Spotlight: Mobsters, Monsters & Nazis by Dan O’Brien
Books to Movies: Stardust
Basic info. The novel Stardust was written by renowned author Neil Gaiman and was first published in 1999. The movie came out in 2007 with an all-star cast that includes Claire Danes, Charlie Cox, Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert de Niro, Mark Strong, and more.
What’s the story? To prove his love, Tristan, a young man from a small English village, makes a promise to Victoria, the village beauty, to retrieve a falling star. He goes beyond the wall separating the village from the forest and finds himself in an entirely different world. Not only that, the fallen star turns out to be a young woman named Yvaine and she’s also being hunted by two other parties – three witches who want her heart to make them young again and the dead king’s sons who are after the throne.
Apartment Stuff: Spicing up a whole lotta wall space
We interrupt this program to present a feature post about prettifying empty wall spaces with cutesy artsy sticker things!
We have a lot of empty walls in our apartment. Most of the time I kinda like it that way – I love white space! – but I think we’ll be putting up a few photos and what not in some of the spaces soon. We have yet to have some of our wedding photos printed up and framed. I know, it’s been forever, but it’s something we plan to do before the year ends. It would be nice to have a few family photos on our walls, especially on the wall near the living room. I vant a typical Filipino wall filled with photos!
Catching up on a little ‘books to movies’ action
Or rather, this is the “Oh, hey, I’ve failed to post for the last few days, so here are my books-to-movies posts of the past” post. Yep, I had a list and a…
Books to Movies: Must Love Dogs
Basic info. Must Love Dogs by Claire Cook was published in 2000. A movie of the same title came out in 2005 with Diane Lane, John Cusack, Dermot Mulroney, and a bunch of other great actors.
What’s the story? It’s about a new thirty-something divorcee named Sarah and her dating adventures. Sarah’s family is very supportive and keeps encouraging her to start dating. Her two sisters sign her up on an online dating site and she meets several men, including John Cusack’s character, also a recently divorced man.
Which one did I experience first? I saw the movie first some time after it came out. I didn’t even realize it was based on a book. I read the book in December of 2012. The Kindle version was free on Amazon for a time and I decided to get it. If it wasn’t free, I don’t think I would’ve downloaded it. Hah.
Books to Movies: Angels and Demons
Basic info. Angels & Demons by Dan Brown was released in 2000. The movie came out in 2009, a couple of years after The Da Vinci Code came out. The movie brought back Tom Hanks and also starred Ewan McGregor, Ayelet Zurer, and Stellan Skarsgard.
What’s the story? Renowned cryptologist Robert Langdon is called to decipher a mysterious symbol that was branded on the chest of a physicist murdered inside a research facility. He discovers that the symbol points to an ancient underground brotherhood called the Illuminati. It seems the secret organization has surfaced to do some damage to their supposed adversary, which is the Catholic Church. To make things even worse, someone planted a bomb somewhere in the Vatican, where cardinals of the world are gathered to choose a new pope.
Which one did I experience first? I saw the movie first and later on I decided to read the book so, you know, I’ll know the real basis for the movie. By that time, The Da Vinci Code was already out for two years and everyone already knew the Robert Langdon character, and I think everyone was just curious about the ‘new’ Dan Brown book-based movie. So you know, me included. I wanted in on the bandwagon. Hah.
Books to Movies: The Da Vinci Code
The basic info. The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown was published in 2003 and became a bestseller all over the globe. Of course they decided to make a movie out of it. The movie came out in 2006 and starred Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Paul Bettany, Jean Reno, Ian McKellan, and Alfred Molina.
What’s the story? Robert Langdon, a symbologist, gets called to the scene of the murder of the curator of the Louvre. The curator left a clue that led to more clues found in the works of Leonardo Da Vinci. With the help of French cryptologist Sophie Neveu, Robert discovers that the curator was part of a secret society dedicated to protecting a religious relic. Robert and Sophie follow the clues while trying to evade an unknown danger that seems hell bent on getting their hands on whatever it is the secret society is protecting.
