Bookish opinions: good, bad and ugly
11 June 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: That Artsy Reader Girl, The Broke and the Bookish, Top Ten Tuesday, Unpopular book opinions
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is:
Unpopular Bookish Opinions
I wasn’t really sure where to go with this one so I’ve probably gone off on a strange tangent but here are some of my probably unpopular bookish opinions:
- I don’t finish a book if I’m not enjoying it. I used to be absolutely completist and read dogmatically through a book whether I was enjoying it or not. I think I’ve come to realise that life is too short and there are a lot of good books. Therefore if I’m going to find all the good books then I’ll have to stop reading the ones I’m not enjoying. This probably makes my blog and reviews look as though they’re always glowing with praise – but that’s primarily because I only continue reading the books I’m enjoying. Otherwise reading becomes a chore and I tend to go into a slump.
- I’m an absolute convert to e-books. I know – break out the pitchforks! I just find them so convenient. I love physical books, the tactileness of reading them, just turning the pages, well, everything. But, I can’t deny I’ve totally gone over to the dark side. I read on kindle. My kindle has a backlight which I just love. I can carry around hundreds of books – which might feel unnecessary but, hey, you never know. It’s really easy to just highlight chapter headings, names, places or even make notes and I really like some of the other features like knowing how many minutes are left in a chapter – so I can easily prioritise between sleep and reading.
- Similar to the above, I’m starting to get on board with audio books. They don’t all work for me I have to admit and I know there seems to be a whole body of opinion out there that this isn’t really reading, and technically, maybe it isn’t actual reading – but I’m still mentally digesting the book so I say it counts. I did worry that audio wouldn’t work for me and that I’d switch off and miss huge swathes of infortmation but if anything it’s exactly the opposite. And, if you’re listening to a book with difficult place and character names you have the added bonus of correct pronunciation – and if you heard me making a totally ass out of some of the names I’ve read you’d truly understand what a gift this is. Yep, I’m very pleasantly surprised with just how well audio is working out for me.
- I don’t mind books that pay attention to detail. In fact I welcome some of the detail – obviously I don’t need every leaf on a tree or stone in a house detailing, and I don’t want a room describing in full every time a character enters but I like the extra attention that helps to bring the world alive even though I recognise that others may feel this sometimes slows the plot down.
- Ratings. At the moment I don’t rate the books on my blog – basically I don’t always think I make the right choice for my ratings and so I prefer to go off the tone of the review. So, if I’m gushing like a love sick puppy then it’s probably a full 5* whereas if I’m just giving a very straightforward review that tends to have the words ‘enjoyed’ and ‘liked’ as oppose to ‘smitten’, ‘in love’ etc, then that would be a book that was okay, a decent read, but probably 3/3.5 stars. (However, I am considering changing this in the near future. I have to rate my review books after all.
- I like adaptations. I know this can be a mixed bag and that some books adapted to screen can be a disaster but overall I just really like to see some of my favourite books converted into movies or series and I’m happy to take the risk – after all, if I don’t like the adaptation it doesn’t spoil the book for me.
- I can’t listen to music and read. It’s just not possible for me at all – too much conflict of interest – one of them always wins out and usually I realise that I’ve read the same page twenty times and not absorbed a single word because I’m too busy singing – badly singing at that.
- I don’t like every type of book! This is a fairly common misconception – people see you read a lot and so very kindly pass on their books to you – but more often than not they’re not your type of book. Just picture it – somebody brings in a box of books and says ‘you love reading don’t you, so I’ve brought you in some books I was getting rid of’ – firstly, my anticipation has now skyrocketed, BOOKS – what sort of books will they be, excitement am I. Then I open the box and can’t discover a single thing to stay excited about – BUT – because I’m very polite I have to maintain this expression (that is killing my cheeks btw) that everything is just hunky dory. Not to mention this person is then going to relentlessly pursue me for the next six months asking how I liked them all. Doomed. I’m not being ungrateful, seriously I’m not but more often than not I’d sooner not be the local second hand book depository because it rarely works out – I mean, what are the chances of somebody giving me a whole set of amazing fantasy books??
- Certain popular book tropes just don’t work for me – to name a few off the top of my head – instalove (lust by another name), love triangles, mysteriously never present parents, etc.
- I’ve told you mine now tell me yours….
A decade of good reading
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is:
Favorite Books Released In the Last Ten Years
Now, this is really hard. I find it difficult to narrow it down to a best of 10 list at the end of the year given that I read usually about 100 or more books. I do a ‘best of’ list at the start of the new year so I’ve gone back through those lists and tried to choose a varied selection from the past 10 years.
