Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books to be Made into Movies

Top Ten TuesdayI am having trouble with the plugin that handles Amazon links, but I decided I should publish this anyway before the expiration date on this topic is too long past.

I like this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic. Which books should be made into movies? Here’s my list:

  1. [amazon_link id=”0385534639″ target=”_blank” ]The Night Circus[/amazon_link], Erin Morgenstern. I think this book would be great in Tim Burton’s hands. It wasn’t my favorite read, but it has such strong imagery that it’s begging to be made into a movie. I think I heard somewhere that it actually has been optioned.
  2. [amazon_link id=”0440423201″ target=”_blank” ]Outlander[/amazon_link], Diana Gabaldon. It would probably only work as a miniseries, and God knows who they would cast, but it’s such a great series. I’d love to see the books made into films à la [amazon_link id=”B0000Y40OS” target=”_blank” ]The Thorn Birds[/amazon_link].
  3. [amazon_link id=”0142402516″ target=”_blank” ]Looking for Alaska[/amazon_link], John Green. I didn’t like this book a whole lot, but I could see it making a pretty good teen movie like [amazon_link id=”B000FZETKC” target=”_blank” ]Some Kind of Wonderful[/amazon_link] or [amazon_link id=”B001D0BLTA” target=”_blank” ]Pretty in Pink[/amazon_link].
  4. [amazon_link id=”1594744769″ target=”_blank” ]Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children[/amazon_link], Ransom Riggs. Another one with a lot of visual imagery and some great humor that would be fun to watch.
  5. [amazon_link id=”B007C2Z5EU” target=”_blank” ]The Eyre Affair[/amazon_link], Jasper Fforde. I’ve actually talked about this one before.
  6. [amazon_link id=”0316769177″ target=”_blank” ]The Catcher in the Rye[/amazon_link], J. D. Salinger. It would be tricky to pull off, but I think if the director did internal monologue voiceovers, it might work.
  7. [amazon_link id=”0060558121″ target=”_blank” ]American Gods[/amazon_link], Neil Gaiman. This could be a sprawling sort of epic with the right cast and script.
  8. [amazon_link id=”0141439610″ target=”_blank” ]The Woman in White[/amazon_link], Wilkie Collins. If this has been made into a successful movie, then I haven’t heard about it, but it would be a great gothic tale.
  9. [amazon_link id=”0061862312″ target=”_blank” ]Wicked[/amazon_link], Gregory Maguire. Why not? They brought it to Broadway. Would be fun to cast [amazon_link id=”B00388PK1U” target=”_blank” ]Wizard of Oz[/amazon_link] lookalikes where possible, too.
  10. [amazon_link id=”074348276X” target=”_blank” ]King Lear[/amazon_link], William Shakespeare. Seriously, why hasn’t one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays been made into a huge movie. They’ve done just about every other major play and even minor ones. I have seen filmed stage versions of this, and there’s a good PBS one, but not exactly major motion pictures.

What about you? What books do you think should be made into movies?

WWW Wednesdays

WWW Wednesday—April 27, 2011

WWW Wednesdays

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…

• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

I am currently reading [amazon_link id=”0307588653″ target=”_blank” ]Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution[/amazon_link] by Michelle Moran, [amazon_link id=”039332902X” target=”_blank” ]The Story of Britain: From the Romans to the Present: A Narrative History[/amazon_link] by Rebecca Fraser, [amazon_link id=”0143057812″ target=”_blank” ]The Shadow of the Wind[/amazon_link] by Carlos Ruiz Zafón (audio book), and [amazon_link id=”0199537259″ target=”_blank” ]The Man in the Iron Mask[/amazon_link] by Alexandre Dumas via DailyLit. I am enjoying the first three very much, but the fourth is not grabbing me. I hope it does soon because I so enjoyed [amazon_link id=”0451529707″ target=”_blank” ]The Count of Monte Cristo[/amazon_link]. The narrator for The Shadow of the Wind is exceptional.

I recently finished reading [amazon_link id=”0060558121″ target=”_blank” ]American Gods[/amazon_link] by Neil Gaiman (review) and The Rebellion of Jane Clarke by Sally Gunning (review).

