Top Ten Books I'd Love To See As Movies

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This Week's Topic: 

Books I'd Love to See As Movies

1. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor––A DoSaB movie is definitely at the top of my "things-I-want-to-exist" list. I love the world and the characters, and seeing them come to life in a movie would be so awesome. I'd love to see what the chimaera and angels really look like.
2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas––Like DoSaB, Throne of Glass is another series with a kick-ass heroine I love and a fantasy world that would be awesome to see come to life.
3. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern––The Night Circus is a book that was made to be adapted to the screen. The imagery in it is so magical and gorgeous.
4. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart––If this were made into a movie, it would give me all the feels!
5. Looking for Alaska by John Green––Because every John Green book needs to be a movie.

6. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness––This series was so amazing, and I still can't believe how long it took me to get around to reading them. I could see this becoming just as big as The Hunger Games if it were made into a movie.
7. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire––I did not expect to love Beautiful Disaster as much as I did, and Abby and Travis are just one of my many OTPs I'd like to see on the big screen.
8. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge––Cruel Beauty was one of my favorite books of 2014 and one of my favorite fairy tale retellings in general. Can someone please cast Torrance Coombs as Ignifex?
9. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater––One of the things I loved about The Scorpio Races was how it had very cinematic imagery––I could see the settings and characters so clearly as I was reading. I think it would make for a great movie adaptation.


So what's on your book-to-movie wishlist? Do we share any of the same movies?

Fairy Tale Challenge {1}: Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali

Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs by Davide Cali
Publisher: Random House of Canada Limited
Length: 32 pages
Source/Format: NetGalley/e-ARC

 

Snow White is on the run from an evil witch when she comes across some dwarfs in the forest. They agree to take her in and keep her safe if she will help them with their chores. She soon realizes she's taking on a lot more than she bargained for. 77 breakfasts to make, 77 lunches to pack (don't forget the juice boxes!), 77 pairs of pants to mend and a whole lot of dishes. Eventually Snow White decides to take her chances with the witch. There's a surprise ending... well, it may not be so surprising. This is a hilarious retelling of the classic tale, with bright, energetic illustrations featuring busy dwarfs, and the even busier Snow White.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Today I'm kicking off the Fairy Tale Challenge, with a very different sort of review. You're probably wondering why a twenty-four-year-old book blogger of YA fiction would choose to read a children's picture book, and all I can say in response is, Look at that cover! When I saw this in the NetGalley catalog, I hit "Request" without a second thought.

Not only is this book gorgeously illustrated, with each page bursting with a rainbow of colors, but it's funny, too! If you thought the original Snow White had her hands full cooking, cleaning, and caring for a measly group of seven dwarfs, just think how frazzled she'd be with seventy-seven! There's no rest for poor Snow in this version of the story; as soon as she's prepared one meal for the dwarfs, it's already time to start fixing the next. Then there's the mountain of dishes, the bedtime stories (a different one for each dwarf!), and, most importantly, the beard grooming. After all that work, who has time for a prince? All this Snow White wants is a nice, long nap, and when the evil (or maybe not so evil after all) witch offers her a poisoned apple, Snow White jumps at the offer: "I'll take two!" One of the funniest pictures in the book comes at the very end, when Snow White, not waiting to be awoken by a prince's kiss, fully embraces her magically-induced sleep with a sleeping mask and "Do Not Disturb" sign.

Though it only took me all of five minutes to read, I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It definitely coaxed a few chuckles out of me, and I'm absolutely in love with the illustrations. I think I may have to order a copy for myself!

Fairytale Challenge 2015

Hello all! I'm finally back, and I'm kicking off my blogging new year with my introduction post for the 2015 Fairytale Challenge.

What Is It?

A challenge to read Middle Grade, Young Adult, and Adult fairytale retellings, hosted by Mel of The Daily Prophecy.

When Is It?

From January 1 through December 31, 2015. Or in my case, from February 6 to December 31. I'm a little late to the party.

Why I'm Participating:

Because fairytales are awesome, and I love to see authors reimagine them and add their own twists!

Where You Find What I'm Reading:

 To see my Fairytale Challenge shelf on Goodreads, click here. I'll be keeping it updated throughout the year.

How Many Retellings Will I Read?

I'm aiming for the Magic Mirror level. In other words, 5–9 retellings.

