Don't Judge a Book...

When most people hear "don't judge a book" they might, in their heads, finish it with "by its cover." My wife gave me a button for Channukah, though, that instead warned "don't judge a book by its movie." This is a war that has been raging for a while, and I want to comment on it.

I have to admit, I've been getting a little bit lazy lately. I'm going to school full time. When I have a job I'm working, and when I don't have a job I'm looking for work. I've been painting in my room. I'm quite involved in my synagogue. And, of course, I try to find time to write here. I don't get much time to read for me. Most of my books lately have been for school (as you might be able to tell by the new "Reading For School" tab I added). Also, I love movies. That being said, when I see a movie preview that looks good, or at the very least interesting, and I see that it is based on a book I start to cringe. If I haven't read the book, I sweat. This is because I don't like to see movies before reading their literary counterparts. However, I know that I won't have time to read that book anytime soon (if at all considering the long list of books that I may want to read before that specific one). Do I risk it and see the movie, or do I safeguard my ideals and wait?

Believe it or not, I can find pros and cons for each side. If the book is one about which I am on the fence, then seeing the movie may sway my decision about reading the book (I know, I'm ashamed). However, the book and movie may be totally different, and the decision I make based on the movie could turn out to be a really bad one. On the other hand, if I wait, I may never know that story. I am a slow reader, so I may never get to it. Also, a bad book may turn me away from a good movie or a good book may turn me on to a bad movie.

It isn't easy being a book AND movie lover. Therefore, I have decided to rate 3 books and their movie counterparts in what I like to call TO SEE OR NOT TO SEE. I will let you know if a movie is worth watching compared to its book counterpart. Don't worry, I've read all of these books. I will tell you if the movie is not as good as the book, as good as the book, or better than the book and why. We start, in no particular order, with:

                        

 Okay, so I didn't read every single Sherlock Holmes story that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote, but I read enough of them to know a few things. First, Holmes was indeed a fighter, so the action wasn't too embellished. Also, Holmes was a social drug user, so casting Robert Downey Jr. gave the character the background it needed. Viewers still had to wait to find out the truth until Holmes decided to reveal it. But two things really sold the movie for me. The first was the few times I got to see his mind in action. Before taking out some bad guy, Holmes would break down what was going to happen blow by blow, showing the viewers the scene in slow motion before rewinding and seeing it play out at regular speed. The other thing that sold the movie for me was the closeness to the book. This especially shined through in the end of the second movie, playing out a scene almost exactly as it is described in the book. Guy Ritchie's directing and Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law's acting make the movies almost (but not quite) as good as the books and well worth seeing. Final decision: TO SEE.

Not many times in my life have I been more angry than when I watched the movie based on Stephen King's novella "The Mist." Anyone who knows me knows that I am a HUGE Stephen King fan. When I first read the story I instantly fell in love. Stephen King created true-to-life characters and put this in a very frightening situation. After reading the story, I got scared every time the weather turned foggy. Then I watched the movie. Originally I was excited because it was directed by Frank Darabount, who directed another movie based on a Stephen King story, "The Green Mile," which was absolutely fabulous. However, the acting was only okay and the effects were quite fake. I was willing to let all of that slide and just enjoy the movie as a guilty pleasure of entertainment. That is, until the end. *Spoiler Alert* Never have I ever walked out on a movie for a reason that wasn't an emergency. At the end of "The Mist," I could bear it no longer and got up and left. I actually felt sick. The end of the novella has a band of survivors driving as far as they can away from the main setting of the story. The reader does not know what happens to them, but does know that they want to live. In the movie, there are five survivors a woman, a man and his son, and an old couple. Feeling like they have no hope of surviving, a gun is drawn. It has four bullets in it. The man shoots the old couple, the woman, and his own son apparently so they don't have to suffer. A hazmat team then comes in and cleans up the mess. It is a sad attempt at an O. Henry type ending that literally made me sick. This movie is nowhere near as good as the novella. Final decision: NOT TO SEE.

 

I did not know who Philip K. Dick was, let alone know of this short story, until I saw the movie. After finding out that it was originally a story, I bought it and read it. It's not very long, which is the first thing that amazed me. George Nolfi, the director of the movie, was able to take such a succinct story and turn it into a full length movie that doesn't bore the audience to death. The short story makes an allusion to a supreme being constantly changing people's lives while the movie uses agents of fate. The allusion is still there, but only as an afterthought rather than the point of the story. The agents of fate keep referring to someone as The Chairman, leading viewers to believe it is supposed to be a heavenly figure. The fact that the movie makes you think twice about labelling The Chairman is one of the improvements it makes on the story. The other big one, besides giving more depth to the characters, is that the agents of fate explain their story a lot better while still allowing the viewer enough room to ponder. Dick's "The Adjustment Team" was a good story, but if I never knew it existed and only saw the movie I would be just fine. The movie was much better than the book. Final decision: TO SEE.

