New Year, New 30 Day Book Challenge, Day 15

Hey! We're halfway through!

Day 15: Favorite Male Character

Gianna:

Plainsong by Kent Haruf.  Raymond and Harold are brothers living on their family ranch in a small town in Colorado. These bachelors have a quiet life and know very little other than their small town. What I love about these men is that they made a decision to upend their lives, to change their world in order to help someone. In a world terrified of change, these two old geezers prove it’s worth doing.  I wish these guys were real because I would like to marry Liz off to one or the other. Sure, they are elderly, but they are homeowners. [Eh, I could do worse.]

  

The Pleasure of My Company by Steve Martin.  I have loved Steve Martin for as long as I can remember. I loved him for The Jerk, Roxanne, and L.A. Story. More importantly, I loved him in spite of Housesitter and Bringing Down the House. Turns out though, that I really love Steve Martin’s writing. Cruel Shoes was one of the first books I ever bought with my own money. I think I was twelve, too young to really get the nuance of these stories, but I still treasure this book.

 

Anyway, Daniel Cambridge is the main character of The Pleasure of My Company, he’s brilliant (he’ll tell you so), but he’s extraordinarily introverted and has a bad case of obsessive-compulsive disorder. How bad is his OCD? Well it takes him hours to get anywhere because he can’t walk over curbs.  Daniel has other ‘quirks’ but sees himself as pretty normal; in fact he enters a “Most Normal Person in America” essay contest. He does not win. Daniel is really sweet and smart, and madly in love with a woman he’s never met. You can’t help but love him. I know what you’re thinking, “Isn’t this guy another possible marriage contender for Liz?” Yes. [I think there are many, many people who are madly in love with me but have yet to enjoy the pleasure of my company.]

Liz:

I feel like I could go two ways here. I love a villain or flawed character, and to that end, I really don't think you could top Iago from Shakespeare's Othello.  Along that line, I also loved the Richard Nixon character in Thomas Mallon's novel Watergate. He's a villain, but he's also a man who's caught in a shit storm he can't escape.

On the other hand, if I were to follow Gianna's model of finding potential mates, I think Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird could be the ideal fictional marriage bait.  He's moral, strong, patient, courageous, wise. He's a man who can shoot a rabid dog and he can stand up against an entire town and defend the defenseless.  Also, he's Gregory Peck. Mmm. 

Hey, Boo.

Of course, I could never live up to the Atticus Finch standard of perfection.  I need kind, but quirky, so I'd ultimately opt for Boo Radley.  He's quiet and reclusive (which I certainly would appreciate), but he's willing to risk his life for children he only really knows from a distance. Boo could leave me little chocolates on my pillow and we'd live down the street from each other, and occasionally he'd come to my rescue when Zorro was feeling particularly blood thirsty. Also, we're both really pale.  It could work.

New Year, New 30 Day Book Challenge, Day 12

Day 12: A Book You Used to Love But Don't Anymore

Gianna:

I think in order to answer this question in any meaningful way, I would have to re-read some books that I suspect that I may not love as much as I once thought I did. I am much too lazy to do that. It also kind of sounds like a downer of an idea, so why bother?

Having said that, I am sure there are a few books that I read when I was younger that I may not have the same passion for as an adult. I thought I could pick a few titles from different times of my life and we could talk this through together.

To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984, or Fahrenheit 451 probably wouldn’t resonate with me like they did twenty years ago, but they probably shouldn’t since they are young adult novels. I went through phases where I read a zillion Bronte novels and plowed through a handful of Hemingway books, and then read a ton of John Irving and Ann Tyler.  I can’t imagine not still loving The Cider House Rules, or The Accidental Tourist. Hemingway is important to read if you’re going to bitch about him, and I will always love the time I spent reading Bronte and Austen. 

The novels that I suspect I would feel very differently about if I read them again would probably include Memoirs of a Geisha and The Da Vinci Code. I don’t know why I loved Memoirs of a Geisha so much, but I really got caught up in it. I was working at a bookstore and just sold the hell out of it.  I can’t imagine loving it the way I did when the book was originally published. Now, The Da Vinci Code, I went totally ape shit about because it was original but mostly because it pissed off the Catholic powers that be. That was a fun time.

I was looking through my books while I was thinking about this question and came across a book that I absolutely adored, which was published about twenty years ago, called Life After God by Douglas Coupland. I thought, “Well here is a book I totally went overboard with, and no way no how will I still find it relevant.” I had dog-eared about fifty pages and after re-reading those pages I’ve decided that I still love this book. Its just the right amount of depressing.

“I realized that once people are broken in certain ways they can't ever be fixed, and this is something nobody ever tells you when you are young and it never fails to surprise you as you grow older as you see the people in your life break one by one.”  -- from Life After God

Liz:

So, to be clear, Gianna did not actually answer the question for the day.  Also, she liked Memoirs of a Geisha, which I hated.  She's a constant disappointment.

