Book to Movie Friday: Inkheart

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About a year ago, I put up a books and their movie adaptations post. Since it seems that I’ve been seeing quite a few movies (mostly intentionally) lately that have been based on books, I thought it would be fun to post my thoughts on them on occasional Fridays. I have to add that I’m a horrid movie reviewer — I generally like everything to some extent — but I can compare them to the books, which I’m pretty good at. The links are to my review of the book.

Inkheart: I have to say, first, that I like anything Brendan Fraser’s been in (that I’ve seen). Some I like more than others, but generally, I find him imminently watchable. That said, I really liked Inkheart. It’s different than the book, but in a way that makes it a good movie.

They kept the basic elements of the story (from what I remember; it’s been a while since I read the book, and that could have affected the way I saw the movie), but fleshed it out and changed it in a way to make it a decent movie. (Unlike the Harry Potter movies, which are generally scenes from the book splashed on the screen.) They contained the story to a single movie — there’s no need for sequels, like the book — and moved elements around so that it kept up a fairly brisk pace. And, as I think Jen Robinson noted, it truly is a middle grade movie: it is Meggie, more than Mo, who drives the plot and comes up with a brilliant solution to the crisis they are all in. I thought it was well cast: Andy Sirkis was perfect as Capricorn, as was (surprisingly) Brendan Fraser as Mo, and Eliza Hope Bennett as Meggie, and Paul Bettany as Dustfinger. But the show stealer was Helen Mirren as Elinor. She was brilliant. She was perfect. I loved her.

One more note: I took M to see the movie, and after finishing it, she wanted to read Inkspell (she had no desire to before that, even though she’s read Inkheart). That’s got to say something.

Verdict: Not as good as the book, but pretty darn close.

Geeky Quote Redeux #7

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And because it’s C’s birthday, I thought I’d finish with a quote from one of the books in her favorite series:

“In a way, it’s nice to know that there are Greek gods out there, because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong. For instance, when you’re walking away from a bus that’s just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it’s raining on top of everything else, most people might think that’s just really bad luck; when you’re a half-blood, you understand that some divine force is really trying to mess up your day.” — Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief, p. 168

Geeky Quote Redeux #6

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I suppose this isn’t true anymore, with the Kindle and everything, but I still like it:

“A wonderful thing about a book, in contrast to a computer screen, is that you can take it to bed with you.” — Daniel J. Boorstein

Banker to the Poor

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Micro-lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
by Muhammad Yunus
age: any
First sentence: “In the yer 1974 Bangladesh fell into the grip of famine.”

I really don’t know how to write this review without sounding crass, selfish, uppity, obnoxious… because I didn’t finish the book. Strike that: couldn’t finish the book. It bored me. To tears.

It’s essentially a memoir by the man — Yunus — who founded Grameen Bank, an organization that gives micro-loans (those of piddly amounts that “normal” banks won’t handle) to people way, way below the poverty line. It’s less about his life, though, and more about the struggles and trials he had in setting up this idea and the challenges and experiences he had getting it to work.

I thought that would be interesting. But Yunus is a boring writer. He’s not maudlin, something which I appreciated, but it’s essentially a list: he had this idea, he set about getting it to work, he ran across some resisitance, he happened to know someone high up in the government, he got past the resistance. Yeah. Whatever.

As I said, I sound crass. I should be insterested and moved and touched by this man’s efforts to help those with much, much less. And I am; he’s going whatever good he can, working within the system rather than trying to reinvent it (mostly). But, his book, I am sorry to say, is not nearly as good as his ideas.

Just One Wish

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by Janette Rallison
ages: 12+
First sentence: “I would have expected to see this sort of line if, say, Elvis had returned from the dead to give a concert.”
Review copy received from the publisher.

Annika Truman is not used to losing and, generally, will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Her little brother, Jeremy has been diagnosed with cancer and is going to undergo surgery in a week. She wants — desperately — for him to come through okay, so she invents a “genie” that will grant three wishes. She expects him to ask for an action figure from his favorite TV show, Teen Robin Hood (that’s what the line was for in the opening sentences), but (surprise!) he wishes for Robin Hood to come and spend a day teaching him archery.

Well, Annika decides that Jeremy must have his wish. So, off she goes to Burbank (and living in Henderson, Nevada, makes it a convenient four hours away) to find the actor, the uber-dreamy Steve Raleigh, and convince him to come spend time with her little brother before he goes into surgery. She has two days. Impossible? Of course not.

Actually, the whole book is impossible. Implausible. Unrealistic. Not-happing-in-anyone’s-lifetime. Real people don’t just drive to California, cleverly weasel their way into basketball stadiums and TV sound lots, happen to run into TV stars (who are all generally nice people… man, I need a sarcasm font), and have everything work out in a nice little package tied up with a green and red plaid bow.

That’s not to say I didn’t love the book. I did. A lot. An absurdly enormous amount, in fact. (Especially absurd considering my age, and the fact that I’m married and have four girls and shouldn’t be fantasizing about running off to California to chase actors. Okay. That was probably more than you needed to know…)

No, I didn’t buy into the fantasy — I knew it was totally unreal — but I bought into the book. There’s enough depth there — Annika’s love for and devotion to her little brother, as well as her struggles with mortality and infinity, for example — to make it less fluffy than it could have been. And it’s quite funny (the part where Annika and Steve were jumping from trailer roof to trailer roof? Hilarious.) And the romance is, well, dreamy. What teenage girl doesn’t dream about being swept off their feet by a movie (okay, TV, star)? Um… I’m sure they’re out there, but I wasn’t one of them. Granted, it all doesn’t wrap up quite so neatly, something which I really appreciated.

