Library Haul

I meant to write this post up yesterday, but I was in a bad, not very companionable mood.  I’m feeling better today, having, among other things, cooked some beautiful dal and finished watching Mother!, which was much better than last autumn’s reviews had led me to believe it would be.

Other news? I’m looking forward to seeing Deadpool 2, probably this weekend, hoping to go out for  meal or ice cream (or both), my chocolate quinoa pancakes continue to be excellent, and Solo is getting some pretty mediocre reviews. Oh, and I’m falling behind on reading Travels with Charley.

Here’s what else I have checked out:

Books:

• Travels with Charley
• How to Break Up with Your Phone
• The Little Book of Lykke: The followup to the widely acclaimed Little Book of Hygge. I’ve actually already finished it, just not ready to return it yet.
• Lolly Willowes
• Ripley’s Game: Wondering if this third installment will be the one that puts me off the Ripley series
• The Wings of the Dove: I really fear the day when I have no more big Henry James. This and The Golden Bowl. That’s all I’ve got left, I think.
• The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning

Movies:

• Gran Torino: Clint Eastwood is bae.
• Lady Snowblood: Miss Havisham goes violent samurai.
• Mother!
• Enter the Dragon: Triggered by a youtube video pointing out a very extra extra.
• The Furies: Barbara Stanwyck is also bae.
• My Name is Nobody
• The Old Gun: Yay westerns!
• Prisoners
• Frenzy: One of the chronologically last Hitchcock films and one of the last ones I haven’t seen yet.
• Amarcord: The first movie of Fellini’s that I’ve liked.

Books Via Movies

There’s a popular bit of wisdom that holds “the book is always better than the movie”- with which I must respectfully differ.  Many landmark films come from meh reading material (The Godfather, Jaws, Rear Window, Rosemary’s Baby, etc.)
Granted, if you are eagerly awaiting a movie franchise of a book series already beloved, you’re doomed to be disappointed.  It’s hard- if not impossible- to fall in love with someone else’s vision of something when you already have your own.

Many of the books I’ve sought out on the strength of a film have been disappointing.  Frankly, some stories are better suited to print and others seem made to be made into films.

But then there have also been times that I have felt very much rewarded in seeking out a movie’s source material. These books are generally a little different than my usual reading material (well-known and older novels)- in a way that makes them particularly suited to summer.  They’re generally shorter and quicker, a bit less thoughtful, a bit more action-driven.
My favorite books found via their movies are below, and arranged by genre:

Library Haul

Sometimes I run low on books and go overboard with hold requests the next time I’m on the library’s website.  This was one of those times.
But after the relative famine of lean book times, when three books in sequence weren’t what I wanted, searching for new material on the library is such a simple happiness.  There are so many options and then within a week you have a comparative feast, a two foot high pile of books on the desk in your room.

I’ve already finished the first of this hall- Diana Athill’s Somewhere Towards the End.  Very much recommended.

Obviously I won’t be going into details about these, because I haven’t read them yet! They’re still mysteries to me.  It’s always kind of exciting, every time you have a new book to read.  You never know when you’re going to find a new favorite, or an author you have to learn more about.

• The Lady Vanishes, Ethel Lina White
• Ripley Under Ground, Patricia Highsmith
• The Day of the Jackal, Frederick Forsyth
• The Unmade Bed, Francoise Sagan
• Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, Daniel Ladinsky
• The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather
• Innocents Abroad and Roughing It, Mark Twain
• Books for Living, Will Schwalbe
• The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore, Tennessee Williams

That should hold me for a little while! ^.^