Sharp Words

“Never judge a book by its movie.”
J W Eagan
[Quote supplied by the Quotations Page]

I think this depends on which came first, actually. I’ve found that if the movie is adapted from a novel, the novel is generally better; likewise, the original TV show or film is usually better than any novelisation.

But there are plenty of films and books which don’t fit either sweeping generalisation (J W Eagan’s or mine). Peter Jackson’s films of The Lord of the Rings were of course fantastic, doing justice to the source material, and I have hopes for Guillermo del Toro with The Hobbit as well. And the TV show True Blood takes Charlaine Harris’s excellent Sookie Stackhouse novels and turns them into something richer and darker without losing the spirit of the originals.

I’ve also read a few novels which were decent spin-offs of good films – though they were usually written by well-known writers.

There are films too, which are actually much better than their source material – the most recent was Angels and Demons, at which I was pleasantly surprised. OK, it wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t as clunky as the novel, and it was massively better than the film of The Da Vinci Code. (I still have an aversion to Tom Hanks though.)

Anyway, anyone got any other suggestions for books or films/TV series which equal or surpass the originals?

• Leave a comment... (8)

It’s Over

It’s been nearly three weeks since I decided to give up and leave you.
Things just weren’t working out any more.
I realised that you were never going to be everything I wanted you to be;
You could never fulfil my dreams.
It was all too much hard work, with too little to show for it.

But time with you wasn’t time wasted.
I’ve learnt from you; I’ve grown.
I know now how to sift out the good from the bad.
These past few years haven’t been completely for nothing.
I don’t have to repeat my mistakes.

I do miss you though.

© 2009 C Sharp

This is a true poem. But before you all start wondering if I’ve left my husband or something, let me reassure you – this poem is dedicated to my former Work in Progress.

I came to the conclusion the other week that what I was writing just wasn’t going in the right direction, and wasn’t going to be something people would want to read. So I decided to reboot, with a new central character instead of the one I’d been writing about for the past 3 or 4 years – because yes, this novel has been languishing for that long! Immediately, I saw how to tighten the plot (which does still remain, in its essential parts) and how to separate out the chaff. What’s more, I did this without too much sense of regret or disappointment, and that pleases me almost as much as the sense of hope I’ve regained.

So now I just need to finish rewriting my outline, and do up some more character sketches, and then I’ll be ready for November…

• Leave a comment... (6)

• IKEA changes its font – The Guardian – I’ve had the catalogue sitting on my dining table for weeks, and have flipped through it more than occasionally. I didn’t notice the font change – but then, I’m fond of Verdana.
• “Breathing Life Into Dead Poems” – The Truth About Lies – another brilliantly thoughtful post from Jim Murdoch, about how to read poems into life.
• Jim also introduced me this month to the blog and poetry of Dick Jones. I fell instantly in love with his poems, and equally instantly into fierce jealousy for his skill at writing them. Thankfully it wore off fairly quickly.
• A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin is a fantasy novel I really like, and it’s going to be made into a TV series – filmed in Belfast too! His LiveJournal carries details of the casting.
• And although you’re all going to get bored of this soon, November is National Novel Writing Month. If you’ve ever considered writing a novel but haven’t managed to find the time or the motivation, now’s your chance!
• Put the F-O-C-U-S back into writing! – Freelance Writing Collaborative Blogging Project – the first of a five-part series about learning (or re-learning) to focus on your writing; it’s aimed at home-workers like me, but seems pretty relevant to writing in general.

And also on the topic of working from home:

• Leave a comment... (3)

I did it again. I gave up on a book about 10 pages in (not sure if this is a record for me).

This time, it wasn’t because of the stereotypes or cliches I ran in to (Sahara) or because of I just didn’t like it (Perfume).

No, this time I stumbled on the bad editing and gave up entirely on the purple prose.

The book, by the way, was The Fall of Lucifer, the first in a series (trilogy?) by Wendy Alex. I picked it up in the library, read the back cover and thought “Interesting enough”. I then flipped it open and read a few lines, and thought “Well, not brilliant, but I’ll give it a go.”

