful note, a WIKTT rant:
( WIKTT rant )

Oh. My. God.

I wanted to watch The Pianist with several friends, but without success. Today I went with my mother. I don't know when last I cried at the cinema, but I did today. Schindler's List was *nothing*, absolutely nothing compared to this movie. I'm speechless. Just oh God, oh God, oh God. Once again, my conviction that documentaries etc, however terrible/touching/real, can never touch my heart as deeply as one single person's destiny has been confirmed. It's difficult to identify with a group. But it's easy to identify with Wladislaw Szpilman. I know it probably sounds like a cliché, but I feel that I'm a better person after having watched that film. Living in an oasis of relative well-being, it's so easy to forget that all this is real, that it happened once and that it's happening all the time. The movie is a brutal reminder. It made me remember that "what once was reality always remains a possibility". That events as this one, even though they happen in a remote part of the world, concern me personally. That I have to contribute my share to preventing them from happening again. I'm just... well, completely blown off my feet. And crying again. And ashamed that people from my country, too, participated in those actions. And ashamed that it took us more than five decennials until we finally had a law that demands the restitution of Jewish property confiscated by the Nazis. But even if we really wanted to, we could never give them back their dignity.
Strangely enough, while so deeply moved, I'm also feling happy. Maybe that happiness is caused by the awareness that I don't have to try and block the reaction to the movie, because I want and need that emotion in order to be a complete human being. Who knows.