tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post7205205466816584559..comments2024-01-23T15:48:45.566+00:00Comments on Books, Time, and Silence: The Results Are In...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12140995911854334790noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post-29389805680469188482010-01-26T08:44:34.322+00:002010-01-26T08:44:34.322+00:00Many good points there, Bibliblio, it is too easy ...Many good points there, Bibliblio, it is too easy to bash JK without taking into account her massive contribution to the book scene in the last 15 years. However I'm not sure the trend to immediately bring popular books to the big screen should be seen as a plus for film, books, or audiences. <br /><br />Bringing books to the big screen is a marketing ploy, pure and simple. It reduces risk for distributors as they know they have a guarunteed captive audience which will help the film break even. However it does nothing for the artistic medium, either of books or films, making vast monopolistic brands of certain books at the expense of others and leading to a real stagnation in creative scriptwriting. What's the point in taking a punt on an interesting new script when you can just get celebrities in to turn a popular book into a movie and ensure it will play to packed houses?<br /><br />But what seems to be missed in all of this is that books and movies are not natural bedfellows. A good book does not easily cross over into a good movie. Whoever thought to try and make a movie of Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being should really learn that.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12140995911854334790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post-90070713661626483722010-01-25T21:49:35.226+00:002010-01-25T21:49:35.226+00:00Rowling certainly deserves credit for the Harry Po...Rowling certainly deserves credit for the Harry Potter phenomenon, if not for the books themselves. I grew up on those books - my personal view puts them as some of the most influential books I've ever read. <br /><br />Objectively speaking, I know they may not seem like "literary achievements", but the phenomenon is. The post-Harry Potter fantasy craze, the acceptance of bookish superstars, the trend of immediately bringing popular books to the big screen - Rowling's books definitely helped shape these events and many more, including all the excellent points raised above. If I had known to vote (apologies for that: I only just saw this...), I'd have given her the gold. Her books do not need to be universally loved and made of the finest quality to be considered the greatest literary achievement of the 00s. Everything else speaks for itself.Meytal Radzinskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15805413335735169073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post-25153951618194207422010-01-21T12:31:39.068+00:002010-01-21T12:31:39.068+00:00I did love the Harry Potter series (well, the firs...I did love the Harry Potter series (well, the first 4 anyway, thought 5 and particularly 7 were way less good) and I had more fun talking about, speculating, dressing up, and selling books at the launches than doing anything else as a bookseller. I agree that she not only made reading cool again, but helped inspire the plethora of YA/Adult cross over titles I am so fond of. <br /><br />She also showed that being merciless to your characters is a good thing, and that children like to be scared every now and again. <br /><br />The fact that she still wins things like this, though irrelevent in one sense, also demonstrates how much people enjoyed the series. It finished two and a half years ago, by now you would have thought a re-appraisal may have led to a backlash, but that isn't the case and I think that says a lot.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12140995911854334790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post-51067067240205961422010-01-20T21:25:45.480+00:002010-01-20T21:25:45.480+00:00As someone who voted for JK I think that she had t...As someone who voted for JK I think that she had to be my choice simply for the reason that she made it acceptable to like reading again.<br /><br />Oh and that it was no longer freaky to be an adult who likes books primarily written for children.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840181498781795054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4093786175732250309.post-16801414527961110812010-01-20T12:24:45.221+00:002010-01-20T12:24:45.221+00:00I'm not really a fan of the Harry Potter serie...I'm not really a fan of the Harry Potter series (I'm not a hater, either, I just don't really care about it either way), but good lord that woman is laughing all the way to the bank. The greatest literary achievement of the last decade, though? Not sure I agree; then again, I can't think of an alternative to recommend.<br /><br />I'll leave you with that profundity and go back under my rock, now.Bibliolatristhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17952275703674340536noreply@blogger.com