My next book will probably be [amazon_link id=”0670021040″ target=”_blank” ]Caleb’s Crossing[/amazon_link] by Geraldine Brooks. I won an ARC on Goodreads. The lastest Jasper Fforde, [amazon_link id=”0670022527″ target=”_blank” ]One of Our Thursdays Is Missing[/amazon_link], is calling my name. At some point, I want to return to [amazon_link id=”0812977149″ target=”_blank” ]Finn[/amazon_link] by Jon Clinch. I have a few books on my Kindle that I’m interested in reading, too: [amazon_link id=”B004R1Q9PI” target=”_blank” ]The Secret Diary of a Princess[/amazon_link] by Melanie Clegg, a few Austen sequels, and some good nonfiction, including [amazon_link id=”0316001929″ target=”_blank” ]Cleopatra: A Life[/amazon_link] by Stacy Schiff, [amazon_link id=”0385489498″ target=”_blank” ]Marie Antoinette: The Journey[/amazon_link] by Antonia Fraser, [amazon_link id=”1400052181″ target=”_blank” ]The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks[/amazon_link] by Rebecca Skloot, and [amazon_link id=”1439107955″ target=”_blank” ]The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer[/amazon_link] by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

So what about you?

Marie Grosholtz Tussaud

Reading Update: Marie Grosholtz Tussaud

 

Marie Grosholtz Tussaud
Wax figure of Marie Grosholtz Tussaud

I hope everyone is enjoying their Easter Sunday. This week I picked up a new book by Michelle Moran called Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution on my Kindle. I am only about 16% into the novel, but I am already enjoying it immensely. I’m not sure I would have thought I’d be interested in a novel about Madame Tussaud. I was drawn to the cover:

Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution

I think the cover is gorgeous and just one more reason why covers are important—I don’t think I’d have picked this book up if not for its cover. Anyway, my interest in the French Revolution is recent, but I truly enjoyed Jennifer Donnelly’s Revolution (read my review) and have been seeking similar books since. To be honest, I’ve always found the pictures I’ve seen of the wax figures in Tussaud’s a little creepy, but this novel is an interesting look at the artist and her times. Have you ever been to Tussaud’s? If so, what did you think?

My spring break wraps up on Tuesday, but I don’t know that I will finish the novel before then. I have some paper grading to do, and I have already spent too much of my break reading and not enough grading. This week I also finished up American Gods by Neil Gaiman and The Rebellion of Jane Clarke by Sally Gunning.

So what have you read this week? Anything you’re looking forward to reading next week?

The image of Marie Grosholtz Tussaud at the beginning of this post was found at Peeking Between the Pages.

American Gods, Neil Gaiman

American Gods: A NovelAs a result of your votes when I was struggling to decide what to read next, I picked up Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. Neil Gaiman himself has said that this book tends to be a somewhat polarizing book: people tend to either love it or hate it. The novel is the story of Shadow, who is in prison for an indeterminate crime involving robbery of some sort. He is released a few days early when his wife dies in a car accident. Having nowhere to really go and nothing to do, he accepts the offer of a mysterious man named Wednesday to work for him—to protect him, transport him from place to place, run errands, hurt people who need to be hurt (only in an emergency), and in the unlikely event of his death, hold his vigil (37). Gradually, Shadow learns that Wednesday is actually Odin the All-Father, brought to America by immigrants who believed in him and sacrificed to him during the Viking Age. Wednesday has really recruited Shadow to help him face a coming storm—the new gods of television, the Internet, media, and other modern conveniences are usurping the old gods, and what’s more, the new gods want the old ones dead. Before he knows it, Shadow is on the ultimate road trip across America, helping Wednesday gather forces from among the old gods to fight the new gods.

