City of Bones: A Book to Movie Review

First, a little conversation

After spending a little time at my blog, you may have noticed I'm a little obsessed with Cassandra Clare. Like with any healthy relationship, sometimes I'm frustrated with her, sometimes I even yell at her from my polka doted chair (luckily she doesn't live anywhere close and can't possibly hear me). None the less, Ms. Clare writes exactly what I want to read (most of the time).

When it was first announced that some wonderful Hollywood type was turning one of my favorite reads into a film, I went through the following stages: Elation! My book is going to be a movie! It will be wonderful!! Sharing! I need to tell the whole world right now. Interest! I must find out everything about this movie. Standoffishness! Oh no, what if they cast someone terrible in this cinematic masterpiece? Fear! It will be terrible, they cannot make a good adaptation of a book. Why did Cassandra agree to let them make a movie? Why are they casting all of those terrible people .... this usually ends with me, deciding not to see the film because it will, obviously, be terrible. I cannot support terrible movies, after all.

Okay, so I saw it ... and I'm smiling as I say this ... it was grand entertainment. However, it wasn't perfect as they followed very little of the original storyline ... but let me elaborate.

Loved/Hated

What I loved: I loved hearing the words I'm familiar with spoken from real live characters. I loved seeing Simon cast as a nearly normal looking nerd. I love Magnus (just overall, but the actor and the costumes were spot on). Jace and Clary, they might not have been my first choices to play those parts, but together they have chemistry ... heartbreakingly so.

What I didn't love: Kevin Zegers as Alec, looks too old, too big, his has terrible hair - plus I can't think of him as anything but a spoiled drug dealer in Gossip Girl. So many of my favorite parts were gone. The flowers on the roof looked so fake. Where are Clary's mom's paint splattered overalls? As will all books to movies, where is the character development?

A Break Down - Spoilers!

Okay, so from here are spoilers - don't continue if you haven't both read the book and seen the movie. Unless you want it to be spoiled, then totally continue.

1. Where is all the glamour? I love the carriage ride through the city as Clary learns about how the glamour works. Where was it? It would have been such a cool scene.

2. The Pandaemonium club was all a blur and the book reads with more clarity - if I hadn't read the book this would have been a tumble of confusion.

3. Protective Simon? Nope, the movie Simon just seemed to blend into the shadows. How does he expect to win Isabelle's heart doing that?

4. Jemima West is beautiful, but I expected Isabelle to look more made up, even in gear.

5. The movie doesn't let us see/feel/hear Jace's pain, his feeling of being an outcast, his over confidence, his love of Isabelle and Alec (they argue in this movie, just like the book, but the other side isn't shown).

6. Simon is supposed to turn into a RAT! It is the blue juice, he drinks it and nothing ... what a let down.

7. Jace is intelligent, and we don't see that at all. When they go to the church and Jace starts telling Clary all about how services work, where people sit, etc. Where was that? I would have sat through a four hour movie here Hollywood!

8. Hodge is bad. Seriously, a bad guy. A total traitor. Yet, the audience knows he is evil and Jace, Clary, etc. don't seem to take notice of everything.

9. What is with the full ending rewrite? How are they even going to incorporate the first half of the second book?

... I'm sure there are more. I've started re-reading the book. I want to remember everything I missed seeing come to life. The movie falls flat. Although there were parts I enjoyed, straying so far from the storyline into never-neverland, ruining a couple of the characters with poor casting, and just general lack detail. People have read and loved this book, they know all the parts, why can't Hollywood figure it out? They totally should hire fangirls to approve the scripts for these things :)

Book Review: Ender's Game

Ender's Game

Orson Scott Card

August 12th 

There is quite a bit of pressure on me to like this book. Mostly because I don't know how I would tell one of my best friends that I didn't like it ... actually, she would read it right here with the rest of you, but still. She has been recommending it to me for at least two years and I just never picked it up. Finding out it was being made into a movie was the final push to get this one read - rules are rules you know!! Being a librarian I like to say, "Have you read the book? It's fantastic!"

Okay, but that doesn't seem like it will be a problem. I'm a mere 35 pages into the story and I'm already fascinated by Ender's plight. Is is because he is a tiny child? Is it because he is a Third (I love how we understand what that means without ever being explicitly told, other dystopian authors should take note)? Is it because he is so concerned that he is going to be like Peter? I don't know; I'm not even sure I care. I'm finished writing - off to make dinner and keep reading!!

August 31st

Dear Ender,

Poor, sweet Ender, I've read your story and it has broken my heart. I had nothing to cling on to for hope! I, like you, couldn't even trust Valentine, I'm still not sure she had your best interests at heart. Dear Ender, poor, sweet Ender - I'm so sorry. 

Sincerely, Lizz the Librarian

Let me just say that this book ended on a fine note, I loved the story, and Ender is a character like no other. But in the end I just felt like there was no hope. It wasn't sad, just hopeless. The only thing I have to say, really, is that Ender is just SO young. 

Starting a New Book: Ender's Game

My long wait on the hold list is finally over - Ender's Game has come in!! Glad to start it tonight!!

Won't be long before the movie comes out! I'm nearly ready.

