Wednesday, February 25, 2009

YA Romance Challenge: Completed!

Yes, I finished another challenge! This one, the YA Romance Challenge was very easy, in fact, I'm sure I've read twice this many YA romances, but here's the list I committed to at the beginning of the challenge with links to my reviews.



I would probably say my favorite for "serious" stuff was The Truth About Forever, but "for fun" stuff was It's a Mall World After All.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Teaser Tuesdays: Fight!


TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

Grab your current read.Let the book fall open to a random page.Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!Please avoid spoilers!


From Elantris by Brandon Sanderson page 269:


"The corpse tumbled to the ground and Saolin saluted Raoden with his blade, shooting him a gap-toothed smile of reassurance. Then he spun around to face a group of wild-men charging down a nearby street toward them."

Weekly Geeks 2009.7: A Character Conversation


In this week's Weekly Geek installment, we have been encouraged to contact our favorite character and interview him or her.

Unfortunately, I've been having a bit of trouble with this task this week. First, I tried calling Heathcliff, but just my luck, his phone has been disconnected. I must say, I was actually quite relieved. I think it would have scared me to death to talk to him.

Then I tried to email Samwise Gamgee, but he so far, he hasn't answered back. Must be too busy handling all the problems that come up in The Shire.

My next idea was to try and get a hold some sort of bookish person, because perhaps they would be more willing to do an interview and might actually understand this book blogging fettish. I tried Hermione, but once again, no luck finding her.

Finally, I settled on Mary Bennet, you know, one of Elizabeth's younger sisters. She gets a bad wrap for the most part, so I thought I'd give her a chance to let us know what she's really all about! We were able to connect through chatting, and though she had to cut it short, I was able to ask her a couple of things:

Me: First of all, I've always been so curious as to what book you always have your nose in! We're all dying to know what you're reading!

Mary: Besides the lady's conduct books, of which I am very familiar as you may be aware, I am also fond of reading Evelina by Frances Burney, and Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne. And shhhh, do not tell anyone but of course I enjoy many Ann Radcliffe novels in addition!

Me: Oh, Evelina! I've read that it and yes it was pretty good. Ok, fess up now, what's your relationship like with Elizabeth?

Mary: Oh bother, she is such a bore. I cannot comprehend why she gets such lavish attention. Upon my word, I hardly understand a thing she says most of the time! I must confess though, she is quite civil is to me, she and Jane both.

Me: And of course, we need to know what you think of Mr. Darcy.

Mary: I declare, what a prideful arrogant man that one is. When Lizzy married him, it seemed the whole of the world decided he was so wonderful and amiable after all. But not me. He turns his nose up at me, but no matter, I just turn mine back up at him.

Me: Have you come across any potential marriageable prospects for yourself?

Mary: Oh, yes! Wonderful news! Mr. Collins (you remember, our cousin?) as it turns out, has a another cousin on his mother's side who has been coming to call these past months. He is the most pleasant of men and I think he means to make me an offer when next he visits. I am so overjoyed, I may be inclined to faint!

Me: That is wonderful news indeed! I wish you all the best.

Mary: Oh, my sincere thanks to you! And now I must dash off to help poor Mrs. Bennet who has been stricken down with a dizzy spell of late. I have greatly enjoyed our little tete-a-tete.

Me: It has been very fun and I thank you for being so willing to chat a while!

Monday, February 23, 2009

Lit Flicks Challenge Wrap-up




Wow! I finished a challenge! The Lit Flicks Challenge hosted by Jessica at The Bluestocking Society. The idea for this challenge was to read five books that have been made into movies, then watch at least two movies to go along with them. But of course, I wanted to watch all the movies that went with my books! I'm only missing one movie, but I'll get to that probably next weekend, after the challenge has officially ended.




Anyway, here's what I finished, with links to my reviews:


1. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (book review here, and a little movie review here.)

2. Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier (both book and movie review

here.)



3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (both book and movie review here... I also watched the recent Masterpiece Classic version and loved it! But never blogged about it.)


4. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper (book review here.)



