Can We Talk 2

The Day After

I really need to start typing my blog elsewhere and copy here. It's one o'clock in the morning and a technical error just wiped out everything I had written.

         The Day After Christmas is one of the laziest days I've had in ages. Sure, I did two loads of laundry, swept floors, fed the stray cat, heated leftovers for dinner, and did the dishes. But I had no errands, no wrapping or baking, no guests. I read whenever I had free time. I think I took a twenty minute nap. It was wonderful.

         It got me to thinking about how much better the book is than the movie, usually. The movie is someone's interpretation of the book, and usually omits certain things. Like Unbroken omits the last half of the book, the part that gives the title. When I read the book, my imagination takes over, and so much more is clear. The movie, A Walk To Remember was a disappointment after reading the book, which was terrific. I saw Watership Down first, then read the book, and the book was still better.

         Rarely, the movie or movie scenes are better. I read The Fixer by Malamud, and it seemed muddy to me. The movie explained a lot more to me. There were a few scenes from Women in Love that were better than the book, like the bull fighting scene (I was both a Glenda Jackson fan and an Alan Bates fan). I was young when I read and saw those. Maybe that affected my judgment.

         We've all read A Christmas Carol. There are dozens of versions in movies, including fluffy ones with current TV stars, even women as "Ebbie". This year I watched one with Patrick Stewart, always good, the George C Scott one, and a British one from 1935 which had very different interpretations. And there's Scrooge and Scrooged, as variations. All of them are quite good, but none take the place of the book.

         So, I promise to be as lazy as I can for the rest of the week, although I can't avoid errands and appointments all together.