Reflection 5

Boring book covers make people not want to read their books. I am one of the people who will pick up a book based on the cover then check out what it’s about.  If a book has a boring or stupid cover I will most likely not want to read it, or it will strongly effect how I read the book. For instance when we had to read Grendel for class the first thing I noticed was the dumb cover. It was a dark brown cover with weird print. After seeing the cover I really did not want to read it but because of school I had to. This made me go into reading Grendel with a bad attitude, which in return made me hate the book the entire time reading it. I like covers that are intriguing and that draw your eye. A good book cover will certainly make me pick up the book and take a look to see if it is worth reading. I really like the book cover for my book number one, The Legend of Bagger Vance. It drew my eye because it was a golfer in the mystical darkness with a light focused on his swing. Itdrew my eye and made me want to read it.

Book 2 Review 1 Movie Adaptations

Moneyball thus far has explained a few major things. In the preface, Lewis really explains what risk Billy Beane took in 2002 with the Oakland A’s. I think that they should include a brief scene in the movie just to explain how much of an underdog the A’s were. They should have a scene in which they say the Oakland Athletics’ had the least pay roll in all of baseball at forty million dollars. That is one third less than what the New York Yankees’ was in 2002. I think that those basic facts would just give a good little background and really show the movie viewers how much of an underdog the Athletics were. The next scene I would put in the movie would be in chapter one when the first scouts find Billy Beane. The scouts didn’t know who the sixteen year old kid was at first, but by the end of the combine every scout in the major leagues would know who Billy Beane was. He really became a legend in my eyes after the combine. They should show the scene in which Billy dominates the sixty yard dash at 6.4 seconds. It would show what a force he was. The next scene I would make sure to include in the movie would be when Billy started slumping but no scout really paid attention to the numbers. It just shows how scouts can make mistakes in drafting. Anyone could have predicted Billy wouldn’t be a good pro. It said in the book that he had dropped from batting .500 his junior year to .300 his senior year. However the scouts didn’t care, they still drafted him in the first round of the 1980 MLB draft.  

One specific part I would cut out would be explaining back stories on some of the older scouts. So far throughout the book they haven’t even mentioned them since the back stories on people like Grady and Erik. I don’t think it is necessary to include that if they are making it into a movie. Another part I would trim down, but not cut completely out, would be the business aspect in chapter two. They could just go through and dissect maybe like two players; however they do several saying that they have to go through 680. I feel like it just slows the plot down and makes it a little boring.

Reflection 4 Book to Movie Adaptations

Eric’s Best & Worst Adaptations

These are some of the movies I’ve seen that I either really enjoyed or hated, mostly based on how much they were able to represent the book.

Best:

Harry Potter

Harry Potter was a great movie when it comes to special effects and character choice. It displayed everything in the books that I thought was important.  The characters were depicted in the movie exactly how I imaged them while reading.

Hunger Games

The Hunger Games was a great film adaptation because of the way they showed the futuristic utopian setting. While Reading this book it was hard for me to imagine the setting, but while watching it was easy!

Glory Road

\I really enjoyed watching Glory Road, so I decided to read the book. Glory Road was a great adaptation because of its historic significance; it portrayed what it was really like for six African Americans to play on a team in 1966.

Worst:

The Greatest Game Ever Played

When my dad came home with this Mark Frost novel telling me how great it was I zoomed through the 400-page book. When I saw the movie later that year I couldn’t even believe it was truly the same story. I think it was mostly because Disney made the film marketed towards younger kids.

                                                      Moneyball

Moneyball is a good movie, but it is an awful adaptation from the book. The book really is mostly about the business side of baseball and a lot of numbers; in the movie they added a character (Jonah Hill) just to add a little plot line.  

