The B&B Book Review - The Bear and Badger

Bollockoff

Finished The Silmarillion sitting outside a Costa drinking some horrible mocha shake and washing it down with a nice iced tea.

No one does mythology like Tolkien. While I readily enjoy and agree with authors like China Mieville who want to kill the modern trend of fantasy copying the Tolkien template wholesale, what Tolkien created is priceless to the genre.

The Daddy

So is it worth a read? Was gonna read it after LOTR in my youth, but my folks said it was gash, so I left it alone.

Bollockoff

I loved it personally. It fleshes out the world in telling of the Elves coming about, their numerous falls throughout the ages struggling against Melkor & Sauron and usually trechery/arseholeishness among themselves. Then come men. It's great background reading to LOTR.

Only issue is the first couple of chapters reading like Genesis (the Bible) as it's a creation tale. The guy who sold it to me even recommended I skipped those. It also reads more of a historical account than a novel. Which puts some off.

The edition I have of Unfinished Tales is quite tiny, that shall be read on the plane to and from Barcelona I think.

I_R

I think it's his best material, even if it does need another pass from an editor and some of it's a real mess. And yes, the first couple of chapters are a horrible slog.

You know that after the inevitable financial success of The Hobbit, some schmuck will have to adapt it as a screenplay. That's going to be great, I'd be surprised if the film worked, but the production is going to be very entertaining.

Bollockoff

You'd need one angry motherfucka for Feanor.

Samuel Jackson popped into my mind for a mere second before being cast out.

ChattinWithChet

Finished the High Window by old Chandler. Very good stuff. His details are delicious.

ChattinWithChet

Also ordered lots of books:

David Sedaris: Barrel Fever, the Santaland Diaries.
Woody Allen: Complete Prose
Elmore Leonard: Out of Sight, Road Dogs
Frank O'Hara: Meditations in an Emergency (thanks Mad Men!)
Jim Thompson: The Killer Inside Me (I wanted to get After Dark My Sweet but it was unavailable)
Charles Bukowski: Ham On Rye, Women, Hollywood
Jack Kerouac: On the Road Original Scroll
Cormac McCarthy: Blood Meridian

I am particularly looking forward to running through more Bukowski. The two I have read were hilarious, and reminded me that a book that forces you to chuckle out loud is a nice experience. His eye for detail and absurd situations did also remind that I needed to get the rest of David Sedaris' stuff.

Facewon

ChattinWithChet wrote:

Also ordered lots of books: David Sedaris: Barrel Fever, the Santaland Diaries. Woody Allen: Complete Prose

I've heard nothing but good this about Sedaris. That Woody Allen is fucking awesome. Hilarious and clever.

ChattinWithChet

Facewon wrote:

I've heard nothing but good this about Sedaris. That Woody Allen is fucking awesome. Hilarious and clever.

I read the Woody collection a long time ago, when I had only seen a couple of his movies. Time to buy. He's amazingly funny in print. Lots of wordplay that doesn't work vocally / visually.

You need some David Sedaris.

Listen to this:

And then this:

djchump

IS there a writing thread? I dunno, here'll do - interesting blog came up at work:
http://storyshots.tumblr.com/post/25032057278/22-storybasics-ive-picked-up-in-my-time-at-pixar

Spoiler:

22 #storybasics Iâ€™ve picked up in my time at Pixar
I tweeted these forever ago, but the internet just noticed and I figure I should probably at least put them on my blog. Iâ€™m glad people are finding them useful.
Here they are, a mix of things learned from directors & coworkers at Pixar, listening to writers & directors talk about their craft, and via trial and error in the making of my own films.

