Review & GIVEAWAY: Washed-up cowboy boots

And after that discussion on the book versus the movie, I move on to a recent example—Thomas Cobb's Crazy Heart. Jeff Bridges just won the Oscar for his portrayal of Bad Blake, an aging country music singer, so this one's timely.

Bad Blake epitomizes the stereotype of a washed-up country-western star. He drinks too much, he eats too much, he's on the road too much. He hasn't written a song or cut an album in five years; he's booking bowling alleys and rural bars; he has a handful of divorces under his belt. Bad is past his prime. But he is who he is, and singing is what he does. Enter Jean Craddock, a reporter for a local paper in Phoenix looking for a story on the man behind the singer. She's younger than Bad, a single mom, and her life is pretty much the antithesis of Bad's. When the two strike up and friendship that develops into a relationship, Bad begins to question his way of living and must decide if he can settle down in a life off the road.

I'm very glad I didn't see the movie prior to reading this book, because the reading experience wasn't tainted with the images of the actors in my head. Bad is a wonderfully crafted complex character. Cobb did a great job describing the conflict within Bad and garnering up some sympathy for him, despite the fact that Bad has brought his decades-long downfall upon himself. Bad knows he is on a self-destructive course, and at times finds the inspiration to change, but his weaknesses seem to prevail and he seems to just accept the fate of a has-been.

The language was strong and the liquor flowed like water in this book, but I loved everything about the atmosphere of this story. The setting seems so familiar to me that I feel like I can smell the stale cigarette smoke of a dimly lit nightclub, taste the warm beer, hear the applause for a singer the audience didn't even realize was still alive. You start to feel tired reading it—worn out like someone who's been too many places, seen and done too many things. It's neon lights reflecting on a windshield in an otherwise empty parking lot, the hum of an air conditioner in a roadside motel, the crackle of the radio as you start to leave the station's range. It's like Los Angeles (or in this case, Houston, or for country music in general, Nashville) at its finest, a city that never quite throws out the stars it created.

Oh, and I almost forgot! Harper Perennial has generously offered ONE lucky reader a copy of Crazy Heart! To enter, just leave a comment below with your email address. Contest will end Monday, April 5th at 11:59 PM EST. The winner will be announced the following day. Good luck!

But don't let this discourage you from discussion! Have you read the book or seen the movie??

Review copy provided by publisher.

The endless debate of the Book versus the Movie

It really is an endless debate, isn't it? Last night I watched (finally) the silver screen version of The Time Traveler's Wife, and it got me thinking about this whole debate all over again, but with a couple questions other than just "Which is better?"

I didn't really get into this movie until the last third or so. I thought it hopped right in to the meat of the issue without much of an introduction to the characters, and as a result, they seemed rather flat and under-developed. In the book, there is so much introduction that you get really attached to Henry and Claire and really caught up in their situation. Also, any "scientific" explanation of time travel was mentioned so briefly that, if you hadn't read the book and known what was being referenced, you must've said "...Huh??" This brings me to my first question:

Are some books adapted to screen with an intended audience that is already a big fan of the book? Some films have their own merit and can stand alone, but to me, this just didn't feel like one of them. I think fans of the books will love the movie (or be severely disappointed depending on their level of fandom) but average moviegoers will be a little confused and detached. Oftentimes, a book will be adapted to screen and no one will know it was a book first, but other times it's the fans of the book that are intended to drive ticket sales.

• Examples: The Time Traveler's Wife, Harry Potter, Twilight, Angels & Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Baby-sitters Club (remember that awesomeness from the mid-90s???)

In terms of quality, this leads to my second query: How closely should the film adaptation mirror the novel? It may work better if the screenplay becomes its own story, taking on characteristics better suited to the screen; frankly, sometimes words on a page just don't translate well to film, and it's better for each medium to tell the story the best it can. Details may be different or expanded, but each can stand alone (these are where you see the 'Based on' in the credits).

• Examples: Alice in Wonderland (the new one), Jumanji, Where the Wild Things Are, Mean Girls, The Hours

Finally and most importantly, it seems to be a booknerd's mantra to say, "The book is always better than the movie," but I disagree. In many cases, we as booknerds have probably read the book first and you just can't cram all the details and intricacies of a book into an hour and a half, so yes, we are disappointed in the film version. But I can think of three definite cases in which I like the movie better than the book.

