Watching and Reading - Books and Movies

Yes, I read this book because of the author's name. No other reason. And yes, he is part of THAT family. J.R.R. Tolkien's grandson.

The Inheritance by Simon Tolkien (2010) - This is Tolkien's second novel and is, all in all a pretty good effort.  The comparison on the cover to Grisham and Christie is not too bad.  This is an English courtroom thriller.  Within the standards of that genre he does a really nice job.  The characters are good, the mystery is interesting and he creates some skillful twists to keep you guessing.  The ending was a surprise although I think he uses a bit of cheat to get there.  You are blindsided with something that isn't even alluded to prior to the reveal.  So you have ZERO chance of figuring the mystery out prior to that moment.  I'm ambivalent on that count.  I prefer having a chance of matching wits with the characters.  On the other hand they didn't know the missing fact either.  Like I said I have mixed feelings about this.  But it's a minor irritation.
  What really annoyed me was the book rather promises that it'll be a bit of  a "Da Vinci Code" story with some piece of historical mystery tied in.  The problem is that Tolkien runs the idea of St. Peter's cross across your path just enough to get you interested but never fleshes it out.  In the end it's basically unneeded and unexplored.  That left me disappointed and took a good bit of the edge off my enjoyment of the book.

So forget the puny attempt at a subplot and just enjoy the rest.  I'll certainly take a look at his other book "Final Witness".

Added a classic to my lifetime list:

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (1876) - I read the Classics Illustrated Comic for this book but had never read the story itself (or if I did it's so long ago I don't remember doing it!).  I really enjoyed it.  The first adjustment I had to make is to the difference in use of language from 125 years ago.  Twain has an authorial "voice" that is both quite casual and yet a bit "flowery" by modern standards.  It's a great look at life in a very small town in the Midwest in the middle of the 19th Century.  Once I got rolling with it I found myself really being drawn into the story.  I hope to add its companion piece "The Adventure of Huckleberry Finn".
Interesting to note that Tom Sawyer was banned back in 1907 because the children's librarian at Brooklyn College felt it (and Finn) were filled with "...coarseness, deceitfulness and mischievous practices" that were bad examples for children.

Movies

Sherlock Holmes  (2009)I will confess I was prepared to hate this movie.  I am a long time fan of the original stories and hate when people decide to mess about with classics.  So imagine my surprise when the movie actually does a pretty good job of staying faithful to and respecting the original character.  The Conan Doyle stories certainly give reason to believe that Holmes was not above mixing it up occasionally and they make clear that everything he does is guided by intelligence and reason.  Robert Downey Jr. is a quite acceptable Holmes and Jude Law rescues John Watson from the vacuous portrayal he sometimes gets.  Moriarty and "the woman" Irene Adler make their appearance.  If there's one thing to dislike it's that Downey's portrayal is a bit too high spirited and not quite the cold, calculating genius of the books.  For that you should look to Jeremy Brett's portrayal in the British TV series.  But a worthy addition to the canon I think.




The Third Man (1949) An interesting confluence of talents and story.  Story by Graham Greene in that world he loves so much post WWII Europe.  Cold War warriors sliding through the amoral shadows for God, Country and mostly self interest.  None of his characters is any more self interested than Harry Lime (played to a slimy perfection by Orson Welles), add in Joseph Cotton as Lime's dupe of a friend and Trevor Howard as a straight arrow English officer and you're off an running in Vienna.  Much of the movie was filmed there including a good portion of the sewer scenes (look for vapor clouds from the actors breathing.  Those are the Vienna scenes.  The rest were done in studio) and it's an amazing backdrop.  What really struck me is the soundtrack which is played on the zither.  It's a bizarre and effective addition to the rather other worldly feel of where Cotton's character finds himself.  Lime was up to something but his old school chum Holly Martins isn't sure what.  And the more he discovers the less he realizes he knows.  Enjoyed it.