Adapting?

The BBC's year of books is making me think about books on TV and film.

It is great that literature is getting so much exposure, Faulks on Fiction and My Life in Books were most enjoyable and thought provoking (as well as tripling my 'to read' lists) but my internal jury is still out on adaptations of books for the screen.

I know that Mr. Bookworm doesn't particularly enjoy watching adaptations of books I've read with me. My squirming and indignant "it didn't happen like that" are admittedly off putting.

My uncertainty of adaptations goes right back to childhood and the BBC version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. I was 11 when this aired and I still remember my upset at how wrong the characters looked, as I'm sure can my family!

Films from books are just as bad. Chocolat and Captain Corelli's Mandolin stick in my mind particularly. If I think of them as being loosely based on the original novels I can just about cope but I still wince. I know deep down that not everything in a book can go into the film but if the author wrote something it seems rude to cut it or change it.

Then there are adaptations of books I haven't read. I find these easier to watch but the whole time I am thinking 'what have they changed?' and 'how accurate is this?'. I'll often go on to read the book afterwards but find that it has been slightly ruined as all of the pictures created in my mind feature the TV actors. Harry Potter looks like Daniel Radcliffe even when I reread the books and Colin Firth is Mr Darcy...

This is why South Riding is sitting on the recorder but not watched. I love this book and even though all of the comments about it have been positive I am nervous as to what they have done to one of my favourite books. Then there is Women in Love - a book I've not read but would like to. Should I read it first or watch the adaptation?

So books getting lots of coverage is a good thing in general, but for me I'm not sure. All I do know is that if I ruin one more TV show or film by saying "it didn't happen like that in the book" I will be condemned to going to the cinema or watching films alone for ever more!

Theatrical Interlude 4 (and 5)

Frankenstein (National Theatre Live at Cinema City) 17th and 24th March.

This play is one of the biggest hits in London currently and in recognition of this the National Theatre filmed the stage production and made it available in cinemas world wide. Twice.

They did it twice because there are two versions of the play. In some shows Creature is played by Benedict Cumberbatch and Victor Frankenstein by Johnny Lee Miller and in others the casting is reversed. I was lucky enough to get tickets to each version.

On March 17th the casting was as above and I thought the play amazing. Danny Boyle and Nick Dear (director and playwright) have retold the story from the Creature's point of view and the intensity of Cumberbatch's Creature was incredible, while Lee Miller's mad scientist was a good foil to his creation.

The production was so good that I was a little unsure about going to see the play again on the 24th. This performance wasn't actually broadcast live in the cinema but had been recorded in front of a proper, paying audience but this time with the 'reverse' cast.

I needn't have worried - it was better.

Creature's development seemed more rounded - he was very convincing as a creation, a being that might have a new body but has a fully functioning adult brain. He learned to control his body as quickly as he learned speech and human characteristics. I much preferred this version, he managed to be part human, part monster throughout but to rationalise why this was so, where as the previous week, in hindsight, Creature was far more apologetic. The climactic scene in this version was also more brutal and less coy.

Cumberbatch's Frankenstein was more effective too - for me he really inhabited the part of an obsessed scientist, there was no awkwardness about it he just *was* Frankenstein where as Lee Miller was just acting the part.

I think that part of the differences in Creature were explained in the small making of feature that aired before the play. Lee Miller had studied his son intensively for the role and his Creature grew like a child, gaining in confidence, whereas Cumberbatch had visited stroke patients and people recovering from brain injuries for his inspiration and thus, for me, his Creature only grew a certain amount physically and always remained unsteady and nervous in gait.

The rest of the cast were also very good and there are little touches of humour throughout which balance out the intensity wonderfully. I'm really not too sure about the Steampunk train though...

The staging, lighting and music made the experiences fully immersing and while at first it was a little disconcerting to only see what the director wanted you to see I quickly forgot this and became immersed in the story. I will certainly try to get to more of the National Theatre's Live performances.

I am looking forward to seeing the play at the theatre in a couple of weeks so as to experience the whole staging.


all photos and image taken from the National Theatre website

How much is that doggy...

One Dog and His Boy - Eva Ibbotson

I've been a fan of Eva Ibbotson for years, since I was a teenager in fact, and I was very sad to hear of her death last autumn. She is one author I always wanted to meet but never managed to. Journey to the River Sea is one of the books I would take to my proverbial desert island.

