*Sniff*

[cloakeddeity]

Darn this Soar throat. *cough*
Achoo!!!! Bless me or gesundheit.

1. What is your favorite type of literature to read (magazine, newspaper, novels, nonfiction, poetry, etc.)? I hardly ever read any of these - i prefer movie rentals. But i would rather read Fiction-Sci-Fi and a little poetry here and there-mainly done by the crew themselves.

2.

Comments

Re: I'm ashamed to say...

[fair_witness]

I'm not nearly as familiar with the books as some of my friends are, but I think the changes made in the film adaptation basically fall into these categories:

1. Running time/pacing. I regret the loss of Tom Bombadil, but I also know that it's hard to get distribution for a film that's over a certain length.
2. Audience sensibility. As J's pointed out, Tolkein's worldview is from a particular time and place, and it's not completely compatible or palatable to a modern audience.
3. Director interpretation. I have little doubt that there are some parts Peter Jackson simply didn't like as much as other parts, or that he thought got in the way of story appeal, or whatever.
4. The limitations of film. I'm not simply talking about budgetary constraints here, although that's certainly a consideration. But some things simply do not translate well to film. For example, there have been two adaptations of Dune. The Lynch film version used voiceovers as a way of imitating the inner monologues you get in the book. The TV miniseries version rarely used voiceovers, and most of the inner monologues were either suggested by facial expression or were turned into dialogue, or what have you. I personally find the TV version a stronger story than the Lynch film, not only because it had more time and room to tell the story, but because its director remembered that film is an audiovisual medium that is very different from the reading experience. Recreating the reading experience seldom works, in my opinion.

(As an aside, I find that I don't care for Dune the novel as much as I did when I first read it. But I'm not going to say it doesn't deserve its place in the genre.)

Re: I'm ashamed to say...

[jscheme]

I liked "Dune". A lot. I'm not sure I would like it if I read it now -- some books really fit you when you're in a certain position yourself. I read most of the Dune sage when I was 16, and Chapter House Dune (which is a great finale) when I was 20. It kind of appeals to one at those ages. I find Heinlein to be similar -- I worshipped "Starship Troopers" when I first read it, but I don't think I could stomach the overpatriotism now.