Lets talk books. I've just finished Colin Dexter's Last Bus to Woodstock and I was struck just HOW different they are to the TV series. Morse seems like a totally different character and Lewis certainly is.
Now this is not unusual many adaptations take the characters and locale and thats it. Frost is nothing like the book.
As a rule I totally prefer the books over TV adaptations but Morse works incredibly well on the small screen. A testament no doubt to the quality of the actors and the writers of the TV series.
I've just started reading Agatha Christie Poirot and Miss Marple and am enjoying them, they aren't stunning literature but good fun (I'd accept that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a classic mystery). Obviously we've been spoit by the excellent adaptations of Poirot (with David Suchet) and Marple (with Joan Hickson not the recent pile of tat with Geraldine McEwan). I am enjoying the books but again the TV series work well.
I'm about to start re-reading Ian Fleming's James Bond series (And I know these will be nothing like the films, I read them at about 15 but can't remember them) and PG Wodehouse Carry On, Jeeves. I am nervous about the latter, I've been watching and enjoying reruns of the series with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry and will I get Wodehouse in print?
I think adaptations need to be treated for there own right, adaptations surpass the original and so should be enjoyed for what they are. A really good adaptation will lead us into discovering the original and for me books easiy surpass TV.
What have I be reading lately?
Charles De Lint - Waifs and Stray(collection) - ****
Andrew Taylor - Naked to the Hangman - ** (disappointing entry in a fab series)
Caroline Graham - The Killings at Badger's Drift - ****
Agatha Christie - A Nurder is Announced - ****
Graham Hurley - Deadlight - ***
Agatha Christie - The Moving Finger - ***
Agatha Christie - The Body in the Library - **
Stephen Booth - Scared to Live - ***
Colin Dexter - Last Bus to Woodstock - ***
3 comments:
I like your choice of authors. Haven't read Caroline Graham for a long time now but enjoy her characters.
Agree with you about screen adaptations and always prefer to read the book before seeing TV series/films.
Strange but (for no explicable reason) when I stopped work I stopped reading murder etc. I'd previously been addicted.
I think I'll have a go at Caroline Graham - a new one on me.
My own experience with PG Wodehouse... 'Got it' the first time around, long before the series, but found it a rather hard slog. Have the 'Jeeves and Wooster' series on DVD with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry (currently on my 4th go-around).
After viewing the series for the first time, I went back to the book and found it enhanced the print experience... seemed to bring it to life. I went on to read 'Bestiary' by Wodehouse... very funny stuff!... Deb
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