30 Day Book Challenge: Day 25

Posted in Books, Classic, Entertainment, Fantasy, Freshly Pressed, Literature, Novels, Reading, Reviews, Uncategorized by lindseysurratt

Good evening fellow readers! So of course I found a new challenge to participate in the hopes of proving myself better than the last. I picked up this challenge from The Chronicles of Radiya and very much look forward to 30 consecutive (hopefully, gulp) days of blogging.

Day 25: A Character You Can Relate to the Most

I struggled with today’s challenge for a while because I just couldn’t picture a character that I could relate too in the slightest. I wish I could say the likes of Hermione or Katniss, but I can’t really say that without giggling at the absurdity of it. To even compare myself to great characters like that makes me feel foolish. After some thought though I was able to think of one character who I could relate too, Lucy Pevensie from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

Even comparing myself to the noble Lucy makes me feel vain as if I was trying to be high and mighty. So I’m putting a disclaimer on today’s challenge: I don’t think I’m as noble or brave as Lucy (and I’m not fishing for compliments here I’m just simply saying I’m human). However, there is apart of Lucy that I can easily relate too and that is her willingness to believe.

I was a child that grew up believing in magic. Granted much of that came from books, but I think even if I had never read there would still be a part of me that believed in more than reality. Magic existed, we just couldn’t see it or if we did we would rationalize it. I felt like I the only one in on the secret.

Even as I grew older there was a part of me that clung on to believing. Sure I realized that a fat man in a red suit probably wasn’t the one leaving my presents but I did believe that magic played a role during Christmas time. It filled people with hope. That’s what I consider magic nowadays. It’s those moments when you’re most inspired or filled with hope that are the magical ones. You suddenly believe that you can do great things, conquer any obstacle. Call me crazy but to me, that’s magic.

Lucy was the same way. She accepted the unbelievable instantly without any hesitation. Even when others filled her with doubt and second guessed her words, she knew what she saw, she knew there was a magical world called Narnia. That’s me. No one would be able to talk me out of what I saw, what I believed. Well, actually no one would have the chance too because I would have never left the wardrobe. 🙂 So, Lucy Pevensie is my final answer.

What character do you relate to the most? Share it below and happy reading!

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 2: Never Can Say Goodbye (To a Good Book) (revolutionforbreakfast.com)
Journey to Narnia (louieadeleneyao.wordpress.com)
Teaching Activities for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (thebookbirdie.com)

12Aug2013

Judging a Book by it’s Cover Intervention

Posted in Bloggin' Recap, Books, Entertainment, Freshly Pressed, Literature, Novels, Reading, Reviews, Uncategorized by lindseysurratt

Now that your all settled in on the couch I want to bring up an issue. No, don’t get frightened, we are not attacking you. We are confronting you about…well about your problem. Yes, I think it’s time to own up to it, you’ve been judging books by their covers again.

Don’t. Don’t try to deny it we have evidence. Denise saw you at the book store last week, that’s right she was there. Did you think we would leave you alone while you’re going through this? The clerk at the book store recommended a book to you didn’t he? What did you do? To get through this you are going to have to come out of denial, now what did you do? You said “no thanks” to the book store clerk didn’t you? You didn’t want that book based off its cover. You can’t keep living you’re life like this. It’s not fair to you and it’s not fair to the books.

Still admitting you don’t have a problem? What about Tuesday evening? You and Jared were at the library, ring any bells? Jared said he saw you pick five books without even a glance at the synopsis. What made you decide to check out those books? You judged them by their covers didn’t you? And how did that work out, were they quality reads? I didn’t think so. Listen, the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem; so go on. There you go, you see, already I can see a difference.

Now that you’ve admitted your problem lets share some success stories to help motivate you. Remember, we’ve all been here, it happens. Sometimes you only have enough money for one book and you see the book you’ve been meaning to get when another one catches your eye. The cover calls to you, works it spell over you and before you know it you’ve bought the book without even reading what it’s about. It happens to the best of us, these ‘black outs’ are common, you just have to pick yourself up and start again another day.

