Guest Post: S.M. Reine

According to her bio, S.M. Reine is a twenty-something writer/geek/mom dwelling in a dodgy corner of Sin City with too many cats. She writes books to escape the drudgery of the desert and bakes a lot of cookies. Mmm, cookies. Her personal blog can be found here.

According to me, she's the author of Six Moon Summer, which just came out - well, yesterday!

Rylie's parents are going through a messy divorce. They send her to summer camp to get her out of the way of their fighting lawyers, but she's just as miserable at the girls' camp as she was at home-- there's nothing vegetarian for her to eat at the mess hall, she hates hiking and archery, and the other campers taunt Rylie mercilessly.

One night, the bullying goes too far, and Rylie runs away. She doesn't get far. It's a full moon, and she isn't alone in the forest. A wild animal mauls her. She's certain she won't survive.

Instead of dying, she wakes up unharmed in her cabin the next morning. The only sign that something has changed are the healed scars on her chest, her increasingly keen senses, and her sudden craving for raw, bloody meat. A boy from the other camp seems to know what's happening to her, but Rylie isn't sure if she can trust herself with Seth.

Rylie soon learns that she only has until the end of summer before she becomes just like the monster that attacked her: a man-eating werewolf hungry for human flesh. Unless she can find a cure, she's only six moons away from transforming forever and losing her life to the hunger...

And without further ado...

Essential YA Books for Non-YA People
I’ve been a grown up longer than I’d like to admit, but I will never give up on young adult fiction. There’s something so special about books written for teens that I can’t quite place-- maybe a youthful optimism lacking in cynical adult fiction, or a knack for pacing that escapes lengthier books for an older audience.

Who knows? There’s definitely something that keeps drawing me back to the young adult section of the library even though I graduated high school... um... well, it was a couple years ago. Cough. That said, my enthusiasm for YA bemuses the normal adults around me. “Why are you reading that?” they ask. “Isn’t that book meant for kids?” I feel no shame. I love YA and I’ll shout it loud and proud!

I ruthlessly attempt to convert these detractors with recommendations for YA books any adult might enjoy. Once they have their nose buried in one of these instant classics, I can skip along enjoying Priscilla the Great for the umpteenth time without earning any new confused looks from coworkers more interested in boring things like the weather, mortgages, and grocery lists.

The first I always recommend is Harry Potter. Everyone loves Harry Potter! My husband isn’t much of a reader (I know, it’s weird), but he absolutely devoured those books. I have yet to meet anyone who has read the entire series and disliked it. How can you not love the grubby kid under the stairs conquering evil?

For those people who disdain YA but gobble up Anne Rice, I like to recommend The Last Vampire Series by Christopher Pike. The books are short, but brutal. Sita is a ruthless heroine, but lovable. There’s plenty of violence and action on top of its sneaky moral lessons. Bonus: Christopher Pike has started publishing more of them! It’s called the “Thirst” series now, so it’s easy to pick up the reprints.

My tender little feminist heart is always eager to recommend anything by Tamora Pierce, especially the Alanna series. I read these so much as a kid that they disintegrated and I had to buy new ones for my Kindle. The world of Tortall is well-developed throughout her books, and I’ve turned many a lover of Tolkien onto Tamora Pierce!

Fans of romances will often find themselves endeared to the Twilight series, which offers enough aching passion and innocent longing to satisfy anyone wishing for a good love story. I’ve even met a few grown men who loved Twilight! Whatever you think of Stephenie Meyer’s writing, there’s no denying it has a lot of crossover appeal.

Young adult is a wonderful genre and anybody who refuses to read it because of the target market is seriously missing out on some amazing books. What are your favorite books with crossover appeal? My coworkers are coming to me for recommendations and I can’t read fast enough to appease them!

Books To Film Week: The Infamous Trio

There are three book-series-to-movie adaptions that have been - in my opinion - as good as the book themselves (or better!), especially given the vast quantity of information in some of the books.

