I have always liked to read. When I was a tad and had not yet entered school yet, my dad became too busy and tired in the evening to read the comics to me. So I looked at them myself and would tell my parents at dinner what was going on. They decided that I had taught myself to read, so read I did. As I grew a little older my favorites were The Wizard of Oz and King Arthur Tales. I also enjoyed Bambi and Bambi’s Children. In fact when Disney came out with a cartoon movie about Bambi, I was excited as could be.
After seeing the movie, I was madder than Donald Duck ever got. I’m still mad and I don’t usually carry grudges. The movie was absolutely nothing like the book. About the only similarity was that the cartoon contained a deer named Bambi! It was my first experience on how Hollywood can ruin a perfectly good book. Ever since when a movie based on a book comes out, I say to myself “Well the title is the same. Wonder how they messed this one up?”
Frankly today it does not bother me that much because we seldom go to the movies. The Blonde in the house likes “chick flicks”, and I like sci-fi and adventure movies. If they ever come out with a chick sci-fi movie we will have it made. Sometimes we will look at the movie schedule and find that at a theater there are two movies whose starting times are pretty close. One will be her type and the other mine. Then, we hold hands and go to that theater. Once we arrive, she goes into her theater room and I go into mine. We meet afterward and have a sody-pop or something. A great arrangement.
I still read extensively. I like mystery and adventure novels. My Kindle is loaded with them now. I know that some people like to turn the pages of a book, but I like to be able to whip out my iPhone and read some pages while waiting at a doctor’s or other office. It certainly is more productive than reading last year’sSports Illustrated or some other vintage magazine. I have heard from a person of good repute that there is a firm that collects very old magazines and places them in doctors, dentists’ etc. offices. I understand that they do very well.
My problem today is with the present group of writers who write mystery novels. Some of them do a great job, but many of them have lousy plots so they put their effort in writing graphic sex scenes and gruesome ways to murder people. Apparently, they figure that type of writing will attract attention and they will sell some books. They don’t to me if I know about it. However, sometimes a book sounds good – until I get into it.
It may well be that I was spoiled by growing up on Perry Mason, Nero Wolfe, Philo Vance, Sam Spade and so forth. It seems their authors were able to write a suspenseful and interesting story based on a good plot. You would think that could be done today, and I guess to be truthful there are authors even today who do that. However, when I get tired of trying to find a good new novel, I go back to the past. I just finished reading six stories involving one of the earliest detectives – Nick Carter. These stories had some real plots.
I think I might just write a good adventure story myself. It will involve Bambi’s grandson, Bambi III, and Lassie. It will have an opening where Bambi III rescues Lassie from a well. They become best buddies and solve all sorts of mysteries in the deep woods. You will not believe the plot in this book!
Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com