tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post2376642927527147447..comments2024-03-11T16:29:13.619-05:00Comments on Lingwë - Musings of a Fish: A novel kind of March MadnessJason Fisherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-84657396834971419682010-04-14T16:30:51.001-05:002010-04-14T16:30:51.001-05:00I just read it again myself a few months ago (the ...I just read it again myself a few months ago (the second reading), so it’s pretty fresh in my mind. Do read it again and report back! :)Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-46872785095572342092010-04-14T16:05:01.572-05:002010-04-14T16:05:01.572-05:00hmm...those are interesting points. I did see the ...hmm...those are interesting points. I did see the movie before i read the book, so perhaps I'm slightly biased, but it seemed to me that the film just sort of...fleshed out the story a little bit more. I do see your point on how that could dilute the strength of the story though, which is something I hadn't thought of. I'll read the book again with this in mind and perhaps I'll see it differently.Joshuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05452465649409032009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-41722789008061573552010-04-14T13:49:07.712-05:002010-04-14T13:49:07.712-05:00I think we’ll have to agree to disagree — though I...I think we’ll have to agree to disagree — though I would still like to see the film. For one thing, the music. That seems all wrong. One of the most important elements of the novel is the extreme, pervasive silence that returns to the world in the wake of whatever vague calamity has overtaken it. Second, the absense of the mother is a critical element to the novel. You dilute that if she appears too often in flash back. Thanks for your thoughts on it, but I stand by the assumption that the novel will prove the better of the two — at least, to my tastes.Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-16397343905198042802010-04-13T17:29:13.905-05:002010-04-13T17:29:13.905-05:00firstly, the film sticks EXACTLY to the book. the ...firstly, the film sticks EXACTLY to the book. the only thing that is changed is that the Mother is shown a little bit more, in dreams and flashbacks. secondly, the music adds a whole new dimension to the story, the guys who scored it are some of my favorite artists and the score here is brilliant. thirdly, Viggo Mortensen perfectly portrays the man. absolutely perfectly.The book is good, but I honestly think film is how this story was meant to be told.Joshuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05452465649409032009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-22924566446001128962010-04-12T19:47:41.120-05:002010-04-12T19:47:41.120-05:00Well, I haven’t seen the film, but I can’t possibl...Well, I haven’t seen the film, but I can’t possibly believe this is true. <i>The Road</i> is one of the finest novels I’ve ever read, and so much of it is internal, I don’t see how it would translate to the screen as anything more than mere plot. So, you’ve read the book and seen the film? Why do you feel the film is superior?Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-33602420712551765852010-04-12T19:32:04.140-05:002010-04-12T19:32:04.140-05:00i have to say, i firmly beleive the film version o...i have to say, i firmly beleive the film version of The Road is better than the book.Joshuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05452465649409032009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-38173414912635741702010-04-12T11:29:39.698-05:002010-04-12T11:29:39.698-05:00Alex, like my wife, I would have picked The Road, ...Alex, like my wife, I would have picked <i>The Road</i>, one of my favorite novels ever. As for St. Louis, well, Mythcon this year in Dallas is about a ten-hour drive, or a very short flight. Give it some thought; I guarantee you’d have a great time. I don’t know whether any of these events will ever come to St. Louis itself. Maybe. Eventually. :)<br /><br />FishWife, I agree: <i>Great Expectations</i> would be my pickin’s of the Dickens. Ditto, <i>Middlemarch</i>. And ditto, Alex, for <i>Lolita</i> instead of <i>Pale Fire</i>, a book I simply could not finish.<br /><br />And why isn’t E.M. Forster on this list?!Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-85693852381561945342010-04-10T15:15:58.679-05:002010-04-10T15:15:58.679-05:00Alex: I think Great Expectations blows both of the...Alex: I think Great Expectations blows both of them out of the water. Just a humble opinion.<br /><br />I know Jason and I both agree that many authors were there who deserved to be there, but wondered at the novel selection. Best example off the top of my head: Daniel Derida by George Eliot. Why not Middlemarch? Is it so that she could lose? I don't know....