My Top 5 Book to Musical adaptations

I am a huge musical fan. I am also a huge book fan. And musicals based on books? I'm all over them like a rash. There's emotions and storylines you can portray through music, there's characters that seem more real and naked (not literally) and fabulous, after you've seen them belt out, in song, the part of the book that made you weep. Of course you can get it wrong. I'm not saying every book should be turned into a musical, oh hell no. Can you imagine 'Dracula: Broadway's newest fang-tastic opera'? [Edit: Hey, apparently someone tried this... I literally have no words. I still need to find somewhere to watch this bad boy, but for now click here for the full cast recording I found...] Anyway, Dracula musicals out of the picture, here's a countdown of my personal top five favourite book to musical adaptations:

5) Oliver!
Composed by Lionel Bart
Based on 'Oliver Twist' by Charles Dickens.

"You gotta pick a pocket or two"

 

The 1968 film version of Oliver. The Ron Moody one (the best one). Yes, Mark Lester as Oliver Twist, wasn't the Oliver I imagined when reading the book. It probably wasn't his fault, bless his tiny blonde heart, but Oliver is decidedly meek, squeaky and sort of forgettable in this film. So why is it in my list? It's still one of the best adaptations out there.  Ron Moody and Jack Wild make the best Fagin and Dodger ever ever ever, as does Shani Willis as Nancy. This sounds awful, as it means missing out on the 'Food, glorious food' number, but skip the first 40 minutes and watch from when Oliver reaches London and meets Dodger. (I can't be the only one that does this?) As with many adaptations, the ending of the film is mighty sweeter than the book. However it does it in such a good way that I almost don't mind. The book is perfect. It was the first Dickens I read and I remember feeling so conflicted all the way through, and so emotionally invested I finished in less than two days. If you've never read Dickens, start with Oliver Twist. If you've never seen the film, watch this version. You'll be singing "Oom Pa Pa" for days and develop a bit of a cockney twang in the process probably. 

4) Wicked
Composed by Stephen Schwartz
Based on 'Wicked: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West' by Gregory Maguire.

Rocky Horror aside, these are the best red lips ever seen on a musical ad

The Wizard of Oz's saucier, more complex, big sister. The storyline focusses on the Witches of Oz pre, during and post Dorothy. The book is rife with politics, sex, rich character development and is written fantastically. The musical doesn't cover everything the book did, but makes up for it with show stopping numbers like 'Defying Gravity' and sprinkles humour into the tale with songs like 'Popular'. The show had more humour, in my opinion, than the book, and obvious changes were made for the stage, such as the particularities of Nessarose's disability. However this was a visually stunning musical to see live and the songs blew me away. This is a soundtrack I listen to regularly and a series of books that I could read again and again. People say the sequels of the first book fall a little flat, but I think that you become so invested in the characters in the first, you almost feel obliged to read the following books so you can understand everything this storyline has to offer.

3) The Phantom of the Opera
So many versions! Here I'll focus on the version composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber with Lyrics by Charles Hart.
Based on 'The Phantom of the Opera' by Gaston Leroux (originally in French)

The true mystery of the Phantom: How does his mask stay on?

Dark, brooding. Perfect for Opera. So that's what someone decided to do! A disfigured musical genius haunts an opera house and basically stalks young dancer and soprano Christine. It's sad and depressing with very few uplifting scenes. And these brief uplifting scenes are soon squished by more brooding and depressing solos. It culminates in a spectacular, scary and heart-racing finale in which the phantom's mask reveals his true visage and a chandelier falls onto people and basically it ends well for no-one, disfigured or otherwise. As a reader/watcher your emotions are played with mercilessly: do we feel sorry for this poor phantom genius, or should we be concerned by his lurking and murdering? Do we fancy Raoul, or is he a bit of a douche? Do we like Christine's hair? Well actually yes, it's beautiful. It's the second longest running musical in the West End, and it saddens me to know how few people have read the book. It's a haunting tale that will hover in your reading memory long after you pop it back on the shelf. You'll also start listening to mirrors and walls, to see if your house has a troubled singer making extravagant living arrangements out of your basement.

