Book vs. Movie – Gone Girl

October 9, 2014September 13, 202418 Comments

This is semi-regular feature where we can talk about which was better, the book or the movie. I read the book in January 2013 (post here) and watched the movie last Friday, the day it came out. Let’s break down how they compare.

*This is as spoiler free as possible!!!

The Story/Plot Nick and Amy meet in New York and fall in love. When the money gets tight and Nick’s mom gets sick they move to Missouri. One or both of them turns into a sociopath and the paparazzi cameras are rolling. I think both the movie and book do an excellent job of telling the story of this couple and the crumbling facade of their marriage. Thumbs Up-Tie

The Visual The book is dark and the movie was also dark, really at times it felt like the X-Files and you needed a flashlight. I don’t really feel that the movie added anything visually to the book. There’s no real reason to see it on the big screen unless you just can’t wait to spent more time with Nick and Amy. To me, the descriptions in the book were just as effective in creating a visual image. Thumbs Up-Tie

Characters vs. Actors I think Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike became Nick and Amy. Excellent choices and great acting (at least I hope it was acting!). I love Neil Patrick Harris but he was not exactly who I pictured as Desi. Margo, Nick’s sister was played by a new actress to me, Carrie Coon and I thought she did a great job. I know people are complaining about a character missing, but I really wasn’t bothered by the minor exclusion. Thumbs Up-Tie

The Ending Up until this point I think both book and movie were on equal footing. In the book, the ending packed a punch for me. I was upset. In the movie, the ‘ending’ went on so long with so many scene cuts that I just wanted it to figure out what it wanted to say and to do it. For me, it was a weak. It did change just enough to make the ending different while still being the same in spirit. If that makes any sense. Thumbs Up-Book

And the winner is…the Book!

Now it’s your turn to vote

Other book vs. movie polls you can still vote on: (It Ends With Us) (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) (The Sun is Also a Star) (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) (Good Morning, Midnight/The Midnight Sky) (Before I Go To Sleep) (The Little Prince) (Charlie St. Cloud) (Far From the Madding Crowd) (The Girl on the Train) (Tuck Everlasting) (Northanger Abbey) (Me Before You) (And Then There Were None) (Still Alice) (The Blind Side) (The Fault in Our Stars) (The Hound of the Baskervilles) (Gone Girl) (Jack Reacher) (Ender’s Game) (Carrie, the original) (Under the Tuscan Sun) (The Secret Life of Bees) (The Shining, the original)

Scandal on Rincon Hill by Shirley Tallman

October 9, 20146 Comments

Scandal on Rincon Hill. Finished 10-5-14, rating 3.75/5, mystery, 340 pages, pub. 2010

Book #4 of the Sarah Woolson mystery series (Book 1) (Book 2) (Book 3)

A body is found just blocks from attorney Sarah Woolson’s home on Rincon Hill. Sarah is on the case, but 19th-century San Francisco is soon thrown into a state of panic as a gruesome crime spree begins to take hold of the city.

from Goodreads

Sarah, the only female attorney in San Francisco in 1881 and one of two in all of California, has opened up shop but has a hard time making ends meet. No one is in a hurry to hire a woman lawyer even though she has helped solve several big name cases. Her heart is always willing to take on the oppressed and marginalized and she has the smarts and support to do it. She still lives in the family home and her father and three brothers are all successful in their chosen fields. Only her mother still believes she’ll be able to see Sarah married off someday and in this book there is a marriage proposal so she’s not far off.

Brielle, a young mistress is thrown out of her home after she has a baby and has to turn to a madam to make ends meet. Two men from China, only in town for days, are railroaded for two murders. Sarah takes on both cases with little hope of successful outcomes for either. She might just manage to keep her law practice afloat, but she’ll have to rely on old friends for help.

I like this series. Sarah is a focused and unconventional and Tallman is able to give me real sense of life in 1881 San Fransisco. If you like historical mysteries and female leads you will probably like this series.

This was from my own library.

Stephen King Quiz – guessing closed

October 7, 2014October 15, 201415 Comments

quiz Last week we tried Shakespeare quotes so I thought Stephen King would be the next best choice 🙂 Good luck matching the quotes from the novels to the title. Each is used only one time.

Take your best guesses, be entered to win a prize – you only need one correct answer to be eligible for a prize. No cheating (using the web to help find answers) or copying. All extra details can be found here.

Leave your guesses in the comment section by Tuesday afternoon.

