"Book of A Thousand Days" by Shannon Hale Book Review

I really enjoyed reading Shannon Hale's "Book of a Thousand Days" which is based on a Brothers Grimm fairy tale "Maid Maleen".  This is a young adult book suitable for 6th/7th graders & up in my opinion.  The main character is a lady's maid named Dashti who chronicles her time spent in service to her lady Saren.  Saren has been locked in a tower by her father for refusing to marry a man that she fears and despises.  The two girls go through a great deal together, both within and outside of the tower.  This is a story of friendship, deep loyalty, honor, love, adventure, magic, mystery, beauty, and sacrifice.  This is one of those books where you can really get immersed in the characters and their lives, both the tedious and exciting parts (parts of the book may seem slow to the reader, but it only adds to the overall experience if you allow it to).  I give this book 4.75 stars.

"Beautiful Creatures" Movie Review

I'm the sort of person that can usually sit through almost any movie, even if it's not my cup of tea.  The movie "Beautiful Creatures" changed that for me, it may be the only movie I have set out to watch and have been unable to finish.  I'm not posting a link to a trailer because that might get your hopes up, and as much as I dislike not having anything good to say about a movie (apart from setting, they did a decent job with the location choice), this is one that I cannot recommend.

Within the first 20 minutes or so my youngest looked at me and asked if I was crying.  I replied "No, I'm blowing my nose.  Besides, there's nothing to cry about...except how crappy the movie is."  My oldest said to me just now "all you need to say is that it sucked, that's all you need to write."  I feel the need to say a bit more though.  I understand that movie adaptations have their limitations, film length being a big one, and of course budget constraints.  With that said, they could have done a hell of a lot better with what they had to work with. 

Normally a movie based on a book is always going to leave out someone's favorite part or change something that someone loved.  This movie (and I did watch almost all of it) drastically altered key points (such as the relationship dynamics between various characters) to such a great degree that it was almost a different story altogether.  On top of that the "new" story lacked depth & magic, so that even if you have not read the book, you would probably think the movie still sucked.  I'm really sorry for all the people that were involved in making this movie, what a waste of their time and talent, it could have been so much better without any added expense or time. 

Warm Bodies Movie Review

I watched "Warm Bodies" last night with my tween daughters and we all loved it!  It's a very sweet love story (and not just romantic love, but love between all beings) with lots of great, understated humor.  There is some cussing, violence, and creepy characters, but overall I'd say it's appropriate for 4th/5th graders (with a parental unit watching with them) and up, even though it does have a PG-13 rating.  I definitely plan on reading the novel at some point. I give this movie 4.5 stars.