I was so excited to win an advance copy of this, Ibbotson's last novel, thanks to an offer run by the Reading Agency and Scholastic.

The book didn't disappoint at all.

From page one I identified with the book - a boy is desperate for a dog but for various reasons isn't allowed one. It is family legend that when I was asked if I wanted a brother or sister I replied that I wanted a puppy...*

Hal's parents decide that to cure him of his obsession by renting him a dog for the weekend. Sadly they forget to say that it is just for a short time and he thinks Fleck is for life. Hal is distraught when Fleck is returned to the kennels, as is the dog.

An amazing plan is hatched and the rest of the story is a madcap adventure across England.

In many ways the book is a little far fetched, especially in this day and age when every one seems to have a mobile phone but it doesn't matter. The writing is beautiful, the characters endearing and the illustrations delightful.

This is a book for Ibbotson's fans, animal lovers and fans of gentle adventure stories like the Famous Five. It has something for everyone in it.

Personally I do prefer Ibbotson's historical romances if I am honest but this is a wonderful book that I will certainly be giving as a gift to everyone appropriate. I am sad that there will (in all likelihood) be no more books form Eva Ibbotson but this is certainly a high to go out on!


*I'd better just add that in the 30 years since this incident my sister has grown on me and I wouldn't swap her for a puppy any longer!

Many thanks to Scholastic for the advance copy. The book will be published in May.

Theatrical Interlude 3

Avenue Q (Theatre Royal, Norwich) March 2011

Reading has taken a back seat this week as I've been out quite a lot, including 2 theatre trips.

Mr Bookworm and I went to see Avenue Q on Tuesday night. We both knew we wanted to see it - a good friend had recommended it a long time ago but we never did manage to get to London before it finished - but neither of us really knew what it was about.

It turns out that it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. There isn't an awful lot of plot a guy leaves uni with an English degree, can't find a job, ends up living on Avenue Q with a bunch of very different people and has an increasingly crazy time.

The interest comes in that half the cast are puppets. Not bad actors but Muppet style, hand held puppets. The puppeteers aren't hidden though, and they aren't ventriloquists, they are fully part of the show. It sounds mad, is very hard to describe but is fantastic. It is all a bit rude though what with songs entitled The Internet is for Porn and the simulated puppet sex...

A great night out and I've been humming songs form the show ever since. Perhaps going to the theatre knowing nothing about the show bar some of the songs is the way to go - it has certainly worked for me so far this year.

The other piece of the theatre I saw won't be written up until next week as it was the National Theatre Live's Frankenstein. This has a dual cast so any thoughts will wait until I've seen it performed both ways.

Last World Book Night post

Well I've had over a week now to think about all the books I've read during my (insane?) challenge.

I'm not sure what conclusions that I have come to, and my thoughts on the whole WBN project are muddled - I think Sam, and the people who have commented on his blog post sum it up best so head over there for thoughts on that.

My thoughts on my challenge are clearer. I can't say I've loved every moment of the time I've spent reading, I've been repeatedly challenged, disappointed and amazed. My horizons are far wider now than they were back in December, and to my amazement (and family disgust) I've discovered that there is some poetry out there that I like.

I always thought I was a broadminded reader but in forcing myself to read so many varied books I've discovered that while I am broadminded about subject matter when it comes to genre I am a bit of a snob. I do read widely but in a limited manner!

The 25 books chosen were all varied, I think on reflection I am a little disappointed that more fantasy and science fiction didn't make the list but there were a nice mixture of fiction/non fiction and popular/literary titles.

1. Half of a Yellow Sun
2. The Reluctant Fundamentalist
3. A Life Like Other People's
4. All Quiet on the Western Front
5. Stuart: A Life Backwards
6. Dissolution
7. The Spy Who Came in From the Cold
8. Agent Zigzag
9. Toast
10. Rachel's Holiday
11. The World's Wife
12. Case Histories
13. Life of Pi
14. Cloud Atlas
15. A Fine Balance
16. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
17. Northern Lights
18. One Day
19. Seamus Heaney's Selected Poems
20. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
21. Love in the Time of Cholera
22. The Blind Assassin
23. Fingersmith
24. The Killing Floor
25. Beloved

I've surprised myself with this list - I certainly never expected the top 2 and I thought I would like some of the bottom placed books a lot more.

It has already been announced that there will be a World Book Night in 2012 and if there is a list of books again I will plan on reading them all - in the mean time all of the books I've been neglecting for the past 3 months are calling, plus the write up of my holiday reading.

