For 2015, I thought that I'd get a little more literary with my new blog project but rest assured, movie watching will be a big part of it. My plan is to do seasonal rereads of books that I haven't touched in a good long while(most of them,anyway) and the title of this series is The Road of Rereading.
So, here's the plan; each season will have one book(with the exception of winter, as I will soon explain) and over the course of that time period, I will have three posts written-one as a starting point, the second as a conclusion and the third a review of one or more film adaptations of the chosen title.
I hope that's not too complicated-trying to keep it simple, since there are plenty of new books to read on my shelves already, not to mention a couple of other writing projects that I'm working(and life, of course). If you're read any of these books before or find a couple that are new to you here,please feel free to chime in with your thoughts. Alright, let's now look at my list of reread candidates and see how they stack up:
WINTER:
This season's pick is actually a double feature and for a good reason; it would be a shame not to read the sequel to Larrry McMurtry's Terms of Endearment, especially when I have both books on hand. So, The Evening Star is included for my snowy day reread.
Terms of Endearment is best known for it's Oscar winning movie version(which I will be seeing) but at heart, it's a solid mother-daughter story of emotional opposites. Aurora Greenway and her adult offspring Emma tend to spend most of their time arguing over the best way to live each other's lives(think Lorelai and Emily Gilmore transported to Texas), mainly Emma's, of course.
However, when the chips are down, they are there for each other. The follow-up to TOE came several years later and focuses on Aurora's relationship with her grandchildren(as well as her lively love life). Both the sequel and it's film adaptation didn't sit well with critics and fans as much as the original, which is probably why Netflix isn't carrying the DVD edition of The Evening Star, so I may not be able to review that film.
However, TOE is readily available and I do look forward to watching that film again. Aurora Greenway is one of those love-hate characters both on page and screen that you would want to hang out with and being reintroduced to her promises to be a pleasure renewed:
SPRING:
This next book is almost a rediscovery, as I do recall having been assigned Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy in high school yet can't remember much about it. Hardy is a little too terse for teen reading, in my opinion.
Nonetheless, I do have some Hardy titles on my shelves and would like to read at least one of them, so this may encourage me in that regard. Also, there is a new film version starring Carey Mulligan due to arrive in theaters by May, so that is another check in the plus column there.
I might not be able to see that new film but there is the 1967 adaptation with Julie Christie that looks rather steamy, so that should be fun. A BBC version was made in 1998, so perhaps I'll watch them both for a compare and contrast which ought to make up for not seeing The Evening Star(not totally giving up on that but must be practical). Either way, FFTMC will be completed, thus I swear!:
Most folks tend to put literary classics on their summer reading lists and since I do plan to tackle George Eliot's Middlemarch at some point this year, going back to Daniel Deronda felt just right.
It was the first book by Eliot that I read to completion and was completely taken by the dual narrative of Daniel's discovery of his Jewish heritage and Gwendolen Harleth's dismal path into marriage. I did read Silas Marner after that but still have yet to dive into one of Eliot's longer books fully. Maybe this will help in that department.
Another good reason to pick this up again is that a new novel about Gwendolen is coming out this spring(which I will be featuring in my March/April book preview) and renewing my acquaintance with Deronda will be rather timely. There is a wonderful British TV adaptation of DD, written by Andrew Davies, that stars Hugh Dancy and Romola Garai that will make for fine summer time viewing, I believe:
It may be my own personal bias but the phrase "saving the best for last" is a big reason for having Little Women as my final stepping stone in this series.
The last time I reread Louisa May Alcott's tale of sisterhood was about two years ago(I know I didn't pick it at all in 2014) and ever since the debut of Pemberley Digital's The March Family Letters, it is imperative that I join up with Jo,Amy,Meg and Beth on their Pilgrim's Progress this year.
Waiting until fall gives me time to see how the webseries will play out as well as decide which film version to see(leaning towards the Winona Ryder one). Oh, well, call me Augustus Snodgrass and let the games begin:
My first post on The Road to Rereading will be early next week, as I start with Terms of Endearment and if you wish to follow along, please do so. Reading is a solo activity yet can be fun with friends.
Doing a reread is considered a luxury but on the other hand, you do sometimes find new elements to the story and characters that you didn't notice the first time(or the second) around, so it is a worthwhile experience. People don't quite get this way about watching a movie more than once, I notice, perhaps because the amount of time spent is considerably shorter.
Regardless of that, my feet are firmly planted on this path and while it may look like I'm not observing everything else about me, I promise to stay alert for whatever else pops up on the pop culture horizon. This journey sounds like it should be all too familiar but I suspect that a few surprises will make themselves known along the way, even in the little town of my inner literary mind:
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