On Reading Again
Jan. 25th, 2009 11:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deirdreI'm about to do a Twilight-the-movie vs. Twilight-the-book post, but first some context.
Once upon a time, a few months ago, Rick and I saw a preview for Twilight. I wanted to see the movie; he didn't. At the time, I didn't realize it was based on a book because I've had my head in the sand about new novels, especially in YA.
You see, many people stop writing after Clarion. I stopped reading fiction. It became almost impossible to read fiction without hearing the collective voices of my class whispering, and by the time that was no longer true, I'd gotten out of the habit.
Since then, I've read slush, incomplete manuscripts from various writing groups, and all kinds of other things, but I honestly can't remember the last time I sat down post-Clarion and read a novel all the way through unless it was a book I was required to read in some context. Many books I read a chapter or two into, put them down, and never picked them up again. Terry Pratchett was the latest of these.
I've never been someone who is particularly fussy about prose style. Sure, I have my likes and dislikes, and I love brilliant stylists. That said, I don't necessarily prefer to read brilliant stylists; I'm not a brilliant stylist myself. I'm much fussier about structure.
So it happened that Rick didn't want to see Twilight when it came out. I was hunting for a ring tone on iTunes, and somehow got to the top ring tones page, and noticed that Supermassive Black Hole from the Twilight soundtrack was #1. This being one of my favorite songs, I had to see the movie to see how it was used.
I was, quite frankly, charmed by the movie, which has a screenplay by the writer of Dexter, some excellent directing, and some better-than-expected acting and effects, along with cinematography and score that are significantly better than I expected. Plus there's always Robert Pattinson, who seems to have a gift for comedy.
I'd heard it was quite different than the book, so I picked up a copy of the book at Kepler's -- and read it in five hours flat. 500 pages. Within a week, I'd also read the other three, and all but the last I read in a single sitting.
So I'm hoping that, for me, this means that I'll just be able to enjoy books like I used to.
Once upon a time, a few months ago, Rick and I saw a preview for Twilight. I wanted to see the movie; he didn't. At the time, I didn't realize it was based on a book because I've had my head in the sand about new novels, especially in YA.
You see, many people stop writing after Clarion. I stopped reading fiction. It became almost impossible to read fiction without hearing the collective voices of my class whispering, and by the time that was no longer true, I'd gotten out of the habit.
Since then, I've read slush, incomplete manuscripts from various writing groups, and all kinds of other things, but I honestly can't remember the last time I sat down post-Clarion and read a novel all the way through unless it was a book I was required to read in some context. Many books I read a chapter or two into, put them down, and never picked them up again. Terry Pratchett was the latest of these.
I've never been someone who is particularly fussy about prose style. Sure, I have my likes and dislikes, and I love brilliant stylists. That said, I don't necessarily prefer to read brilliant stylists; I'm not a brilliant stylist myself. I'm much fussier about structure.
So it happened that Rick didn't want to see Twilight when it came out. I was hunting for a ring tone on iTunes, and somehow got to the top ring tones page, and noticed that Supermassive Black Hole from the Twilight soundtrack was #1. This being one of my favorite songs, I had to see the movie to see how it was used.
I was, quite frankly, charmed by the movie, which has a screenplay by the writer of Dexter, some excellent directing, and some better-than-expected acting and effects, along with cinematography and score that are significantly better than I expected. Plus there's always Robert Pattinson, who seems to have a gift for comedy.
I'd heard it was quite different than the book, so I picked up a copy of the book at Kepler's -- and read it in five hours flat. 500 pages. Within a week, I'd also read the other three, and all but the last I read in a single sitting.
So I'm hoping that, for me, this means that I'll just be able to enjoy books like I used to.