Summer Reading Conundrum

Having trouble figuring out what to read this summer?  I found this cool flowchart through Shelf Awareness, courtesy of teach.com.  Check it out:

Via Teach.com and USC Rossier Online

My summer reading began with Swamplandia!.  But I have to be honest, I cannot get into it.  I’m a little less than halfway through it and am so tempted to stop and move on to another novel.  I make it a rule to not give up on a book, even if doing so is torture, I always finish a book.  Now, as a super busy mom with a full-time job and a strict writing schedule, it may be time to nix that rule.  I don’t have time to waste on a book I don’t enjoy.   

Do you finish a book, even if you aren’t enjoying it?  How many chances do you give a novel before you give it the boot?  Or are you a reading soldier, trudging along each agonizing sentence until the last word, never giving up? 

I look forward to reading your personal philosophy on finishing novels!  Happy reading and writing!

Summer Reading and the Perfect Pairing

With summer on the horizon, Amazon has unleashed their 2012 Summer Reading List.  I really like their format and the way they’ve divided the books into categories like Beach Reading, Summer Blockbusters, and Hard-Boiled Detectives.  If you’re not sure what you’d like to read, you could always browse the Editor’s Picks for something that may catch your eye (and those books are on sale right now!).

Winter reading and summer reading is so different.  On one hand, winter reading lends images of snuggling under a blanket, maybe near a fire, with a cup of hot tea or steaming chocolate topped with whipped cream, and a gentle storm brewing outside.  Alternatively, summer reading dreams up pictures of swinging on a hammock, basking in the shade of big beautiful trees, and a glowing glass of lemonade in hand.  However, how often (really) do you sit in a big chair with a good book, blanket, and cup of perfectly made hot chocolate or read while swaying in a hammock?  Most of my reading is done late at night when everyone in the house is sleeping or the quick moments between walking to my car from my office (I actually can get a lot in from the tenth floor down to the parking lot).

If I were to think up the most perfect of reading settings, it would have to be pairing a great mystery with the gentle rocking of a hammock.  I have a hammock and those rare moments that I have the opportunity to enjoy it are like sweet paradise!  So, perfect setting: great book (a given), hammock, fresh squeezed lemonade, quiet, and a gentle breeze...and if we’re dreaming up this perfect setting, I’ll take my hammock out of my backyard and put it on a deserted island with white sand and aqua-colored waves (why not?). 

I know some people who love to sit with a good wine and read the latest Bestseller.  In this month's Wine Enthusiast Magazine, they actually have a list of books paired with the perfect wine.  Others love reading in any cozy nook with, well, their Nook (or Kindle/iPad). 

What’s your perfect reading setting?  Do you prefer winter reading over summer reading?  What genre do you plan on reading this summer?  Let me know if you plan on reading, or have read, any of the novels on Amazon’s list, and don’t forget to tell me what you thought of said book(s)!

Don’t forget to follow me by clicking Join this site on the right hand side of the screen.  It only takes a minute and I’d sure appreciate it! Happy reading and writing!

A Question for the Ages: What’s Better, the Book or the Movie?

This weekend the husband and I went to see The Hunger Games; and while I thought it a good movie, I still think the book was better.   The movie lacked some of the more interesting cliffhangers and foreshadowing (not to mention, completely removed a likeable character).  I gave the book a B-; and based on that same scale, I would have rated the movie a C. 

It gives rise to a question being asked more these days as more movies based from books are being made: What is better, the book or the movie? 

Before The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, I was adamant that a movie could never (ever, ever) be better than a book.  And then Peter Jackson wowed us with an artistic genius that I doubt even Tolkien could have matched.  Tolkien himself admitted that he was no author, but a linguist; the books allowing him a platform to create his Elven language.   

I read The Hobbit when I was a seventh grader and I will confess this: I hated it!  I thought it the worst book ever written!  I remember skipping chunks of the novel just to save my sanity!  If I had to read one more description on how the blades of grass grew from a sparkling emerald meadow, I was going to vomit! 

When I saw the trailer for The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, I was not wide-eyed, clutching my chest, and squeezing tears of joy from my eyes as some of my friends and other moviegoers were.  But fast forward a few years and sitting in my DVD cabinet you’ll find all three extended version sets (oh how much time I’ve spent enthralled in this epic trilogy!  Worth.  Every.  Second.).   Now, I can’t wait to see The Hobbit movie, even though so many (many, many) years ago, I often fantasized about throwing the book in the toilet.

I still stand by that in MOST cases, the book is better than the movie.  But I’m interested in what you have to say on the matter.  Is there a movie based from a book that blew you out of the water; whilst the book itself waned?   Or how about the other way around?  Have you ever found yourself so excited to see a movie based from a book you fell in love with, only to be extremely disappointed?