The Host

The Host was better than I thought it would be.  It wasn't perfect. I really liked the novel. It has an interesting premise and though it is still adolescent romance, it was an engaging story. I wanted the movie to be as engaging as the book. I had heard the movie wasn't; that it was bad. It received poor ratings and did not make what I think people expected from something related to Twilight. (Love it or hate it, Twilight made a lot of money.)

From what I had heard, I expected The Host to be completely toneless. It almost was.  The movie had the bones of the novel.  There were no gradual build-ups. The characters would meet, do what they're supposed to do, then they are suddenly in love, or forgive each other or hate each other. Relationships, romantic and otherwise, need to develop.  They did not, they were whatever they were supposed to be.

Saoirse Ronan, who played Wanderer/Melanie was the bright spot for me.  Lucky for the movie, she was the lead actor, or they would have had nothing.  Ronan was lovely. I think she was able to create two distinct personalities in Melanie, the human, and Wanderer, the alien who inhabits her body. Ronan brought emotion to the characters and the movie, but she can't be expected to carry the whole thing on her own.

The movie existed at the same tone for the entire two hours.  There were not ups and downs except for the end during Wanderer's "final" words.  Everything else was even. The story from the book is a good one.  A movie with emotional valleys and mountains could have been great, it could have been better than Twilight.  It wasn't.  It wasn't horrid, at least.

(Wow... That's an awful last sentence to end on... Oh well.)

Ahh! Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters

I had a bit of a difficult time with this week's Top Ten from The Broke and The Bookish.  In fact, I spent quite a few days thinking about who were my Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters.  Eventually, this is what I came up with.

1. Every "heroine" written in the Bella Swan vein.  Every girl and woman that swoons over some guy who is basically stalking her.  Be strong!  This is the 21st Century.  You don't need a man to save you.  Save yourself.

I will admit to enjoying the Twilight books.  Meyer wrote an addictive series, but I really did spend a lot of the time being frustrated with the main character.  I also don't mean to say that Bella is the only heroine that does this.  She's just the most obvious, well-known example.

So, ladies, in the future, please stand up for yourselves.  Your whole life should not revolve around a man.

That's all I have.  I couldn't get past number one.  I'm looking forward to reading the characters on other lists.

Who do you find frustrating?  Do you agree with my opinion of Bella and the swoony female lead?

It’s Hot Out Here!

It’s been a while since I participated in a Top Ten Tuesday, from the Broke and The Bookish, but I saw this week’s topic, Top Ten Beach Reads and started listing off books in my head.  There are more than ten here.  Most of the books I’ve listed are actually series.  They are in no particular order.

1. The Hunger Games series, by Suzanne Collins
2. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
3. Twilight series, by Stephenie Meyer
4. The Southern Vampire/Sookie Stackhouse series, by Charlaine Harris
5. The Undead series, by MaryJanice Davidson
6. Wither and Fever, by Lauren DeStefano
7. The Legend of Drizzt series, by R.A. Salvatore
8. World War Z, by Max Brooks
9. Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, by Gregory Maguire
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, by Douglas Adams

What will you be reading at the beach?

Who's The Richest Fictional Character This Year?

Forbes Fictional richest 15 people are out.  Well, it was actually out on the 23rd.  I'm a bit slow.  Here they are:

1. Smaug

2. Flintheart Glomgold

3. Carlisle Cullen

4. Jed Clampett

5. Tony Stark

6. Richie Rich

7. Charles Foster Kane

8. Bruce Wayne

9. Forrest Gump

10. Mr. Monopoly

11. Lisbeth Salander

12. Tywin Lannister

13. C. Montgomery Burns

14. Robert Crawley

15. Jo Bennett

I had to look up 12, 14 and 15.  I also posted last year's list.  Scrooge McDuck, last year's number 1 isn't even on the list this year.  Smaug came up from last year's 7th place finish.  Also, how is Lisbeth Salander on this list?  I've only read the first book, maybe I need to read the other two?

From Forbes: "Net worth estimates are based on an analysis of the fictional character’s source material, and where possible, valued against known real-world commodity and share price movements. In the case of privately held fictional concerns, we seek to identify comparable fictional public companies. All figures are as of market close, April 1, 2012."


Where I saw it first:  Stargazing blog by Malene Arpe

Out and About: Getting Out of Your Comfort Zone for Top Ten Tuesday

This week The Broke and The Bookish are asking what books you’ve read that were outside your comfort zone.

