First Impressions gets it's name from the original title of Pride & Prejudice and I think the perfect name for a book to movie club. Watching movies of a book you have read (and especially enjoyed) can be an emotional roller coaster. There is no way the movie will show everything from the book, but that doesn't mean it isn't going to be as good as the book. I have seem plenty of movies that have done the book justice. But our First Impressions will stay with us, no matter how good the movie is.
Now I wanted to lay down some ground rules.
- This is a club for all readers. Those who love books and have been reading for decades. Those who are not great at reading but still enjoy a good book - that's what audio books are for. Those that just want to read something different from the books they always seem to pick up. This club is for all readers, however I cannot control the rating of the books or the movies. If you have not graduated high school yet, be warned and maybe ask around before starting a new book if you don't know much about it and whether it will make a parent uncomfortable.
- You can choose your path. You can read all of the books we read or you can pick and choose what you are interested in. If you have already read the book, then just join us for some conversation and the movie viewing. Too busy this month, then read at your own speed and you don't have to have finished the book to watch the movie. I am not your teacher or your boss. I don't have the power to tell you to read a certain book. I just make recommendations.
- Spoilers. This are going to happen. If more than one person is reading a book, over a full month, someone is going to be further along than someone else. That's life. It is common courtesy to announce that you may be spoiling something in the first line of your comment. But it is also common sense to not read something you think may contain a spoiler. I do not appreciate arguments based on whether or not someone "spoiled" something. Let's use some common sense.
So far, that is all of the rules I have. I may add to it if something comes up. But I didn't want too much structure.
Here is a bit from my first post:
I have been thinking about trying to make a virtual book-to-movie club for awhile now. I don't have all of the specifics figured out yet, but I wanted to at least get started. So, here we are.
This is my idea of a "book club." I don't always like book clubs, they tend to read the same books, or at least the same types of books, over and over again or are filled with people who have silly ideas about literature. (Have you read THIS article by cracked.com? You should, you'll see what I mean.) I love talking about books, but I can't stand people finding crazy meanings in every - little - thing. (My DH will vouch for this. He loves to tell people how I got a "D" in my college Film class because I refused to accept that the "grass in Westerns" symbolized anything other than "the grass in Westerns.")
Now, I'm not saying that authors don't include messages beyond the text. I know the power of metaphors and symbolism. I just think we need to read for what it was written for, not project our own agendas into the writing. If you don't agree, you don't have to. I just wanted to make sure you understood where I was coming from while I thought about creating this book club. And, I'm not asking you to leave, quite the opposite! Stay! Share! Have some fun!
But I seemed to have digressed, let me try this again .... so, this is my idea of a book club. The premise is that everyone will read the book then at the end of the month we will watch the movie together.
Watching Movies
I (or really we) will choose a time to watch the movie near the end of the month, or beginning of the next month. I am overseas, so this can become difficult, but we will do our best. My hope is to try to get a few people to watch it at the same time in order to facilitate a live tweet conversation. (This again, is going to cause some spoilers. But I think you understand how I feel about that.) I will let you know if I have found the movie on Netflix, or if you'll have to locate it on your own. Libraries are a good source for borrowing movies. Also! Make it a party, have some friends you know would like to read along with us? Then watch the movie together (in the physical realm).
Reading Books
Do you have a book recommendation? I am always looking for books that have been made into movies. The only rule is that the book must have been made into a movie -- this can include new movies that are being released, though we will have to develop a format for in theater movies if that were to come up. Let me know!
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