2010 – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
2011 – Witch Light by Susan Fletcher
2012 – The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
2013 – Beauty by Sarah Pinborough
2014 – City of Stairs by Robert Bennett
2015 – Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marillier
2016 – Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
2017 – Red Sister by Mark Lawrence
2018 – The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell
2019 –A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
I hope there’s something here that appeals. 2019 isn’t yet half way through but I’ve gone for A Brightness Long Ago because it was very good and it was my first book by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Here are the lovely covers:
#wyrdandwonder – Magical Artefacts
21 May 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday, Wyrd and Wonder
(May is the month of Wyrd and Wonder – details here, Twitter: @wyrdandwonder)
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week I’ve picked a topic from the Wyrd and Wonder list instead and the theme is:
Top Ten magical artefacts
So, I’ve had a good think about this and, of course, some of these will be really obvious but I had to go there and some are hopefully not so obvious:
The One Ring. The Lord of the Rings by JRRTolkien – I had too. It’s the first one that sprang to mind. A ring forged by Sauron, the Dark Lord, with an evil purpose in mind – world dominion. The Lord of the Ring is the story of the quest, taken on by 9 companions known as the Fellowship, to destroy the ring by returning it to the fire’s of Mordor. One ring to rule them all.
Image from Wikipedia
There are lots of things to choose from in JKRowling’s Harry Potter series from wands, to magical cloaks to the Philosopher’s Stone – I’ve chosen something a bit more mischievous – the Marauder’s Map. The Map is a magical piece of parchment that when activated, by using the words ‘I solemnly swear that I am up to no good’, reveals a complete map of Hogwarts, including secret passages. It also reveals the location of people within the castle.
Excalibur – King Arthur’s legendary sword – pulled from a stone? or given to the bearer by the Lady in the lake. Lots of different stories are available TH White’s Once and Future King, for example, or adaptations – Disney’s Sword in the Stone:
Original theatrical release poster
The Ruby Slippers – The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L Frank Baum’s – strangely enough I don’t think the shoes in the novel were red – but it was a long time ago that I read the book. The Ruby slippers originally belonged to the Wicked Witch of the East – who died when Dorothy’s house dropped out of the sky and landed on her! The Wicked Witch of the West desperately wants the slippers for their powerful magic and pursues Dorothy to try and claim them.
Seven league boots – apparently these are magical items from folklore but I first became aware of them in Diana Wynne Jones wonderful Howl’s Moving Castle. As you may imagine, the person who wears these boots can travel seven leagues every time they take one footstep – very useful for quests! And I love this quote:
“It’s amazing the way one can take a step ten and a half miles long and still always land in a cowpat.”
“Drink Me/Eat Me” – magical food and potions from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. After following the White Rabbit down a magical rabbit hole Alice drinks from a bottle she finds on a table which causes her to shrink – fortunately a cake with the words ‘eat me’ written in currants reverses the magic – although not with the results she hoped for.
The Magic Mirror from Grimm’s fairytale – Snow White in which the evil queen asks her magic mirror every morning ‘“Magic mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?” One day, the mirror, which always answers truthfully, tells her that Snow White is the fairest in the land. Enraged, the Queen sends her hunter to kill Snow White – and I’m sure you know how the story goes from there.
A magic eye – Greek mythology tells of three sisters – witches, who shared one eye and one tooth. Perseus – known for beheading Medusa – stole the witch’s eye to force them to give him information in his search for Medusa and how to defeat her.
Image taken from Villains: Fandom
Shardplate – magically enhanced armour from Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives. Shardplate gives the wearer enhanced speed and strength and protects the wearer more than traditional armour. Shardplate can no longer be forged and therefore the remaining suits of armour are highly prized.
Sting – I started with Tolkien and I thought I’d finish with an artefact from his books. Sting. A sword that originally appeared in The Hobbit and was found by Bilbo Baggins who later gives it to Frodo in the Fellowship of the Ring. Sting is a magical sword that can detect when orcs or goblins are near by.
Frodo and Sting, LotR, taken from Wikipedia
Obviously, I’ve missed some iconic artefacts off here – I’ve tried to go for a mix of obvious and not so obvious – give me your own examples of magical artefacts please.
The show must go on…
14 May 2019
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Movie adaptations, That Artsy Reader Girl, Top Ten Tuesday
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is:
Page to Screen Freebie
I was going to do a straightforward book to movie adaptation list but I’ve decided instead to use all the prompts provided and give an example of each (if I can). So, here goes and I’ll just mention that I’m going with a lot of obvious ones here:
Books that became movies
Harry Potter by JK Rowlings – this is one of those fine examples of a series of books that have been very well adapted and I adore the movies as much as the books – I know! They’re books that a whole swathe of children grew up with, ageing along with the characters. I loved the increasingly dark feeling of the books and the movies caught that very well and I think the lead characters were excellently chosen.
Books that became TV shows
Game of Thrones by GRRM – bit premature maybe because the series isn’t (quite) finished yet. I have enjoyed this series and had some firm favourite characters – of course, nobody is safe with GRRM so it will be interesting to see the concluding episode! Certainly much drama so far but no spoilers from me!