2) The Wizard of Oz
Composed by Herbert Stothart
Based on 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' by Frank L Baum

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops"

 



Even if you've never seen the film, you've heard the infamous 'Somewhere over the Rainbow' (unless you literally live at the bottom of the ocean), which won an Oscar for Best original song. It's more family friendly than 'Wicked', and obviously a timeless classic that everyone should see at least once. A few changes were made for the film, like silver shoes being changed to Technicolor friendly ruby red slippers, and the omission of a certain chapter in which Dorothy and friends stumble across people made of delicate China. But overall a good, solid adaptation of the novel. What's great about the novel, that differs from the musical, is that it doesn't make out Dorothy's journey to be a dream, or a vision of delirium, but an actual journey that she actually takes and has to travel back from. She doesn't just wake up at the end exclaiming "you were there, and you were there!" She runs back to her beloved farm and her beloved Aunt Em. I love the use of the sepia to colour in the film, as with the character crossovers and the make up and effects were pure genius (1939!!). Scarily 'Over the Rainbow' was nearly omitted, to shorten the running time. Whoever stomped on that decision needs a medal! A great film to watch on a rainy day. A great book to read in any weather.


1) Cats
Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Based on 'Old Possum's book of Practical Cats' by T. S. Eliot

"Feline, fearless, faithful and true"

 

What can I say about this musical? If you like a nice, continued storyline, it may not be for you. It's several little stories, with a slightly longer backstory that runs separately. The make-up, the costumes, the songs, the choreography...actually it is the choreography that stands out as one of the main reasons to go and see Cats. The dancing is beautiful. When you see it live, the cats come in amongst the audience. They are positively feline in all but biology. It's funny, it's serious, it's genius. It's my favourite musical of all time, based on a book or otherwise. It's tap, it's ballet, it's opera, it's choral. It's cheeky and tear-inducing. It's Cats. And the memory will live forever. The poems are great for adults and kids alike. What is a Jellicle Cat? Go and read and watch and find out! Go now!

 

 

And that concludes the list! Of course there are others. Here are a few:

 

Les Misererable - Book by Victor Hugo

Matilda - Book by Roald Dahl

My Fair Lady - Based on the play 'Pygmalion' by George Bernard Shaw (Apparently. This is one I haven't actually seen so bear with me here).

Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat - Book by...Well it's the Bible. God?

Apparently even Lord of the Rings has undergone a musical treatment. There's lots out there basically, and recent releases prove that fiction is still an excellent source of inspiration for those looking to write the next musical classic.

I hope this has provided some holiday film ideas. Tis the season for TV binging after all.

 

Over and out.

 

Getting over myself. A tale of okay assignment results and getting rid of a selfish attitude.

A 'first world' problem post about 'meh' assignment results. And how selfish I can be.

We received, via email, the results of our first assignment last week. It was an essay. We answered one of two questions, and I chose to write about censorship. It was the first academic essay I'd written in a long time. The bulk of my undergrad degree (creative writing) coursework, was as it said on the tin - creative pieces - and I was fairly clueless as to the level of a postgrad degree essay. I'd never used Harvard referencing (at least not properly) and I was utterly perplexed as to how to go about structuring. But I tried. I did the reading, poured over books and tried to make sense of the confusing and sometimes total lack of laws surrounding censorship. I watched Ted Talks, scoured journals and pieced together 3000 words in what I considered a fairly decent essay covering the main points of censorship. I handed it in two days early. I thought all was well.

And to be honest, all was well. It wasn't terrible. Not at all. I passed. The grade was the correct side of 50%. And that was that.

And that was that.
And that was that.

It wasn't anything to get excited over.
It wasn't ground-breaking writing.
It was just,
well...
that.

It just left me feeling downhearted. I commenced this course, bright eyed and bushy tailed and thinking awesome thoughts. Awesome thought examples:

"This is my calling!"

"I'm basically going to be a female Giles!" (spuffyshipperbtw)

and

"I'm going to re-define a stereotype!"

(tumblr) Yes Giles. Librarians can party too.

And then I got the essay back. And all that conjured up some less awesome thoughts:

"Is this my calling?"

"I'll never be a female Giles. My accent is the wrong sort of British."

and

"I have nothing to contribute to this profession. Go home boring white girl."