Lord of the Rings
Book By: J.R.R. Tolkien
Starring: Elijah Wood & many others
Director: Peter Jackson
Companies Involved: New Line Cinema
First Movie IMDB: link

In a small village in the Shire a young Hobbit named Frodo has been entrusted with an ancient Ring. Now he must embark on an Epic quest to the Cracks of Doom in order to destroy it.

It took me forever to see these movies, and I absolutely ADORE them. (Warning: Don't sit through the uncut versions unless you have a lot of time on your hands.) I'm super excited for the adaption of The Hobbit and would happily rewatch these many times.

Harry Potter
Book By: J.K. Rowling
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson
Director: Various
Companies Involved: Warner Bros.
First Movie IMDB: link

Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

There have been some epic fail moments in the adaptions of the seven fantastic books, but overall, it's been fantastic. The acting and the casting is practically perfect and the CGI is to die for. You're doing it right, Potter films.

The Chronicles of Narnia
Book By: C.S. Lewis
Starring: Georgie Henley & many others
Director: Andrew Adamson
Companies Involved: Walt Disney Pictures
First Movie IMDB: link

Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion.

I hate C.S. Lewis' writing style, but love his world. This is one of the few, few, few cases where the movies may actually be better than the books. There is nothing wrong with them at all.



Do you agree with my choices? What are YOUR favorite adaptions?

Book To Film Week: Flops

Oh boy. I don't even want to talk about the poor book to screen adaptions that these guys were - and yet, I think I must.

Here are my TOP THREE worst adaptions. What are YOUR top three?

Beowulf
Book By: Unknown
Starring: Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Companies Involved: Paramount Pictures
IMDB: link

The warrior Beowulf must fight and defeat the monster Grendel who is terrorizing towns, and later, Grendel's mother, who begins killing out of revenge.

Dear Zemeckis:

The moment you made Grendel's mother "sexy" was the moment I stopped watching.

Love, me.

Eragon
Book By: Christopher Paolini
Starring: Ed Speleers
Director: Stefen Fangmeier
Companies Involved: Fox 2000 Pictures
IMDB: link

In his homeland of Alagaesia, a farm boy happens upon a dragon's egg -- a discovery that leads him on a predestined journey where he realized he's the one person who can defend his home against an evil king.

Casting: Win.
Acting: Alright; not too horrible.
CGI: Bloody fantastic.
Plot: ... what plot?

Twilight
Book By: Stephenie Meyer
Starring: Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Companies Involved: Summit Entertainment
IMDB: link

A teenage girl risks everything when she falls in love with a vampire.

Oh, shut up, fangirls.

I mean, I was a huge fan of the novel at one point. I since realized that I was a silly impressionable tween. (My sister has not made the same mistake.) From the gazillion and four character flaws to the gazillion and four writing flaws, there's not much that could make this book worse.

Except for RPatz's stone acting, KStewart's constant lip biting, and the horror that is the script writing.



Those were my top three worst adaptions. What are YOUR top three?

Book to Film Week: Classic(ish) Novels

Today was my Waiting on Wednesday post. So instead of skipping Book to Film week entirely, I thought I'd showcase a few of my favorite classic novel to film adaptions.

I mean, sure, for the most part these have nothing to do with young adult fiction or the young adult world - well, except for Tuck Everlasting being a young adult book. And Much Ado About Nothing is Shakespeare, which almost everybody has to study at some point. And North and South has hot guys. Which is relevant to any age ever. Oh, and Jane Eyre is studied sometimes in school. And...

... never mind, they are relevant.

North & South
Book By: Elizabeth Gaskell
Starring: Daniela Denby-Ashe & Richard Armitage
Director: Brian Percival
Companies Involved: BBC
Year Released: 2005
IMDB: link

North and South is a four part adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell's love story of Margaret Hale, a middle class southerner who is forced to move to the northern town of Milton.

I adore this movie. Er, mini-series. It's one of the most basic things you'll ever learn about me. I'm also an Armitage fangirl, and this helped with that.

Honestly, though, I think it's one of the best adaptions I've ever seen, and it doesn't focus exclusively on romance, which makes it so much better.