Look at Paul. Six months ago he was in the same spot as you; buying books left and right based solely on their covers (which oddly enough all featured parakeets), but here he sits today. Six months of not once judging a book by its cover.

Then there’s Mary. Poor Mary was worst off than you. She had bookshelves filled with books she bought because of pretty covers but never read because they weren’t quality books. After she purchased Marked we knew that we had to intervene. She struggled at first, that’s perfectly normal but the important thing is that she made the effort. She got rid of all her books and filled her bookshelves with books she would actually read. She started looking beyond the cover.

You can even take me as an example. I started off just like you but now I’m three years clean. It’s been a long time since I judged a book by its cover. (I think the last time was Prince Caspian which sent me over the edge). You can be where I am today, no don’t shake your head, you can. You have to visualize it, believe it and above all want it. Think of all the quality books that wait for you? Don’t you want to enjoy reading again? Good, now lets start with a trip to the book store, no don’t worry, I’m coming with you. We’ll only look at the backs of the books. Bring it in, all hands in everybody, now together on three: SEEING PAST THE COVER!

The subject of this intervention is now three weeks clean. They thank everybody for caring enough of about them to help.

Paul now spends all his money buying parakeets.

Mary is now happily surrounded by the books she loves but can’t find her glasses to read them.

The leader of this intervention fell off the wagon two days ago. We are doing all we can for her.

I don’t know about you but I’m definitely guilty of judging a book by its cover every now and then and sometimes it’s a good thing and sometimes it’s a bad thing. Do you ever judge a book by its cover or do you make it a rule not too? Share it below and happy reading!

This post has been added to Oh, Chrys and The Fiction Conniption‘s Let Discuss! meme. Check out other discussions that have been linked up this week here.

Mmmmm! Judging a book by its cover (blissfullyignorantreading.wordpress.com)
How do People Judge a Book by its Cover? Part 1 (lorenabathey.wordpress.com)
Yet another conversation about books (yes, we get it, you love books) (geekybooksnob.wordpress.com)
Don’t judge a book by its cover? Nonsense! (shaelum.wordpress.com)
Books and Their Covers (dustythane.wordpress.com)
How I Buy Books: present, future (dianesimonelli.wordpress.com)

9Aug2013

30 Day Book Challenge: Day 8

Posted in 30 Day Book Challenge, Books, Entertainment, Freshly Pressed, Literature, Novels, Reading, Reviews, Uncategorized by lindseysurratt

Day 8: Most Overrated Book

When I read this one book immediately came to mind but I recently did a review on it so I was a hesitant to talk about it again but at the end of the day, I have to go with my gut.

My gut says Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis.

The reason for this versus other books (like 50 Shades of Grey) is because with other books I knew what I was getting myself into but with Prince Caspian I was misled.

This novel is apart of The Chronicles of Narnia, not only a GREAT series but a TIMELESS series. They are famously known as one of the greatest children series ever and Prince Caspian is one of the more famous ones.

So, logically, I went in with very high hopes and came out severely disappointed. I have no idea why this novel did so well because it’s literally 100 pages of nothing happening!

The children get called back to Narnia. Prince Caspian learns his uncle is evil (which he should have seen coming). The children find Prince Caspian. Peter and Evil Uncle fight for one minute. End of novel.

I’m not even exaggerating, in fact I wish I was because I love C.S. Lewis and I wanted to love this novel but I couldn’t. I can’t love a novel with zero character development and zero action (and a super whiny and annoying character– Susan).

So if you want to read the Chronicles of Narnia, don’t start with Prince Caspian. The series truly is wonderful and I don’t want your first impression to fall flat.

What is overrated book to you? Share below and happy reading!

