Book or Movie?

This past weekend, my husband and I watched ANNA KARENINA, the British adaptation of the Tolstoy novel by director Joe Wright.  I loved the movie in all its quirkiness–the strange non-sets, the experimental scene transitions and the odd musical additions throughout. (You have to see it to understand, and even then, you might be confused.)  And since I tried to read the book at one point a few years ago and stopped because I couldn’t get into it, I found it surprisingly easy to follow. The story was heartbreaking and wonderful all at the same time. When we turned it off, I wanted to watch it all over again right away.

But my husband said something that made me stop and think. He thought it was a “woman’s movie”.    Huh.

Now, I understood what he meant.  It was a love story on a grand scale, and love stories are often labeled women’s movies. It didn’t have killing or fights and while I swooned over the costumes and the jewelry, he barely noticed.  In a lot of ways, he was right.  This was a woman’s movie. But was this what Tolstoy intended?

I’m sure a lot of writers in history never imagined their books would become anything other than books. While some might have envisioned their works being made into plays, I’d have to assume they could never see the concept of movies coming in the future. What would they think of their books being reinterpreted by some stranger a hundred years or so down the line? Would they approve of the casting? Would the setting be as they imagined it? Would they feel any cuts made for time constraints to be acceptable? We’ll never know, of course, but looking at this latest version of ANNA KARENINA, it makes me wonder if Tolstoy would have approved of his book being labelled essentially a “woman’s movie”. (I know it was not written as women’s fiction, and many would argue that it wasn’t really intended to be that in this movie version, either.)

These days, authors are well aware that many books are made into movies and often, they have movie rights built into their contracts. Yann Martel, for example, was probably hoped his wonderful story LIFE OF PI, would be turned into a film, even though it was difficult to imagine how they’d do it.  And this past weekend’s Academy Awards proved that director Ang Lee’s interpretation was exactly what the book needed. It swept up many of the night’s big awards and will probably send people into libraries and bookstores to read (or re-read) the epic story of a boy and a tiger on a boat.

Maybe I’ll go back and try to read ANNA KARENINA again.  If it is or isn’t women’s fiction, it doesn’t matter to me.  It’s a wonderful story, and I’d love to get lost in the complicated twists and turns of these great characters again.

Rent a movie at the library!

If you’re tired of being stuck in the house every weekend because it’s too cold or there’s too much snow to go anywhere, how about a movie night? But not just a typical movie night.  This is something you could do with friends to make a really enjoyable evening, or gather the kids and get them involved in a favourite family movie.

Movie Bingo might not be the first thing you think of when watching a movie, but with a few minutes of preparation, you can elevate that simple experience of sitting down with a DVD into something fun.  Grab some snacks, give everyone a pencil and have a few prizes on tap for the winners.  It could be something as simple as a candy bar or a pack of stickers, or go really wild and get a gift card to a favourite store.  Then, fill out the blank cards with things to watch for in the movie (a sappy song, someone wearing a ponytail, someone walking a dog)…whatever you think you might see, and then slip the DVD into the player and get watching! (Remember to make each card a little different so that everyone has a chance to win). Just cross off the items as you see them, and give out the prizes! You could award a prize to the first line filled, to the four corners, an X shape, or the entire box.  It’s up to you.  But it will make the movie a lot more fun and everyone will have a wonderful time playing!

Just click on the photo to go to the website to download. Or get the blank version here.

Don’t forget, we have almost 1000 movies to borrow from the library. Drop in and pick out up to four movies you can take home for a week. We have everything from documentaries to children’s movies to classics and more. And it doesn’t cost a thing.  We might not have the latest releases, but you’ll be sure to find something fun to take home. Make it a movie Bingo night!

(Thanks to Design Sponge for the fabulous idea!)

 

Mawwiage

October 2nd marks the release of the 25th Anniversary Blu-Ray edition of The Princess Bride. This has been a favourite movie of many and the Blu-Ray release promises many great additions and special features.  But what a lot of people don’t know is that this was originally a book by William Goldman, published in 1973.

It is actually presented as an abridgement (the good parts only version) to a longer version of The Princess Bride written by an S. Morgenstern, but no such “long” version exists. He claims not to have changed anything from the original text, except that he added a reunion between the two main characters, Buttercup and Wesley.  Goldman teases the readers even more by suggesting that there is a sequel entitled, Buttercup’s Baby.

Over the years, we’ve had many people come in and ask for the book (which we own), and several who have requested the sequel. Even though the book is a fantasy with comedic leanings, some people are still surprised that this was all a joke. And really, wouldn’t a second book be a good thing?  It might even  spur on some sales for the first book!  Goldman has admitted in the past that he believes The Princess Bride was a one-off, that he can’t come up with enough great ideas for the second book to even get started (although he had promised the sequel in time for the 35th anniversary of the book–2009). I say, Goldman, get writing!  You’ll never see what you can accomplish if you don’t try!

So, enjoy watching your anniversary edition of the movie. And as they say, if you rush a miracle, you get rotten miracles. Take your time, Goldman!

I need a DVD!

