Another Book Read

Divergent by Veronica Roth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a good call for my post-Hunger Games withdrawal.  While I never felt like life as I know it was going to stop if I didn't find out what happened to these characters and I never once shed a tear, I did really enjoy this book.  It was a quick, satisfying read built around a uniquely interesting premise and likable characters.

The similarities to THG are there for sure and I see why the distributors jumped at this and designed the cover the way they did and bought the movie rights.  But Roth should be given credit for a wonderfully inventive, intriguing story, a compelling setting and characters you care about.

I'm bummed that I now have to wait for her to finish the second in the series because I'd really like to see where she takes her factionless heroes.


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I'm tumbl'ing...

the experiment starts now...click here

From the Small Screen to Many Books

The Awakening and The Struggle by L.J. Smith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is so similar to Twilight (high school girl falls for mysterious dark new boy in town who ignores her but it's really because she drives him to distraction and he finally shows her when he saves her life and then they have an intense love that no one can understand because he's actually hundreds of years old and is a killer but wants to be good) that I had to see who did it first.  Turns out LJ Smith started this series in 1991 so was the originator but I actually think that Stephanie Meyer did it better.  This book is Young Adult and it reads that way.

Also, I love the TV series and they've taken some major liberties in adapting these books for the small screen that made it a little hard to get into.  Where's Jeremy?  Why is Stefan from Renaissance Italy (altho it explains the Salvatore name)? Bonnie is a red-headed Irish psychic? Elena is a blonde and Katherine was weak and fragile?

The thing that the book and the series have most in common (other than everyone's names) is that Damon is one bad ass hottie.  The show's creators did an amazing job casting for that because he is spot on to what Damon is supposed to be.  Scary, sensual, dangerous but fascinating and beautiful.  He's the entire draw for this series and I think I'd like to skip right to the books that tell the story from his perspective.

The end of the first two volumes also went to a place that the series hasn't gone (YET?!?)

Bottom line is that I still read 492 pages in 4 days.  So it is def entertaining, when I access my 12 year old girl self...who's never far away anyway :)


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What's Your "Favorite Movie"?

I like to think that I'm a person of discerning taste.  I'm picky about my music, food and friends.  And  I have a pretty high standard for movies; you'll rarely catch me watching crappy horror flicks or some American Pie/Band Camp teen farce.  My Netflix rating history only shows a handful of actual 5 star movies.  But when the summer comes and all our shows' seasons are finished and our DVR queue is cleared (except for all the Palladia concerts!) I find myself at the mercy of the [mostly] crap that the networks decide to air.  So it's always around this time of year when I realize that while I may think that Goodfellas is my favorite movie with all its groundbreaking shots (round the table, through the kitchen) and No Country for Old Men & The English Patient have some of the best storylines, these are not actually the movies I CHOOSE to watch more than once.
So it begs the question, when someone asks you "What's your favorite movie?" what do you go with?  The movies you think are the best made films?  Or the movies that you actually watch, every single time you see them on?  The movies that are the mac & cheese of the cinema---your comfort flicks???  Last weekend I realized that there are two movies that I will watch EVERY time I see them on, no matter what.  I am drawn to them and once they pop up, I am compelled.  They may not have Oscar worthy dialogue or ground breaking cinematography but to me, I'm beginning to think they're the best movies ever made.  I mean, isn't the point of film to entertain us?  My top two keep me engrossed beyond my control.  They are like my movie crack:

• MEAN GIRLS: first of all, I don't think this movie is actually crap.  The screenplay [adapted from a novel by Wiseman] was written by Tina Fey, who is undeniably one of the funniest women on the planet.  It's smart and a lot of its humor goes well over the high-school minds of its central characters.  But at the core of its draw (for me, at least) is that there's a kernel of truth to the overly cliched cliques.  And every girl wanted to be a Regina or a Cady and conversely to see them ultimately get what's coming to them.  
• THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA:  I'm not going to lie.  I'm going to own my girliness right up front.  The clothes in this movie are the star.  The montage with Anne Hathway in a different outfit in every shot is about 85% of the reason I watch this movie.  It's like watching your Barbies come to life.  And again, as Amanda Priestly says, everybody wants to be them.  And everybody who isn't them wants to see them fall.  And every girl likes a makeover scene.  

