Have you seen the movie? Confused as to what it was about? Then go and read the book.

When I came out of seeing Cloud Atlas, the Movie, I was totally buzzing.  I hadn't experienced a movie like that for quite some time.  Similar movies that left me feeling over caffeinated are Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or the Warchowksi's other extravaganza The Matrix.  David, my partner, also includes Once Were Warriors in this list but I think we're going back far too many years now and anyway, I never saw that movie in the Cinema.

I was super excited on leaving the cinema.  I wanted to talk about it for ages.  I wanted to go and see it again and notice all the fine little details that were woven together by the Warchowski's but the main thing I wanted to do was to go and read the book.  I figured that the book would shed further light on this majestic tapestry that I had just sat and viewed for over three hours on the big screen; that it would further elaborate on the story lines and ultimately would smooth out any confusions that had occurred in translation to the visual medium.  I guess I assumed this because in general, the book is always denser than the film.

Now I've only read 80 pages of the book's 529 so far (mainly because i spent the greater part of last night being sick and the most of today recovering from the lack of sleep and well being) but what has surprised me so far is how much more linear the novel is compared to the movie.  The movie is wild, jumps from time line to time line, story to story leaving you almost dizzy with how interwoven all the stories are.

The book, on the other hand, is much more linear in it's approach.  As we progress through the ages, each story links to the other like a chain, and then once we get into the far flung future, we will crawl via each link back to where we began.  It is a brilliant concept.  I'm not certain of this, I haven't read it, but I have looked at the contents (mainly because upon getting to the end of the first part I spent a good 5 minutes trying to find pry apart the pages that I had assumed were stuck together) and there I discovered this pattern that the author had created.. that and the fact that I've seen the movie... I mean, I know what is going to happen, pretty much.

So I'm over the majority of my gluten poisoning now (if you don't know what it's like to suffer from this malady, let me explain that it hurts your body in ridiculous ways, and then your head.  It tends to make me feel terribly sad, terribly alone (and yes: terribly, terribly sorry for myself).  It woke me up last night and kept me awake for most of it.  This morning I was over the nausea, but the fog that had settled in my head was just as unbearable.  This fog has now lifted - thank goodness it has as tomorrow I'm back to reading Piers Morgan's diaries on his decade as editor (for those of you who have not been  following my blog, I focus on a book a day.  If I don't finish the book in that day I wait a week before I continue reading it).

I haven't, as yet, actually finished a book, although I've only officially been doing this challenge for a week.  Also, I know I promised an updated list (or the alternative list, the other day) so I promise that I will actually publish this tomorrow, as I've already reviewed Piers... and, I figure that the next 100 pages or so will just be more of the same, really, so I'll be needing something else to write about).  

Anyway, until I actually manage to finish one of the seven books I've started, I won't be starting any new ones.  Must go back to the library tomorrow and source some more though as I'm pretty sure I'll be finishing a couple of them over the next seven days  - fingers crossed that there will actually be some in the library.

Days Left:    358

Books Left:  100