CHALLENGES: update

I've finished a few challenges lately, and should update.

I only committed to 2 books, but managed more than that. Only 2 were proper long novels, which was probably why I only thought I could manage two.
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury I am half way through this and loving it.
High Spirits - Robertson Davies (short stories)
The Night Country - Stewart O'Nan
Creepers - Joanne Dahme (young adult)
Child 44 - Tom Rob Smith
Life As We Knew It - Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Borden Tragedy -Rick Geary (graphic novel)

Other books I still really want to read:
Lisey's Story - Stephen King - moves to the next pile of challenges, Book Awards and Genre
Murder on the Strand - Daphne duMaurier - moves to the next pile of challenges
Voices - Arnaldur Indridason - moves to the next pile of challenges as part of a series

RIP is a great challenge, and I easily find books that fit this genre. Likely my most favorite type of book to read. I am in the middle of All That She Was Worth, and Too Close to Home is yelling at me to get started. I think my RIP will continue well into November. Thanks Carl, I love this one.

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Read three books from September 1 - December 1, 2008 that have been turned into movies. Easy peasy.

1. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
2. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3. Last Orders by Graham Swift

Good books all in all. I have a few more here my daughter wants me to read: Because of Winn Dixie and Ella Enchanted. I hope to finish them before the challenge ends. Thanks to Callista for hosting this one a second year.

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Here was a great little challenge - read three science related books. Since I teach physics, it seemed appropriate to join in. The Trouble with Physics was the one I learned the most from.

1. The Quirks and Quarks Guide to Space - Jim Lebans
2. The Planets - Dava Sobel
3. The Trouble With Physics - Lee Smolin

BOOK: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, 144 pages

Book Awards II Challenge: Newbery 1992; books to movie challenge

A beagle follows Marty home one day, and soon a boy and his dog cannot be separated. Only, there are a few problems. One, the dog belongs to mean Judd Travers who abuses his dogs. Two, Marty's family can barely afford food for themsleves, let alone to feed a stray dog. As Marty tries to find a way to save Shiloh, he faces some ethical dilemmas. Is a lie of ommision as bad a an outright lie? Does the abuse of the dog not override the ownership of the dog? How far will Marty go to keep Shiloh?

This is a great little story for young readers and dog lovers. I know a little girl age 8 who I'm planning to pass this along to. She's a modern kid though, and this cover doesn't appeal to her at all. If it was the movie edition with a live action photo, she'd be all over it.

Book: Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk, 208 pages

books to movies challenge,

I'm sorry to say so but, sadly it's true that bang-ups and hang-ups can happen to you.-- Dr. Seuss

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am intrigued, and of course, there is Brad Pitt.

This book is quite good, but probably not for everyone. The narrator, never named, has insomnia, and starts attending self help groups (liver cancer, melanoma, testicular cancer, brain parasites) around town to get a feeling of wellness. He runs into Marla, also attending self help groups she has no business going to. Around this time, the narrator meets Tyler Durden. They represent the new white male in America, who are working to get stuff that should, but doesn't, fulfill them. In an effort to feel something, anything, they start the Fight Club, for the chance to hit and be hit, no rules and finally feel like men. The first rule of Fight Club is that you don't talk about fight club. Eventually this doesn't become enough and Project Mayhem begins.

The writing style is unique and repetitive and helps the book have the impact it does. There was a Gen X feel to the narration, that this book is the coming of age of a new male, a generation of men raised by women, with no meaningful place in society. Consumerism is also ranted about as a great evil. The plot takes a very interesting twist near the end that I had started to suspect, but it was still good. I liked how the disassociation they felt for society was portrayed, although the thought that there are such angry people is quite scary.

Dark, twisted, violent, and a statement of a sad generation.

As an aside, I've watched Big Brother all season, and they had a Swim Club, where Dan tried to teach Renny and Ollie how to swim. The first rule of Swim Club was never to talk about Swim Club. Ha! I never would have know the significance before this book. I must rent the movie.

