And that was in the novel-writing department. So you can only guess how hard it hit me here, in the blogging department.
Then? Inspiration as I cleaned up my office this morning, in an attempt to fitness my aching and harmed back: several listology books my friend in Colorado had sent.
And I was inspired.
At least, yes, for today. Until my back aches from this horrid office chair.
See, because I've not been writing a novel, I was reading them. Several. Not in the mood to list them, as they were cheapies that keep the mind sharpened on what not to pen-but also have delicious, fun tales (read: prurient or fascinating).
Books. It's all about the books, isn't it? Either reading or writing.
Or watching. One of the questions the listology books asked, "what are five of the best movies based on books you can think of?"
I'm on it. Books on my brain, books in my heart.
I did, however, give myself some parameters. I elected to not put down theatrical literature. Grant you, in my English teacher noggin, Streetcar Named Desire and Death of a Salesman are incredible books, in my humble opinion, and I teach them as such in my classrooms. But given the nature of the medium we are discussing here, I elected to leave them off the table, to challenge my thought processes and be more creative.
And, here's the other twist I gave myself. They had to be books I read, either before or after, that made it the film, somehow, more worthwhile.
5. The Silence of the Lambs, based on the novel of the same name, by Thomas Harris, published in 1988.
I had loved Red Dragon, Mr. Harris' previous title, having come across it in my more macabre teenage years of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. So it was only fitting that I floated over to the, even better, sequel that same year. The book is unimaginably horrific and, surprisingly, in the hands of such a skilled filmmaker, most of the integrity of the title is kept with powerhouses of Jodie Foster (can she do no wrong?) as Clarice Starling and, of course, Tony Hopkins as the famed Dr. Hannibal Lecter. This is one of the few films that appears in my top ten films of all time, I believe.
4. Brokeback Mountain, based on the short story of the same name, by Anne Proulx, published in 1997.
This movie changed the game for me; it changed the game for American cinema. Surely, gays had been represented as the victim and the side character enough by this point; they had also had been the lead, but those titles were far and few between for my humble viewership. I kept having to float over to the international sections of video stores to find titles that spoke to me on a level they spoke to others. Yes, I cried the first time I saw Casablanca, because I understood what happened during that picture, I know the stakes for those characters. But I SOBBED at this movie. Because, when I watched it, I was not looking at it as a watcher, a voyeur, a film critic. I was watching it as a gay man. There, before me, was all the pathos of a tragic romance. I had seen this storyline 100 times before.
But with straight characters. With the protagonists being gay? I became lost in the story. Suddenly, all those predictable twists and turns were gone and I was taken up and taken away from being a lowly educator, to the high plains of Wyoming.
This, I realized, was way people were really crying during a sad story.
I got it, I finally got it.
I had read the story in secret, too, a foray into the corners of the library (God-fucking-bless American libraries and my tales of coming out) and found it in a series of gay fiction. Incredible.
3. Jurassic Park, based on the book by the same name, by Michael Crichton, published in 1990.
To combat the oodles of reading in college, my mother gifted me a book of the month club when I was a sophomore in undergraduate. Loved it. And in that pile, arrived this title. I was not really into reading science fiction, only hitting up the popular stuff and the recommended. However, the club sent me this copy and I figured I'd give it a go.
Could not put it down. Here's the thing, the book, as always, was much better than the movie-borderline horror. Most of that is lost on the current franchise, which bothers me some, but not totally. The first movie was solidly made and, though the body count is surprisingly low, entertaining to a fault. I really liked it.
2. Misery, based on the book by the same name, by Stephen King, published in 1987.
I liked, but did not love, Misery, as it was a turn from the author's strengths. He knew how to create tension, but he usually added that wonderful dose of supernatural and this book was different. It was more of an ode to Hitchcock, and, while entertaining, I found it not in my favorites by him.
Until, of course, I saw the actual movie.
Then it made sense. Two characters. Isolated ranch house in the Rockies. Death will come soon, if Paul Shelton doesn't escape. The movie has something Hollywood doesn't always have. A female antagonist you actually feel sorry for. A lonely woman, to the point of being unable to filter reality, she dives into the books by her favorite author. The themes pull themselves out moreso in the film than than the book, which is ironic, given the book is about a writer.
1. The Exorcist, based on the book with the same name, by William Peter Blatty, published in 1971
As I just moved to Florida, this paperback tumbled out of a book on my first day in our new apartment. I had no idea how it got there, I had read it eons ago. I figured it a sign, to get back into the writing that I do, so I sat down and piled through in one weekend.
And it's prose rang right through me. I had read it to be scared the first time. Now? I knew the turns, and could appreciate the respect that Mr. Blatty had for his subjects, creating a truly horror story that symbolized what people were seeing in the 1970s.
They thought their kids were out of control. Little demons, if you will.
The movie, of course, cuts to the quick and is juicy and riveting. I remember talking to my janitors how they had to prepare for each showing, should someone vomit or pass out. Alas, it never happened, but it all played into the mystique the movie aroused. It was, after all, going against the conservative images and thought processes of religion and, for many, that was scary enough.
Something not on this list? The Amityville Horror. I loved the book. But I came to the movie too late, and, by then, all of the scary moments had been beaten out of it in comedy skits and quotes throughout popular culture. It was the only one I was unsure about putting on here. The prose is riveting, and, I'm sure, the movie WAS when it first came out. But, I was too young. When I finally saw it, it had shown too much of its age.
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