Yes, the books are still better ---
The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
JRR Tolkien
George Allen & Unwin
$12
I have long believed that, in order to create a great film from a great book, the director has to be a true nerd. Peter Jackson is the quintessential lover of Middle Earth and represents what Lord of the Rings fans want: accurate representation. Hopefully, we’ll be able to say the same of The Hobbit, or There and Back Again , which will be portrayed in two films beginning next fall: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again , the former opening in December 2012 and the latter in December 2013. Favorite characters return, and new characters—including dwarves, dragons, shape-shifters and goblins—find their way into Middle Earth’s history. Thus begins the story of how Bilbo Baggins came to be Bilbo Baggins—a brave warrior on a great quest to find a treasure guarded by the dragon Smaug. Above all, The Hobbit and its film counterparts portray Bilbo’s original retrieval of a certain small, golden ring.
Snow White
Jakob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
Illustrated by Charles Santore
Sterling
$16.95
Snow White was originally a Brothers Grimm tale from 1812. In most Grimm versions, the queen takes matters into her own hands, while Snow is endlessly surprised that someone wants to kill her. Disguised as a peddler, the queen attempts to suffocate Snow by pulling her laces too tight. Disguised as an old woman, she combs Snow’s hair with a poisonous brush. Each time, the dwarves, unnamed in the original tale, save her life. Finally, Snow hesitates to eat an apple given to her by a farmer’s wife (guess who), but is convinced when the wife takes a bite for herself. Snow falls into a deep sleep, and the dwarves place her in a glass coffin, presuming she’s dead. The prince is enamored with her corpse and purchases the coffin (girl included). When his servants stumble, however, the apple lodges from her throat. At their wedding, the queen is made to dance in heated iron shoes until she dies. The Snow White and the Huntsman —a film slated to come out this summer—hinges on the original idea of a huntsman who, sent to kill Snow, instead becomes enamored with her. But in the film, feminism reigns as Snow learns the art of war, adorned in shields instead of dresses. Both versions are dark: In The Huntsman , the queen desires Snow’s heart for the eating.
Wuthering Heights
Emily Bront ë
HarperCollins
$8.99
Emily Bront ë rolled over in her grave in 2010 when, in hopes of taking advantage of the Twilight frenzy, HarperCollins decided to revamp its paperback editions of Wuthering Heights (and Pride and Prejudice , and Romeo and Juliet ) with a new design. A classic design for a classic, you say? I wish. Instead, Wuthering Heights has now been identified on the cover as “Bella and Edward’s Favorite Book” (as in the Twilight film series’ lead characters). All my qualms about Twilight aside—the obsessive behaviors, the death of feminism, the amateur writing, the forbidden sex—I’m disturbed that a classic like Wuthering Heights , a story of all-encompassing love that is ultimately doomed and ruins everyone’s lives, should have to stoop so low. In Wuthering Heights , Catherine, in an unhealthy relationship with Heathcliff, has an ever-passionate personality; Twilight ’s Bella Swan is an empty hole to be filled by any young girl. Wuthering Heights took strides forward in literature, and even frightened many with its severe depiction of mental and physical cruelty. Edward can steal Heathcliff’s words to romance Bella, but Stephenie Meyer should not steal Bront ë creations to romance teens.