Book Review: Siege and Storm

August 5

Curling up with a sequel is like ... well, actually, I don't like sequels. No matter how good the first book was, unless you are starting the sequel the moment you finish the first book, you start out feeling a bit lost. I it is like trying to recall a dream. I know these people, what was their story again? What were the emotions this ended on? Sigh. 

Lucky for me, I blogged about Shadow and Bone, so if you also need a refresher, you can read that (I did, it was helpful). 

Let me walk you through the first chapter. Here is Alina, boarding on feeling sorry for herself and leaving work. There is Mal, looking as delicious as ever (as EVERYONE has noticed), but he only has eyes for one girl. I feel back in step with this novel with only a mere misstep at the beginning. However, in a less than twenty pages the book takes off, the Darkling is back, there will be no happy Alina and Mal chapters. Not only do I already dislike the Darkling, but he is back with new tricks. 

August 5 ... continued

Well, Leigh Bardugo certianly knows how to suck me into a book. I finished the first title in under 24 hours, but I think this one will take longer (I did have to go to work today, after all). Wowza, what a story though!

Oh, and I totally love it when an author responds to my tweets!!

August 6th

Ummmm, you know how Mal is awesome? Maybe this other guy is slowly gaining ground on Mal. I mean, he is pretty awesome and princely and has more emotional depth than Mal (or maybe I just like him more). He is charming and wonderful. 

Other than that guy - the book has taken so many twists and turns that I'm surprised I got any sleep last night. It is wonderful and exciting and I'm going to go keep reading. I'll post the finished review tomorrow! (I can finish as soon as I'm done with this rerun of Gossip Girl!)

August 7th

You know how Blair originally loved Nate, but she actually belonged with Chuck (keep up, I'm on a Gossip Girl kick) -- that is sort of how I feel right now about Alina, Mal, and the Prince. Sigh.

August 9th

Wowza, that is how I feel about this book! That ending, the whole part before the ending, I've said it before, Ms. Bardugo weaves a fantastic tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat and ends with you wanting more. I'm totally pulled in two directions - do I want Alina to end up with Mal? Love triangles (haha, this one is nearly a square) make books go around.

I don't think that I've loved a sequel since Catching Fire and this one was at least as good as the first. Awesome, fabulous, I can't wait for Number 3 in 2014.

Book Review: Paradise by Joanna Nadin

Paradise

Joanna Nadin

August 4

Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover. But I did. This book is pretty much nothing like what I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure what I thought it was going to be like, but it is a teenage angst story about Billy, her mother, and her grandmother, their stories told in alternating chapters. The story is interesting so far and I almost feel sorry for Billy, but is she a little one sided? Is she a little bland? Do I care what happens with the story? I haven't decided yet. 

August 5

This was a short, quick read. It went from being a story about Billie, an unhappy teenager with a classically messed up family, to a web of lies spanning three generations. Nothing is what I expected with this book. I wish that Nadin would have fleshed out the last third of the book a little and focused on how the characters FELT rather than just a recount of the action. However, the book is a great read, quick and poignant. 

Serious Question for All Mortal Instruments Readers

Dear Mortal Instruments Readers -

Hello Kindred Spirits! I, as you, have loved Clary and Jace, Alec and Magnus, Simon and the whole cast of characters that make up this delightful series from Cassandra Clare. I've "Fan-girled" my page with gifs of the upcoming movie and book quotes. I'm eagerly anticipating going opening night to the movie and have had my own misgivings about the casting job ... nevertheless, this isn't about the movie.

This about book 5, City of Lost Souls. This book is too long. Nothing happens in this book. I went from loving this book to just hoping I can finish it. It's taken me a month. Normally it takes me two days. I'm dying.

I've spoken with other fans and they have felt the same way. Did Ms. Clare run out of ideas? Did her publisher insist on a certain amount of pages? Did someone feel that this slow moving action was good? I'd like to disagree with that someone.

Now, as a good reader I feel I must finish the book (not always the case) and in order to read the next one (which, hopefully, will be infinitely better). I like these characters, this series, but I feel like this book is still in a draft form and I should be giving advice of what writing to tighten and what to cut because it is so repetitive. If Clary and Jace have one more make-out scene where she is trying to remind herself that "THIS ISN'T HIM," I might put the book down forever.

There is light at the end of the tunnel ... 78 pages to go. I feel like Clary would do anything for Jace, which I don't think was ever the case before. Clary knew the difference between right and wrong, good and bad ... now, gah, now she is Bella and her whole life will fall apart just because Edward, I mean Jace, is gone.

What do you think? Seriously now, tell me if you think that this was up to the standard of Clare's other books.

Time to Geek Out

Occasionally on a sick day I turn to the nerdom for some entertainment.

I thought I'd share some of my favorites with you.

A note about pinterest issues - please people, pin from the site - I couldn't find many of the original sites for these pictures. Let me know if you know the owners.

Found on pinterest with a broken link - who does this belong to?

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Language warning in the next one ... you've been warned!

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Now let's discuss this theory. Any takers? Rose is by far my favorite companion and I'd really like to see a revisit to her and the half-doctor's life. Do we think she had a kiddo? 

Rewatch the scene here.