Review 2: Ch. 10-20

In my most recent reading of The Legend of Bagger Vance we are really introduced to Junah's mystic caddy, Bagger Vance. In many ways in the book I feel that Junah should be the protagonist, however Bagger really demonstrates the qualities in a "hero". In these chapters Junah, the so called hero of Savannah, is first convinced to play in the tournament only when Bagger says that he will caddy for him. In chapters ten through tweleve we can really learn to love Bagger he really does become the protagonist. While Junah is drunk sleeping around the night before the tournament, Bagger takes young Hardy to walk the course with him. When Bagger could tell that Hardy was getting cold, he puts his arm around him to make him feel warm. This just shows that even though Bagger, who is preparing for a huge tournament, still notices and cares about little Hardy. He never takes him for forgranted. Even as the tournament begins we still see Bagger as the hero. Junah is stressed and wants to quit even though he hasn't teed off yet but when Bagger goes and talks to him Junah is ready to go play. Even other characters in the book see Bagger as an extraordinary man. Bobby Jones legendary caddy O.B Keeler is really fascinated by him and actually picks his brain for an entire chapter. Keeler is so fascinated by him he actually takes notes on what he is saying. So while Junah is supposed to be our so called Savannah hero I believe that is safe to say that that role belongs to Bagger Vance. While Junah goes out and drinks his anger away, puts his head down when anything goes wrong, and acts like a child Bagger is always there with his kind wisdom and motivational speeches.

Reflection 3: What is a book?

A book is a hamburger. It’s loaded with a ton of different things, characterization, conflict, and hidden meanings, which only make it better. Reading a juicy book is as enjoyable as sinking your teeth into a delicious burger. Once you start it you have no choice but to finish it. It doesn’t matter if you are reading on an electronic device or reading a paperback. You are still reading the same material. You will still get the same feeling from reading on either of those. The change that people are making to electronics is just showing our society is advancing. It doesn’t mean that we don’t enjoy reading as much. I don’t really think a book’s smell matters at all. I don’t think you get a better experience reading a book whether you are flipping through pages or just sliding your finger. In this day in today’s world getting a book is truly just an inconvenience and burden on yourself to have go to a library or waiting days for it to come by mail when you can get it instantly on an e-reader. Not to mention books are harder to keep in good condition but you don’t have to worry about a book being ruined if you have it on an electronic device. 

Is literary fiction relevant?

I really don’t believe that literary fiction is relevant to our current culture. Maybe in the 1950’s where the literary world was a lot larger than it is now was relevant to current culture, but I don’t believe it is now. What we read today in school doesn’t necessarily prepare us for the job markets most of us will enter, but they can teach you  morals. Such as in the Great Gatsby just because the Toms and Jays of the world succeeded with money it doesn’t mean that they can do whatever they want, and we can realize that by reading the book. We don’t necessarily read books about economics or medical books in English classes, so I really don’t believe it prepares us for life. I think that modern day English classes teach us how to read and what to read for, but it is mostly boring so the only purpose would be to read for a grade.

Review 1: Chapters 1-9

“The Legend of Bagger Vance” by Steven Pressfield takes place during the times of the Great depression. When the novel starts it describes how a wealthy business owner from Scotland is flourishing and wants to design America’s first great golf course, but when the stock market crashes the man kills himself with the course one year from being finally finished. He leaves his great creation to his daughter Adele. She is planning to host a two man golf tournament between Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen in which the winner will receive 20,000 dollars, which was absurd during this time period. In the book the town’s people talk about how the tournament will be good for the economy of Savannah (where the book takes place). I feel like the book, although is fiction, has historic accuracy describing how bad the economy is. Everyone in the town wants the tournament to happen because they said it will restart the dead economy. It describes how bad the local businesses have been doing, and how only the “old money” is doing alright. Small business owners stress the importance of this in a town meeting saying the golf tournament is necessary for them to succeed. The mayor of the town feels as if Adele is just using the nice city. One man convinces the mayor it will be good to have the tournament because they can charge for every little thing, parking, housing, and food. He finally agrees that it will help them get out of a rough time and agrees to host this huge golf tournament in Savannah as long as a local competitor is allowed to play, and Adele agrees.