New Providence Memorial Library's Online Reading Group discussion

Hey all,

I hope you had a wonderful and restful holiday. Mine was so restful that I neglected to post a topic yesterday!

This week, I would like to revive a question from last year's contest that sparked a good discussion. Is there a favored book that you NEVER want to see adapted to film? What in particular would be "lost in translation" ?

I don't recall my answer last year but I will say that one recent movie that I did not see and had no interest in seeing is "The Book Thief." I had a very strong visual of who would play each character. Anybody but Jake Gyllenhaal in the role of Max would be distracting and anyway, the movie did not get such great reviews.

What about your opinions??

I felt the same way about "The Book Thief", on of the few books I've given a 5* rating. However, I did watch the DVD of the movie and I didn't hate it. What I felt was 'lost in translation' was Death. One of my favorite scenes in the book, when Death was with the pilot, and when he was walking around Cologne, were left out. I guess it was too difficult to handle those scenes? So...while it didn't adapt very well, it was not horrible, like "Fahrenheit 451" was.

How's about one I'd like to see adapted? I've been working my way through the "Lorien Legacies" series - YA, a mix of scifi and action - and I think they'd be just fun to watch. The stories aren't complicated, so not much to "mess up". Would love to see how they'd animate the aliens - costumes? puppets? CGI?

I loved reading the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett and was very excited when I heard it was going to be made into a movie. When I did see the movie I was very disappointed as parts in the book that had touched me deeply did not make it onto the screen. I do understand that they cannot film a book by the letter, but I definitely missed certain parts.

"the lovely bones" by alice sebold. it was such a tragic (but riveting) story, and once i knew the ending wouldn't bring much relief to the family, i did not want to see the movie once it came out. however, i did end up watching it on dvd a couple of years later since the reviews were so good. it was well done, but achingly sad



funny, i liked the MOVIE "the help" much better than the book ;-) (i had read the book first).



loved loved loved "the book thief" (audio book. narrator was FANTASTIC.) i felt the movie was better than some reviews indicated, but somewhat "sanitized" to appeal to and market to a wider audience

Marilyn wrote: "I felt the same way about "The Book Thief", on of the few books I've given a 5* rating. However, I did watch the DVD of the movie and I didn't hate it. What I felt was 'lost in translation' was D..."

Hmm...I have to look up the voice of Death b/c that's a whole other casting problem in itself. And so hard to keep the drama/surprise/horror/pathos of Death as the narrator and revealing his/her feelings w/o making it just creepy or too morose.

K wrote: "How's about one I'd like to see adapted? I've been working my way through the "Lorien Legacies" series - YA, a mix of scifi and action - and I think they'd be just fun to watch. The stories aren'..."

I'm not familiar w/ that one but we'll watch for it...maybe it's already been optioned by Disney or Lucas.

Helene wrote: "I loved reading the book "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett and was very excited when I heard it was going to be made into a movie. When I did see the movie I was very disappointed as parts in the book..."

Yes, I had some casting issues w/ that movie as well. And I felt that the story was flattened out and more made into a wonderful white girl story along w/ the "wicked sister" friend instead of a real depiction of people trying to live under an oppressive, crippling system that forced them into certain roles.

Sangeeta wrote: ""the lovely bones" by alice sebold. it was such a tragic (but riveting) story, and once i knew the ending wouldn't bring much relief to the family, i did not want to see the movie once it came ou..."

Hmmm...I'll have to try and listen to the audiobook...I can tell you that I started reading it on a Kindle and when I got to the handwritten bookpart, I thought it was a technical malfunction! Had to go to the shelf and look at the written copy to understand what I was looking at - that it was a facsimile of Liesl's book.

I'm rather surprised that you liked The Help movie better than book and did not find it to be "sanitized." Perhaps it was the outstanding performance of Viola Davis - she should have won the Oscar! She was really inspiring.

There are books that I hear are being made into a movie and I cringe a bit. Just saw a trailer for Gone Girl. Not sure how they will successfully depict the story from two points of view and keep the true motivation under wraps until later in the story. We'll see.

Generally, as an elementary school teacher, I cringe when children's books are made into movies. They are NEVER as good and I fear many kids will be satisfied with the movie- never visiting the book OR thinking the movie IS the story. I was upset when I heard The Polar Express was being made into a movie. Just losing the author's beautiful language was a disappointment.

On the other hand- I loved the Harry Potter movies (and the books).

Eileen wrote: "There are books that I hear are being made into a movie and I cringe a bit. Just saw a trailer for Gone Girl. Not sure how they will successfully depict the story from two points of view and keep..."

Maybe because the author has so much control over the product and veto power over the actors and story.

Anybody hear the American Icons series on Studio 360 - NPR radio ?? Yes, I am a dinosaur and listen to the radio. This series is all about listener-nominated icons of our culture.

One of the programs is devoted to "one Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest." Never read the book but suffice it so say that the program is fascinating and it seems to boil down to Michael Douglas as the producer changing the story from one that focuses on The Chief and the disenfranchisement of Native Americans by American culture to one that focuses on the fate of non-conformists, questions who's really crazy and gave Jack Nicholson the star role of a lifetime.

