Tag: reading

Judging a Book by its Cover – The Lost Symbol

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on Judging a Book by its Cover – The Lost Symbol
Entertainment

OK, I know I shouldn’t be writing about Dan Brown’s latest book, The Lost Symbol, before I finish reading it, but…

Brown’s latest adventure with Harvard Symbologist (and just what the heck is that?) Robert Langdon hit the bookstores today. Laura had pre-ordered it, so at precisely 12:01 am Pacific (3:01 am our time) the book was dumped onto our Kindle Readers without having to make a trip to the book store. I’ve just finished the first several chapters, and I think I’ve read enough to make at least a few observations.

1. Dan Brown can’t write

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“I Liked the Book Better”

Posted on By Tom 1 Comment on “I Liked the Book Better”
Entertainment

That’s what one often hears after seeing a movie. I’m not so sure that it’s always the case, though. In some cases the movie makes a much better story.

Lately I’ve been reading lots of books that have been made into movies – Carl Sagan’s Contact, Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Harry Bates’ The Day the Earth Stood Still, and James Dickey’s Deliverance, among many others. Obviously, some screenplays do a much better job of taking the novel to the big screen than others. Deliverance, the movie, stuck very close to the novel. I, Robot, while an enjoyable movie, could only claim to be inspired by, or produced in the spirit of Asimov’s original.

As I’ve been reading these I’m struck by the choices that producers and screenwriters make in taking a novel to the big screen. I’m sure someone skilled in writing screenplays would be able to produce a better list, but these are a few of the more common changes I spot…

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