This book was cleverly researched and interesting from a mythological standpoint. I kept wondering what Joseph Campbell would have made of it. In the novel, the reader meets gods and creatures as diverse as leprechauns, Anansi, Thoth, Anubis, Mad Sweeney, and Easter. The book certainly had me researching various mythological references so I could understand what was happening in the story. For sheer chutzpah with storytelling, I have to give Neil Gaiman props. What he did with this novel is not something very many writers could do. All that said, I didn’t completely like it. I liked parts of it. Other parts seemed to go down a path I couldn’t follow, and some threads introduced in the novel were dropped later. In some ways, it felt to me like Gaiman tried to do too much with this novel. On the other hand, some threads were brilliantly woven throughout the book. The concept is pure genius, and I don’t really even have problems with most of the execution. Ultimately, it just didn’t have some indefinable something that makes me enjoy a book. I give it four stars because I can recognize its brilliance, and I certainly don’t want to leave anyone with the impression that I hated it. I didn’t. It just didn’t do “it” for me, even though I found it interesting, and despite its size, a quicker read than I anticipated. Four stars then is a compromise between the three stars I’d give it based on my personal reaction to it and the five stars I’d give it for what I’d recognize as its epic greatness. My own reaction probably has something to do with the fact that I’m not a huge reader of fantasy or science fiction. I have certainly liked other books by Neil Gaiman: Stardust, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book. I would certainly try other books by Gaiman in the future.

Rating: ★★★★☆

I read this book for three reading challenges: the Once Upon a Time Challenge, the Take a Chance Challenge, and the Gothic Reading Challenge. Gaiman’s books are great for Carl’s Once Upon a Time Challenge, which asks readers to try fantasy, fairy tales, myths, and similar types of stories. The first person who ever recommended American Gods to me was a Barnes and Noble employee who described it as Gaiman’s masterpiece. While it wasn’t quite on the employee recommendations shelf, I think a personal recommendation counts for the Staff Member’s Choice part of the Take a Chance Challenge. I hesitated about including it in the Gothic Reading Challenge, but the more I thought about it, the more I concluded it had some definite gothic elements (as in Poe or Lovecraft rather than Brontë). It’s more strictly supernatural than the sort of haunted gothic of books like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, or Rebecca.

The Reader—Renoir

Reading Update: Goodreads

The Reader—Renoir
The Reader by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

I’m giving Neil Gaiman’s American Gods a longer chance than normal on Jenny’s advice. It is beginning to pick up, but I was preparing to put it aside. I am going to take Finn out of the rotation for the time being. Maybe I’ll pick it up soon, but I keep seeing all these other books I would rather read. I just purchased Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution by Michelle Moran and One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde, a favorite writer of mine. Today in the mail, I received my first “win” from Goodreads:

The Rebellion of Jane Clarke

Isn’t it pretty? The paperback comes out April 26, and I want to try to read it by then so I can share my review. I didn’t realize until very recently that Goodreads sponsored giveaways. What a great way for publishers to connect with regular readers! This book was the first one I requested, so I was excited to have success right off the bat.

If you are a reader and not a member of Goodreads, you should check it out. It’s easily my favorite reading social network. Shelfari is very pretty, but it doesn’t allow users to easily integrate their blogs like Goodreads does. I have my Goodreads profile set up to publish the feed to this blog. I don’t know whether any readers have signed on here because of my Goodreads profile, but it can’t hurt. Shelfari also doesn’t allow HTML in their reviews. LibraryThing limits users to 200 books unless they opt for a paid account. I don’t see the draw unless I’m missing something—Goodreads is free. I trust Goodreads reviews over other sites, too, as the readers can be more conservative in their stars and praise than, say, Amazon. If I’m on the fence, I read a few reviews on Goodreads, and I can often make up my mind. And now with giveaways, there’s no reason not to try them out.

I’m going to pick up The Rebellion of Jane Clarke tonight and go back to Massachusetts. I loved our visit there this past summer. But first I need to put the kettle on for a cup of tea.

American Gods It Is

OMGIALMOSTDIEDThe other day I needed some help picking out what to read. I think it turns out I just needed a nudge. You voters selected Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. I have read the first chapter, and yeah, I think I will like it, but it’s hard to tell at the moment. I totally love Neil Gaiman, so there is, at least, that.

I think maybe before I read The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer, I will re-read The Tempest. I might get more out of the former if I read the latter first. The last time I read The Tempest was college. That has been a while. No takers at all for Gaskell’s North and South, two votes for The Cookbook Collector, and one vote for Becoming Jane Eyre.

