Must be Elric of Melnibone (sp?). An albino prince and the sword drinks the souls of its victims or something similar. It's the basis of the song Black Blade by Blue Oyster Cult: Elric was conceived to be sort of an anti-Conan, pale and emaciated and not at all a hulking warrior. He didn't kill or fight by choice but was driven to it by the sword.
The Feegles are absolutely my favorite fantasy race of all time. I love the looks people give me when I say "Crivens!" I know the Tiffany Aching books get labeled YA because she's a young protagonist, but they're great because Pratchett respected his younger readers and didn't dumb the story down for them. They're full of heart and wonderful, fully-realized characters, and they make you laugh and cry and think. I freakin love those books.
Kind of hoping they can do what Peter Jackson did with LoTR. After decades of giving up hope that it could be executed, someone finally pulled it off. Biggest obstacle for Dune IMO is delivering the lore and background information to the audience quickly and effectively. Or, as in LoTR, only explaining the barest minimum needed for the guts of the story to translate. And Dune is a dipshit simple story, like LoTR. Shouldn't be too hard... famous last words.
Yeah. LoTR was an uncertain, prove-it, legacy-making kind of project. The Hobbit was a guaranteed blockbuster who-gives-a-shit endeavor. The filmmakers just need to realize that 90% of the backstory can be explained in a short intro-montage (very, very smart on Jackson's part) and a handful of info-dumpy conversations.
It's a tough balance, though. LOTR starts slow, so an epic intro montage (what a strange phrase) worked to invest audiences that might get bored with the Shire by giving them a taste of its importance in the world. On the other hand, "The Golden Compass" gave away all the intrigue and mystery of the book’s opening by explaining everything in the voice over. It'll be interesting to see how Dune handles its lore, that's for sure.
In my opinion the biggest challenge for a film that wants to be faithful to the book is capturing its introspective tone. Like 40% of it is spent inside Paul's head. If there's one story that's suited for the page to the detriment of its suitability for the screen, it's Dune. But I think if they shed some of that abstract introspective stuff (that I think worked really well in a book) and focus a little less on Paul's internal struggles, they might have a really good sci-fi movie on their hands. Or they could nail it. I don't really know what I'm talking about.
Also they need car chases and hawt chix in microkinis... I'm assuming it's going to be another disaster like the first two versions were. Lemme know if I'm wrong, it probably won't come out for another decade or so.
And the other 60% hopping around between everyone else's heads. Hmm... to faithfully adapt the book, can we expect split screen shots with duelling voiceovers?
And at least 40% of LoTR was spent discussing lore, chasing down tangents, and endlessly describing scenery. The movie worked specifically because it ignored everything that doesn't translate to film. Ditto with Dune. All of that introspection can be telegraphed by a good actor with good facial expressions. The Lynch version of Dune croaked because it voiced-over a bunch of things that were unnecessary to the telling of the story.
Been reading Death is a Lonely Business by Ray Bradbury. And by "reading" I mean I've fallen asleep 3 nights in a row before the end of chapter 1. Not the book's fault... I'm fairly certain I died sometime in late May and have been Sixth Sensing it through somebody else's corporeality.
I loved Lynch in my early twenties but just can't do him anymore. Anyway, Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott was the most well written recent read. It's mostly from the point of view of a teenage girl, aging out of favor with the pedophile who kidnapped her five years ago. I really enjoyed the writing style of this story. It was simple, concise, strong. I also found they handled the topic well because rape isn't something I enjoy reading but this book didn't give me a bad reaction. It was mostly implied and surrounding details when it happens, instead of explicit. Not a happy story. Definitely falls under "disturbing". Short novella. Really liked that length because lately I'm struggling with long stories. I want something I can read in an hour or two.
I picked up my first Terry Pratchett book called The Colour of Magic. I heard a lot about this series and thought I would give it a go. There were these crazy ideas like ‘the world exists on the back of a giant turtle’ and that sort of thing. I heard a lot about this series so I thought I’d give it a try. Unfortunately book 1 wasn’t really my cup of tea. I wasn’t invested in any of the characters and I got really bored really fast. Maybe the other books in the series are a little more improved. Maybe I should’ve given this author more of a chance and he has better characters across the other books? I don’t know. Ditto finished Dune and I’m currently on Dune Messiah. I suppose I enjoy fantasy more than I enjoy sci-fi but the closest thing we have to a ‘desert planet’ like Arrakis is Mars? I guess I was reading it thinking ‘why can’t they transport the water from Caladan to Arrakis?’ the whole time. Why did they not think to pack up stores of bottles of water before they got there? I don’t know there were some plot holes in the writing I wasn’t too sure about. The trailer’s out! Has anyone seen the trailer? Those actors are certainly not the way I imagined some of the characters in this book to look like. My favourite bits were the extracts that begin all the chapters. I guess I learned that having all these extraordinary powers (being a Bene Gesserit or a Muad’dib) doesn’t make life too easy for the characters. Imagine being able to see alternate versions of the future but not being able to live that future as it exists in the moment. Don’t really think I’d want Paul Atreides’ full time job. I guess I wasn’t completely overwhelmed by the story but at least I learned something about the desert and not migrating through it over daytime! hehe.
I finally finished Tyson's Critical Theory Today. It's a fantastic textbook. Mind you, it's still a textbook. So, it is more in line with study and work rather than entertainment, but don't let that stop you from enjoying what it actually has to say. In any case, Tyson is fantastic at explaining the more modern and large literary theories over the last century. Her thoughts are extremely organized and clear, allowing for the reader to handle complex theories such as deconstruction or structuralism with relative ease. I've read the source material for a lot of these theories, and realized they're mostly indecipherable. Especially Derrida's nonsense. But Tyson takes apart the critical points of these theories, contrasts them against each other both historically and in practice, and then applies the theories directly. The application of the theory is what really makes this textbook shine. She interprets Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, among a few other literary works, in each theory chapter. Full-length essays by her that demonstrate the key points the theory wants to look at in a text while also putting together coherent arguments for each. None of them feel like a stretch. It's actually pretty astonishing. I've been working within this ground the last month in applying these different theories into the same work or similar works and it's incredibly difficult. She embodies each of these different theories with these essays and they all make a lot of sense. I know this is rather low volume for me, as I've only read two books this whole month, but one was a text book. I have, however, written seven essays based on this work and still have one small and one giant one to go, so I'm about tasked out. Next month should, unfortunately, be rather low volume as well, but not so work heavy. Maybe I can actually find time to read something for fun for a change!
It is widely felt that the earliest books are much weaker than the later ones. I also read The Colour of Magic first, and I've recently tried and failed to get through it a second time. It was only years later that I felt like giving Discworld another go, with Guards! Guards!. Been hooked ever since. I suggest Mort, Wyrd Sisters, Guards! Guards! or Small Gods as an entry point. There are numerous recommended reading orders floating around online, which you may want to check out.
The other thing that can help is to find a theme you like and follow it. There's a series that follows the Watch, there are the Rincewind books, and a couple others. If you like one set of characters you can chase down those and read them in order, skipping past the others. I'm partial to the Watch.
Finished The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick. 3.5 stars makes it the best PKD I've read in a long time. I keep thinking I'll come across another gem. I'm still digging.
PKD is like Lovecraft. They were neither of them decent writers, but amazing idea guys. I just imagine what could have happened with a skilled prose writer in collaboration.
