Posted October 12, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Classic, Western / 0 Comments
Title: True Grit (Goodreads)
Author: Charles Portis
Published: Overlook, 1968
Pages: 224
Genres: Classic, Western
My Copy: Personal Copy
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
True Grit is a classic Western novel that seems to have stood the test of time. True Grit follows fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross who sets out to avenge the shooting of her father. She hires Marshall Officer Rooster Cogburn to help her track down the killer Tom Chaney. However, most people will know this story from the John Wayne movie or the recent adaptation directed by the Coen brothers.
This book would be nothing if it wasn’t for narrator and protagonist Mattie Ross. She is a thrifty, strong minded girl that doesn’t let any of the men walk all over her. Her wit and strong personality is the driving force of this novel and you can’t help but root for her when she outsmarts or stands her ground throughout the book. This is a typical western, which means it is a tough environment and the men expect women to know their place, so when a loud mouth, bratty little girl decides to take charge then expect some personality clashes and an enjoyable read.
While Cogburn and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf are two interesting characters with very different styles of tracking down Tom Chaney, their personalities don’t really come through as well as Mattie and while she seems to like Rooster Cogburn for helping her, both men are outshined. This is a very short novel that surprisingly jams everything it needs to in fewer than two hundred pages.
Charles Portis’ writes the book masterfully; the pages are jammed pack with this adventure and this doesn’t detract from the fabulous prose. While this book sometimes feels very blunt and straightforward, I had so much fun reading about Mattie’s adventures and her commentary. I’m not much for westerns but I really did enjoy every minute of reading this book.
Posted September 4, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Crime, Science Fiction / 0 Comments
Title: The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Goodreads)
Author: Michael Chabon
Published: Harper Collins, 2007
Pages: 414
Genres: Crime, Science Fiction
My Copy: Personal Copy
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
Many people seem to enjoy Michael Chabon’s books so I was pleased when I finally had a reason to read The Yiddish Policemen’s Union. In the dark Alaskan winter in the city of Sitka, Detective Meyer Landsman’s ex-wife has just become his boss and has handing him a huge stack of old cold cases that she wants him to solve. While Landsman life may feel like it’s already hit rock bottom, he’s only just discovering the mess that he’s in; a mess that will lead to a conspiracy.
This alternative version of Sitka, Alaska in this book is a Yiddish-speaking metropolis. That was the whole basis of this book; Michael Chabon’s idea came from a book he found called ‘Say It in Yiddish’ which had sayings that he would never have a chance to use because Yiddish isn’t the primary language of any country. While toying with the idea of a hypothetical Yiddish-speaking country this book was born. The idea was Israel lost the 1948 war; the Jews established a Jewish state in Alaska.
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union is an interesting blend of Michael Chabon’s heritage with a love of old mystery novels. Chabon has called it a homage to Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ross Macdonald and Isaac Babel. But while the noir stylings of this book are good this book also has a satirical nature about it, with a comic look at the Yiddish language and Jewish culture. Michael Chabon originally published an essay called Guidebook to a Land of Ghosts; which he discussed some thoughts he had of the travel book Say It in Yiddish, this essay was responded with a spiteful reaction from a Jewish community. This vitriolic response only spurred Chabon on and eventually he developed the idea of this book.
While there was some parts of the book that felt like it dragged on, over all the balance between the comical and the noir seemed to work. There are some great line coming from thing book; a highlight for me was “He feels like he suffers from tinnitus of the soul.” I was really surprised with just how well the dark and gritty mystery mixed with Chabon’s satirical style. I liked the whole concept of a Jewish noir novel; it was a refreshing take on a genre that I love. Well worth checking out this alternate history novel as it is one of the best I’ve read. I hear that the Coen Brothers are looking at adapting this book into a movie; if anyone could do this book justice as a movie, it would definitely be them. I’d be interested to see if this movie ever gets made and how it translates onto the screen.
Posted August 10, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Horror / 0 Comments
Title: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (Goodreads)
Author: Seth Grahame-Smith
Published: Grand Central Publishing, 2010
Pages: 353
Genres: Horror
My Copy: Personal Copy
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
Abraham Lincoln was one of America’s top leaders and also a vampire hunter (according to this book). Lincoln’s secret journal has been found and it tells the story different from what you learn in history. Seth Grahame-Smith is known for mashing Pride and Prejudice with zombies but this book feels like a mash up of Vampire hunting and a Wikipedia entry of Abraham Lincoln’s life.
