I was recently reminded of how powerful and enjoyable an experience it is when a work of literature or film can shape your mood for a significant period of time - even if the emotion you're tinged with isn't necessarily a "positive" one - when I finished David Moody's "Straight to You". This was Moody's 1st novel, and unrelated to his more famous "Autumn" zombie novel series.
The premise is that the world is ending because the sun is dying, and humanity has only a few days left. The protagonist has decided he's going to spend what time he has left with his girlfriend, and the bulk of the novel is his attempts to cross the country (England) to get to where she is. A depressing premise if ever there was one, and the manner in which the sun destroys the earth is well and believably written, and despite the waves of heat Moody posits as the sun's final gasps to us, chilling. More so because a few months ago I heard O & A talking about some scientists who released a study that says our sun is going to die - probably in a manner very similar to what was in the book - in 100 years or so, not the billions of years we've always thought. not in our lifetimes, sure, but perhaps in our grandchildren's. This book depressed me for some time.
And that's saying somethihng, because I tear through books very quickly, and my typical reaction is only to think "I liked that; now what's next?" Most of them don't leave a lasting impression that powerfully upon me.
Thinking on this subject, the other books or stories I can recall having such an effect on me are "The Girl Next Door", which left me feeling dirty and disillusioned, my faith in humanity shaken, but at the same time perversely exhilirated because I had the privilege of reading a work so powerful and well crafted. When I was in college, some of the things I read in my literature classes stuck with me for awhile, too. Notably, "Notes from the Undergound" by Dostoyevsky (I was feeling particularly down on myself, and the wretched, WRETCHED narrator's story just fit in perfectly with my mood) and "Tonio Kroger" by Tomas Mann (wherein it was posited that artists of all kinds are compelled to do what they do because they perceive the world more acutely than the madding crowd, and because of this perceptual difference, will never quite fit in with the world of which they are so acutely aware; I once harbored dreams of being an auteur myself.).
I seem to get this effect more from books than from movies. Guess it's because I read more than I watch films. I figure I have more of a literary bent than a cinematic one. But I welcome comments as to either (hell, throw in plays or music or anything else you can think of) from my fellow Chewers. What works have pushed your buttons, perhaps for an uncomfortably long time?
The premise is that the world is ending because the sun is dying, and humanity has only a few days left. The protagonist has decided he's going to spend what time he has left with his girlfriend, and the bulk of the novel is his attempts to cross the country (England) to get to where she is. A depressing premise if ever there was one, and the manner in which the sun destroys the earth is well and believably written, and despite the waves of heat Moody posits as the sun's final gasps to us, chilling. More so because a few months ago I heard O & A talking about some scientists who released a study that says our sun is going to die - probably in a manner very similar to what was in the book - in 100 years or so, not the billions of years we've always thought. not in our lifetimes, sure, but perhaps in our grandchildren's. This book depressed me for some time.
And that's saying somethihng, because I tear through books very quickly, and my typical reaction is only to think "I liked that; now what's next?" Most of them don't leave a lasting impression that powerfully upon me.
Thinking on this subject, the other books or stories I can recall having such an effect on me are "The Girl Next Door", which left me feeling dirty and disillusioned, my faith in humanity shaken, but at the same time perversely exhilirated because I had the privilege of reading a work so powerful and well crafted. When I was in college, some of the things I read in my literature classes stuck with me for awhile, too. Notably, "Notes from the Undergound" by Dostoyevsky (I was feeling particularly down on myself, and the wretched, WRETCHED narrator's story just fit in perfectly with my mood) and "Tonio Kroger" by Tomas Mann (wherein it was posited that artists of all kinds are compelled to do what they do because they perceive the world more acutely than the madding crowd, and because of this perceptual difference, will never quite fit in with the world of which they are so acutely aware; I once harbored dreams of being an auteur myself.).
I seem to get this effect more from books than from movies. Guess it's because I read more than I watch films. I figure I have more of a literary bent than a cinematic one. But I welcome comments as to either (hell, throw in plays or music or anything else you can think of) from my fellow Chewers. What works have pushed your buttons, perhaps for an uncomfortably long time?
