Favorite Book Turned into a Movie

The 30 Days of Books Meme continues ...

This was a tough one, since I wanted to choose a book that I loved, as well as its movie version.

See, the book - movie combo can fall in several categories:

1. The book and the movie are both bad. I realize I may outrage some readers, but I feel The Da Vinci Code falls in this category. Look, I liked the premise, and Tom Hanks rocks. But - really? A codex expert can't tell that it's backwards handwriting at first glance? And the Professor Teabing character- could he have been more stereotypical? Why not just call him TeaBag and be done with it? And then there was the movie.... and that haircut... *shudders*

DUUUUUUDE.

2. The book is bad and the movie is good. The Bridges of Madison County fits in this category, IMO. The Da Vinci Code made my brain weep with pain, but at least I managed to get through half of it. Bridges didn't even make one page before I hurled it across the room in anger. However, the movie version was pretty decent, thanks to the directing and the actors, Streep and Eastwood.

3. The book is good and the movie is bad. The Golden Compass fits this one for me, as well as any version of my old standby, Jane Eyre. (Everybody drink!) The only Eyre that stood up for me was the recent PBS version with Ruth Wilson and Toby Stephens, thanks to the script writers slashing most of Mr. Rochester's most ridiculous dialogue. Ahem, duuuuuude -  "It will atone, it will atone..." (Jane makes an excuse and slips off to the local pub until he finishes his monologue.)

4. Both the book and the movie rock. When this happens, it is like a batter getting that sweet spot. The Prisoner of Azkaban did this, in my opinion, and WHY didn't Alfonso Cuaron direct EVERY SINGLE HARRY POTTER MOVIE? Hm? He could have prevented the headache that was The Order of the Phoenix (which was my favorite book - ruined I tell you. Ruined.)

Ditto Holes, which I loved as a book and loved even more as a movie. Holes has become, along with Working Girl and The Shawshank Redemption, a flick that I'll watch any time, any place. The younger actors (Shia Lebeouf!) are incredible, as well as Sigourney of course, who could make an insurance ad magical. And let us not forget Patricia Arquette, who is luminous in her role as the Kissing Bandit.

As for Indie books, well - there aren't many of those that are movies. YET! I do think that will quickly change, since there are many wonderful Indies out there.

If I could be a producer, here are some of the books I would turn into movies:

Losing Beauty
Sax and the Suburb
Sin
The Prospect of My Arrival
Emeline and the Mutants
Land of Nod: The Artifact

That is a very shortened list, and I would love to hear other suggestions for Indie books that should be movies .... have at it!

Back to the Meme

I've been skipping my homework lately. I was too sad to post on Friday, and I suppose that sadness lingered over the weekend. Still, it is time to take back life and hug it a little closer, to embrace family and friends. These are the most important of all.

Today's assignment is "Your favorite quote from your favorite book." Are you sick of Jane Eyre yet? Because that is my favorite. And I love this quote:

“Do you think I am an automaton? — a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong! — I have as much soul as you — and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh: it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal — as we are!” 

In this passage, the passion and spirit inside Jane's pale, obedient body bubbles up as she confronts Mr. Rochester. I love that a woman speaks so to a male, and to a "superior" - no humility here. This fairly sings with freedom and pride, and to my mind, it is remarkable that a schoolteacher on a Yorkshire moor should write it.

As for my Indie book, I have to go back to The Prospect of My Arrival again. It's difficult to choose one quote, but I really fell in love with the jellyfish:

Dwight Okita, the author

"He and his mother now stand before the Aquarium windows. As they leave this place, jellyfish descend in slow motion like parachutes onto the bright coral reefs below them. Prospect thinks of the parachutes that people cling to as they drop from the sky. How a good parachute can save your life… and how a bad one is like having no parachute at all. "

The writing is very simple, and in fact Prospect received several poor reviews because of that simplicity. To me, however, the sentences were lovely and nearly glowed with artistry, as in this short section. 

I wonder what Prospect would have thought of the events of Friday.

