Don't let the movie ruin the book!

So very many films nowadays are adapted from novels. I have to be very honest (and I can feel the arthritic pains coming on just from thinking this), I really don't remember it being like this when I was young. At 31, I'm not exactly ready for my free bus pass yet, but still I can see the change. The only book adaptation that stands out in my mind was The Neverending Story. I liked the film, but I distinctly remember being mighty pissed off at every detail they changed/neglected to include.

Please tell me I wasn't the only one left emotionally scarred by the horse scene...

The point is, as awesome as movies are, they will never come near to the full experience of the book. Take the Harry Potter series for example. I know there are millions of people out there who are fans of the film but have never read the book. While there is quite obviously noting inherently wrong with that, I can't help but feel these people missed out on so many lovely bits and bobs from the book. Details that made you feel like you were really part of that world. I, for one, will never forgive the script writers for the glaring omission of Peeves. I mean, really?!?!?!? Throughout all the films I felt like I was mentally adding details to complete what was missing, and I kept thinking, but how can you possibly get the whole picture here if you didn't read the book? 

I've always made it a priority to read a book before watching the film. It seems nowadays you have to be extra speedy, as any book that is vaguely successful seems to have the rights to it snatched up before  the first copy has hardly left the printer. I feel very strongly about this, but I always assumed I was just being my usual anal bookish self. Imagine my delight then, when I realised Hank Green felt the same! YAYYYYY! A couple of years ago, he (with some help from Nerdfighteria!) created Read It 1st, a website were you can pledge to read the novel before watching the film. It was created because, 

"five of the top 10 movies of 2010 were based on books. Most of the people who watched those movies had never read the book. In fact, most people in America read fewer than two books per year. While movies are great, and we love them, the stories from those movies were originally envisioned in a different way. A way that requires more interaction, more brain, more relaxation, more free time, and more commitment. We think those are all things that the world doesn't have enough of these days."

If you would like to join the pledge, go here, and in the words of Hank Green, "don't let the movie ruin the book"!!!

Giant Squids of Anger: The book that defeated me

I should really start off by saying explaining what a Giant Squid of Anger is. If you don't know, that also highly likely means you haven't heard of the Vlogbrothers, in which case... why?!?!?!?! Go check them out! John and Hank Green are in equal measures intelligent, informative, amusing, and downright silly (in the best possible way). They coined the term Giant Squid of Anger to describe that peculiar internet phenomenon, whereby thoughtful, considered and all-around good members of society seem to completely lose it in the comments section of sites like Youtube when someone disagrees with them and process to launch into an increasingly unintelligible tirade of expletives. It has now expanded to mean anything that causes a normally sane and balanced person to become irrationally anger, therefore rendering them unable to communicate clearly. So... now that we got that out of the way...

Art by racheytonk at Deviantart

As I said before, I've read hundreds of books in my life. I pride myself on having finished all of them. Every. Single. One.


That is, I used to pride myself on the above... Until about two years ago. What happened then? I met my match. The one book I could not finish, try as I might. So which was it? War and Peace? In search of Lost Time? Finnegan's Wake? No dear reader, no. It was.... Twilight (from here on in referred to as The Sparkly Nemesis). 

Pictured: the sparkliest of all nemeses...

Some of my pupils with older sisters had been mentioning it, but I didn't give it much thought. However, when on a dress-up day a student walked it and proudly informed me that her older sister had dressed her up as Bella Swan, I had to know what all the fuss was about. 

I've met some people that think reading children's fiction and YA novels is a co pout. I am not one of these people. I am a firm believer that a good book is a good book, regardless of what age it is being marketed to. Some of these books are brilliant, so that's not the reason I hate Twilight The Sparkly Nemesis. Criticism of this novel has been done countless times before, much better than I could do it, so I'll just summarise and say that:

• the relationship is creepy, bordering on abuse, and it troubles me that young girls think this is romantic/desirable in any way.
• Bella has barely any agency.
• the writing itself is very poor indeed (and no, maybe I couldn't do it better, but then again I'm not the one being paid millions to write a book, am I?). I thing teens and young adults deserve better writing.

It was one of the first and few books to make me turn into a Giant Squid of Anger. I loathe it with a passion, but (and it's a big but) because I only got 3/4 of the way through it, I've never really felt entitled to all my righteous literary rage.

Freakishly accurate depiction of my literary rage.

Why do I mention this? Because on Goodreads I spotted a link to a trailer to something called The Host. Which is when I realised that Stephanie Mayer had written something other than The Sparkly Nemesis.

And so it is dear readers (um... is anyone actually reading this?) that I have set myself a challenge for 2013. Yes, I might need the whole year. Stephanie Mayer shall not defeat me again! This year I shall read The Host in it's entirety, so help me God! (And the blessed Virgin Mary. And the Holy Spirit. And all the Catholic Saint. Hey, I need all the help I can get!) If I enjoy it, I will be pleasantly surprised, but if I despise it, at least I shall do so with some authority! Why am I doing this? Pride. And because clearly Anastasia Steele is not the only one with a penchant for masochism...