June 13, 2006

I'm Such a Copy Cat

So I’m following the crowd, as per usual. I signed up for the Summer Reading Program over at Kat With a K’s blog.

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My goal: 20 books by August 31st.
My Bonus: 5 Victorian Era or Poetry
Current: 1 (400 Pages)

My first book was The Exorcist, by William Peter Blatty. I found it in a thrift shop for a dollar and snatched it up. For those of you who have seen the movie (has anyone NOT?), the book has more descriptions, more background and a few sideplots that were left out of the movie. As Blatty did the screenplay for the movie, the spoken script is almost identical to the movie.

A few things about the book: A lot of what you get is through character thought rather than speech, lots of internal dialogue. The book begins through Regan’s mother’s point of view, then seems to switch to Father Damien’s, then to an omniscient narrator at times, then back to Damien. Also, if you were disgusted/disturbed/offended by much of the movie you probably want to avoid this book. They, if you can believe this, keyed it down a bit for the movie. The scene in the movie where Regan/demonthing is screaming “Let Jesus f*%$ me!” and stabbing at herself with the crucifix, it goes on for much longer in the book, with lots of gross descriptions of bloody damage to the girl.

Would I recommend this book: Yes, to horror fans and thrill seekers.

Currently Reading: IT, by Stephen King. (1090 pages, on page 178)

Next Up:
Dracula, by Bram Stoker
Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens, *
Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley, *
Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin, *
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, by JK Rowling,
The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien,
Magic Kingdom For Sale – Sold!, by Terry Brooks,
The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle,
Peter Pan, by JM Barrie, *
Inside the Victorian Home, by Judith Flanders,
Collection of writings by Edgar Allen Poe to include:

  • The Black Cat
  • The Pit and the Pendulum
  • The Fall of the House of Usher
  • The Tell-Tale Heart
  • The Cask of Amontillado
  • The Raven

Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton
The Lost World, by Michael Crichton
In Memoriam, by Alfred Lord Tennyson *
The Ghost Hunters Strangest Cases, by Hans Holzer

Final 2 books to be selected by you! Tune in for voting.

5 comments:

Holly said...

LOVE Poe. "IT" scared me to death. (I have clown issues.)I read the Exorcist when I was about 16 and was fascinated to obsession. Could not put it down.
You have quite the diverse reading list! :-)

Chris said...

I've never seen the Exorcist! :)

Have you ever read any H.P. Lovecraft?! Sheesh, had to sleep with the light on after a bunch of his short stories...

chittavrtti said...

Or Clive Barker? He wrote one story about a 1920's era bathhouse *creepy* but I loved the imagery :)**CV

Kelly said...

You have found her, it is mem, I have not seen the Exocist. While I have no problem watching scary movies, I have just never gotten around to it.

mrspao said...

I read Poe during my Am Lit degree - Black Cat mmm (I'm now looking at Merlin in a different light) - you'll understand when you read it. I love the list - it's very ecletic.