Top Ten Tuesday: Unique Books I've Read

As always, TTT is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Welcome awesome nerds! This week we're discussing our favorite unique books. What makes a book unique? Maybe it's the format. Or the MC. Or something else all together. I chose to discuss books that, to me, have a unique format or something that sets them apart from other books.

(Quick grammar note because I cannot help myself. The word "unique" does not need a qualifier in front of it. The words "most" or "so" in front of the word "unique" would be unnecessary. Something is either unique or it is not. The end.)

I've definitely been in a bit of a slump lately, in both reading and blogging. The reading slump seems to be over, so I'm crossing my fingers that my blogging one will end soon as well. Here's hoping the weekly memes I participate in will give me the boost I need to actually write the multiple reviews I have notes written for, and haven't yet typed up. Anyway.... so unique books. I thought of some.
 

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

This is my favorite of Rowell's books. I just reread it last week to help me get out of a book slump. What's so different about this book is that Rowell uses emails between Jennifer and Beth to introduce them and their lives to Lincoln, and to us as the readers. I loved this format so much. If you haven't read Attachments yet, definitely give it a read.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Rowell strikes again! She can do no wrong in my book. What makes this one, in particular, unique is the use of the Simon Snow fan fiction as well as "actual" quotes from the Simon Snow books. Can we just take a moment to revel in the fact that Rowell created an entire magical world, made up stories, and then fan fiction based on said stories? Ah-Mazing I tell ya.

 The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Smith has the main characters communicate from across the world using postcards. I loved the succinctness of using postcards, especially when they use a certain cliche on their postcards. It was so sweet! The only thing that would have made it better was actual postcards (or fabrications thereof) in the book. Check this one out next week when it's released.

The She-Hulk Diaries by Marta Acosta

So here's the deal. I'm married to a comic book geek. My husband can explain every. single. nuance in any comic book movie. Random glimpse of some crazy character at the end of a Marvel movie? He knows exactly who it is. So when I won this book a couple of months ago, I was excited to pick it up. It combined my reading obsession with my husband's geekiness, thus allowing me to pepper him with questions while reading this book. I suppose I should actually tell you why this book is unique. The book is actually Jennifer's (She-Hulk) journal. Each entry is dated and is her writing down what happened that day. I rather enjoyed this format, as it gave quite a bit of insight into her head. (Also, Tony Stark is mentioned. And Tony Stark = Robert Downey, Jr. Whom I adore.)

Pivot Point by Kasie West

In case you're one of the few people who have yet to read either Pivot Point or its sequel Split Second, let me just say you should get on that immediately. I've yet to find someone who didn't enjoy both books thoroughly. What I love so much about the first book in particular, and what makes it unique, is the alternating POV. Now, lots of books have dual MC POVs, but what's so great about this book is that it's the same girl. Seeing two different outcomes. I loved the words at the start of each chapter reminding you what world she was in as well (possibly because I love words and grammar. Yay vocabulary!).

So what are some of your favorite unique books?

Thursday Thoughts (1)

Thursday Thoughts is a weekly meme hosted by Ashley over at OK, Let's read!

I've been meaning to join in on Thursday Thoughts for the past 2 weeks, but I was smack-dab in the middle of the book boyfriend tournament and couldn't fit in any additional posts. But now that it's April and March Madness is over, I can finally participate! This week's topic is Books to Movies. I have quite a bit to say about this topic, so let's get started!

 

(Speaking of adaptations, it was announced today that Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell has been optioned by DreamWorks! AND she's writing the screenplay. Here's the story on ew.com. Huzzah!)

Okay, on to the discussion...I'm not firmly in one camp or the other. If it's a movie I'm interested in, and have read the book, chances are I will see the movie at some point. On the reverse side, I'm not likely to go see an adaptation where I have not read the book. 

 

I have recently made a self-imposed rule that I will not re-read books before the movie comes out. It used to be the opposite for me. I would reread the book the week before the movie is released. Which only set me up for disappointment. I would nit pick EVERYTHING. It was very much a "how *dare* you leave out this ridiculously miniscule detail that no one else will notice but me?" So. I did not reread Divergent before going to see the movie on opening night. Due to that fact, I think my rating was higher than it would've been otherwise. (It should also be noted that I often reread books in series before the next one comes out. So before seeing Divergent, I had already read the book 3 times...)

 

Onto some of my favorite (and least favorite) adaptations. For the purposes of the rest of this post, I shall break it in to three categories: The Great, The Pretty Good, and The Don't Touch This With a 10 Foot Pole.