Another late in the day post, but this is the only chance I’ve gotten in the last few days to type it up. I wrote down the name of the books while feeding my baby boy in the middle of the night. It took me a few of those late nights/early mornings to get it all down (I'm often very drowsy). I do have to say that I have a big comfort zone. I’m an eclectic reader, as you can see from my blog. Therefore, some of these books are going back ten or more years to when it didn’t occur to me to read books other than literary fiction and the occasional horror or sci-fi.

1. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson - It's a mystery.  I don't really read mysteries.  In general, they just don't appeal to me.  This book was also really hyped up and I tend to shy away from books with a lot of hype.  In the end, I loved it.
 
2.  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, by J.K. Rowling - It was super-hyped.  It was also written for kids and I couldn't understand why so many people were reading it.  I didn't think I would like it when I borrowed my boyfriend's (now my husband) copy of the book.  I LOVE this series.
 
3.  Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer - Another super-hyped book.  I would never have read it if my friends at work hadn't handed me the book and said, read it!  I have to admit that I was definitely addicted.  It also opened me up to reading more Young Adult novels.  Up until Twilight, the only YA I'd read was Harry Potter.  If I didn't read Twilight I most likely would never have read The Hunger Games or Wither.
 
4.  The Dark Tower:  The Gunslinger Born, by Stephen King etc. - This was my first Graphic Novel.  I didn't read Graphic Novels before this, but I love the Dark Tower series, so if there was a Graphic Novel, I was going to read it.  I'm so glad I did.  I've read several Graphic Novels sinces and not all of them are Dark Tower related.
 
5.  A Short History of Myth, by Karen Armstrong - I had never really read non-fiction except for philosophy.  I really enjoyed this little book and it made me want to read more by this author.
 
6.  The Crystal Shard, by R.A. Salvatore - Salvatore is my husband's favourite author, so I had to read him.  This was my first Drizzt book and my first foray into Dungeons and Dragons style fantasy.  It was great.  I love Drizzt and have read more about him in the years since I read this book.
 
7.  Undead and Unappreciated, by MaryJanice Davidson - I picked up this book without realizing it was the third in a series.  I read it and really enjoyed it, so I picked up the first two books.  Now I've read up to book seven, I think.  I also would never have read the Sookie Stackhouse books if I didn't start this series first.  In one of the books there's and exerpt of the fourth Sookie book.  So Davidson's vampire series made me read Harris's.  I love them both.
 
I couldn't make it to ten.  I had a hard time making it to seven.  I'm not actually sure number seven actually counts, but I'm keeping it in anyway.  Do you read outside your comfort zone?

I Don’t Lie About Books

This week’s Top Ten topic from The Broke and The Bookish was one I almost skipped. They want to know what are the top ten books you’ve lied about, whether lying about reading them, liking/disliking them etc. Like the title of this post says, I don’t lie about books. I don’t feel I need to. You just have to read my reviews to know or ask me any question and I’ll tell you the truth. Here are some examples of my truthiness.

1. The Twilight Series, by Stephenie Meyer – I loved it. I think Bella is a terrible role model and Edward is a jerk, but I loved those books. I couldn’t put them down. They’re huge and I read the 4 books in less than two weeks. I bought the novella too. If you read the reviews I wrote about them oh, so long ago, you’ll know what my gut reaction was and how I couldn’t put them down.

2. Vanity Fair, by William Makepeace Thackery – Thackery’s great literary work is the one I continue to hate on. Some books, I’m tempted to give a second chance, but not this one. Ever.

3. I know people love Alexander McCall Smith and his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. I’ve not read this series, but I’ve read two other books of his, Dream Angus and Heavenly Flirtations. The former I reviewed here. Heavenly Flirtations came first and Dream Angus was his second chance. I don’t think I’m inclined to make it to his big series.

4. The Sweetness At The Bottom Of The Pie, by Alan Bradley – On the surface seems like a book I would love. I described it at a family dinner to my sister-in-law and step-father-in-law and we all share a love of books. They both think it sounded interesting and wondered why I didn’t like it. This is a good example of, just because it’s a best seller doesn’t mean I’m going to like it.

5. I extremely dislike James Frey. It’s difficult to hate someone you’ve never met, so I refrain from using that word. Nothing anyone could say would ever convince me to read one of his books. Ever.