World Book Night Challenge 25/25

Agent Zigzag - Ben Macintyre

I decided to read this book last in the challenge for 3 reasons:

1)Mr Bookworm also wanted to read it so saving it for holiday made sense.
2)Mr Macintyre was the guest at the library's World Book Night celebrations and as I couldn't be there on the night I thought I would make sure I was there in spirit
3)I loved Operation Mincemeat and hoped that this would be as good.

All three reasons were perfectly sound and this made a nice way to end my challenge reading. It was an interesting tale well told. Lots of detail but never so much that the story is lost. I think it helped that there was a lot of local setting in the book.

Even after reading the whole book I don't know which side Eddie Chapman was on - and to be honest I'm not sure that he knew either.

The story was, for me , not quite as fascinating as that told in Operation Mincemeat but I loved it none the less.
It was a gripping spy tale about a fascinating man and I will rush to read anything else that Macintyre writes - in fact I wonder if my dad still has a copy of In A Foreign Field that I can borrow...

A great book to end the challenge

World Book Night Challenge 24/25

Fingersmith - Sarah Waters

This was a book I'd left until towards the end because I was really looking forward to reading it, but as so has often happened with my WBN reading that wasn't quite how it happened!

I was so disappointed in this book, the characters failed to hold my attention, the plot was (IMNSHO) silly and I discovered the downside of my Kindle - skipping the dull bits is really hard.

I don't know what it was about this that made it so not my cup of tea, a historical novel really should have captured me but the whole thing left me cold. Now I am back at home and can look through my past reading diaries I see that I had a similar reaction to the last Sarah Waters book I read (Nightwatch) so perhaps it is just her style of writing I don't like. It is strange as she came with good recommendations, including my grandmother...

World Book Night Challenge 23/25

Half of a Yellow Sun - Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

I think that this was the book that I was least looking forward too, I've avoided it since publication for some reason and then after hearing several radio programmes about it really dreaded reading it.

Well how wrong could I have been?

It was fantastic. Again set in a time and place that I knew nothing about, Nigeria in the last 1960s at the time of the Biafran War, but from page one I was hooked. I read this in eBook form on the plane and the 4 hour journey just vanished, I was so engrossed that getting off the plane and starting the holiday was a wrench!

It isn't an easy book, the characters are not always nice but they are real. Every single one leaps out of the page and exists as you read and Adichie is so good at description that I could smell Nigeria as I was reading.

This book isn't for the fainthearted, it spares the reader nothing but at the same time is utterly wonderful. This book was a great treat and one that I could have overlooked for many years without World Book Night and a personal challenge.

World Book Night Challenge update

I suppose that it is all a bit passe now - after all WBN was nearly a week ago - however I do still have 3 book reviews to go and a quick update on my progress.

I finished the 25th book at 11.20pm on Saturday 5th March.

Since the 25 titles were announced I have read 22 of the novels. 1 I gave up with over half way through (Beloved), one I am still slowly reading (A Fine Balance) and one I didn't reread (Blind Assassin).

I will post my thoughts and reviews of the last three books - Agent Zigzag, Half of a Yellow Sun and Fingersmith - in the next few days, along with a final post on my thoughts of the whole project and a list of the books in the order that I most liked them.

Then I will go back to reading whatever and whenever I feel like it.

Mr Bookworm and I have had a lovely week away - we've done nothing but eat, sleep and read - 15 books in 7 days isn't too excessive is it?

Finally here!

Happy World Book Night!

I hope that everyone swapping books and attending events has a great time.

Don't forget that however good it is to get a free book you local bookshops and libraries need your support.

A book is for life - not just World Book Night.

World Book Night Challenge 22/25

A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

This is a real tome,a doorstop, at over 600 pages and not a book I want to spoil by reading too fast just in order to complete my self imposed challenge.

I've got about 100 pages in so far and I am really enjoying the book. I can't yet see where it is going, it is set in a country that I know little about (India) in time that I know little about (the 1970s). All I know is that so far the book is compelling and I really want to savour the book.

I don't count this as a failure to the challenge as I will be returning to it very soon, I just don't want to ruin my pleasure by racing through it.

Now for my big World Book Night confession - I won't actually be in the country on World Book Night!
I am off on my holidays again and have this book and 2 1/2 others left to read. I think I will get there by midnight on March 5th but the last few reviews will have to wait until I get back.
As a sign of solidarity with my colleagues and the big event planned for Saturday I do plan on reading Agent Zigzag on Saturday.

