The following is my list of the books and their movies that I enjoyed reading and watching the most this year. In looking back over my reviews for these books, I recall that I also had a lot of fun doing the background research for these books. Many of them had a rich history surrounding the book or the making of the movie, or there is simply a lot of chatter about the book and its movie to look over. The list is chronologically ordered according to when I reviewed them. Click through to the reviews to see them again. (Adam’s fiction list is tomorrow and non-fiction Wednesday).
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
Although the validity of the story has been brought into question by the geisha whose life the story is based on, both the book and its movie beautifully, tragically, and intriguingly describe what life might have been like for a woman in Japan during the early to mid 1900s. This title stands as a favorite because I was impressed to find that the book painted just as wonderful picture in my mind as the movie does.
Dr. Sleep by Stephen King
As a fan of Stephen King, Stanley Kubrick, Jack Nicholson, it is no surprise that I loved the book and movie, The Shining, which preceded this book. This book, which is unique on my list because it doesn’t have a movie associated with it yet, was amazingly just as solid as the book that came before it. In a world where the majority of sequels fall flat or are an excuse for the writer/director to get another money grab, this book was awesome in the fact that it could easily stand-alone and still be great. I guarantee that this book will be made into a movie.
Howl’s Moving Castle by Dianna Wynne Jones
My husband introduced me to Japanese animated films, specifically Studio Ghibli movies, and I have to say that, for the most part, they do not disappoint. I was curious to see if the book that Howl’s Moving Castle was based on is as fun to listen to as the movie is to watch. While the book was different from the movie, they are both great in their own ways. And, those differences don’t detract from each other but they add to each other’s greatness. I was also excited to discover that this book and its movie would be a great way to get a younger listener interested in literature.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
This title comes with a great deal of nostalgia for me as it is one of my mother’s favorites and I even listened to the movie’s soundtrack on record a bunch growing up. I really enjoyed listening to this book because it was narrated by the great Michael C. Hall, who starred in Dexter, a favorite show of ours. What most surprised me was how rich of a back-story I discovered when I dug into the life of the author of this short and sweet story. The research led me to want to watch the movie, Capote, which is based on Truman’s life and was pretty amazing in and of itself.
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Movie and Audiobook Review)
To Kill a Mockingbird is a classic and well-beloved fiction novel by Harper Lee. The novel is from the perspective of a young girl, Scout, growing up in a small town in Alabama during the 1930s. Aside from experiencing some of the usual adventures of a small child during that time, Scout and her brother Jem must navigate life as their father, Atticus, defends a black man who has been falsely accused of raping a white woman. Seen in some way as a story within a story, the trial shows the true character of Atticus and how some bravery and standing up for one’s beliefs and dignity really does matter.
To Kill a Mockingbird is not a perfect novel but it is about as good as it can get. It is my impression that critics of the novel had to really search for problems with the novel. Apart from the social lessons to be learned from the novel, the true beauty of the novel is how wonderfully descriptive and visual Harper Lee makes it. I would credit this aspect in part to the fact that many of the characters and the events in the novel are autobiographical. It is a lot easier to be descriptive about people you know and events that you experienced. I am not sure whether I read the novel or saw the movie first, but, when reading the book this time, I would have sworn that some of the scenes from the book had made it into the movie that didn’t because they left such a strong visual impression when reading them. This might be like the chicken and the egg conundrum where the question is was the book so well-written that it was easy to visualize the scenes as if they were a part of the movie, or were the actors in the movie so adept at portraying the characters of the book that it made it easy for me to visualize them in the scenes from the book.
Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter by Russell Davies and Benjamin Cook
I am a big fan of the BBC series, Doctor Who. I usually don’t get too locked into a television series but I quickly fell in love with the Doctor, especially Season 4 with David Tennant and Catherine Tate. Season 4 had everything: excitement, humor, a strong female character, compelling stories, phenomenal acting and a beautiful musical score. So imagine my joy when I discovered Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who’s Head Writer and Executive Producer, had written an inside look on the season I loved the most!
Doctor Who: The Writer’s Tale is a year-long email conversation between Davies and journalist, Benjamin Cook as Season 4 was being written and filmed. The Great Correspondence, as Davies and Cook referred to their communications, is a unique look inside the BBC series. It’s a no holds barred look into Davies life as a he plans episodes, discusses how creative and casting decisions are made, handles budget woes, deals with location and scheduling snafus and a very deep look into the writing process.
Prayers for the Stolen by Jennifer Clement
“œThe best thing you can be in Mexico is an ugly girl”.
From the very first page of “œPrayers for the Stolen”, Jennifer Clement grabs the reader and does not let go. This is the story of a young Mexican girl, Ladydi Garcia Martinez, growing up in a rural mountain village of Guerrero. The men have left to seek a better life in America. The women are left behind to raise their families and contend with the daily threats of drug traffickers who control the region. The girls are either disguised as boys or made ugly in order to avoid being stolen. Mothers dig holes in the ground for their daughters to hide in at the first hint of an approaching vehicle. It’s a life of constant fear. Hiding in a hole saves Ladydi but not her friend, Paula who is snatched from her home by a drug lord and is missing for over a year.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak is novel that shows the reader what many Germans (Jewish, Communist or otherwise) might have felt and experienced during World War II. Liesel, a young girl at the beginning of the novel, is the center of the story and we mainly follow her around as she attempts to navigate through a very painful and trying time. Through the use of Death as the narrator, the author gives us a window into the soul of Liesel and the other characters in the novel and makes us think about how we, as humans, might have reacted if we were a “œregular” German in a time when our friends, family, and strangers were being mistreated and taken away to their deaths.
