Books to Movies

Besides reading I also enjoy movies. I could do away with Dish Network and be completely happy with a DVD player and a nice color TV. Particularly with television series on DVD this is becoming more and more appealing to me.

I know a lot of avid readers frown upon the whole book to movie thing or at least choosing your reading list based on what has been or will be a movie. I am guilty of this in a huge way. However, I find that this is a great way to find new authors and have found some great books that I might not have picked up otherwise.

Yes, I realize that most movies pale in comparison to the books but still find comparing the two fun. Also, helps if you allow some time to pass from reading to viewing.

Work calls, I'll get back to the post later.... Now where was I???

Memoirs of a Geisha(book by Arthur Golden) will be coming out December 11. This was a wonderful story and actually moved it up on my reading list because the trailers for this movie look great. Visually I think this is going to be a great movie. At first I was disappointed Yun-Fat Chow wasn't going to be in this, however, Kenneth Watanabe from Last samurai (Katsumoto)is the male lead. Looking forward to seeing him in this roll.

Hart's War by John Katzenbach was the first book I read after seeing the movie. I had no intention of reading it but my brother strongly suggested it and even sent me his copy. So, of course I read it. This book changed my once firm policy about never reading a book after I had seen the movie. It was actually quite cool to have a preconceived idea of the characters. This is an awesome read; probably one of my all time favorites. The movie is pretty good too; staring Bruce Willis and Colin Farrell. Can't wait to read The Analyst and The Mad Man's Tale which I have on my TBR shelf. Just realized he also wrote Just Cause also a movie with Sean Connery, Lawrence Fishburn, and Blair Underwood.

Sideways by Rex Pickett was a movie I consider extremely boring compared to the book. Hard to imagine in this day and age but this movie was a disappointment as is typical of the book to movie scenario. Did think it was fun seeing Thomas Haden Church from Wings but very disappointed that Paul Giamatti wasn't nominated for an Oscar. He is truly underrated IMHO.


The Legend of Bagger Vance by Steven Pressfield was another book my brother recommended. I would have never read it on my own because I don't golf. Again, another all time favorite read. There is no way the movie could capture this book. The movie was okay. I love Matt Damon and my only real complaint of the movie is that the characters were too young.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsby Ann Brashares is a great book and movie for teen/preteens. Sends all the right messages without being preachy or dorky. Look forward to reading the next two books in this series. Farely unknown actress were in the movie which I liked. Nope, no Dakota Fanning! America Ferrera is worth mentioning she plays Carmen. She is wonderful in Real Woman Have Curves.

I could keep going but will stop for now and maybe do another installment of Books to Movies at a later time.

Best Reads of 2005

Since it's nearing the end of the year I'm going to start my list of best reads. Use later for recommending and/or gift buying. May add to it later as I squeeze in the last couple reads of the year.

Blessings by Anna Quindlen
Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
Sideways by Rex Pickett
The Book of Dead Birds by Gayle Brandeis*****
Light On Snow by Anita Shreve*****
My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
Practical Demon Keeping by Christopher Moore
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time By Mark Haddon
The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst *****
The Memory of Running by Ron McLarty*****
Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs*****
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini*****
Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd*****
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden*****
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove by Christopher Moore

***** 5 STAR Reads!!!

Nonfiction for 2005

I don't read a lot of nonfiction but I've read a few this year from beginning to end that are worth mentioning.

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. This is kind of a bizarre read but funny and sad. Read like fiction but stranger like they always say about truth.

Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a personal spiritual life by Lama Surya Das. Very easy to read and non denominational type stuff. Got a lot of good ideas from this book and highly recommend this book if you are looking to find your way in the spiritual sense.



Unstoppable Women: Achieve any breakthrough goal in 30 days by Cynthia Kersey. This is the first self help book I've read from beginning to end. She lays out a simple plan to set and achieve goals. Great for people who tend to make things more complicated than they need to be.

Lucky: A Memoir by Alice Sebold. She tells the story of her rape and the aftermath. I really thought this would be hard to read but Sebold seems to go out of her way to make the reader comfortable. I think this is a must read.

The Lust Lizard of Melancoholy Cove****

#50
Editorial Review from Amazon.