Jane Eyre
Book By: Charlotte Bronte
Starring: Ruth Wilson & Toby Stephens
Director: Susanna White
Companies Involved: BBC
Year Released: 2006
IMDB: link

A young governess falls in love with her brooding and complex master. However, his dark past may destroy their relationship forever.

If I could merge this version with this year's version, we'd have the perfect movie. Definitely watch it if you're a fan of the book; it's bloody fantastic.

Tuck Everlasting
Book By: Natalie Babbitt
Starring: Alexis Bledel & Jonathan Jackson
Director: Jay Russell
Companies Involved: Walt Disney
Year Released: 2005
IMDB: link

A young woman meets and falls in love with a young man who is part of a family of immortals.

It's cute. It's one of those things that you watch and you giggle a little bit and then you forget about it. But it is, I think, worth watching.


Much Ado About Nothing
Book By: William Shakespeare
Starring: Kenneth Branagh & Emma Thompson
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Companies Involved: BBC
Year Released: 1993
IMDB: link

Young lovers Hero and Claudio, soon to wed, conspire to get verbal sparring partners and confirmed singles Benedick and Beatrice to wed as well.

I adore this movie and not just because I love Shakespeare. It's fun to watch some old fashioned verbal sparring - and to make fun of Keanu Reeves' wooden acting. It's horribly fantastic.

Oh, and Wilson from House MD is in it, which also entertains me to no end.

Bridge to Terabithia
Book By: Katherine Paterson
Starring: Josh Hutcherson & AnnaSophia Robb
Director: Gabor Csupo
Companies Involved: Hal Lieberman Company, Lauren Levine Productions, Walden Media
Year Released: 1993
IMDB: link

A preteen's life is changed after befriending the new girl at school.

I'll admit it. I teared up at the end. But I thought it was fantastically done.



What do you think? Are there other fantastic classic adaptions, of either 'classic' books or YA classics? Should Because Of Winn Dixie have been on the list? What do YOU think?

Waiting on Wednesday: Between The Sea And Sky

Because we all have something we're waiting for.

We interrupt Book to Film week to bring you this Waiting on Wednesday post.

Between The Sea And Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore

For as long as Esmerine can remember, she has longed to join her sister as a siren, the highest calling a mermaid can have. But when her sister runs away to the mainland, reportedly to elope with a human, Esmerine is sent to retrieve her.
Using magic to transform her tail into legs, she makes her way unsteadily through the streets of New Sweeling. There, she will come upon a friend she hasn't seen since childhood - Alandare, a boy, now a man, who belongs to a winged race of people. Together, Esmerine and Alandare put aside their differences to find her sister, and in the process discover a love that cannot be bound by land, sea, or air.

Series: ---
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Release Date: June 7 2011

I loved Jaclyn's Magic Under Glass and am excited to see what she does with this - and while I don't have an affection for mermaids, I DO have a secret love for winged people...

Book to Film Week: Upcoming & Recent Releases

The most fun about movies, for me, isn't watching classic novels being turned into movies - though I will come back to that tomorrow - but watching my favorite YA books being turned into movies, and being done WELL! For the most part.

Here are some YA books that have been recently converted into movies. I've seen some and am really looking forward to seeing some others. What about you?

The Hunger Games
Book By: Suzanne Collins
Starring: Jennifer Lawrence
Director: Gary Ross
Companies Involved: Colorforce; Lionsgate
Year Released: 2012
IMDB: link

A young girl joins a survival contest in order to save her community in a dystopian future.

The better question is, who ISN'T looking forward to this movie!? Squee!



I Am Number Four
Book By: Pittacus Lore (secretly James Frey&somebodyelse)
Starring: Alex Pettyfer & Dianna Agron
Director: D.J. Caruso
Companies Involved: DreamWorks SKG
Year Released: 2011
IMDB: link

John is an extraordinary teen, masking his true identity and passing as a typical high school student to elude a deadly enemy seeking to destroy him. Three like him have already been killed ... he is Number Four.

I haven't read the book. Probably never will. But I do love me some Dianna Agron.



