From What I Hear...

HP Mania

Happy Harry Potter Day!  I am fairly excited for the last installment.  Not so excited that I'm ready to head out tonight for the midnight show all dressed up like my favorite character, but excited nonetheless.  In commemoration, let's do a little before and after presentation.

The threes besties:  BEFORE and AFTER

Hermione made out the best there, I think.  Love her pixie cut.

Biggest surprise in the cast:  Neville Longbottom.  Didn't see that one coming.

 

I hope the film is brilliant, but even if I hear it's terrible, I'll still pay to see in the theatres.  That being said, if it is horrible, my disappointment would rival the final book of The Hunger Games Series, so let's hope they end one of the greatest book-to-film series on a high note.  Can't wait!

Peter and the Starcatchers

 

The boys and I have a new (or old) series to rave about.  The first book in the series is Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson.  It's an engrossing tale about how Peter Pan became Peter Pan.  My boys loved the action and adventure.  The characters jumped off the pages, the pace was perfect and with pirates, magic, witty dialogue and an evil villain, what's not to love!  They kids were wholly enthralled, putting away the electronics to read.  That's the mark of a true winner in my world.  We are heading to the bookstore later this week to pick up the rest of the series.  I'd highly recommend it for any reader over 8, but especially boys.  

  

 

Book Review: Beastly

I heard about Beastly, by Alex Flinn, from a promo for the upcoming movie which I posted here. After watching the trailer, I had particular interest in the Beast's appearance.  Typically the Beast is hairy and bear-like or lion-like or some other animal. However, Beastly didn't go this route.  Set in present day with teenagers that text, go to high school in NY and visit chat rooms, this movie has a Beast that is scarred and hairless and has some weird tattoo affliction.  The Beast is scary and slightly disturbing but still very human and that is very intriguing.  I was excited to read the book. 

Now wait for it...yes, it was a huge disappointment. The Beast in the movie clips is strictly a movie thing. In the book, he is, in fact, bear-like.  Overall, the book is still alright.  It's told from the Beast's perspective, which I like.  The blind tutor is a cool twist.  I'd still recommend it, but I wonder if I would've liked it better if I'd never seen the trailer.  And will I like the movie now?  

Maybe this could be one of those outliers, where the movie is actually better than the book?  It's possible, people.  My all time favorite movie, The Princess Bride, is lightyears better as a movie than the book on which it is based.  

So, tell me, dear readers, are there other movies that are better than the book?  

And by the way, how great is this artwork.  "Anybody want a peanut?"  Good times!

Book Review: Mockingjay

Spoiler Alert:  Be forewarned, I will be addressing the ending so do not read, if you haven't finished.

 The Hunger Games and Catching Fire are two of my favorite books for YA, so you can imagine how excited I was for Mockingjay.  I finished it in one day and really liked it all along the way until about the last 50 pages.  

Katniss is such a great character––complicated and flawed, but yet likable––a combination that is difficult to achieve.  Peeta and Gale were similarly flawed yet deeply sketched and interesting.  Although markedly different, those two men loved Katniss and I was equally invested in both at the end of Catching Fire and ready to hear who Katniss would choose.  

Additionally, the world of the Hunger Games was changing through Katniss and I was so jazzed to see the fruition of the long awaited revolution.  

Given my high expectations, I was disappointed in the ending.  Katniss spent the majority of the book in a drugged or grief-stricken stupor, with short periods of action that would bring to light the Katniss we all know and love.  I took it in stride because I figured it illustrated how 'broken' the Games had made everyone...at least until the end.  After Prim's death, I really needed Katniss to stand tall and be galvanized to finish the Games once and for all.  Instead, she votes to have another Games with the Capitol's children, sides with Coin, then kills Coin without explaining to the people of Panem her reasons.  She acted only to perpetuate the violence and then she...fades.  Fades into nothing.  She doesn't fight.  She isn't defiant.  She doesn't choose what is right, despite her personal horrors.  In other words, she isn't Katniss.  

And then to top it off, after all the romantic drama of the first two books, she doesn't really choose there either.  Gale had become different and took himself out of the equation, knowing a future relationship to be lost and so Katniss just kinda falls into Peeta.  No choice.  No internal explanation.  I really needed her to say, "Gale is wrong for me.  I need Peeta.  I choose Peeta." Instead we got, "hey, Peeta's planting some primroses.  Hmm.  Guess I'll go shower then."

I also had a real issue about how things ended for Haymitch and Finnick, but I could have gotten past those things had Katniss stayed true to the character that I felt she was.  Yes, she was selfish and complicated, but I loved that she fought for those she loved, even if it meant she would die.  And by the end, I felt she loved people from nearly every district and the Capitol––and that for them she would have stood up to Coin and Snow and helped end the Games.  

