I read last week that The Name of the Rose has sold fifty million copies worldwide since it was first published in 1980. In Umberto Eco’s novel, a monk and his novice investigate a series of murders in an Italian monastery. The monastery houses an impressive, but mysterious library, while the events unfold as the monastery hosts a theological dispute within the Church that sees the Inquisition make an appearance.
It is a wonderful book, and incredibly well-written. At times, it is intellectually challenging – a fancy way of saying there were a lot of words, ideas and arguments that I struggled with – but the book remains, at its heart, a very readable medieval murder mystery.
It doesn’t surprise me that The Name of the Rose has sold so many copies – I’ve bought a few over the years myself – and, as a writer, it is an enviable number.
With last week’s blog still in my head, about my son refusing to read my book, preferring instead to wait until the film adaptation comes out, I thought about the whole issue of adapting books into films.
The Name of the Rose, as an example, was a hit-and-miss adaptation. The film stars Sean Connery in the main role – I’m not convinced that was a good piece of casting – and while it manages to convey some of the sinister intrigue of the book, it is a pale imitation.
I remember being surprised when Irvine Welsh’s Trainspotting was made into a film. Having read the book, which is brilliant, I thought it would be an impossible task to put it on the big screen, but I thought the end result was excellent.
There is always a debate as to whether you should read a book before watching the film adaptation. Obviously, if you’re read the book, and enjoyed it, there is always a slight feeling of trepidation when you go to the cinema; has the director destroyed the novel that you loved?
I have never read The Lord of the Rings trilogy – I have to be honest and admit that I never will – but I thought the three films were magnificent; fans of the books, and there are many, I believe, might have a different opinion.
My daughter enjoyed Jodi Picout’s book, My Sister’s Keeper, and was furious with the film version of the book. Apparently, the ending of the book is dramatic and memorable – the film-makers changed it completely!
When you read a book you really enjoy, then you don’t want anyone to change a single sentence of it should they decide to adapt it. That, of course, is impossible, and the best you can hope for is that the director loves the book as much as you do, and tries as best they can to portray a condensed version on the big screen that remains, overall, faithful to the book.
For example, Cormac McCarthy’s novel, The Road, is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest books ever written. With that sort of emotional investment in the book, I approached the film warily, but I thought the film-makers did an excellent job, much to my relief.
And here’s the dilemma as a writer. If I’m lucky enough to get a call from Hollywood offering me suitcases full of cash for the rights to either, or both, of my novels, should I insist on a faithful adaptation to maintain my artistic integrity, or should I just take the money? Those of you who know me will already know the answer to that one…
Here are a few suggestions of good and bad film adaptations. I’m sure you’ll have plenty of others which spring to mind.
FIVE GOOD ADAPTATIONS
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
The film starring Gregory Peck as lawyer Atticus Finch is the perfect compliment to a masterpiece of a novel.
Shoeless Joe by WP Kinsella
This book became Field of Dreams, and given that this is my favourite film, I had to include it. I saw the film before reading the book, but it’s also brilliant and magical.
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
This is an incredible book – if you haven’t read it yet, shame on you – and actress, Maggie Smith, as Miss Jean Brodie is a piece of perfect casting.
Schindler’s Ark by Thomas Keneally
A beautiful book which tells the true story of Oscar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved hundreds of Jews during the Second World War. It’s also a moving film, renamed Schindler’s List, with Liam Neeson in the leading role.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
This is one of my favourite books from childhood, and I love both film versions – with Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.
AND FIVE RUBBISH ONES
Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
There have been two film adaptations of Nick Hornby’s brilliant book. The British version was decidedly average – Colin Firth as the football fanatic was less than convincing. But it was nothing on the American version. Renamed The Perfect Catch outside North America, and with the lead character now a Boston Red Sox fan, it was, quite simply awful. Not one of Drew Barrymore’s best efforts!
Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel
I love this book – it’s the first of a series of novels set in prehistoric times The film adaptation, which looks like a really cheap ‘made for TV’ version, is truly abysmal. Whoever is responsible for it should hang their head in shame.
The World According to Garp by John Irving
Read the book, and watch Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting instead. That’s a much better film!
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
A difficult book to adapt, as the people responsible for this film proved. Just read Heller’s masterpiece – it is brilliant.
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres
It’s never a good sign when Nicolas Cage is cast in the lead role, and so it proved. The book is a beautiully written love story. The film isn’t.
Email me at author@paulcuddihy.com or follow me on Twitter @PaulTheHunted
A rare picture of my son, Andrew, with a book... but is it the right way up?
WHEN my first novel, Saints and Sinners, was published last year, I gave my kids their own copy of the book. About three weeks later Andrew, who was sixteen at the time, announced, ‘Dad, I’m not going to read your book. Books are not for me… I’ll just wait until the film comes out.’
