From Miss Congeniality To Pirate Princess?

In Libba Bray's Beauty Queens, twelve Teen Dream beauty pageant contestants are the survivors of a plane crash on a deserted island. Together they will break the stereotypes society has boxed them into, discover their self worth and learn to survive on their own, becoming much more than what is expected of them; perfect role models who say the right things, wave, smile and stand around looking pretty.

I enjoyed reading about each girl embracing their new found freedom and self discovery. But just when it seemed Beauty Queens was getting After School Specially on me, head Teen Dream, Miss Texas, has a complete breakdown, and goes Rambo in the jungle! Then, after the teasing of the reality show, Captains Bodacious IV: Badder and More Bodaciouser, the muscular, shirtless stars in breeches who sail the high seas end up shipwrecked on the same island as our Team Dreamers! This book did not disappoint and sealed the deal with Sinjin St. Sinjin, the Captain with a penchant for transgender vixens, heels and fishnets with “sexxy” and “beast” tattooed on his knuckles. And I thought Confessions of a Shopaholic had a couple of nice laugh out loud moments but it has now become the forgotten runner up as Beauty Queens wins the crown and roses!

But even though I did enjoy the arrival of the sexy pirates it just led into teenage drama territory with it's boys vs. girls nonsense. I would have preferred its Lord of the Flies-lite vibe and it ending with a Cast Away feel; with the girls escaping on their own.

The end was a little disappointing with it’s "rescue" and soul train send off of the girls but it was still a fun book and the laugh out loud moments throughout made up for it. There were plenty too. You can see where I marked them:

I’d recommend it as a good weekend read when you want some good laughs.

The Remake I Don’t Really Have An Issue With (Yeah, right! I always take issue with something!)

I liked The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. But the last time (the only time, actually) I read The Great Gatsby was in high school. I also saw the Robert Redford version of the movie once. It was long ago and I guess I liked it but who cares because there’s the new one to look forward to! And in 3D!

Confession: I’ve only seen one movie in 3D and that was Toy Story 3. All I have to say was THANK GOODNESS for those glasses because I was (damn you Pixar) crying! But that also exposes my limited experience with 3D.

I have faith in this 3D version of The Great Gatsby though. 1) It’s actually being filmed in 3D, so from what I’ve read of films converted to 3D post production, those don’t always work out so well. 2) I LOVE Baz Luhrmann. I ONLY sing the Moulin Rouge version of Your Song. Sorry Elton. 3) Well, obviously based on the previous statement I love me some Moulin Rouge. Musicals make me happy and it's so visually interesting so I’m curious to see Baz’s vision of The Great Gatsby.

Another reason I have faith in this remake... Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby. Have you seen The Departed or Shutter Island? So good. We’ll just ignore the fact he was in Romeo + Juliet because we all know he didn’t get good until he grew out of that teenage heartthrob phase. But The Departed? I really liked that movie. Of course it’s not the best from Martin Scorsese (that’s because nothing can top Taxi Driver, Raging Bull or Goodfellas) but of everyone in The Departed, I thought DiCaprio was the best. But I was disappointed by the ending because SPOILER ALERT he is killed and the only person left was Marky Mark! Seriously?! I was not a happy movie watcher. Oh, and he was good in Inception too. So, Leonardo DiCaprio fan? Yes I am.

My only issue is that The Great Gatsby is a very American novel, being adapted (again!) and filmed in Australia. Oh well, I believe it's in good hands so I am looking forward to seeing it.

Your pizza delivered on time by Yours Truly, Hiro Protagonist

Hiro Protagonist - pizza deliverer (The Deliverator!), hacker, swordsman - lives in an alternate reality/future where the United States has been carved up into franchises, each ruled independently; all which feels very real and highly possible. With the help of fifteen year old Y.T., a skateboarding Kourier, he’s racing to discover the mystery of Snow Crash, a computer virus/drug that has been striking down hackers in the metaverse and is known for causing people to speak in tongues.

