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Ay , where's JAWS ?

This season was so bad i lost interest for asoiaf.

Do you think you would have felt different about these stories if they didn't adapt them into films?

Most of your examples were books you didn't like lol . Are there books you actually really enjoyed and still thought the adaption was better? Were those books all in your first video?

The Natural...Redford's movie was magical. The book? uuuh...yikes!

For a book that's better than the movie, the signature example for me is A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. The film is quite good in the tradition of It's A Wonderful Life. The book, however, I would argue is the true "Great American Novel." It has the highest density of creative, insightful and memorable passages per page of any book that I'm aware of. Francie Nolan is perhaps the most well realized character in all of fiction. The novel immerses you so thoroughly into that time and place of Francie's life, you feel like you experienced it first hand. Like, I have memories of growing up in early 1900s Brooklyn from reading ATGIB that are as vivid as those of my real childhood. Despite exploring poverty, it is an immensely rich work of art.

John Buchan also thought that Hitchcock's film version of The 39 Steps was better than his book, so I guess I can't hold that against you.

So, a couple of examples: Solaris. Stanislav Lem's book is a masterpiece, yet the adaptation by Tarkovsky improves on it in many ways. The Thin Red Line. Terrence Malick's adaptation gives it entirely new dimensions. The Trial. Kafka's version is indeed great, but Orson Welles elevated every aspect of it just about except for the ending, which was ruined due to interference from his financiers.

The reason I much prefer the film The Shining to the novel is that in the novel, Jack is a loving father who tries to kill his wife and son because the hotel ghost possesses him or something like that. In the film, Jack's reason for trying to kill his wife and kid comes from within, a resentment a lot of fathers probably have in a patriarchal capitalistic society. He wanted to be a writer, but his girlfriend got pregnant, and he did the right thing and married, took regular jobs, and provided. The hotel ghost only multiplies or magnifies the resentment already present in him, as they did with other fathers who had stayed in the hotel before him. Of course, there are the same feelings within wives and mothers, towards their sons and husbands. I think Jack is the male version of Elisabet in Persona by Ingmar Bergman, a woman who has a son that she resents for staggering her career as an actress. She tried to abort but failed, and now she is a mother and a wife who wishes she wasn't, her son's love for her bothers her, and the guilt makes her feel like a bad person, but she can help what she feels. People don't like to think about, how many fathers and mothers feel resentment towards their children and spouse, especially in the past when these movies take place, when people married in their early twenties or younger, doesn't mean they don't love them, but the resentment is there, they were once young and had plans and ambitions, and left it all behind to be parents and partners, they did what society expected of them. They're the ones that stayed, where many abandoned their kids and left, to live their lives only for themselves.

I prefer to read the book first, then see the movie. Why? Because reading is the exercise of imagination, thought, pondering, and a dialogue with the author & his characters. Peter Jackson is a good movie-maker, but I don’t think he entirely “got” Tolkien, the Norse & Anglo-Saxon culture, and especially the luminous spiritual content at the heart of JRRT’s Middle Earth.

Forrest Gump. The book blows.

I love James Purefoy too! I'm always eager to see him in anything.

The Godfather and No Country for Old Men are two other movies that I would say are better than the books they are based on.

Lady Liene with her Spicy Takes 🌶

Oh yes david suchet is amazing as hercule Poirot i didn't like Kenneth version i also liked albert finch version in murder on the oriental Express My favorite movie adaptation are Dolores Claiborne kathy bates was amazing book is by Stephen king and the movie giant starring james dean based on a book by edna ferber

I absolutely enjoyed a discovery of witches tv series i read the first three books might check out the other books this fall I love Outlander tv series the books series the early books are the best

I get so excited when I see new book videos from you! And every time you talk about the Under the Northern Sky trilogy I’m inspired to read it. I need to stop being intimidated and just start it already…

People who compare the name of the wind with empire of silence just haven't read very much and probably shouldn't make stupid comparisons based on nothing

I was always in the library as kid, but I don’t remember reading any fiction until I was a young teenager (or maybe 12). As a kid, I only read all the nonfiction books my library had on animals. When I did start reading fiction, The Hardy Boys Casefiles were my entry. I also read nearly all the crossovers with Nancy Drew, but I only bought three of The Nancy Drew Files. I’m looking at them all on my shelves now. I’m 44.

It seems clear. Liene is right about The Wolf and Bookborn is right about Sanderson!

