Author: Cindy

I'm irritated because my posts won't publish.

Books to Film

msk-movie-157The other night I saw MY SISTER’S KEEPER with my mom and the Little Pisser. My mom lent me the book by Jodi Picoult two weeks ago, but naturally I forgot to read it until I realized the movie was looming (um, don’t visit the link to Jodi’s website, if you were thinking about it, until you read my spoiler alert, down below). So I ate the book with my brain, finishing this weekend. Usually, I’m disappointed in movies made from books. But MY SISTER’S KEEPER, the movie, which was pretty decent, was a good representation of the novel. The movie even kept the multiple first-person viewpoints of the book intact.

Sure, the movie wandered from the book here and there, but not in a way that bothered me. Even the ending didn’t bother me, but…okay, I’m going to have to put this part in white font, because it’s a spoiler. If you’ve read the novel and plan to see the movie, DON’T READ this spoiler. If you’ve seen the movie and now really want to read the novel, DON’T HIGHLIGHT the big white section below. If you don’t give a rip and want to read the spoiler, anyway, highlight the white section with your cursor. My words will magically appear! (I am truly amazing sometimes).

SPOILER ALERT!! (Just in case I wasn’t clear).

The movie changes the ending of the book big time. I can kind of understand why the producers, the director, or whoever makes these decisions, did change the ending. In the novel, the ending was a complete surprise to me. It worked, on the page, but it might have come across a bit too soap-operish on the big screen. You see, in the movie, the wrong sister dies.

In the novel, the sister with cancer doesn’t die. The courtroom scenes play out pretty much like they do in the novel, except for one part in the novel where Anna, the sister without cancer, tells her lawyer that what she wished for the future was to see her sister alive in ten years. That she would gladly give her sister her kidney if her sister would allow her to.

Then the lawyer and Anna drive off in the pouring rain, get in a car accident, and Anna dies. Yes, Anna dies. Well, she’s brain dead, hooked up to machines, and Kate, the sister who needs the transplant is still alive. The parents are trying to decide what to do when the lawyer rushes in to announce that Anna wanted to give her sister the kidney, Kate will die without the surgery, so sign the organ donor forms.

The novel ends with an epilogue set ten years later. Kate survived her cancer and has gone on to live a rewarding life. Now, you tell me, isn’t that a huge departure from the film, where Anna doesn’t give Kate her kidney and Kate dies?

End of Spoiler.

Spoiler P.S. What I discuss in the spoiler is addressed on Jodi Picoult’s website and includes her thoughts on it, so I’m warning you, don’t visit her website link if you don’t want to know.

I don’t want to discuss MY SISTER’S KEEPER, the movie, or even MSK, the novel, because I don’t want to ruin it for others. But the experience got me thinking about other novels to film. Which have worked for you and which haven’t? I was super disappointed in the film adaptation of SECRETS OF THE YA-YA SISTERHOOD. I read the book before the movie. I loved the book and couldn’t have given two hoots about the film. However, MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA, I saw the movie before I read the book, and I enjoyed both greatly. FIRST BLOOD, I’ve never read the book, and I thought the movie was great. So maybe I should stop reading books before seeing the movie. But that’s hard to do when you don’t know which books will get made into movies.

Do you prefer to read the book and then see the movie, or vice versa? Does it drive you nuts when the movie veers extensively from the book? Or can you separate them in your mind and enjoy both versions for what they are? 

If you’re interested in sharing your thoughts with the director and screenwriter about the book-to-film process of MY SISTER’S KEEPER, you can do so here.

Oh, Canada!

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HAPPY CANADA DAY!

I’m blogging at Nobody Writes It Better today, marking my inaugural post for the Golden Heart 2007 finalists’ new group blog. Hop on over and say hello. I’m giving away a copy of my Canadian-set romance, HEAD OVER HEELS (which takes place in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C., if you want specifics). (But of course you’ve read it already, so you should know). (If you haven’t read it already, don’t worry, I can tell). (And will disreward you accordingly). (If you’ve already read it, you can still enter the contest and snag an extra copy). Big caveat: you have to comment there, not here. You can still comment here if you wish, but doing so won’t enter you in the contest, just score you brownie points for being extra-friendly and Canadian-like.

Don’t make me look like a Comment Wuss now, you hear? I want lots and lots of comments on my post.

More Les Fleurs

My peony bush has finally lost all its blooms. Man, was it laden with them this year! To think that monster peony bush once hid behind a shrub banking the house. Every spring I’d wonder why the heck a white, bushy flower or two was poking up over the shrub. Then, when we put on our addition, we took out the shrub. Low and behold, El Peony Bush appeared and has been going nuts every since.

Here are two pics of the peony and one of a baby marigold. It’s in a separate garden that didn’t want to get left out.

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I’m Ready For My Close-Up

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Not THAT Close!

