Monday is World Book Night and I’ll be passing out 20 copies of The Glass Castle to light/non-readers. I have a few ideas about where I’d like to pass out books, but am hoping you’ll give me a few more. When I first signed up I had a neighborhood in mind and was thinking of places to pass them out (coffee shops, hair salons), but now I’m considering other options.
So, how are you planning on passing out your books, if you’re a giver?
If you’re not a giver I’d love to hear your suggestions too!
I love lists. When I started this blog over 4 years ago, I thought it would be fun to come up with a Top 100 list so I did.
My Top 100 movie list is more accurate than my book list because I rewatch favorite movies all the time. The initial list took some time, but I feel pretty good about it. Every month or so I try to review a favorite movie and before I do I watch it again and adjust how high on the list it should be. In the 3 or so years I’ve been doing this, two movies after another viewing, didn’t make the cut. This week I asked Jason if he wanted to watch #21 with me and he said yes, so over two nights we watched it. And spent most of the time making fun of it. I couldn’t believe it. It just did not age well. Alien was filmed in 1979 and it shows. My memories did not match the movie at all. I was so disappointed and will have to take it off my list.
So, has this happened to you? Do you remember loving a book or a movie or a song and then when you read/watch. hear it again it’s terrible?
“I don’t know why I’m telling you all this-probably because I’ll burst if I don’t tell someone, and you look so-so human-but Africa’s having the most tremendous impact on me. Ever since we arrived I’ve been having the strangest dreams at night, and seeing life and myself in the most astonishing perspective. This country’s returning me to something I lost, it’s disinhibiting me.”
Chapter 7
Mrs. Pollifax is a widower in her 60’s and instead of settling down to garden club meetings she has become an improbable asset to the CIA. The missions never seem to be dangerous, at least until Emily arrives on the scene, and this assignment is no different. She is excited to be assigned the job of taking pictures on an African safari. Not bad, right? Well, it ss a great experience until she goes and gets herself kidnapped.
I read a few of the Mrs. Pollifax series way before I became obsessed with reading series’ in order, so I was happy to find her future husband on the safari. Cyrus is a big man instantly smitten with the seemingly retiring Mrs. Pollifax. It was nice to see Emily appreciated.
There was a safari tour full of suspects and an old CIA friend in the area somewhere, causing Emily to come under suspicion from many quarters. The mystery was good, as was the description of Africa’s political plight (circa 1976). I love the feisty Emily Pollifax. She is smart, resourceful, and full of sass. She is constantly underestimated and always rises to the challenge. I enjoyed visiting with her after all these years. A quick and satisfying read.
I recommend this series to cozy mystery fans and fans of Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple.
So many books are being retold these days, graphic style. I went to the library and chose 10 graphic books. The first 6 are classics (one is not a novel). I accidentally picked up two copies of the same book, one original text and one quick text, SO #10 is the same book as one of the first 9. Just give me the title of the book it’s based on.
You have until noon Sunday to submit your answers as a comment. Comment will be hidden until I post the answers. No Googling!
This round will last til August. The person with the most points will win a B&N gift card (total $ based on # of total participants, so please play) and a randomly selected participant will win a fun prize from me.
Have fun and Good Luck!
Answers to last week’s poetry quiz here. Leaderboard here.
1. Great Expectations – original text 2. Fahrenheit 451 3. Sense & Sensibility 4. Jane Eyre 5. Dante’s Divine Comedy 6. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species 7. The Exile (Diana Gabaldon) 8. Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm 9. Troublemaker (Janet & Alex Evanovich) 10. Great Expectations – quick text
Kathy has won a copy of Ethan Coen’s new poetry book, The Day the World Ends. Mailing it out today 🙂 Thanks to all who entered or participated in the quiz.
If you are interested in last week’s quiz where I used a few poems from the book you can check here later for the answers.
Gage loves belly buttons and zippers. We thought it was cute and encouraged his interest by letting him lift our shirts and push our belly buttons to make us laugh. Same with zippers. Why not let him try to zip up mom’s jacket? Oh, the dark side of cute toddler obsession. Several times now at My Gym or library storytimes Gage will go up (only to little girls) and try to unzip whatever they are wearing. So far, none of them have been too happy about it. The moms all laugh and tell Gage he’s going to have to wait a few years before the girls will like it.
Last Sunday my best friend from college and one-time Arlington, Virginia roommate and his family stopped by for a visit on their way back home. There wasn’t a zipper in sight, but when their daughter said hi Gage thought a proper greeting would be to lift up her shirt and look for her laugh button. I didn’t capture it on film but you can see from these pictures that he really thinks they had something special.
He’s already working on his moves for the ladies 🙂
I read the Stephen King novel last year (my review here) and I finally got around to seeing the movie. I don’t remember particularly liking the book, but I thought it was worthwhile because of all of the pop references I now understand. This was Stephen King’s first published book and first movie adaptation of his work. He received a $2,500 advance for the novel and $2,500 for the film rights. Must have been a popular number.
King said of Carrie, “I’m not saying that Carrie is shit and I’m not repudiating it. She made me a star, but it was a young book by a young writer. In retrospect it reminds me of a cookie baked by a first grader — tasty enough, but kind of lumpy and burned on the bottom.”
The paperback sold over a million copies the first year it was released. The movie made $33.8 million in 1976 when it came out.
On with the comparison…
The Story/ Plot Carrie is an odd high school girl raised by her very religious mother. Carrie has telekinetic powers and can move things with her mind, when she’s upset it is unintentional. She is an outcast at school and is ostracized even more after starting her period in the gym shower. Sue feels guilty for her role in Carrie’s meltdown and offers up her popular boyfriend, Tommy, to take Carrie to prom.