Titles-Carrie, It, Under the Dome, The Shining, The Green Mile, Misery, Hearts in Atlantis, 11/22/63, Pet Sematary, Full Dark No Stars, The Stand, Cujo

1.“High school isn’t a very important place. When you’re going you think it’s a big deal, but when it’s over nobody really thinks it was great unless they’re beered up.” -Carrie

2.“’Yeah, but what if you went back and killed your own grandfather?'” -11/22/63

3. “We all float down here!” -It

4. “Sometimes dead is better” -Pet Sematary

5. “Close your eyes and click your heals three times…because there’s no place like Dome.” -Under the Dome

6. “I believe most people are essentially good. I know that I am. It’s you I’m not entirely sure of.” -Full Dark No Stars

7. “Wendy? Darling? Light, of my life. I’m not gonna hurt ya. I’m just going to bash your brains in.” -The Shining

8. “The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there…and still on your feet.” -The Stand

9.“On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That it was my job? My job?” -The Green Mile

10.“I am your number one fan.” -Misery

11. “The monster never dies.” -Cujo

12.“Sometimes when you’re young, you have moments of such happiness, you think you’re living on someplace magical, like Atlantis must have been. Then we grow up and our hearts break into two.” -Hearts in Atlantis

September’s Movies

October 3, 2014October 4, 201410 Comments

Great theater month!

Now it’s your turn. Add your 5 words (or less!) to mine and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time.

I hope that you will take a few minutes to participate when you can each month. It’s fun for me and for everyone else who reads it. I’m not looking for a critical review, just a few words about how you felt about the movie. This is ongoing so you can leave your 5 words anytime.

We’re up to $53

The Drop, 2014 (Cast-Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace, John Ortiz) Grade B+

Quiet man lives by code.

The Maze Runner, 2014 (Cast-Dylan O’Brien, Aml Ameen, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter) Grade B

Crazy maze was never boring.

This is Where I Leave You, 2014 (Cast-Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne) Grade B-

Great cast. Funny but sad.

Family dysfunction at its best. (Kathy)
Marmaduke, 2010 (Lee Pace, Judy Greer, William H. Macy. Voices of Owen Wilson, Fergie, Keifer Sutherland, Emma Stone, George Lopez) Grade C

Big dog really gets around.

Prospect Street by Emilie Richards

October 1, 201414 Comments

Prospect Street. Finished 9-23-14, rating 4/5, fiction, 498 pages. pub. 2002

In one fell swoop, Faith Bronson loses her marriage, her financial security and her home. Despite the protestations of her father, she moves her family to a run-down town house in Georgetown. As she works on the house and attempts to put her life back together, she begins to discover secrets that have been long buried in the house on Prospect Street. Secrets that will change her family forever…

from Goodreads

I don’t want to give away too much so I won’t tell you why Faith’s marriage broke up, but the beginning of the story that concerned this worried me. It was not the story I wanted from Richards whose heartfelt novels always leave me satisfied. But as the story became more about Faith discovering her strength, I became more invested and less worried that it would fall down a rabbit hole I didn’t want to be trapped in. This book was not in a hurry to get anywhere fast and I loved that. I loved meandering through the lives of Faith, her children, her family, and neighbors. They each had their own story to tell and a mystery that connected them all.

It felt a little like a throwback, I was surprised that it was published in 2002. Maybe the topic seemed dated, but I don’t know why because it’s not. Anyway, I got caught up in the people, the mystery of a kidnapped baby and the rich Georgetown setting. I was reading this on our recent trip to Washington DC and we were planning on spending some time there, but it got late and I was too tired to walk across the bridge. I love Georgetown and the idea of living in the townhouses there. Love it until, like Faith, I learn that renovations are extensive and expensive in those old homes.

It was a warm story of a woman coming into her own while battling the mysteries of her past. I was captivated.

This was from my own library.

Shakespeare Quiz with a special giveaway – giveaway closed

September 30, 2014October 7, 201416 Comments

quiz This is a toughie, but take a few minutes and see if you can match the quotes to the play correctly. Each title has only one quote. The person who scores the highest will win a small gift I bought when visiting the Library of Congress. If there is a tie, I’ll have Gage pick a name 🙂 Good luck!!

Take your best guesses, be entered to win a prize – you only need one correct answer to be eligible for a prize. No cheating (using the web to help find answers) or copying. All extra details can be found here.

Leave your guesses in the comment section by Tuesday afternoon.