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Baby Marigolds

Monday Musings

As the countdown to the RWA National Conference in Washington, D.C. begins, I find myself surprisingly glad that I’m not going. Okay, maybe I’ve just talked myself into it, but after two years in a row of attending National, I’m ready for a break. Typing this, I realize I’ve never attended National three years in a row. I suppose I will some day. This year, given the cost of flying across the continent, the fact that neither I nor Penny sold a project in ’08, and because I’ve attended National in D.C. once before, I don’t think I’ll miss it. I’ll miss seeing my Looney Bin and Scrabble buddies, Tina Ferraro and Diana Duncan, attending the RITA ceremonies as nominees, however. Wouldn’t it be cool if they both won their categories?

As for myself, I’m looking forward to continuing to write instead of going crazy prepping for conference. The money I would have spent on new conference clothes can go toward the new stove instead. Last week, I began a new story for Penny, her first “short.” Wrote 3800 words on Thursday, I think it was. Aside from the year I participated in NaNaWriMo, that’s a record for me. Am revising them now before proceeding with writing new stuff. Target market requires 5000-15,000 words, so I have a lot of leeway.

Meanwhile, my cindpk ST is sitting and gathering inspiration. Depending on how Penny’s short story goes this week, I might dig into revisions on the cindypk in another week. Two at the outside. I don’t want to leave it sitting too long.

I signed up for Carbonite last week, an on-line document backup system. I really like it, it’s easy to use, but my desktop is 4.5 years old, and, alas, I fear Delbert is too slow for Carbonite. I’ll have to allow my trial to expire and return to using flashdrives.

With the weather so nice lately, for the first time in my writing life I’m really feeling the absence of a laptop. Especially now that the household budget has recovered from buying each of the kids a laptop for high school graduation. And, also, the cost of those new netbooks is rather tempting. If I sell something this year, I might indulge in a netbook or a small laptop. I prefer my ergonomic desktop keyboard, but the portability of a netbook/laptop is carroting in front of my eyes.

A heads-up, I’m blogging at Nobody Writes It Better on Wednesday, July 1st, which is Canada Day for those not in the know. I’m giving away a paperback copy of my Canadian-set novel, HEAD OVER HEELS (by the way, if you visit that link, the upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 seems to have affected some spacing issues on my Books pages. I’ll have to fix that one of these days).

I’ll post a reminder about the book give-away Wednesday. How is your week shaping up?

 

#ApplianceFail

Grrr, I’m noticing a decided lack of performance in major appliances around the 15-year mark! Two years ago, we had to buy a new dryer. This winter it was a new washer. Now we need a new stove. The problem? We haven’t decided yet if this is our Until The End of Time house. So when we bought the dryer, we went for the cheapest unit we could find, the reasoning being that we have finished our major laundry years with one son away at university most of the time and the second heading that way in another year. Sure, it would have been nice to buy the new, fandangled washer and dryers out there, but until we know how long we’ll be in this house (and I can’t imagine we’ll decide that for another 5-10 years at the minimum), it doesn’t make sense to me to buy fancy-smanchy stuff.

So…the stove. It’ll cost so much to rebuild that we might as well buy new. Today, while shopping for computer items, I realized the store also sold appliances, so I had a gander at the stoves. I need a self-cleaning model. It’s like air conditioning. Once you’ve had it, you can’t imagine living without it. I’m completely undecided about coil elements vs. a ceramic cooktop. Well, I’m not completely undecided. I’m leaning toward coil, which is what we already have. Why?

  1. It’s cheaper.
  2. Cats tend not to walk on coils they can easily see are burning bright red.
  3. I need a white stove to match the kitchen, and every ceramic top I’ve seen so far in my extensive search (all two models of stove) have black tops, which I think would look major yuck against my counter tops.
  4. It’s cheaper.
  5. My mother has a ceramic cook top on her cottage stove, and it seems to me that they’re very finicky to clean, although the salesman assured me that boiling over (which occurs quite often in our house) doesn’t create anywhere near the mess as it does with coil elements.
  6. It’s cheaper.

I do believe it’s time for one of my infamous surveys (not so infamous, I guess, considering this is the second one I’ve conducted). Have you ever had a ceramic cooktop, and how do you think it compares to coil elements? Would you ever get one again?

Don’t talk to me about gas stovetops. I might have to clout you. My Liege and I had a propane stove when we lived together before marriage, and I totally loved it. I know I would love a gas stove. But it’s not feasible for our circa-1960 house. The cost to get the gas to the stove faaaaaaarrrrrrr outweighs my desire to play with that cute little dancing flame. As it is, you don’t want to know how the electricity gets to the stove. It’s different, I’ll give you that.

So…coil elements or ceramic cooktop? Which would you recommend?

P.S. In case the title of this post escapes you, it’s a little nod to Twitter.