Jane Eyre
Book By: Charlotte Bronte
Starring: Mia Wasikowska & Michael Fassbender
Director: Cary Fukunaga
Companies Involved: BBC; Focus Features
Year Released: 2011
IMDB: link

A mousy governess who softens the heart of her employer soon discovers that he's hiding a terrible secret.

Technically not YA, but I absolutely adore Jane Eyre... so who cares?



Beastly
Book By: Alex Flinn
Starring: Alex Pettyfer & Vanessa Hudgens
Director: Daniel Barnz
Companies Involved: CBS Films
Year Released: 2011
IMDB: link

A modern-day take on the "Beauty and the Beast" tale where a New York teen is transformed into a hideous monster in order to find true love.

Saw this one - SO MUCH BETTER than the book. And I don't say that often.


The Hobbit: Part I
Book By: J.R.R. Tolkien
Starring: Saoirse Ronan, Martin Freeman & more
Director: Peter Jackson
Companies Involved: MGM; New Line Cinema
Year Released: 2012
IMDB: link

Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, journeys to the Lonely Mountain accompanied by a group of dwarves to reclaim a treasure taken from them by the dragon Smaug.

LOOK AT THE CAST. LOOK AT IT. LOOK AT IT. *explodes*


Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows: Part II
Book By: J.K. Rowling
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint & Emma Watson
Director: David Yates
Companies Involved: Warner Bros.
Year Releasead: 2011
IMDB: link

The end begins as Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort's final horcruxes...

Ggfjdisofsdodfdjoifdsmfodsfdhoufd. That is all.



What did I miss? What are YOU looking forward to?



(Yes, I know that Water for Elephants is coming out, and The Host and Beautiful Creatures have been optioned and are on IMDB. But since I don't have anything solid yet...)

Book to Film Week: Jane Austen

There's one woman who has had their books adapted to film more times than she could count, if she were alive: Jane Austen.

And for some, she's probably rolling around in her grave. I'm not going to talk about those versions. They scare me.

And for the others, she'd probably see them and fall in love with her characters all over again.

Here are - in my opinion - some of the top Austen adaptions.

Pride and Prejudice
Starring: Keira Knightley & Matthew Macfadyen
Director: Joe Wright
Companies Involved: Focus Features; Universal Productions
Year Released: 2005
IMDB: link

Sparks fly when spirited Elizabeth Bennett meets single, rich, and proud Mr. Darcy. But Mr. Darcy reluctantly finds himself falling in love with a woman beneath his class. Can each overcome their own pride and prejudice?

Okay, no, it's not a superfaithful adaption to the book. (The Bennetts were NOT that poor, thank you very much. And when are they outside in the rain?) But it's a beautiful movie that's tempted a lot of people into Austen's other books and films. Besides, Keira Knightley makes a great Elizabeth Bennett - and I may like Matthew Macfayden as Darcy more than I do Colin Firth!

Pride and Prejudice
Starring: Jennifer Ehle & Colin Firth
Director: Simon Langton
Companies Involved: BBC
Year Released: 1995
IMDB: link

Jane Austen's classic novel about the prejudice that occurred between the 19th century classes and the pride which would keep lovers apart.

Okay, technically this is a tv mini series. But it's BBC. And whenever BBC makes something, it tends to win. This is the case here - the cast is great and it's so attentive to the details in the book that it just wins at everything. However, since it is a tv mini series, it's four hours long. Only true Darcy lovers are gonna settle in with this baby.

Sense and Sensibility
Starring: Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, James Fleet & Alan Rickman
Director: Ang Lee
Companies Involved: Columbia Pictures Corporation
Year Released: 1995
IMDB: link

Rich Mr. Dashwood dies, leaving his second wife and her daughters poor by the rules of inheritance. Two daughters are the titular opposites.

Wow, IMDB, that is one boring summary.

But ignoring the summary, it seems 1995 was a good year for Austen. The P&P BBC adaption and now this? Too good to be true. The cast is fantastic and the movie is adorable - though, again, not completely faithful to the book. But in a feature film, is anything?