To be fair to him, he has been true to his word and has not read the book. He won’t read The Hunted either; both books sit at the side of his bed in pristine condition. Thankfully, both my daughters did read the books.
I’ve thought a lot about why boys don’t read as much as girls, which certainly seems to be the received wisdom. I remember visiting schools a few years ago to talk to pupils about writing football match reports, and some of the teachers spoke about the difficulties of getting boys interested in reading or writing.
The pupils seemed interested enough when I was there, although that’s because I was talking about something that they liked – football – and it may be that teachers, and parents, need to think more about what they’re encouraging boys to read.
I remember in fifth year at secondary school – a long time ago now – our English teacher gave the boys in the class Catch 22 to read, while the girls read Sons and Lovers. He obviously realised that Catch 22 would interest and entertain a group of teenage boys, and so it proved; the book remains one of my favourites, and I still have the copy I read back in 1982 – is that classed as theft since, technically, it does belong to the school?
While Andrew doesn’t read books, he reads newspapers and any football magazines I bring home; the quality of the writing in Four Four Two magazine, for example, is very high, and while he will read that, if it was in book form, he wouldn’t be interested.
I have, at various times, given him books that I think might interest him; I keep thinking that, if he enjoys reading one, then that might encourage him to read more. Theresa Breslin’s excellent book, Divided City, was one example. The story is set in Glasgow, and examines sectarianism and racism in the city, using football as a central theme in the book. He did start it, but soon gave up.
I’ve written this blog accepting that girls read more than boys. I don’t know for sure if this is true. Certainly, in my house it is, but I also have a nine-year-old nephew who reads all the time; it may well be that interest in books is not dictated by gender. Some of us just like reading and some of us don’t.
I realise, too, that as boys get older, reading isn’t considered ‘cool’, and it’s unlikely to be a regular topic of conversation when competing against Xbox or PlayStation, football and girls for interest and attention.
I have had to accept that my son won’t be reading Saints and Sinners or The Hunted any time soon, so if there any Hollywood directors reading this, can one of you please turn my books into films so that my son will be able to find out what they are about.
author@paulcuddihy.com or on Twitter @PaulTheHunted
The Haunted launch night at Waterstone's
If anyone has notice that this week’s blog is being published later than normal, then the only excuse I can offer is that I was caught up with preparations for the launch of my new novel, The Hunted. As a writer, I guess this is as good a reason as any…
At the launch night, I spoke about my novels and whether it was good to label them as ‘Scottish’ books, particularly when trying to make them appeal, and sell, to a wider audience outwith Scotland.
I think books should be judged, first and foremost, on whether they’re good or not – you can have your own criteria for what constitutes ‘good’ – before any sense of national identity is taken into consideration.
But this question of ‘Scottish’ novels remained in my head, not least because I’m currently reading And The Land Lay Still by James Robertson. It won the Scottish Book of the Year Award 2010, and among the many words of praise on the cover, it’s described as ‘probably the most ambitious Scottish novel since Lanark.’ It’s very much a book about Scotland and having read about a third of it so far, I have to say that it is an excellent book. The fact that it’s set in Scotland should not, however, preclude readers elsewhere in the world from enjoying it too.
Both of my novels – Saints and Sinners and The Hunted – are set between Ireland and Scotland, with most of the narrative taking place within the Irish immigrant community in Glasgow. It’s a community and culture which has been largely ignored in Scottish literature; I remember signing up for a night class on 20th century Scottish literature, and while the books we studied were excellent, what did strike me was the absence of characters and stories with an Irish or Catholic background. I felt that I wasn’t really reading about my history or background; no-one was telling the story of my forebears, with a few notable exceptions. So I wanted to write stories set within this community.
Having said that, it still comes back to the question of how we identify books in terms of national identity and, indeed, should books ever be identified in this way rather than judging them simply in terms of quality.
It’s a question that I don’t have an answer to. As I said at the start of this blog, I think we should judge books on the quality of writing, yet I also believe that Scottish literature should be compulsory in our schools; pupils should be reading and studying novels such as Robin Jenkins’ The Cone Gatherers.
In order to decide whether to judge literature by its national identity, you should first be aware of what literature your country has produced, and I think Scotland is relatively ignorant when it comes to its own literary library. The best way to change that is to start teaching Scottish novels to our children.
Ten of my favourite Scottish novels:
The Cone Gatherers by Robin Jenkins
Me And Ma Gal by Des Dillon
Lanark by Alasdair Gray
Buddha Da by Anne Donovan
Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbons
Our Fathers by Andrew O’Hagan
Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
Master of Morgana by Allan Campbell McLean
The Rat Pit by Patrick MacGill
Ironically, I would say four of these ten books are definitely rooted in the Irish, Catholic culture and community of Scotland. And check out this list by The List of ‘The 100 best Scottish novels’. I wrote a few words on Buddha Da by Anne Donovan and Our Fathers by Andrew O’Hagan.