These are just a few examples of all the different directions movies can take from books. I would never substitute a good movie for even a mediocre book, but it's nice to know that some people won't make me have to choose.

Book Review: Corridor by Robin Parrish

In Robin Parrish's first attempt at writing a Young Adult novel, I would venture to say that he succeeded in writing something worthy of that genre. Although this story can easily reach its demographic, readers of all ages can enjoy it as well. It is full of mystery, suspense, and fast-paced action. Parrish's Corridor is written on a level comparable to O. Henry and Phillip K. Dick. Like so many of his other novels, Corridor starts off with a bang, barely giving his readers a chance to get used to the settings before flinging them into action. This is appropriate in his new novel because that is exactly what Troy Groggin, the main character, deals with. Troy wakes up in a place called the Corridor not remembering where he last was. The Corridor turns out to be a maze of sorts that tests its runners' physical and psychological skills while asking one question of them: how badly do you want to live? Troy finds the answer to that question as his will is beaten time and again only to have his world shattered by one final choice.

If there is one thing readers should remember before reading Corridor, it is to not try to figure out the ending. I read the story in two sittings, quite the feat for me even taking the book's short length into consideration, and all the while my mind kept racing to figure out what was going on. Even as I write this, I believe that the next time I read it something else will happen. That is the power Parrish has over his readers. He uses science fiction the way it was meant to be used, the way pioneers such as George Orwell and Ray Bradbury intended its use. Parrish uses Corridor to take his readers down a different kind of rabbit hole, one with very few hopes of escaping.

All this does not mean that Parrish's writing is flawless. His use of language is a little weak, most notably when a seventeen year old boy exclaims “Oh crud.” Troy makes this comment well after his many near-death encounters, and although I know that somewhere out there may be a seventeen year old boy who says “Oh crud” after almost dying for the umpteenth time, it isn't likely. I find it difficult to believe that a seventeen year old boy in that situation wouldn't swear, even if the words aren't spoken on the page. Parrish's first five novels were published under a Christian publishing house, and this one is represented by a Christian literary agent. However, he himself has said that he doesn't want to be pigeonholed as a “Christian author” but rather as an author who happens to be Christian. That being said, I don't think it's too much to ask that, after Parrish brings us into a world that we should have no right believing in but because of his writing we do anyway, he doesn't lose his readers' belief through his use of overly genteel language.

The biggest distraction for me, though, was not necessarily in Parrish's writing as it was in the editing. Troy is first referred to as runner thirty five thirty seven (3537), but later he thinks about how three thousand seven hundred and thirty four (3,734) people came before him. This was only one of the inconsistencies that should have been picked up in the editing process but, unfortunately for Parrish, wasn't. Thankfully, because of his effective world-building talent, these issues don't deter the reader enough from the novel to not read it. Overall Parrish did a great job of creating characters the reader can care for, a world the reader can believe in, and a story the reader can enjoy.

Corridor is available as an ebook for just $2.99 on the Kindle and the Nook. It is also available for POD (print on demand). For more information, visit his website at the link on the right.

A New Year

It has been almost one full year since my last post. I am the kind of person who gets excited about something, then kind of lets it go. Well, the blog is back and, at the risk of being too cliche, better than ever. I have decided on a few New Year's resolutions. Along with finishing painting my room and organizing the house in which I am currently living, I have also made it my resolution to write more. That last one starts with this blog. However, things don't just happen. Everything has a reason, and every reason has a story. Here's mine.

Just a few days ago as I was cooking pasta sauce and chicken noodle soup, my cell phone vibrated, indicating I had a text message. I set my phone up to receive tweets from some people, and that's what this was. I am currently following Robin Parrish on Twitter. You can read an earlier post to find out about him, or you can click on the link on the right and go to his website. Anyway, this tweet was to let his avid followers know that his latest book was almost done and that if a few people wanted to, they could e-mail him and he would send a pdf of the book to be reviewed. I instantly e-mailed him with a request, thinking that nothing would come of it. However, less than ten minutes later, I received a reply with the book. I was so excited that I nearly forgot to finish cooking. After portioning out the food into containers and refrigerating them, I started browsing the internet, reading up on Robin Parrish and other book and writing related things. I then decided to look at my blog. I knew I had no followers, since I didn't have any last time I posted, and that was a year ago, but I just wanted to look at it. Rereading my posts and thinking about reading and writing got my creative juices flowing again. It's been a long time since I felt this enthusiastic about writing, and I have Robin Parrish to thank for it.

So that's my story. If you went through my older posts, I will tell you this: I still plan on writing about writing; I still plan to write reviews; and I still plan to write about my endeavors as a reader and writer. I hope you find these posts helpful, fun, insightful, and overall enjoyable. I guess only time will tell. (AHH! More cliches!)