Nonsuch Book

we love you so

Being a little wild thing myself, Where the Wild Things Are was (and is) one of my favorite picture books. If this is your story as well, and you can't wait for the movie, and you tear up a little every time you see the preview, get yourself over to the We Love You So website from the creators of the film. Where you can see awesome stuff like this entry from the "Where the Wild Things Ought to Be" contest. If you know in your heart of hearts that Max could have fronted The Clash, you can't miss it.

Now back to the end of 2666...

a sneak peek: tim burton's alice

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"  - Alice

The sneak peeks at Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland are everywhere. And the images are arresting. And we all have to wait until next March for the film's release. The story of Alice in early adulthood running from a public proposal of marriage back into Wonderland. But she does not remember a thing from her childhood visit. Is she still capable of nonsense? Catch the trailer and remember just how dark the book is, and the potential for developing that darkness in a film in the hands of Tim Burton. I wish I could see it now. But I can't. So I will re-read the book.

Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter

Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen

Anne Hathaway as the White Queen

list of fiction works made into feature films

If you have never been over to see Laura at 52Books, you should go now. Pithy eloquence. Well go ahead. Yes now. I'll wait.

See what I mean. Today's link to a Wikipedia list of fiction works made into feature films prompted some mindless browsing. Where I did not find Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The inexcusable horror. Will add in myself later. The 1958 film featured above may have been the expurgated version of the Tennessee Williams classic adapted (censored) for homophobic times, but it is still my favorite film adaptation of the play. Paul Newman's exquisitely tortured self and the always spurned but hopeful Elizabeth Taylor.

Brick Pollitt: What is the victory of a cat on a hot tin roof? 
Margaret "Maggie" Pollitt: Just staying on it I guess, long as she can.

What is your favorite fiction made into a feature film?

the curious case of benjamin button

This always struck me as the most unusual of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories - a curious idea that the author puts out there simply and matter-of-factly. It travels the whole of human experience with a small share of words. As most of you know by now because of recent press for the upcoming movie, Benjamin Button is born an old man and lives his life backward eventually returning to infancy where he simply fades from existence. "Then it was all dark, and his white crib and the dim faces that moved above him, and the warm sweet aroma of the milk, faded out altogether from his mind." 

This is really a beautiful and touching story of the pain we suffer because of the impermanence of the human condition. When you read the short story, the emotion attached to the events will be your own as Fitzgerald tells us right from the beginning - "I shall tell you what occurred, and let you judge for yourself." However, the movie trailers I have seen are quite touching. Can't wait to see this. 

Curious to read the story before you see it? You can read the entire text on line from the University of Virginia.

a little sunday comfort

Half-way through Sebastian Barry's The Sacred Scripture, and it is a powerful and intriguing book. After coming in from a couple of hours of gardening chores, I was all prepared to return to it. However, it is Sunday, and both my body and my mind felt they needed a rest so I turned to a movie I have seen more than a few times based upon a book that I have read at least three times that I can recall. Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons is a most-hilarious satirical treatment of the dense delights of doom penned by D.H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy. Recently orphaned socialite Flora Poste must find a way to stretch her meager finances so she decides to live with a relative until her great novel comes together. She descends to the deepest Sussex to her distant relations at Cold Comfort Farm and immediately sets about re-ordering (or re-writing) their miserable lives. Have you seen something nasty in the woodshed? Read it. See it. Most satisfying. Just like the Sunday comfort food I am about to prepare. Bless you, day of rest.

clooney as one fantastic fox

"Boggis and Bunce and Bean
One fat, one short, one lean.
These horrible crooks
So different in looks
Were nonetheless equally mean."

Fantastic Mr. Fox is one of my favorite read-alouds for children of all ages. Wee ones are captivated by Dahl's stories because they sense that he is at heart just one of them. He exposes the follies and weaknesses of adults, and champions the purity and magic of childhood. Most importantly, as my own seven-year-old says, his stories just rock. Mr. Fox sneaks out of his hole nightly to raid the farms of the three farmers described above. He brings the goods back home to feed his family. The lives of all the underground animals are threatened when the farmers decide to stop these assaults on their farms. Only Mr. Fox can save everyone as he leads a fantastically speedy dig further into the ground to escape first the shovels and then the bulldozers of the crazed humans.

Dahl's stories play out extremely well on the big screen (think Matilda, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Witches), and now, Fantastic Mr. Fox will be made into a stop-motion animated treat featuring the voices of George Clooney and Cate Blanchett as Mr. and Mrs. Fox. Bill Murray and Jason Schwartzmann will voice two of the despicable farmers, and Anjelica Huston is rumored to be taking an as yet unnamed role as well. You will have plenty of time to read or re-visit the book before seeing the film as the scheduled release date is not until November 2009.

Happy Birthday Harry!

Let's not forget to wish Neville Longbottom a Happy Birthday today, July 30. Tomorrow, July 31, both Harry Potter and his creator, J.K. Rowling celebrate birthdays. The trailer for the sixth movie was widely released today so celebrate by Googling Harry Potter trailer, and watching till your heart's content. Ralph Fiennes' nephew makes an especially eerie young Tom Riddle! If the kids (or you) are looking for some more birthday fun, check out the Scholastic site for games and the chance to personalize a birthday card for Harry - Scholastic. Still have not had your fill of all things Potter? Check out two great fan sites - The Leaky Cauldron and Muggle Net. Last but not least, visit J.K. Rowlings own site - J K Rowling. Shed your muggle skin and invent some magical birthday fun for you and yours.