William Shakespeare's Tragedy of the Sith's Revenge by Ian Doescher

(William Shakespeare's Star Wars #3)
5 stars
received for review

Skip the movie and read this instead. Though the "why on earth would Padme have fallen for him?!" is more painfully present in this than in the 2nd possibly. Ian Doescher does an incredible job considering how awful the writing was for the movie.

But seriously, WHY ON EARTH PADME??

It's actually possible that the third movie wasn't as bad as I remember it being, but the problem is you can't untangle it from the 2nd and I know the 2nd was exactly as bad as I remember it being.

Anyway, if you haven't read these, what is wrong with you? 

Kidding.

Sort of.

Go read them already.

Because This is the Week....

Designed by http://www.financesonline.com | Author: Alex Hillsberg | Follow our Google+

Isn't that awesome?

(Also awesome, Mister read the whole thing to me this morning... and only needed help with a few words!)

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

novella

R- 2

I have no idea how to rate this one.  No clue.

Part of my problem is that I spent like the first 3/4 of it trying to figure out why it bore NO RESEMBLANCE WHATSOEVER to the movie.... then I realized that the movie I was thinking of was, in fact, Sabrina.  

Yeah.

But all that aside, when it comes right down to it, I just don't get it.  I don't get her.

The description talks about how "her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm".

Yeah.... no.  

I don't see any of those things in her.

I see a train wreck.

So..... meh.  I don't know what else to say.

The King's Speech by Mark Logue and Peter Conrad

5 stars
nonfiction

Let me start off by saying what this book is not.  It is not a novelization of the movie.  It is not what the movie was based on.  It is not a tie-in edition.

What it IS is a book about the man who taught the king to speak, written by his grandson and all based on his research in his grandfather's journals, letters, etc.

In fact, he talks in the book about how the people making the movie came to him during production and that's when he started researching.

It is also completely fascinating.

Highly recommended.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams

3 stars
R- 3

Okay, we're gonna play a little game of book versus movie here.

Well, play versus movie.

You know what I mean.

Anyway.

Let me start by saying that I saw the movie first.  And I absolutely acknowledge that that colors things.

I vastly prefer the movie.  Elizabeth Taylor is amazing.

Now, let me say that I understand that Tennessee Williams hated the movie.  I also understand that all of the reasons I prefer the movie are the same reasons he hated it.

The characters are just so much more likable in the movie.  They're not super sympathetic in the play.

The play/book also has a lot more in terms of the theme of homosexuality, which just isn't really there in the movie.  Or if it is, it's subtle enough that I just kind of didn't notice.

The play/book has more language too.

Anyway, honestly I'd say skip reading it and just watch the Elizabeth Taylor movie.  Either way, watch the movie.  Really.

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

5 stars
reread

I love this book.  I had forgotten just how much I love this book.

This was a Great Reads for Girls pick, but we couldn't go that month and so Boo still hasn't read it.  Which is a shame, 'cause it's just so darn good.

And you know what?  I love the movie too.

Not because it at all resembles the book.  Because it really really doesn't.  But it's cute.  (Though if you haven't seen the alternate ending in the deleted scenes, you totally need to.  They really should have used it.)

I had forgotten, though, just how much more DEPTH the book has!  And how closely it follows the original Cinderella tale.

Overall, always recommended.  :)

"Mom, I want the big blue book!"

So, here's a closer look at those bookcases I posted yesterday.  All nicely arrange by reading level.

Picture books on the bottom:

 Easy-ish readers, or books I wouldn't mind Boo reading kind of in the middle:

 Books I'm not sure she's ready for (or I know she's not ready for) on top:

 Which leads me to the title of this post.  Boo informed me a couple of weeks ago that she needs a stool in there to reach the top shelf.  Naturally, this gave me pause because I'd put the books up that high for a reason.
"Why?" I asked her.
"Because there's a book on the top shelf I want to read."
"What book is it?"
"I don't know, but it's a big blue book and it looks good and I want to read it."

Do you see the big blue book?  Know what it is?  Let's take a closer look:

"Boo, you can't read Harry Potter 5."

Crazy child.

Anyway, I told her we could read the first Harry Potter together after we finish what we're reading.  She didn't love that answer, but whatever.