After I'd sobbed out my frustration over a hastily order Chinese takeaway, I sent a tearful email to my lecturer asking whether I could re-sit this essay of what I considered fairly 'meh' proportions. I understood what I'd done wrong and wanted to fix it. I then remembered that my lecturer is only in two days a week. So for the next few days I suffered feelings akin to when you send an overly embarrassing, emotional text to a friend whilst drunk. And they don't reply. And you're left waiting for days to see whether they still like you or not. And then I finally received an email. Summed up, it basically said:

You passed. It was fine for a first essay. Get over yourself.

But in much nicer terms, because my lecturer is actually super fantastic.
And you know what? She was right. Sure, I'm not "super-librarian" yet. But it was the first essay. I'm still in the baby steps of learning all this stuff and now I know what (and what not) to include in my next assignment.

I struggled, in the aftermath of receiving my result, to find the motivation to begin my next essay, due in in a couple of weeks. I wondered what the point was. I didn't want to put in all the effort again jut to get a similar 'meh' result. I phoned JJ on his lunch break for some motivation. He had wise words:
"Remember you've paid for this degree. Like, money. Lots of it."
Oh yeah. When nothing else can get you motivated, remember: You can't afford to do it again.

In all seriousness, not just because of the money thing, I am over myself. I was lucky and I know a few members of my class are having a far worse time than myself. Others would have been very happy with my result. In a moment of horrible, self-focussed, selfishness I thought it was the end of the world because I wasn't awesome yet. Which is the worse kind of attitude to have ever and I'm mentally slapping it out of myself right now because I don't want to be that sort of person. Tis the season to be grateful, and appreciate that I passed at all.

I will power through till the Christmas hols. Then I will continue to power through because more assignments are due after that. Basically I will not stop powering through for another approx 10 months.

The next post will be uplifting. Or possibly at least slightly less moany.

Over and out.

Hot off the Shelf: What I'm reading - 'Tiger Milk' by Stefanie De Velasco

*No spoilers, but discusses subject matter*

Long time no blog. Long story short I've been up to my eyeballs in other stuff but I really miss blogging so I'm gonna make more of an effort to get one post done each week. We'll see later how that goes. I'll apologise now for the grammar and way this is written. I think it's because I'm trying so hard to formalise my essays and stuff everything else I write come out like word-vom right now.

For now, the most pressing thing I want to talk about is what I've been reading outside of uni. There's been some very *ahem* enlightening books I've read recently about systems management and censorship and other joy-bringing topics, but let's stick to the fun stuff. Not only have I recently finished The Sandman graphic novels by the beautiful Neil Gaiman (might do another post about that. Not sure how I can sum up my thoughts on it without my head exploding with awe though), but I picked up, by chance, a book called Tiger Milk from my library the other week whilst collecting some other reservations. Tiger Milk is the literary debut from author Stephanie De Velasco. It was only released this month (at least the English translation anyway) and this is the cover:

(Image from Waterstones.com)

 

It was the cover that made me pick it up, I love it. For some reason, upon initial glance, I thought it might be about India (being where most Tigers live...I think) but nope, Tiger Milk is set in the grittier edges of Germany. It's written from the perspective of German teen Nini, and we follow her, her best fried Jameelah, and her other friends over one summer. For those wildly offended by such things I'll mention now this book contains smoking, swearing, under-aged sex and drinking, attempted suicide and murder. But it's not you're typical bad-girl book. At least I didn't think so. I think it was very real and those commenting on Goodreads saying that the girls were too young to be doing this that and the other, clearly were never a teen in the last twenty years. Characters were brought across to the reader effortlessly, I felt by the end I knew even some of the minor characters quite well. Even the stranger characters like Aslagon and Apollo, who early on in the book, demand nail clippings from Nini and Jameelah so they can "build the ship and bring on the apocalypse." I've only been to Germany a couple of times and knew none of the places in this books, but again, throughout the book Velasco paints a really clear picture of each setting so you feel you know what she's talking about (or you can imagine you do anyway). The dialogue flicks between blunt, reported style speech (hardly any of the book has any more punctuation than full stops and question marks) and lengthy, dream like passages - almost fairy tale-esque, like when Jameelah talks about the mythical, see-through beast she saw in her dreams that was a cross between a kangaroo and a dragon but lived in the water and purred like a cat. Or the purple spiral staircase Nini sees when she sleeps with people. I loved this mix of the real and the weird. It felt like being permanently drunk, or in and out of sleep whilst reading it.