Happy reading

World Book Night Challenge 21/25

Love in the Time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

This was a book I had to read for two reasons, as well as being a World Book Night title it was also the book chosen for my International Fiction Group. That instantly made the title problematic to me.

I have a bad bad habit of finding *any* book that I have to read for a book group impossible. I don't mind setting myself reading challenges but the instant I am told to read a book I get a block. I think it must date back to school and teenage rebellion!

I worked through it on this one and I am pleased that I persevered. I didn't think it was a great book, and again I found it to be populated by unlikeable characters but the writing itself, the language used, was beautiful.

I'm looking forward to this month's book group now, we focus on literature in translation and plan the discussions around this rather than just whether or not we liked the book. I'm not sure that I'll have much to add to the discussion as most of my instincts to books are like/dislike but I look forward to being challenged into thinking about the book.

World Book Night Challenge 20/25

The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood

This book leads me to another confession. I haven't actually re-read this one for World Book Night.

I only read this one last summer and I found it such a struggle then that I just couldn't face reading it again.

I'm not sure why I found it so hard going, usually I find Atwood's historical novels gripping - Alias Grace is a book I have read more than once and Cat's Eye is a book I had to replace as my copy fell apart.

This one was just long and turgid and I didn't like any of the characters particularly. Also I dislike this book because it made me feel bad - it should have been just my sort of book, but it wasn't, thus there was something wrong with me not the book. Irrational I know.

I did think about giving the book another go, just to see if I read it at the wrong time before but as it was less than 8 months since I read it and because the 5th of March is coming every closer I decided to skip it. It would take event me a long time to read 656 pages and there are still 5 books I've not read before to get through.

World Book Night Challenge 19/25

Northern Lights - Philip Pullman

This was one of the books that I wasn't really looking forward to (re)reading. It is a book that I have read before, and heard as an audio book, but that has always left me a little cold.

I'm not sure why this should be, I like a lot of fantasy and science fiction novels and I like Mr Pullman immensely.

This time around I did enjoy the book more. I remembered the broad plot so I found myself concentrating on the smaller details. Pullman is a very good storyteller as I did lose myself in the book several times, it just doesn't stand out to me as a great book and certainly not one I'd want to take to a desert island.

I'm pleased I read it again but I still have no interest in reading the 2 follow ups.

Mr Norfolkbookworm on the other hand read the trilogy some years ago and did enjoy it.

World Book Night Enthusiam

World Book Night on a reading level has been great fun so far but from a work point of view a little more stressful.

Organising such a huge project must be a nightmare if just working out how the library is going to celebrate is anything to go by.

However today everything seems to have fallen in to place. People are coming in to collect their books and our big event is organised.

On March 5th Ben MacIntyre, author of one of the 25 books chosen for the World Book Night give away, will be at the Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library giving a talk.
Details can be found here.
There will also be live music and best of all a book-swap, this is your chance to give out (and receive) all of the lovely WBN titles.
The library will also be open as normal with lots of other readings suggestions, March is the library service Great Big Read month and there are dozens of shiny new books to chose from.

I also got confirmation today that I will be receiving 48 copies of a book to give out and best of all this will be my first choice of All Quiet on the Western Front. This will be one of the books swapped on the 5th...

Enough excitement for one day - back to the reading!

World Book Night Challenge 18/25

Dissolution - C J Sansom

I wasn't sure what to expect with this one at all. I like historical fiction but dislike crime fiction - which stall would this fall in to?

To my great delight I found this brilliant. I've read a lot of fiction set in Elizabethan age but not so much from the time of Henry VIII and this made a great introduction.

Set at the time of the Dissolution Mathew Shardlake, a favourite of Cromwell, is sent to investigate the murderous happenings at one of the Monasteries that is about to be closed down. Sadly he doesn't prevent more deaths from happening but the way the story unfolds is gripping, the twists and turns keep the story moving without creating too much confusion and each time I thought I guessed 'who dunnit' more story unravelled.

I think that what I liked the most is the growth of the main characters, Shardlake and his apprentice. During the course of the story they learn more about the world around them and about themselves and in many ways I found their development just as gripping as the main plot.

This was a really pleasant surprise from the list, one I'd left until late on because I thought I'd find it a struggle but in the end one I raced through. Oh and I've treated myself to the sequel to read very soon.

