Ghost Story by Peter Straub (pp. 81-141)
Different Seasons by Stephen King (pp. 186-276)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling (pp. 274-289)
Total pages read: 167
I'm off work from today to Wednesday, so I was hoping to get lots read today... and whilst I didn't do too badly, I'm not really sure where the time went! I did manage to fall asleep for three hours this evening which wasn't really the best...
Ghost Story is starting to pick up after a slow beginning which is good. The narrative is all over the place- skipping between characters and time periods- which was a bit unsettling at first but I think it actually makes sense and adds to the creepiness factor- I just want to know what the horrible things are that they all keep referencing!
I'm nearly at the end of "Apt Pupil" in Different Seasons and I'm really enjoying it. It's about a boy who discovers his elderly neighbour was a Nazi officer and thinks he can manipulate him, when they're actually sort of manipulating each other, and things have spiralled to really disturbing levels. It's so brilliantly done with the levels of psychopathy and vulnerability that the characters have and I just know things can't end well.
Only read a little of Order of the Phoenix, but it's the bit where Umbridge is on the warpath at Hogwarts and sits in on McGonagall's class, which is hands down one of my favourite McGonagall moments. The levels of sass displayed are through the roof.
Today's challenge: Book to Movie
Today's challenge is hosted by Lori at Writing My Own Fairy Tale and asks us simply what our favourite and least favourite book to movie adaptations are.
I actually studied book-movie adaptations at undergrad and I have so many opinions and feelings about the subject, so I had to think about this one for a while! I tend to be pretty laidback when it comes to adaptations- by their very nature, adaptations aren't supposed to be carbon copies of their source material. There are movies I consider to be not very good adaptations but still very good movies (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince cough cough). That said, some adaptations are just plain awful.
I often forget just how much I love the His Dark Materials series- and about ten years ago I was hardcore obsessed and couldn't wait for the movie. So I think it's the bitter disappointment I experienced more than anything else that makes me call this my least favourite adaptation. There was just too much rubbish going on behind the scenes- religious groups panicking about the atheist message of the story, which to be fair is a lot more subtle than so many people make out- as a preteen reading these books it definitely went way over my head. So it seems the makers decided to dilute that aspect, along with, well, any other theme or plot. And as a result we got a sub-par kid's fantasy, with plot holes galore and an altered ending, instead of the wonderfully imaginative, complex book we know and love. It's been nine years, and I'm still not over it. The BBC are allegedly making an adaptation though, so fingers cross that'll work out better.
Favourite: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz/The Wizard of Oz
This probably makes me a terrible Book Person, but I actually prefer the movie to the book. Shock, horror, I know. Mostly this just has to do with how The Wizard of Oz is one of the best movies ever made and I will fight anyone who says otherwise. Sure, there are things left out of the movie- the fact that there are two good witches, for a start!- but ultimately it captures the spirit of the book wonderfully, I think. And it's a musical. It really doesn't get any better than this.
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