Top Five All Time Desert Island Lists

Just finished reading Nick Hornby's High Fidelity, a beautifully crafted narrative of a love-troubled self-centered audiophile which is more popularly known by it's film adaptation starring such names as John Cusack, Jack Black and Tim Robbins. I saw a kindred spirit in Hornby, and while I do not know to what degree the story bridges fiction into memories of his, I still related to his manner of storytelling. Perhaps we're not on the exact same proverbial plateau, but I definitely feel our individual mesas are not far off from each other, and maybe if he walked to the edge of his, he'd be able to wave down to me, and I'd wave back, and we'd both be close enough to focus our eyes on each other and note we are happy.

Anyways, it's sparked some inspiration into my fingers, and I'm going to follow suit with the three elitist record shop employees and construct some Top Five lists. For posterity. Here's the most important one, maybe some more later. We'll see.

Top Five Favorite Film Adaptations of Books (That I've Read Thus Far)

1. Jurassic Park. It took me years to learn that this blockbuster was in fact a book, and after reading it my eyes were opened wide to the works of Michael Crichton, and the fine practice of pretension in saying "Well, the book was so much better." And it was. Spielberg left out some crazy action scenes like with the T-Rex underwater, or prying the little kid out from a hold in a cliff with it's tongue. But whatever, the movie still rocked my prepubescent world, and the book alleviated my understanding of pop fiction in literature.
2. Sin City. After the recent surge of adapting comic books to the silver screen, it got tough to call myself a nerd. At every turn I was confronted by a snippy debate over how factually correct Spiderman's organic webshooters were cross-referenced with Marvel canon, or why Ben Affleck was the worst possible choice for Daredevil. I ducked my head low, further into more obscure literary comics, avoiding the buzz. But I resurfaced after seeing the eye-popping trailer for Frank Miller's gritty crime drama. And I applauded. Page by page, the story was done proper justice, the comic was the storyboard, just like how it should always be done. 300 was cool and all, and so was Iron Man and Batman Begins/Dark Knight, but even those were too jaded by Hollywood with extra content to assuage audiences. Sin City was easily the most loyal to the source. I believe I was the only person on this planet who enjoyed Daredevil though.
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. By Ken Kesey. I'd never sat and read a novel for seven hours straight before, until encountering this glorious piece of literature. And after renting the flick, it was like Jack Nicholson had been there with me every page of those seven hours, sneering and cackling on with me, with those crazy Jack eyes, that maybe, just maybe, weren't so crazy after all. Even Chief fit the adjective-perfect profile of the story.
4. Fight Club. Google any Top Book-to-Movie Lists and you'll no doubt about it find Chuck Palahniuk's rivetting counter-culture classic somewhere within 5 from the top. This was my number one for years, finding a beautiful middle point between loyalty to the source and taking the story to the next level visually. What was changed worked perfectly within the context, provided new surprises and overall more entertainment. While I still prefer the denouement of the last chapter of the novel, the catalysmic end of the movie practically moved me out of my chair ino a full standing ovation. Then I saw a big fat cock really quickly and chose to remain seated. But still. Wow. Seriously. Quotable. Inspiring. Reviewable. I joined the ranks of adolescents tirelessly rewinding and playing over, while poring through the rest of Palahniuk's catalog (for better or for worse.) The majority of movies don't get to me like this one did.
5. High Fidelity. Did you see it coming? Hornby's angsty overanalytic male confessional is down to the T the most loyal adaptation I've ever seen. Dialogue straight from the film, especially Cusack's fourth-wall narration. The choices for the adapting London into Chicago were seamless and appropriate. Even the most radical change (The first song Barry's band plays at the end) is almost better than the novel's due to it's relevance to the character's and their relationship.

I have so much more praise for this film/novel. It's affected me, and I have to tear myself away from Travipeding more now, but a surge will surely come. It's always after completion of a great book I'm inspired to write the most.