Bad Movies, Great Books.

Hey I kept thinking about this concept this morning so I decided we should make it into a list. We have all had the disappointment of reading a great book, getting excited about it being turned into movie, 6 months later we wait in line for the popcorn, simply to be let down by something that loosely resembles the paper turner that we just read. For example I am a huge Michael Crichton fan and when he was asked/paid to write a sequel to Jurassic Park, I was very excited. I enjoyed the book as much if not more than the first and was very excited about the movie. I remember being a bit nervous about it since the first movie ended very different from the first book, yet he adapted the second book so it could match either ending, however I didn't expect what I got. I am not going to it into the horrible detail I will simply state: My favorite MAIN character from the book evidentially wasn't important enough to be in the movie.

So lets make a list. Mine is The Lost World by Michael Crichton. Also please note, there will be many different classifications for this list. Here are some examples:
Movies that forget to include the plot.

Books that were suspenseful yet the suspense doesn't translate to the movie or a mystery that gives up the mystery before has built up enough to be excited. (Da Vinci Code)

Movies that create action scenes our of thin air. (War of the Worlds, I personally haven't read it but I have reliable source that tell me this is true.)

Great Sci Fi, Doesn't translate in 2 hours.

Last, the person that can name a great movie that was a terrible book gets 5 brownie points. (Don't forget if you get 25 brownie points the newest member of the book club is required to bake you brownies.)

Paperback Swap

Paperbackswap.com is an interesting site that allows you to "swap" paperbacks with members of the site. The site and the books you swap are completely free. All you pay for is shipping.

The way the site works is you post books you are willing to mail to other members. When someone requests a book and you send it to them you are given one credit. Each credit you earn represents a book that you can request from another member. Plus just for signing up, which again is free, you get 1 or 2 credits to start out. So just by signing up you get at least 1 free paperback of your choice!

This is kind of like the netflix of books with the exception that its free! Did I mention that its free?

You might be saying, "Isn't this what the library does?" And the answer, of course, is yes. However the one big difference is that you get to keep the book forever if you choose.

Personally, I have only requested books that I know I am going to use over and over with my classes (The Worldly Philosophers) or a rare book that I can't find anywhere else (Fear and Loathing on the '72 Campaign Trail)...even at the library.

There is even a wish list feature so that if they do not have a book available (currently there are close to 4 million books available) they will email you when it does.

The only drawback of participating would be that you do have to pay to mail a book (but not to receive), which is about $2.35 if you are using media mail. However, $2.35 seems like a very reasonable price to pay for a book that you either plan to keep or one that has been very hard to find.

Testing Your Memory

The Hobbit was our first book. See how well you can do on this quiz. Leave your score in the comments section!

http://www.sporcle.com/games/thehobbitdwarves.php

Gooooaaalllll!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all!

The goal for blog activity this month is 36 posts and 36 comments! This is one post and one comment for each day between meetings. Polls count as a post and votes in the polls count as comments. Currently we are at 9 posts and 10 comments!

We can do it!

Hell Has Frozen Over

Pleasant Hill Book Club is now on Twitter. Right now only I have access to it, but I am going to try to figure a way for everyone to be able to post. I think this can be a good way of staying in contact with the reading without sending emails.

http://twitter.com/P_HillBookClub

Dry: In Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/augustenburroughs/3563958504/in/set-72157618498207503/


also check out the author's web site at www.augusten.com

And the winner is.....

Random Thoughts: Favorite Blog

July Book Preview: Dry

While you wait. Courtesy of Google Books.

http://books.google.com/books?id=bgNTd11fHWkC&printsec=frontcover&dq=dry

July Movie Options

Please leave your vote in the comments section. Voting closes Sunday at 11:59pm or when a simple majority vote is reached (4 votes). Please vote for only one movie.

Option 1: Baraka


Option 2: Chop Shop


Option 3: Unforgiven

Save the Pleasant Hill Library!!!

A lot of us in this group check out books, movies, and auto-books from the Pleasant Hill Library. We should all fight to keep it from further cuts! If you can't speak at the city council meeting then please attend. If you can't attend, please write or call the council members!

More info below:


PH Library Budget Cuts
jsb10401, 6/29/2009 5:37 pm



From July 1st until September 30th, Pleasant Hill Library's hours will drop from 48 per week to 43 per week. There will be 5 staff laid off, all other staff will have their hours reduced and, more than likely, the programs will stop since the remaining staff will be too stretched to run them. Beginning in October, the hours may be reduced even further to 35 per week, which would mean the library not opening on Mondays.

The Pleasant Hill City Council will be discussing library funding at their July 13th meeting, beginning at 7:30pm. If you would like to support the library and encourage the city to help keep the library open as many hours as possible, you can:

(1) come to the meeting to speak or to show your support
(2) contact the City Council via e-mail, fax or mail - contact details here: http://www.ci.pleasant-hill.ca.us/CurrentEvents.aspx?EID=22

Countywide, the budget for library materials and databases has been drastically cut, while the demand for library services is higher than ever. If you would also like to help the library directly, you can volunteer at the library, make a financial donation, join the Friends of the Pleasant Hill Library, donate material for their book sales and shop at their sales. Contact details for volunteer opportunities and the Friends can be found at the Library site:

http://ccclib.org/donations/
http://ccclib.org/friends/

Thank you,

Katherine Bracken
Library Commissioner
City of Pleasant Hill Representative

Random Thoughts: Favorite Author

The Origins of the Slap Bet