Yes, we do indeed have a sequel-title-reference thing going on with these bookstore posts. (It just happened. Accept it. So much easier than resisting, which is - as we know - futile.)
Today's title reference is nothing to do with any of the books below -- it just popped in-head as I was casting about (fly fishing of the mind) for a suitably catchy, sequel-y title....
What's a Bookstore Saturday (BSS), you ask?
Today's title reference is nothing to do with any of the books below -- it just popped in-head as I was casting about (fly fishing of the mind) for a suitably catchy, sequel-y title....
What's a Bookstore Saturday (BSS), you ask?
- It takes place on a Saturday (somewhat negotiable)
- In a used bookstore (smattering of new allowed)
- Involves 2 or more hours of in-store browsing (is it even possible to do less?)
- Store must honor Used Bookstore Gods in look, feel and browsing experience
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| Whaaat? This book was GOOD. |
Okay, usually Bookstore Saturdays consist of me writing about books I've just purchased and not had time to read, but take a look at the dates for this post and the one before it--been like six months or some damn thing.
Truly, Other Life Endeavors (you know, the ones generally responsible for getting in the way of being able to just do what you want all the time) have been at my forefront for a while now. Still are at the forefront, truth be told, but I'm feeling rebellious this morning, and busting out with some for-myself-writing-time regardless. So there.
Which is a long-winded (my usual) way of saying this Bookstore Saturday actually happened a while back and I've totally already read this particular book.
AND IT WAS REALLY GOOD.
Which is to say, I didn't think it would be.
Not that I knew anything about the author's previous work--no inside information to put me off before I'd given it a try--I'm just old school (stubborn) when it comes to King Kong. I love the story of it all--the Story of Kong, I mean.
For me, Kong is as much his myth as he is an overgrown ape: Ann Darrow, Jack Driscoll, the Venture and that harrowing Empire State death. And, y'know, Kong dies at the end of his story. And I'm unapologetically recalcitrant when it comes to separating this particular character from his myth, for almost any reason at all.
That being said, I (of course) saw the movie, and enjoyed it--great effects, decent story, fun to watch--but that ape wasn't really Kong, not to me. It was a completely different character, using a well-loved name, to decent effect. So. Now we know how I feel about that.
Thing is, having seen the movie (and enjoyed it well enough for what it was), I was completely unprepared to have this novelization surpass the film the way it did for me. And we're not talking by a little bit--this novel was amazingly well-written, and raced past it's source material by ridiculous, heaving, lumpy amounts (not sure what that phrase means, exactly, but I'm sure it's good).
So much more characterization going on--for Kong, the other beasts, and the story's human characters--than the film could ever have hoped to provide--this book seriously hummed along its path and was an absolute joy to read.
So. Even if I'm not a fan of separating Kong from his myth, I'm a fan of this particular novel.
Nuff said.
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| Yep. Read this one too. |
I'll tell you right up front (digression alert!), I enjoyed Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk movie (which this book is the novelization of) a lot more than most folks seemed to have done.
For all my talk up there on keeping Kong tied to his myth, that stubbornness is really an exception to a rule--I'm generally pretty open to watching and reading new interpretations of well known/well loved material. (hulk film to kong: digression within a digression...)
And (back to original digression) such was the case with Lee's film--he and writer James Schamus did a courageous thing, I thought, interpreting characters the way they did, and people seemed to judge the movie (harshly) more because it was different and unexpected, than due to it's own merits or lack thereof. But we're not talking about Hulk films, Lee's Hulk (2003) or Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk (2008) here--not really. Suffice it to say I enjoyed both films quite a bit, but enjoyed the 2008 movie a little more.
I had assumed it'd be the same with the film novelizations (both written by experienced Hulk-scribe Peter David, and hey, we made it back around to the pre-digression subject of this bit!), but things flip-flopped (as things sometimes do) and I ended up enjoying this first film's novelization over the second film's one, by a fair amount.
With this particular novelization, I thought David took interesting, unusual premises, and did interesting, unusual things with them--I mean he expanded on Lee's source material in intriguing ways. And his novelization of the second film was more "straight up adaptation of straight up Hulk story." Enjoyable, but not as intriguing. To me.
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| aaah-ooooooooooooooh[coughcough]whine... whimper |
Yep, I already read this one, too. (This Bookstore Saturday really was a long time ago... TOO long, Dan, TOO long.)
I was super excited at the thought of new-Universal-Monsters-ness-to-be-had as I picked this book up. Sadly, doing so resulted in a Catastrophic Double Whammy of Regret (CDWoR).
Not only did the book suck when I recently read it, turns out I'd totally read it several years ago and forgotten. Well, the re-read brought it all back to memory. I actually remember being pissed I'd spent money and time on it, back in the day.
(Nothing against the author: he's written other stuff I've read and enjoyed more....)
I was super excited at the thought of new-Universal-Monsters-ness-to-be-had as I picked this book up. Sadly, doing so resulted in a Catastrophic Double Whammy of Regret (CDWoR).
Not only did the book suck when I recently read it, turns out I'd totally read it several years ago and forgotten. Well, the re-read brought it all back to memory. I actually remember being pissed I'd spent money and time on it, back in the day.
(Nothing against the author: he's written other stuff I've read and enjoyed more....)
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| Como Mexico No Hay Dos |
Now this one I have NOT read yet. (It's not really a "read straight through" kind of book anyway, but regardless I've just lightly browsed. So far.)
The book is a (fully bilingual, as it turns out) collection of Mexican movie posters, starting at 1957 and going up through 1990. (So, sixties, seventies and eighties, basically.)
Amazing artwork abounds, and I always love love love catching a glimpse of another culture's collective consciousness through its art. Seriously, some cool stuff in this book.
With chapter titles like "Lawless Youth," The World of the Dead" and "Pum!," how can you go possibly wrong?
(Answer: You can't.)
Author runs a sadly-not-open-to-the-public archive of Mexican film-related stuff. Maybe some day it will be. Open to the public, I mean....
The book is a (fully bilingual, as it turns out) collection of Mexican movie posters, starting at 1957 and going up through 1990. (So, sixties, seventies and eighties, basically.)
Amazing artwork abounds, and I always love love love catching a glimpse of another culture's collective consciousness through its art. Seriously, some cool stuff in this book.
With chapter titles like "Lawless Youth," The World of the Dead" and "Pum!," how can you go possibly wrong?
(Answer: You can't.)
Author runs a sadly-not-open-to-the-public archive of Mexican film-related stuff. Maybe some day it will be. Open to the public, I mean....
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| Step right up! Test yer Vintage Horror Chops right here! Six movies on the cover - name 'em all and win yer very own Good Guys doll... |
Same with this bound-page fellow--I haven't journeyed with him cover-to-cover, yet. But just look at 'im!
mmmm... horror...
Now, the book was published in 2010, so obviously it only covers films up through that point, and is a countdown of (the author's) top 100 horror films of all time. And it's chock-full of gruesome goodness.
Really. Sooo many great films in this thing. (And, by the way, that cover is a collage of the book's top six movies--you miiiight be able to guess said author's very favorite just by looking at it....)
All in all this book is yummy. Like seedless grapes. And chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Not together; that'd be gross.
mmmm... horror...
Now, the book was published in 2010, so obviously it only covers films up through that point, and is a countdown of (the author's) top 100 horror films of all time. And it's chock-full of gruesome goodness.
Really. Sooo many great films in this thing. (And, by the way, that cover is a collage of the book's top six movies--you miiiight be able to guess said author's very favorite just by looking at it....)
All in all this book is yummy. Like seedless grapes. And chocolate peanut butter ice cream. Not together; that'd be gross.