 

 Harry Potter. The gold standard on which I judge all book to movie adaptations.While it would have been impossible to include every. single. detail. included in the books, I felt the creative decisions made were the right ones (who really needed the S.P.E.W. plot line in the movies? No one. That's who.). If books like these with SO much detail can be this well made, why can't everything?!

The Help. This was one of the truest to form adaptations I've ever seen. Another example of how adaptations should be. Check it out, especially if you've read the book. There's a reason Octavia Spencer won an Oscar for her role.

10 Things I Hate About You. In case you didn't know. this totally an adaption of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. I was, and still am, obsessed with this movie. My husband actually bought it for me for Christmas. It's Heath Ledger's first starring role, and I love him in this movie so much. It's late-90s awesomeness in all its glory.

Clueless. Another one that most people don't know is an adaption. This time, it's Jane Austen's Emma. Alicia Silverstone as Cher is wonderful. And the catch-phrases? As if! Did I mention that it has Paul Rudd?!? Need I say more?

Pride and Prejudice (2004 movie version). I love this movie so very much. I know what scene to skip to on my DVD to watch my favorite Lizzy & Darcy moments. Still to this day, I remember seeing it in the theater with my now-husband.

 

 

The Lord of the Rings. This trilogy is so amazing. As a huge fan of Tolkien's original work, I may actually love the movies just as much. With the exception of a couple of glaring omissions (Tom Bombadil, anyone?), it really is a very true-to-story adaptation.

 

Gone with the Wind. Loved the book. Love the movie (all 4 hours of it). I don't even care that the most famous line from the movie isn't actually the direct quote from the book. It's just that good.

 

The Hunger Games & Catching Fire. This is so close to being in the great section, but for a few things I don't understand why they cut them out. The avoxes? Darius? Madge? Bonnie & Twill? I know this is a bit nit-picky, but I don't care. I did enjoy Catching Fire quite a bit more than The Hunger Games though (and not just because Finnick is quite possibly my favorite person in the entire series).

Divergent. So there's a few things I didn't understand why they changed them, namely no Edward eye-stabbing and the ending... but overall I thought it was true to the book. The casting was fantastic (why hello, Theo James), and the acting was incredible. For the record, I don't usually support completely changing the book for the movie, but in the case of Allegiant, I desperately hope that they will... for more reasons than I can enumerate here.

The Hobbit. As much as I loved LOTR, The Hobbit has not captured me in the same way. Peter Jackson has added SO much from additional books (ie: The Simarillion) to create additional stories that are no where to be found in The Hobbit. But I do love the movies for what they are. Also, CUMBERBATCH.

The Host. Oh my word this was horrible. Weird casting. Unnecessary and completely strange additions and subtractions from the book. And don't even get me started on the voice-over for Wanderer. But I did love the book. So.. there's that.

 

Twilight (especially the first movie). Not that this stopped me from seeing all of the movies. Let's pretend I didn't know any better at the time these were released. The movies did get better, but still not great. However it did spawn THIS from Jimmy Fallon (click on the Daniel Radcliffe one). Enjoy.

What are your thoughts on books to movies? Love 'em or leave 'em?

Top Ten Tuesday: Gateway Authors & Books

As always, TTT is hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Hello all. The lovely Sarah is currently on vacation, so it's just me this week. This week's topic is top ten gateway authors and/or books. I'm choosing authors and books that are some of my personal favorites or some that got me in to genres I hadn't really read before.

My "Gateway" Authors & Their Books:

Rainbow Rowell & contemporary books. I'm a big fantasy & sci-fi fan, but I can credit the divine Ms. Rowell with getting me to love contemporary. I read her first three books over the course of one week last fall. And just yesterday, I started rereading my favorite (Attachments) to get me out of the book slump I'm currently in. So far, so good!

JRR Tolkien & The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings. The whole high fantasy thing? Completely owed to Tolkien and Middle Earth. I own all the books. And the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings movies. When The Hobbit is released as a set, I'm sure I'll own them as well.

Because why wouldn't I show you a picture of Legolas?

Marissa Meyer & The Lunar Chronicles. So. Here's the thing. I put off reading this book when I first heard about it, because cyborgs. For some reason that just really deterred me from reading it. I'm happy to say I got over my weird cyborg aversion and am absolutely in love with these books.

AC Gaughen & Scarlet. I had never really entered the world of adaptations, or knew that it was a thing, really, until I picked up this book last fall. And boy, did I fall hard for adaptations. I'm constantly on the lookout for them now. And these books? They are absolutely wonderful. And devastating. And so gloriously written you will be begging for more when you finish Lady Thief. This is what an adaption should be.