There are many other movies that I feel this way about.  I'm sure some of them are your "favorites" too:

1. Baz Luhrmann's version of ROMEO & JULIET:  Leo has never looked better.  Claire Danes is the best Juliet.  The hipness of the locales, clothes, dialogue (all of it original Shakespeare, not altered), music (Garbage!  Radiohead! ) and Luhrmann's signature hopped-up cinematography are dazzling.  It's like shiny eye candy.  I think The Bard would enjoy this version the best and I hope they're showing it in high schools to get kids interested in Shakespeare.  This is how cool it can be. 
2. MOULIN ROUGE:  for all the same reasons.  Luhrmann brought all of that to an actual musical and it's breathtaking.  Nicole Kidman is other-worldly and who knew Ewan McGregor could sing?  Plus the whole message is:  "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"
3. CHICAGO:  sticking with the musical theme.  Chicago took a Broadway show and turned into a legit movie.  It's slick, it's pretty but gritty, it's got a great story and it intersperses some big production numbers (Richard Gere's Razzle Dazzle) with sublimely understated ones (John C. Reilly's Mister Cellophane). Maybe one of my favorite movies that ever won an Oscar.
4. SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE: Joseph Fiennes...as Shakespeare.  I think Shakespeare's words are unbelievably sexy.  But when you have them actually coming out of a hot, hot guy who's also mushy and sensitive and dramatic?  That's delightful.  Plus the story is fun and while it doesn't have the technical happy ending, it feels like a Shakespearean tale.  I could do without Gwyneth as a boy though.  
5. SWINGERS/WEDDING CRASHERS: Vince Vaughn is a funny dude.  So funny that I would like to make him mad just so he'd start telling me off.  Yeah, yeah...the stories are hysterical.  The dialogue's slick.  Swingers' referencing of Tarantino is hip and inspired.  But Vince Vaughn is a funny dude and these two movies are his perfect platforms.  Vegas, baby!       
6. PRIDE & PREJUDICE/CLUELESS: these movies might seem to have very little in common.  One involves people speaking in proper British accents and wearing period clothes and the other involves Alicia Silverstone saying, "as if" a lot.  But, technically they were both written by Jane Austen.  Pride and Prejudice (either the Keira Knightly or Colin Firth versions) is directly adapted from her novel and Clueless is a modern version of Emma.  They both have misunderstandings, tales of romance and true love, and strikingly modern female heroines.  
7. PLEASANTVILLE:  I love the premise of this movie and I love the way it was filmed.  It's funny, it's heartbreaking and it's completely compelling.  This is why I love Reese Witherspoon.  And because such a main point of the story is the color and cinematography, it's breathtaking to watch the transformation.  Such a great cast and soundtrack too.  This one, for me, just isn't on enough.
8. EMPIRE RECORDS:  AJ!  Damn the Man!  Warren!  oh my gosh, I love this movie.  I worked at a record store and this is so nostalgic for me.  I like to think we were actually this cool.  We used to have vetoes on which songs would go up on the store music and lots of love triangles.  But our spot wasn't nearly as cool as the Empire Records building.  I would've done anything to save that too.  And has there been a better soundtrack? Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Evan Dando, Better than Ezra, Dishwalla, Sponge, Dire Straits and even some Jimi Hendrix.  

There are some honorable mentions that I love, just maybe not enough to watch every time they're on:  OFFICE SPACE ("I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it would be!"), THE NOTEBOOK (I would probably watch this more except that I break down and bawl like I just lost a family member every time I watch it.  But seriously, could Ryan Gosling be more perfect than this movie?), pretty much every John Hughes/Molly Ringwald movie, FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF, ST. ELMO'S FIRE, BILL & TED'S, SPEED, DEMOLITION MAN

The End of (Another) Trilogy

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Being the third in the trilogy this book picks up where the Girl Who Played with Fire left off...namely at the end of the action.  This book is 593 pages of closure.  Most of the heart-racing do or die moments have already taken place and the majority of this one is setting everyone up for their justice.  Somehow, thanks to Larsson's detailing of his engaging characters' every movement, I was still drawn in and kept racing along.  It is a good ending to a fantastic, gripping story.  