The value of humanity: this is the theme that kept going through my head as I digested this novel and its movie. It could be that my brain is more finely tuned to this line of thinking because I had also recently finished To Kill a Mockingbird (review soon-to-come), a novel that takes place during this same time but in the United States where there was also a group of people who were being devalued due to their “œrace”. What is it that gives us, as humans, value and what is it about us that makes us think that we can assign different levels of value to others? What makes a German less of a German because they celebrate Hanukkah or have a last name that signifies their background is other than simply German? To Kill a Mockingbird reminds me that it is not just Hitler’s Nazis who are guilty of these crimes of devaluation. And, it makes me think am I guilty of devaluing other humans?
Yes Please by Amy Poehler
I’m a big fan of actress and comedian, Amy Poehler. I admire her ability to completely immerse herself into any character she played on SNL with fearless abandon. As Leslie Knope on the hit show “œParks and Recreation”, Poehler is fantastic in giving the audience a complex but likeable character who is brilliant, bossy, demanding, loyal, fiercely dedicated and very funny. With these thoughts in mind, I was looking forward to reading her debut book “œYes Please”.
Unfortunately, I am disappointed. Part of my reaction was unfairly assuming “œYes Please” would be very similar to Tina Fey’s “œBossypants”. Setting that expectation aside, I still couldn’t fall in love with this book. From the very beginning, Poehler frequently laments to the reader on how hard writing a book is””which gave me the impression her heart was not into this project. Poehler utters this complaint so frequently throughout, I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s why fellow SNL alum, Seth Meyers, and both of Poehler’s parents wrote pieces for this book.
Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth
Reposting this review from earlier this year because the Kindle edition is on sale for $2.99 Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth is the first memoir in a three part book series about being a midwife in the East End of London during the 1950s. Jenny Lee (Lee is her maiden name) is a midwife … Read more
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
This is a joint book and movie review written by Bookwi.se Contributor Emily Flury with Jack, a fifth grade student.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a novel by Roald Dahl that is about a magical factory of sweets and surprises. Willy Wonka sends out five golden tickets in chocolate bars to invite five kids to his factory. The five children consist of one that eats too much candy, one that is constantly chewing gum, one that is a spoiled brat, one that watches too much television and Charlie, who is a sweet boy from a poor family. During their visit, the children tour the factory and get to see all different kinds of amazing ingredients and inventions.
We liked the book a lot because there are a lot of fun songs and funny jokes in the book. The Oompa Loompa’s songs were really great because they were fun poems with an excellent beat. Dahl included a lot of weird characters and strange events. Willy Wonka was described in a way that made him seem cool and funky. We especially liked the chocolate room with the river made entirely of chocolate. Every detail made us feel like we were there. It was fun to imagine eating the grass just as the kids did. Our only complaint is that Dahl did such a good job of making the other kids into bad nuts that it got annoying at times.
While we liked the book, we didn’t like the movie as much as the book.
Haunting Reads for the Halloween Season
Halloween, the season of creepy monsters and cavities, is also the perfect time to curl up with a good book. Whether you like to be scared stiff by your reading material or prefer a romantic ghost story instead, the literary world contains ghouls and goblins galore if you know where to look. From classic tales of the macabre to modern supernatural thrillers, a good Halloween book offers both tricks and treats. Celebrate the holiday with some of the spooky and supernatural titles mentioned here.
Horns by Joe HillRecently adapted for a UK movie starring Daniel Radcliffe, this supernatural grindhouse thriller follows Ignatius Parrish in an unpredictable and suspenseful battle for his own soul. Ig’s small town reputation catches up to him in a unexpected way the morning he wakes up from a night of heavy drinking to find a pair of unmistakably demonic horns growing from his skull. Written by the son of Stephen King, this thriller has dynamic pacing and a climax that will leave you gripping the edge of your seat.
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
This intensely poetic and nostalgic novel from the mind of fantasy genius Ray Bradbury focuses on one autumn in the lives of two twelve year old boys. Set in the year that “œCooger and Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show” visits their small American town, it follows the two boys, one of their fathers, and the mysterious carnival leader – a haunting presence known as “œMr. Dark.” Bradbury’s title comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, uttered by a witch as she completes her spell. This novel holds secrets and terrors for the protagonists and for all readers who possess the kind of romantic Halloween spirit that still inspires dreams of running away with the circus.
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
Gone Girl is the third and most popular of Gillian Flynn’s published works. Like her previous two novels, Gone Girl is a rather dark novel about how people may not be who we seem. After a woman, Amy, goes missing on her fifth wedding anniversary, suspicions turn towards the husband, Nick, and as the story unravels we learn quite a bit about the couple. As we uncover more and more clues as to her disappearance, we discover that perhaps we don’t really know our spouses as well as we think, and we question our own facades that we put up in our marriages. With many twists, this novel will keep you guessing until the very end.
This is a somewhat difficult book to review because to say too much is to majorly spoil the book, which would be a shame. I will say that in the midst of the disappearance of Amy the novel does a great job of exploring two different topics: (1) the parts we play in society in order to fit in or be liked and (2) the effects the media can have on our mindsets. When we meet someone for the first time, do we act like ourselves or do we act in a way so that person would like us? If that relationship endures and we were, in a way, acting like someone other than ourselves, at what point do we drop the act, if ever, and at what point does the act become the person who we really are? These are some intriguing questions to ponder and, while I wouldn’t go as far as the characters in this book go, the book has made me think about these questions within my own marriage.