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What I found pretty clever was how they worked in the Museum of Natural History into the opening credits as part of a display on societies of New York. I found that intriguing and humorous. As with all chick lit books and movies, it had a happy ending and I have to say I was happy to see her end up with "Harvard hottie". Someone needs to give Chris Evans more movie roles!!
Final Take Book to Movie: 3/5
Related: Lisa's Movie Review
Review: I admit it, when I hear that Sophie Kinsella is releasing a new book I get excited. I've loved her since my girlfriend gave me Confessions of a Shopaholic
I expect Laugh out Loud moments from Ms. Kinsellas' books and while there were a few, there were less than in her previous books. The ending is predictible but nice just the same. It seems that amnesia is the illness dujour lately in tv and in books but that doesn't mean that it isn't refreshing for a subject matter.
If you haven't read Sophie Kinsella yet, I would recommend either Can You Keep a Secret?
I'll keep reading Sophie Kinsella because I like her style of writing and her books typically don't disappoint. I don't ever feel like I've wasted time reading one of her books.
Final Take: 3.5/5
Review: Things I Want My Daughters to Know: A Novel
The characters were flawed, real and not stereotypical, which meant I could see parts of myself in 3 out of the 4 daughters. This is refreshing because for me, it's either you identify with one and not the others. Besides Barbara being the moral compass, I also felt that Mark was a major centerpiece to the story, he was the rock.
If you are in the mood for a book about family, growing up even if you are a grown up, then pick up this book; I don't think you will be disappointed.
I will definitely be checking out Elizabeth Noble's other books and look forward to her next novel after this one.
Final Take: 4/5
At the beginning of the year I read The River King
Well it wasn't a total waste of time because Ed Burns plays the main lead character, Abel, but I hate it when they completely change the story. They left out a few good secondary characters and messed up the ending IMHO. The girl who played Carlin wasn't nearly as luminecent as I thought she should be and Harry McKenna definitely could have been better looking. Jennifer Ehle played Betsy and did a decent job but they cut her part in the story down considerably. They did a lot of the story in flashback which I understand for time constraints but it didn't help the story.
I also think they lost the magical part of the book by turning it into a movie. The magic and mystical part of the book is what I found so enchanting and what is essential to an Alice Hoffman book.
Final Take Book to Movie: 2/5
Summary:
Congratulations to Kierra & Sherry for winning a copy of Jodi Picoult's new book Change of Heart: A Novel
Want to know how I did it? I listed each commentor sequentially, with the second entry being the next in the sequence. Then I visited the handy dandy Random.org and voila!
Thank you all for participating in our giveaway! Surely there'll be more books to giveaway, so please keep your eyes peeled to this blog.
Kierra & Sherry, just send us an email and we'll sort out getting your book over to you ASAP!
Summary:
Mega-bestseller Patterson teams up with journalist/novelist Paetro for a rousing fourth installment of the Women's Murder Club series. This time, bright, tough SFPD Lt. Lindsay Boxer is battling police brutality charges while chasing down a clan of murderers. When a botched police arrest of two gun-toting minors expands from a shaky preliminary hearing to what promises to be a nerve-rattling jury trial of Lindsay, she flees the pre-trial media frenzy for the serene haven of sister Cat's house in Half Moon Bay. But instead of finding relaxation and romance with her Homeland Security beau, Lindsay becomes embroiled in the ruthless crimes of a troika of killers who've been slashing and flogging victims all over town. With surprisingly little aid from the Murder Club, Lindsay performs her detective handiwork (and steps on the toes of Half Moon's police chief). As more bodies surface, sketchy suspects like a smitten grease monkey and a slimy porn star emerge, then the murderous threesome set their sights on Lindsay. Back in San Francisco, Lindsay is acquitted; she then rushes back to Half Moon Bay to apprehend the elusive villains and put to rest her unresolved first homicide case as well. Heroic super-sleuthing, a steadily gripping plot line and 146 snappy chapters add up to suspense fiction euphoria for Patterson's legion of fans. ~Publishers Weekly/Amazon.com
Review:
I have to agree with Crystal who commented on my last Patterson Review... this was very Lindsay-centric. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but we do read Women's Murder Club for the Club, not just the murder. Although, after what happened in the last installment, I tend to see this as a way of gently introducing a new character to the club, something that may have otherwise been resented. Obviously, we couldn't have resumed business as usual.
