Expand Your Mind

Teaser Tuesday

2009-08-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

The point of Teaser Tuesday is that a bunch of readers get together and share their current reads with each other.

The Rules: Pick up your current read, choose two or three good sentences (no spoilers please) and post it as a comment. Be sure to include the title and author of your book in case anyone else wants to read it. Thanks, and enjoy!

My teaser for the day: "The monster likes to talk; he jumps into your head and opens your mouth, making it spout your deepest darkest deceptions. Making you say all the things you'd rather not say, at least not in mixed company." Crank by Ellen Hopkins

My First Teaser Tuesday... On a Wednesday

2009-08-12T11:16:00.001-07:00

The point of Teaser Tuesday is that a bunch of readers get together and share their current reads with each other.

The Rules: Pick up your current read, choose two or three good sentences (no spoilers please) and post it as a comment. Be sure to include the title and author of your book in case anyone else wants to read it. Thanks, and enjoy!

My teaser for the day: "I wish I changed," she said finally, barely audible. I opened my eyes, needing to see the way her face looked when she said that. It was more descriptive than any expression I'd ever seen her wear: immeasurably sad, lips set crookedly with longing.

-Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Just Listen by Sarah Dessen: A teen novel with wider reach

2009-08-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Synopsis from the back of the book: Annabel Greene is the girl who has everything. At least, that's what she portrays in her modeling shoots. But Annabel's life is far from perfect. Her friendship with Sophie ended bitterly, and her older sister's eating disorder is weighing down the entire family. Isolated and ostracized at school and at home, Annabel retreats into silent acceptance. Then she meets Owen- intense, music-obsessed, and determined to always tell the truth. And with his guidance, Annabel learns to just listen to herself and gains the courage to speak honestly . But will she be able to tell everyone what really happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends?

This book completely surprised me. I had a preconceived notion that as a young adult novel it would include the normal teenager stuff: petty arguments, empty promises, and irrational emotions. Dessen offers so much more in this book.

The Characters: Annabel's character is a mystery throughout the entire novel, but she still has so much depth and quiet strength that you fall in love with her. Annabel's family is what separates this book from the mundane young adult novels of its' genre. They create the most unique, interesting, and complicated relationships in the story. Owen is also such a great character. His honesty is admirable and he adds a gratuitous romance to the story, which I actually really enjoyed because it added a distraction from the sadness that dwells around Annabel's family.

The Plot: I do not want to give too much away, but the plot is complex and is surprisingly profound for the length of the book and the accompanying synopsis. I loved the story the entire way through and couldn't put the book down.

If you are interested in reading this book, check out Dessen's other novels at her website. http://sarahdessen.com/
I suggest reading This Lullaby first, then this book. She just released a new book called Lock and Key which seems to be just as promising.

Do or Don't Judge a Book By its' Cover

2009-08-07T13:34:00.000-07:00

Another battle in the world of literature: does the cover art really matter? For obvious reasons, writers want to say no. Our writing speaks for itself, why do we need to entice people with useless pictures? But a lot of readers, and marketers, would disagree. Susan Wiggs writes in her blog, "Sometimes the writer isn’t always the best judge of what her book should look like. I’m not saying she shouldn’t get to voice her opinion, but ultimately, it’s a packaging and marketing issue. I’m not a marketer. There are things I understand about marketing, but I feel better knowing it’s being handled by professionals." http://alturl.com/52qx

Personally, I judge books by their cover everytime I go browsing; I can't help it. However, sometimes I will read a book because of the genre or my current interests and look past the generic, lackluster cover. The second installment of L.J. Smith's, The Vampire Diaries: The Fury and the Dark Reunion fits this justification. I decided to read it despite the cover, but this cover did not hide anything special behind, in the pages of the book. The story continued to be ordinary, full of boring surprises and ineffective emotional depth. In this case, I should have went with my instincts: crappy cover, crappy book.