If you're participating in the challenge, post your links in the comments so I can see what you'll be reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

 This Week's Topic:

Places Books Have Made Me Want To Visit

 Prague

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"There was a deceptive tangling of alleys that gave you, gargoyles tiptoeing away, stones like puzzle pieces rearranging themselves into new configurations while you weren’t looking. Prague entranced you, lured you in, like the mythic fey who trick travellers deep into forest until they’re lost beyond hope."

Forks, Washington/Hoh Rain Forest

"Everything was green: the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns. Even the air filtered down greenly through the leaves. It was too green--an alien planet."

 Amsterdam

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"It looked like an old painting, but real--everything achingly idyllic in the morning light--and I thought about how wonderfully strange it would be to live in a place where almost everything was built by the dead."

Morocco

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"It was monumental: an entire town, really--lanes and plazas, neighborhoods, a caravansary, granary, and palace--all of it echoing empty. Its creators had dreamed on a legendary scale, and to stand in its flagstone court, mud walls and peaked roofs jutting overhead, was to feel shrunk to the size of a songbird."

 Prince Edward Island

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"Below them was a pond, looking almost like a river so long and winding was it. A bridge spanned it midway and from there to its lower end, where an amber-hued belt of sand-hills shut it in from the dark blue gulf beyond, the water was a glory of many shifting hues--the most spiritual shadings of crocus and rose and ethereal green, with other elusive tintings for which no name has ever been found."

What are some places you've read about that you'd like to visit?

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Favorite Character-Driven Novels

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This Week's Topic:

Ten Favorite Character-Driven Novels

Falling Into Place by Amy Zhang - Even though the characters in this book are pretty horrible, you still feel for them.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - Cath Avery is one of my favorite fictional characters. I related to her so much and her story was an emotional roller coaster.

The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson - Maggie, Pauline, and Liam were a great cast of characters. I loved this book so much! I don't know what it is about YA boys named Liam, but I've been falling for quite a few lately.

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - Oh, Gat. Oh, my heart! I want to say more but I'll start spewing spoilers.

A Mango-Shaped Space by Wendy Mass - One of the most fascinating YA characters I've never come across, with a pet cat that totally broke my heart.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - This is such a gorgeous book and while it's not heavy on plot, Morgenstern's characters are lovely to read about. Even the circus itself seems to be a character in the story.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater - With a name like The Scorpio Races, you'd expect this book to be very plot-focused, but really it's more about the two main characters, Puck and Sean, and the people of the eerie, secluded island they live on.

Do we share any favorites? What are some character-driven novels you love?

Book Review: The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson

The Vanishing Season by Jodi Lynn Anderson
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: July 2014
Genre: YA Contemporary
Source/Format: Library/Hardcover

Girls started vanishing in the fall, and now winter's come to lay a white sheet over the horror. Door County, it seems, is swallowing the young, right into its very dirt. From beneath the house on Water Street, I've watched the danger swell.

The residents know me as the noises in the house at night, the creaking on the stairs. I'm the reflection behind them in the glass, the feeling of fear in the cellar. I'm tied—it seems—to this house, this street, this town.

I'm tied to Maggie and Pauline, though I don't know why. I think it's because death is coming for one of them, or both.

All I know is that the present and the past are piling up, and I am here to dig.I am looking for the things that are buried.

From bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson comes a friendship story bound in snow and starlight, a haunting mystery of love, betrayal, redemption, and the moments that we leave behind.

The Review

Maggie Larsen moves to the peninsula town of Gill Creek after her mom loses her job in Chicago. The family has inherited an old Victorian house on Lake Michigan and live practically out in the middle of nowhere, with only two neighbors to speak of. There, Maggie meets and befriends Pauline, a wild, carefree girl, and Liam, the quiet boy who has loved Pauline all his life. As Maggie settles into her new life in Gill Creek, girls in the community start turning up dead--found drowned in Lake Michigan. Rumors fly as to who the killer could be; is it Gerald, the odd old man who sells gramophones at the local antique store, or could it be Liam's father, whose status as an outsider and eccentric atheist make him a prime target for suspicion?