I thought five examples were enough for this one. These are all things that if you read my blog, you’d know. I don’t think one should lie about books. Admittedly, when I don’t like a book, though I say so, I try to find something good to say, unless I really hate it. I rarely leave a book unfinished, but if I don’t finish it, I wouldn’t say otherwise. Maybe I don’t understand this topic. I don’t know why anyone would lie. To sound smarter? To be included? Let me know.

You Deserve A Kick In The B@##$! - Top Ten Jerks In Literature

This week The Broke and The Bookish want to know about our Top Ten Jerks In Literarture. Were they jerks all the way through, did they pretend to be jerks or did they learn and overcome their jerkiness? There would be more descriptions of these guys, but I’m trying to keep the spoilers to a minimum.

1. Prince Ronald from The Paper Bag Princess – I know I had him on my bitch list, but sometimes being a bitch is more about attitude than gender. In any case, he makes both lists.

2. Finnick Odair from Catching Fire & Mockingjay – He comes off at first like a pretentious hot guy, who uses his looks to get whatever he wants and expects women to fawn after him. How wrong that assumption is...

3. Jimmy from The Year of The Flood – Jimmy might be the main character of the previous book, Oryx and Crake, but in The Year Of The Flood he’s a major a$$hole. He knows how to mess with a girl’s mind.

4. Eric Sinclair from the Undead series – Eric basically tricks Betsy into making him the King of the vampires. He uses destiny and prophecy as an excuse, but I’m still not sure he has Betsy’s best interests at heart.

5. Edmund from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Edmund suffers from serious sibling rivalry. Even though he can sense that something is wrong, Edmund still goes down the darker path, putting his brother and sisters in danger.

6. Edward Cullen from Twilight – First, he makes Bella think she smells, then over the course of the series, he is completely insensitive to her emotions. He shouldn’t be the teenage romantic ideal, when he makes decisions for the relationship unilaterally and the girl he can’t live without has to deal with the repercussions. Is he too old for communication? How about they talk things through?

7. Lestat from Interview with the Vampire – If he was also just more honest with Louis, they could have avoided centuries of heartache.

8. Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter series – Maybe the real jerk is Lucious Malfoy for raising, essentially, a racist son.

9. Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility – I think Willoughby really cared about Marianne, but his love of money was greater.

10. Wickham from Pride and Prejudice – He’s a user and a loser. Austen created some great cads. Wickham makes Lizzy think Darcy is horrible, not that Darcy helps much with that. Then he goes after the most naïve of the Bennet sisters. He’s an opportunistic pig.

Darcy from Pride and Prejudice almost made my list, but that would be three Austen men and I thought that would be too much. This list was almost too easy. Who do you love to hate? Do you ever wonder how an author can come up with such and Asshat?

You Have to Read This Book!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish is asking us about Books I'm So Happy Were Recommended To Me, what are the books that you probably wouldn't have picked up without a good recommendation? In no particular order:

1. The Hunger Games Trilogy – Thanks to my co-workers for recommending these books, as well as the hordes (am I actually exaggerating?) of bloggers. I devoured them!

2. Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8 series – Thanks to one of the aforementioned co-workers, Sarah, for making me read them. I was a fan of the show, but was always hesitant on whether I should read the comic/graphic novel series. I’m glad she brought her copies into work so that I could take them home and read them.

3. The Twilight series – Thanks to the same co-workers that recommended The Hunger Games. Of course it was the summer before the first film came out that I read these books. At the time, they were as addictive as anything I’d ever read before.

4. The Handmaid’s Tale – It was actually assigned reading in one of my University classes. So many of my friends in high school told me how much they hated Atwood and I never ended up in a class where I had to read her, so I never chose to pick up one of her books. I’m so glad that The Handmaid’s Tale was part of that University class. It’s now one of my favourite books and made me a life-long Atwood fan.

5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Thanks to the same co-workers, plus the bloggers, plus my husband’s step-father (step-father-in-law?) for recommending this book. I loved it and have been patiently waiting for the third book to come out in paperback, since I heard the second and third book are very much connected. However, with the Swedish movies out and the Hollywood ones on the way, I don’t know how much longer I can wait to read them.

I couldn’t quite get to ten. If you count the individual books in a series, I’ve actually got 16 books on this list. Does that count? I suppose I either don’t listen to other people’s recommendations a lot or I don’t have that many real life bookish friends to recommend things to me. Mostly, I just go where my interests and moods take me.