Titles- Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer’s Night Dream, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, Richard III, The Merry Wives of Windsor

1. To be, or not to be:that is the question. Hamlet

2. Beware the Ides of March Julius Caesar

3. A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse! King Richard III

4. Parting is such sweet sorrow. Romeo and Juliet

5. This is the short and long of it. The Merry Wives of Windsor

6. Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em. Twelfth Night

7.The course of true love never did run smooth. A Midsummer’s Night Dream

8.All the world ‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts. As You Like It

9.Double, double toil and trouble. Macbeth

10.All that glitters is not gold. The Merchant of Venice

DC Quiz – guessing closed

September 24, 2014September 30, 201410 Comments

quiz Jason and I had a great time visiting Washington DC last week. We lived there for three years eons ago and would love to move back to the area someday. Until then I’ll watch movies and read books set there! See if you can recognize these movies from their movie posters. (resist the urge to search for the images – that’s no fun!)

Take your best guesses, be entered to win a prize – you only need one correct answer to be eligible for a prize. No cheating (using the web to help find answers) or copying. All extra details can be found here.

Leave your guesses in the comment section until Monday.

1.White House Down

2.Dave

3.All the President’s Men

4.Primary Colors

5.Protocol

6.A Few Good Men

7.An American President

8.St. Elmo’s Fire

9. State of Play

10.In the Line of Fire

Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver

September 23, 20146 Comments

Roadside Crosses. Finished 8-26-14, rating 3.75/5, mystery, pub. 2009

Unabridged audio 16 hours. Read by Michele Pawk.

Book 2 of the Kathryn Dance series. (Book 1)

Kathryn Dance, kinesics expert with the California Bureau of Investigation, made her first appearance in the Lincoln Rhyme series (Cold Moon) and then started her own series with The Sleeping Doll. She is caught up in a string of nasty crimes that culminate with roadside crosses being left before the crime is committed nearby. It all seems to stem from a blog post and the comments section. (Oh, to have such power!) As she tries to track down all those who made a comment blaming a maybe innocent teen, she spends less time reading body language and more time relying on help from tech experts. I think that’s what made this less enjoyable than the other two books with Dance. This became a good mystery, but little to set it apart from other good mysteries.

This book was interesting from a blogger’s perspective since it showcased blogs, websites, social media and virtual gaming. Deaver likes to educate on a given topic and when this was written in 2009 it probably was more cutting edge than today. Still, for those three people still offline, this would be eye-opening. It is a cautionary tale about how much of our lives and ourselves we put online for the world (strangers whose motives we don’t know) to see. The longer I blog and comment the less I am aware of the lurking evil so this was a nice refresher for me 🙂

I like Dance and will read her next book, but I hope she uses more of her skills in reading people.

This was from my personal library.

Monday Mailbox – September 22

September 21, 201415 Comments

mmb-300x282 Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Jason and I went to Washington DC for a few days last week and surprise, surprise, not much reading was done BUT that didn’t stop Mt. TBR from growing 🙂

The Silent Sister

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain (sent by the publisher)

In The Silent Sister, Riley MacPherson has spent her entire life believing that her older sister Lisa committed suicide as a teenager. Now, over twenty years later, her father has passed away and she’s in New Bern, North Carolina cleaning out his house when she finds evidence to the contrary. Lisa is alive. Alive and living under a new identity. But why exactly was she on the run all those years ago, and what secrets are being kept now? As Riley works to uncover the truth, her discoveries will put into question everything she thought she knew about her family. Riley must decide what the past means for her present, and what she will do with her newfound reality.

Murder Strikes a Pose

Murder Strikes a Pose by Tracy Weber (a signed copy won from Vicki at I’d Rather Be At The Beach – THANK YOU TRACY AND VICKI!!!)

When George and Bella—a homeless alcoholic and his intimidating German shepherd—disturb the peace outside her studio, yoga instructor Kate Davidson’s Zen-like calm is stretched to the breaking point. Kate tries to get rid of them before Bella scares the yoga pants off her students. Instead, the three form an unlikely friendship.

One night Kate finds George’s body behind her studio. The police dismiss his murder as a drug-related street crime, but she knows George wasn’t a dealer. So Kate starts digging into George’s past while also looking for someone to adopt Bella before she’s sent to the big dog park in the sky. With the murderer nipping at her heels, Kate has to work fast or her next Corpse Pose may be for real.

Did anything fun show up in your mailbox last week?

Traveling!

September 17, 201415 Comments

Oh, how I miss traveling. It is difficult to plan trips with Gage because of his therapy schedule and even more, his allergies. Hopefully we’ll be taking a short family trip at the end of the month, BUT this week (like in a few hours) Jason and I are sneaking off for 3 whole nights! Jason has a conference in the DC area so I’m tagging along to visit old haunts (this is where Jason and I met 18 1/2 years ago). No quiz. Haven’t had the time or the energy. Maybe the few days away will revive me 🙂

Gage at the library yesterday. Isn’t his new haircut cute?

Stacy's Books

books, movies, and boy