The Hazards of Early Success

I just read about Harper Lee suing to have the copyright and royalties on “To Kill a Mockingbird” restored to her.  She’s 87, dwells in an assisted-living facility, can’t see or hear well, and admits to “memory problems”.  Since I don’t know Miz Lee and am not a lawyer, of course I can’t resist stubbornly trying to read between the lines of this news story.  That’s my specialty, in case you hadn’t noticed.

Page to Screen

Books and movies aren’t the same thing.  That should be obvious on the face of it, but I’ve read hundreds of articles here and in all kinds of publications that miss that central, inescapable point.  A film adaptation will never, can never and shouldn’t be evaluated on the basis of being “like the book”.

Letting Go of the Books

It has taken a week, but I moved 50 boxes of books from storage back to the house and put them in piles by subject.  In order to be freer from materialism, you have to free yourself of material (duh).