Has my opinion of a cover ever been overruled by the writing itself? Yes. Many times. I decided to read Dan Brown's Angels and Demons despite my usual genre preference. This was solely a result of my exploration of religion at that time. The cover art did not catch my eye, nor did it seem much more meaningful after I read the book, however, if I would have passed up this read- I would have to answer differently if asked, "What is your favorite book?" It was one of the most appealing and profound books I have read. Dan Brown has a way of creating a world that is so realistic it's frightening. His cover art did not appeal to me, but his writing had an immense effect on me.

Another point, I honestly have a book on my reading list that has an uninteresting synopsis, but beautiful cover art; Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. The cover art pulled me in so effectively, that now I do not care about the quick summary on the back of the book, I have to find out for myself what value the story has for me.

My conclusion on this dilemma is that authors should really think about getting marketers to help them with their covers, keeping in mind their creative vision when their stories are transferred from words to images. A good cover can help someone to pick up a book that wouldn't have in the first place and a bad one could bury a book behind the many that already have great marketers behind them.

Books into Movies: Good or Bad?

2009-08-05T11:48:00.000-07:00

As early as 1910, books have been made into movies, but since the late 70’s, a large amount of novels have been turned into movies. As the computer age approached, these books were pushed into the print era with everything else that was trumped. Is this just a profit scheme to make more money on a successful book? The problem that readers have with movie adaptations of books is the lack of authenticity. In my opinion, movie adaptations are just another form of expressing the imagination that was created from reading a specific novel.

One opinion from pussreboots on movie adaptations, “I consider it a good movie adaptation if the film made me want to read (or re-read) the book.” http://alturl.com/xgn6
In contrast to this opinion, Terra Shield comments, “Seriously? The movies kill the books, especially Harry Potter. Unless someone gives me free tickets, I don't think I'd watch them... the books offer so much more.” http://alturl.com/qxpp

Either way, I think that we can all agree that some books made fabulous movies. Take Roger Allers’ Aladdin, this movie defined a generation of Disney movies for children. Another book that was turned into an immensely significant movie was Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho. Even if you aren’t a horror movie fan, this movie does stick out as a staple of its time.

So why do most people prefer the book to the movie? Wendy Moon has an opinion on this issue, “In trying to understand why people generally seem to prefer the book to the movie version of a story, I came up with this theory: Perhaps we just like best what we knew first. Which, in most cases, is the book. Here's how it goes: you read a book, love it, find out it's been made into a movie, see the movie, and end up disappointed. Of course in reading the book first, you couldn't help but form ideas about how the characters looked. You loved all the little details that didn't make it into the limited time of the movie. And so you come out of the theater or close the dvd box feeling strongly that the book was so much better than the movie.” http://alturl.com/ozi2

No matter if you prefer the book to the movie, or prefer to read it before or after you watch the movie; my advice is to always strive to read the book and watch the movie. Two perspectives are always better than one, even if you favor one over the other- that point is inevitable. If you would like to find out more about movie adaptations or want to try to read some books that have been transformed, here are some links:
Guardian’s 50 best movie adaptations http://alturl.com/k5ze
Movie adaptation challenge http://alturl.com/r8iw

The Amazing Triangle

2009-08-03T12:12:00.001-07:00

As I started my next book this morning, Sarah Dessen's Just Listen, I was reminded of a reoccurring theme in many novels I have read. The friendship/ love triangle: When three characters are inexplicably intertwined through events, frienship, and/or love. It always gives a book a richer body, more to hold on to when your in its depths. In Just Listen, Dessen creates a friendship triangle between three juniors in high school. Although I'm only eighty pages in, I know that one friend was pushed out because of social differences, and the other two end up torn apart because of reasons unknown thus far. Clarke, the social outcast, was pushed out and inevitably emerged as the "good guy," while the others, the main character (our protagonist) and the "bad guy," emerged with social grace as the popular girls in school. As you can see, this triangle creates the drama needed to keep readers interested and the emotion required to attract us to each character.