And even though it’s a fantasy (realistic fantasy though; there’s no fairy godmothers here), reality did kick in, in the end, just to make sure Annika — and the reader — is still grounded. There’s no happily-ever-afters, no riding off into the sunsets, no perfect sweep us off our feet moments.

Even with all that — the implausibility, the over-the-topness of it all — it was totally and completely worth reading.

Library Loot #10

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Must stop putting books on hold.

Must resist temptation to read every good book that people blog about.

Failing miserably.

For A/K:
The Cardboard Piano, Lynne Rae Perkins**
Are You Ready to Play Outside?, Mo Willems**
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, Mo Willems (we like our Mo)**
Thing-Thing, Cary Fagan/Nicholas Debon
The No-Good Do-Good Pirates, Jim Kraft/illus. by Lynne Avril**
Someday, Eileen Spinelli/illus. Rosie Winstead
Louise, The Adventures of a Chicken, Kate DiCamillo/illus. by Harry Bliss
Thomas and the School Trip (No Dora book this week; instead, we get Thomas the Train!)

For C:
Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, Suzanne Collins

For M:
The Order of the Odd-Fish, James Kennedy (Fuse wishes, and it appears at my library; I’ll probably read this one, too.)*
Brief Candle, Kate Pennington
Magic Steps. Tamora Pierce (she’s probably read this one, but I can’t remember…)*
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, Avi (ditto)*
Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keys*
Girlwoods, Claire Dean
Worldweavers: Gift of the Unmage, Alma Alexander
Worldweavers: Spellspam, Alma Alexander
Inkspell, Cornelia Funke*

For me:
Evernight, Claudia Gray
Stealing Heaven, Elizabeth Scott
Lock and Key, Sarah Dessen*
Rosewater and Soda Bread, Marsha Mehran

The roundup is at Out of the Blue.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

What the Heck, Why Not Join In

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As if 6 challenges already aren’t enough.

Name: It’s The End Of The World II
Host: Becky
Dates: March 10, 2009 – October 9, 2009
Books Required: at least four
Read at least four books about “the end of the world.” This includes both apocalyptic fiction and post-apocalyptic fiction. There is quite a bit of overlap with dystopic fiction as well. The point being something–be it coming from within or without, natural or unnatural–has changed civilization, society, humanity to such a degree that it radically differs from “life as we now know it.” (Aliens, evil governments, war, plague, natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, hurricanes, depletion of resources, genetic manipulation, etc.)

My four books:
1. Life As We Knew It, Susan Beth Pfeffer
2. The Stand, Stephen King
3. Extras, Scott Westerfield or The Dead and the Gone, Susan Beth Pfeffer
4. The Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood (this is a reread, but it’s been years)

Life As We Knew It

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by Susan Beth Pfeffer
ages: 13+
First sentence: “Lisa is pregnant.”

This book terrified me.

Seriously. I started reading it on Saturday, and by the time I had read the first third, I was freaking out. We’re going to DIE; we HAVE to stockpile food; there’s NO WAY we’ll survive in a catastrophe. I started making lists (at least I didn’t go out and spend hundreds of dollars. Yet.) of things we need to be able to make it; I was completely convinced the world was going to end.

I suppose I should fill you in on the story… Miranda and her family — mom, older brother Matt and younger brother Jonny — live a normal life in a small town in Pennsylvania. She deals with the everyday school stuff; with the tragedy of a friend’s death; with just the little normal, everyday things. And then an asteroid hits the moon. It wasn’t supposed to be a big deal; everyone went out to watch the event. But, the asteroid was bigger than expected, or had more force than expected, and the moon slipped out of orbit (never mind that it’s probably scientifically improbable; Pfeffer had me completely convinced that it WAS going to happen. Soon.). Suddenly life as Miranda knew it was gone (along with all the islands, and many, many people). And that’s just the first couple of chapters.

The rest of the book is Miranda and her family’s efforts to survive. Because I was so terrified, I put the book down on Saturday and had to work the courage up to finish it yesterday. (I almost didn’t, which would have been worse, I think, than finishing it.) But I’m glad I did. The intensity subsided, and what I was left with was a tale of human beings working, learning, adapting, and succeeding and failing in turns. It’s a very human book — in that, I mean it shows us at our best and worst, soaring and falling, giving and taking. I was completely gripped by Pfeffer’s writing; it was very, very real (obviously, as evidenced by my first reaction to it), very, very moving, and very, very terrifying.

I’m not sure I can say I love this book — how can I love something that fundamentally terrified me? — but it’s an excellent catastrophe story; an excellent portrait of a family learning to work together in the face of a rapidly changing, and ever harsher, world. An excellent book.

(I’m not going to read The Dead and the Gone, though. Or not for a while, at least. Curiosity might just get the better of me.)

Teaser Tuesday, March 10

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  • Grab your current read.
  • Let the book fall open to a random page.
  • Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
  • You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
  • Please avoid spoilers!

    • This week finds me in-between books, again. I know what I’m going to read, next, though — Just One Wish, by Janette Rallison — and so I’ll give you a teaser (the first two sentences, to make it easy on all of us) from that:

    I would have expected to see this sort of line if, say, Elvis had returned from the dead to give a concert. Or if some eccentric yet ultra-cool billionaire was blessing the lives of deserving teens by handing out free sports cars.

    (I’m also counting that as my Geeky Quote of the Day. Just so you know.)
    The roundup is as Should Be Reading.