Desperate Catch Up Day

WARNING - Whine to follow from Mom-Without-A-Life

I spent the past few days volunteering, cooking lunch, running about with family, etc - so I missed a few days of my Christmas Book meme. I'm catching up today and tomorrow, so I'll post what I missed in the meantime....

Day 7 - Most Underrated Book -

Plainsong by Kent Haruf wins this category. A book about a pregnant teen, two old farmers, a teacher with two sons and a wife in a deep depression, as well as a dreadful bully whose parents sue the school district, Plainsong is lovely, spare, and as breathtaking as the rural Colorado landscape that is the setting.

There are no fancy turns of phrase, but when one of the McPherons - the two old farmers who take in Victoria, the pregnant teenager - gets angry, Haruf's language reflects his speechless, blistering rage in a way that is genius.

The book really should be taught in college lit courses (maybe it is?) instead of The Scarlet Letter. Nothing wrong with Hawthorne, except the archaic language and reactions to the situation can turn off emerging readers. (Please, while we are at it, could we also get rid of Billy Budd?)

The ending is lovely, evocative of a silent sunset over bare, frozen fields. But it is more than that - Plainsong includes an exciting plot, told from several points of view, as well as what I call "That Elusive Compelling Factor." When I began the book, I had to keep reading until I finished - it was that good.

As for the Indie book in this category - alas, there are many, many Indies that get lost in the shuffle of Fifty Shades and celebrity tell-alls. I had a very difficult time selecting just one. In the end I picked The Amber Room by Tom Harris. 

Perhaps browsers are looking for action-adventures about a mythical treasure in Russia and thus skip over Harris - a mistake, since this book delivers a gently told urban fantasy about a boy who is trying to save his sister in hospital. 

He goes on several adventures with a fairy called Rosie Boots. She is a great creation - brave and acerbic, humorous and not at all sentimental. I'm not a fairy fan in my urban fantasy, but I really loved her.

I also loved the main character, North, who is a kleptomaniac. Granted, I'm a sucker for character flaws, and his flaw leads him in (and out) of adventures in the book. I highly recommend it as a great read over your latte in the cyber cafe as a great break from holiday shopping.

A Book that Makes Me Sad

Some books, alas, make readers teary. Anne of Green Gables had a great riff on this; the red-headed orphan's saddest story was called "My Graves."

But in the real world some fiction is so gritty and realistic, or so poignant that it brings me to the point of Mush when I read it. After the last page of A Thousand Splendid Suns, for example, I had to go and hug my four-year old daughter. HAD TO. By the way, it was two in the morning, since the book was so good I couldn't stop reading. Couldn't stop sniffling, either. Mush Factor - 3 out of 5. 

Another was The Road. This dystopian chiller is beautifully written. It was a compelling read - I had to find out what happened. The last few paragraphs are the most lyrical, and they are also the saddest. I have never seen the movie, and I don't know if I want to - the book was bad enough. Mush Factor - 4 out of 5.

But the saddest book I've read yet was The God of Small Things, which earns a perfect 5 out of 5 Mush Factor points. What happens is so bad, for so many people, and yet again - the language and descriptions are really lovely and lyrical, and I could not put it down.

So I suppose the last is my true choice for a book that makes me sad. I call the three books above "The greatest books I'll never read again."

As for my Indie choice, I'd have to pick Losing Beauty. What happens is certainly sad, although again it has that compelling factor that drove me to my Kindle in the wee hours to read "only a few more pages." And the writing is lovely - and there is a bit more hope in this one than in the others. 

If you enjoy a good, sniffly read, I'd certainly recommend any of the above. But if you want at  thehint of possible happiness, I'd offer the last.

The Great Re-Reader

Posted for the 30 Days of Books blogfest, courtesy of The Indie Exchange)

Today's subject is : A book that you have read more than three times.

Aha! I have the answer at my fingertips : Jane Eyre. I've read that book so many times that I've gone through five copies now. My husband, when he catches me in the middle of it again, says, "Not that Janet Eerie again." (Shocker, he hasn't read it.)

