As I Died Laughing is an E-Book.

As a rule, I don’t care what format a book is in – I’m interested in the content.

However, since I don’t own an electronic reader I have ignored E-Books till now. It isn’t comfortable to read them on Adobe Reader. Particulary as I spend enough time working on the computer, I would rather read for pleasure away from the computer.

So why am I reading this one?

My original motivation was simply that it is written by David Lloyd. David gave the Israeli English teachers in Israel an online email support/discussion group in the early 1990s, I believe, long before there was social media and online personal learning networks. This group, ETNI, was and remains very important to me. David blogs at Why I may still be Canadian

My motivation now is that the characters are intriguing, I have no idea what will happen next and I’m curious to find out!

If it wasn’t an E-book I would have finished it by now! However, as I read something else in bed before going to sleep, it will take me a bit longer…

I was delighted to discover a piece in the New Yorker about one of my all time favorite books “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norman Juster. The article is in honor of the book’s 50th anniversary and officially call it a classic! Hurrah!

This was one of the first books I posted about on this blog, here.

And now I’m reading another article in the New Yorker about a journey in the shadow of Ararat, in Turkey (It’s called Natural Histories, by Elif Batuman). The writer discusses Orhan Pamuk’s book “Snow” which takes place in the area, in a place called Kars. The book wasn’t light reading but fascinating! It is very interesting to read comparisons of descriptions and events from the book to the impressions of the writer of this article. By the way, there is a lot of focus on birds in this article!

I was completely in love with the book by page 2.

I know I have said it before but this writer uses words in a different, magical way.

Such a special book!

The only thing I regret is that I’m reading the book in the English translation, instead of the Hebrew one. Not that the translation isn’t excellent, it is just that I read very quickly in English. This book is meant to be savored slowly. I may end up rereading it at some point in the future, so maybe then I’ll check out the Hebrew translation.

I really enjoyed reading the book “The Help” by Stockett over a year ago.

Tonight we’re going to see the movie.

I am one who usually says ” the movie wasn’t as good as the book”. I also try to read the book before seeing the movie because I ususally don’t want to read the book afterward (which, you might argue, doesn’t make sense because by the same token the book is supposed to be better!). I’ve come across the book “Beautiful Mind” several times while browsing in the library but haven’t taken it because I’ve seen the movie.

There have been exceptions though.

“Holes” by Sachar was a great book and a great movie.  I had been really afraid to see “The Kite Runner” because there are some very difficult scenes in the book which I had no desire to have presented to me in a more visual manner than they are already depicted. Yet the movie was done so well I found myself riveted.

I think the secret has to do with not trying to capture everything in the book.  Like the first Harry Potter film, which I felt was racing to cram in as many details from the book as they possibly could. Disappointing. When the directors give the characters the depth they need so that we understand who they really are, it is easy to deal with the missing details of the plot.

Of course, I expect the movie to stick to the basic story ! One of my biggest disappointments was the movie “Cheaper by the Dozen”. I have the book and read it with pleasure more than once (to my boys, too). However, the movie used the name and the fact that there were 12 kids and nothing else. I got the feeling that whoever wrote the script hadn’t even read the book!

So, will I enjoy the movie tonight? I’ll add a comment to this post when I get home!

I do this sometimes – read a number of books by the same author in one year. This is the last Fannie Flagg book in the library.

This one is not quite as good as “Welcome to the World Baby Girl” and ‘Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe” and I think she overdid it with the length of the book – 500 pages! However, she has a gift. While the author  seems to simply be occupied with telling the most mundane details of every day life whenever I stop reading I’m amazed at how things connect to life in the U.S today, the “Tea Party Movement” for example.

Certainly a book I want to finish.

May still be reading it next week too – have only read 300 pages!