Movie Magic Monday: Books to Movies Updates

I’ve spent most of the weekend reading. Like hard core, walking with a book in my hand and crashing against doors kind of reading. Reading for pleasure and to refuel the muse. I haven’t done that for FAR too long. It felt SO good.

When I was done with my mental vacation (two books in two days!), I played online a bit and found some really awesome news, which you all might already know, but which I’m just finding out, so here it is.

On September 30th, Maggie Stiefvater announced that Shiver has been optioned for a movie. Can I beg for Lament and Ballad to join those ranks?! PLZ?!

That’s not all. Libba Bray’s A Great and Terrible Beauty, is also coming to theaters.

Let’s get you even more excited, shall we? One of my very favorite characters of all time, Ramona Quimby, has a movie in the works! Ramona and Beezus comes out sometime in August of this year, and it stars Disney teen queen Selena Gomez, and itty bitty Joey King as Ramona.

And of course, no one can forget Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, (pt 1? seriously?), coming in September.

EDITED TO ADD:

Is anyone else as psyched about this YA book to movie revolution?! It’s everywhere! Percy Jackson, Wimpy Kid, Eclipse, etc. I feel like I’m in movie heaven. Granted, they wont’ all be great. But the fact that they’re getting done and drawing attention to the amazing variety of YA books out there- priceless.

Book Geek Wednesday: Discussion

I thought I would try something a little different for Book Geek Wednesday this week.

I wanted to talk about what you-the readers- do when for some reason or another, you cannot get through a book. There are of course a million reasons why this might be happen. You might lead busy, active lives which leave little time for reading. These active lives might leave you too tired at night to get past a few pages at a time. You may be distracted, thinking about that job interview or that boy who works at the coffee shop. You might not be used to the genre or the voice (I always have to readjust when reading contemporaries, because I’m just NOT a contemporary kind of gal). The book may not be what you expected. Or… in the worst case scenario, it’s just not as interesting as you’d hoped.

What do you do? Do you continue to read or do you consider it a lost cause?

I’m someone who feels a certain obligation to a book once I’ve started it. It’s very difficult for me to just put it down and say forget it, not worth it. In fact, I can tell you how many times in my entire life that’s happened (3). It’s a rare occurence. But what if, despite your best intentions, you can’t seem to get through the book?

My suggestion: try, try, and try again. Books are such a personal thing. Often, their impact on us have to do with our own mood and head place. And often, a writer is setting something major up, and we just need to get past that ‘build-up’ to get to the good part.

This happened to me recently. I tried reading The Luxe by Anna Godbersen (I know, not FANTASY! But historical YA tends to create worlds of its own as well) and could NOT for the life of me get past the first chapter. I kept falling asleep.

A friend of mine raved about it left and right and I thought, am I missing something? So I tried again, and again. It took me 3 times and really pushing through that first chapter.  Boy am I glad I did. This book was fantastic, and the characters were so memorable. But it just took me a while to really get into the voice and the time period.

The second time this happened to me, I wasn’t so lucky. I kept struggling with A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, which I reviewed, and as you see, I wasn’t thrilled with it. But, not every book is going to be a home run.

I guess my point is, don’t give up on it, if you’re having a hard time getting through it. You may find it’s a treasure in disguise.

Thoughts?

Book Geek Wednesday: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

I’ve heard some really great things about this book. In fact, it was recommended to me by one of my coworkers at the bookstore. I’d been eyeing it on the shelves for a while and it had been singled out on the YA recommended reads section so I thought it might be worth a try. I loved the cover and was excited by the prospect of reading a good fantasy/paranormal historical (because historicals are a bit of a weakness for me). Unfortunately, it hasn’t been going as well as I’d expected.

The book centers around Gemma Doyle, a sixteen year old sent to Spence Academy after her mother dies in India. The situation surrounding her mother’s death is mysterious and help us understand that Gemma isn’t like other girls – she suspects she is having visions of the future. At Spence she finds herself among snobby elitist girls and for a while she’s forced to be an outsider. But the more time she spends at the Academy, the more secrets she unravels about her mother and about her own power – if it wasn’t for the young man constantly warning her she shouldn’t pursue these visions.

For starters, I was thrilled about the setting. India and then Victorian England?! I expected to fall in love. Unfortunately, it didn’t wow me. The only time I ever really felt the setting was when the gypsies appeared or when the girls talked of their male prospects, usually disgusting older men waiting for them to finish their grooming so that they could be young trophy wives. Other than that, Gemma seems very much a modern day heroine. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, it’s just not what I expected.

The mystery is well done and it is revealed slowly, perhaps too slowly for my taste. The book delves in gothic undertones and definitely has a creepy factor, delving into dark aspects of magic and clairvoyance. Some people love that. In this case, it just didn’t really work for me.

But if you like a chilling mystery, the romance of a historical time period and paranormal elements, then this book is for you.

My Rating: C+/B- (prepares to receive hatemail)