The Vintage Reader

The Outsiders is re-released, with deleted scenes added back in and a new score. S.E. Hinton, author of the book, is interviewed here, with more personal information than she typically gives out. It's an interesting interview, and a neat photo of Ms. Hinton at the Admiral Twin, which was there when she wrote the book when she was in high school... and when the movie was made, when I was in high school (it also recently won $20,000 for renovations in Hampton Inn's Save a Landmark contest).

This was one of my favorite books in junior high, although I still think some editor should have made sure that "socs" was spelled phonetically. Even those of us who had the word as part of our normal vocabulary (...and I've never met anyone who didn't grow up in Tulsa who DID have it in their vocabulary) had a hard time with the spelling--it's pronounced so-shes, short for "socials."

I've never cared much for the movie, but I'm curious about the remake. I think the new rock-n-roll soundtrack could completely change my mind about the movie, because the main thing I didn't like was the slow pacing, which the orchestral score just dragged out even more.