One of the main problems I had with this book was the narrative; was it supposed to be written in a biography or diary format? Because it really didn’t work at all in this book. Also I felt like there was a shift from a first to third person perspective which never really sat easy with me. But my biggest issue was the attempts in making the narrative sound historical; Grahame-Smith just adds phrases and words into the writing that sound old fashion but the rest of the book continues as if it was written in 2010.
I wanted to read this book because of the upcoming movie adaptation. The movie might be entertaining but this book really had too many flaws and holes in it to make this a decent read. I know it isn’t supposed to be high literature and this is written as pure entertainment but seriously; can’t you research better than opening up Wikipedia? I’m not huge into dark fantasy either but I felt the attempts this book made never really worked. There are some graphic and dark scenes but nothing really came together as an overall book. I expected so much more from this book and I felt let down. I don’t think I’ll be reading another Seth Grahame-Smith anytime soon.
Posted July 20, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Literary Fiction / 0 Comments
Title: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (Goodreads)
Author: Jonathan Safran Foer
Published: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005
Pages: 326
Genres: Literary Fiction
My Copy: Personal Copy
Buy: Amazon, Book Depository, Kindle (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
I read this book because in preparation for the movie and thought that was a good excuse to read it. I’ve been interested in reading a Jonathan Safran Foer for a while (yet another step in becoming a book snob) and now I had no excuse. While the movie looks really good, I’ve struggled with how it would work now that I’ve read the book. There is a lot of key elements of this book that would not translate well in a movie, for example Oskar’s inner thoughts, the letters he writes to random people that interest him and then there is the renter (Oskar’s grandfather) who doesn’t speak at all and writes everything on paper for others to read.
This book was such a pleasure to read, while it’s not a particularly exciting plot; the characters and the writing were just so great that it was nothing but a joy to read. I’ve heard people call Jonathan Safran Foer’s writing manipulative and even overly sweet and I can see what they are saying, in this book everyone seemed to be nice and have very little flaws but for me I think this is just simply because this particular story was told by a 9 year old boy. There are a lot of elements of trauma and mourning as the family struggle to come to terms with the events of 9/11 and losing someone so close to them. Even Oskar himself struggles between self-destruction and self-preservation throughout this book but overall the book comes across as very light and sweet.
I really did enjoy this book, while I might have some issues with the book and the upcoming movie adaptation I highly recommend this book. Not often do I get such pleasure in the writing style of a book but Jonathan Safran Foer’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was one of those books I liked simply because it was beautifully written.
Posted July 11, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Adaptations / 0 Comments
I haven’t talked about an adaptation for a while, so I thought it was time to bring out another adaptation smackdown. The idea is to look at the book and then compare the movie and see which one was better or worth your time. I thought this time I will take a look at Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary which was made into a movie late last year. Set in the 1950’s this story involves a tangled love triangle of jealousy, treachery and alcoholism of the staff of a Puerto Rico newspaper.
The mediocre semi-biographical novel focuses on a very ill tempered, drunkard of a journalist. I was expecting something with a bit of excitement but the plot seemed to drag on and while hinting at a plot this book never really took off. So when it came to seeing the movie it was nice to see them really cut down the story to give a resemblance of a plot but like the book it still seemed to drag on way too much.
Advantages of the book
There are no advantages, this book drags on and there really isn’t any point in wasting too much time reading this book.
Advantages of the movie
Well for one, Johnny Depp plays the lead role and let’s face it, he is an expert in playing a drunk. Amber Heard is a beautiful and great actor but still she isn’t enough to pull this movie through. Other than that this movie feels a lot longer than 120 minutes.
Winner: No one’s a winner, unless you skipped them both.
Hunter S. Thompson adaptations seem to follow closely with the novels, which is good for books like Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas where you have a bizarre plot to read and watch but when you have a below average one, it really doesn’t translate well to any format. Now I’ve had a little vent about this book and movie, I might have to work on a new adaptation smackdown, so if anyone has some good suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
Posted June 26, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Question Tuesday / 0 Comments
“Never judge a book by its movie” – J.W. Eagan
I’m not sure if I’ve seen a movie that I liked more than the book. I know if I read American Psycho before seeing the movie I might have enjoyed it more. I think there are plenty of examples of books I didn’t enjoy because I saw the movie first. Others include Psycho by Robert Bloch and Limitless by Alan Glynn. There are a few movies that I enjoyed more than the books, like The Bone Collector by Jeffery Deaver, The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson and The Hunter by Richard Stark (Payback, 1999) There are books I thought were average and I would rather invest 2 hours watching the movie than 8 or more hours reading the books. Even if the movies turned out bad, it was still less of an investment than reading the book.