Let's talk about the love triangle. Movies have made it famous for decades, but novels have done it for much, much longer. One of the most famous love triangles in history was with the King of England, King Henry VIII. Although the novel is claimed as fiction, Phillipa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl produced plenty of real-life events from England in the 1500's. The love triangle existed between the king and two sisters who were ladies in waiting for the queen. This triangle continues on for years in the novel and produces endlessly dramatic results.

If you are a beginner, I would really recommend Sarah Dessen's novels: easy reads and wonderfully complicated plots. If you would like any more recommendations on books with "the amazing triangle," comment and I would love to give you a list.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris: The Dilemma of Character Development

2009-07-30T12:15:00.000-07:00

Dead Until Dark is the first book in a series of small town, Louisianna-style books by Charlaine Harris. It is the story of a small town girl named Sookie Stackhouse who has the unwanted talent of reading peoples' minds. She works at a little bar called Merlott's where her boss, Sam, is secretly in love with her. Sookie and her friends live in a society where vampires live openly in the human world and can survive off synthetic blood. When Sookie meets Bill, a gentle, handsome vampire, her world turns upside down.

This book adhered to most of the typical vampire myths. They sleep in coffins and are burned to death by the sun. The books also have a very raunchy quality to them. The sexual element is not absent or tamed. Harris did a great amount of work to detail every intense moment between Sookie and Bill, which makes the book more enjoyable. However, Bill as a character is another story. His character is not developed enough for me to feel a part of his and Sookie's relationship. I cannot figure out why she likes him so much and it makes it hard to feel connected to his character. However, all the other characters in the books are very well developed: Sookie's sex-addict brother and her colorful friend, Lafayette, both add a lot of interesting elements to the stories.

Although I didn't enjoy the routine of normal vampireism in the book, I did enjoy it enough to venture on to the second book, Living Dead in Dallas. I haven't finished this book yet, but will have a review up as soon as I do.

HBO has turned Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse novels into a hit show called True Blood. WARNING: Adult content and some disturbing scenes.

Twilight Series: For Beginners?

2009-07-29T20:15:00.000-07:00

The Twilight Series are some amazing books. Stephenie Meyer, the author, creates a world where vampires interact with people secretly and in a humane nature. It starts with a story about a normal girl, she moves away from her mother to spend some time with her estranged father. She meets and falls in love with Edward, a century-old vampire. Her blood is the sweetest thing he has ever smelled and that creates a problem for him when he falls in love with her too. The story continues into a beautiful love story filled with many adventures. For a beginner, I would strongly suggest starting with Twilight book. The first book in the series is an easy read, compelling, and good until the last page. Meyer supplies you, at the end of the novel, with the first chapter of the next book in the series, New Moon. If you are at all interested in the nature of people, good vs. evil, or just love an epic romance, I suggest this series with my whole heart.

With all the hype from the movie, people are talking about the Twilight Series frequently. I find myself in conversations with many people who do not want to be the sterotype and read the book because so many others are reading it. In this instance, I do not believe it is a sign of following the herd to read these novels. They awakened something in me that made me want to read more and more of her novels as well as others. I would strongly recommend every reader, avid or not, to pick up these books. I can honestly say that Stephenie Meyer's books turned me into a literary enthusiast and I hope that they can do the same for many others.

Why Read?

2009-07-27T21:26:00.000-07:00

What is the number one topic being talked about in our country today? The economy. Americans are changing their habits and hobbies, trying to find ways to enjoy life without breaking the bank. One way to enjoy life during hard times is to escape it for a while. One way to escape for free? Read a book. Research the internet for your favorite subjects and look for books associated. Go to your local library and pick it up. Read 10-20 pages before you go to bed at night. This is my suggestion for a little enjoyment when life feels lacking in the happiness area. The purpose of my blog is to encourage you to read by reviewing books I've read and forwarding on opinions of others. I am a new reader myself, so I would love to hear your feedback and opinions as well. Reading is about opening up your mind to new things and in turn, discovering things about yourself. Specific books and reviews to come in the next blog posts.