Of Mice and Men

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Back in the 90's I saw a movie version of the short story, but had never read anything by Steinbeck. (I didn't take the smarty pants English Lit in High School.) I had a rough idea of what happened in the book, so the plot wasn't a surprise to me. What I really enjoyed was the vernacular and jargon used in the dialogue. Characterizations were well written and thoroughly worked out in the story. There was a rough, beautiful poetry in the descriptions. A beautiful short story of the hard choices we make when we love someone.

Summary: Of Mice and Men takes us into the lives of George and Lennie, two farm workers set out to find their way to a new life. In true Steinbeck form, this short novel explores both loyalty and the transient nature of mankind.

A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Despite the fact that it took me almost 3 months to read this book, I really enjoyed it. I wasn't sure what to expect from the second book in the GoT series. There was some recap, but not enough to be boring. There were some things left unexplained that required reading the first book, and they were really memorable events.

Many familiar characters were main players, as well as some new characters. Some days reading required note taking, just to be able to keep the shifting POV and storyline straight. This is a very intelligent writer, an intelligent story, and not for an idle mind to pick up and be entertained. This book becomes a history of characters that we feel for, we want to weep for, we cheer for, and even when the line between good and evil become blurry, we find ourselves in the story.

The second book becomes more graphic in violence, rape, and battles - I struggled with it a bit, but then realized it was realistic for what is happening in the story. This is a world under duress, where loyalty only lasts until the next "king" is crowned. This is a world torn by violence, confusion, and fear.

Summary: Time is out of joint. The summer of peace and plenty, ten years long, is drawing to a close, and the harsh, chill winter approaches like an angry beast. Two great leaders—Lord Eddard Stark and Robert Baratheon—who held sway over an age of enforced peace are dead...victims of royal treachery. Now, from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns, as pretenders to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms prepare to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war.

As a prophecy of doom cuts across the sky—a comet the color of blood and flame—six factions struggle for control of a divided land. Eddard's son Robb has declared himself King in the North. In the south, Joffrey, the heir apparent, rules in name only, victim of the scheming courtiers who teem over King's Landing. Robert's two brothers each seek their own dominion, while a disfavored house turns once more to conquest. And a continent away, an exiled queen, the Mother of Dragons, risks everything to lead her precious brood across a hard hot desert to win back the crown that is rightfully hers.

The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I am completely underwhelmed. Did I miss something? What was the plot of this book? What was the struggle? What was the flaw to be overcome? This book had no point, no purpose, other than to host a couple cute sentences of dialogue and few zingy one-liners. The only compliment I can pay to this book is that the sentence structure and word choice were well done.



Summary: Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

A Town Like Alice (The Movie)

At the beginning of the year my book club read A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute. I was pretty taken with the book. I mean, I got some serious nerd on while reading the book. I was Googling places and events and the author to find out more. (Okay, so this happens more than you'll ever be able to get me to admit when I read a book.) In all of my Googling I discovered two things:
1) In 1956 the book was made into a movie.
and
b) In 1981 the book was made into a mini-series.

I haven't yet gotten my hands on the mini-series, but there was some serious girl squealing a few weeks ago when I discovered that NetFlix would have the movie available for instant streaming on March 31st.

I know you're thinking "It's April 2nd, I wonder if she's watched it yet?" The answer is yes. Twice. The final verdict: I enjoyed it.

It started in the middle of the book when Jean returns to Malaysia to build a well. While there she remembers the terrible death march and of course meeting Joe and his crucifiction. Typically I don't like stories that start in the middle, go back to the beginning and then go forward, but in Alice (the book) I didn't mind. It actually made sense as the narrator of the story was the solicitor and not Jean. Anyways, in the movie, the solicitor played a very small role (about 6 speaking lines) and Jean was the narrator so I struggled with that plot device of the movie. [it's a weird "me" thing, I understand if people don't get it]

There were of course things that were different, things that happened just slightly different in the book, but overall I think the movie was very faithful the experiences the women went through on the death march. At first I thought the portrayal was a little tame compared to the book, but then I also thought that the death march would take up much less of the movie than what it actually did. I was very impressed considering the time that the book was written and the movie filmed (and yes, it is black & white) and that the movie is only 117 minutes long.

So how did they get the whole book into 117 minutes? They didn't. The movie actually ends when Jean and Joe meet back in Australia, which is where the second half of the book starts. And that's probably why I enjoyed the movie so much. Ask my book club, I like the gloom and gore stuff. The death march was the best part of the book, the romance not so much (the second half of the book is where the romance really takes place). The movie did exaggerate the romance a little more than the book, but I didn't feel it was dishonest to the author's intentions.

Overall I was incredibly happy with this movie, it exceeded my expectations and yeah, I probably will be watching it again.