There are many differences between the book and movie, but the idea remains the same. Carrie has a crazy mother, can do crazy things with her mind, and goes completely crazy at the prom.
For me, the book’s documentary style telling, using interviews and police reports after the fact, was much more interesting than the straightforward way of the film. Thumbs Up– Book
The Visual Although I preferred what actually happened in the book, the visual of the movie was cool to see and did a pretty good service to the novel. It was like stepping back into the 1970’s. I was completely distracted by Tommy’s hair every time he was in a scene. It was large and shiny and blonde. And the shower scene totally worked on film (although having girls frolic and chat while naked was not my high school gym experience). The actual prom scene was cool, but I was expecting more. Thumbs Up- Tie
Characters vs. Actors I did not really connect with Carrie in the book, but in the movie I was able to see her in a more positive light thanks to Sissy Spacek. She saved the character for me. I was a little miffed at what they did to the character of Sue in the movie, but actress Amy Irving can’t be held responsible for the screenplay. Thumbs up – Movie
(SPOILERS) The Ending The end of the book was a firestorm that brought down a town. In the movie Carrie gets a little knock on the head and she’s dead. There’s really no comparison. I will give a shout out to the movie for its VERY different ending – I jumped and was a bit freaked out, so it’s not all bad. Thumbs Up- Book
And the winner is… the book. I’m not taking anything away from the movie but when compared side by side it was an easy call.
The moving story told in its pages, of love and loss and acceptance, of secret passions and the weight of private thoughts, forever changed the way I viewed my own writing. It may have been why I stopped writing. Joel had never read the book, and I was glad of it. It was too intimate to share. It read to me like the pages of my unwritten diary.
Chapter 1
Emily, author of one bestselling novel years ago, has just signed her divorce papers. Not able to write and not sure what to do about it her best friend convinces her that a change of scenery will help, so Emily contacts her Aunt Bee on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Once she’s back on the island where she spent the wonderful summers of her youth, she finds a hidden journal written by the mysterious Esther, and Emily wonders if she is somehow connected to her family. Totally immersed in Esther’s story and frustrated by her aunt’s refusal to talk about family secrets, Emily found the perfect way to forget about her divorce and the muse to start writing again.
The story in the journal parallels current day Bainbridge Island and as Emily pieced together who was who I tried to keep up. I admit I had some ideas, but did get a bit confused by the large cast. I didn’t really care though, I was just happy to be along for the ride. One of these days I hope I find my way to Bainbridge Island. The place felt magical.
I loved this book. The writing was beautiful, there was such depth and beauty on every page. The awesome writing coupled with the two addicting storylines make this one easy to recommend. I’ve been in a bit of a reading slump (probably because I have so little time for it these days so I tend to choose shorter books) but this one had me reading well into my sleep time and that’s not something I give up lightly!
There are two things that kept this from being perfect for me. I wish there could have been another chapter to wrap things up a little more and I was surprised by how fast Emily recovered from her divorce. She did not waste any time jumping back into the dating pool and seemed to think very little of her old life. This felt a bit odd, but I’ve not gone through a divorce so maybe it is that easy to forget (and I mean forget a week later). Both of these are minor complaints.
This is my favorite book this year, so far, and it was from my personal library.
Enter to win a copy of The Day the World Ends by Ethan Coen here.
In honor of National Poetry Month this first quiz of round 2 features poetry from Ethan Coen’s new book The Day the World Ends (read yesterday’s post for details about the book). I’m also giving away the copy they sent me so I could make this quiz. All you have to do is guess at least answer on the quiz. You don’t have to get any right to be entered 🙂
You have until noon Sunday to submit your answers as a comment. Comment will be hidden until I post the answers. No Googling!
This round starts today and will last til August. The person with the most points will win a B&N gift card (total $ based on # of total participants, so please play) and a randomly selected participant will win a fun prize from me.
Ethan Coen’s new book of poems, The Day the World Ends? It was released last week and I have a copy to give away. I was offered the book for review, but honestly, I just don’t think I’d do it justice. I am not a poetry lover.
Synopsis From one of the most inventive and celebrated filmmakers of the twentieth century, and co-creator of such classics as Fargo, No Country for Old Men, and True Grit, a collection of poems that offers humor and insight into an artist who has always pushed the boundaries of his craft. Ethan Coen’s screenplays have surprised and delighted international audiences with their hilarious vision and bizarrely profound understanding of human nature. This eccentric genius is revealed again in The Day the World Ends, a remarkable range of poems that are as funny, ribald, provocative, raw, and often touching as the brilliant films that have made the Coen brothers cult legends.
But I did offer to use it in quiz and give a copy to one lucky reader. Why would I accept a book of poetry if I’m not a fan? Well, he is a Coen brother who, along with his brother Joel, has written some of the best scripts. You can thank Ethan and Joel for Raising Arizona, Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, No Country for Old Men, Burn After Reading, and 18 others.
Want to win a copy? Leave a comment with an email address and then come back tomorrow to see how I used the poems for a quiz and enter again. I’ll draw a winner on Sunday, April 15th.
Monday is World Book Night and I’ll be passing out 20 copies of The Glass Castle to light/non-readers. I have a few ideas about where I’d like to pass out books, but am hoping you’ll give me a few more. When I first signed up I had a neighborhood in mind and was thinking of places to pass them out (coffee shops, hair salons), but now I’m considering other options.
Finished 4-18-12, rating 3.5/5, mystery, 223 pages, pub. 1976
Finished 4-7-12, rating 4.5/5, fiction, 293 pages, pub. 2011
Ethan Coen’s new book of poems,
Stacy's Books 