Back in 1995 Nicholas Evans’ novel, The Horse Whisperer, was a mega-bestseller. In 1998 Robert Redford made a film based on the book and the world went horse-whispering crazy. All of a sudden—in Australia at least—morning television chat shows and weekend current affairs flagships were running stories about moustachioed silent-types in checked shirts who could [...]
Archive for the ‘Books and Film’ Category
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Posted in Books, Books and Film, dystopia, fantasy, fiction, Katniss Everdeen, Peeta Mellark, Reading, Suzanne Collins, young adult, tagged adventure tales, comparing books and movies, following a series, hitting people with books, postaweek2011, teen romance on 2 June, 2011 | 6 Comments »
It seems to me that ‘these days’ we can’t leave a good thing alone. Suddenly a Snickers has almonds it, pizza’s gone tandoori, TV shows need a film release, films need a sequel—and now a prequel, and successful young adult books must be trilogised. The fact is that Suzanne Collins’ first book in the Hunger Games series, The [...]
V is for Virtual Reality
Posted in Book Group, Books, Books and Film, dystopia, science fiction, William Gibson, tagged book group selections, dealing with reading disappointment, failure as a reader, literary leaps of faith, things editors get worked up about on 5 January, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Sometimes I finally get around to doing one of those things I’ve been meaning to do and end up disappointed. Perhaps the anticipation outweighs the pleasure of completing the task. Perhaps it was never a good idea to begin with. Being a dedicated, loyal type of person doesn’t help. Something I agreed to months earlier, or decided was [...]
C is for Chandler
Posted in Books, Books and Film, crime, Phillip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler, Reading, tagged hard-boiled crime, humphrey bogart, noir film and novels, talking about books you haven't read, tweety bird on 26 April, 2010 | 3 Comments »
I like to think cartoons teach us everything worth learning. How else would we know that cats hate dogs, coyotes are stupid and a secret agent mouse lives in a pillarbox in London? And there’s a cartoon character that is partly responsible for my love of the detective novel and, surprisingly, it’s Tweety Bird. Yep. Sorry about that. But the annoying yellow [...]
Book 31, 32, 33 and 34: The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy by Tim Burton and Edward Gorey triptych
Posted in Books, Books and Film, Edward Gorey, illustrative, Tim Burton on 13 December, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Shut up, it’s not cheating. We may be days away from the end of 2009 and my aimed-for 52 books, but including these 4 little titles in one post is due to their interconnectedness, not because I’m scrambling to make up numbers. If I really wanted to cheat I would have sat down this morning [...]
Book 17: Nurse Matilda Goes to Town by Christianna Brand
Posted in Books, Books and Film, children's, Christianna Brand, classics on 9 September, 2009 | 3 Comments »
Cute cover, huh? And that’s what made me pick up this book and its predecessor, Nurse Matilda. In fact it was the whole package, hardback and jacket, ribbon, a kind of extreme use of foil on the case, nice little fit-in-your-pocket size. Oh yes, don’t make the mistake of thinking I only pick up books based [...]