Emma
Starring: Romola Garai & Jonny Lee Miller
Director: Jim O'Hanlon
Companies Involved: BBC
Year Released: 2009
IMDB: link

Emma has a terrible habit - matchmaking. She cannot resist finding suitors for her friends, most of all Harriot Smith. Emma is desperate for Harriot to find happiness, but every suitor she finds for her friend ends up attracted to Emma herself. But is Emma so focused on Harriot's happiness that she is not considering her own happiness in love?

Another BBC miniseries! I normally don't like Emma as a character (and, no offense, but keep Gwyneth Paltrow away from her) but this version actually made me kind of adore her. It's adorable and very well done.


What do you think? What Austen adaptations do YOU like, hmm? Should I have added something else onto the list?

Book To Film Week

Oh, it's a special week here on WORD. Because when I don't want to read, I'm doing something else that's reading related: watching movies.

Let's face it. So many books are optioned for movies and never made or made into really bad movies or made into really GOOD movies. It's hard to keep up with them all.

So from now until April 30 I'm going to talk about books and movies. Books that just became movies; classic books and the best movie versions of them; book-movies that will be coming out soon; the Golden Trio of book-to-movies (can you guess what ones they are?) and some really, really bad adaptions.

So buckle up and here - we - go!

The first official Books to Movies post will be up at noon today! If you haven't been keeping up with the posts and clicked the shiny button up at top, here they are so far...

- Introductory Post (this post!)
- Jane Austen In Movies
- Upcoming & Recently Released Films
- Classic(ish) Novels
- Flops

Two Moon Princess

Two Moon Princess
Author: Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Series: Two Moon Princess (#1)
Publisher: Tanglewood Press
How Received: review copy

A Spanish Princess.
An American Boy.
A King set on revenge.

Andrea is a headstrong princess longing to be a knight who finds her way to modern-day California. But her accidental return to her family's kingdom and a disastrous romance brings war, along with her discovery of some dark family secrets

Two Moon Princess is one of the books where the world and the plot are better than the characters placed into them.

At first, I absolutely adored Andrea. Any story that involves a headstrong princess who wants to be a knight? Hell yeah, I'm in! But her character quickly jumped around. She didn't stick to one kind of person - she was the headstrong knight, than the logical princess who just wanted out, then the well behaved princess who dreamed of a better life, then this, then that.

It was like this with most of the characters. There was little character development in any of the characters, and the main characters tended to switch personalities like they switched jackets. I can tell you maybe one consistent thing about each character off the top of my head - and I'm writing this five minutes after finishing the story.

Characters are a huge part of the story to me. This time, they let me down.

I'm not going to say the world and the plot made up for it - they didn't; I do love me some strong characters. But the story is worth reading for the plot and world alone. I loved the idea of being able to transport into another world. I loved how Carmen tied in how Andrea's people came to be with the history of our world. And the plot? I thought it was brilliantly well done, though some of the scenes at the beginning were either unnecessary or jumpy.

All in all, it's not a bad book. It's rather interesting, actually, in terms of world and plot. But I wasn't sucked into it, and with everything else that's out there, I can't say it stands out.

Overall Rating & Final Comments: 6/10. It's not bad, and it's got some very interesting points, but I've read better.

In My Mailbox - April 2011

Review:
America Pacifica by Anna North
The Girl In The Steel Corset by Kady Cross
The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangnum
The Golden Spiral by Lisa Magnum
Janitors by Tyler Whitesides
Slathbog's Gold by M.L. Forman
The Horn of Moran by M.L. Forman

Bought:
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Ten Ways To Be Adored When Landing A Lord by Sarah Maclean
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
Jane by April Lindner
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Across the Universe by Beth Revis (her Tumblr)
Hunger Games keychain
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows poster

Won:
The Rise of the Iron Moon by Stephen Hunt (Thanks, Steamed!)

Gifts:
Touch of Frost by Jennifer Estep & signed bookmarks (Thanks, Jennifer!)
A fan signed by Gail Carriger & other swag (Thanks, Suzanne!)

Feature Friday: Bookcases (33)

Who said storage had to be boring?