I’m In Love versus I Can’t Live Without You – Sentimentality in Literature from the Literary Blog Hop

This week the question from The Blue Bookcase is: Discuss your thoughts on sentimentality in literature. When is emotion in literature effective and when is it superfluous? Use examples.

I feel like it’s an essay topic for an exam in one of my old University classes! Ingrid’s response is excellent and detailed. Her two examples of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Twilight are well chosen. They reflect what I thought of when I first read the words “sentimentality” and “emotion” in this week’s question. I think there is definitely a difference in meaning and in execution in literature and other media.

When I think of sentimentality or being sentimental, I think of indulgence. I think of emotion overriding reason in an extreme sense. Using Ingrid’s example, that is definitely Bella in Twilight. Edward too; after all, he was willing to kill himself in Italy when he thought Bella was dead.

In another “vampire” series, (though this one definitely for adults) Betsy Taylor, the Vampire Queen of MaryJanice Davidson’s Undead series , is ruled by emotion while those around her beg for her to be more sensible. Betsy’s emotions give her power, but they are also a weakness, causing for her to fall into traps laid by her enemies.

When I think of sentiment, there’s almost a sweetness to the word. There is less of the extreme; the thoughts and feelings of the characters are deeper. One of my more recent reads, Timothy Findley’s The Wars is filled with emotion. Robert Ross makes many choices based on emotion, like joining the military after his beloved sister dies. Once the decision is made, reason is used to carry it out. The Wars has characters showing a range of emotions, from love to hate and betrayal.

Margaret Atwood’s The Year of The Flood is also filled with emotion. Toby and Ren experience longing and sentiment over the loss of their previous lives. Are the emotions of the characters in this novel as controlled as Robert Ross in The Wars? I don’t believe so. I think emotion drives Ren to do foolish things, like work at a sex club as they drive Betsy Taylor to mouth off to a pack of werewolves while she’s on her own. Do I think The Year of The Flood and the Undead series are on the same literary level? No. The Year of The Flood, like The Wars uses emotion to enhance the story, while the vampire books use emotion to get a reaction out of readers or a simple plot device.

I could go on and one with more examples and comparisons, but I think that’s enough for now. If this was an essay in school, it would have all kind of quotes and specifics. Today I have a smattering of thoughts. In the end, I think emotion in literature is necessary, even a lack of emotion can show a character’s coldness. Even in works not seen as literary, I don’t know if sentimentality is superfluous. A character’s emotions are a tool that help the reader get to the end of the story.

Why Do You Hate Me? – Top Ten Mean Girls In Books

This is a great idea for a list. The Broke and The Bookish present, The Top Ten Mean Girls In Books. This was a fun, but difficult list. It was a stretch for me to get to ten. Because of a couple of the girls I chose there might be minor spoilers while describing them, but hopefully none of them give away too much. In no particular order…

1. Galinda from Wicked. Galinda at first is the typical popular girl and school who makes life difficult for Elphaba, the girl who doesn’t fit in. I really like Galinda, however. She learns real life lessons from her time with Elphaba.

2. Serena Joy from The Handmaid’s Tale. Serena Joy fought for a world that has now subjugated her; taken away all her power and recognition. She fought for a world that has made her into little more than an object. How could she do that to herself and to every woman?

3. Lucy Steele from Sense and Sensibility. I think most people who have read S&S love to hate Lucy Steele. She manipulative and cunning. She’s so mean to Elinor, who doesn’t deserve it.

4. Kitty Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. I almost couldn’t decide between Kitty and Caroline Bingley. Caroline at least wasn’t Lizzy & Jane’s sister! Kitty is self-centred and is constantly looking at herself as better than her sisters, when it clearly isn’t the case.

5. Bernice from The Year Of The Flood. I know Ren and Amanda did a bad thing to her family, but Bernice was never a really good friend to Ren. She pushed Ren around a lot, controlled her, then got jealous when Amanda came along. I thought Bernice’s behaviour was terrible, but there was obviously no parental guidance. Maybe I wouldn’t dislike her so much if she had just let Ren apologize or something when they met again later in life. I almost didn’t include her, but she was definitely a mean girl.

6. Cuckoo from The Good Earth. I always wonder why people in the lower classes try to best each other instead of working together.

7. Prince Ronald from The Paper Bag Princess. Okay, I know he’s not a mean girl. He’s a mean boy. Princess Elizabeth goes through all the trouble of rescuing him and he turns out to be entirely superficial. The Paper Bag Princess was on my list of books I want to see turn into movies, but I can see why they haven’t made this into a movie. Not everyone will want to see the male lead be a loser in the end.