In a nutshell, the plot revolves around a gigantic prehistoric lizard whose slumber deep beneath the ocean surface is interrupted by a radioactive leak from a nearby power plant. At the same time, a woman in Pine Cove hangs herself; the local psychiatrist (who has been prescribing antidepressants to everyone in town with gay abandon) decides the suicide was her fault and yanks everyone's medication; and an elderly black blues singer named Catfish Jefferson arrives to perform at the Head of the Slug saloon. Into this already strange brew mix one schizoid former B-movie starlet, a pot-head town constable, a bereaved local artist, a biologist tracking anomalous behavior in rats, a crooked sheriff, and a pharmacist with a bizarre sexual fixation on sea mammals, and you have a recipe for the kind of madness Moore does so well.

12/05 This has been my favorite Moore so far and still have a few to go.

A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

Comming in March 2006!!


Charlie Asher is a typical guy. Sure, he’s a little neurotic and a bit of a hypochondriac; he doesn’t take risks and he seriously hates change. But Charlie’s safe life is about to take a really weird detour . . .

Preorder A Dirty Job.

What Do You Do All Day? by Amy Scheibe****

11/22/05
#49
This looks like it will be a fun quick read which I'm in need of. Feel like the last couple of books have taken months to read.

What hoot! This turned out to be better than I expected. I will give this warning if you are one of those "perfect" mothers that never has one bad thought about her children, husband, or in-laws then you might find this book a bit offensive.

Synopsis:
Jennifer Bradley has a miles-long list of daily duties (compounded by the absence of her loving but always traveling husband), including urging one-year-old Max to crawl in her presence and handling precocious four-year-old Georgia (whose response to being bathed with her brother is, "I'm not down with this, Jen"). But the question Jennifer can't seem to answer is whether what she does all day really matters. Scheibe crafts a well-rounded, realistic character in Jennifer--a thinking mother who is brutally honest about her ambivalence. Some days she wants to spend hours just staring at her kids, but on others, she yearns for her old job as an antiquities dealer. And what about that biography of Hannibal she's always wanted to write? Jennifer's constant worry that her "hard-earned identity of career woman/neofeminist" has been "thrown out with the baby's bathwater" brings a manic, amusing energy to the story, and propels her pell-mell down the brambly path of motherhood. --Brangien Davis

The Stupidest Angel Version 2.0

I was reading Christopher Moores blog the other day and he is signing bookplates for The Stupidest Angel version 2.0 since he will not be going on tour for this rerelease with an extra chapter. Here is more info.

"Since I won’t be touring for the release of The Stupidest Angel Version 2.0, I’ll again be offering signed, adhesive book plates that you can stick in your gift copies. Just send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to:

Christopher Moore
P.O. Box 111
Kilauea, HI 96754

Enclose a very short note saying how many bookplates you’d like. (Limit 10 per 37 cent stamp.)The cut off this year will have to be December first, so get your envelopes in the mail."

Or just visit Chris's web site.

Why Do I Love These People by Po Bronson

I ordered my first signed 1st edition book. Go visit Po Bronson's web site and you can find a link on how to get your signed copy. It's about the unique challenges of families. He uses stories of real life families. Kind of a documentary style book.

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving ****

#48
I am still in the process of reading this book. I wanted to get my online reading journal started so I could work out how I wanted it to look and so forth before the beginning of the year. I'm hoping to keep it up to date and do away with pencil and paper. This way I should have easy access to it and won't be lugging around a spiral notebook with me everywhere.

I am participating in a bookring at bookcrossing.com for A Prayer for Owen Meany So far I am really enjoying it and can't wait to compare it to the movie Simon Birch.

11/09/05 I'm still working on this book. However, wanted to write down some thoughts so far. The main character John's mother has died and I can really relate to this aspect of character. My mother also died when I was eleven and had similar feelings and experience. Constantly going over the last time I saw her and other interactions that I felt were significant to me.

11/21/05 I finally finished this and will rate it among my favorites of 2005. At times it seemed to go too deep into detail, however, Irving is a master of the detail and making all of them count.

I loved the relationships in this book between all of the characters.