There were some flaws that afterwards left me a little puzzled.  Why the story with Erika Berger going to SMP?  Why the story with her stalker?  In truth it had nothing to do with Lisbeth except that she helped figure out who it was.  Seemed completely irrelevant and unnecessary.  

Also, there were two story points that felt entirely unresolved, perhaps due to Larsson's untimely death:

1.  What happened to Camilla Salandar?  she's alluded to and a complete mystery.  Reading the message boards it seems that Larsson planned 10 books around Lisbeth so I'm guessing at some point she would have been introduced back into her life.

2.  Why was nothing found for Lisbeth to do or to spend her millions on?  The obvious (maybe cliche) choice would be some sort of foundation for women.  Especially the money left from her father should have gone to stopping trafficking or domestic violence or something.  They kept focusing on Lisbeth becoming a responsible citizen but in the end she's left sort of wandering aimlessly.



Otherwise I will say that I felt a sense of relief to "be" in the courtroom when Teleborian was torn apart.  Most novels like this stop when the person gets caught but Larsson lets you see his bad guy twist on the stand and you are an eye witness to justice being served.  Almost all the ends were tied up satisfyingly.  Such a good story, sad we won't have any more from him.




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Out of My Book Funk!

Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man's Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A friend gave this to me to help me get over my Hunger Games withdrawal.  After trying to read at least 3 other books, this is the one that worked.  The Introduction just reeled me in with its slick, easy, conversation-like style and I read it in two sittings:  going from LGA-CVG and then a couple of hours last night.  It's like sitting at a bar and talking to a super-cool guy about your shared music obsessions.  One of those conversations that while you're in the middle of it you hope it doesn't stop for a while.

While I can't say I  agree with (a lot!) of his favorite or well-remembered songs (when was the last time you heard someone mention Scritti Politti or Ray Parker Jr.?) I will say that I wholeheartedly agree and identify with the place that music holds in his life.  I very clearly remember the first time I heard certain bands and there are songs that can stop me in my tracks and move me to another year in another city.  I adore the way he shares with us the lessons he learned from these songs, these artists.  I identify with how much these songs relate to certain people, certain years and the state we were in when we obsessively play them over and over.  I was a huge Smiths fan but always knew Morrissey was just in a funk, I was a Madonna and Prince fan but never hoped they'd last as long as they did.  I never really cared about Duran Duran when they were around (gasp!).  I didn't relate at the time to boys who wanted to wear make up and be prettier than me.  But I distinctly remember the first time I watched MTV and then what a prevalent part of my life it became.  There are so many artists that I didn't like then that I have come to appreciate with time and Duran Duran is one of them.  I worked in a music store when 'Decades' came out and that was actually when my appreciation began. They are one of the bands that sound seems to get richer the longer it stays on the air.  What was kind of fluffy silliness in the year it was released now, for me, seems to embody an historical period that made its claim on that lightness and in retrospect seems so sweet and naive and quaint.  I love Duran Duran now and this book definitely spoke to me.  Now if only we can get John Cusack to star in the movie...


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THG Withdrawal

It is seriously like those lovely ladies at Hello Giggles are inside my brain and then blog on the problems that are facing me.  Right now, it's my book withdrawal from The Hunger Games.  You laugh, but this is a problem.  I am a girl who is never without a book.  Since I have finished THG I just couldn't get into anything else.  British Historical Fiction seemed too obsolete and medieval...modern chick lit seemed too fluffy and I really just want to love on Peeta again.  So I did the MOST insane thing.  I re-read the trilogy.  Like days after I finished it.  I've never done that before.  So weird but it kinda helped because I flew through the first ones trying to find out who survives so I was able to let it sink in a bit on the second try.  But not too much because I finished them again in less than two weeks.  And now here I am back in the same situation.  So thank you @katespencer for hopefully helping me MOVE ON with my life.  At least until the movie comes out!


What To Read Now That You’ve Finished The Hunger Games