How old would you want a child to be before reading Harry Potter??  I figure I don't mind her reading the first one or two with me at this age (she's going into first grade), but I don't think I want her to read 3 for another couple of years!  Let alone 4-7!!

(And, no, she's never seen the movies.  Never expressed an interest.  Should I have her watch the movie first or read it first?)

The Return of the King by JRR Tolkien

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY could they not have at least FILMED the Scouring of the Shire?!?!!?!?

Sorry, just a little freak-out there.

So we come to the end.  Sort of.

You know, except for the 125 pages of appendixes that I haven't read through yet.  (I decided to save most of the to read with The Silmarillion, which I've actually never read.  So that should be fun.

One thing I've found very interesting-- there are so many little bits and scenes and conversations that actually are in the movies, but are in completely random/different places.

For instance, in the movie Aragorn sends Sam looking for athelas, or kingsfoil.  In the book, it's Ioreth from the Houses of Healing that he sends.  The conversation is near word-for-word and yet it's stuck in a completely different context.  Interesting and weird all at the same time.

Also interesting-- Arwen finally speaks!  I don't think she'd had a single line until after marrying Aragorn.  As much as I don't love what they did with her in the movies, I understand needing to give her a bigger role.  Can you imagine telling someone like Liv Tyler, "No, honey, you don't say anything.  You just sit there and look pretty for a few minutes in the first movie.  No, sorry, you aren't in the second one.  You get a few pages in the script of the third, but yeah, you only have one or two lines." LOL

Characters that I think were totally undercut in the movie(s):
First and foremost-- SAM!  I will contend to my dying breath that it is Sam that is the true protagonist. 
I've said it before and I'll say it again-- Faramir.  Totally the most-butchered character.  Sigh.
In the "simply too shallow a portrayal" category-- Eowyn.  Too much fire, too little frost, almost no depth.

And frankly, I think cutting out Merry and Pippin's roles in the Shire is a disservice.

Anyway. 

Easier to get through than Two Towers, certainly, but there were, interestingly, places where I actually wanted more description, if you can believe that.  A disturbing thought, really.

I do think I've OD'ed on LoTR, though.  The other night I tossed and turned having the most bizarre dreams, and all I remember about them was someone shouting "Ecthelion".  Yeah, no idea.  Apparently I'm being haunted by Denethor's father.  Sigh.


And yet, I think I want to watch the movies again. :)

The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

Not as easy as Fellowship... blah.

I still love the story, but did we really have to put ALL of the stuff in the west in the first half and make the second half ALL ABOUT FRODO?!?!?!?  UGH!!

That whole thing would have been so much more tolerable if it had been in 15 page chunks.

Though, I must say, the section with Faramir was all the more lovely after how the movies butchered his character.

I especially love the spot in the book where he basically says, "Look, Boromir was my brother, and I love him, but it's okay, I know he was kind of an idiot."

Soooo many things that I desperately wish had made it into the movie, and soooooooooo many things that I wish hadn't been.

Probably the hardest of the trilogy to read, (slog, slog, trudge, trudge, slog) but it's not like you can skip it, lol.

The Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkien

Um, I'm gonna say 5 stars
YF

Okay, I have a serious love/hate relationship with these books.  Last week I talked about how I found The Hobbit, right?  So naturally, after reading that, I picked up this.  Yeah, so did NOT work.  I don't think I got more than 60 pages in.

I couldn't stand it!  The paragraphs went on for ages, the descriptions were mind-boggling and it was all just too much.

So fast forward a few years.  The movies are coming out and I MUST read the book first.  Because I'm neurotic that way.

I FORCED myself through the book.  Ugh.  Great story, can't stand the writing.  The paragraphs and descriptions are still ridiculous and it feels like there is NO direct dialogue.  Shoot me now.

This time through was better.  It's been almost 10 years, and as we watched the movies a couple weeks ago, I found that I'd lost a lot of the details from the book.  And since I'm neurotic, that drove me nuts.  So I read it again.

And it was better.  The paragraphs didn't seem as long, I realized there was more dialogue than I'd thought, and frankly, I read differently than I did last time I read it.  For one, I give myself permission to skim.  Which makes a HUGE difference in the ridiculously long descriptions.