8. Arlene from the Southern Vampire Mysteries. This probably only makes sense if you’ve read up to at least the eighth book, but you would especially need to read the ninth. If you’ve never read the books and only watched the television series, you’re probably wondering what I’m talking about. Let’s just say, if you were Sookie, you’d want to do more than punch Arlene.

9. The Seeker/Lacey from The Host. Stephenie Meyer has a knack for creating really annoying female characters. The Seeker is supposed to help Wanderer. Instead she just infuriates her. By the end you wonder if it was really The Seeker’s personality coming through or Lacey’s annoying behaviour that drove The Seeker crazy.

10. Elinor Sherman from Shopaholic Ties The Knot. Elinor Sherman isn’t a mean girl, she’s a mean adult. She is a nightmarish mother/mother-in-law. Elinor Sherman wants her son, Luke Brandon, to be more like her and is constantly on the watch, wondering if loveable Becky Bloomwood is just in it for the money. You’d cross your fingers that your boyfriend/husband wasn’t into spending a lot of time with his mother.

I enjoy and author who can create such hated characters. These girls definitely deserve a good punch.

Who are your favourite mean girls?

The Forbes Fictional 15 Richest People

I saw this over at Stargazing.  It's really interesting.  The Forbes article is more extensive and there are links to the biographies of each character.

1. Scrooge McDuck Uncle Scrooge comics $44.1 billion
2. Carlisle Cullen Twilight $36.2 billion
3. Artemis Fowl II Artemis Fowl novels $13.5 billion
4. Richie Rich Richie Rich comics $9.7 billion
5. Jed Clampett The Beverly Hillbillies $9.5 billion
6. Tony Stark Iron Man $9.4 billion
7. Smaug The Hobbit $8.6 billion
8. Bruce Wayne Batman $7.0 billion
9. Mr. Monopoly Monopoly games $2.6 billion
10. Arthur Bach Arthur films $1.8 billion
11. Jo Bennett The Office $1.2 billion
12. C. Montgomery Burns The Simpsons $1.1 billion
13. Chuck Bass Gossip Girl $1.1 billion
14. Gordon Gekko Wall Street $1.1 billion
15. Jeffrey Lebowski The Big Lebowski $1.0 billion

I don't know how they figured out that Smaug had $8.6 billion or that Carlisle Cullen has more money than Bruce Wayne, but it's a fun list to explore.  The "explanation" at the end of the article says:

"Net worth estimates are based on an analysis of the fictional character’s source material, and where possible, valued against known real-world commodity and share price movements. In the case of privately held fictional concerns, we seek to identify comparable fictional public companies. All figures are as of market close, April 1, 2011."

Final valuations are calculated with a grain of salt, and a willingness to break our own rules."

Hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Not Quite Right: Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was as difficult as last week’s. I tend to buy editions with attractive/interesting covers, even if they’re a little more expensive. There are a few covers though, that popped to mind, but most I had to work to find. I decided this week that I’d include not just the book title and author, but the publisher too. The publishers, from what I understand, have the final say on the book covers. Sometimes I want to ask them what they were thinking. In no particular order, the Top Ten Book Covers I Wish I Could Redesign.

1. New Moon, by Stephenie Meyer, published by Little, Brown. – Why is it a bloody flower? Shouldn’t it have something to do with, I don’t know, a moon? I understand that all the covers have the deep red theme going on, but maybe a bloody moon to represent the large wolf presence in this story would have been better.

2. Self, by Yann Martel, published by Vintage Canada. – When I ordered the book, I thought I was getting the cover with the purple flower shaped smudge. Instead I got this weird white statue thing.

3. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath, published by Faber and Faber - I thought I was getting a cover with a flower on it (sorry, can’t seem to find a picture), but I got a morose looking girl instead. It fits with the story, but I thought the girl was obvious, where the flower would be symbolic.

4. The Dark Tower: Treachery, by Stephen King, published by Marvel. – This was an amazing graphic novel. The art is spectacular. The problem I have with the cover is that it’s of a girl I’ve never seen before and have no idea who she is. The title is “Treachery” so you think she’s the traitor, but it doesn’t really work out that way. I just wish the cover was more telling of the story, something with Roland and his mother maybe.