Because it was written in the way someone would talk to you, and the girls were really interesting characters, I finished this in about two days. I just kept picking it up. I haven't had that in a long time so it was refreshing. I was shocked in parts, I reminisced at others, but the ending was brutal and sad and really brought to light the harsh reality underlying the whole book, even the more light-hearted parts. Most of all Tiger Milk made me want to be a teen again.

FYI: Tiger Milk is a drink; a mix of milk, Mariacron Brandy and Maracuja Juice. From the book:
"Pour a little of the school cafeteria milk, a lot of the maracuja juice and a decent slug of brandy into the Muller jar." You gotta stir it with your finger. The original German text was released in 2013 and called TigerMilch, if you want to read it in German. Buy it from Waterstones, and see what others have to say on Goodreads. Or just stumble across it in the library like I did.

Over and out.

Children's Literature - the Modern Classics.

I've just finished week two of my Masters course. I am enjoying it oh so very much and I'm loving the exciting 'back to school' vibe that seems to be staying with me, regardless of the torrential rain that's set in recently. I'm learning stuff and making new friends and reading lots. I've learnt the pro's and con's of Manchester's bus and rail network and spent more time in libraries in the past two weeks than I have done in the past two months.

I wanted to do a post today about something we've been studying in one particular module: Literature and it's Readers. This term is about children's literature, and how children's reading skills develop. For the past couple of lectures we've been learning about, amongst other things, what makes a classic children's book. What is it that causes certain books: The Hobbit, Charlotte's Web, The Railway Children, The Chronicles of Narnia and many others, to bridge generation gaps. What is it about these books that means your Granny read them, and your grandkids probably will too. Obviously, just because it is a classic, it doesn't mean you'll love it. Swallows and Amazons is a classic children's book. I tried reading it last year and found it very dull. I gave up (for now...one day I'll finish it, as it's on the BBC top 100 reads list I want to complete. Curse it's spine and bindings.) And it doesn't mean that just because it's a classic, it is never reappraised, or edited through the years. Of course they are. A famous example being Enid Blyton's Faraway Tree series.

Spot the old edition!

 

No longer do Dick and Fanny climb into magical lands with their neutrally named family members. Various edits for now, seemed to have settled on Rick and Frannie as the least offensive alternatives. Apart from little name changes, edits are often made to change offensive political, racial, or gendered elements. But the question I was faced with, was essentially, even after we have to edit them as the years go by, how do these books stand the test of time. It is most simply boiled down to a few bullet points.

 

1. An element of timelessness. If you set the story in a time frame anywhere but the present, it's less likely to date.

2. Characterisation

3. Literary Style

4. Imagination

5. Theme

6. Dramatic episodes Kids like to be scared (to a point). It's exciting!

7. Humorous episodes. They also love to laugh. Anything weird is hilarious if you're six.

 

But the more important thing I wanted to talk about here is the concept of Modern children's classics. Which authors, who've been writing more recently, do we think will live on through their literature. This is partially a matter of opinion. But sometimes fairly obvious. We were asked to bring to our lecture, a modern children's book that we believed had the makings of a children's classic. Half the class, myself included, brought in a Roald Dahl book. Dahl, to me, is classic children's literature in the making for sure. Our generation loved him as children, and when I was volunteering at a primary school last year, kids still love him just as much. Wondercrump, as the BFG would say.

 

Dahl: Modern Classic Material

 

But what else made the cut? We were split into groups of about three and asked to pick five books or authors we thought would make modern classics, ignoring Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Here's what we settled on, in no particular order:

 

His Dark Materials Trilogy - Philip Pullman

The Jolly Pocket Postman - Janet Ahlberg

Jacqueline Wilson 

Dick King Smith (Not to be confused with Rick King Smith...)