The first is Atonement. I read the book last summer, knowing absolutely nothing of the story. It was boring. Then I saw the movie, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. It was nice to see the story play out visually. The second is The Notebook. The movie contains everything I love: summer, the South, and the 1940s. The book was sappy and typical Nicholas Sparks BLEH.

The third is my absolute favorite movie of all time, Harriet the Spy. I saw this movie when I was 11 and pretty much decided to be Harriet M. Welsch. I loved everything about the aesthetics of that movie. It made me want to live in a big city where I would encounter all kinds of people. I wanted a sleek yet cozy house and a room full of eclectic finds and hand-me-downs. I wanted a school and grocery close enough that I could walk to them. And I wanted it to eternally be autumn so I could run around in blue jeans, Chucks, and a rain coat. I may just love this because it reminds me of childhood, but I never got as attached to the book. [Side note: I discovered a community garden in the East Village that reminds me a lot of the garden Golly takes Harriet, Sport, and Janie to in the movie. It was one of my happiest days of 2007.]

Do you prefer any movies over their book versions?

For an in-depth list of movies based on books, check out this site.

Wordless Wednesday: Because I just watched the Hannah Montana movie and now I miss home

Don't judge me.

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, go here.

I ask one thing of you: COMMENT NOW!

As part of my ongoing site update and maintenance for the Blog Improvement Project, I decided to try a commenting system other than Blogger's. Because what do I like most about book blogs? The discussion! And discussion can be a little hard to keep track of if the comments aren't threaded. So, I officially linked Disqus' commenting system to this blog for a test drive. It accepts fun things like OpenID and gravatars and even your Twitter account. Sorry you can't sign in with your Google account anymore...but comment threads may just win out over that one.

Now I want to test it out! So I ask this of you: make a comment!

It can be anything! What are you watching/listening to/reading right now? Do you like cheeseburgers (because that's what I just had for dinner)? Do you think any chick-flick is better than When Harry Met Sally (because I was just watching that on TV)? Give that REPLY button a whirl as well.

Many thanks!

Review: A Roman Holiday

One summer in high school, I don't think I read anything but chick-lit. And now, I don't even remember the last time I read it. But, I went to the beach and what could be more perfect, especially for someone like me who frequently dozes off and therefore can't read anything that requires a lot of focus?

Kristin Harmel's Italian for Beginners is another one of those books that has been sitting on my shelf since I won it in a giveaway last summer. It's about a 30-something woman named Cat who is single, living in Manhattan, and has absolutely nothing exciting in her life. I mean, from the start you want to like this character but you quickly realize she is BORING; she's done nothing interesting since she studied abroad in Rome thirteen years ago. At her younger sister's wedding, Cat gets humiliated by Grandma and, with a push from her nearest and dearest, decides to take a four-week long vacation to Rome and reunite with her former Italian flame.

Well it's no surprise that Francesco turns out to be a dud (I'm not spoiling anything; it's on the back of the book), and Cat must now find her own way in a city all alone for four weeks. Enter a cast of eccentric characters and a setting fit for a movie (oh wait, it is...it's called Roman Holiday), and we have a story about woman who finds herself taking risks for a life she never expected.

When I started reading this, I said to myself, "Oh dear god, I don't know if I'm going to make it." It's not that I'm criticizing chick-lit, it's just that it has a language of its own. I'm sure it is a more accurate interpretation of my verbal skills on a daily basis than, say, Faulkner, but it is not a language I have encountered in a novel in quite a long time. However, chick-lit did what it always does...and it sucked me in. And for a genre I usually find predictable, I was actually anticipating and guessing how it would end.

Italian for Beginners is good for a quick, enjoyable read [perfect for that SPRING READING I have been talking about]. I'm adding Harmel to my list of go-to fun authors because sometimes, you just gotta get lost in some chick-lit. Right Sal and Colin?

Review: Crash Diet

I don't what else I can say in an introduction to a Jill McCorkle book. If you want a background on her, check out my other reviews on her works here and here. With that said, I'm just going to dive in. [Bear me with—I don't really know how to review short stories too well].

