An old habit rears its head

I suppose I've been busier than I thought this week, as it's been a week since I've posted. I've been readying for our library's semi-annual used book, bake, and craft sale, this one featuring garden items and plants, whereas the one in the fall is based on painted pumpkins and holiday items. But this morning was the sale and it's--whew!--over!

So back to real time.

I watch movies in thirty minute increments while I'm on the treadmill 5 or 6 morning a week. I've been perusing the family film aisles the past weeks and have enjoyed some fare I've missed. Then, I opted to view A Far Off Place (1993), one of Reese Witherspoon's first movies. I'd seen it when it came out and decided it was good for another viewing. While the opening credits rolled, I was struck by a very old urge: I read the "based on the books by" line and wondered about reading them.

Growing up, I'd read that line, like the movie, and as well as I could in the '60s, seek out the book from the school or public library. Now, that's a easy feat (hello, Amazon), but it was a challenge then. However, I've become jaded: I realize that what's on the screen and what's on the printed page, are most likely going to be jarringly different.

We went to see Grisham's The Firm, before I read the book. I thought it was a fine movie, but in the crowded theater were all sorts of nay-saying whispers from the book-lovers. Somehow, they were disappointed. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the book just as well.

But I don't seek out the book after seeing the movie any more. I may read the book first, and then, like the nay-sayers in The Firm, scoff at how far off it is from the original. Which is why, curious as I am about Laurens van der Post's book A Far Off Place, I'll not seek it out. I did enjoy reading about him at wikipedia.org, but I don't know that I'd like his work "interpreted."