11 novels; 25 years

[coyotegoth]

I started in Weston's Book Store, in Potsdam, back around 1983; I bought the first one I'd made with money from my paper route: 2001. Fitting enough, as that was the movie that started me on this journey- that codified my serious interest in film in the first place. From there, whenever I saw one, I'd buy it; some- 2001; The Shining; Lolita- were available everywhere; I've probably had half a dozen copies of each over the years. Some- Clean Break; Spartacus- were harder, and required a diligent search. Some last few stragglers- Paths of Glory; The Short-Timers; Red Alert- never crossed my path, in over twenty years of combing bookstores; it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I decided that enough was enough, and that I was not going to turn 40 with this unfinished. Now, they sit on a shelf at work, eleven novels: Clean Break. Paths of Glory. Spartacus. Lolita. Red Alert. 2001: A Space Odyssey. A Clockwork Orange. Barry Lyndon. The Shining (although my copy has that hideous new yellow cover; must find a copy of the old gray edition, with the logo of the faceless man). The Short-Timers. Eyes Wide Shut, which includes the original Dream Novel.

It's hard to think of another filmmaker for whom I would put forth this sort of effort; while many of Welles' movies were based on novels, Citizen Kane was an original, based on the life of Hearst. Kurosawa? I certainly have the Shakespeare plays, and The Lower Depths; more than half of his films were originals, though. Gilliam? I have Fear and Loathing, and an edition of the Munchausen stories, whereas Tideland... no. Best it ends here, even with a slightly anticlimactic feeling: after twenty-odd years of searching, a new clicks of the mouse on the Amazon site were all that was required. I suppose that as with any quest, the journey itself- and the discipline of setting upon it- were the real point, after all.

Comments

[cattitude.livejournal.com]

The very first book I bought with my own money was 2001. It was the first paperback edition after the movie came out, and was available in the end-cap book rack at my local A&P, which should give you an idea of how old I am. It had tip-in ads for True cigarettes.

In later years, I've bought the whole Kubrick ouvre on DVD but haven't tried to find all the books, though I've read several of them. The movies speak for themselves, often better than the books do.

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

The movies speak for themselves, often better than the books do.

Agreed, definitely.

[m1cah.livejournal.com]

i'm having the same trouble...i'm nearing the end of the king james bible and it's fucking excruciating. also, i've just picked up "poland" again by james michener...gonna finish that off soon.
so far, this year, i've read:

spain: the root and the flower.
the prince, by machievelli.
killing the white man's indian, by i-forget-who.
the crucible.
the devil's advocate.
edmond.
centennial, by james michener.
and a few others...

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

Michener's "Space" was interesting; in general, I tend to favor his works about animals. Also, "The World is My Home" is not at all bad, as memoirs go.

[m1cah.livejournal.com]

i'll have to look for that sometime. so far, i've just gotten past the middle of "poland." interesting pronounciations...i'd already known that "j" equated to "y" in sound, but i hadn't known the rules about "cz" and so forth. still, i knew that kosciuszko is actually koo-shoosh-ko
long before i picked up that book (lot of polish in milwaukee...still, too many germans all the same.)

[chris-walsh.livejournal.com]

Diverted here from the recent entry...

I like and admire this goal.

I stumbled upon Howard Fast's Spartacus sometime in the 90s in an antique shop, and I'm glad I bought it: intriguing book. I loved how Fast wrote around Spartacus himself, an approach I wouldn't have thought of from seeing the film. (I summed up my thoughts of the film version here (http://chris-walsh.livejournal.com/222600.html). Another time I wrote joke-lyrics for the opening of Alex North's theme: "SPAR-ta-cuuuuus! Spar-ta-cus kicks assssss!") That's the only one of the harder-to-find books Kubrick adapted that I've read; I've read the most available ones, Lolita and The Shining once each, 2001 a multitude of times, plus The Lost Worlds of 2001.

Spartacus doesn't really count because Kubrick was the replacement director, and of course 2001 had its unique genesis, but overall he chose very well when deciding what books to adapt. A taste as wide-ranging as his music collection (which a professor of mine coveted). Actually, you can say that he had the taste to work directly with as good an author as Arthur C. Clarke, so that's another good sign.

Ever consider finding out what books Kubrick considered adapting? I don't actually know, so I can't help you there. Also obviously there's no one book about Napoleon...

[coyotegoth.livejournal.com]

There's no full list, but I do have Wartime Lies, which he was working on before Spielberg made Schindler's List, and a collection with Brian Aldiss' "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," which became AI. As far as Napoleon goes, there's Anthony Burgess' Napoleon Symphony, which Burgess wrote for Kubrick, who declined it; Kubrick himself was known to use Felix Markham's Napoleon as a primary source for his planned biography (along with about 96 gazillion other books on the subject. (One wonders if Kubrick's script on Napoleon is online anywhere; I've looked for it, with no luck.)