![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eor8. Irvine Welsh "Trainspotting"
I have seen the "Trainspotting" movie multiple times but I'd never read the book before, so this was a treat. I think the people who made the movie did a very good job of translating the book into a different form. They did a good job of capturing the feel and many of the stories. But the book format allows so much more. The vast majority of the book is told 1st person. In each chapter/piece you have to determine who the first person is because it's not given to you. All the characters have different internal (and external) voices and generally it's this which gives you the first clue of whose perspective you are experiencing. I found it interesting that this rotating 1st person perspective was kept consistently up to the chapter where Renton meets Dianne. After that point, the 1st person perspective comes and goes.
I don't think they could have done much better with the movie adaptation, but there is so much more in the book. It is awful, dark, and delightful and poetic.
9. Arthur Ransome "Great Northern"
I finally gave in and read the last book in the Swallows & Amazons series. I had been holding out because as long as I had one more book, it wasn't over. But now, alas, I've finished the whole series. I will go back and start from the beginning again.
This book had the whole usual cast of characters, but focuses on the younger kids. That makes sense, because by this point John, Susan, and Nancy are basically adults. They are wrapped up in duties and responsibilities. Nancy does get to shiver some timbers, but Dick, Dorothea, Roger, and Titty are at the center of the action. By bringing in the younger characters in earlier books Ransome solves the "they never grow up" problem which other children's books series get stuck on. They do grow up and more kids come along, that's just the way it goes.
Like the other books this book teaches how to do some thing "the old fashion way". In this case you learn how to make nets and blinds. I don't think this book read quite as well as some of the others. This one had a point "egg collectors bad, conservation good" and the fun was secondary to that.
10. Nicholas Meyer "The West End Horror"
This book has been hanging around the house for many years. Published in 1976, it's one of the Sherlock Holmes stories of the "found writings of Dr. Watson" variety. Basically a fan fic before the term fan fic. I can't seem to put a finger on why but it felt like the story and pacing didn't feel like the originals. It didn't wow me.
11. Rohase Piercy "My Dearest Holmes"
This book is a more recent (2007) Holmes & Watson story. Again, a found writing of Dr. Watson. It is un-apologeticaly slash fiction. The first section is a stand alone story, which takes place before Watson's marriage. I felt this section did a good job of Holmsian plot and pacing. The detail of dialog and inner dialog didn't really hold up for me, it went a bit too far from the original. But then again, I'm not the target audience. But I felt the author did a nice job of tying up the mystery. The second part of the book deals with the time when Watson is married and to the resolution of "The Final Problem". This section I felt was more clunky. I did like how the author came up with an explanation for Mary calling Watson "James", a very nice touch. And I liked the how the author dealt with Mary & Watson in general. But the detail writing felt even more removed from the canon constructions. Slash fans who don't want prawn might find this book more entertaining.
I have seen the "Trainspotting" movie multiple times but I'd never read the book before, so this was a treat. I think the people who made the movie did a very good job of translating the book into a different form. They did a good job of capturing the feel and many of the stories. But the book format allows so much more. The vast majority of the book is told 1st person. In each chapter/piece you have to determine who the first person is because it's not given to you. All the characters have different internal (and external) voices and generally it's this which gives you the first clue of whose perspective you are experiencing. I found it interesting that this rotating 1st person perspective was kept consistently up to the chapter where Renton meets Dianne. After that point, the 1st person perspective comes and goes.
I don't think they could have done much better with the movie adaptation, but there is so much more in the book. It is awful, dark, and delightful and poetic.
9. Arthur Ransome "Great Northern"
I finally gave in and read the last book in the Swallows & Amazons series. I had been holding out because as long as I had one more book, it wasn't over. But now, alas, I've finished the whole series. I will go back and start from the beginning again.
This book had the whole usual cast of characters, but focuses on the younger kids. That makes sense, because by this point John, Susan, and Nancy are basically adults. They are wrapped up in duties and responsibilities. Nancy does get to shiver some timbers, but Dick, Dorothea, Roger, and Titty are at the center of the action. By bringing in the younger characters in earlier books Ransome solves the "they never grow up" problem which other children's books series get stuck on. They do grow up and more kids come along, that's just the way it goes.
Like the other books this book teaches how to do some thing "the old fashion way". In this case you learn how to make nets and blinds. I don't think this book read quite as well as some of the others. This one had a point "egg collectors bad, conservation good" and the fun was secondary to that.
10. Nicholas Meyer "The West End Horror"
This book has been hanging around the house for many years. Published in 1976, it's one of the Sherlock Holmes stories of the "found writings of Dr. Watson" variety. Basically a fan fic before the term fan fic. I can't seem to put a finger on why but it felt like the story and pacing didn't feel like the originals. It didn't wow me.
11. Rohase Piercy "My Dearest Holmes"
This book is a more recent (2007) Holmes & Watson story. Again, a found writing of Dr. Watson. It is un-apologeticaly slash fiction. The first section is a stand alone story, which takes place before Watson's marriage. I felt this section did a good job of Holmsian plot and pacing. The detail of dialog and inner dialog didn't really hold up for me, it went a bit too far from the original. But then again, I'm not the target audience. But I felt the author did a nice job of tying up the mystery. The second part of the book deals with the time when Watson is married and to the resolution of "The Final Problem". This section I felt was more clunky. I did like how the author came up with an explanation for Mary calling Watson "James", a very nice touch. And I liked the how the author dealt with Mary & Watson in general. But the detail writing felt even more removed from the canon constructions. Slash fans who don't want prawn might find this book more entertaining.