Movies that became books
Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright & David Leslie Johnson. This is a book that I read that was apparently based on the movie. The release of the book was tied into the movie release date and the book was sold without an ending. I remember this quite clearly because the ending was to be made available on the internet – I’m guessing to avoid movie spoilers. As it happened, I didn’t enjoy the book and I didn’t watch the movie – or search out the ending.
Great adaptations
Lord of the Rings by JRRTolkien. I loved these movies. I thought they were really well adapted, the settings were fantastic, the tone was perfect particularly the way it changed as the film progressed. I thought the actors were well chosen and just generally this is a series of films that I could watch over and over.
Bad adaptations
The Hobbit by JRRTolkien – okay, not a bad movie I suppose – in itself – but for me a case of a movie that was changed too much. This is a film that I was really looking forward to – I was surprised that there would be three films from such a relatively slim book – but, I could go for that, three times the fun? Plus, there is a lot of background to Tolkien’s worlds – however, ultimately – remember Bilbo saying that he felt like butter spread too thinly over bread – well, just saying! What I found disappointing with the film was it felt too similar to Lord of the Rings and completely lost the tone and feel of the book itself and it felt like certain elements were changed completely. What brought this into much sharper focus was that I reread the book not long before the movie and so the changes were much more apparent. I’m sure lots of people loved the films, and I can see why, but they didn’t work for me, they didn’t capture the feeling of the Hobbit at all.
Books you need to read before watching the movie
The Goldfinich by Donna Tartt – I’ve read The Secret History and The Little Friend and I did rush out to buy a copy of Goldfinch but just never read it. The thing is – I have to read the book first, otherwise, once I’ve seen the adaptation it’s very rare for me to go back and pick it up.
Books you need to read before watching their tv show
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill – the trailer for this looks great – and be warned, seriously creepy – and I’ve had the book for quite some time so I need to fit it in – otherwise I can never watch the series!!! Doh.
Movies you loved more than the book
It doesn’t happen often but occasionally I enjoy the film more than the book. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte – this could be a case of watching the film first (which I did and which proves my point about needing to get to the book first) – well, the book didn’t work for me after seeing the film – I just couldn’t get on with it for some reason. There it is – go figure.
Books you loved more than the movie
I am Legend by Richard Matheson. Another example of a good movie that didn’t work for me because of the changes -particularly the end. I won’t say more because their lie spoilers.
Books you wanted to read because you saw the movie
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. I saw the movie first and it made me pick up the book – and in actual fact I enjoyed both – so happy endings all round.
That’s me to a tee!
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme where every Tuesday we look at a particular topic for discussion and use various (or more to the point ten) bookish examples to demonstrate that particular topic. Top Ten Tuesday (created and hosted by The Broke and Bookish) is now being hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and future week’s topics can be found here. This week’s topic is:
Characters That Remind Me of Myself
To be honest – I’m not sure which characters remind me of me. Perhaps that would be easier for others to say so I’ve gone for some probably rather silly ideas here instead:
The Weasley Twins out of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter books- yes, of course, I’d like to say that I’m like Hermione, but truthfully I was a lazy student and one that was happier being a bit of a clown in class – so, the Weasley twins with their sense of humour feels more like me.
Griz – this is out of one of my recent reads -A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher – I’m like Griz in one very important way – I adore my dog. Not sure whether I’d be heroic enough to take off after him if somebody kidnapped him – I’d like to think I would but who knows. I would be deeply vexed though! GRRRRRRrrrf.
Shara Thivani from RJ Bennet’s City of Lies – no, I’m not a spy! But, she’s incredibly bookish and likes to use her brain to solve things – it helps of course that she is usually accompanied by Sigrud who has a fair bit of brawn to throw into the mix when things get troublesome.
Lady Trent from A History of Dragons by Marie Brennan — because she loves dragons, ditto, and she makes a study of them – this is something I could get behind, I probably wouldn’t be as good at her with all the anatomical sketches but I’d give it a go – and have a good laugh at them along the way.
Sam Tarly from GRRM’s Game of Thrones – because he just can’t wait to get to the library at the Citadel, the excitement about rooms and rooms full of shelves full of books – oh yes, this is definitely me.
Samwise Gamgee, Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings – because he knows he’s not an adventurer, he’s happy at home, sat round his fire, and he loves gardening – which I also enjoy. Although I do enjoy a bit of travelling – but then, Sam did enjoy seeing Rivendell.
Emma – from Jane Austen’s book of the same name – because she has some proper embarrassing moments brought on by her meddling. I’m not that much of a meddler, or a matchmaker for that matter, but I’ve had the occasional embarrassing moment. Just the odd one.
Rip Van Winkle – this is a character that fell asleep for a long time – and I do like to sleep, perhaps not quite as long as Rip – he slept himself into another era completely but I love sleep and I’m a bear with a sore head when I wake up.
All the vampires – because I prefer the night to the day. I like to stay up late – probably why I’m always so tired – Doh!
And, as I’m being rather silly now – it suggests I’m all out of ideas so tell me who you’re like.
Books and travelling with Lynn 