Last week I was putting together my syllabus for a year-long American literature course I'll be teaching to ninth and tenth graders at a homeschool co-op starting in the fall, my favorite genre. There are so many wonderful things I've considered including that I needed advice and perspective from others to help me make sure I wasn't overloading the class. So I tossed the question out on Facebook to find out people's favorite and least favorite books they read in high school. For my purposes this time I threw out everything that wasn't American lit and made my choices from the feedback I got.
Did you see Silver Linings Playbook a few months ago when it was out? I loved the complex characters, plot and the balance between funny and serious moments throughout the film. I thought Bradley Cooper as the main character Pat was wonderful. While I liked him just fine in The Hangover and Wedding Crashers, I loved seeing what else he could do.
I just read the book version by Matthew Quick earlier this week. There are some big differences between the book and the movie, but I liked each of them for different reasons. In both the book and the movie Pat is trying to win back his ex-wife by getting in shape and reading everything she has put on the syllabus for her high school English students. Though he doesn't love what she's selected, he plows through them, looking forward to the day when he'll be reunited with his ex-wife and they can discuss the novels.
Two-thirds of the books Pat reads are ones I've chosen for my syllabus: The Great Gatsby, A Farewell to Arms, The Scarlet Letter and Huckleberry Finn. The two Pat read that I didn't pick are The Catcher in the Rye (which almost made it on to the syllabus. If I teach this class again I might teach this one.) and The Bell Jar.
Here are the rest of the novels that made it in: My Antonia, Of Mice and Men and The Color Purple. We'll also read A Streetcar Named Desire and bits and pieces of Phyllis Wheatley, Anne Bradstreet, Thoreau, Whitman, Emerson, Sandburg and Dickinson. I'm looking forward to rereading all these classics myself to prepare.
Have I missed anything What other books do you consider to be important to American literature?
Showing posts with label Books and Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Books and Movies. Show all posts
Friday, June 14, 2013
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Oscar Books
Did you watch the Academy Awards three weeks ago? OK, so I'm a little behind in blogging about it. Besides watching to see the fashion, I love to see which movies win big and then go see them if I haven't already (and I don't go to the movies as often as I used to, so chances are good I haven't seen all the year's best movies). I was hoping for big wins for the two books I had read that had corresponding movies out in the past year: The Help by Kathryn Stockett and War Horse by Michael Morpurgo (I had also seen Jane Eyre and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). However, I've missed quite a few. Book Reporter has summed it up nicely here. My reading list is growing by leaps and bounds!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Books and Movies
I love to watch movies adapted from books I've already read. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the book is better. Recently, I've read two World War II novels, and over the weekend I watched the movies that correspond with each.
Late last year I listened to The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. I enjoyed it, but found it just a bit harder to follow the story via audiobook than I'd hoped. Over Christmas this year, I read The Good German by Joseph Kanon and I just could not put it down. Because of this, I was especially interested in the movie version that came out in 2006.
I liked that The Good German movie was filmed in black and white. I really think that added so much to the destruction of Berlin and the hopelessness felt by many of the characters. Thumbs up for that. Also thumbs up for Cate Blanchett. She is especially glamorous filmed in black and white. Thumbs down for most everything else, though. I like Tobey Maguire just fine, and I liked his performance a lot in Seabiscuit, but I thought he was terrible in this movie (and not just because he plays a jerk). Thank goodness the audience doesn't have to endure it for too long before his character is killed (I don't think I'm giving away too much by saying that; it's an integral part of the story). There is a lot from the book that is left out of the movie. Unfortunately, all of them are things that gave such depth to the novel, and wove a complex tale of amazing interconnectedness. Very little of this comes through in the movie. It's too bad that the movie left me feeling so unfulfilled after reading such an excellent book version.
The English Patient, however, was a great movie. I would go as far as saying that I liked the movie version better than the book, though I realize I might have liked the book better having read it rather than listened to it. The scenery was gorgeous and so is the story. I liked the book, but the movie really made the story come alive for me. I thought the casting was excellent. And, I didn't realize until I started watching the movie that Colin Firth played in it. I was also surprised to see that Naveen Andrews, who plays one of my favorite characters on the TV show, Lost, had an important role. Definite bonuses!
I'm not the only one who thought this movie was great. It won Academy Awards in 1997 for Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Music Score, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actress, and it was nominated in several other categories. It also won five Golden Globes in 1997, including Best Motion Picture.
So, I highly recommend reading both books and watching the movie version of The English Patient if you haven't already. I have to say that I'm fascinated by World War II stories. Between these two and hearing of Miep Gies' death, I think I should probably reread Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl soon, especially as the PBS adaptation is coming in April.
As a side note, my husband and I are headed to Las Vegas for a few days in March. I've done some research, but can't seem to find any fiction or interesting non-fiction books where Las Vegas is the setting. I'd love to be reading something Vegas-related on the plane ride. Does anyone have any suggestions? To cover all our bases, we watched Rain Man over the weekend, and Honeymoon in Vegas and What Happens in Vegas are both coming soon via Netflix.
Cheers!
Late last year I listened to The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. I enjoyed it, but found it just a bit harder to follow the story via audiobook than I'd hoped. Over Christmas this year, I read The Good German by Joseph Kanon and I just could not put it down. Because of this, I was especially interested in the movie version that came out in 2006.
I liked that The Good German movie was filmed in black and white. I really think that added so much to the destruction of Berlin and the hopelessness felt by many of the characters. Thumbs up for that. Also thumbs up for Cate Blanchett. She is especially glamorous filmed in black and white. Thumbs down for most everything else, though. I like Tobey Maguire just fine, and I liked his performance a lot in Seabiscuit, but I thought he was terrible in this movie (and not just because he plays a jerk). Thank goodness the audience doesn't have to endure it for too long before his character is killed (I don't think I'm giving away too much by saying that; it's an integral part of the story). There is a lot from the book that is left out of the movie. Unfortunately, all of them are things that gave such depth to the novel, and wove a complex tale of amazing interconnectedness. Very little of this comes through in the movie. It's too bad that the movie left me feeling so unfulfilled after reading such an excellent book version.
The English Patient, however, was a great movie. I would go as far as saying that I liked the movie version better than the book, though I realize I might have liked the book better having read it rather than listened to it. The scenery was gorgeous and so is the story. I liked the book, but the movie really made the story come alive for me. I thought the casting was excellent. And, I didn't realize until I started watching the movie that Colin Firth played in it. I was also surprised to see that Naveen Andrews, who plays one of my favorite characters on the TV show, Lost, had an important role. Definite bonuses!
I'm not the only one who thought this movie was great. It won Academy Awards in 1997 for Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Music Score, Best Picture, and Best Supporting Actress, and it was nominated in several other categories. It also won five Golden Globes in 1997, including Best Motion Picture.
So, I highly recommend reading both books and watching the movie version of The English Patient if you haven't already. I have to say that I'm fascinated by World War II stories. Between these two and hearing of Miep Gies' death, I think I should probably reread Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl soon, especially as the PBS adaptation is coming in April.
As a side note, my husband and I are headed to Las Vegas for a few days in March. I've done some research, but can't seem to find any fiction or interesting non-fiction books where Las Vegas is the setting. I'd love to be reading something Vegas-related on the plane ride. Does anyone have any suggestions? To cover all our bases, we watched Rain Man over the weekend, and Honeymoon in Vegas and What Happens in Vegas are both coming soon via Netflix.
Cheers!
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