We're going on a Bear Hunt - Michael Rosen

 

Other suggestions included Meg and Mog, The Mr Men/Little Miss books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Gruffalo . And a load more that would take me forever to type. Who knows which of these books will still be read in the future. We could take a really bleak look at this and say that books won't exist in two hundred years (or maybe humans won't), so it doesn't matter. But the curious book worm inside me hopes some of these are still being enjoyed in 2214.

 

For now I'm off to finish Treasure Island, after a recommendation.

 

Over and out.





Hot off the Shelf: What I'm reading - 'The Clan of the Cave Bear' by Jean Auel

No spoilers

If I'm going to review a book, I usually do it really soon after reading it. I finished The Clan of the Cave Bear on the fourteenth of the month, approximately two weeks ago, so really it's not fresh in my little reading brain, so I should probably leave well alone. 

But for a couple of reasons I wanted to come back and have my say on this one. I wouldn't have picked up the book normally. The cover reminded me a little of an adult Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. I read Wolf Brother whilst at university, after a recommendation from JJ, who had enjoyed reading it as a kid. So I read it. I remember it being okay, but found it a little forgettable. For instance, I cannot now remember the main characters name. I feared I would have the same reaction to The Clan of the Cave Bear, as I did to Wolf Brother. However, it was on the BBC Big Read list that I'm trying to work through, at number 97 (out of 100) and I spied it whilst visiting Manchester central library, so thought I'd give it a whirl. 

How do you even pronounce that surname anyway?

Now, this book seems to be, on Goodreads at least, a bit of a Marmite book. People love it and people hate it. There aren't many 'it was okay' kind of reviews. But first, a rapid plot outline.

It's set in the times of the Neanderthals. Mammoths and giant cave bears roam the physical plane and totem spirits determine your fate in hunting and mating. Ayla, a blonde, fair, five year old child is left alone and presumably orphaned when a giant earthquake destroys everything she ever knew. She's picked up by a group of travelling Neanderthal, who are looking for a new cave to live in after the same earthquake destroyed their last one. The rest is best surmised by Goodreads:

"Ayla inspires first surprise, then wariness and finally acceptance by the Clan. She is cared for by its medicine woman Iza and its wise holy man Creb. Only their future leader, Broud, is not willing to accept this strange woman. Consumed with hatred, he does all he can to destroy her. But Ayla bears the marks and the spirit of her totem, the Cave Lion. She is a survivor."

People seem to have two main issues with this book. 

1) Little white girl can do everything better than the slow, dying race that are the Neanderthals. They see her as an annoying 'golden child' and see the author as being a little white-supremacist. 

2) Do you even science? Readers are picking holes here there and everywhere in the claims Auel makes about Neanderthals, what they looked like, how they lived and everything that Auel has written about their world. 

So my opinion? First a confession: I know next to nothing about the Neanderthals. So I won't lie, the historical subtext... I have no clue. I enjoyed the little tit-bits of information scattered throughout the text and did not consider it 'info dumping' as some have suggested it feels like. 

I consider myself sensible enough to take everything with a pinch of salt, and research the things I find interesting, to separate the fact from fiction. I guess what the historical nit-pickers are worried about is that people will take what Auel has written, as the whole truth and nothing but the truth. The Clan of the Cave Bear is very plausible and well written - It sounds like Auel knows what she's on about, because she writes with such conviction. This hasn't changed my opinion - I will not assume that that period of history is exactly how it is portrayed in this book because I have an ounce of common sense in me. I enjoyed her portrayal of the era, and the facts strewn around within the novel because they all added so well to the story. I think the people here need to remember that this is a work of fiction. If she got some things wrong, well, she's only human and new discoveries are being made all of the time. The book was written in the 80's. 

(evolutionanimation.wordpress.com)

As for the golden child syndrome issue - I don't think there is one. Yes Ayla does some things better than the Neaderthals. But they do things better than her too. They teach her things. Iza, the medicine woman, takes her in in the first place, almost adopts her. That compassion sets her, and the Neanderthals in general, very high in my esteem right from the word go.  The Neanderthal people survived the earthquake (most of them anyway) - Ayla's family did not. As I understand it, Ayla's race did eventually continue to evolve, whereas the Neanderthals eventually died out. So with that in mind, perhaps the fact that Ayla could do some things better than the Neanderthals was simply based in historical/scientific fact. (Please, pre-history boffins out there, do, do correct me if I am wrong here.)