And because I can't leave out the books that were some of my son's favorites (so basically, a "gateway" author for babies and toddlers)...

Sandra Boynton. Our personal favorites were always Moo, Baa, La La La and Barnyard Dance. Her board books are one of my absolute favorite things to give as baby shower gifts to friends and family. Added bonus she has a few books as iPad apps! My kid still loves them to this day.
 
Who are your gateway authors? Or what are your gateway books?

March Madness Book Boyfriend Edition THE WINNER

Well, today is the last day of March. And the last day of this year's March Madness Book Boyfriend Edition. Thank you all so much for joining us over the course of the month to vote for your favorite book boyfriends! You guys made this such a success, and it more than exceeded our expectations. I thought we may end up with somewhere in the neighborhood of 500-1000 entries for the contest. We ended up with close to 4000! 

While we already have a few ideas for next year, we'd absolutely LOVE to have your input. I've included a questionnaire below, so if you have some time please take a moment and fill it out. Thanks!

And now that I've rambled on long enough, let's check out the final bracket, and the winner...

 Here's how the final voting broke down:

 Congrats Outlander fans! You guys showed up by the hundreds to vote for Jamie! While it is a large margin, this is actually the closest anyone came to Jamie all month. Previously he'd been winning with 96% to 99% of the vote. So way to go Moth Minions! You did your guy proud!

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Winners have been contacted and have 48 hours to respond. If there is no response, we'll be choosing another winner, so make sure and check your spam folders just in case!

You guys are AMAZING! Thank you for all your votes, comments, tweets, follows, everything. Much love.

Lindsay & Sarah

The Broke Book Girls

March Madness: Book Boyfriend Edition THE FINALS!

Welcome to the FINAL round of March Madness Book Boyfriend Edition!

It's been an AMAZING month you guys. I am completely and utterly blown away by the response we've gotten over the course of the tournament. It beyond exceeded our expectations. I thought we might get 500 entries into the giveaway, and we're over 3000 now. We could not have done it with out each and every one of you. We truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts for making this such a success.

We're already looking forward to next year, and have a couple of ideas on how to make it better and even more fun. We'd LOVE to have some input from you guys too. If you have any suggestions on what we could do to improve upon the event for next year, please let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear from you guys, and are totally open to suggestions.

Are you ready to see who made it to the finals? I can't wait to see who comes out on top to be the overall winner of our first annual March Madness Book Boyfriend Edition!

The winner of both the bracket and the contest will be announced on Monday, March 31st at 10 am (central time).

VOTING WILL CLOSE AT 10 PM CENTRAL TIME ON SUNDAY, MARCH 30TH.

Who Do You Want To Win?
	Jamie Fraser (Outlander)
	Morpheus (Splintered)
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Liebster Award!

The Liebster Award is rewarded to up and coming blogs that currently have less than 200 followers. The German word, Liebster is translated in English to: Sweetest, Kindest, Dearest, Etc. Thank you so much to Cassi over at My Thoughts... Literally for nominating me! I'm so excited!

 THE RULES: 
- List 11 facts about yourself.
- Answer 11 questions chosen by the person who nominated you.
- Ask 11 new questions to 11 new bloggers. They must have less than 200 Bloglovin' followers. (You cannot renominate the blog that nominated you.)
- Go to their blog and inform them.

My Facts:

Questions from Cassi:

 1.) If you were down to your last $3 what would you spend it on? (You have to spend it!)
I'd love to say a kindle daily deal, but chances are it'd be something for my kid, like a Hot Wheels car.

2.) Do you prefer to read the book or watch the movie first? 
Book! Although I've now made a rule for myself to NOT reread the book before I go see the movie. It always sets me up for disappointment.

3.) When it comes to trilogies what book do you usually like the best? Which one do you usually like the least?
 I usually like the first book the best and the third book the least. But I'm so happy that there've been some truly great series-enders lately.

4.) What book did you absolutely hate and why?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It was one of the books from my book club and I HATE that book. It was so not my thing. The ending was horrid.
 
5.) If you met a book genie who offered you three book wishes, what would they be?
1. The Library from Beauty and the Beast
2. An unlimited Amazon gift card to buy ALL THE BOOKS
3. A free pass to BEA every year (accommodations included)

6.) What book have you never read and are so ashamed about it that you have considered lying about having read it?
I've never read anything by John Green. I actually listed it on a TTT recently. I'm not totally ashamed by it, but yeah, he's so crazy popular and I just haven't read one of his books.

7.) If you were trapped on a deserted island what fictional character would you call to help rescue you and why?
HECTOR. Because he's HECTOR.

