Top Ten Tuesday: Book to Movie Adaptations-- The Good, the Bad

       

The Life of Pi

Happy Tuesday! Happy Top Ten Tuesday! Happy list making! Today's TTT, hosted by the always fabulous The Broke and the Bookish, is a fun one: the best and worst movie adaptations of books. We had fun with this one. What made your best list? We want to know before our next Redbox visit. :-)

Grad Student:

WORST 

• Golden Compass (Crazy Camper agrees)



Even NK being glam can't
 save  this movie

• Jack Reacher (it just fell flat)

BEST

• The Life of Pi (those colors! gorgeous!) 
• The Kiera Knightly Pride and Prejudice. Love or hate her as Lizzie, you cannot deny that score. It is beyond lush and romantic (Crazy Camper says "Hate Kiera Knightly. Will always love this movie.")  

Crazy Camper:

WORST 

• The Hobbit- they took a great book and made it mind-numbingly tedious.  There is only so many times Gandalf can whisper to a moth for eagles to arrive and save the day...nevermind, we have two more parts to sit through.

BEST

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower- I thought this was an amazing adaptation.  
• All of the Harry Potter movies- all of them, were just the best book to movie transformation ever. (Goosie Mama concurs: "Harry Potter obviously just wins everything - they were all so amazing!")

Goosie Mama:

BEST

• LOVED Perks of Being a Wallflower - amazing and that kid who plays the lead makes my heart flutter!
• I really liked Warm Bodies! ( PS. So did I, GS. And that soundtrack is killllllller).

WORST

• The last 4 Twilight movies ... But then again they didn't have much to work with in terms of material. (Crazy Camper didnt even realize there were that many... and she read the books)

Review: Untraceable by S. R. Johannes

16-year-old Grace has lived in the Smokies all her life, patrolling with her forest ranger father who taught her about wildlife, tracking, and wilderness survival. 

When her dad goes missing on a routine patrol, Grace refuses to believe he’s dead and fights the town authorities, tribal officials, and nature to find him.

One day, while out tracking clues, Grace is rescued from danger by Mo, a hot guy with an intoxicating accent and a secret. As her feelings between him and her ex-boyfriend get muddled, Grace travels deep into the wilderness to escape and find her father. 

Along the way, Grace learns terrible secrets that sever relationships and lives. Soon she’s enmeshed in a web of conspiracy, deception, and murder. And it’s going to take a lot more than a compass and a motorcycle (named Lucifer) for this kick-butting heroine to save everything she loves (GoodReads).


Untraceable by S. R. Johannes was not what I was expecting. It was far more of a boilerplate "who is the bad guy" than I expected. If you like that kind of thing, then its time to get involved.

Originality: 7. High. As a tracker who knows a lot about state parks, poaching laws, and has friends (and enemies) who are Native American, Grace is a distinctive character. I liked her a lot.
Absurdity: 5. Her dad is missing and her mom has stopped looking after Grace. We always need to conveniently get rid of the adults so our YA heroes can frolic like twenty-somethings. Sorta ridic.
Level of Paranormal Romance: 5 for one hunky love interest who is more than he seems more than once! Fun.
Level of Harry Potterness: 2. This book didn't draw me in, but I think if you like nature/state parks (COUGH COUGH Crazy Camper) you might find more to your style here!

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a review copy from Coleman & Stott. Happy reading followed. (We do not accept or receive compensation for reviews at YAF and WS.)

Holiday Time! Go Read The Killer Angels in Honor of the 3rd and 4th

Happy (almost) July Fourth!

We hope there are lots of watermelon cakes, fun picnics, and fireworks in store for everyone for the rest of the week/weekend. Go read, think about America, and we will see you on Monday! 

PS. Today is the 150th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Gettysburg. The Killer Angels is a book about this war that is fascinating, heartwarming and devastating all at once. It is my favorite book of all time. If you have not read it yet, GO GET IT. Read, cry, and live a fuller life knowing you have read Michael Shaara's Pulitzer-wining historical fiction.

In the four most bloody and courageous days of our nation's history, two armies fought for two dreams. One dreamed of freedom, the other of a way of life. Far more than rifles and bullets were carried into battle. There were memories. There were promises. There was love. And far more than men fell on those Pennsylvania fields. Shattered futures, forgotten innocence, and crippled beauty were also the casualties of war.The Killer Angels is unique, sweeping, unforgettable—a dramatic re-creation of the battleground for America's destiny (GoodReads)

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Intimidating Books

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is dedicated to the Top Ten Most Intimidating Books--reads that overwhelm us in their size, content, and smartness! Sometimes books with lots of accolades can be intimidating, don't you think? And anything with a billion pages can give us library-due-date anxiety, which is never fun. Which of these books should are we missing out on with silly fears? Help us tackle this list! As always cheers to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting TTT! :-)

 Crazy Camper:

• Anything by Philippa Gregory- The Tudor Court series and the Cousins War series.  People LOVE these, but I don't really like historical fiction, so I am nervous. 
• I am the Messenger by Markus Zuzak.  I cried so hard at The Book Thief, I dont know if I am ready for this.
• A Confederacy of Dunces- I even bought this, which is totally unheard of in my life, but MAN, I cannot get past page 1.
• Shadows of Night, the sequel to Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness- This is 600 pages in 1600th Century Europe, my junior year high school self who took Modern European History is worried she wont be able to follow the story of the Protestants, Catholics,  French, English, Vampires, Witches, Dameaons....

Grad Student:

• Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta. I liked Finnikin of the Rock, but these are SERIOUS fantasy books, and like all serious fantasy, take a lot of time (and pages) with world building. I took Froi out of the library, but just didn't feel like I had the time/focus to get involved. Someday I will!
• American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This is so well received I am afraid I will be disappointed if I don't like it. Thus I have avoided it. It sounds silly, but I hate to dislike books by authors I love and sometimes it makes me gun-shy.

Review: Ink by Amanda Sun

I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.
Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.
A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.
And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive (GoodReads).

Guys, Ink by Amanda Sun, the first in the Paper Gods series, was really good. It has very unique world-building, diversity, and a fascinating setting. I wish it had been a bit spookier, like this quote suggests, but all in all a good read.

Absurdity: 4 for how Katie is so freaking good at learning Japanese. Languages are hard! ESP when not Latin based ! At least for me.
Originality: 9. Ink opens with Katie new to Japan. We get to know the culture as she does  . This was my favorite part. Sun really did her research and the details of language and culture are great and drew me in. Racial diversity in love interests (there needs to be more of this, it should not come off as original but sadly does) plus ancient gods is a winning combo.
Level of Paranormal Romance: 5. This was good but not great swoon but I was a bit confused about the lack of discussion of the girlfriend who was dumped at the start of the book. He still likes her right?
Level of Harry Potterness: 4. I liked this enough to look forward to the sequel. 

FTC Full Disclosure: I received a review copy from Harlequin (UK) Limited. Happy reading followed. (We do not accept or receive compensation for reviews at YAF and WS.)