Overall I really enjoyed reading this book. I could curl up and escape into a pre-historic world for a couple of chapters, pop it down, do something else, then come back a while later and immerse myself again. I really liked the characters, and I felt like you really knew them by the end of the novel. A good one to read in an armchair on a stormy night. With toast and tea. Lovely. 

From your favourite person that knows nothing about the prehistoric era,

Over and out. 

A beginning and an end.

My course starts on the 22nd September. I am raring to go, super keen and oh so excited. I want to meet other library lovers and learn about boring things like copyright laws and the benefits of various shelving systems. I want to go to Manchester City Library's reading room (my new favourite place ever) and do all my work. I want to be productive! I joined, not only my local library, but the main one in the city too, and we only moved into our new place a week ago. There's still some boxes to be tripped over and a shower that I swear pumps water from the arctic, despite hot water flowing to the rest of the flat fine, but other than that it's just a waiting game at the minute. That and applying for jobs. Anyone out there want to hire me? Because I am rapidly running out of pennies and would love to earn some, pronto. That would be the beginning mentioned in the title post...and the end?

I finished my summer reading challenge *grin*. I have received no certificate, and no medal. However I have a lovely tingly feeling and six books crossed off my list that I wanted to read. My original list included Robinson Crusoe. I replaced this with Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, as I decided this was a book I wanted to read sooner rather than later. I might read Crusoe at some point, but for now, Kaysen's memoir was just the ticket. I also (finally) read the first Game of Thrones book, something I've been meaning and urged by friends to do for ages now. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be hard going and not my cup of tea. However I really enjoyed it and some day would like to read the rest of the series. Right now I'm treating myself to some previously unread Atwood and then continuing my ever on going challenge to one day complete the BBC 's Big Read Top 100 books list, with The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel, which is number 92 on the list. I've only read about 39 or so from the list. Perhaps it will be my aim to read all 100 by next summer. Or maybe next Christmas. There's some hefty books on there.

Things all quiet at the moment but looking forward to blogging again when the term officially starts! For now,

Over and Out.

In Preperation. Also my summer reading challenge update!

First off, just to keep you updated, I am officially halfway through my very own summer reading challenge! Three books have been read and three books are yet to be. I finally completed Gone with the Wind on a very long and boring train journey. Then, as is my custom, spent an hour mulling over the book in my head. Asking and answering questions, pondering over the actions of some characters and linking everything possible to my own life. Yeah I do this. Doesn't everyone? Or I at least decide what I would have done if I was in the situation of the characters. Not that it helps. *SPOILER* Gone with the Wind ends pretty miserably. Worth a read, if you can stomach the casual racism (which I very nearly couldn't). Why were humans so horrible to each other? Why are they still so horrible to each other? I think that's a topic for another blog.

Anyway, these next few weeks are going to  be all about Preparation. With a capital P. Because...well I don't know. For a bit of Emphasis. Grammar Nazi people avert your eyes. Many apologies.

I am awaiting information from MMU about my upcoming Library and Information Management masters degree. All I know so far is that it starts sometime in September. Which is kinda vague. More information would be great a.s.a.p as I really need to start applying for jobs. And I can't do that until I know when I need to be in Uni. So we wait. Me and JJ officially have signed the papers for our new flat, which will allow us to both be closer to his new job and the MMU campus. I had to give someone lots of money to secure this flat. My debit card had a little migraine afterwards.

Waiting is horrible. A reading list might be useful right about now, as I could be getting my nerd on and getting ahead on some things. I literally have very little to do at the moment. I am reading lots and seeing friends. And that is my life essentially. The point to this is that if anyone has any suggestions about prep reading I could be doing, or websites I could be looking through, or people I could be getting to know - tell me! Tell me now! Give me an excuse to avoid packing. Man, I hate packing. It used to be fun. Now I've done it too many times and it just makes me want to hurl all of my possessions out of the window and live purely on the love and goodwill of my fellow humans. But that's just not me. I like my collections of crap. So I guess I should stop grumbling about packing it all up and moving it every year. Where's that parcel tape?

Over and out.