5. All The Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy (book review here and a movie mention here.)

Thanks a fun challenge Jessica! Let's do another soon!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

The Sunday Salon: Just Checking In


Now that Sunday is pretty much over, I guess I'll go ahead and check in!

What am I reading today? I'm making great progress on Inkdeath (after only what? a month of reading it now?) and could finish it if I wouldn't get computer distracted!

Also, yesterday I started Elantris by Brandon Sanderson and got a few chapters into it. So, once Inkdeath is done, it's going to all be Elantris!

Yesterday evening we watched All the Pretty Horses. I thought it was a fine movie. It stayed very very close to the book. I loved the music and will now be searching to see if I can find it somewhere. I loved the kid that played Jimmy, and Matt Damon played the lead dude, John Grady Cole, and he wasn't too bad either. :)

What the family is reading:

The Mr.: A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
Bud: nothing
JJ: I have no idea at the moment
Moder: The 39 Clues: Maze of Bones by Rick Riordan
Toto: Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

A now, a little clip from All the Pretty Horses, which doesn't show much about the movie, well, nothing about the movie really, but has beautiful music, which sadly, is NOT from the movie, even though the movie DOES have it's own beautiful music. But here it is anyway:


P.S. Be sure to go make a suggestion for our new Bookword here. And don't forget to check out Weekly Geeks this week!

Review: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper


Review: The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
Genre: YA Fantasy
Rating: A-
For: Lit Flicks Challenge... and I think TBR? I forget.

Yes, I've been wanting to read this book for quite awhile. I got a bit discouraged when I realized it was the second in a series and I didn't have the first one nearby. But I was told it didn't matter, and that the first one was about different characters anyway. So, I did the big taboo and went ahead and read it!

This is the story of Will, a young boy in a big family, growing up in England. One day, just before his 11th birthday and Christmas, strange things begin to happen. First, the animals are acting weird. Then a guy in town gives him a strange little round ornament and told him to put it on his belt and never lose track of it. Besides that, it starts snowing like crazy, even though it normally never snows! By the next morning, the snow is really deep and when he looks outside, he discovers that the whole neighborhood has disappeared and all he can see are snow covered trees!

And so the adventure begins! Will slowly learns his destiny and who he really is. His mission in this book is to prevent the Dark from taking over. He has to accomplish several things, and get past many scary people before that can happen.

It's a wonderfully written book. But I found myself thinking throughout the whole thing, whether or not kids are able to understand it when they read it. The descriptions and concepts are all quite complex, to the point that I found it sometimes hard to follow. It's another one of those books that once you get into the flow and groove, things start making more sense.

It's a fun book, and I hope to read more of the series when I get a chance. I'm still trying to get a hold of the movie, "The Seeker," to watch as part of the Lit Flicks Challenge, but it could be awhile yet. But in the meantime, here's the trailer (which I can tell already they've made Will older and set the whole thing in modern times, but still it looks fun):



Other reviews:

Friday, February 20, 2009

Review: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy


Book: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Genre: Lit. Fiction
Rating: A
For: Lit Flicks Challenge and Awards Challenge (National Book Award 1992)


I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing, except for the fact that the author is well-known for his book The Road. I came out of the book with the idea that this author has a very unique writing style, one of those styles that you have to kinda of get into the grove and flow before you start feeling it. Know what I mean?

Luckily for me, I got in the groove and ended up really liking this book.

Basically, this is the story of John Grady Cole (LOVE that name!) who, along with his buddy, decides to take off from his home in Texas and head to Mexico, just to see what would happen I think. Along they way, they meet another kid whose story they never really learn, but he adds some excitement to their life in a big way! They end up at a big horse ranch, and make quite an impression on everyone with their horse wrangling abilities. Of course, before long a girl gets involved in it all and then things get really messy. Poor poor John Grady Cole!

Even though the writing style was quite unemotional, plain and blunt, and even a bit stream-of-conscious at times, I still totally connected to this dude, and cared about what happened to him. However, this book may not be for everyone. I stumbled upon the reviews about it over at Goodreads and wow, people are all over the board with it!

Anyway, I've rented the movie from the library, and hope to get to that this weekend, so stay tuned for that mini-review.

Other reviews:




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