Right off the bat, I was drawn in by the mystery in The Vanishing Season, especially once I learned that part of the story is told through the point of view of a ghost, who seems somehow tied to Maggie's new home. We don't know who she is or why she is so attached to Maggie and her friends; could she be the ghost of the young woman who lived in Maggie's house over a century before, or is she one of the murdered girls, trying to warn Maggie, Pauline, and Liam? While this is certainly a compelling part of the story, the real heart of The Vanishing Season is Maggie and her friendship with Pauline and Liam. Maggie is cautious and thoughtful, the exact opposite of Pauline, who lives in the moment and doesn't want to grow up. And then there's Liam, whom Maggie thinks she might be falling for, even though his world revolves around Pauline. I became so attached to these three while reading and there were parts (you'll know them when you get to them) when I just sat staring at the page, whispering "no" because I knew what was coming and my heart was breaking for them.

What really makes this book stand out is Jodi Lynn Anderson's gorgeous writing style. It especially comes through when reading the ghost's point of view. One of my favorite images from the book is the description of moths gathering around the ghost, as if she's a light they're drawn to. In a lot of ways, the ghost girl in this book reminded me of the narrator, Death, in Markus Zusak's The Book Thief; they both had this mesmerizing way of describing their worlds and the people they watched over.

Favorite Quotes

"Still, below, in the early dawn, something runs rampant through Gill Creek. It tips over garbage cans, taps against windows, breathes onto people's necks. The residents think it's animals, or the wind. But I think it's fear itself."

Okay, how great is this quote? I love the air of foreboding it gives; when I read "taps against windows, breaths onto people's necks," I actually felt a little shiver of fear myself! 

Maggie, Liam, and Pauline musing over who the killer could be:

"I think it's Liam."

Liam stared into the fire. "I did it with s'more sticks."

This line absolutely cracked me up while reading. I love, love, love it when authors add witty banter to stories.

"I think you go on. I don't think you disappear. I think my dad watches over me, like my guardian angel. Only sometimes I feel like if I leave here, or if I change too much, he won't recognize me anymore."

One of the sadder quotes from the book, but I loved it because it really gave us insight into Pauline and why she's so wild and childlike, and unsure about the future, whereas Maggie is cautious and has everything planned out.  

Final Thoughts

Buy | Borrow | Skip

 The Vanishing Season is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching story about friendship and growing up--definitely a book I'll be adding to my collection.

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Were Hard To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This Week's Topic:

Books That Were Hard For Me To Read

The Chaos Walking Trilogy by Patrick Ness - This series is mind-blowingly good but oh, my gosh, was it agonizing to read! So many times I had to put down the books because I could not take how stressful they were. Other times I had to put them down because I was fuming with Todd for some of his less brilliant moments. I think The Knife of Never Letting Go was the first book that I actually chucked across the room when I was finished because THAT CLIFFHANGER ENDING! Patrick Ness knows how to mess with his readers' emotions, that's for sure!

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling - For me, this may have been one of THE hardest Potter books to get through because of the amount of sheer stress and anger it put me through. First, we're faced with the fact that Harry may be expelled from Hogwarts. Then, we're questioning why Dumbledore is avoiding Harry, especially now, in a time when Harry most seems to need his guidance. And finally, there's her, the most despicable character of the whole series, the one whose mere name induces rage, the character that I hate even more than Voldemort: Dolores Umbridge. *shudders*

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - Talk about being stressed out while reading! The only thing more shocking than Katniss being sent back to the Games was the book's ending.

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer - As soon as I saw that Breaking Dawn had 200+ pages in Jacob's POV, I knew that reading this book (as a hardcore Team Edward girl) was going to be, well, brutal. If given a choice between the canon series' ender and some of the Breaking Dawn fanfics I read before the book was even released, I'd go fanfic all the way.

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - While I really enjoyed the first half of the book, the middle just lagged on and on. Eventually I got so tired of reading it that I ended up skimming through it to the end. I liked the overall story, though, and still want to give the rest of the series a shot.

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins - Confession time: It seems like I'm the only YA book blogger in the world who does not love Anna and the French Kiss. And the sad part is I really want to! Surely if so many people love it there's got to be something good about it, right? I just didn't like Anna. Her whole "ugh-I-can't-believe-my-famous-author-father-forced-me-to-go-to-Europe-poor-me" attitude turned me off from the start. I tried to push past it and enjoy the rest of the book, but I never became emotionally involved with any of the characters or the storyline. :/ Sorry, everybody.

So what are some books that were hard for you to read, either because they were stressful or didn't turn out the way you expected?