Here's the URL to the program. Fascinating listen.

http://www.studio360.org/story/americ...

i agree, the harry potter series translated very well into the movies.

gone girl movie ...will be interesting to see how they depict the surprise motivations and secrets of the 2 characters, and how the plot unveils. wonder how closely it'll follow the book format. that'll be fun

Tom Cruise as Lee Child's Jack Reacher was a horrible mistake. Reacher is 6'5" (Tom is 5'6") former Military Police, with his own set of rules, and righting wrongs with a good moral compass.
I can't see them making Girl Gone work without a lot of prep talk about story line.
However, one series that has turned out to be a huge hit on A&E is Craig Johnson's Longmire series. I am totally in love with it and cast is perfect. I wish is was not a summer fill-in with only 10 shows a series. I could watch this all year!
The movie "My Sister's Keeper" I think failed because they changed the story line ending. I have no issue with time lines being altered or characters deleted because of time issues, but changing a major ending does not work. This type of Suspension of Disbelief is just that, not believable.

Marie - does that mean the Longmire books are as good as the show? This is one of those rare cases where I saw it on TV first - was wondering about the books, tho'.

I also think that the Harry Potter series translated well. I enjoyed the movies almost as much as the books.

K-The Longmire TV show on A&E is as good as the books. I wanted to say, NOT as good, but each show gets better and better since the 1st season. Craig Johnson is on location and the cast LOVES him, as he does them. If they keep going they way the are, Craig will be hard pressed to beat them at his own story line!! The books are just wonderful, and his new one, Any Other Name, is terrific. Just the fact you asked if the books are as good as the show, tells all! Yes they are, and worth the read and I will always wish I had a Longmire, or Henry Standing Bear in my life...however, I can dream :)))))

I started watching Longmire last year and thought about reading the books but just wasn't sure about investing the time if the books were not as good as the show. So thanks for the info.

Right now I'm reading First Family,by Joseph Ellis, which is based on John and Abigail Adam's correspondence (over 1200 letters)and it is an eyeopener. I'd love to see this become a mini-series.

And I recently saw the movie Belle, does anyone have a suggestion of a good nonfiction book about this time in England's history?

Marie - Thanks. Adding to my reading list. I'm going to try to find them "in order", so am anticipating this is going to take some time (but that's a good thing).

K-They are listed in order. Easy to get. Start from the beginning and you will love them. I promise. If you are anything like me, YOU will love Henry and be glad he has Walt's back. You will understand more once you start the books from the beginning. Craig Johnson is brilliant. By the way, he lives at UCross, Wyoming, Pop 25. He may have added his horses and dog.

K wrote: "Marie - Thanks. Adding to my reading list. I'm going to try to find them "in order", so am anticipating this is going to take some time (but that's a good thing)."

Ann wrote: "I started watching Longmire last year and thought about reading the books but just wasn't sure about investing the time if the books were not as good as the show. So thanks for the info.

Right n..."

I've just checked and we do indeed have all the books in the Longmire series. However, they were not identified as being in the Longmire series! So, we are rectifying that. Books will have a series record as well as the number in the series so you can find them all by either searching for Longmire or by the author Craig Johnson. Keyword searches always work best.

Ann wrote: "I started watching Longmire last year and thought about reading the books but just wasn't sure about investing the time if the books were not as good as the show. So thanks for the info.

Right n..."

Marie wrote: "K-They are listed in order. Easy to get. Start from the beginning and you will love them. I promise. If you are anything like me, YOU will love Henry and be glad he has Walt's back. You will un..."

Have not seen Belle but I gather it's about a runaway slave. We have several accounts by runaway slaves including:
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet A. Jacobs
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by F. Douglass
The Odyssey of an African Slave by Sitiki
Voices from Slavery edited by Norman Yetman
Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northrup


I can recommend an excellent book by Simon Schama called Rough Crossings about slaves promised emancipation by the last British governor of VA.

We have another book on the topic called 5,000 miles to Freedom by Judith Fradin about a runaway and his wife who travel to Boston and eventually to England. It's a juvenile book but published by National Geographic and good for an overview of the subject and good presentation of facts.

I did not see the movie "Twelve years a slave" nor "Belle", but I have read the book from the first movie. I also recently visited two plantations in New Orleans, reading the book right after that gave the story an extra dimension. I just bought the book: "Belle" by Paula Byrne I will start that shortly.

Here there are in order. Walt Longmire series. They are all at the NP Library.
First to Last.
The Cold Dish, Death without Company, Kindness Goes Unpunished, Another Man's moccasins, The Dark Horse, Junkyard Dogs, Hell is Empty, As the Crows Flies, A Serpeant's Tooth, Any Other Name ( this year).
Steamboat is a novelette he did last year(also at library) about the famous bucking horse that is on the Wyoming License plate and why the symbol was painted on the outside of a major USA bomber. Good quick read even if a women. I loved it.
If you have seen the A&E TV show, you will love these even more, the plot line is close and YOU will so want to go to the Red Pony's continual party and soiree. Enjoy, I can't wait for each week, or each book.