I was slightly disappointed with the Half Moon Bay murders. Not only did I ID a murderer halfway into the book, I also empathized with the killer. Now I'm not saying I could go out and commit a murder, but I could certainly ally myself with the motive. There was an attempt to make the murderer seem less sympathetic, but it wasn't effective, in my estimation.
That said, this was a good transition book for the series, though probably my least favorite so far.
4.4/5
Today was the day when I got to meet Jodi Picoult. Granted it wasn't one on one but in a local auditorium with about 100 other fans. She is fantastic! She is very down to earth and real. She was there to promote her new book Change of Heart: A Novel
I've never been to an author symposium before so this was fun for me. My sister came with me for a day without the kids (OK the 5 week old was with us but we were toddler free).
Jodi read an excerpt from Change of Heart, which was absolutely wonderful to hear an author read their own work. How personal the characters are for her makes the reading all that more intense. She then took questions from the audience about her books and research she does for each of her books.
I did find out that she and 3 friends do children's theatre in her hometown. She writes it and the lyrics for the music, her other friend writes the music and the
3rd friend directs it. She stated that there is more humor in her plays than in her books but they deal with issues that are important to kids. I thought this was awesome.
The audience was comprised off all ages but mainly women, although there were a few men there. There were some young adults there also, which speaks to her ability to grab an audience of all ages with her subject matters.
I was able to get my 5 copies of Change of Heart autographed and 2 of those copies will be given away tomorrow. It was originally 1 copy but due to the response, we decided to do 2.
In May they will be having Chris Bohjalian in to talk about his body of work and his new book Skeletons at the Feast
Review: This is my 3rd Michael Connelly book upon discovering him via my dad and I have to say I'm glad he turned me on to him since he weaves a good story together. In The Overlook (Harry Bosch)
Harry Bosch is a Detective for the LAPD and is quite the interesting character. He's a throw back to old school police work, doesn't know how to work a Blackberry and certainly doesn't trust or like the FBI which at times makes his job more difficult. He approaches this case as any other, it's a straight homocide, but then it becomes must bigger quickly and he must try to work with the FBI again. He's got a new partner who's not quite sure of Harry's methods (none that questionable IMHO) of solving the case. I like Harry's no nonsense way of trying to solve cases and his approach to life. The case has a good twist that I should have seen coming but didn't. You would think I would have figured it out because of all the crime/mystery books and tv shows I've absorbed over the years.
Now this is the 13th book with Harry Bosch as the main character and yet I don't feel that you need to read all of them to get who he is and his background. I read Echo Park (Harry Bosch)
Overall the book was solid and interesting but it wasn't fantastic. It did seem a little to easy to wrap up, but given the research that went into the book and the fresh topic, I'll give it a bit higher rating. If you want to read Michael Connelly though, I recommend starting with Echo Park (Harry Bosch)
Final Take: 4/5
We have a copy of Change of Heart to give away. Please leave a comment here by midnight EST time March 12, 2008 to be automaticaly entered.
Summary:
From the start, Patterson's Women's Murder Club series (1st to Die; Second Chance) has felt like high-concept TV with a smart edge, featuring an appealing and reliable cast of four female crime busters (a cop, a prosecutor, a medical examiner, a reporter) who race along byzantine plot lines humming with blood and sex, romance and heartbreak. But Patterson is an author who will detonate readers' presumptions for the sake of story, and in the series' third installment, the prolific author, working with frequent collaborator Gross (The Jester, etc.), defies expectations in a shocking way. Readers will love him for it. San Francisco Homicide lieutenant Lindsay Boxer, who narrates most of the action, is jogging with assistant DA Jill Barnhardt when Lindsay notices two things: first, bruises on Jill's shoulder; then the explosion of a nearby townhouse, into which Lindsay rushes to save a child. With the juxtaposition of these two plotlines, Patterson jumpstarts this enjoyably convoluted tale. The townhouse, home to a greedy CEO and his family, was destroyed by members of a terrorist group calling itself "August Spies"; Lindsay's chase after the group, which commits further killings, brings her into close proximity to what promises to be a new series regular, Joe Molinari, deputy director of the Office of Homeland Security. Love blooms for Lindsay but, meanwhile, love has curdled at Jill's house, where Jill's husband is abusing her. Then comes the big surprise, and the story's remainder plays out at high emotion and warp speed. There's a calculated feel to all that happens, but clever manipulation of an audience serves Patterson as well as it served Hitchcock: his fans will only clamor for more. ~ Publishers Weekly, Amazon.com
Review:
It's funny that this review should mention that it has a TV feel... when I read Lindsay the only voice I hear is Angie Harmon. One could argue that this comes from falling in love with the TV show before starting the series, but I fell in love with Bones before reading Reichs and I can't say that about Emily Deschanel, though I love her in the role.