BOOK: Last Orders by Graham Swift

Last Orders by Graham Swift

Books to Movie Challenge, Book Awards II: Man Booker Winner 1996

Well, it was an award winning Booker, from the nineties. Lots of character analysis, not much plot. Okay to read, well written, but not that engrossing.

Old friends are asked to scatter the ashes of Jack, off the jetty in Margate. Many different characters narrate their own chapters, and gradually, the reader sees the past and present of the characters, understands the connections between people, and motives behind actions. My biggest issue was the lack of nouns and names. So many he's or him's that I found it hard to keep track of backstories. That is me being a lazy reader as much as anything.

Interestingly, I think I would enjoy the movie. The relationships between the characters were complicated and on the big screen, more of the emotion should come through.

This is my second book by Swift, and I am concluding that his writing style does not make great reading for me. I acknowledge that his writing is good, characters are interesting and well written, but just not my cuppa. I imagine many readers will enjoy this one, especially if you like character studies of a life and examining friendships. Depending on how the reading challenges go this fall, I may come back and use this for the 2nd's Reading challenge.

CHALLENGE: Books to Movies

Again this challenge runs from September 1 - December 1, 2008 and is hosted by Callista. I enjoyed trying this one last year, so I'll give it another go. 3 books that have been made into movies:


1. Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

2. Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

3. Last Orders by Graham Swift

4. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

5. Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

6. The Elegant Universe by Brian Green

7. Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres

8. The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden

UPDATE: Books to Movies Challenge Completed

Lights! Camera! Action!

With at least a week to spare, I completed the Book to Movies Challenge. I still have a few more I'd like to read, but they won't get done in time to be added to this list officially.


Here's my list of books, linked to their reviews:

Gods and Monsters by Christopher Bram
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Interestingly, I haven't seen any of these movies. I usually try to read the book first if I can, and I haven't been watching too many movies lately. Strange how I can't seem to commit to watching a two hour movie, but I will read umpteen books instead. I guess I have my priorities straight!

A few books I still want to read include:


A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (movie called Simon Birch)
Shaking Hands With the Devil by General Romeo Dallaire
The Last King of Scotland


Of the books I read, I liked Gods and Monsters bests. It had great atmosphere and characters, and reminded me of the movie Ed Wood, starring Johnny Depp. It was kind of creepy and could have been a part of the RIP II. The movie I'd most like to see is The Hours because I think I'd actually like the movie better. The other two were good books, but caught me at the wrong time because I couldn't get into them. I never got lost or absorbed enough to fly through them.



Thanks to Callista at SMS Book Reviews for hosting this great challenge. I still have more of these to read, and if you want any suggestions, she's been posting all the reviews so you can see if your favorite book has been made into a movie, or what the book that your favorite movie is based on was like.

BOOK: The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Pulitzer Winner 1999
Books-to-Movies Challenge

Three parallel lives are followed through a single day in each life: Mrs Brown, a 1950s housewife who is reading Mrs Dalloway; Clarissa, known as Mrs Dalloway who is living the life, in present day New York, from Mrs Dalloway, the novel; and Mrs Woolf, the author who is writing Mrs Dalloway in 1920s England. Hmm, perhaps I should have read Mrs Dalloway first? I'm pretty sure I missed a lot of the symbolism and parallels that connect this book to Mrs Dalloway. While I usually firmly believe in reading the book first, in this case I think the movie would stand alone better than the book. Now I need to see the movie and see if I am right.

Themes of suicide are throughout; the prologue details the author Virginia Woolf's drowning suicide, Mrs Brown is contemplating it as a means of escaping the life she feels trapped in, and Clarissa deals with the death of a friend. I read about other themes and important symbols at the Sparks notes site. This novel will be discussed at Bookawards Yahoo Group during the month of December and I expect to discover some interesting ideas and themes during that discussion.