8.) If you were trapped on a desserted island, what dessert would your island be made out of?
Ooh a dessert. I like desserts. I would like an island made out of cupcakes. All different varieties.

9.) What is the best place you have ever been on vacation?
The Caribbean. Nice beaches, lovely weather, not a care in the world.

10.) If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?
I actually love where I live, but I'd love to live in Scotland if I have to choose somewhere new.

11.) Coffee or tea? How do you take it?
Neither. I mostly drink water, with an occasional Barq's Root Beer.

Questions for my nominees:

1. What TV show could you watch over and over and over again?
2. What reality show would you most like to be on?
3. Favorite book to movie adaptation?
4. How long have you been blogging?
5. Beverage of choice?
6. Favorite book boyfriend?
7. Favorite genre to read? And book in that genre?
8. What is your go-to book when you need a pick me up?
9. Who are your auto-buy authors?
10. How do you like to read? ebook? Paperback? Hardback? Other?
11. What book do you recommend the most?

My Nominations:

Emily at Oh Magic Hour
Danie at The Book Brunette 

Becca at Pivot Book Reviews

Ashley at OK Let's Read

Rebecca at The Library Canary

Kayla at The Bibliophilic Nerds

Andi at Andi's ABCs

(I know I was supposed to do 11. But I could only come up with 7. Oops.)

Top Ten Tuesday: Our Bookish Bucket Lists

As always TTT is hosted by The Broke & The Bookish

Oh bucket lists. Something that seems easy on the surface until you actually sit down to write a post about it. And then... not so much. Blank mind. No words. Yeah. Good times. It's a good thing there's two of us to split this post up!

One last reminder on our March Madness Book Boyfriend Edition! The Final Four is happening NOW. And the Finals will start on Thursday with the winner being announced on Monday. Go vote for your favorite to move on to the final!

I'm struggling with coming up with an entire list this week. Sure I love lists, but a bucket list is not really my thing. I was able to come up with 5. It's weeks like this I'm very thankful to split these lists with Sarah! ;)

1. BEA. I would LOVE to go to BEA someday. It's just not in the cards right now. I would love to connect and meet some other bloggers in person. And meet authors. And publicists. And publishers. I'd love to be a part of it all. It's just not in the cards this year. :(

2. Author signings. I live in a small-ish town. The closest city where author events are generally held is Dallas, and it's 6 hours away. I do have one author who lives in my hometown (AG Howard), so I'll definitely be attending her signing when book 3 of the Splintered series is released. So yeah, I'd love to be able to meet more authors, but there'd be lots of travel and extra expense involved. Boo.

3. Other Expos other than BEA. There's always other book expos/events going on, and I'd love to attend some of them. But again. TRAVEL. Hoping there will be one in Dallas sometime soon. That would actually be doable.

4. Read 200 books in a year. I've already read 40 this year, which puts me on pace for about 160. Surely I could squeeze 40 more books in sometime, even though my Goodreads goal is 104. I'll pretty much surpass that before Summer is over I'm sure.

5. Have a whole room in my house dedicated to books. Whenever I move again, I'm hoping to be able to have an entire room just for my books. Since the library from Beauty and the Beast would never really be a feasible option, it'll be the best I can do. I just hope my husband agrees.

This was a tough one for me. I'm glad I have Lindsay to share these more difficult Top Ten's with me! Here are my 5.

1. Read at least 52 books this year. I know, it's such a measly number. Before baby I probably could have pull off 52 books in 3 months. So I'm settling for one book a week. I think it's good start at getting back to my old reading self. 

2. Attend author signings. I would love to attend author signings and meet the brains behind the stories that I love. I actually live in a city where this is all possible. In fact, I was supposed to meet Diana Gabaldon (author of The Outlander series) however, I couldn't fine a sitter for my son. *sigh* The things we sacrifice for our children. 

3. BookExpo America. It's like Mecca for book nerds ... or the book version of Comic-Con. I'm determined to make this happen next year for both Lindsay and I. It's  going to happen, people! 

4. Have my own library. Before we moved I had the beginnings of my own library ... My own very small library. My husband wasn't thrilled about it and since we've been in our new house in our new city my books have yet to be unpacked. I know! I'm so ashamed. But this is the year that I'm going to buy a nice big wall unit and turn our office into my very own little piece of book heaven. 

5. Write. Yes. I love writing. I have a wild imagination and a bit of a twisted sense of humor. I have so many stories and ideas floating around. I'm desperate to write them all down and have my own novel or short stories or even children's book. Just don't ask me what I would write about. I don't even know that yet. Ha!

What's on your Bookish Bucket List?