100 BEST SCOTTISH BOOKS
Email me at author@paulcuddihy.com or follow me on Twitter @PaulTheHunted
A successful and enjoyable night at Waterstone’s, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow for the official launch of The Hunted. To see all the photographs, go to The Hunted Facebook page. Click HERE
I have a number of ambitions that could well be filed under ‘strange’. I want to learn to drive a bus. I don’t remember when I first thought this, and I have no idea what motivated me in the first place, but it’s something I’d love to do. The second part of that dream would be to buy an ex-tour bus (one of those customised ones that bands use) and then head off into the sunset. Of course, that is dependent on achieving another of my ambitions – winning the Lottery.
Among my sporting ambitions is a desire to attend the darts world championship – the one that Sky Sports screen every Christmas with that catchy tune after every game. I see myself dancing along to it while holding a piece of card on which I’ve written ‘MAKE MINE A DOUBLE!’
Another sporting dream is to attend the Subbuteo World Cup. I just missed this year’s tournament, which was held in Italy in July, but it’s set to be held in Greece next year, and I am tempted to go, depending on whether Greece still exists by then.
And it is also my ambition to have my obituary written in the Daily Telegraph. That’s not as morbid as it sounds. It just means that I will have lived an extraordinary, unusual or eventful life; I’m still waiting for all of that to start, however.
The Daily Telegraph is an excellent newspaper. It is on the right of the political spectrum but if you know where they’re coming from on a number of issues, then you’re less likely to believe or agree with everything they write. First and foremost, I think the standard of writing in superb, better than any other newspaper in this country, and, for me, the jewel in that journalism crown in their Obituary page.
It might be a sign of growing old that I enjoy reading it. I remember a former work colleague reading it about fifteen years ago – he was in his sixties and I had just turned 30 – so I thought it was a bit weird. Now I know why he was reading it.
There are some strange and wonderful characters in those pages, who have done strange and wonderful things. The most recent of those is Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, who died on October 5. He was the man who brought us the iMac, the iPod, iPhone and iPad. There products have had a profound impact on our lives and will continue to do so. More importantly to me, he was the man responsible for, among other cinematic gems, the Toy Story Trilogy, through his ownership and investment in Pixar. He ws only 56, an age which is within touching distance for me now, but what an extraordinary 56 years he had.
Just last week, there was an obituary for Arch West. Who? He was only the man who invented Doritos, for goodness sake. I mean, how good is that? If you only do one great thing in your life, you can’t get much better than inventing Doritos.
A couple of days later, I read about Ralph Lomma. He had, along with brother, revived the mini-golf industry in the United States, and then took it to the rest of the world. We have him to thank for the crazy golf we all love today.
The Telegraph’s obituary page features military heroes, politicians, musicians, scientists and many, many others from all walks of life. However, my favourite of recent months was mountaineer, Chris Dale. The headline stated that Chris, who had died age 49, ‘…was a 6ft 6in mountaineer with a passion for solo climbs among the hardest peaks of Scotland, Wales and the Alps. He was also an equally enthusiastic cross-dresser who went by the name of Crystal.’
I realise that it’s unlikely that my name will ever appear in the Daily Telegraph’s obituary page, and even if it did, I’m hoping that it will be a long time in the future. To do so, I will have to get a move on and do something extraordinary! I actually sat for ages last night thinking of something I could invent but my mind remained blank.
However, while I might harbour thoughts of living a life less ordinary, I’ve always believed that most people will be remembered for who they are rather than what they are, and I think that’s the best way to be. The things that really matter are the family and friends we have, and the way we act towards other people. Unfortunately, that doesn’t necessarily make for an interesting obituary.
And just for the record, I have not invented any crisps or other related snacks; I have no idea how computers work, or any technology for that matter; I don’t climb mountains and I don’t wear dresses. I do like crazy golf.
author@paulcuddihy.com or you can follow me on Twitter @PaulTheHunted
My new novel, The Hunted has now been published. It’s the eagerly-anticipated sequel to Saints and Sinners – I figure that, if I keep billing it that way, people will start to believe me!
And to celebrate the book’s release, I’ve got a copy of The Hunted for you to win – I’ll even sign it if you want, although if you’d rather I didn’t, just let me know! And I’ll also throw in a copy of Saints and Sinners and a copy of Tommy Burns: A Supporter Who Got Lucky, the biography of the late, great Tommy Burns which I was privileged to write.
This is a fantastic prize – I know I’d be delighted to win it – and I hope you will be too. All you have to do to be in with a chance of winning is answer the following random question. Closing date for entries is Sunday, October 9, 2011.
Who is the author of The Grapes of Wrath, which is one of my favourite books?
Monday, October 10, 2011 update: Winner of the competition is Clare Armstrong from Glasgow.
