Booking through thursday #12...

Books and films both tell stories, but what we want from a book can be different from what we want from a movie. Is this true for you? If so, what’s the difference between a book and a movie?

Books and movies and movies are completely different mediums. A book literally tells you a story; someone is talking to you. You hear the words in your head and they invoke the pictures in your imagination. They can take the time to unfold slowly, letting the language and story wash over you. There are really no limitations of length. They can take 100 pages to tell the story or 1000.

Movies, like I said, are another medium. They have, at the VERY most, three hours to tell their story. And that length is reserved for the hugely anticipated blockbusters like Lord of the Rings or Star Wars. A normal movie is only about two hours. When you're translating a book to a movie, if it's a full novel as opposed to a short novel or novella, that's hard. Close to impossible. 1 page of script in a screenplay is supposed to equal roughly 1 minute of screen time. So think about it. A movie is 2 hours long, so 120 minutes. That's 120 pages. How many novels are that short? Of course things are going to be left out. A book can tell you the back story, can delve into deep psychological character development, can tell you how a person feels about their current environment. A movie has to show that.

It's hard to compare a movie and a book. A movie takes a novel and instead of making that novel into a play script by reading it line for line, they take the characters, the events, and themes that are discussed and go from there. The movie is it's own story. The movie is an interpretation of that story.

I think I kind of rambled a bit in that answer. I got interrupted a few times while writing it (seeing as I am at work). But hopefully I got the idea across.

Booking through thursday #11...

Writing guides, grammar books, punctuation how-tos . . . do you read them? Not read them? How many writing books, grammar books, dictionaries–if any–do you have in your library?

I have a few in my personal library, though I haven't read any of them very extensively. I have a few different "How-to's" on screenwriting, a past time/career that's always been in the back of my mind, though I've never had the time to really sit down and go through them. Except to look for the different movie titles to add them to my 'ones to watch' list.

I also have a French/English dictionary from when I took French in high school (bonjour!).

Booking through thursday #10...

Quick! It’s an emergency! You just got an urgent call about a family emergency and had to rush to the airport with barely time to grab your wallet and your passport. But now, you’re stuck at the airport with nothing to read. What do you do??

And, no, you did NOT have time to grab your bookbag, or the book next to your bed. You were . . . grocery shopping when you got the call and have nothing with you but your wallet and your passport (which you fortuitously brought with you in case they asked for ID in the ethnic food aisle). This is hypothetical, remember….

Thankfully there's usually a bookstore or magazine stand in the airport, so I would just hit that up. Probably I wouldn't buy any books (because they never seem to have any decent books) so it would be all about the magazines for me. A little People, some Entertainment Weekly, maybe even a Cosmo or a Rolling Stone. If things were really desperate, I could probably even bring myself to stock up on Star, Intouch, or Life&Style. Classy. I know.

Booking through thursday #9...

Ok. No one get offended, but I'm not really going to book through Thursday this week. It is sometimes a bit of a hassle to try and get my entry to look the way I want it to, and I really think this week's topic is super boring. I can pretty much answer it in one word (no). So I will not waste the time and energy.

Booking through thursday #8...

I’ve always wondered what other people do when they come across a word/phrase that they’ve never heard before. I mean, do they jot it down on paper so they can look it up later, or do they stop reading to look it up on the dictionary/google it or do they just continue reading and forget about the word?

I have always thought that if I didn't understand something then I should look it up. That way I wouldn't get confused with the passage I was reading. But I never manage to do that. I feel it disrupts the flow of what I'm reading. I guess I could write down the words or phrases I don't know and look them up later, but by that time I've passed over what I didn't understand and I feel like that would just make acquiring the definition a moot point (like a cow's opinion. It's moo...).

I generally just plow through. If I don't know the word or phrase, I hope the context clues around it will make me understand enough so that I don't totally miss what's trying to be said.

Booking through thursday #7...

1. Pick up the nearest book. (I’m sure you must have one nearby.)
2. Turn to page 123.
3. What is the first sentence on the page?
4. The last sentence on the page?
5. Now . . . connect them together….

I'm currently reading Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard by Kiran Desai.

"The Chawla family and various visitors, including the spy and Miss Jyotsna, lay scattered throughout the orchard wondering, 'What was he saying?'"

Hmmm...that turned out kind of boring. Sad.

Booking through thursday #6...

1. When somebody mentions “literature,” what’s the first thing you think of? (Dickens? Tolstoy? Shakespeare?)

Generally the word "literature" brings to mind the classics, like those listed. I imagine old, dusty, beautifully bound books with yellowed pages and that slighty musty smell. Books filled with both flowery and stuff language often concentrating more on the language than on the character and plot development.

I realize that "literature" really encompasses a much bigger collection of works, that it shouldn't be considered synonymous with the words "old" or "classic," but that it the image that comes to mind.

2. Do you read “literature” (however you define it) for pleasure? Or is it something that you read only when you must?

I decided a while ago that I read too many "just for fun" books and I want to become more well read. I want to read more classics and more well respected literature. And so I have found some lists such as the London Observer's "100 Greatest Novels" and the publishing company Penguin's classics in order to introduce myself to more classics and newer literature.

Booking through thursday #5...

While acknowledging that we can’t judge books by their covers, how much does the design of a book affect your reading enjoyment? Hardcover vs. softcover? Trade paperback vs. mass market paperback? Font? Illustrations? Etc.?

