bachelors & bachelorettes

of the mountainous stacks of books i have from the library this month, two rise to the surface.  i watched the movie "babette's feast" back in college and immediately loved it, resonating with the main character.  but it was through richard rohr's reference of the story that i learned it was also a book.

the movie is adapted from a larger collection of destiny tales by isak dinesen (a pen name of karen blixen) who also wrote "out of africa".  babette, a world famous french chef, comes to reside in a small traditional village with two elderly bachelorettes.  after winning the french lottery, babette uses her wealth to return their hospitality by cooking the villagers an authentic french meal, teaching them by experience to transcend the confines of their legalistic lifestyle.

as moved on many levels as i am by dinesen's timeless tale, i laughed just as hard at bill richardson's "bachelor brothers' bed and breakfast".  in a true tale of  fraternal twin bachelors, hector and virgil, who open their childhood home as a bookish refuge for travelers, richardson has collected not only hilarious first-person anecdotes from the brothers, but also from the pages of their guest book.  complete with a cat named waffle and a foul-mouthed parrot mrs. rochester (nomenclature a reference to the crazy attic lady in "jane eyre" by charlotte bronte) this book delighted me no end.  their setting, use of language, and comedic ways had me laughing out loud in no uncertain literary terms.