My Reading Frenzy

Veronica Mars in all her glory.

I came to Veronica Mars fandom a bit late in the game. I have watched all three seasons of the TV show and the movie in 2014. Just yesterday I finished the book. My only regret is not spreading out her fabulousness....now I have to wait for another movie (wouldn't that be awesome) or the next book, which is due out in October. 

Veronica Mars, show, movie, and book, are great, not because they have well-wrought plots, but because of Veronica and the rest of the engaging characters.  The book was comforting in that not a word of dialogue felt out of character for anyone...I could picture each of them speaking and behaving just as the book described. This is perhaps the benefit of the show and movie coming before the book. The writer's job just meant staying true to the characters' roots, it doesn't hurt I suppose that Rob Thomas has been at the helm of all three projects. This does not mean Veronica, Wallace, Logan, Mac etc. are not free to grow and change, but that they develop naturally as a result of maturity and experience rather than at the whim of the plot. The only glaring flaw in the book, for me as a reader, was the lack of any references to Duncan.  Surely after 9 years he would have found some way to let them all know he is ok. 

I was also disappointed in Veronica's treatment of Piz in the movie.  If they were a couple through college and law school, he certainly deserved a more dignified and compassionate end to the relationship that what Veronica dished out.  She has never been characterized as heartless toward the good guy, in fact quite the opposite, one of her flaws as an investigator is her heart and passion for the job getting in the way of her good sense sometimes.

I am glad to have taken the advice of the Internets and started watching the show, but now where am I going to get a good dose of sassy blonde and witty banter while I wait until October?  Suggestions accepted in the comments!

Hunger Games Wowser

Just saw The Hunger Games.  It is an excellent movie, true to the book in all the ways that matter!  Go see it!  It reminded me of all the things I loved about the book, now I need to reread the book or books, probably all of them while I am at it! 

Flavorwire » 10 Movies That Were Better Than The Book

10 Movies That Were Better Than The Book

10:30 am Wednesday Mar 23, 2011 by Jason Bailey

flavorwire discusses these 10 movies with some pretty good arguments.  And I do LOVE High Fidelity.  (It is mostly John Cusack, but it is a great movie in general.)  I blogged about movies based on books not too long ago.  (Go me!)

via flavorwire.com

Jane Eyre

I love the novel Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë, but I am not sure about this new movie.  See for yourself. 

 

Good movie versions of books

It is common knowledge when it comes to the movie version of books, the book is always better, however in a few cases, the movie is actually pretty good.  In no particular order, these are the movies I think fit this criteria:

1.  Of Mice and Men (1992)  Gary Sinise did a great job converting this novella into a movie.  The length of the novella does seem to play a large role because very little had to be cut to fit the length of a standard feature film.

2.  The Crucible (1996)  Beside the fact that Daniel Day Lewis makes an exceptional John Proctor, this movie is wonderful because Arthur Miller was one of the screen writers.  He made sure his work was not butchered by the movie makers.  (Trivia: Daniel Day Lewis met Arthur Miller's daughter Rebecca during the filming of the movie and is still married to her.)

3. The Age of Innocence (1993)  Again we have an excellent film starring Daniel Day Lewis.  While there are of course some differences between the novel and movie, it is generally faithful to the book.  Now, you may be noticing an affinity for Daniel Day Lewis and I certainly have that, but on my "Not good movie versions of books" list is Last of the Mohicans (1992).  Do not get me wrong, this is a superb movie, but it is not a particularly close interpretation of the book.

4.  The Cider House Rules (1999)  I guess John Irving learned his lesson after movie makers massacred his book A Prayer for Owen Meany and turned it in to the monstrosity that was Simon Birch because he was involved in writing the screen play, and even played a small role as a train conductor. 

Sadly these are all I can come up with...though I must admit there are movies I have seen but not read the book or vice versa so I cannot speak authoritatively.  There are also many wonderful movies that happen to be based on books, but are not faithful to the book and therefore not appropriate for inclusion on this list.  Maybe I will make a list of those in the future.  I would be glad to have input about my choices and additions to the list.