I've been wanting to write a post like this for a long time. Books were my first love, even before films, and I've always dreamed and lost myself into those worlds far away, into those books which had the ability to bring images out of their words.
From here everything is connected, those words inspiring my fantasy made me think about another way to explain them: find images that could talk as books through the art of cinema. I am not good in choosing my favourite book, so this will only be a chronological list of some of my endless literary loves.
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte (1847)
Jane Eyre is a great novel, but what about Charlotte's sister?? I think Emily as a writer was ahead of her time. The publishers were surprised, but also disappointed by her passionate writing, her descriptions of grotesque characters who were not conventional heroes. They are all so well developed that they make the reader love and hate them at the same time. When the book was published, she wasn't, unfortunately, as appreciated as her sister. However,after many years Wuthering Heights has been reconsidered as the great literary achievement of a young visionary writer. Catherine and Heathcliff's love story is one of the most intense I've ever read, the descriptions of the gloomy landscapes are awesome, there's pure passion coming out from the pages. A must read.Favourite quotes:
"There is, or should be, an existence of yours beyond you. What were the use of my creation if I were entirely contained here? My great miseries in this world have been Heathcliff's miseries, and I watched and felt each from the beginning: my great thought in living is himself. If all else perished, and he remained, I should continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the Universe would turn a mighty stranger. I should not seem a part of it."
"My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
"Two words would comprehend my future—death and hell: existence, after losing her, would be hell."
"It is hard to forgive, and to look at those eyes, and feel those wasted hands,' he answered. 'Kiss me again; and don’t let me see your eyes! I forgive what you have done to me. I love my murderer—but yours! How can I?"
"The entire world is a dreadful collection of memoranda that she did exist, and that I have lost her!"
Peter Pan, James Matthew Barrie (1902)Peter Pan has always been an obsession for me, since I was child Neverland was my refuge, then I had to realize that I had to grow up, but I manage to leave an open place for The second start to the right when I need it. Peter Pan is, probably, one of the most adapted stories in cinema, but nothing is as emotional as reading my old copy of the book. I'm waiting for a sunny and warm weather just to go to Hyde Park and read it sitting at Kensington Gardens in front of Peter's statue.
Favourite quotes:
"All children, except one, grow up. They soon know they will grow up, and the way Wendy knew was this."
"We too have been there; we can still hear the sound of the surf, though we shall land no more."
"You see, Wendy, when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."
"Odd things happen to all of us on our way through life without our noticing for a time that they have happened."
"You won't forget me, Peter, will you, before springcleaning time comes?
Of course Peter promised; and then he flew away."
"The last thing he ever said to me, 'Just always be waiting for me, and then some night you will hear me crowing.' "
In my opinion, one of the best film adaptations ever made is Hook (1991) by Steven Spielberg, starring an unforgettable Robin Williams.
A classic play, a magic fairytale, even when you become a grown-up.
Next "What shall I read today?":
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