Talking Movies With Don Cheadle and Rob Lowe

The novel follows the Berry family, comprising Win and Mary and their five children, as they navigate their lives through multiple hotels and various continents. The story begins with the parents' meeting at a summer resort in Maine and their subsequent decision to convert an abandoned girls' school into the Hotel New Hampshire. The family's journey is marked by eccentric characters, tragic events, and comedic situations, including encounters with bears, prostitutes, and radical communists in Vienna. The novel explores themes of family, love, and the complexities of human relationships, all told through the narrative voice of John Berry, the middle child.

In 'The Outsider,' Colin Wilson examines the psyche of the Outsider through the lives and works of various literary and cultural figures such as Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The book delves into the Outsider's experience of dislocation and his struggle to find meaning and purpose in a world that seems devoid of it. Wilson argues that the Outsider is a metaphysical man who seeks a transcending meaning and purpose for human existence, often feeling isolated and disconnected from society. The book is both a study of the Outsider's predicament and an impassioned call for a new form of existentialism that could provide a satisfying and objective religious understanding of life.

The novel tells the story of T.S. Garp, whose mother, Jenny Fields, is a strong-willed nurse who conceives him in an unconventional manner. Garp grows up to be a writer, wrestler, and devoted parent, navigating a world filled with 'lunacy and sorrow'. The story delves into themes of feminism, sexual identity, and the struggles of the characters against intolerance and violence. It features a complex Dickensian plot that spans Garp's entire life, including his relationships with his mother, his wife Helen, and his friend Roberta Muldoon, a transsexual ex-football player.

Set in the late 1960s in Tulsa, Oklahoma, 'That Was Then, This Is Now' follows the lives of Bryon and Mark, two foster brothers facing challenges such as poverty, gang violence, and drug abuse. As they grow older, their bond is tested by Mark's involvement in drug dealing, leading to a heart-wrenching betrayal that forces Bryon to confront the harsh realities of adulthood.