Short stories are not usually my thing. It's not that I have anything against them; I'd just rather get sucked in to a story that will last more than 20 pages. However, a daily commute on public transportation is perfect for short stories, and I made a commitment to myself to spend time on each individual story. For instance, when I finished one story on the subway ride to work in the morning, I'd wait until the evening commute to start another one instead of immediately moving on to the next. I found this was the perfect way to read a short story collection, because I had the opportunity to mull over each story.

Crash Diet is McCorkle's first collection of stories, originally published in 1992 (she's since published three more, along with five novels). She tells stories of Southern women—some old, some young, some happy, some sad. The situations are relatable without being too generic, the emotions are raw and real, and the voices ooze honesty.

My three favorite stories in this collection—"Gold Mine," "Departures," and "Waiting for Hard Times to End"—I deem absolute perfection. "Gold Mine" tells the story of a young mother of two as her high school sweetheart husband carries on an affair and their roadside motel struggles for business after the newly opened interstate bypasses their small town. "Departures" is about the daily adjustments of a woman recently widowed as she comes to terms with her own emotions while shielding herself from the behaviors of everyone around her. "Waiting for Hard Times to End" was perhaps the most heartbreaking of the collection, as a sixteen-year-old girl waits daily by the mailbox for word from her older sister who was disowned by the family. These stories had such compelling characters and situations that they will stick with me for sure. Do you ever run across a book or author where you feel the need to underline about every line because it's just so poetic and perfect? That's McCorkle to me, particularly in these stories.

Just pick up a book by Jill McCorkle.


Do you like to read short stories? What are some of your favorite stories or collections?

Review: Adolescence in pictures

Well, there's a first time for everything and the time finally came for me to read a graphic novel. Yes, I did it. I read a graphic novel.

Enter Craig Thompson's Blankets, which I was inspired to read from a glowing review by write meg! Blankets is a heavy volume that serves as a semi-autobiographical record of Thompson's adolescent years. It opens with boyish fights between Craig and his younger brother, Phil, during their childhood in the blustery winter of Wisconsin country. Thompson then proceeds to explore family life, sibling rivalry, and his awkward journey through adolescence, characterizing himself as an outsider. Craig's devotion to Christianity leads him down a righteous path as he matures...and also leads him to church camp where he meets Raina. Ah, first love. Thompson's illustrated novel (the term he prefers) takes on a lot as Craig faces issues of love, religion, and identity.

Before I get into a deeper analysis, I have to say that I enjoyed the graphic format. I'm not sure I'd be into the sci-fi side of graphica, because I'm not into sci-fi. But reading a 582-page novel in only a couple of hours? SWEET! [However, I discovered that graphica is really easy to speed through, so I had to focus on paying close attention to the illustrations.]

I have mixed feelings about this one, and I can't quite define my opinion. It definitely didn't live up to my expectations after reading Meg's review, because I didn't really sympathize much with the character. I thought he was, to put it bluntly, kind of a wimp. I get it; you feel like you don't fit in. And yes, the trying years of adolescence can give you strength and ultimately define you. But do I really need to hear you endlessly whine about how you were teased because of your shoulder-length, Jared-Leto-circa-My-So-Called-Life hair? The religious undertones (or OVERtones) were a little too much for my taste, but that's not the author's fault. The love story is perfectly adolescent; it's that relationship that feels like the only thing in the world at that age—a feeling that's next to impossible to authentically retain in memory as you grow up and it all becomes part of the past.

Thompson can certainly be praised for his honesty, and it really showed in his illustrations (which I quite enjoyed. I respect this art so much). He tried to address many parts of his life but never really fully developed on any of them. I guess maybe that was his point is painting a portrait of his formative years when things seem hodgepodge without any clear answer. I've read lots of reviews from people that love this novel and lots of people that take issue with it, so it really depends on the reader. I'm certain that this is one of those stories in which the reader's personal experiences will shape his/her opinion of it. Maybe I'm just too "adult" now to remember the feeling behind the melodramatic teen years, but I found the story a bit hokey and felt empty at the end rather than inspired. I think I enjoyed the process of reading more than the story itself.

I do want to read Thompson's illustrated travelogue, Carnet De Voyage, though. It's been on my TBR list for months, and I never realized these books had the same author until a couple days ago!

Does anyone have any good graphic novel recommendations??