And honestly, the movies helped too.  Nevermind all the stuff that was cut and all the crazy things that were changed, the movies at least make me better able to picture the setting and the characters-- and to hear how they might talk.

(Hugo Weaving was a dreadful casting choice, by the way.  Holy cow.)

Anyway, so it was better.  And I'm kind of excited to dive into The Two Towers.

(Not the least because I know I won't have to deal with the butchery of Faramir that happens in the movie.  "The ring will go to Gondor" indeed.)
(I <3 Faramir and Eomer.)

Counts for the Support Your Local Library Challenge.

Book V Movie: The Hobbit

So after writing yesterday's post, I did some research.

It looks like the movie is going to include the whole Council of White thing... which is only barely mentioned in the book.  I guess they'll pull some details from The Simarillion.

And that makes sense, right?

Especially since it relates to the rise of Sauron in Mordor and the betrayal of Sauruman and all.

What do you think?  Good idea or bad?

It certainly explains why they are making it a 2 part movie.

And given that Legolas is the son of the Elven King that captures the dwarves in The Hobbit, there is probably a reasonable explanation for him being included also.  Except that I can't find anywhere how old Legolas is and that's driving me crazy.

Here's my problem, though.  The movie versions completely glossed over the 17/18 year gap between Bilbo's party and leaving the Shire and Frodo leaving with the ring.  So while Aragorn is, in fact, 87 at the time he meets Eowyn (one of the extended scenes), that does NOT mean he was 27 at the time of The Hobbit.  He was 10, people.  TEN.  And he didn't even meet Gandalf until many years later.

So, while I was originally thinking there were a couple good spots to stick Aragorn in if they wanted to, I've changed my mind.  Unless they want to include him as a child in Rivendell, which just seems silly.

Discuss.

:)

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

5 stars

YF

Okay, so flash back to a family vacation when I was.... 11 or so.  Maybe 10.  Whatever.

Anyway, we were in Northern California, driving through the redwoods, and came across a little place called Hobbiton, USA.  (Apparently, it is no more, which is very sad, but you can see pictures at the RINGERS Photo Gallery.)

For whatever bizarre reason, I had never heard of The Hobbit.  Blasphemy, I know.  But I enjoyed walking through Hobbiton, listening to the story (there were speakers at each spot and you pushed a button to hear that part) and got hold of the book as soon as we got home.  And enjoyed it.  (Then I tried reading the Lord of the Rings and that's a whole 'nother story for another post.)

Anyway.  I hadn't read it again.  But now seemed like a good time, what with rumors flying about the movie and all.  (Plus we just watched the trilogy.)  I do think it's interesting that most of the rumors involve actors whose characters were not actually IN The Hobbit, but whatever.

It's going to be interesting to see how the movie turns out-- the tone is so different.  Assuming they get Hugo Weaving again as Elrond (which they should, if only for the sake of continuity) he's going to have to actually be happy, which will just be weird.

Back to the book-- we actually currently own two copies-- the little paperback at the top of this post is what I actually read, because the other was a little too unwieldy.  It does, however, have cool pictures, so I flipped through it as I went along.

If I decide to read it with the kids, I think we'll use the illustrated one.

For those of you who have read this with/to your kids, what age worked?  I can't decide if Boo is old enough to actually be interested.  And, again, there are no girls.  (Let's face it, Tolkien wasn't real strong on the female characters.)

Now I'm gearing up to read the trilogy, but like I said, that's a whole 'nother story.  :)

WHY is it that BOOKS are so much Creepier....

Than TV or movies??

Really.  Is it just me?  Am I the only one that gets way more freaked out by a creepy book than a creepy show?

Yesterday I reviewed Skin and Bones by DC Corso and I couldn't finish reading it in a day.... because it was too late at night and it was creepy.

Yet I can watch Criminal Minds anytime... day or night.**

Which got me thinking.  What the heck is up with that?

I think it's the imagination factor-- my imagination is totally engaged when I'm reading.  I'm picturing stuff.  I'm internalizing.

With shows, they've done some of the work for me.  I'm watching it, so I don't need to imagine, right?

Am I nuts?  Does any of that make sense?

So I want to know-- are YOU more creeped out by books or shows??  Why do YOU think that is???

Seriously, I want to know. 

**Except when pregnant.  Totally can't watch it at night while pregnant.  Dreams are too funky.