I am glad that Lindsay got a little romance back in her life; she certainly deserves it. I am also starting to see where many people fault Patterson in his portrayal of women. Like most men, he seems to see our emotional complexity as "going from zero to crazy" (as my husband would put it) in a matter of seconds, but he misses a few steps in our thought process and reasoning, as would most men who don't experience it. But let's give Patterson credit, at least he doesn't assume our behavior's irrational. There is one scene in particular where Lindsay goes after Jill's husband that stick out in particular as an example of this.
This one was a shocker. I never expected the story to go where it did, and I would be spoiling for those who haven't read it if I said much more than I am. Suffice it to say, I had to take a break from the series after reading this one to give myself ample time to digest it.
4.7/5.0
I am sure that by now, we avid readers are well aware that the movie almost always decimates many elements in the book. Based on Julie's review, the summary included and the comments so far, I believe I can safely say that this statement holds true for this adaptation. There are some elements in the book that are most certainly missing from the book. I even overheard a fellow moviegoer remarking on how different the book was from the movie.
and I remembered leaving the movie thinking that I couldn't wait to read her review because this was a pretty (excuse my language) damn good movie.
Summary: Sisterly rivalry is the basis of this fresh, wonderfully vivid retelling of the story of Anne Boleyn. Anne, her sister Mary and their brother George are all brought to the king's court at a young age, as players in their uncle's plans to advance the family's fortunes. Mary, the sweet, blond sister, wins King Henry VIII's favor when she is barely 14 and already married to one of his courtiers. Their affair lasts several years, and she gives Henry a daughter and a son. But her dark, clever, scheming sister, Anne, insinuates herself into Henry's graces, styling herself as his adviser and confidant. Soon she displaces Mary as his lover and begins her machinations to rid him of his wife, Katherine of Aragon. This is only the beginning of the intrigue that Gregory so handily chronicles, capturing beautifully the mingled hate and nearly incestuous love Anne, Mary and George ("kin and enemies all at once") feel for each other and the toll their family's ambition takes on them. Mary, the story's narrator, is the most sympathetic of the siblings, but even she is twisted by the demands of power and status; charming George, an able plotter, finally brings disaster on his own head by falling in love with a male courtier. Anne, most tormented of all, is ruthless in her drive to become queen, and then to give Henry a male heir. Rather than settling for a picturesque rendering of court life, Gregory conveys its claustrophobic, all-consuming nature with consummate skill. In the end, Anne's famous, tragic end is offset by Mary's happier fate, but the self-defeating folly of the quest for power lingers longest in the reader's mind. ~amazon.com/Publisher's Weekly
Review: I know I'm a little obsessed with a book, movie or tv show when I dream about it every night and well in this case it was the wonderful, beautiful and enchanting The Other Boleyn Girl
I knew a little bit about this period in history but not a lot. Obviously I knew the major players, Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn but that was about my extent of knowledge. I found the fact that the story is written with historical facts and figures but then fictional from the point of emotion and behind the scenes riveting. I knew how the story ended, with Anne being beheaded but how she got there was truly fascinating. Even more intriguing was her sister Mary and her rise from being a pawn to being her own woman. The Other Boleyn Girl
This is yet another book that I'm sorry I put off reading for so long. It was truly a remarkable work of Historical Fiction and one that I will glad push onto anyone who hasn't read it. So if you were like me and have it on your bookshelf to read, pick it up and start it, I can guarantee you'll be enthralled immediately.
Now, I just need to decide if I want to see the movie. So if any of you ventured out this weekend and saw it and read the book, let me know your thoughts. I have limited time to get out and see a movie so I want to know if this book to movie adaptation is worth it. If not, I'll go and see Juno.
Final Take: 5/5
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