Unlike Stephen King, I *love* Stanley Kubrick's version of "The Shining" (I rewatched it while I was reading the book and it's still just as great as I remembered. I'm really in the mood to reread the book, but seriously, who has time?!). I personally thought the changes he made from the book, making the movie more about Jack losing his mind than about the supernatural elements was a great idea for the movie. The book is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but a lot of King's books are tough to get right on film because of the depth of detail and interior thoughts. It's really hard to translate to visual, so I think Kubrick made a good decision to change those elements.
It was a really interesting and in depth look at just how much time and effort went into the film. Good stuff.
A few weeks ago I heard Lian Dolan speak at an event and she was so terrific, I wanted to read one of her books. I chose her first one, "Helen of Pasadena", which is about Helen, who is married to Merritt Fairchild, one of Pasadena's elite families. On New Year's Eve, Merritt tells her he's leaving her for a TV weathergirl and then Merritt is killed in a Rose Parade accident the next day (side note: I hate the Rose Parade. Seriously, so boring. As a kid I had to watch it every year because my mom is super in to it. I haven't watched it since I moved out on my own). Along with his death comes the awful news that he left their finances in shambles. Helen has been a stay at home wife and mother for the last 15 years and now she needs to find a job--fast.
She ends up with a wonderful job as a research assistant for a visiting archeology professor at the Huntington Library (I love the Huntington, so I was jealous). Of course sparks fly between the gorgeous, single Dr. O'Neill and Helen (of course). It was the typical happy ending that everyone in books and movies seems to get that never happens in real life. I think I was just not in the right frame of mind to like this book. Not right now. I'm sure, for those folks out there who are happy in their personal lives, they'd get a kick out of it. I was just bitter at the end.
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