Good Reads

A short time ago a web site was recommended to me called Goodreads.com. In this website you are allowed to form a network where you can recommend books to friends and they can recommend books to you. I thought this concept was excellent because I am often looking for a good book. When I find an author I like I have a tendency to read everything they’ve written, and when that list is exhausted I must begin the search for another good author. I was happy to have some help.

When I was a substitute teacher back in San Jose, I often taught in the same high school. Since it was convenient, I started checking out books from their school library. I would stroll down the aisles of the fiction section with my head tilted to the side, skimming the titles of various books till something caught my eye. They say don’t judge a book by its cover, but I was actually choosing them by their title. If something looked interesting, I would read the back of the book jacket, and then try my luck. I found some really good books that way.

Another time I was hired to clean and organize the prop room of a local college’s drama department. They had a collection of old books used to dress sets with, so I started taking them home one at a time. It was like having my own personal lending library. For some reason most of the books were written in the late forties, an interesting time for literature. The war caused authors to be a little more questioning, but the cynicism of the sixties hadn’t arrived yet? I read some really good books and got an insight into post war American culture.

When I first entered college and started getting exposed to finer literature. I was embarrassed by my lack of knowledge. I wasn’t ready to jump in with both feet, so I compromised and started reading novels that had been made into movies. One of the first books I read was Les Miserables. It still stands as one of my favorite books and encouraged me to read other classic novels. I also read To Kill A Mockingbird, which is one of my favorite all-time films. It is considered one of the best of the literary adaptations. Another favorite book I read was the Scarlett Pimpernel, like Les Miserables, there are plenty of cinematic adaptations to chose from. It was fun studying all the different versions.

After reading a few classical novels I drifted towards some more popular ones. I was amazed at how different a movie could be from the book. For example in the novel Planet Of The Apes, the astronauts were French. And in the movie Of Human Bondage, they left out big chunks of the book and entire characters. On the other hand, a little novel called The Ratman’s Notebook was so faithfully reproduced, it was like the book was written after the movie. The film was titled Willard and featured hundreds of rats. This was something that just had to be seen on film. The book couldn’t do it justice. I found this whole process of movie adaptations fascinating.

One of the most fun movie-book combinations I ever encountered was The Egg And I. The book was based on the true story of a woman whose husband quit his job and bought a chicken ranch in the Pacific Northwest. This city girl went along with the idea but found farm life a little bit too challenging. The book was hysterical and the film was so successful that it spawned an entire movie franchise based on the characters of Ma and Pa Kettle. What was amusing to me is that these characters were real people. After Hollywood got a hold of them, they turned them into a series of eight films. I always wondered how the real Ma and Pa Kettle felt about that.

Although I am an avid movie fan, I feel that it is important to read books as well. Some stories are just better enjoyed in print. But I also think it is a lot of fun to experience a story in both mediums. I loved Charlie And The Chocolate Factory as a book. I find Roald Dahl’s humor particularly delightful. But, I also loved the movies as well, both of them. It is interesting to see how a filmmaker is going to realize such bizarre material, especially in Fantasy or Science Fiction.

Sometimes you read a good book and can’t wait until someone makes it into a film. The book will be so vividly written that you can just picture it in your mind. When the book ends, you want to experience the story again, but this time you want to see it visualized as a film. I have never read any of the Harry Potter books, but I can perfectly understand the desire to see them as films. The images were so fantastical that the reader wanted to see how it could possibly be done. Sometimes a book has to wait a long time for technology to catch up.

When I moved to Los Angeles for the first time back in the late seventies they actually had a course at school called, Literature And The Motion Picture. I loved that class and read veraciously that year. But lately my reading habits have been slacking off, so that’s why I really appreciate this new website. A borrowed book is the cheapest form of entertainment and this summer we all need to watch our pennies. Besides, I hope this site will inspire me to read more this year and if I’m lucky, maybe I’ll find a good book that will make an even better motion picture. If so, I’ve already got my discount tickets.