I got it home, and after reading all my other library books first, picked it up again; read a few more lines and decided not to bother. But then my husband came home from the library with the second part, and said that he’d enjoyed the first one. So I changed my mind on it – again – and finally started to read it yesterday.

I wasn’t that thrilled by the opening; it seemed like a cut-rate fantastical thriller, and I’ve read better. But I persevered. Then, though, a horse had a sex change in the space of three paragraphs, and I winced at the editing (or lack of). A few pages later, some zephyrs swirled as cyclones, and porpoises and sea urchins frolicked together. At this point, I wondered if the author actually owned a dictionary as well as a thesaurus (unless, I dunno, maybe there are mythological creatures called ’sea urchins’ – can anyone enlighten me on that?).

I struggled on through a few more pages of excessive description and limp characterisation, and then put the book down for good.

And unlike previous times, I felt absolutely no guilt in giving up. I felt empowered and actually quite proud of myself. And next time I’m iffy about a book, I know to listen to my instincts…

• Leave a comment... (11)

I got a bit busy in second-hand book shops this month, as well as at the library…

The Cipher, Diana Pharaoh Francis. Borrowed from Marion, first read.
Intriguing fantasy although some of the characterisation didn’t seem quite right, with characters doing things suddenly or against what we’d seen of their natures.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J K Rowling. Own copy, re-read for 2009.
After re-reading HP6, I kept going and read HP7 as well, just to try and guess which bits are going to put into the 2 films they’re making of it.

capacity and divergence, Tony Ballantyne. Library books, first reads.
Imaginative scifi although I thought the characterisation was a bit thin in places.

Dissolution, C J Sansom. Own copy, first read.
I’ve been wanting to read this for a while, and although it wasn’t exactly what I expected, I really enjoyed it. And passed it on to Dad.

Quicksilver, Neal Stephenson. Own copy, first read.
Something else I’ve wanted to read for a while, and I was completely blown away by its scope – by the historical (and invented) details, by the characters, and by the humour.

Every Which Way But Dead, Kim Harrison. Own copy, first read.
Still reading this urban fantasy novel series out of order (this is #3 and I haven’t read #2 yet) but enjoying it anyway.

Let The Right One In, John Ajvide Lindqvist. Library book, first read.
This is the first time I’ve ever watched the film of the book while in the middle of reading the book. Both are bloody brilliant though (literally too). And because I’d misbehaved and sneak-peeked at the end of the book, the film didn’t cause too many spoilers for me.

Resistance, Owen Sheers. Own copy, first read.
I bought this 2nd-hand ages ago, and left it sitting on the shelf for my mini-holiday in August… and then ended up buying Quicksilver and taking that instead. I’m glad I finally got round to reading this though. It’s a thoughtful little novel, and creates a good sense of time and place.

Bone Crossed, Patricia Briggs. Borrowed from Marion, first read.
Not a bad addition to her Mercy Thomson fantasy series, though not my favourite.

The Snake Stone, Jason Goodwin. Library book, first read.
Again, a great evocation of time and place (1840s Istanbul) in this engaging mystery. Shame I’ve read everything in this series now – I’ll just have to wait for the next.

Look to Windward and Use of Weapons, Iain M Banks. Borrowed from Dad, first reads.
Been wanting to read Banks’s scifi novels for a while, and I finally swiped some of Dad’s almost-complete collection when I was visiting home. Really really good stuff. I’ll have to get him to bring me some more!

Something Borrowed, Paul Magrs. Library book, first read.
Not as good as Never the Bride, but still an entertaining, whimsical comedy that’s fun to read.

Blood is the New Black, Valerie Stivers. Library book, first read.
The Devil Wears Prada with blood and stakes. Amusing fluff, with people in the fashion industry literally being vampires.

The Twelve, Stuart Neville. Own copy, re-read for this year.
My review

Total for August 2009: 14 + 2 re-reads

Ongoing total for 2009: 130 + 4 re-reads

• Leave a comment... (2)