#1: You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
#2: You gotta keep in mind whatâ€™s interesting to you as an audience, not whatâ€™s fun to do as a writer. They can be v. different.
#3: Trying for theme is important, but you wonâ€™t see what the story is actually about til youâ€™re at the end of it. Now rewrite.
#4: Once upon a time there was ___. Every day, ___. One day ___. Because of that, ___. Because of that, ___. Until finally ___.
#5: Simplify. Focus. Combine characters. Hop over detours. Youâ€™ll feel like youâ€™re losing valuable stuff but it sets you free.
#6: What is your character good at, comfortable with? Throw the polar opposite at them. Challenge them. How do they deal?
#7: Come up with your ending before you figure out your middle. Seriously. Endings are hard, get yours working up front.
#8: Finish your story, let go even if itâ€™s not perfect. In an ideal world you have both, but move on. Do better next time.
#9: When youâ€™re stuck, make a list of what WOULDNâ€™T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up.
#10: Pull apart the stories you like. What you like in them is a part of you; youâ€™ve got to recognize it before you can use it.
#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, youâ€™ll never share it with anyone.
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th â€“ get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself.
#13: Give your characters opinions. Passive/malleable might seem likable to you as you write, but itâ€™s poison to the audience.
#14: Why must you tell THIS story? Whatâ€™s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? Thatâ€™s the heart of it.
#15: If you were your character, in this situation, how would you feel? Honesty lends credibility to unbelievable situations.
#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they donâ€™t succeed? Stack the odds against.
#17: No work is ever wasted. If itâ€™s not working, let go and move on - itâ€™ll come back around to be useful later.
#18: You have to know yourself: the difference between doing your best & fussing. Story is testing, not refining.
#19: Coincidences to get characters into trouble are great; coincidences to get them out of it are cheating.
#20: Exercise: take the building blocks of a movie you dislike. How dâ€™you rearrange them into what you DO like?
#21: You gotta identify with your situation/characters, canâ€™t just write â€˜coolâ€™. What would make YOU act that way?
#22: Whatâ€™s the essence of your story? Most economical telling of it? If you know that, you can build out from there.

You can find more stuff I talk about on twitter asÂ @lawnrocketÂ - film and storytelling mostly. I try to keep the what-I-ate-for-lunch posts to a minimum.

http://storyshots.tumblr.com/

Bollockoff

How do you find the time to read that many books Chet? How do you space out your reading time?

Dark Soldier

I gave up on the Jemma Jameson thing once she'd been raped for something like the 800th time.

Doesn't help that her story is one of a spastic, albeit a spastic who devours cock for a living.

fullspectrum

For some reason, some of the notable books I've read have been incredibly dark.

American Psycho has things in it I'm glad they didn't commit to film. Clockwork Orange was again way more vivid than its celluloid counterpart, and the language was clever and interesting. The best by far - and darkest - was The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

DS, reckon you'd like that if you haven't read it. Really affecting stuff.

Unlikely

American Psycho is pish.

fullspectrum

The book? Yeah it was very confused at the end, I don't think the author really knew what he was trying to say. The film picks up on the most interesting parts - the bland music he knows everything about, the business cards, and the black humour. The book was really over the top in the violence, surprised I made it to the end in hindsight.

Unlikely

Yeah, the book.Â Rancid little thing.Â Haven't seen the film.

Rev

I've read it.Â

Its like 'Hostel' for books. Â

He plays with your mind by writing passages of pornography and then interrupts them with interludes of extreme violence in close proximity.Â

I put it down on a number of occasions. I did finish it though.

Kow

Yes, it's a very good book. It is meant to be confused. I'm glad you all agree. That is all.

fullspectrum

I dunno about it being like Hostel, that is abhorrent and I wish I could unwatch it. Was a long time ago I read AP, but I remember there being some kind of cop-out along the lines of

Spoiler:

at the end.

Rev

Nick wrote:

I dunno about it being like Hostel, that is abhorrent and I wish I could unwatch it. Was a long time ago I read AP, but I remember there being some kind of cop-out along the lines of

Spoiler:

It was all a dream
at the end.

It was left for you to decide if he has just been sitting there day dreaming.

I did feel that some of the things that happened were put there just to be shocking.

Tempy

I liked American Psycho, but then again I would.

Brooks

The flick's a much tighter piece of work. Betters the source material.

fullspectrum

Read Wasp Factory, Tempeh?

Unlikely

revelthedog wrote:

I dunno about it being like Hostel, that is abhorrent and I wish I could unwatch it. Was a long time ago I read AP, but I remember there being some kind of cop-out along the lines of

Spoiler:

It was all a dream
at the end.

It was left for you to decide if he has just been sitting there day dreaming. I did feel that some of the things that happened were put there just to be shocking.

Spoiler:

Tempy

Nick wrote:

Read Wasp Factory, Tempeh?

I have, yes. I liked it quite a lot. Good ending.

fullspectrum

Agreed, amazing ending.

Kow

Nick wrote:

I dunno about it being like Hostel, that is abhorrent and I wish I could unwatch it. Was a long time ago I read AP, but I remember there being some kind of cop-out along the lines of

Spoiler:

It was all a dream
at the end.

Spoiler:

ChattinWithChet

Kow wrote:

Yes, it's a very good book. It is meant to be confused. I'm glad you all agree. That is all.

ChattinWithChet

Brooks wrote:

The flick's a much tighter piece of work. Betters the source material.

ChattinWithChet

On the ending:

Spoiler:

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