The Golden Compass - Book One of "His Dark Materials"

I started the BBC's top 100 books to read with the trilogy: "His Dark Materials." The first book is The Golden Compass. I originally saw the movie and thought the movie was beautiful and truly steampunk, which made me happy. But after reading the book there was so much that was in the book that wasn't in the movie that it upset me. After watching the movie again, yesterday, after finishing the book, I was sorely disappointed. No spoilers in the post - don't worry! First complaint - Mrs. Coulter was described as this beautiful, perfect dark haired woman. In the movie they replaced this character with Nicole Kidman in all her blonde glory. I found it disconcerting that their idea of beauty was a blonde and not a brunette as the book called for. Second - they foisted a great deal of the showing into the mouths of the characters. The descriptions in the book of the battles and adventures and the journey itself, could have been shown instead of told. Third - the book is horribly out of order. There was such a sense of getting through the story in a certain amount of time made them truncate story lines and end the movie before the book had actually ended. Fourth - the movie felt unfinished. In the book there was a satisfying conclusion that set you up for the next book but would make it alright if you stopped reading there. I don't think anyone would through. The end of the movie felt as though there was going to be a sequel to tie up any loose threads. No sequel, plenty of loose threads. Fifth - on a personal note, the actress who played Lyra Belacqua was horrendous. She is an unlikable character in the book but the actress was unlikable because she could not act not just because the character was unlikable. Those are my thoughts and review of The Golden Compass movie. The book was thrilling and exciting and I had trouble putting it down to get on with the other parts of my life. It was nice to be moved by something and to be in the grips of a book again. My rating scale will be 1-5 stars. You can guess how that will work. If I give a book a negative number it means don't even bother saying the book's title much less traveling to the library, let alone purchasing it. I give The Golden Compass ****. Happy Reading

BBC 100

Recently, ok not super recently, the BBC top 100 books meme came across my view. I looked at it because I wanted to see if I was smarter than the BBC thought I was. See, they said that most people (and by this I took it to mean Americans!)had not read more than 6 of the books listed. I had read more than 6, but not by much. I really wanted to challenge myself to read all the books, especially the ones I had only seen as movies! I was disgusted with myself that I had never read, "To Kill a Mockingbird," for example. I could quote the movie but had no idea how true to the book it was. So I decided to push myself and to undertake reading the BBC 100 list. And then if I was successful, read the NYTimes 100 list. I want to be more cultured and erudite! I had visions of people approaching me at cocktail parties and saying,"Keisha's read the classics, let's see what her opinion is about this topic." Not that I am ever invited to cocktail parties, but it seemed pretty cool in my imagination (p.s. if you are having a cocktail party please invite me!). And like a great many things I start off really excited and then get bored and don't finish. Then I move onto the next bright and shiny thing. In an effort to avoid the road to hell via my good intentions, I am going to hold off on publishing this post and subsequent posts for about three months. By the time you read this blog I should have read at least 6 books and posted questions and responses to my readings here. Hopefully you won't be too bored with my thoughts to stop reading these accounts. Please encourage me and show some genuine interest. I would like to have at least 100 people reading this blog and interacting with me. And then maybe there will be ripple effects that gets everyone reading. This is truly a challenge to me because I often claim I don't have the time to read. And carving out the time to do this will be the largest challenge, as will be sticking to a book I find exhausting. Here is the list of the BBC 100 in case you decide to join me and track my progress I planned to read the list in order but my copy of The Lord of the Rings trilogy (saw the movies, never read the books!)has not arrived yet. So I am starting with "His Dark Materials" by Pullman. Another series of books where I saw the movie (The Golden Compass with Nicole Kidman and that amazing CGI polar bear!) but never read the books. And I am going to buy the books whenever possible so I can build a library for my kids. True there is virtual reading, and Vivian and I both have kindles or other reading devices; but there is something really satisfying about holding a book in your hands. And for me there is something really satisfying about reading a book that another held in their hands. So I will be purchasing previously owned books not just because they are the most inexpensive - well maybe because they are the most inexpensive. Stick around this will either be a success or a huge car wreck. Either way you will want to watch. Best, Keisha First Book (s): His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman Book #1: The Golden Compass Book #2: The Subtle Knife Book #3: The Amber Spyglass