The DVD collection at the library is growing by leaps and bounds.  We have plenty to offer for children, teens and adults. And while we’re thinking of revamping the system a little bit, for now, let’s go over how we work the DVD system at the library.

First, we have 12 sets of rings with DVD’s on them. Each set is arranged according to audience : children, family, everything else.

As you can see, each card on the ring has a number in the top right corner.  That’s what we need. While bringing up a title is somewhat helpful (if you can’t find the DVD you want, for instance), we really just need the number.  That’s how our DVD’s are arranged behind the desk–in numerical order. So, grab a slip of paper on the DVD desk and start making a list of those numbers.

And yes, we LOVE a long list.  You can only have 4 movies per family (they go out for one week), but often the movies are out, so a long list helps us select movies you want that are actually in. We’ll select the first four movies we find. Easy, right?

Please, there’s no need to pull the card off the ring. We only have to put it back on later.

And bringing up a piece of paper with one number on it is not a list. It’s a number.  Maybe your favourite number! While we understand you might only want one movie, please make your list long so that we have some choice, in case the first number on the list isn’t available. (You can always mention that you only want one movie when you hand us the list.)

This is a good list.  Not a great one, but a good one.  A great one would have ten movie numbers on it. (We often give the paper back to you.  Pop it in your wallet for the next time and you don’t have to go through all the cards again. Simple, right?)

Just a few pointers: #)1 please make your numbers as clear as possible.

                                        #2) If a number is crossed out on a sheet, we’re going to assume you don’t want that movie. (Yes, some people cross them out and then ask us if we looked for them! Why would we?)

                                       #3) If you put a number before a slash and a number after (14/41), we’re going to assume this is an either/or situation…either #14 or #41. Not both. That’s what the slash means, right?

We love having DVD’s available for the public to borrow!  And while we don’t carry brand new releases (so that we don’t compete with our local video store), we try to bring in new movies to add to the collection all the time.  Happy movie watching!

Movies Galore!

The library isn’t the first place you think of when it comes to borrowing movies, but we do a good business of loaning movies as well as books. Right now in our collection, we have over 1000 DVDs, ranging from documentaries to musicals to dramas.  We have movies for young people and older people and everyone in between. You can have our movies for one week at a time, four movies out per family and they’re free to borrow! (You’ll only pay a fee if you return them late….and then it’s only 10 cents per day/per movie. No wild late fees here!)

So, how do you go about looking for movies in our library? You can do one of two things…..search for them on the computer, or flip through the cards. If you’re going to use our online catalog, just type in “DVD” in the search box.

It’ll bring up a list that looks like this.  Just scroll through the titles and you’ll be able to see if a movie is available or not.  If you have your library card and PIN, you can place a hold on a movie and we’ll call you when it comes in. (And if you know the movie you’re looking for, just type in the title in the search box….it’s easier than trying to find the card with the number on it.)

If you’re IN the library and want to look through our movies, we have them on the desk near the windows.  The cards are sorted by age group…..the kid movies are together, family movies are together and non-kid movies are together.

Just find a movie you like, grab a piece of paper from the pot and jot down the number from the upper right corner of the card.  It’s better to make a nice long list to bring to the front, in case some of your movies aren’t here.  We’ll check the list and grab a few for you and voila, it’s movie night at your house!

Come to the library for a movie! You’ll be glad you did!

Readers rarely change

This past weekend, I went to see The Hunger Games. After recommending these books for the past few years, I was so excited to finally see the big screen adaptation. While I really enjoyed it, the book was better, as is typical many times. But what really made this interesting, was the theatre full of teenagers and their enthusiastic discussions prior to and post-movie.

There are readers and there are non-readers. With the development of “trend” fiction (first Harry Potter, then Twilight, now The Hunger Games), more and more non-readers are joining the pack to see what all the excitement is about. This happens especially before and during a movie release of a “big” book. While regular readers have often already done the whole series by the time the movie version comes out in theatres, non-readers often jump on the bandwagon, curious to see what all the hype is about. I’m not complaining…anything that gets kids to read is important. (The fun thing is that a big book also brings in the parents who want to know what their kids are reading. This has been true for all three of the last trending books.) But aside from these books, non-readers probably will remain non-readers in the long run. Too bad, because there are a LOT of great books out there.

While we were waiting outside the theatre to buy tickets, a gaggle of teenage girls discussed the book vs. movie at great volume. They were excited and enthusiastic and well versed on the book. It’s wonderful when kids know all the little details, and can discuss the pros and cons of having them changed in the movie version. You’d think that a movie theatre full of kids in the 10-18 demographic would be noisy, but it wasn’t. After all, the movie-goers were readers!

Trends will come and go, and thankfully, they seem to evolve within juvenile or young adult books….right when we need to capture someone and get them into longtime reading. (Not that it’s too late when a person gets older, just that it’s relatively rare to start reading voraciously after becoming an adult.) Right now, we’re still well into the dystopian themed books (end of the world, post-apocalyptic etc.,) and it doesn’t look like we’ll see that change any time soon. It’d be nice to see a stand-alone contemporary YA book garner a little attention from non-readers, like Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why.  But for now, I’m happy to see young people debating the merits of a book over a movie. Speaks to my heart.

Happy reading!