Many great books have been written throughout history. I, for one, am not an avid reader like some. However, I have enjoyed a few selections I have read recently in my American Literature class. I have thoroughly enjoyed the stories I have read by Washington Irving. I have found that once I get into a book, I love it and can't put it down. The problem is finding the time to "get into a book".
Because of this class I have found that I have no choice but to make time for reading. My first "really enjoyable" reading from this class was "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving. I had always heard people use the name Rip Van Winkle but I had never actually read, or heard, the story of Rip Van Winkle. While reading the story, I felt like I was reading a story about my parents. My dad is so laid back and easy going. He never meets a stranger and people generally like him from the time they meet him. My mom, whom I love very much, is much like Dame Van Winkle. She is a control freak and it seems that she is never satisfied with anything my dad does. One day, my dad decided to cut a few trees down that were getting ready to fall down at the edge of the woods. He and a friend began to take the trees down but his friend had to leave before they got the last tree cut down. My dad decided he could do it himself..... Bad idea! When he was cutting the tree, it started falling towards him. He ran. It fell on top of him. Luckily, he escaped with a broken thumb, a few broken ribs, and stitches in his head.
After sharing the story of Rip Van Winkle with my parents, my mom laughed and said, "Well, your dad went to the woods to escape from my harshness but instead of falling asleep for several years and coming back to life after I died, all he got was injuries! I guess that'll teach him to try and get away from me! Haha" I found it very ironic that as I was reading this story, the first thing that came to mind was that incident in the woods with my dad and the first thing that came to my mom's mind was the same thing. I guess that means she admits to being a nagging wife!
When I finished Rip Van Winkle, I was excited to read the next selection by Washington Irving. So, I read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Again, I was reminded of an earlier time. I was in third grade and my entire class got "A's" on our spelling tests so we were rewarded with watching the Disney movie The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I remember being captivated by the movie. I was so scared of the headless horseman but couldn't take my eyes off of the television. We weren't allowed to watch the entire movie in one day so we had to stop halfway through it and continue the next day. I couldn't wait to go to school that next day to see what happened.
When I finished reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I remembered hearing about a new show on tv called "Sleepy Hollow". So, I decided to go online and look it up. I was amazed at the number of different "Sleepy Hollow" movies that were out there. I guess it just proves that Washington Irving was a great writer and at least one of his books was film-worthy. I know I was impressed!
Have you watched the new Sleepy Hollow show? I thought about checking it out because it has pretty good reviews. My first experience with the Sleepy Hollow story was when I watched the Johnny Depp movie. When I read the real story for class, I was shocked at how different it was from the movie. I find it disheartening when Hollywood changes a story that much. I have to wonder how writers would feel about such drastic changes being made to their art.
ReplyDeleteYeah I found out about the TV show shortly after we were assigned to read the Sleepy Hallow story. I think it was literally the next day. I saw a commercial on Fox saying "Series premiere Sleepy Hallow TONIGHT!" I was like *Drops Jaw* It is a good show and as you said in your blog post there are a lot of copies and versions that were made of the Sleepy Hallow because it really is a good story. I remember watching this show called Are you Afraid of the Dark as a kid and made a episode all about The Legend of Sleepy Hallow and it was probably one of my most favorite episodes on the entire show.
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