Books You've Thrown Away

[hamhock]

Yep. Coming to a screen near you on April 4, 2008.
Link

[Mugsy]

Thanks, hamhock. Although the description says that the movie "The Ruins" is based on a book called "A Simple Plan". I have the book in hardcover and it's called "The Ruins". I actually thought it was kind of a dumb name because there's not much about actual ruins in it. Unless you count the psyche of the characters at the end.

Plus the description says that four tourists go off the beaten path in Cancun and are then asked by a German to help look for his brother. In fact, they go off the beaten path with the German tourist specifically to look for his brother. Either the movie has changed the book's plot (a peeve of mine) or the person who wrote the synopsis has no idea what he/she is writing about.

[Deleted]

A Simple Plan is Scott Smith's other novel. I think it's already a movie, too. I want to say Billy Bob Thornton was in it.

All I could think the whole time I was reading The Ruins was just, Why the hell don't they set that shit on fire? Do the evil plants not burn?

[Mugsy]

Oh, duh. (Re: A Simple Plan).

As for burning the plants, it is hard to burn live green plants. Lots of smoke, but they don't take off like a drought-ridden meadow of dried up grass. Reading The Ruins, I actually couldn't think of any way for them to get out of it.

[Sunnyhorse]

A biiiiiiiiig jug of Roundup should do the trick.

[Mugsy]

Snerk. Now if only they could warn others. That could be the sequel - The Ruins 2: It's Roundup Time!

[Deleted]

Eat Pray Love. Oh dear. I haven't finished it. From the beginning I had a massive problem with it while also not being able to relate to it at all. Which is fine, I don't have to find myself in what I read. But seriously, when Elizabeth Gilbert devoted a chapter to the dramatic question as to why Italian men don't follow her around all the time while in Italy, I felt like I was reading The Gwyneth Paltrow Chronicles where she comes up with a zillion reasons just to prove that it's not her, it's them.
IMHO there's a very unpleasant faux-humility-tone in her writing and I constantly feel like through her whining she really only wants to say "Aren't I cute and funny?". Trying way too hard.

[Deleted]

Confessions of a Shopaholic just met my trash can. Seriously, 2 to 3 pages dedicated to her fantasy about winning the lottery? Sorry.

[chitowngirl]

I was very disappointed in Chocolat. I adore the movie, the first movie I bought on DVD! But only the basic outline of the book is the same as the movie. It's set in a different era, people are in the movie that aren't in the book., people are romantically involved differently. I know there are always changes when you adapt a book, but it was too much for me. I am sure there are people who hate the movie for the same reasons if they read the book first. I relisted it on PaperbackSwap because I just can't throw books away!

[Deleted]

I got rid of Confessions of a Shopaholic too. Unfortunately I'd also been given (as a set) the next one in the series. That went too, just as a matter of course.

But I'm very disappointed to report that Alister Campbell's All In the Mind is a piece of dreck. This is mostly to do with the ending. In a book about depression, don't make the protagonist kill himself at the end. Just a suggestion.

The book comes highly commended by Stephen Fry apparently. Ignore his enthusiasm. This is not a book for people who are already depressed. I can't stress that enough. This is one of the few books I will actually throw away! I don't want responsibility for anyone who is feeling low to get worse.
A few years ago I physically threw away Perfume for its sheer awfulness.