Theatrical Interlude 2

Wicked (Apollo Victoria, London) February 2011

I read the novel that this musical is based on many years ago and really wasn't impressed, then about 2 years ago I heard the a couple of songs from the musical on some television programme or another and was hooked. Since then I've listened to the full sound track many times and looked forward to seeing the stage version.

It didn't disappoint at all. Even before the curtain rises the theatre feels magical, bathed in green light with a set that creeps out from behind the curtain.

The costumes, sets and choreography are all mind blowing and the voices of the actors equally impressive. Every word of every song or piece of dialogue was audible and at no point did the orchestra drown anyone out.

An understudy, not even credited in the programme, was playing the role of Elpheba when we saw the show but you'd never have known, and in fact I have seen the current lead actress in another musical and found her native accent very off putting so I was pleased in many ways that she wasn't on stage!

There was not a thing to criticise about the performance.

The audience on the other hand drove me to distraction. If you can't sit still and be quiet for just over an hour at a time then don't go to the theatre! Also I know that there were a lack of loos at the theatre but it is just plain rude to leave during the last song of each act just to beat the queues. Grrr.

These were minor distractions and I'd go and see the show again like a shot.

World Book Night Challenge 17/25

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon

I read this book when it was first published back in 2003 and while I remember it being an okay book I was surprised when it won so many awards.
9 years on that remains my main thought about this book.

I admire the way that Haddon seems to create the world of a young adult male with autism but neither being male nor (fortunately) suffering from autism I just found that the book frustrated me.

Being a literate person the sign posting of important events seemed too obvious to me and I was frustrated that the book really was that simple for me to understand. I think I was reading it expecting another layer to the story that just wasn't there.

In fact the main emotion I feel on finishing this book is anger.
I am about to read The Hound of the Baskervilles - it is top of my to read pile once I finish the WBN challenge - and Haddon gives away the whole plot without warning.

I can see that this is a brave attempt to explain the world of a young adult with autism who doesn't see the world in the same way as I do but my cynical side kept asking me how realistic it was, how can Haddon write this book while not suffering from the condition himself?
Realistically I know that this is the sign of a good author, being able to create a world like this, but knowing some people with autism and how hard they find it to explain the world I wonder if it is how Haddon imagines.

I can't coherently express my thoughts for this book. It isn't a book I enjoyed and to be honest I can't see why it won as many awards as it did, however with my perverse hat on I can see that it is a brave book and why it won as many plaudits as it did.

A book I'm glad I read as a library book, probably not one I will read again but ultimately a thought provoking read. All I have to do now is forget the spoilers for Hound of the Baskervilles...

World Book Night Challenge 16/25

Case Histories - Kate Atkinson

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this book at all, blind prejudice on my part for this thought - my library book came with the letters CRI on the spine saying that this was a crime fiction novel. One of my least favourite genres.

Happily my first impressions were wrong. Or perhaps the classification is wrong?

The novel opens with three crimes that have taken place in and around Cambridge over the past few decades. Each of the cases is somewhat unresolved and family members have turned to Jackson Brodie, an ex policeman turned Private Investigator, to find out exactly what happened.

The book isn't really about the solving of the crimes, it is a study into people and how crimes have an effect for decades on the people left behind.

It was a great read, but for me not a perfect book.
There were too many strands to the story and either the book wasn't long enough or the resolution to the stories was too abrupt for my liking. There are more books featuring Jackson Brodie but I won't be in a hurry to look them out but on the other hand I won't be avoiding them either.

World Book Night Challenge 15/25

Beloved - Toni Morrison

I have to admit my first failure in the challenge with this title.
This isn't the first time I've tried and failed with the book. Back last autumn this was one of the 10 books we featured at the library's Banned Book event. I got to about page 60 that time.

I've had a copy out of the library now for the maximum time possible (3 renewals or 9 weeks) and this time I've made it to page 200. I
'm just not enjoying the book at all. I can't follow the plot and what I am following I'm not really understanding or taking in. I've tried reading it during the day and in bed at night but it makes no difference I just can't get on with the book.

As I am on a tight schedule for trying to read all of the books by World Book Night I am going to admit defeat on this one and the moment and return it to the library so someone else can enjoy it. I don't like being defeated by a book so I will go back to it after the challenge and try again, or I might do the unthinkable and just watch the film.