I really really really liked Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. I love how it’s written from the point of view of someone in this alternate/futuristic society. There’s no dictionary to refer to for the slang or charts or maps to show how California has been carved up into these franchises. You have to insert yourself into this world and keep up. Nobody is going to hold your hand or explain everything to you. You just have to hold on and go along for the ride.

I found it refreshing that Neal Stephenson didn’t feel the need to have to explain everything to me. I had fun as I read, realizing that over time we could possibly adapt and evolve into this kind of society. It’s a smart read that moves quickly and while there’s not a whole lot of background on the characters, you like them. There’s no hokey, cheesy sympathy story that says you HAVE to like them. They are there, they are in this situation, and while there is some background, you ultimately get to judge. It doesn’t feel like the author is forcing you to have certain feelings for them. Does that make any sense?! Well, it will if you read it. HINT HINT.

And I guess this means I'm ready to read Reamde now!

My First Reading Challenge!

I will be participating in my first reading challenge! From September 1st to October 31st, Stainless Steel Droppings is hosting the R.I.P. Challenge. The purpose is to read a book classified as a Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Gothic, Horror or Supernatural. There are several levels to choose from and I’ve chosen two different levels:

Peril the Third

My book of choice will be House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. I’m kinda cheating because I already planned to finish up House of Leaves after Beauty Queens. A friend highly recommended it and I was also asked to participate in a planned book review for our office newsletter. So this just fits perfectly into my grand reading scheme.

Peril of the Short Story

My short story of choice is At The Mountain of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft. I picked up a book of Lovecraft short stories from the library a week ago so it’s just in time for the challenge. And I’ve been dying to read this short story for a very long time now.

I don’t normally participate in challenges or keep a strict reading schedule. I let books call to me and read whoever shouted the loudest. But the stars were aligned (Fall/Halloween around the corner/Scary Book Season), the books readily available and staring at me from the big pile next to the bed so I happily accept the challenge.

P.S. Hugs and kisses to my husband who had knee surgery today! Let's get you healed up!

P.P.S. Happy Birthday Dad!

I Want To Get Away, I Want To Fly Away

If it had not been for the No Reservations Shangai episode, I never would have considered reading Lost Horizon by James Hilton. It was the title and the idea of Shangri-La that caught my attention. This was one of those books that lingered on the fringes of my conscience whispering, “Read me, read me, read me...” So I finally gave in.

Lost Horizon is the story of Hugh Conway, who, along with three others, are kidnapped and left stranded in the mountains of Tibet, at a place called Shangri-La, a hidden monastery. Finding there is no easy way to return to friends and family, they are forced to wait for an opportunity to leave through the perilous mountain passes. Shangri-La, is a sanctuary, that, throughout his stay, Conway, a weary veteran of the trenches of World War I, is discovering that perhaps he’s not in a hurry to leave; that maybe he’d like to stay. Shangri-La offers him peace and contentment.

The more content Conway became in Shangri-La, the more I began marking the beautifully written passages that described the inner peace he was discovering. From a man who describes is war experience like this:

“I was excited and suicidal and scared and reckless and sometimes in a tearing rage - like a few million others, in fact. I got mad drunk and killed and lechered in great style. It was the self-abuse of all one’s emotions, and one came through it, if one did at all, with a sense of almighty boredom and fretfulness.”

To feeling the full effects of Shangri-La:

“... in the midst of the still-encompassing dream, he felt himself master of Shangri-La. These were his beloved things, all around him, the things of that inner mind in which he lived increasingly, away from the fret of the world.”

You can’t blame Conway for wanting to stay, especially with the threat of another world war looming in Europe. I loved the sense of quiet contentment felt by Conway throughout his stay in Shangri-La. It felt well deserved after all he’d been through.

And I felt I deserved reading Lost Horizon. It was such a relief to read. It was so well written and provided a sense of calm to my Mockingjay rattled mind as I joined Conway on his discovery of inner peace. Sometimes it feels like with some books, such as Mockingjay, there’s too much focus on concept and not enough on execution (or logic). Lost Horizon is a great combination of both and it was a joy to read.

The X Marks The Spot of Some First Class Entertainment!