However, any book of only 225 pages that takes me over a week to read must have some problems. I didn't connect enough with the story and the characters because it was so busy being important, with symbols and parallels. Not to say that I wasn't interested, because I did want to see how all three stories connected in the end and I would like to read Mrs Dalloway, I think, if only to see where this book came from. But overall, this book was just an okay read, nothing wrong, just not a book that I will rave about or remember too much from. I applaud the author's ambition, and with enough prior knowledge and background, I think I would have enjoyed it more. But there was no prerequisite listed on the cover, and I think there should be.

BOOK: Gods and Monsters by Christopher Bram

Gods & Monsters by Christopher Bram

Books to Movies Challenge

originally titled Father of Frankenstein

I haven't seen this movie yet, but I remember when it was nominated for a few Academy Awards, back in 1997. I don't actually see a lot of movies, so it isn't surprising. Bram tells the story of James Whale, director of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. Set in 1957, Whale is retired by now, and recovering from a stroke. He is getting mixed up in his head, past and present, and looking for a way out. He forms an unlikely friendship with his gardener, Clay Boone, a white trash he-man who is put off a bit by Whale's homosexuality, and yet fascinated by the famous director at the same time.

Bram took the true basis of Whale's life and built a world of what the last few weeks of his life may have been like, based on the available information. He provides an afterward to my paperback edition to explain what was true, and what was conjecture - Boone is completely fictional. The look at Hollywood in the thirties and forties, even the glamourous fifties, with lots of name dropping, and the background and filming of some of the movies, and the interesting friendship between Boone and Whale made this an interesting read. Bram is obviously a fan of the old horror movies, and his love and respect comes through. It also shows how the effects of war are life lasting, as Whale descends in his mind back to the trenches of World War I. Rather touching for today, Remembrance Day.

BOOK: Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler

Book to Movie Challenge (and maybe the 2nds Challenge if I get stuck)

I haven't seen this movie at all, and it has been made twice, once with Dick Powell in the forties, and once with Robert Mitchum (TV movie in the 1970s) as Philip Marlowe. I think I'd watch the Mitchum version myself. The book is a classic, starring the hardboiled detective Marlowe. Chandler is a great writer, but this once didn't grab me quite as much as The Big Sleep, but I wasn't as in the mood for this book as I've been too tired to read. Chandler has Marlowe so cool, so hip, it can be hard to follow what he says, and why. I don't try to make sense of the mystery, just go with the flow, and know that Marlowe knows what he is doing.

Marlowe was initially looking for somebody, and then got caught up in a jewelry theft, and ransom, and some rich dame, and crooked cops, and clunks on the head. (I find it hard to write normally, I immediately fall into the pattern of Bogart talking, in sparse, concise phrases)

It was a good read; several times I'd stop and reread a particularly cynical/funny phrase, and by the end, the mystery tied up really well. I would have enjoyed it more if I had been able to read it for an hour or two at a time, but I found I got 3 minutes segments before being interupted this week, too many children, and that made it hard to really get into the story. My bad, Mr Chandler; I'll still keep reading your work.

CHALLENGE: Book into Movie Challenge

hey, hey, hey, I just finished a few challenges, and thought I should lay off a bit, ...but, of course, there is a but. A book into movie challenge hosted by Callista. That would cool to do. Especially if I could find three books I had already bought (not liking that verb tense sound) paid for, then I'm just reading books I wanted to read anyway. Easy. And it was easy to find three books on my shelf that have been made into movies:

Gods and Monsters by Christopher Bram
Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (movie called Simon Birch)
The Hours by Michael Cunningham

The books should be read between September 1 and December 1, 2007 and they can be cross listed for other challenges. None of these really are, although I could count Farewell, My Lovely in the 2nds Challenge, and A Prayer for Owen Meany is on my top 50_books list of books I want to read.

edit: August 10th
I've been seeing other lists and getting more good ideas. I think I'll start adding alternates to my list, in case I change my mind or want to read more, because maybe I'll run out of books to read. Right!
The Last King of Scotland