Virgin of Literature.

I have recently finished reading The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides.
A splendid novel that really haunted me.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the film adaptation. I watched it a couple of years ago and my memory of it is slightly blurry. However, I remember being impressed and moved by it. I intend to return to the film and re-watch it over Summer. Followers of my video channel will know I recently did a video-blog about film adaptations and discussed some of my favourites. It is very common for me to read a book after watching the film version of the story. Here lies evidence that, at heart, I’m a film lover more so than a book lover. However, I’m really trying to get into books at the moment, to expand my literary horizons. This year has seen me become a fan of author Charles Bukowski, in particular. This, of course led me to watch the film adaptation of Factotum, which I was slightly disappointed with. Here, the blunt shallowness and blistering loneliness of the character, Henry Chinaski was lost.

Matt Dillon in Factotum (2005)

This entry appears to be going off the subject of film and more into the realms of literature. However, I intend to make my point. If literature and film are so interlinked then surely this is a great way to help people find a passion for literature if they already have a passion for film; or vice versa. I have never made time for books, until recently. I began to delve into books, at first quite tentitively. I began by choosing novels that weren’t great in length (hence Factotum and Post Office by Bukowski), and that had been adapted into films, in order to help me provoke an interest for the book. I have found that by using my passion for film to get me excited about books, that I have recently been enjoying browsing book shops and the shelves of charity shops for new reads.

I am currently reading a book by Richard Yates, Eleven Kinds of Loneliness which has no relation to film but that immediately caught my eye. I now feel I have a deep rooted interest in literature that I created through my love of cinema. My next read is to be Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. I’ll let you know how it compares to the film at a later date…

Thanks for reading and let’s all keep supporting our beloved film industry.