Yearly Archives:: 2013

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Book Girls Don’t Cry: Book-to-Movie Adaptations

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Inspired by Book Buzzers, Book Girls Don’t Cry is a weekly feature where we each discuss/vent/advise on the chosen weekly bookish topic. Don’t miss Jenni on Mondays, and Amy on Saturdays:
This week’s topic was suggested by Kezia of Pansycake Reader

Movie Adaptations are Taking Over!



Let’s take a moment and reflect on upcoming book to movie adaptations (linked to IMDB):
…The list can go on (and these are just the upcoming ones, not already released!) but I think I’ve made my point. SO, it’s no wonder why they’re using books to get ideas from movies, they are usually the most popular movies that release, already having a fan base and all. But having a fanbase with already set expectations–which are usually pretty high–does not give them the easiest audience to please. So, today, let’s talk about that! Which movies we enjoyed, and which ones took precious hours of our lives we’ll never get back! This is my list:
Big Fat Fs:

I did like most of the Harry Potter movies, but not Half-Blood Prince. They left out way too much out of that one and was a huge disappointment!

I mean, none of the Twilight movies are great, but I watched the first movie before reading the book so I didn’t know exactly how bad the actors and everything else was until I read it, then I saw New Moon in a whole new light O_O

Lightning Thief movie was just lame!

Beastly does not look the same at all in the book and movie. In the book he looks like a BEAST! Not a guy with a lot of unfortunate tattoos. Dude, the beast was still hot in the movie, kind of losing the point of it there, no? Also, that fairy tale’s “message” is kind of creepy isn’t it? Just a side thought >.<

I Am Number Four was also very lame. I didn’t love the book, but the movie could have been so much better. Especially the ending fight scene.

Winners:

 

I may not like Pattinson in Twilight, but I loved Water for Elephants (one of my favorite books of all time!) and I found he fit the role I had imagined for Jacob perfectly.

I read The Notebook years after watching the movie (which I did several times) and I was very disappointed. The book was way too short and it did not even make a dent in the amount of emotion the movie pours out. One of the only instances I can say the movie is better than the book.

The Hunger Games is my favorite book to movie adaptation so far! Stayed very true to the book and I loved every single actor picked for the roles! Perfection!

I Am Legend is one of my favorite movies, however this one is a unique situation since I find the book has its own story, kind of separating it from the book. I still prefer the book’s plot & ending which is brilliant, but the movie was great and I’m a big fan of Will Smith.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (both part 1 & 2) is by far one of my favorite HP movies and also the truest to the book. It’s darker and a more profound movie as well and they captured the book’s tone perfectly.


Granted, I haven’t actually watched THAT many book-to-movie adaptations because most of the time they’re a let down, so my list here is fairly short. I also went with the more recent ones. I am dying to watch a lot of the upcoming ones on the list above, though, so I’m sure I’ll have more to add on both sides of the hit/miss liss in the coming 2-3 years!

Your turn! 
What are your favorite and least favorite booktomovie adaptations?
Also, don’t forget to leave suggestions for future topics you’d like to see! 🙂
You know you love me!
Xoxo, Book Girl!

Review: On Every Street by Karina Halle

Posted by on 03/13/2013 • 18 Comments

Having already met Ellie in Sins & Needles, I was excited to get the before: What happened to make her run away, and how she fell in love with Javier to begin with. I must say, I feel very torn after this. In Sins & Needles, Ellie meets Camden with whom she develops a very chemistry filled, eccentric relationship that takes the reader by storm. Then she makes Javier out to be someone she fears, someone she must stay away from at all costs. He’s the villain no one wants to see swoop in. In On Every Street, however, we see what made her fall in love with Javier. Knowing their unfortunate downfall doesn’t make their romance, nor Javier himself, any less enticing, either. I didn’t think I would like…

Review: Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver

Posted by on 03/12/2013 • 38 Comments

Before I FallLauren Oliver Genre: YA ContemporaryPublication date: October 25th 2011by HarperCollins

What if you only had one day to live? What would you do? Who would you kiss? And how far would you go to save your own life?