<br /><br />Alex (again): I agree about McCarthey. We both were just struck dumb by The Road. I can't wait to read more of his novels.The FishWifenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-36497711758031320632010-04-08T23:18:23.614-05:002010-04-08T23:18:23.614-05:00As an aside, if I were picking the picks, I think ...As an aside, if I were picking the picks, I think Tale of Two Cities blows David Copperfield out of the water any day of the week. But perhaps that's just me.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13721162340739400165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-69829838410318584992010-04-08T23:16:10.271-05:002010-04-08T23:16:10.271-05:00Very interesting to see Stephen King on there. I ...Very interesting to see Stephen King on there. I happen to like him, so I tend to think he gets less than his due, but I understand those who struggle to think of him as a "great writer," or his books as "great books."<br /><br />I would've liked to see The Bridge of San Luis Rey on there, as well as something by McCarthy - I would pick Blood Meridian or All the Pretty Horses. Also, Lolita, I think, is a worthy pick.<br /><br />Another American novel I've loved is Lonesome Dove. A really good revisionist Western, I think (not that I'm an expert in any way on revisionist Westerns), though it seems as though it is a book being forgotten. Perhaps I'm just not in the right circles!<br /><br />Jason, do you think any of these awesome Tolkien gatherings will ever come to St. Louis? Because, well, I, you know, kind of live there :).Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13721162340739400165noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-10129425956538777322010-04-08T22:10:09.076-05:002010-04-08T22:10:09.076-05:00indeed it is, i dont mean to come on to strong abo...indeed it is, i dont mean to come on to strong about my personal tastes in books. i just happen to feel particularly strong about those two:pJoshuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05452465649409032009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-10062639583552964802010-04-05T09:24:38.357-05:002010-04-05T09:24:38.357-05:00David, nice to hear there are still a few Twain fa...David, nice to hear there are still a few Twain fanboys left! :)<br /><br />Whitefrozen, yes, such things are completely subjective. I know people who would disagree with you about Bradbury and Burgess, but everyone’s tastes are different, aren’t they?Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-17919179933639413882010-04-04T17:52:00.326-05:002010-04-04T17:52:00.326-05:00pretty dang cool to see the Hitchhikers Guide on t...pretty dang cool to see the Hitchhikers Guide on that list, that book is brilliant. but id have to say that i dont think a good many of those books should be there (though ive not read them all). a clockwork orange was just plain stupid, and Farenheit 451 wasn't all that impressive either. im dissapointed to not see Asimov books as well.Joshuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05452465649409032009noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-86094060218606453572010-04-02T23:19:17.685-05:002010-04-02T23:19:17.685-05:00I'm as much of a Huck Finn fanboy as I am a Lo...I'm as much of a <i>Huck Finn</i> fanboy as I am a <i>Lord of the Rings</i> one, if the term can be applied at all. I've read both books dozens of times, I've worked out their geography, I've explored the author's other works, I avoid movies based on them ...David Bratmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08090662884600828582noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-26791099802077781092010-04-02T10:56:24.431-05:002010-04-02T10:56:24.431-05:00Hi, David. I think it’s both; the one feeds the ot...Hi, David. I think it’s both; the one feeds the other, as in a virtuous circle. It remains to be seen whether the popular cult of Tolkien will still be as strong as it is today when <i>The Lord of the Rings</i> is as old as <i>Moby-Dick</i> and <i>Huckleberry Finn</i>, roughly 70 and 100 years older than Tolkien’s novel, respectively.<br /><br />There <i>may</i> be intrinsic reasons for the lack of Twain and Melville fanboys. What do you think? This goes to the heart of the perennial debate on the merits of <i>genre fiction</i> versus <i>literature</i> (so-called). Of course, I believe Tolkien’s novel is both. But there is still enormous resistance from the literatary intelligentsia to admitting Tolkien into the canon.Jason Fisherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809154870762268253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9050528436539921312.post-44654048268642273812010-04-02T10:45:47.235-05:002010-04-02T10:45:47.235-05:00Your wife's observation begs the causality que...Your wife's observation begs the causality question: Does LOTR beat out other novels because of its "fanboys ... scribbling away obsessively on blogs and discussion groups," or is there a huge Tolkien fandom because the novel really is so great? In other words, is there a reason there aren't as many obsessive Twain or Melville fans, and does that reason have bearing on the intrinsic quality of their works?<br /><br />-- David EmersonAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com