Come out of your…bookcase

I am one of these people who like reading. I never pretended to be the ‘intellectual’ type reading only the cool and classics! On the list of my ten best books, there is Robert Ludlum with his bestselling The Bourne Identity and Colin Dexter with his Last Bus to Woodstock featuring an incredible Chief Inspector Morse.

Coming to my films’ list of the top ten, The Godfather is in one of the top positions, closely followed by the film Heat, with Al Pacino and Robert de Niro, and not to forget a fantastic Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express starring a unique Peter Ustinov. What so these books and films have in common? Crime, murder, mystery, agony and…and…

What’s wrong with us? Do you want me to expand my lists further? The Name of the Rose is in lists of books and films, philosophical, intellectual and murderous! After every analysis of the Bible, Umberto Eco has placed a dead body. Who Framed Roger Rabbit starts with a framed crime and every part of my favourite Roman history ends with a murder. Actually looking at the list of my favourite films, the only film that doesn’t have a crime is Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and that’s only because Liz Taylor talks all the time. Probably at some point, Richard Barton is thinking to commit a crime.

Every time I attend one of these ‘intellectual’ dinners there is somebody who gives a full analysis on one of the best books or films he or she has watched. However, in the end we all end up debating who was a better James Bond, Sean Connery or Roger Moore, while Pierce Brosnan has freshened up the competition lately.

Have you seen any of these paperback books lately? The back cover is covered by quotes: ‘The bestseller of the year!’, ‘The top crime thriller!’ ‘A master thrill!’ Do you see anybody signing these quotes? No! You see just the name of a newspaper or magazine, or a whole list of book critics and celebrities signing their names under all these ‘magnificent’ critics. Check any ‘serious’ book, do you see any quotes on the back of Moby Dick?

Why did bother to write all that? Because…oh let’s put it in a different way, come on guys, you can talk about Umberto Eco and Emile Zola’s books, Kaurismäki and Kurosawa’s films as much you want but, for god’s sake, come out of your bookcase. Bring out your hidden mystery and crime collection of paperbacks. Watch Never Say Never Again with friends and enjoy it.

From Ovi Magazine