August 16, 2004
Book meme of the morning
Big Stupid Tommy (who, we should note for the record is neither big, nor stupid, and whose name is actually "Chuck") floats the question as to movies that were better than the book.
Now while I would definitely nominate THIS opus, I would have to say that "Field of Dreams" as a movie works a lot better than the book Shoeless Joe, which is actually more a collection of short stories with the same characters than a novel. The opening story--Shoeless Joe Jackson Comes to Iowa--is still one of my favorite stories of all time, but the movie does a good job of making the fairy tale work by eliminating such characters as Ray's twin brother who works for a carnival.
Posted by Steve at August 16, 2004 12:05 PM | TrackBackI loved Field of Dreams; I can't imagine it as a book. So much depend on the visual field as well. I think Wizard of Oz worked better as a movie, though the book is also excellent. But the movie was better able to capture the magic. Of course a lot was changed for the movie.
I do recommend reading the Oz series though. I had hoped to collect all the Oz books and bring them with me to Israel; alas and alack that was not to be.
Posted by: Rachel Ann at August 16, 2004 12:21 PMFirst off, congratulations on the munuv move and the spiffy new digs! I nominate The Third Man by Graham Greene (one of the best films ever, and even Greene acknowledged that the book wasn't in the same league), and The Color Purple by Alice Walker (okay book made into a better movie where Spielberg's sentimentalism isn't, for once, overly disproportionate). Cheers.
Posted by: Chan S. at August 16, 2004 03:38 PMbeing there. definitely.
Posted by: newshound at August 16, 2004 10:16 PM