The Chronicles of Narnia (joshuadavidthelwell.wordpress.com)
Classics Club #1: “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis (voyageofatimewanderer.wordpress.com)
For Narnia! (jvan357.wordpress.com)
30 Day Book Challenge: Day 3 (yabookspot.wordpress.com)

6Aug2013

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Classic, Entertainment, Fantasy, Freshly Pressed, Literature, Novels, Reading, Reviews, Uncategorized by lindseysurratt

Novel Facts:

Published: September 15th, 1952
Publisher: Geoffrey Bles
Genre: Fantasy
Series: The Chronicles of Narnia
Pages in Paperback: 116
Preceded by (chronologically): Prince Caspian
Followed by (chronologically): The Silver Chair
It was the 3rd published out of 7 novels though it takes place 5th in Narnian history
Quote: “There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.”
Goodreads
Amazon/Barnes and Noble/Book Depository

Continue reading →

2Aug2013

Friday Favorites

Posted in Books, Entertainment, Freshly Pressed, Friday Favorites, Literature, Novels, Reading, Reviews, Uncategorized by lindseysurratt

I stumbled upon this meme at the adorable blog, Tessa’s Wishful Endings. Really it’s as simple as the name; you talk about a favorite book related subject on Fridays. It could be anything from favorite authors, books and genres to favorite reading spots, opening sentences and love triangles. Basically the world of novels is our oyster and with Friday Favorites, we can conquer it.

Friday Favorites #3: Favorite Bad Book/Movie Adaptations

I think that most of us are familiar with that feeling that comes with the announcement that one of your favorite books will be made for the big screen.Your heart starts to pound a little, you start taking short breaths as your mind starts moving at a frightening speed.

A dozen things are running through your mind: will it translate well, what if it’s like [blank] where it was absolutely horrible on film, but then again it could be like [blank] where it was really well done…(and then the most important question of all comes to you) BUT WHO ON EARTH ARE THEY GOING TO CAST?!!!

For me, there’s always more excitement than fear when I hear that a book will be made into a movie because I have a deep respect for cinematography. But I’ve seen some bad adaptations that left me walking out of the theater thinking “Why?” Everyone hates it when the movie completely ruins the book and everyone loves it when ‘the movie people’ (yes, that’s what I call them) get it right and bring the book to a new level.

But what about in between? What about movies that strayed from their novel companions but turned out to be great movies? How can it be some of you might be asking, well let give you my two favorite examples.

Ella Enchanted

The book version is a charming fairy tale. It was one of the first books in which I fan girled over a fiction character; the fiction character being Prince Char. He was so…so….so good at giving girls that feeling in their stomach. And the adventures Ella went on in this novel were so fun to watch: the boarding school, the ogres and of course her cinderella like ending. I was convinced that if ‘the movie people’ strayed from this story line then it wouldn’t be a movie worth seeing.

Well, ‘the movie people’ certainly did stray from the story line completely changing how the ending worked out and even had the audacity to add musical numbers. At first I was so angry. The book was so good and could have made a great movie so why did they stray? Then I watched the movie again and found myself actually liking it. It wasn’t the fairy tale I had come to love but it was a cute movie, full of funny scenes and although Char wasn’t quite the same he was certainly cute to look at. I came to value the movie for what it was, separate from the book and was all the happier for it.

Prince Caspian

I saw the movie before reading the book so granted my opinion might be a little biased. When I first saw the movie I thought it was good, but I assumed the book must be even better. Well I just recently read the book and I can’t believe how boring it was; literally no character development, no mystical journeys and no epic battle scenes. It was a huge disappointment which is a shame because the book had the potential to be something great.

After finishing the book I brought the movie out and watched it again and was amazed at how much better it was than it’s book companion. ‘The movie people’ made the story more realistic. If a new and an old king meet there is going to be some internal conflict no doubt. The movie included everything the novel left out; substance. From now on when someone wants to know the story of Prince Caspian, I recommend the movie not the book (something that could get me expelled from the book lovers club).

So those are my two favorite bad book/movie adaptations. What about you? Are there book/movie adaptations that were bad that you actually liked? Let me know so I won’t feel alone and happy reading!