by now you might know that i have some literary passions that are not readily apparent by looking at me. aka, i read super nerdy stuff and i love it.
my parents always, ALWAYS gave me money if it was to be used for buying a book. this engendered in me from a very young age a love for reading (and for shopping!). my dad started out his career as an english teacher and is very hoity-toity about his vocabulary and the library that helped to bestow it upon him.
so imagine his indignation (SO RIGHTEOUS!) when i would almost unfailingly return to him at the barnes & noble register with a STAR WARS book in hand for him to buy me. full credit to him, he never said no. though he did--OFTEN-- say, "i swear, i have no idea where you got this part of your personality from." neither he nor my mom have ever been in any way interested in the sci-fi or fantasy epics that drew me in.
aside: i'll just save you some time here and connect the dots, yes, i DO in fact think this is because they arent my real parents and that i was delivered to them on a flying motorcycle by an english groundskeeper when i was but a very wee lass.
it started with STAR WARS: i saw the first films (the ONLY films a far as i am concerned...ep I-III can suck on a fat helping of MY righteous indignation) after much prodding from my cousin (i had initially accepted the parental brainwash that monsters and spaceships werent worth my time or the paper/film they were printed on) and fell head over heels in love. seriously, i was a good twelve years old and still pretty confident i could harness the force.
after those three movies came out, a bunch of writers got permission from George Lucas to take those characters and write all sorts of spinoff adventures. i have read about 150 of these books. there you go. secret shame/pride.
that's just a fraction...
STAR WARS was my gateway drug that first let me be okay with being a nerd, or at least letting that have a heavy slice of my library shelf space. since then i have become a passionate fan of Harry Potter, A Song of Ice and Fire (which you might know by a different name), Wheel of Time and other such series with dragons and warlocks capering about on their front covers.
so that's how i'm a geek. loud and proud. but here's the hypocrite part:
like any fanboy nerd, i get a little nervous when one of "my" books or series' gets picked up to be made into a movie/show. i worry that they wont cast the right people, that they'll take liberties with the plot, and that people will start to believe the movie/TV version as the "real" thing rather than the ACTUAL REAL THING.
what makes me the most confounded and upset (righteously) is when someone declares themselves "a HUGE game of thrones fan," and then i ask, which book is your favorite and they say "oh i havent read any of the books, i just love the show."
NERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE!! (seriously, by BP is going up just reading that sentence).
why, OH WHY!?!?! if you love the show/movie so much would you not want to go back and find every scrap of extra goodness involving these characters and these stories as you could?!? you know TV/movies cut out so much by necessity, so the books are just a wealth of BONUS experiences with these adventures you claim to love! READ, PEOPLE!!!
so there's me, sitting on the couch watching any harry potter movie or the game of thrones series and enjoying it, but --boy, oh boy you'd better believe-- calling out every, "that's not how it really happened" or "she would NEVER act that way in real life (meaning in the book)," and mourning for all the ignorants who are eating up these errors and inconsistencies as actual canon.
and now let me throw you a curveball. what is my favorite movie of all time?
why, it's Sense and Sensibility. a lovely period drama (slash comedy) based on the classic novel by jane austen. my parents made me come along with them to see it in theaters when i was 13 and i understood maybe 40% of what was said and going on at the time but still managed to sob happy tears (and pretend not to because NEVER in front of my parents!) at the conclusion. (bonus: it's all english actors so imagine the entire hogwarts faculty transported to the 18th century! PS snape is HOT).
and oh, hey, guess what book i've never even considered reading? uh, yeah. my high horse just bucked me right out of the saddle!
so i get super high-horsey if you like Game of Thrones on HBO but havent read each book 5 times and dont also hit the fan message boards like me, but yeah, my favorite all time movie is based on a classic staple from english literature that i have never glanced twice at or considered actually reading myself.
pause for the full effect of my insanity and hypocrisy.
but good news! before you can tackle me with your own dose of righteous indignation (deserved), let me tell you that i finally bought the book on friday and finished it within 48 hours (with a break in the middle because i just had to go back and watch the movie). it was wonderful. rich and deep and subtle and hilarious and so freaking moving and re-convicting that the Col. Brandons and Edwards will almost always make you happier than Willoughby's (every teenage girl need to be forced to watch and read this like 85 times before they are turned loose into the world of dating).
so i have successfully closed that one huge gap in my literary history and can climb back upon my high horse. lesson (re)learned: the book is almost always better than the movie. and even when it isnt (bc SEEING marianne and elinor IN the settings of gentrified england), you will learn SO much more about the characters you already love and their internal dialogues.
do yall get nerd rage about anything? do you have a cherished book that you HATE the movie version of? do you want to unfriend me because i know that lightsabers are powered by corusca gems from the heart of the gas giant Yavin? or do you just have another nerd series that i must read?
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