I was disappointed.  And a bit sad.

Is it bad that I'm totally excited to see this?

I sometimes wonder if I appreciate products made for teenagers way more than a 30-something woman really should.  I read young adult––not exclusively of course, but a lot––I write for YA and some of my favorite movies were made with teenagers in mind.  Adam takes inhuman pleasure in reminding me of my actual age, but still...I'm not the only one who is looking forward to this, right?  At least one other blogger, Stephanie Perkins is in the boat floating down the teenage-appreciation river.

Here's another one.  I haven't read this book, but I'm putting it on my list today.  Near the top.  

Book Review: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

 

I heard about this book near the end of the year. It was on some list of the top ten YA books for 2009. Sorry, I wish I could remember the source, but my old age is getting to me, I guess. Anyway, I tagged it as a book to read and I wasn't disappointed.  

Frankie Landau-Banks, a sophmore at a prestigeous prep school, discovers an all-boy secret society in which her boyfriend is immersed and she is excluded. The secret society is fairly innocuous in nature, but it's very existence sets Frankie's skin-a-crawling. It's exclusivity, it's secrecy and it's prejudice bothers her more than she imagined possible.  

A big part this book addresses a reality that many girls face when they date, especially in high school; That of losing oneself in being arm-candy. Being the 'harmless' girlfriend. Being underestimated and accepting it.

I particularly liked this quote:  

"Matthew had called her harmless. Harmless. And being with him made Frankie feel squashed into a box––a box where she was expected to be sweet and sensitive (but not oversensitive); a box for young and pretty girls who were not as bright or powerful as their boyfriends. A box for people who were not forces to be reckoned with. Frankie wanted to be a force." p. 214

I liked it very much. It's characters felt legitimate and it was a quick read but meaningful. I really did laugh out loud (a phrase I generally refrain from using because of the broad, omnipresence in media today) but it's true and I found the pacing to be perfect–-not too long or slow. The only thing I wished was that Frankie found a more solid happiness in the end, but I guess that's the point. Happiness isn't wrapped in a pretty little package with a boyfriend attached.

I Wrote a Book

Well, I got such grief today from a couple friends that I've decided to post this earlier than intended.  So...yeah, I wrote a book.  If you'd like to know more, click over to read my other blog: Adventures in Writing

Book Review: The Help by Kathryn Stockett

 The Help by Kathryn Stockett is my most recent read.  Set in Mississippi in the mid-1960s, The Help addresses the civil right movements through the prospectives of three protagonists––two black women that serve as maids in white households and a young white woman raised in such a home.  The voice is perfect, the characters vivid and the setting interesting.  

I don't have a lot of negatives, except for one thing.  One chapter is written almost like a newspaper article--third person and withdrawn.  It bothers me because all the other chapters are written in the voice of one of the three women.  This single chapter felt out of place and reminded that I was reading something someone wrote--it pulled me out of the world the author had created.  I don't know why she did that and I'm sure she has her reasons but I don't know what it would be.  This is the one and only real complaint I had with the book.  I'd highly recommend it and gave it 5 stars.

 

Book Review: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

 My most recent read is "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (which is kind of a long title.  I have an aversion to books (and movies or TV shows) with long titles, but it came highly recommended so I gave it a fair shake).

Told through correspondence, this book shares the fictional stories of people on a real island in the English channel, during and just after WWII.  The characters are fictionalized but the island is real and was, in fact, occupied by the Germans during the war.  Despite the heavy subject matter, this books is delightful.  I don't know that I've ever called a book delightful before, much less one about war and it's horrors, but Guernsey manages this feat.  Its light and witty handling of the subject allowed me to breeze through this book in one day.  There are moments of seriousness to be sure, but they are tempered with interesting characters and anecdotes that pave a path through the story.

I liked it and would recommend it for a light read to anyone over fifteen.  3 of 5 stars. 

Also, for those who've read this book or those that are curious about the island itself, check out this map of Guernsey Island.

What have you done for me lately?

 I'm on the hunt for some new reading material.  Any suggestions?  What books or authors do you love and why?

Recent Read: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls:  I won't say that I hated this book, but I didn't love it either.  It made me angry and frustrated and sad.  Jeannette Walls describes with amazing detail the life she led with three siblings and two "non-conformist" (or maybe selfish and insane) parents. Despite the destitute conditions and criminal neglect she and her siblings suffered, Jeannette grew to love, accept and even admire her mother and father.  I'm amazed at her willingness to forgive and love.  I'm inspired by her ability to defy the odds and make something out of the life she was thrust into.  The book helped me appreciate my parents and reminded me of the blessings of my own family. This book elicited emotion.  It moved me to ponder myself and my own parenting.  For these reasons, I give it four stars out of five...but I don't love it.  

 

Have you read this?  What were your thoughts?