Saturday, October 21, 2006

Dark Materials

Yesterday I blogged about the fact that on Thursday I was stuck in the office, alone, completely cut off from the outside world (can you tell I'm still scarred by the incident?) and dropped into the post the aside that I read a novel. That novel happened to be the rather fine and entertaining new novel by Stephen McCauley called "Alternatives To Sex".

Let's ponder that title for a moment before we move on shall we?... I'm guessing it's ironic, because I'm stumped for an alternative. Not one. Nup. Nada. Anyone?

Oh, and yes Stephen McCauley wrote the wonderful novel "The Object Of My Affection" that was then turned into a less than wonderful film by the same name. Saved only by the appearance on screen of the very delicious Paul Rudd. (As seen below in a still from the movie, accompanied by an unknown mystery woman, probably an extra.)



Although, I prefer to think of him more like this (slightly NSFW if you work for a Big Christian Charity, but the rest of you should be fine).

Anyhoo, having finished said book I was in the market for another book (desperately so, otherwise I would have been reduced to organising and perhaps even alphabeticising the rubber gloves/disposable aprons/incontinence pads cupboard). Only a block and a half from my new office is a surprisingly good second-hand bookstore and I purchased the 'young adult fiction'* novel "Northern Lights", the first in the "His Dark Materials" series. Loving it.

I know it's kind of a futile debate, comparing one author to another, but although I enjoyed for the most part the Harry Potter books, this is much more my style. Darker. Gothic-y.

So the novel is particularly in my forebrain at the moment, given that I'm around two-thirds of the way through it. I was very pleased to spot, via Web-Goddess, that there are a bunch of sneak peek pics online of the upcoming movie. Looks good, pretty close to the way I imagined the scenes to look. Hopefully it will follow the recent tradition of thoughtful adaptations and stay close to the book. The book isn't huge and is quite well paced, so should hopefully not require significant trimming to fit into a cinematic format. Cool.

* That's me, right? Young adult? I chose to believe so, I mean, if they are going to bandy those terms around without specifying their parameters then it's open to interpretation, if you ask me.

6 comments:

Michael said...

Hey buddy, I just added "to stretch beyond elastic properties into unrecognizable proportions" to the Wikipedia definition of bandy for ya. Muah!

The Other Andrew said...

Bitch. ...and you know I love you for that. xx

yani said...

Damn you...

...although I enjoyed for the most part the Harry Potter books, this is much more my style. Darker. Gothic-y.

Yes, because that's not at all going to make me want to run out and get this book... or at least have a closer look at it...

Damn, damn, damn...

And hey, I'm still all about the Young Adult books on occasion... even though I am considerably younger than your good self ;)

Sorry... couldn't resist...

In fact, I would also recommend The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud (well, the first one, The Amulet of Samarkand, anyway, since it's the only one I've read so far)...

Sunshine said...

Okay, Paul Rudd is another hottie. What are you doing to me so early in the morning??? ;)

And I love his character in The Object of my Affection. Seriously, I was so attracted to his personality in the movie when I first saw it.

The Other Andrew said...

Kris, nice to have the background info and your comments! I haven't gotten to the gay angels bit yet but given my love of the angel from Barbarella, and angel wings boy from X Men 3... well you can imagine how much I'm looking forward to THAT.

Sunshine, I've seen Paul Rudd interviewed, most hilariously by Graeme Norton, and he comes across as sweet in real life too - with a wicked sense of humour. I love that.

yani said...

Much after the fact... re: His Dark Materials, you can now "find your own daemon" on the website for the upcoming movie ;)

I'm a hare of all things...