5. The Dark Tower V: The Wolves of Calla, by Stephen King, published by Scribner. – (Sorry Dark Tower, you know I love you.) There are two covers that I like and two that I don’t. They don’t seem to go with the other books in the series. Can you guess which they are?

6. Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective, by Donald Davidson, published by Clarendon Press. I know it’s a book about philosophy of the mind, but the cover doesn’t work for me. Maybe it’s not mental enough.

With the next two on the list, the book covers have already been re-designed since they were first published and thank goodness. The old ones were terrible, the new ones are much better. They made it easy to dismiss the quality story-telling in these fantasy novels. I’m not including the pictures of these covers since there are five books in #7 and four in #8. The links will take you to the old covers if you’re interested.

7. The Cleric Quintet, R.A. Salvatore, published by Wizards of the Coast. It could have been worse. Maybe.

8. Legacy of the Drow Series, by R.A. Salvatore, published by Wizards of the Coast. I know Drizzt is around 60 in these books, but that’s Drow years. Drow live for hundreds of years. They should have drawn him as though he was in his late 20s or early 30s.

9. And 10 and 11 and 12…. Any book with the movie poster as the cover. Example of why I don’t like it: Confessions of a Shopaholic. The movie had almost nothing to do with the book. It was so unlike the book; I had to go into watching it, thinking it was something completely different, just so I wouldn’t hate it.

I can wait to see what book covers other people have come up with.

Did They Do It Right?

 The Broke and The Bookish want to know, what are the Top Ten Book To Move Adaptations?


1. Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone - All of the Harry Potter movies really, but I think this one was most like the book.

2. The Lord of The Rings Trilogy – What can I say? I loved these movies.

3. The Hours – I know some people didn’t like it, but I thought it was well done.

4. Twilight – I’m not saying it was the best movie or anything, but it was a lot like the book.

5. Interview With The Vampire – This was one of the few times I read the book after seeing the movie. There were definite differences, but I think they really captured the feeling of the book.

6. Memoirs of a Geisha – They left out a lot of the beginning, which I had really liked from the book and part of the end, but I thought the movie was really well done.

7. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe – The movie encouraged me to start reading the books.

8. The Princess Bride – This is based on my husband’s opinion, as I haven’t read the book yet, but he says it’s exactly like the movie.

9. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Based on my brother and his girlfriend’s opinions as I haven’t seen the movie yet.

10. Pride and Prejudice – I also haven’t seen this yet, but based on what people have told me, plus what a ton of bloggers have said, it’s great.

I found this one a little difficult. I kind of cheated with 8, 9 & 10. It seems I’ve either read the book or watched the movie, but I haven’t done a lot of both. Sometimes I feel that if I’ve seen the movie, what’s the point of reading the book since I already know what’s going to happen. That’s why I haven’t seen 9 & 10. I had to finish the books first because I didn’t want the movies to ruin the reading experience.

What order do you read/watch in, book first or movie first?

Guilty Pleasures at Wonderful Wednesdays

This week Sam at Tiny Library wants to know, what are your guilty pleasures.

Okay. Twilight. It has been questioned whether these books are actually any good, but I devoured every word of them and couldn’t wait for more. I even bought the Bree Tanner novella. (Which I thought was only okay.) I can’t help that I loved them when I was reading them. It’s only later that I realized how flawed they were. But that can’t get rid of the enjoyment I had. Even more guilty, I read The Host. It is supposed to be Stephenie Meyer’s foray into adult fiction. I thought it was definitely more adult, but it has some of the same love-triangle type storylines. I also thought the plot was so completely different from Twilight that you couldn’t help but give it a chance.

What are your guilty pleasures?

Top Ten Best Debut Books

This is an interesting topic choice from The Broke and The Bookish this week. What are the best first books? 

1. Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling – Will this one be on many lists? Rowling created what I think will be a classic in children’s/young adult literature. That might be presumptuous, but I also believe that it’s true.

2. The Crystal Shard, R.A. Salvatore – I’ve read a lot of Salvatore books, but not as many of my husband. The Crystal Shard was Salvatore’s first novel and his first book about the good drow Drizzt. Drizzt has become one of the most popular characters in Forgotten Realms and appears in over twenty novels. Plus, there are graphic novels and games. The Crystal Shard set Salvatore as one of the best and most popular fantasy writers of his time.

3. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson – It really is too bad that Stieg Larsson isn’t around to see what a phenomenon The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and his sequels have become. If the first book of the Millennium Trilogy wasn’t as amazing as it is, no one would bother with the other books, whether the author was alive or not.

4. Coming Through Slaughter, Michael Ondaatje – This isn’t Ondaatje’s first published work, but it is his first novel and it made me want to read all of his novels.

5. The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger – Though I haven’t read her second book, I definitely want to after reading her first. It is an original and romantic spin on time travel.

6. Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen – Austen published her first novel, Sense and Sensibility under a pseudonym, “A Lady”. It was so popular that a second edition was ordered just a few months later.

7. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold – This is not Sebold’s first book, but it is her first novel. The Lovely Bones is one of the saddest books I’ve ever read.

8. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice – Though it was some time after its publication that it became popular, Interview with the Vampire gave Anne Rice her popularity and the ability to write whatever she wanted.

9. Carrie, Stephen King – The only book on the list I haven’t read. I really ought too. I really enjoy King and Carrie was his first and from what other fans say, one of his best.

10. Twilight, Stephenie Meyer – I’m not a super Twilight fan, but I have read all the books. They’re addictive. Though it’s not great literature and I’m not sure it will stand the test of time, Twilight did start a phenomena for this generation of tweens and teens. It also might be attributed with starting the current paranormal craze in YA books. That’s why it comes in at number 10 for me.

An honourable mention to Generation X: Tales For An Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland. This is the only other book I haven’t read, but this book did two things. It put Douglas Coupland on the writing map. It also made “Generation X” or “Gen X” and other similar terms part of pop culture. I don’t know if a writer could have asked for a better first book. I really ought to read it.

I’m eager to see what’s on everyone else’s lists.

Top Ten Unfortunate Character Names

Spoilers!! I don’t think I can talk about these names without giving away a little of the story, but I’ll try to keep them to a minimum


The first four are ones that as soon as I read them, I thought they were terrible choices.


1. Renesmee - Breaking Dawn, by: Stephenie Meyer. Really? Really?! Their baby is named what? You couldn’t come up with a name that was easier to pronounce. I know other characters in the book comment on the difficulty of the name, so that her nickname is “Nessy”, which is still dumb. I think this was the first name I ever looked at had to pause in my reading to contemplate how terrible it was.


2. Bree Tanner – The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner, by: Stephenie Meyer. I get she’s young and we’re supposed to feel sympathy for her, but “Bree” is not a sympathetic name. The surname is fine, but I just can’t stand the name Bree for a heroine.


3. Courtney Stone – Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, by: Laurie Viera Rigler. This was another name that jumped out at me. I loved the story, thought it was interesting, but when I hear “Courtney” I think snobby teenage girl.


4. Fuschia – The Fuschia Is Now, by: J. Otto Seibold. I disliked this children’s book. One of the things I didn’t like was the main character being named after a silly colour. The colour/name is yelled through the whole book. It has yet to hold my daughter’s interest.


The rest aren’t terrible, but I thought they could have been better.


5. Artemis Entreri – The Legend of Drizzt series, by: R.A. Salvatore. I love Salvatore’s Drizzt books. I think they’re fun and exciting. I also think Salvatore is excellent when it comes to naming characters. Except when he name Artemis Entreri. Have you ever tried to pronounce his last name? It’s hard, but that’s not the part the really bugs me. Artemis is a girl’s name. Artemis is a Greek warrior goddess. A friend pointed out to me that she’s heard Artemis as a boy’s name before and I have too. Any time I hear it as a boy’s name, it irks me.


6. Dale “Barbie” Barbara – Under The Dome, by: Stephen King. Dale is a perfectly fine name. I even don’t mind the nickname, Barbie, when it’s used cleverly. But why does EVERYONE have to call him that? Even the woman he has sex with?


7. Liz Dunn – Eleanor Rigby, by: Douglas Coupland. Eleanor Rigby was a fantastic novel and Liz was a great character. Was Liz Dunn done from the beginning?


8. Samantha Sweeting – The Undomestic Goddess, by: Sophie Kinsella. She’s supposed to be a lawyer. Sweeting is just a very unlawyerly name.


9. Lord Bostock – The Princess and the Whiskheads, by: Russell Smith. As soon as I read that name, I thought “botox”. Sorry.


I could only come up with nine. A friend of mine suggested my last entry.


10. Every Mary Higgins Clark Character – I admit to never having read one of her books. My friend tells me that the women are supposed to be young and sexy, but they have “old lady” names. I’m taking her word on this.