This weekend I bought X-Men: First Class on DVD. There’s a bit of back story when it comes to X-Men movies and me. As the movie came rolling around I was skeptical and I wasn’t the only one. Observe:



Did you see that? 5 times!!!

We saw the first X-Men movie in the theater five times because we loved it so much. And the second X-Men movie was awesome too. So of course I was skeptical. Especially after the tragedy that was X-Men 3 and Wolverine. I didn’t want anything else to taint those memories of fun I had with the first two X-Men movies.

Then I started to read the reviews for X-Men: First Class:



Wait a minute. So after two bad X-Men movies, a terrible X-Men: First Class trailer, it was good. It can’t be!


And well, I’ll let my next Facebook update speak for itself after I finally saw X-Men: First Class:



So why is X-Men: First Class so great?:

1. Magneto pulling a sub was actually pretty awesome, as well as that entire action sequence near the end.
2. They have a pretty darn good explanation for Mystique’s age controversy my friend pointed out above. But the makeup in the first X-Men movie was still better.
3. Sebastian Shaw was an interesting Bond-like villain with all his gadgets and getaways.
4. Magneto the Nazi Hunter in a pub in Argentina, with the music building up the tension, Magneto being awesomely dangerous and kick ass...It’s so intense!
5. One of the reasons we saw the first X-Men movie five times was because we felt it was too short. X-Men: First Class did not suffer from that shortcoming and gave us lots of character development and great action sequences.
6. The performances of James McAvoy (Charles Xavier/Professor X) and Michael Fassbender (Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto) are great. To watch these two characters form a bond of friendship and then to watch it disintegrate until they become enemies yet still caring for each other though having different visions of the future for mutants… seriously, it’s so good you’re heart breaks for them (and you won't even mind my run-on sentence).

It just shows that you can't judge a book by its cover, or a movie by it's trailer.

Buy it today!

And If That Mockingjay Don't Sing, Sarah Won't Buy You a Diamond Ring

If you haven't heard of The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins, it's a better alternative to Twilight, but not quite epic enough to reach Harry Potter-like status. It is big enough, though, for MTV to make a big deal of a bunch of trees catching fire.

I enjoyed the first book, The Hunger Games, and really really, REALLY enjoyed the second book, Catching Fire. Mockingjay, however...

This book was seriously suffering from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End/Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Syndrome: a whole lot of talking and moving around but not a whole lot making sense.

There were just too much of Katniss moping over two boys and recovering in the hospital after some injury. It felt like Suzanne Collins had a word quota to fulfill, and having run out of ideas (or just not having enough to begin with in order to fill three books) she just wrote and wrote and wrote about Katness injured, in the hospital or hiding, napping somewhere in a morphine induced haze of YOU’RE BORING ME!

Another thing that bothered me was a ridiculous break down of a song and it’s meaning (another word quota moment) and the end, while somewhat dramatic, fell flat emotionally for me. There were altogether three action scenes (the third being extended over a couple of days) in this book that had potential but just felt lackluster and ended up with Katniss in the hospital.

I kept reading hoping it would get better. Nope. Even my two favorite characters, Finnick and Haymitch, could not save this. It was disappointing because I felt they were written well in Catching Fire and were actually the more interesting characters out of the whole series. They each had their moment in Mockingjay to remind me why I liked them in the first place. There was one Finnick scene where he stripped off his hospital gown, standing in nothing but his underwear and says:

"Why? Do you find this" - he strikes a ridiculously provocative pose - "distracting?"

Yes, I giggled. Especially when I imagined Chris Hemsworth as Finnick (I’ve been wanting to work this pic in somehow, somewhere. YOUR WELCOME.)

Really, that was the only highlight for me.

There was a moment I felt teary eyed as Katniss finally had her moment to mourn over the events of the three books. But it didn’t last long before it was wrenched away by Suzanne Collins uneven writing style. There were parts that were supposed to be emotional but you feel nothing and the action scenes were confusing and hard to follow.

A good example of writing about someone mourning and making the readers care: The Outsiders. That last chapter is perfection and written by a then fifteen year old S.E. Hinton! That is how it’s done.

