In 1984, a movie came out that had EVERYONE dancing wherever they were. I was so in love...granted I was in my tween years and it was one of my first star-crossed crushes.I remember everyone humming the tune and stepping with a little pep in their step. (OMG...I'm starting to sound like my mother, Pep? really?)
What brought this flashback to me this week was the local high school performing Footloose as their spring production. I never would have thought Footloose would become a timeless classic to be performed by high school theatrical departments. My son's class went on a field trip to watch the performance. He too has been struck by the foot tapping bug. This got me thinking, if everything comes back around at some point, will I have to be sitting in a high school theater some day with my grandchildren enduring yet another performance of High School Musical 1,2, and 3? Have I not suffered enough? This wonderful classic, Footloose, is being remade not only into a play but into a new movie. That's right Ren MacCormack and his friends will battle the Rev. Shaw Moore (played by Dennis Quad) and the town once again for their right to party.
If everything old is new again does this also apply to books? There's some stories that are just mirrors of countless stories before them; only the names seem to have been changed and not just to protect the innocent. Is there any originality left in the world? We're inundated lately with book after book coming out. With the new ways of publishing it has become easier to get published, (Let me stress easier not easy. It's still the illusive brass ring we're all stretching for), I wonder if we've drained the cosmos of all the original untold stories. Have you read a book lately that didn't have a commonality to it from other books you've read? Perhaps I'm just in a rut. But I see things from my youth being remade and I wonder has my generation forgot how to think, how to create, how to explore a galaxy that no one has explored before? (Sorry for the gratuitous Star Trek line. I was raised by a Trekky).
So I ask you: Have you stumbled upon a book lately that is truly unique? That dares to think outside the box? Who doesn't fall back on the tried and true? Is there hope that writers and those of us that like to dream we're writers can produce original works of lit that will stand the test of time on their own merits?
If everything old is new again does this also apply to books? There's some stories that are just mirrors of countless stories before them; only the names seem to have been changed and not just to protect the innocent. Is there any originality left in the world? We're inundated lately with book after book coming out. With the new ways of publishing it has become easier to get published, (Let me stress easier not easy. It's still the illusive brass ring we're all stretching for), I wonder if we've drained the cosmos of all the original untold stories. Have you read a book lately that didn't have a commonality to it from other books you've read? Perhaps I'm just in a rut. But I see things from my youth being remade and I wonder has my generation forgot how to think, how to create, how to explore a galaxy that no one has explored before? (Sorry for the gratuitous Star Trek line. I was raised by a Trekky).
So I ask you: Have you stumbled upon a book lately that is truly unique? That dares to think outside the box? Who doesn't fall back on the tried and true? Is there hope that writers and those of us that like to dream we're writers can produce original works of lit that will stand the test of time on their own merits?
Three little letters...W-O-W! That's what I have to say about this book. Wow! This is a powerful book. I've loved every moment, every word, every letter. This a powerful book with no true happy ending nor sad ending. It's the story of several woman in 1960's Jackson, Mississippi. Told mostly by the colored help but also by one lone white woman who feels the winds of change coming; or at least hopes they are coming.