THEY'RE LITTLE HANDS!

And feet!

Holding up books!

IT'S SO CUTE!

Technically, they're nails, but still. It's adorable. Found it here.

Friday Fronts - Entangled

Why is this a UK only release? The cover is superfantasticawesome. It's simple in design, but brilliant in execution - I love the red hair and the red font for the title. I love the actual font for the title, too; it's awesome. The design blossoming out of the corner is gorgeous without being overwhelming. And the girl's eyes pop out so much from the cover!

Experiment: Red Riding Hood Reality Project (2)

My roommate Julia is helping me with this experiment. Not just because she was as irritated as I was by the description, or because she's smaller than I am and I needed somebody to experiment on - but as both a costumer and book lover, she hated the lack of accuracy.

Click here to check out her post on the subject.

She started a blog recently, you see; she talks about the accuracy of costuming in movies and books and book covers and what have you. It's quite interesting, but of course, I love her post on why the description in Red Riding Hood wasn't accurate. Here's a sample of what she wrote...

Because the book was (very strangely) written at the same time as the movie was being made (the author being on set every day) we can use the film as a reference point to supplement what is being described in the book itself. This includes what the characters look like and what they are wearing.

In the movie, Valerie is played by Amanda Seyfried. Although she is not a large girl, she is not seem particularly skinny (several websites claim that she has a 23” waist, but others claim 26”…there are also several heights listed for her, so we don’t have any concrete measurement for her). She is also not wearing any type of corset. The bodice on the dress she wears throughout does not appear to be boned, nor does it seem to cinch her waist in any way.

Like I said, go read her post on the subject and follow her blog while you're at it; I love it - and not just because she's my roommate.




On a side note, I love the comments we've been getting on the original post.

Apparently Rachel (Rachel, if you're reading this, I've sent you an email!) actually can get hands fit around her waist. Julia touches on how it's possible in her post, but about how the circumstances are usually extreme.

I'm sorry, but this is true for some people and I disagree with your criticism. I'm not the smallest person in the world, but I've had people touch both their fingers around my waist before. I pig out, way more than I should, and don't gain weight. I don't wear a corset when people do this. Sometimes they have to squeeze and stretch, but it's still possible. Some people are just naturally small. I'm seventeen and 115 pounds, and this is true for me.

It's not possible for most people, but nothing is impossible. And you have to remember, the book and the movie are fiction.

This is not to discourage you from your experiment - I'd still like to know your results. I just wanted to let you know that this isn't absolutely absurd.

And then, of course, on the other hand...

My husband—who is 6'4"—tried it with our six-month-old baby. His fingers just barely touched. My hands, however, don't make it around the infant waist.

I love Lisa's point.

Not saying this isn't ridiculous and horrible, but in the antebellum south, the well-off women did attempt to achieve a waist size that a "man could span with his hands." See Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. My mom (born in 1944) was a huge GWTW fan, and I grew up hearing her mention this every so often in a "gosh, wish I had such a tiny waist" kind of way. I'm rambling, but my point is, I wonder if this passage isn't a shout-out to that (horrible, awful) ideal of the old ideal of the 16-inch waist (or 13-inch!!, as I once read).

Waiting on Wednesday: Possession

Because we all have something we're waiting for.

Possession by Elana Johnson
Vi knows the Rule: Girls don't walk with boys, and they never even think about kissing them. But no one makes Vi want to break the Rules more than Zenn...and since the Thinkers have chosen him as Vi's future match, how much trouble can one kiss cause? The Thinkers may have brainwashed the rest of the population, but Vi is determined to think for herself.

But the Thinkers are unusually persuasive, and they're set on convincing Vi to become one of them...starting by brainwashing Zenn. Vi can't leave Zenn in the Thinkers' hands, but she's wary of joining the rebellion, especially since that means teaming up with Jag. Jag is egotistical, charismatic, and dangerous--everything Zenn's not. Vi can't quite trust Jag and can't quite resist him, but she also can't give up on Zenn.

This is a game of control or be controlled. And Vi has no choice but to play.