The design of the book can affect my enjoyment of a particular book, but won't always. Certain books need to be hardcover or softcover, but there's not always a rhyme or reason as to why. Mostly I don't like hardcover books, but that is because I cannot stand bookjackets. And as such I will generally get rid of a books bookjacket if I get it in hardback. I like classics to be hardbacks (sans bookjacket). It makes them seem older, more valuable and important. And Harry Potter books. I'll only own those in hard back. And coffee table books. Everything else comes in paperback.

Also, I very much need my books to match. And by that I mean if they're books by one certain author or a series of books, they all need to match. Have the same style of cover, come from the same publisher, be of the same set, whatever. They need to match.

Booking through thursday #4...

You should have seen this one coming … Who is your favorite Male lead character? And why? First off, sorry this is a day late. Again, like last week, this was a somewhat difficult question to answer. My favorite male characters are never the leads. As I have always thought myself to be one, I will forever be a lovable sidekick girl. I like that guy who's funny, but isn't always important. But since we're talking about lead characters, I would say (probably since I'm currently rereading the series) Brother Cadfael, the 11th century monk detective, from Ellis Peter's Brother Cafael Chronicles. After a lifetime of being a crusader, he retired into a life of servitude at the Benedictine Abbey of St. Peter and St. Paul. Because of his previous life and experience, he is able to understand the world around him so much better than the rest of his brothers and as such is always willing the lend his help to his friend Hugh Berringar, the under-sherrif of Shropshire. His patience and understanding is never ending, his ability to put everything including his duties as a monk into perspective and priority is infallible, and his humor and love of mischief is refreshing.

Booking through thursday #3...

So, I kind of missed last week, so we're jumping back in with this week's question:

Who is your favorite female lead character? And why?

I am have been thinking about this for a while now before I posted and thought I would have a really hard time deciding. I went through all my favorite books looking at their female leads, and while they're all interesting and admirable in their own ways, I couldn't find a favorite. Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, Sayuri in Memoirs of a Geisha, Aline Seward and Godith Adeny in One Corps Too Many, Lucie Manette in A Tale of Two Cities, Sara Howard in The Alienist, Cecilia and Briony Tallis in Atonement, all so diverse and well rounded and strong. But each one I have said to myself, "Well, I like her, but she's not my favorite." So I went to my bookshelf, looked at all the books on my shelf, and I have found her.

My favorite female lead character is Georgia Nicols from the "Georgia" books, a series of British young adult novels. These books are the personal diaries of Georgia as she muddles her way through every misadventure of life. I love her because, while most of the other women I mentioned are strong and intelligent and will struggle through all misfortunes with dignity, Georgia is a mess. She's insecure, she's sometimes lazy, she's always in some kind of mischief, she's superficial, she doesn't always know the answer, but she goes through life with a smile. No matter what happens, whether she's spying on her crush's girlfriend, or being expelled from school for hitting someone with a field hockey stick, or deciding to go to a costume party dressed as a stuffed olive, Georgia will make you laugh. I love her.

If you have never heard of these books, I absolutely recommend checking them out. The first is titled Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging. From there it gets a little confusing as they changed a lot of the titles for release in the US. And not like Harry Potter where the title is basically the same except for one word, I mean drastically different. For example in the US, the second book is called On the Bright Side, I'm Now the Girlfriend of a Sex God but in England it's called It's Okay, I'm Wearing Really Big Knickers. Weird. But despite this oddity, these book are hilarious and everyone should read them.

Booking through thursday #2...

Have you ever fallen out of love with a favorite author? Was the last book you read by the author so bad, you broke up with them and haven’t read their work since? Could they ever lure you back?

I don't think I've ever really fallen out of love with an author. There have definitely been books that I've disliked, but if I had previously enjoyed a book by a specific author then shouldn't I give them the benefit of the doubt and read a little more before I just write them off? For example, I fell in love with Ian McEwan after reading Atonement. I couldn't wait to read others by him. And so at the end of last year I bought and read The Cement Garden. And I really didn't enjoy it. But due to my love of Atonement, I can't wait to try another.

I will say that if I don't like the FIRST book I try by a certain author, it will take a lot to get me to try another.

Booking through thursday #1...

A weekly questionnaire found on Booking Through Thursday...

Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?

In the last couple of years, so much of my time was focused on work. I was serving with AmeriCorps*NCCC (kind of a domestic Peace Corps) and was working all the time, doing all sorts of national service and volunteer work. But I guess that's not really leisure...

I love movies. I wish I had a chance to go to the theater more, but I don't always have the money or the opportunity. Or the company. I can't stand going to the movies by myself. Since I can't always be at the theater, I have an extensive DVD collection, although recently I think I own more TV shows on DVD than movies.

My TV Show DVDs:

ER - seasons 1-4
Friends - full series
Gilmore Girls - full series
The OC - season 1 (which I'm slightly ashamed of, but love anyway)
That 70's Show - seasons 1-2
The West Wing - seasons 1-4

Next I want to start collecting Happy Days.

Other than that, I have some small hobbies. I like to cross stitch. Despite being almost 23, I like to color. I have an extensive collection of very nice Dover coloring books, which no one else is allowed to color in, only me. Both of these, I generally do while watching movies. I used to be a performer. I used to sing and do ballet. I still sing all the time, but haven't had the opportunity to perform with either of these talents since high school ended. I like to write. I have a few screenplays in the works, mostly adaptations of some of my favorite books or stories. I'm starting to learn to like tennis.

Hmmm...that's a lot more information than anyone probably wanted...