I love her, because she refuses to drown in a "bathos of sentiment" with Mr. Rochester. Bathos is the perfect word here - a different woman would melt instantly into his arms, but Jane will have none of it.

YOU GO GIRL

I first read the book when I was in fifth grade. At the time, I sucked it down for the adventure and the story, as well as the descriptions of parties and beautiful dresses. Later, the quotes about bathos and deglutition hit me, so that reading the book became an entirely different experience. Jane herself emerged, like those tea flowers that open slowly in warm water.

Yup, I love Jane, and here's why:

Because she was so mystical. She had prophetic dreams, she drew elves and the North Star, she saw a ghost in the Red Room. 

Because she felt excitement, even in the middle of a most hopeless situation. "The crisis was perilous; but not without its charm: such as the Indian, perhaps, feels when he slips over the rapid in his canoe."

Because, even when faced with a beautiful rival who is rich and favored, Jane sees the truth. "She could not charm him."

And then there is this passage, that formed an important section in A Room of One's Own, by Virgina Woolf:


"Nobody knows how many rebellions besides political rebellions ferment in the masses of life which people earth.  Women are supposed to be very calm generally: but women feel just as men feel; they need exercise for their faculties, and a field for their efforts, as much as their brothers do; they suffer from too rigid a restraint, too absolute a stagnation, precisely as men would suffer; and it is narrow-minded in their more privileged fellow-creatures to say that they ought to confine themselves to making puddings and knitting stockings, to playing on the piano and embroidering bags."

So I will read Jane Eyre (and her difficult, more dramatic cousin, Wuthering Heights) again to find the new delights that keep popping up, like a search through an old attic. There are many, many books I've read again and again - The Hobbit and Mistress Masham's Repose among them, but this is my favorite.

As for my Indie counterpart, I immediately thought of Sax and the Suburb by Marilyn Rucker, which recently won a BRAG medallion. You can read my complete review here. I'm not a mystery fan, but Rucker charmed me right away with her humor, her characters (the father who is a hoarder, the boss who falls asleep on the floor in the office, and even the dead mother) and the lovely little romance within. 

Are there any similarities between the two books? Not at all, at first glance. One is a mystery set in Texas, the other is a 19th century literary romance. Yet there is a certain charm and magic in both. In Rucker's book,  Miranda, the main character, dreams about her dead mother who takes her heart out of her chest and offers it to Miranda. That sounds ghoulish, but in the dream it is a cute heart-shaped box of candy. 

I love that image, and Rucker makes it work. I'll read that book again too.

Reading is great, and sometimes re-reading is better. I heartily recommend these titles for both.

30 Days of Books - Best Book of the Year

The Indie Exchange is running a 30 Days of Books meme this month. As a devoted reader and writer, I'm in!

Obviously we're starting off big with the Best Book of the Year post. That's a really tough one - I read so many wonderful books this year. There must have been something in the water - I felt there was a lot of talent and creativity flowing in both traditional and Indie publishing throughout 2012.

It's so hard to choose, between the two, so I plan to choose one book from each form, trad and Indie for each day this month.

The traditional book was easy. I loved The Age of Miracles, the story of what happens as the earth's revolution begins to slow down, from the point of view of a girl in middle school. It was tender and perfect, and I was entranced by the mysterious sadness throughout.

It was reminiscent of Melancholia, the movie about the end of the world as seen through the eyes of a severely depressed woman (played by the luminous Kirsten Dunst) and her sister. (The movie does include sex and some disturbing themes, so keep that in mind if you watch it.)

(You can read my full review here.)

As for the Indie book - that's a lot harder. There were many wonderful titles this year (some of them still languish on my Kindle, waiting for me to get to them.)

I do plan to mention others later in the month, but I must say my very favorite was The Prospect of My Arrival. It had the same sort of magical, hazy sadness as The Age of Miracles and Murakami's books, along with a feeling of mystery. All of that was served up with Okita's usual imaginative artistry.

(...and you can read the full review of Prospect along with 1Q84 here.)

Now - please tell me - what were your favorite books this year? I'm always looking for great reads, so go ahead and suggest some of the best from 2012.