I once again perused the ol' Goodreads archives and discovered that I gave The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen five stars.  Let's go back a decade and remember the excitement surrounding this publication.  Everyone was crazy about this book. It was a sensation--a contemporary family story of dysfunction that was both literary and juicy. Before Oprah, before the National Book Award, Jonathan Franzen was just a geeky chic writer fulfilling his literary promise.  I drank the Kool-Aid.

That was then.

Now...well, I read Freedom, Franzen's most recent novel, and it's basically the same book as The Corrections. And Franzen has proven several times that he can't accept praise graciously, can't debate without name calling, and can't enter a room without bumping his oversized ego on the door frame. His personality has soured me on The Corrections a bit.  As time has passed, I've discovered what great books were nominated but didn't win the National Book Award in 2001.  Look at Me by Jennifer Egan, Among the Missing by our pal Dan Chaon, The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse by this year's winner Louise Erdrich, and Highwire Moon by underappreciated talent Susan Straight. In hindsight, I would have picked any of the others.  I don't hate The Corrections, but it will never be one of my favorite books anymore.

30 More Days Book Challenge: Day 27

Time to go to the movies.  After all, it's Labor Day.

Day 27: Favorite Book-to-Movie Adaptations

Gianna:

I hate to start this blog off with a devastating story, but it's topical.  Colleen Devine Ellis is a main character in this story and as you may know, those are always worth telling.  About six or so years ago, my house was burgled. Those sons a bitches took all of my DVDs, half of my CD collection (I will never alphabetize again, they took A-M), speakers, cameras--you know, the works. They also got into Colleen’s room and took some CDs and movies, even sort of ransacked her room.  [The way I heard the story, Colleen's room may actually have been straightened a bit by the thieves.] That wasn’t really the hard part for Colleen. What was really hard to process for poor old Devine was the fact that those bastards had the nerve to leave behind the BBC mini series of Pride and Prejudice. Her comment was (oh and I remember it clearly), “ Why would they leave this? Do you know how much I paid for this? This is the one with Colin Firth!” She was really pissed off. She printed out the cover of the DVD set and put it on our front door with a sign that said “Dear robbers, This is all we have left.”

We haven’t been burgled since.

 I pretty much have The Color Purple memorized…i'ts not annoying to watch that movie with me, not at all. Now having said that, I wouldn’t put this movie on my top 20 (or more) at all. It's not as bad as, say (oh, I hope I don’t open a can of worms here…), Girl Interrupted. Loved the book – truly hated the movie.

Pretty much any movie made from a E M Forster book has been good--magic touch, I guess.  Stephen King novels have been turned into some excellent films (some of which are also quote worthy… “You're just another lying ol' dirty birdy”), as were Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks. Love those two. My mother accidentally took me to see Barry Lyndon when I was … well, too young; I think we left early (like just four hours in…).

Anyway, I think I will list my top five book-to-movie faves. Note – I did not put any film on the list in which I have not read the book. For example, The Wizard of Oz, Princess Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( the original, Willy Wonka) , Drugstore Cowboy, In the Name of the Father, Year of Living Dangerously and  Full Metal Jacket – I love all these films but never did read the books.

Also did not list anything that had a book post film… in other words, my beloved Harold and Maude is not on this list.

I also did not include short stories that were made into films. For example, three of may favorite films are Brokeback Mountain (really excellent Annie Proulx story), In the Bedroom by Andre Dubus (great story and great film), and of course the beautiful story The Bear Came Over the Mountain by Alice Munro, which was made into a gorgeous film by Sarah Polley called Away from Her. [I love all of these stories and movies.]

And still, getting all that our of the way…the list was difficult to make:

Terms of Endearment

Larry McMurtry – Novel

James L Brooks – Screenplay and Director

I actually love this film more than the book…by a long shot.  This is one of those movies that I will always top on if its on television. I just can’t pass it up. [I agree; the movie is significantly different, and significantly better.  Can't beat Shirley MacLaine in the role of Aurora.]

“It's past ten. My daughter is in pain. I don't understand why she has to have this pain. All she has to do is hold out until ten, and it’s past ten! My daughter is in pain, can't you understand that! Give my daughter the shot!”

 Silence of the Lambs

Thomas Harris – Novel

Ted Tally - Screenplay

Jonathan Demme – Director

 I read three Harris novels after seeing this film; Red Dragon (my favorite of his), Silence, and Hannibal.  The films sequels got bad quickly, didn’t they?

“You know what you look like to me, with your good bag and your cheap shoes? You look like a rube. A well scrubbed, hustling rube with a little taste. Good nutrition's given you some length of bone, but you're not more than one generation from poor white trash, are you, Agent Starling? And that accent you've tried so desperately to shed: pure West Virginia. What is your father, dear? Is he a coal miner? Does he stink of the lamp? You know how quickly the boys found you... all those tedious sticky fumblings in the back seats of cars... while you could only dream of getting out... getting anywhere... getting all the way to the FBI.”

No Country for Old Men

Cormac McCarthy – Novel

Joel and Ethan Coen –  Screenplay and Directors

 I was pretty shocked when I read this book – and I am pretty sure I sat stunned watching this really excellent film as well.  This is one of those films you just can’t shake. It's also one of those films where you really don’t want to walk to your car alone in the theatre parking lot… yeah, I made the mistake of seeing this alone.