Thanks to The Broke and The Bookish for another great list and the most difficult one for me since I've been participating.
 

The Short Second Life Of Bree Tanner

Stephenie Meyer’s The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was a quick, fun story, like the rest of the Twilight series. Is Bree Tanner fluff? Yes. It’s a piece of young adult fiction that a Twilight fan can read and enjoy. The story will become part of that landscape. It’s easy to enjoy, then put away and move on the next story… or re-read the end of Eclipse to compare the two stories.

I liked that Stephenie Meyer expanded on the world of Twilight without making the story about Bella and Edward. It had a behind-the-scenes sort of feel. Meyer created a likeable character, who may have killed many humans, still had the power within her to learn and change. Too bad she never got the opportunity. In a group of twenty blood-thirsty killers, three were different, Bree being one of them. Being different isn’t what gets Bree killed, it is perhaps, not seeing that she is different sooner. It’s a world she doesn’t understand and that she was forced into.

One thing that I didn’t like had to do with structure. There were no breaks. I know it’s a novella, not a novel, so it doesn’t “require” chapters. However, an asterisk or an extra space between paragraphs would have been helpful. Everything is happening from Bree’s perspective, but a break between her thoughts would give the reader a nice place to take a break themselves.

… I wonder when Fred is going to show up again…

Is The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner a groundbreaking piece of fiction? No. But it is a good story for the fans of Twilight and Vampire Young Adult fiction.

The Host

The Host is the “other” novel by Stephenie Meyer. It’s not about vampires and has nothing to do with werewolves. The Host is about life post-alien invasion. It was an invasion so quiet, humans didn’t realize it was happening. Once they did, it was too late. The Host doesn’t focus on the invasion itself, that’s the past. It deals the present and the future.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the novel. Friends had warned me that The Host wasn’t as good as Twilight. Maybe they spent too much time comparing the stories. They are different in content, as well as characters. I don’t think there is anyone like Uncle Jeb in Twilight. I don’t know if someone who really likes vampire fiction is going to like a story about aliens. Though, on her website, Stephenie Meyer says that The Host is science fiction for people who don’t like science fiction.

If you’ve read her other books, however, you can’t help but make a comparison. There is a love triangle, though it might be more of a square. There’s a family member that Wanderer, the main character, is concerned about. Meyer’s quick pace and eventful plot keeps you racing through the [over] 600 pages. The Host is more mature in its language, though it has been a while since I read her other books. I like Wanderer more than Meyer’s other heroine. Wanderer has a strength, determination and conviction that Bella lacked, though maybe the movies have coloured my view. Yes, she a lot of what she does is out of love, but she also thinks of the greater good. Wanderer has a great altruistic quality.

Would fans of Twilight like The Host? I certainly do. I suppose it depends on how diverse their tastes are in books. It’s being made into a movie, so I’m sure Meyer and the people producing the movie hope so. For those who have never read Meyer’s other novels, The Host is a great story about an alien’s quest among humans and human survival among the aliens who now inhabit the Earth.

Eclipse & Breaking Dawn

Again, I couldn’t put the books down. Each book was such and adventure. I am even more in love with the characters, especially Edward. I think Breaking Dawn (more than Eclipse or New Moon) was able to do what Twilight. Breaking Dawn had strength on its own. It left the reader with a nice ending, making this installment of the story feel complete. Not that we would ever think it a conclusion to the series. It leaves us with the knowledge that all the characters we’ve grown to care for are safe and that danger is a distant thing in the future. I am eager to read more about all the Cullens and the wolf pack; Stephanie Meyer’s next book will be eagerly anticipated. I hope she doesn’t wait too long.

New Moon

I’ve done it again. I’ve read the second book in Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight series in 3 days. I can’t help it. I constantly want to know what’s happening with Bella and Edward. What is the next big thing that’s going to happen to this couple? Will Bella get what she wants? Will they be together forever? I have to know. I’m halfway through the series and I don’t want it to end.

The only thing I didn’t like about this installment was Jacob Black. I like him and his character. I’m not surprised to see werewolves. Having them so close and one in love with Bella creates an interesting conflict. I just wanted less Jacob and more Edward. I’m sure we’ll see more of Jacob in future books and maybe the vampires and werewolves will eventually get along. I just need more Edward and Bella in the future books. I can’t wait to read Eclipse.