Graphic novels seem to be the best at being adapted to movies. Ghost World by Daniel Clowes, Sin City by Frank Miller, Kick Ass by Mark Millar and V for Vendetta, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Watchman by Alan Moore all seem to be good examples of that. While all these graphic novels are decent, I prefer the movies over the books. I’m sure many people will disagree with this but that’s my opinion. What movies do people prefer over the books?
While we are on the topic of Movie Adaptions; one of the things I hate most about them, is when the cover of the books change to match the movie posters or even the name of the book changing to match. I really hate owning a book with the movie name or cover on it but sometimes there is just no getting away from it.
Posted May 5, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Thriller / 0 Comments
Title: Beat The Reaper (Goodreads)
Author: Josh Bazell
Series: Peter Brown #1
Published: Little Brown and Company, 2008
Pages: 310
Genres: Thriller
My Copy: Personal Copy
Buy: Amazon (or visit your local Indie bookstore)
I was recommended this book last year, and while it looks interesting, I kept putting this book off. I’m not sure why I did, as this book was so much fun to read. Think mob book (in the style of Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch) meets Scrubs but with a much darker sense of humour. Beat the Reaper by Josh Bazell tells the story of Peter Brown, an intern for Manhattan’s worst hospital. Dr. Brown is in the Federal Witness Protection Program having previously been a mob hitman named Pietro Brwna. I know, the feds lacked imagination and yet the mob failed to find him until one of them ends up being a patient of Dr. Peter Brown.
The humour alone makes this book worth reading, but then on top of that you have the story of a kick ass doctor in what would make a great blockbuster movie if it was directed by someone like Guy Ritchie or Quentin Tarantino. Having said that there are rumours of this book being made into a movie (New Regency acquired the rights in 2009) or even a TV series (HBO started development in 2011) but both seemed to be interested in Leonardo DiCaprio as the protagonist. I can’t see DiCaprio as Peter Brown; I often imagined him more of Vinnie Jones type character even though he probably isn’t right for the role either.
While I think it would make a great adaptation, I’m not going to hold my breath for one; let alone a good one. Beat the Reaper could be the next sleeper hit; with an increasing cult following, this book was well worth the read. All readers interested in an edge of your seat action novel, or a dark medical/mob read should go out and grab a copy of this book. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book in this series.
Posted April 22, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Young Adult / 3 Comments
Normally I would stand by a simple truth; “The book is always better than the movie” but that is not always true. In the case of The Hunger Games, I’m not going to say the book is better than the movie. I think they were both great but I can’t pick one over the other. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you would have heard of this book and the movie adaptation but just in case you haven’t, let me quickly sum it up. The Hunger Games is the story of a 16 year old girl that takes the place of her younger sister to compete in the annual televised event ‘The Hunger Games’. This is an event where a young boy and girl are called up randomly to participate in a fight to the death for survival for the entertainment of the rich and powerful.
Katniss is a strong character, with all the normal awkwardness you would expect from a teenager; having to deal with love, death and loneliness in this dystopian world that she lives in. But in the book it tends to focus a little too much on the cutesy teenage girl aspect and less on the darkness of her situation. The movie does have this same element but a lot of this has been cut down to make room for the main plot line. When it comes to the violence, the book seems more violent and the movie felt a little anti climatic at the end. Also I’ve found in the movie the tributes were very two dimensional and very annoying but when reading the book I didn’t notice this at all. Capital’s fashion was terrible in the movie and I was glad I didn’t have to be subjected to seeing it while reading the book. In the end, the movie slightly departs from the book but it really sets up the next movie (If it gets made) really well.
While I’m talking about this movie, I want to know what was with all the racism with the twelve year old from Division 11? In the book it mentions she had dark skin but people seemed so shocked when in the movie she turned out to be an African American. It shouldn’t matter what colour her skin was all that should matter is that Amandla Stenberg played the role perfectly.
The faults I had with the movie balanced out my problems with the book. I don’t think I can pick one over the other. I’m interested in seeing how the series plays out as a movie adaptation but at the same time I don’t have much of an interest to continue the series. I think as a stand-alone book, it’s fantastic; but if I try to predict the rest of the series and all I can see are love-triangles, fighting authority and a lot more romance. If this isn’t the case, I might read the other books; but at the moment I just think it works better as a single story. Problem is, if they are making the movies I feel inclined to read the book before seeing the movie.