At some point, I need to make time for Jasper Fforde’s new Thursday Next book—One of Our Thursdays is Missing. I also decided I need to read Madame Tussaud: A Novel of the French Revolution. Until I read Jennifer Donnelly’s Revolution, I can’t say I was that interested in that time period in France, for some inexplicable reason that makes absolutely no sense to me now. Oh! And I just started participating in book giveaways on Goodreads, and I won the first book I was interested in! The Rebellion of Jane Clarke by Sally Gunning. I hope it will be good. I haven’t read a great deal of fiction set during the American Revolution.

P.S. This was my 1,000th post! Feels like a milestone.

photo credit: J.J. Verhoef

A Young Girl Reading

Reading Update: What Next?

A Young Girl Reading
A Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honoré Fragonard

Finn is a little dark. I had to put it down for a bit because I wasn’t feeling up to a Faulknerian jaunt through Twain’s territory. I am still making my way through The Story of Britain by Rebecca Fraser—I am now at about 1880. I don’t want to pick up another nonfiction book until I finish it. I’m listening to the audio version of Carlos Ruiz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind on my commutes and car rides. Wow! What a book lover’s book! But I need to pick up some fiction for reading at home. Since I can’t decide, I’m asking for your help to make up my mind. Here are my options. If you think one sounds really good (or know it’s really good) and I should read it now, please vote for it.

North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell

Elizabeth Gaskell’s North and South examines the tensions between the industrial North of England and the more aristrocratic South. The novel centers around Margaret Hale, whose non-conformist minister father moves the family from the South to the North. I became interested in the book after my online buddy Clix shared this clip from the miniseries with me:

That looks pretty good, doesn’t it? I mean if you’re a fan of the Brontës and Austen.

The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman

Allegra Goodman’s The Cookbook Collector could be read as part of the Sense and Sensibility Bicentenary Challenge, as it’s a modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility (of a sort). It makes me nervous that it’s sitting on only three stars at Amazon after 112 reviews; they are not as notoriously cautious in their gifting of stars as Goodreads, where it actually has a slightly higher rating of 3.23 stars. On paper, it looks to be right up my alley, as it explores the lives of sisters Emily Bach, the CEO of a trendy dot-com startup, and sister Jess, an environmental activist and philosophy grad student who works in an antiquarian bookstore.

Becoming Jane Eyre, by Sheila Kohler

Sheila Kohler’s Becoming Jane Eyre is the story of the Brontë family, as endlessly fascinating as their writing. It is 1846, and the Brontës’ mother Maria Branwell Brontë has died, as have the oldest daughters Maria and Elizabeth. The family’s son, Branwell, dissolves into dissipation and drink. The sisters begin writing their novels. Of course, Charlotte and Jane Eyre are the focus.

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman himself describes American Gods as a polarizing book. In his experience, readers tend to love it or hate it. A bookstore employee told me once that he felt it was Gaiman’s masterpiece. The novel centers around Shadow, released from prison on the death of his wife, who meets the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, from whom he discovers that the old Norse gods walk America. It’s been on my shelf a while and would be perfect for the Once Upon a Time Challenge.

The Dream of Perpetual Motion, by Dexter Palmer

Dexter Palmer’s steampunk novel The Dream of Perpetual Motion re-imagines Shakespeare’s play The Tempest in a dirigible called The Chrysalis, which is powered by a “perpetual motion machine.” Told by Harold Winslow, imprisoned on the Chrysalis, recounts the story of Prospero Taligent: his amazing inventions, his virtual island, and his daughter Miranda. This one would also be great for the Once Upon a Time challenge, and I hear it’s an excellent introduction to steampunk for fans of literary fiction who aren’t sure they’d like steampunk. I could pair it with The Tempest for the Shakespeare Reading Challenge.

So what do you think?

Which book should I read next?

  • American Gods, by Neil Gaiman (45%, 5 Votes)
  • The Dream of Perpetual Motion, by Dexter Palmer (27%, 3 Votes)
  • The Cookbook Collector, by Allegra Goodman (18%, 2 Votes)
  • Becoming Jane Eyre, by Sheila Kohler (9%, 1 Votes)
  • North and South, by Elizabeth Gaskell (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 11

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Poll expires this time tomorrow.