Film and Book Preview

I'm about to see a film tonight. As a result, I'm excited. I'm also a bit more than halfway through a novel/novella. I offer my presentiments upon these works of media: The Da Vinci Code and Albert Camus's The Stranger.

I have not read Dan Brown's "hit" novel. I don't think I ever will. It's not that I think it's going to be terrible, but I've read a book called Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I thank my brother (who has not read him extensively) for turning me on to Eco. He is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent and most-skilled writers living. The story lines of the two works seem close, with Eco's being more than a decade older. I can't imagine Brown weaving a tale as intricate, as well founded upon fact, as Eco's work.

This does not temper my joy at the prospect of viewing the film. Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen are incredibly good actors. I look forward to seeing them at work.

As for Camus's work, I must say that I'm quite pleased. It's a very short work. At some point, I'll have to explain my posit that written works should almost never exceed 300 pages in length. This book conforms to the posit, clocking in at 123 in this version (translated by Matthew Ward). Alas, it's in English. I hope to some day read it in French, but I'm not sure that my reading ability is at that level at this point.

So far, I'm quite pleased. The action has just moved to the legal problem, which I vaguely knew to expect. Obviously, I'm reading Camus through a filter, but his writing reminds me of Kafka, but far better. Actually, this particular work strikes me as a cross between Catcher in the Rye and Kafka's better short stories. I hope to have a format for book reviews completed soon. I should finish the book within the week and post in that format.

I'll then be open to suggestions for future readings, but I must warn that I have quite a collection already in line.

I have not partaken in either work of media, but I would like to read The Stranger, so I am interested in a complete book review. Don't worry about your book review format; if it's anything like your movie reviews, it will go through several Kafkaesque metamorphoses.

Posted by Sean at 2006/06/06 19:23:39.

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