Tag: Books

The Princess Bride is a great book and a great movie.   I recently read Cary Elwes’ book As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride and learned a lot about the making of the movie.  Normally the book is better than the movie, but in the case of The Princess Bride I think the movie is just as good as the book and arguably better because it has had a wider influence.  Reading Elwes’ book caused me to think a lot about why The Princess Bride movie is so great.

I like a good story, but even a good story needs to be told properly.  When verbalizing a story, I use different words and sentence structures than when I am writing the same story.  There are many ways and mediums to tell the same story and many of those have been used to tell the story of The Hitchhiker’ Guide to the Galaxy.  Some stories, or at least some narratives, tend to work better for certain mediums and I think often when a good book is adapted for screen that the movies isn’t as good because the medium isn’t as right for the story.  But this is not the case for The Princess Bride.

William Goldman, a gifted author, wrote The Princess Bride book in 1973.  But Goldman is also a gifted screenwriter, and I think in the years between writing the book and then crafting the screenplay he thought a lot about how to tell the same story in a different way.  This means that the movie,  while not 100% faithful to the book, is still faithful to the story.

Both the book and the movie tell the story of a six-fingered man, iocane powder, rodents of unusual size, true love and more.  The book can provide a depth of details that couldn’t effectively be conveyed in movie format, but the movie is incredibly quotable.  I wouldn’t go so far as to claim the movie is better than the book, but I think it is just as great because it is the same story told by a creator skilled in telling a story in two different mediums.

 

I really enjoy the writings of Yoshikawa Eiji.  I’ve already written far too much about Yoshikawa and his writings in my thesis Yoshikawa Eiji’s Three kingdoms as Japanese literature, but in that sort of academic paper there isn’t much opportunity to mention my personal experiences with his writings.

I encountered Yoshikawa by accident.  I was at a Barnes and Noble bookstore looking for a Yoshimoto Banana book (a very different author) when I saw a paperback of Musashi (actually, as I later learned, only the first part of the story) and bought it based only on the information on the cover.  I often find myself reading multiple books during the same stretch of time, and I remember while reading Musashi I was also reading Foucault’s Pendulum so the two books will always be strangely linked in my brain despite having little in common.  I was sad when I reached the end of my incomplete Musashi and so I soon invested in a volume containing the complete text.  Since then, I’ve spent many hours reading various writings by and about Yoshikawa Eiji in both English and Japanese.

When I read the literary works of Yoshikawa Eiji, I enter a vivid world with rich characters.  Unlike many books where the protagonist is a generic “everyman” or “everywoman” (although typically with a bit of spunk) which take place in the “here and now” or thereabouts, Yoshikawa’s books take place during specific times and places in history centered around actual historical people.  Of course there is a lot of fiction filling in the details.  In the past I have said that if a person is going to read only one book of Japanese literature, it should be Endo’s Silence.  However, typically when I am recommending a book to introduce someone to Japanese literature, I will suggest Yoshikawa’s Musashi.

 

 

 

 

A couple years ago I had a lovely six months reading through Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series.  This summer I’m binging on Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels.  I’ve read most of them before, but I’m really enjoying consuming the books in mass quantities.  There are several reasons I think they make great summer reads.

It’s nice not to have to worry about what to read next–you just grab another book in the series.  However, the Discworld series adds an extra dimension because I can easily jump around between storylines thanks to Jakub Oleksów’s reading order guide (there are newer versions than the one in the link, but they don’t always seem to mention the artist and I think he should get credit for his creation).  If I should need a break (I didn’t) from the misadventures of Rincewind (a “Wizzard” who cannot do magic), I can easily switch to another storyline such as the city watch or industrialization.  So in the Discworld series there is something readily available for any mood (or at least any of my recent moods).

The Discworld novels, for the most part, are written such that they can be appreciated on various levels.  The entire family engaged in much laughter as we read aloud Tiffany Aching’s encounter with the Nac Mac Feegle in The Wee Free Men.  Boy #1 and Boy #3 can read through the same book and enjoy it for entirely different reasons with Boy #1 commenting that he “got” so many more of the jokes on his second read now that he’s older.  Boy #3 decided to build The Mended Drum out of Popsicle sticks.

It’s easy to pickup where you left off (or even where you’ve never been) in Discworld.  The novels are great to take with on vacation because it’s not necessary to reserve a few hours in a special reading spot in order to appreciate the text.  I just tossed a couple of books in the suitcase when packing for each trip in July, and had something to enjoy as time permitted.

Some people categorize Pratchett’s Discworld novels as silly (they are) or state that it’s not “real” fantasy (just another way of saying silly), but that is the intent.  I’ve heard some people say that if you’ve read one Discworld book, you’ve read them all, but that is like saying if you’ve eaten one ice cream cone, you don’t need to eat another one since each book provides its own unique satisfaction  So this summer, even though I’ve been keeping busy, when I do find a few minutes to escape, I love heading over to Discworld.

I was still in elementary school when I was first introduced to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  Initial contact was the 1984 video game on a Commodore 64 which I initially thought to be a clone of Zork, but quickly discovered it was much sillier.  I died frequently and never made it very far, but I learned to put on a robe before trying to access the pockets and to lay down in front of bulldozers.

