I chose John Green's The Fault in our Stars for February's #ayearinbooks mostly because the 15 year old kept telling me I had to read it. When I was a teenager I mostly read science fiction - Arthur C. Clark, Anne McCaffrey, Douglas Adams, crime writing - Agatha Christie, and fairy tales. I found my book of Russian Fairy tales and reread them after watching the Olympic opening ceremony, and seeing all manner of fairy tale creatures in the narrative. As far I as I can tell teenage fiction that is read by my children falls into different categories,action - the Cherub series, Time Riders and the Dark Lord series are all favourites of the boy, whereas the girl flits between books about angels and other divine beings, about hopeless romances and ghosts, (with thankfully not too many about vampires) and amongst them all there is an underlying tone of angst.
The Fault in our Stars has already been read in #ayearinbooks by that adventurer and 700 words - who said she read it on a train and had to fight to keep back the tears. I read it at home and cried too....... After I finished it, it's a quick read, and not one you want to put down, I found myself rereading certain sections and wondered if I read it from a different perspective to my daughter. You are drawn into the lives of the teenagers within, and feel their pain, but I also felt it from the angle of a parent of teenagers, hence receiving a double dose of tragedy. Tragedy aside it was also uplifting, and I shall be interested to see the upcoming film to see how it translates as a movie.
What do you think about books that are made into films? Which do you prefer? Does it make a difference if you read the book first? Or does that mean you are always disappointed by the film because the characters aren't how you imagined them to be?
My thoughts are stars I cannot fathom into constellations. John. Green.
Sometimes the making of a film from a book enhances the memories, the pleasure of the reading done beforehand. On the other hand, characters can be played by people who don't fit the mental image you had of that character and that lessens the pleasure of the memory sometimes. I rarely watch films, but sometimes the seeing of a film has provoked a second or third read of a favourite book - Little Women comes to mind - and can also lead to my buying the book it's based upon, as in The Love Letter.
ReplyDeleteGosh, another one for the to-read list! x
ReplyDeleteUsually,I hate a book I've loved being made in to a film. I have to think of them as two separate stories, for them to work for me. I can really annoy my husband by saying "it's not as good as the book" or "that never happened in the book". I'm sure I'm not the only one.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy reading your blog! My teenage daughter and I both loved this book! I wanted to say that I've nominated you for a blog award. If you would like to participate, here's the link. http://bookfairy43.blogspot.com/2014/05/a-blog-award.html Have a good evening!
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