The Book Chat: Books on the Big Screen

Today's Book Chat topic is a lot of fun: books I would like to see made into movies! Plus, one of my all-time favorite bloggers, Melissa, is co-hosting with Jessica this week, so you should definitely check out her blog! If you like books, travel and/or music, both of these gals are great ones to add to your Google Reader. :)


I saw that Jessica cast the characters of the books she would want to see on the big screen, and I really wanted to borrow that idea, but I'm having such a hard time picking actors and actresses that would do my favorite characters justice. Kudos to you, Jessica, for picking such awesome people in your post! And, I realized there were several movies based on books that I wanted to mention in this post, so I jumped between a few different related topics. I hope you don't mind!

The age of literacy.

I was going to save this post for my "things that made me go 'hmm'" round-up on Saturday, but I decided I just couldn't wait. Plus, the column I'm going to comment on was published today, and as a journalist, I have this urge to be "timely." In this post, I will describe my reaction to "Adults Should Read Adult Books," a short piece by magazine columnist Joel Stein. This column is part of a larger debate about young adult fiction in the New York Times opinion pages, and — fortunately — Mr. Stein seemed to be the only panelist who held a condescending view of the YA genre.

Source: twitpic.com via Chelsea on Pinterest

I tweeted a link to the article earlier today, and several of my Twitter followers shared my disgusted disbelief. Here are their responses (sorry for the screenshots; I've tried to embed the tweets but they always show up as just text):

Additionally, I checked the bitly listing for the article to see what people were saying. As you can see for yourself, the conversation was overwhelmingly negative toward Mr. Stein and/or in praise of the young adult fiction genre. When I realized I wasn't the only person who had strong feelings about Stein's point of view, I decided to devote more than a tweet to the subject. Hence, this blog post.

Bookworm humor.

It's time to link up with Jessica at Sweet Green Tangerine for her weekly book chat! The theme this week is "funny book/character," and though I don't often read funny books (remember how hard it was for me to find a "book that makes me happy"?), I couldn't be happier with the timing of this book chat because there's a video I've been dying to share with you! I've tweeted about it and pinned it, but I really wanted to include it on my blog, and I was waiting for a day that wasn't taken up by a link-up. So, instead of writing about the funniest book I've ever read, I'm just going to include some of my favorite book-humor videos, pins, etc. from the world wide web. Enjoy!

This literary rap is the video I referenced in the opening paragraph. I discovered it through a Goodreads tweet (they were really excited about their shout-out at 0:50). My favorite line is "Checked in with a pseudonym, so I guess you can say I'm Mark Twaining," but there are plenty of other good ones in there. Which part is your favorite?

Source: Uploaded by user via Kari on Pinterest

I found this Hunger Games-inspired text message conversation on Pinterest, and I could. not. stop. laughing. (But now I've had the LMFAO song stuck in my head for days ... ugh!)

 

Source: mlkshk.com via Megan on Pinterest                     Source: smosh.com via Megan on Pinterest

Of course, I couldn't share a funny Hunger Games pin without giving some love to the wonderful world of Hogwarts. There's plenty more where these came from on my Harry Potter Pinterest board, if you're interested.

Waiting for Instant.

Source: frugalgranola.com via Kristina on Pinterest

So, as much as I love The Hunger Games, I waited until Saturday afternoon to see it this past weekend. No, the shows weren't sold out (Santa Fe isn't exactly the target demographic for the franchise), I just really wanted to save $3 by seeing a matinee show.

#postgradproblems

So on that note, here are five more movies I've been dying to see, but I'm crossing my fingers Netflix will add them to their Instant Queue soon so I don't have to pay a(n extra) dime!

The Hunger Games vs. Uglies

Happy Hunger Games Week, everyone!

Photo via Pinterest

I'm participating in Sweet Green Tangerine's weekly book chat again. Today's prompt is: Share your favorite Dystopian novel. This is too perfect because I've been brainstorming this post idea since January and finally have an excuse to sit down and write it!

30-Day Book Challenge: Day 1

Time for Day 1 of the 30-Day Book Challenge, which I introduced earlier today:

Day 1 – Best book I read last year

Source: google.com via Maddy on Pinterest

The Hunger Games. And if I can't count the whole series as "best book," I'd go with Catching Fire. Mockingjay was my least favorite of the trilogy. (Sorry for the cliche answer, but I really didn't read a lot of books last year. I'm definitely going to change that this year!)

May the odds be ever in your favor.

I've been meaning to write a review of The Hunger Games for a while now, but this week seems especially perfect. I finished the third book of the trilogy, Mockingjay, on Tuesday, and it also happens to be Banned Book Week. In some places, The Hunger Games trilogy has been banned for these reasons:

"sexually explicit, violence, unsuited to age group"

Source: google.com.ph via Tippi on Pinterest

Well, after reading all of them, I don't see how they are sexually explicit. Unless of course, kissing at the age of 16 is considered sexually explicit, but I don't really see that holding up against some of the other "young adult" books that are published today. As for violence, I can understand. When my friend first told me they were banned for violence, this particular line from Mockingjay came to mind:

"Weapons fall from their hands, fingers clutch their faces, as blood sprays from all visible orifices - eyes, noses, mouths, ears.... I grit my teeth and run, leaping over the bodies, feet slipping in the gore." Mmm, yummy.

In light of passages such as that, I can see why some people might think the books are "unsuited to age group." After all, when I encourage my peers to take time out of their busy college schedules to read the series, I always tell them: "It's a really fast read. I read the first book in two days during recruitment! [And if they're Greek, they understand how impossible it is to do anything except recruitment during recruitment.] Think Twilight, but better. Much better." I only compare The Hunger Games to Twilight because they are both written at a very low reading level but enjoyed by an older age group. It is there that the differences end.