Later (but still during my elementary school years), the BBC showed the television series.  I was expecting something like Doctor Who (and Douglas Adams even wrote “City of Death” which is one of my favourite Doctor Episodes), but quickly discovered it was much sillier.  Of all the bits in the show, the thing I remember the most is at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe where the animal that wants to be eaten.

In middle school I finally read the first book and in high school school I read everything available in the series at the time.  I also explored and enjoyed the world of Dirk Gently and his Holistic Detective Agency (my favourite part of those books being the sofa in the stairway).  By then I was sufficiently well-versed in the works to be able to claim to know the location of my towel.

In college there was a guy in the dorm that had the original radio show in cassette tape and he was kind enough to let me make a copy.  I’m typically not a fan of that sort of audio format–it’s much slower than reading and requires more effort than media that has associated visual components.  Nevertheless, I really enjoy the radio show and it is my preferred version of the story.  Over the years first the radio show (now in mp3 format rather than cassette) has continued to provide entertainment during road trips.

I enjoy the silliness associated with “The Guide” in all it’s many forms–it has been and continues to be a source of entertainment for me and my family.  If I had to choose a favourite media format, I would have to go with the radio show version.  While I suspect that more people have read the book, I feel it is definitely worth a listen.

 

 

 

Several years ago, my wife and I purchased a collection of Sherlock Holmes stories as a Christmas present for our niece and I mentioned that I had never read any Sherlock Holmes save an abbreviated version of Hound of the Baskervilles I encountered in fifth grade.  I believe my wife was appalled at this dearth in literary knowledge and as a remedy I soon received a nice version of the Sherlockian canon.  I like to consume literature in bulk–there was no intimidation at 2000-3000 pages, but rather a comfort of knowing there were many hours of reading material immediately available to me.  And so I began.

I really enjoy reading about the various adventures of Sherlock Holmes, but initially I was surprised at how well I could predict the outcome.  Not only did I out pace Watson, but sometimes even the great sleuth himself.  Initially I assumed I was just incredibly clever, but soon reality set in there was the realization that, though the details were different, the “twist” was something previously encountered.  I had read various mysteries including a binge with Agatha Christie while in college.  Before that I had ready Hardy Boys novels (also in mass quantities) and watched episodes of Scooby-Doo.  Sherlock Holmes was quite original when it was written, but it has since become the foundation upon which most modern Western mystery is built.

I think I enjoy the short stories more than the novels; that’s odd considering my general preference towards quantity.  The short stories come across as more tightly written and more focused on the mystery rather than a lot of back story.  Also, since I usually had a good idea where the story was headed, I think I missed out on a certain measure of suspense.

Even though most modern readers won’t be thoroughly astounded by the genius of Sherlock Holmes because of the predictability, it’s not due to lack of originally for it is the original.  Reading the text is a fun journey to the early days of the mystery genre.  If you haven’t yet experienced the world of Holmes and Watson, enjoy the originality and don’t fret the predictability.

Some books are worth reading more than once.  One book with a lot of reread value is The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and there are five copies in my home.  Although all are the same story, each book is different and makes me remember different things.

The first book is a 45 year old Le Petit Prince in the original French.  I believe I stole it from my parents’ home and it most likely was previously claimed by my mother or sister.  I remember as a kid reading an English translation (which my parents probably still have along with another French copy) and enjoying the story while marveling that my parents and sister could read it.  Later when I was studying French I read portions of the text and experienced the story in new ways because I was forced to slow down (and often read it aloud).

小王子 was purchased for me by a good friend on a trip to China that I didn’t get to take.  My Chinese is lousy and I can only pick out words here and there, but since it has English on the left page and Chinese on right, I can read the English and appear like I’m capable in Chinese.  This book reminds me of what I gave up and what I gained by not going on the trip.

The English copy of The Little Prince was a gift from my sister-in-law and it was accompanied by doll in the picture above.  It’s a different translation from the one I grew up on (suggesting another book for my library) and so provides the opportunity to see the familiar tale in another way.  Because of the doll, the book was often packed separately from other books as we moved several times.  Being separate, I remember various times pausing from my packing or unpacking and reading various snippets.

In general, I don’t like shopping in stores, but I do like bookstores and also enjoy Japanese stores so browsing in Japanese bookstores is particularly fun.  I purchased 星の王子さま on a trip to Tokyo with the family in 2008.  When I peek at the book, I remember that trip, my other times in Japan, and the many hours I spent reading Japanese novels and stories in grad school.

Finally there is Il Piccolo Principe which I purchased as a Valentine’s Day gift for my wife this year.  It doesn’t remind me of any trip to Italy, but rather makes me think about my wife.  It makes me think about what she gave up and what she gained in joining me on an adventure.  Along with the book, I also gave her a wooden card with a favorite quote (in the English translation I knew as a child) laser engraved on it.

If you haven’t read The Little Prince, I recommend it.  If you have read it, it doesn’t take long to read it again and it usually seems better than you remembered it.  You definitely want to read it more than once.