Samantha Kingston has it all: looks, popularity, the perfect boyfriend. Friday, February 12, should be just another day in her charmed life. Instead, it turns out to be her last.

The catch: Samantha still wakes up the next morning. Living the last day of her life seven times during one miraculous week, she will untangle the mystery surrounding her death–and discover the true value of everything she is in danger of losing

-This novel was listened to via audiobook-  Having heard numerous incredible reviews on this novel, I…

Review: 17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma

Posted by on 03/11/2013 • 29 Comments

17 & GoneNova Ren Suma Publication date: March 21st 2013by Dutton Juvenile

Seventeen-year-old Lauren is having visions of girls who have gone missing. And all these girls have just one thing in common—they are 17 and gone without a trace. As Lauren struggles to shake these waking nightmares, impossible questions demand urgent answers: Why are the girls speaking to Lauren? How can she help them? And… is she next? As Lauren searches for clues, everything begins to unravel, and when a brush with death lands her in the hospital, a shocking truth emerges, changing everything.

With complexity and richness, Nova Ren Suma serves up a beautiful, visual, fresh interpretation of what it means to be lost.

-A copy was provided by Penguin Canada for review-  Girls go missing…

Xpresso Weekly: Stacking the Shelves (46)

Posted by on 03/10/2013 • 39 Comments

Xpresso Weekly is my edition of Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga’s Reviews featuring the books I got this week, and I also mention blog news/happenings of the past week. This week at Xpresso Reads

Don’t forget to turn your clocks ahead tonight! Kind of sucky to lose an hour of sleep though, but yay for longer days and the first sign of spring! 😀 Did you all have a good week? Don’t forget to enter the If You Find Me giveaway that ends in a few days! I also posted a bunch of new covers on my Facebook page! Don’t miss the lovelies! Lastly, I wanted to mention again the book blogger meetup  in Boston in August! You from around there and interested in coming? If so, join our…

Fresh Batch (March 10th – 16th)

Posted by on 03/09/2013 • 18 Comments

Exclusively titled for Xpresso Reads, Fresh Batch features the hottest releases of this upcoming week.

Flavor of the week: Mila 2.0 Debra Driza Series: Mila 2.0, #1 Genre:YA DystopianPublication date: March 12th 2013by Katherine Tegen Books

Mila 2.0 is the first book in an electrifying sci-fi thriller series about a teenage girl who discovers that she is an experiment in artificial intelligence.

Mila was never meant to learn the truth about her identity. She was a girl living with her mother in a small Minnesota town. She was supposed to forget her past —that she was built in a secret computer science lab and programmed to do things real people would never do.

Now she has no choice but to run—from the dangerous operatives who want her…

Review: Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley

Posted by on 03/08/2013 • 33 Comments

Pretty Girl-13Liz Coley Genre: YA Contemporary Publication date: March 19th 2013by Katherine Tegen Books

Angie Chapman was thirteen years old when she ventured into the woods alone on a Girl Scouts camping trip. Now she’s returned home…only to find that it’s three years later and she’s sixteen-or at least that’s what everyone tells her.

What happened to the past three years of her life?

Angie doesn’t know.

But there are people who do—people who could tell Angie every detail of her forgotten time, if only they weren’t locked inside her mind. With a tremendous amount of courage, Angie embarks on a journey to discover the fragments of her personality, otherwise known as her “alters.” As she unearths more and more about her past, she discovers a terrifying secret…

Book Girls Don’t Cry: Judge a Book By its Author

Posted by on 03/07/2013 • 46 Comments

Inspired by Book Buzzers, Book Girls Don’t Cry is a weekly feature where we each discuss/vent/advise on the chosen weekly bookish topic. Don’t miss Jenni on Mondays, and Amy on Saturdays:   This week’s topic was suggested by Kenia Roman

The Force is Strong With These Ones

We all have authors who, as soon as we see their name on a book, we buy it and read it no question. Most times without even checking what it’s even about, let alone reading the blurb behind the book. So this week we’re going to list which authors we absolutely love! Here is my list of authors whose books I buy based on, basically, the author’s name on it and it alone! And maybe you will find a some that will one…