Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Bookish Things We'd Like to Own

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

So this week's topic is Top Ten Bookish Things (that aren't books) That We'd Like to Own. We love posts like this. You know what we love almost as much as books? Book related things. Huzzah for book love.

Since there are so many available options, and my brain doesn't exactly like to think these days (hence the severe lack of posting on here lately and the fact that I'm writing this the day of), I decided to focus on bookshelves in particular. I get serious bookshelf envy these days. I have one tiny one in my living room and that's it. The rest of my books are stacked in a closet. My goal this spring/summer is to make room SOMEWHERE in my house for more books. It needs to happen. Anyway.... on to some of my favorite bookshelves I've found on the interwebs.

TARDIS Bookshelf

If I could make this happen I totally would. Alas my husband is not a Whovian.

Old TV Bookshelf

 This would be amazing in a home office/library.

A Bracket Bookmark

A bit impractical, but so fun! I think this would be awesome on a covered patio.

Scale Bookshelf

How fun would this be to use to display two different series?

Typographic Bookshelf

I want. But not for $944. Sad face.

Doorway Bookshelf

How cool would it be to have a bookshelf as a door?
Especially if it led to a room like a playroom for kids. Passageway to Narnia anyone?


Desk Bookshelf

How convenient would it be to have your desk made out of bookshelves?


Coffee (or Teacup) Bookshelf

 Wouldn't this be fabulous in a bookstore coffee shop?


Lighted Bookshelf

This be so much fun to decorate at Christmas with lights and garland.
Or hang ornaments off of it? Imagine the possibilities!


Hug Your Books Bookshelf

To be honest this one is a little creepy for me. But it's different.
 And hey, who doesn't want to hug their books?

So what bookshelf do you need in your life?

I'm baaaack!!! After a nine day vacation and a week of recovery, I have returned. Why is it that a vacation from the vacation is always needed? Anywho... This Top Ten Tuesday is right up my alley. There are so many bookish items I need that I could probably list a hundred. Instead I'm sticking to the rules and only listing ten. Here they are. 

1. Harry Potter Monopoly. 

Um, yes please! I would play this every freaking day. Best board game ever!

2. This really awesome book nook. I would never leave!

3. This really nifty table made out of upcycled books. 

Isn't it lovely? 

4. This little lamp.

It's so cute!

5. These Harry Potter Hogwarts textbook notebooks. 

I love these. I need them. 

6. These adorable owl bookends. Because ... Hello ... Owls and books are the best. 

Have I mention my love of owls?!

7. This amazing bookself. Seriously amazing! 

I wonder if I could find one only in the shape of Texas?

8. This Harry Potter book page art. 

I love Harry Potter. Can you tell?

9. This hanging book "shelf". I mean ... 

So creative!

10. This Teacup bookshelf! 

 

 I collect teacups so this is totally appropriate.

So what's on your list?

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?