Which one did I experience first? I read the book first and it was during the time when it was already very popular and everyone was mostly raving about it.
Books to Movies: Pride and Prejudice
The basic info. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen was first published in 1813 and is one of the most well-loved classics. There have been several films and TV series made based on the book. In this post, I’ll be talking about the only adaptation I’ve seen (so far) and that’s the 2005 film starring Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen.
What’s the story? The description on Goodreads calls this a “comedy of manners” and it really is since it’s a witty and satirical novel about life in a society of different classes back in the day. The story revolves around a young independent woman, Elizabeth, her four sisters Jane, Mary, Kitty and Lydia, and the men who enter their lives, most notably Mr. Darcy and his best buddy Mr. Bingley.
Which one did I experience first? I saw the movie first on DVD and since then it’s been on my list of go-to movies. During the time when I was just starting out as a freelancer, I would watch this movie over and over. I just liked having it on while I worked on my laptop. It was also around that time when I decided that I should read the book (and I did, of course).
Books to Movies Giveaway Hop
To be honest, I wasn’t thinking about this giveaway hop when I decided to do Books to Movies for 31 Days because I signed up for this weeks ago, but when I realized that I also have this giveaway hop on the same month, it pleased me immensely. What’s the word for it? Synchronicity? :)
Anyway, I’m not strictly a “the book is better than the movie” girl. There were times when I liked the book more than the film adaptation, and there were also times when I enjoyed the movie more than the book. More often than not, it has to do with which one I had the pleasure of enjoying first. Sometimes I read the book first and the movie just didn’t meet expectations. Other times I saw the movie first, enjoyed it, but didn’t get the same enjoyment from the book. There are also instances when I feel the same way about both. Take Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter for example – I liked both the book versions and the movies. I mean, c’mon, they were all awesome.
Anyway, I’m always excited about books that get turned into movies, especially when it’s fantasy or science fiction. That’s why I joined this Books to Movies Giveaway Hop, hosted by Mary from BookHounds and I Am A Reader, Not A Writer. This giveaway hop runs from October 2nd to the 10th.
31 Days of Books to Movies
I like books and I like movies and I’m not one to make a big fuss when books are made into movies. I like seeing the differences between a book and its film adaptation. Sometimes I like the book more and sometimes I like the movie version more. It’s not that big of a deal for me when a movie (or the book for that matter) fails miserably to meet expectations. Sure, I get disappointed but I try to be cool and be all “my hair don’t care” about it. Honestly, it’s much easier to move on from a bad movie than when a movie turns out to be just as epic (or more) than the book or the other way around! Now, epic things like that stay with me for a long time. You know what I mean. ;)
So, for the next 31 Days, it’s all going to be about books and their movie adaptations. Every. Single. Day. Hopefully. That’s the plan. I hope I don’t miss a day. Yayyyy..
Books to Movies: Safe Haven
First, the basic info. The book Safe Haven was written by author Nicholas Sparks. The movie came out in 2013 and starred Josh Duhamel, Julianne Hough, Cobie Smulders, and David Lyons.
What’s the story? A woman on the run finds herself in a small town and decides to stay a while. She finds a place to stay, gets a job as a waitress, and meets some of the townsfolk – including a tall handsome store owner and his two kids. Things seem to go pretty well until her past catches up with her.
Which one did I experience first? The movie, which I watched in the cinema with my sister. I didn’t even bother asking Carpet Head if he wanted to watch it with me. When I told him I was going out with my sister to watch it, he was just like, “Meh, okay. Have fun.” LOL.
Rambling about my topic for the 31 Days challenge in October
You can probably guess from the accompanying image what that topic is, but let me just regale you with how I came to that decision.
For the past couple of days I’ve been racking my brain for a topic that I can write about for 31 Days in October.
I went to the 31 Days site, checked out some of the topics that people wrote about last year, and found some really good starting points like lists, letters, favorite things, movies, books, and many other cool topics.