All about books
Photo from
http://detroitfreenet.org
Recommended reading
Summercore
participants discuss books that they have enjoyed recently. |
Best sellers lists
See what
people are buying. |
Book clubs
Learn to
start your own book club. |
Books on film
Read
books the lazy way. From “The Perfect Storm” to “The Godfather,” see how
filmmakers have interpreted the printed word. |
recommended
reading
When they’re not in front of the computer, here’s what Summercore folks are reading:
Rachel Shorey, Noble and Greenough SchoolHarry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
“I’ve read all the
Harry Potter books because they’re addictive. They’re not realistic, but they
involve people, so they’re plausible.” |
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Charissa Olson, Shorecrest Enchantment, Orson Scott Card “It’s a fantasy novel.
It’s got some Russian folklore. It’s the story of a modern boy born in
Russia, but his parents moved to the U.S…” |
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Meg McCarthy, Emma Willard School
Native
Speaker, Chang-Rae Lee “It’s a believable and
compelling story about cultural alienation of a second-generation Korean in
America.” |
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Galen McCallum, Rowland Hall-St. Mark’s Harry
Potter and the Goblet of Fire,
J.K. Rowling “I’ve read them
all. I think they’re great.” |
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Cliff Goodband, Belmont Hill School The Perfect
Storm, Sebastian Junger “It’s much better than
the movie.” |
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Alexandra
Briggs, Noble and Greenough School
Kindred, Octavia Butler “It’s a mix of science
fiction and historical fiction. It includes time travel from the 1970s to the
Civil War and deals with race relations and slavery.” |
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best-sellers
Check out a variety of best sellers lists.
! New York Times Book Review’s Fiction,
Nonfiction
and Children’s
titles.
! Publishers
Weekly
! L.A. Times
starting a book club
Oprah may have started
the nation’s biggest book club, but she is certainly not the only one running
successful clubs. A longstanding book club, Mostly We Eat, posts recipes for both
running book clubs and feeding members.
Oprah
also gives advice on starting book clubs on her Web site. Parentsoup
provides information running book clubs that include both parents and kids. Greatbooks is a foundation specializing
in discussion groups for adults and students.
Most films can trace their origins back to that nearly defunct technology - the printed page – and if nothing else, that promises to keep traditional book publishing alive. The translation from book to film is often fraught with controversy, however. How often have we all heard people say, “The book was SO much better!” or “Boy, did they butcher the storyline.” Here is a sampling of some recent, classic, famous (or all of the above!) films with a few links to highlight this idea.
The Perfect Storm
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Photo:
http://perfectstorm.warnerbros.com
Before becoming the blockbuster of
the summer, “The Perfect Storm” was a best-selling book by
Sebastian Junger. As usual, the film has been well-received by Junger fans and moviegoers,
but trashed by the critics.
The Patriot
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Photo:
http://www.thepatriot.com |
In fact, this seems
to be the theme of the summer. In one of the rare box-office disappointments of
his career, Mel Gibson’s latest film has received a barrage of bad press. “The
Patriot” has been trashed
- especially by those pesky Canadians! - for reinventing the historical
reputation of a wealthy Southerner of dubious reputation (he was a rapist),
making fascile insinuations about war tactics, and oversimplification of a
complex socio-economic environment, among others. Nevertheless, many people
found it highly entertaining – myself included, and I teach US history!
And now we come to The Classics.
The Godfather
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This
film continues to be so popular that it is routinely satirized in major movies
and has become part of American pop culture.
It
is one of the rare cases in which the film is every bit as good (if not more
so) as the book on which it was based and in which the book’s author receives
as much popular acclaim as the stars who inhabit his characters.