I think I would prefer my friends hating my favorite book than being that meh on it. 😂

I also really enjoyed the Shakespeare book. For more about arguments for the Stratford theory, the Stratfordians wrote a book titled Shakespeare Beyond Doubt. A book was released to combat those arguments similarily titled Shakespeare Beyond Doubt? (with an added question mark). They go into the arguments for the Shakespeare of Stratford.

I've just finished Guns of the Dawn!! at the beginning I really liked the dynamics betweeen Emily and her love interest, but I think Liene is right and it was because I was thinking about Pride and Prejudice, so for me it made sense that they liked each other without that much effort by the author. But I was sure it was going to be explained why he did does things, I thought Emily had it all wrong (like Lizzie) but it never happened!! So Bookborn is right, that explanation would have made it so much better.

45:11 Completely agree with that. Even though though I'm not overly fond of the books, Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga does one of the best jobs I've read, in that respect.

I read this many years ago and weirdly enough I couldn't tell you what it was about but I still vividly remember some of the bizarre characters, I think that says a lot.

On the sci fi alien topic, has anyone read A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge? Really unique and interesting alien species in that.

Bookworm “who hates Shakespeare” Me “I HATE Shakespeare” The works are (to me) heavily overrated, and they’re not set for current era. The stories need to be watched not read, they’re frustrating to read

Harry Potter 5 is also my favorite 🙏

Hey Liene what was the part of Sun Eater you thought was brilliant but then saw Wolfe doing the same thing? I’ve got several things that come to mind just wondering what stuck out to you specifically?

I'm so happy right Liene didn't hate Empire of Silence

So Its true.... They are separate people...

this series and the viriconium books are some of the best reads in my opinion... off the beaten path and fresh after all these years

Definitely looks interesting plus I love the cover lol

2:10 Who lives, who dies, who tells your story? I guess you could say that history has its eyes on the Targaryens.

I liked it

This is the first review of this book I've heard that makes me want to pick it up. 😃

I read Perdido Street Station and Kraken, along with his comic series Dial H. His writing is very inventive, but I couldn’t connect with it. And I really enjoyed The Little Friend, which is the only Donna Tartt book I’ve read, so I think it’s just specific to him.

My husband has a copy and liked it, so I will probably read it eventually. I liked The City and the City, and I also liked District 9, but I can be really squeamish, so that worries me more than anything.

11:08 Agreed

9:14 Oh, hell no! The book is my favorite classic ever! The early 2000s movie was very good, but other than the ending, the book crushes it.

While I agree the movie of Princess Bride is better, I disagree that it was much of a difference. I really liked the book. And, all the good stuff is there.

I tried reading this years ago when I was about 18, 20, something like that. I want to say I got about halfway. Eventually, I will try again.

I agree with your review completely. More questions than answers, yes, exactly!

This came out a little after the season wrapped up, but the pacing issues were a direct result of HBO cutting two episodes and the writers strike. The season was originally written to be ten episodes. A few months before filming, they were told that it had to be cut to eight. Then the writer's strike was looming, so they had very little time to restructure things and no way to fix things once the strike commenced. That's why ep 8 felt like build up, it was originally built up to two big battles happening in ep 9 & 10.

If you agree with the quote “Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable,” you will probably like this book.

I've read a few of Mieville's books (including Perdido) and the main feeling I came away with is these are the drug/drink fuelled ramblings of a mediocre writer who thinks they are clever and edgy and challenging. In reality the books are turgid, dreary, undergraduate level twaddle which are a chore to complete. Each to their own I guess.

Very nice summary of an experience that is difficult to describe but was also a memorable one for me when I first read Perdido Street Station. I completely agree with your assessment. China Miéville has since become one of my favourite writers, although I understand why not everyone is going to feel the same way. Then again, I like Donna Tart and Gene Wolfe (and Mervyn Peake, who I also think very much explores the same kinds of grotesque worlds) so that does put me squarely in the target audience I guess! I believe Perdido Street Station was Miéville's first novel and it seems to want to cram in something of everything which I'm sure is intentionally overwhelming, but it's one of those books where I ended up feeling more is more. Such a rich world with so many flavours to savour and even if it might give you indigestion it's worth it. The Scar, set in the same universe is also a good read but I think I prefer the more controlled and really intriguing world building of "The City and the City" about which I can say nothing other than to strongly recommend it. I consider that one to be arguably his best and should be ideally read, knowing nothing about it, if you can.

August, 29th is nigh !

I had to read the first few pages five times and then laughed It’s so bizarre but definitely hilarious in its absurdity

I wanted to love this book because I appreciate the things the China stands for as a person, but it ended up being one of the worst books I've ever read through to completion. I'm glad you enjoyed it though!