“Whatcha got ain't nothin new. This country's hard on people, you can't stop what's coming, it ain't all waiting on you. That's vanity.”

Sense & Sensibility

Jane Austen – Novel

Emma Thompson – Screenplay

Ang Lee – Director

 

First of all…I love Jane Austen.  [That makes one of us.  I do like this version of the novel as a film, though.] I think Emma Thompson’s adaptation is phenomenal – it  really has everything.  And yes, Colleen, I would put it up against your precious Pride and Prejudice. While it doesn’t have Colin Firth, it does have Alan Rickman.  And, you know, nothing wrong with Emma and Kate either. Emma Thompson kept a journal during the making of the film; I HIGHLY recommend it.  Sense and Sensibility: The Screenplay and Diaries.

The Godfather

Mario Puzo – Novel

Mario Puzo and Francis Ford Coppola – Screenplay

Francis Ford Coppola - Director

This is it for me. You can have your Goodfellas…I will always choose The Godfather (I and II I pretend III never happened).  One Saturday morning a few weeks ago I turned on the television to watch the news … I left the sofa about five hours later after watching both Godfather I and II, which some fantastic network was showing back to back the way God intended.  I read the book after seeing the movie by the way. Movie is much better.

Okay here it is…..

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.”

Liz:

I feel some pressure in compiling my list.  I think Gianna's is superb and I easily could have chosen any one of those books-to-films for my own list.  I have Terms of Endearment memorized; I've seen it so many times that I could tell you the name of the classical music piece playing on John Lithgow's radio when he runs into Emma (Debra Winger) in the parking lot.  I'm going to attempt to come up with five picks of my own, though.  There are lots to choose from, after all.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson--Novel

Nikolaj Arcel and Rasmus Heisterberg--Screenplay

Niels Arden Oplev--Director

I know that the American version of this book-to-movie adaptation will be the blockbuster movie of the fall, but I don't know how director David Fincher could possibly improve on the excellent Swedish version.  Neither book nor movie are for the faint of heart, but this movie is one of the most faithful adaptations I've ever seen and Noomi Rapace, the actor who played Lisbeth Salander, SHOULD have one an Oscar for her portrayal.  She's simply brilliant--both fragile and tougher than any other character in the movie, and so terribly, understandably damaged.  I love this character, and I love the screen version of this character.

Speak

Laurie Halse Anderson--Novel

Jessica Sharzer--Screenplay, Director

I don't even know if this movie was ever in the theater.  I stumbled across it one weekend afternoon when I was flipping channels and it looked like the better alternative to reruns of Fear Factor.  I think maybe it was on Showtime or something?  Anyway, I was surprised by how much I liked this movie.  Kristen Stewart, who decided to ruin her career with a few Twilight movies, is subtle and moving in the role of Melinda, a girl struggling through her first year of high school after being raped at a party at the beginning of the year.  (For the record, this movie is based on a young adult book, which I have actually read.  I am a snob most of the time about adults reading adult books, but I made an exception for this one after seeing the movie.)

"My English teacher has no face.  I call her Hairwoman."

The Hours

Michael Cunningham--Novel

David Hare--Screenplay

Stephen Daldry--Director

Michael Cunningham's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel should have been one of those books that it's impossible to adapt, but the film version proved outstanding.  Nicole Kidman is great at Virginia Woolf, and Julianne Moore is even better as a depressed, 1950's housewife.  There is one scene in the movie that differs wildly from the book, but otherwise it's a strong adaptation that should have won the Best Picture Oscar.  Oh, and it has a Phillip Glass soundtrack.  I love Glass.

"Dear Leonard. To look life in the face, always, to look life in the face and to know it for what it is. At last to know it, to love it for what it is, and then, to put it away. Leonard, always the years between us, always the years. Always the love. Always the hours."

Atonement

Ian McEwan--Novel

Christopher Hampton--Screenplay

Joe Wright--Director

This story of innocence lost and the misinterpretation of childrens' eyes weaves together a tense night at an English manor with the horror of the war.  Briony is a 13 year-old girl who wants to be a writer, and one day  she observes an incident between her older sister and the son of a servant.  That night, when another girl is attacked at a party, Robbie, the servant's son, is accused of rape based on Briony's testimony.  Robbie and Cecilia's relationship then becomes the focus as Robbie is sent to war.

"Yes. I saw him. I saw him with my own eyes."

To Kill a Mockingbird

Harper Lee--Novel

Horton Foote--Screenplay

Robert Mulligan--Director

Does this pick need explanation?  One of the best books ever, and one of the best movies.  The screenplay is by Horton Foote, for cryin' out loud.  Horton Foote, who wrote A Trip to Bountiful and Tender Mercies.  There's a reason that schools watch the movie along with reading the book, and I don't think it's entirely because the teachers are lazy.  Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch--who didn't want him as your father?

"Neighbors bring food with death, and flowers with sickness, and little things in between. Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch and chain, a knife, and our lives."