Series: ---
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Release Date: June 7 2011

This reminds me, for some strange reason, of a mashup of Matched by Ally Condie, Skinned by Robin Wasserman, and Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. Of course, I adore dystopians, so I'm going to read it - but it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.

However, I ADORE this cover. How epic is it!? (VERY epic is the correct answer.)

Movie Adaptions: Titus

I have no idea what to think of this movie.

It's an adaption of Titus Andronicus, and it blends modern day stuff with ancient Rome stuff and it's just so weird that I can't tell if I like it or hate it. There are parts I hate (the Revenge scene, anybody?) and parts I loved (oh my Oz, that final murder scene is bloody brilliant) but it's absolutely absurd - just like the play.

So I suppose it's good in that respect.

But it's so odd that I don't know what to think. All I know is that Alan Cumming is apparently playing some odd gay overlord, at least according to his fashion sense.

Have any of you seen it? It's - I don't - my brain is gone on this movie. Not sure what to think.

Guest Post: Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban

Swinging by to talk to us today is Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban, author of Two Moon Princess - my review for that will be posted on the 24^th, but I have to admit, I kind of liked it.

In this coming-of-age story set in a medieval kingdom, Andrea is a headstrong princess longing to be a knight who finds her way to modern-day California. But her accidental return to her family's kingdom and a disastrous romance brings war, along with her discovery of some dark family secrets.

So here; settle in for a fantastic blast to that past...



Into The Past
Since an early age, I was an avid reader. When I was very young I loved Fairy Tales. I loved Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and any other story with a princess in it, but my favorite Fairy tale was The Ugly Duckling, the story of a swan that does not fit in when he is expected to look and behave like a duckling.
I strongly believe that the worst form of abuse is to be defined by others. It creates a sense of inadequacy and powerlessness that is very difficult to express or understand. A sense that something is wrong with you because you are not what you are supposed to be. Yet you can't do anything about it, for how can you change who you really are? Both the patriarchal, authoritarian society I grew up in (Spain in the 1960s and 1970s) and the books I read contributed to this displacement.

There were no YA or MG novels, back then, no books with strong female protagonists either. The main characters were always boys/men, the girls/women's characters, girlfriends, mothers or prostitutes or behave like boys. So although I read voraciously as a tween (Jules Vernes, Enid Blyton, Robert Louis Stevenson, Conan Doyle, Alejandro Dumas, Charles Dickens) I didn't get a sense of self from my readings.

I would have totally related to books like Judy Blume's coming of age stories, Patricia C. Wrede's The Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Margaret Peterson Haddix's Just Ella or Running Out of Time, Karen Cushman's Catherine, Called Birdy, and Rosemary Sutcliff's Song for a Dark Queen.

During my teen years I read a lot. Among many others, I read Jane Austen, Daphne du Maurier (terrible female protagonists, I see now), Leo Tolstoy, the French existentialists (Sartre, Camus), and Science fiction authors like Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, and Arthur C. Clarke.

Some of the books I would have loved as a teen are:The Thief/The Queen of Attolia/The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner, The Shamer's Chronicles by Lene Kaaberball, and The Novels of the Kingdom by Cynthia Voigt. I didn't read much in my early twenties, too busy studying and living. I do remember loving Frank Herbert's Dune, and The Lord of the Rings that, for some reason, (maybe a new translation, or maybe because it had been forbidden during Franco's dictatorship (Franco died in 1975 and until then books and movies had been censured)) was very popular at the time. And, finally, I discovered Margaret Atwood and Doris Lessing, my first introduction to women searching for their own voice.

My taste in books changed as I grew up but I have retained a weakness for fantasy stories. both as a reader and as a writer. I like female characters that, like Andrea, the protagonist of my YA novel Two Moon Princess, defy what is expected of them (the Ugly Ducking theme), yet they remain true to themselves. Female characters that are strong, resourceful and do not base their worth on their looks or on their boyfriends' status. I do not like female characters that behave like boys, nor those that need a boy to rescue them.

Cinderella, Snow White and Aurora excluded, of course, for old times' sake.