A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Cover art by Drew Struzan. © 2015 Del Rey Books & Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) Well, I finally did it.  After four years, a cross-state move, and a multitude of ups and downs, including adjusting to life in a new hometown, getting used to living with what amounts to a new family, and now a state of COVID-19 quarantine, I finished reading Alan Dean Foster’s novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I usually don’t consider the act of finishing a book a huge achievement. I usually finish most of the books I start reading, unless I run into one that I really hate and can’t even get to the halfway mark because, ugh, it’s so awful that I’d rather have my eyes plucked out by crows rather than have to read…one…more…page.   I’ve had that unpleasant experience quite a few times in six decades’ worth of reading, and I’m sure I’ll have it a few more times before I die. The last time I felt that completing a book without skimming through “the slow parts” was worth writing about?

(C) 2012 New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Directed by Peter Jackson Written by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro Starring: Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee Gandalf : Well, why does it matter? He's back! Thorin Oakenshield : It matters. I want to know - why did you come back? Bilbo Baggins : Look, I know you doubt me, I know you always have. And you're right... I often think of Bag End. I miss my books, and my armchair, and my garden. See, that's where I belong, that's home. That's why I came back... 'cause you don't have one, a home. It was taken from you. But I will help you take it back if I can. Considering the success of director Peter Jackson’s epic fantasy film series The Lord of the Rings ($2.92 billion worldwide box office gross, plus 17 Academy Awards won out of 30 nominations)