There was nothing of the Katniss from the first two books. Maybe that was the point. She had finally broken down. But she was the face of the rebellion, she had survived so much already in the first two books. I wanted a strong heroine and Star Wars level of rebellion excitement and I got none of that.

My advice, read the first two, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Then, if you still want to know what happens next, I’ll summarize it for you, it’ll only take two minutes. And they want to make four movies from these books! But they might actually be able to improve on Mockingjay. The book was written from Katniss’ point of view, and there was some fun stuff happening without her around so maybe we'll get to see that in the movies.

I'm So Excited! I'm So Excited! I'm So... Scared... Waaahhh

“The library is a helluva drug.”

- Sarah

True Stories of a Book Hoarder

The library is the biggest enabler of my book hoarding habit. They make it so easy to search for books, place a hold on them and tell them you’ll pick it up at the closest branch that is conveniently located where I can drive in and out easily coming home from work. And they provide free storage so you don’t clutter up your already cluttered shelves!

Shame, shame on you library for making knowledge and entertainment so easily available and FREE!

And shame on you books for being hilarious, having a lovely cover, zombies and Arctic explorations gone wrong. HOW DARE YOU.

Hey now! Look at what we have here...

It’s not only the library where I’ve got connections it seems. Thanks, Caz!

Labor Day Review of King Solomon's Mines

I almost gave up on this book and questioned reading it. But I soldiered on and found that it got really good through the last third of the book!

So a quick run-down what King Solomon’s Mines is about: Allan Quatermain lives in South Africa and is fairly well known as a outdoors-man/big game hunter. He is approached by Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good to help Sir Henry find his lost brother, who went in search of King Solomon’s Mines. They hunt, they barely manage to cross a desert and survive a trek over a mountain and they help a long lost prince claim his throne; all while trying to discover the legendary, King Solomon’s Mines.

I've read historical fiction that feature naval battles, civil war battles, castles under siege but this was the first time I read about an army fighting with knives and spears; with no armor or guns or swords! It was quite an experience and all very nail biting and brutal! Even a final one-on-one battle between a false King and Sir Henry was so intense I wouldn’t let anyone talk to me until I finished reading how it ended! Then of course I spoiled a part for myself by reading a Wikipedia entry but, surprisingly, it didn’t diminish the impact of the tragedy that followed.

I have to say H. Rider Haggard did his job. There were some very lovely lines written throughout and some very inspirational speeches given and vows of friendship. The action scenes were told in a very straight forward style and I didn’t get lost or confused. I knew exactly what was happening.

While I’m not a huge fan of Allan Quatermain as a character, I do appreciate how honest he was of his shortcomings, namely being frightened out of his wits and that he would rather be running away from an attacking army than towards one. I am, however, a fan of his friends Sir Henry, Captain Good and Ignosi, all very loyal and kind-hearted, who stuck by each other through the hardships of their journey.

I'll file this under "To Be Read". It's free at Project Gutenberg so why not.

You’re a very bad girl. A very very bad bad girl, September!

Oh, September, why must you do this to me?! There are four books that will be released this month that are making me shiver with antici -


- pation:


Modelland by the fabulous, smizing expert, Tyra Banks! (September 13, 2011)
I’ve got two friends lined up to read this craziness along with me. It’s Ty-Ty and you know it’ll be full of ridiculous gems of nonsense and quotes. Just read the excerpt (and the reviews!)! THERE’S ALSO AN AUTOGRAPHED EDITION!

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (September 13, 2011)
Might as well jump on the bandwagon now. It’s getting the royal promotional treatment as the next Harry Potter. We shall see. I do like the cover.

Reamde by Neal Stephenson (September 20, 2011)
I’m going to read Snow Crash first. The fate of Reamde lies with you, Snow Crash!

Aleph by Paulo Coelho (September 27, 2011)
He’s wonderful! One of my favorite books is The Alchemist and if you Like his Facebook Fan Page, he posts everyday and leaves wonderful inspirational messages.

As if I don’t have enough to read already but I guess I have no choice but to purchase all four. But you know, you can never have enough books. Let the reading frenzy begin!

P.S. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!