Top Ten Book-to-Movie Adaptations I'm Looking Forward To or I Still Need to Watch

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme is Top Ten Book To Movie Adaptations I'm Looking Forward To or Ten Book To Movie Adaptations I Still Need To Watch.

1. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (I loved the book and I can't wait for the film!)
2. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Now that I'm 18 I'm old enough to watch it and compare it to the book.)
3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 2 (I just need closure for these films, to be honest. I can barely remember what happens in the books.)
4. The Martian (I haven't read the book, but my sister and my mum loved it and the film, so I should probably watch it.)
5. Paper Towns (I don't remember this book as anything special, but I should watch the film out of obligation.)
6. Insurgent (No-one talked about this movie so I didn't even realise it had come out. I loved the books and the first movie so it's a must-see.)
7. The Looking Glass Wars (These books were really cool, so I'm curious as to how the film turns out, if it gets made.)
8. The Ruby in the Smoke (I actually watched what I think was the second (TV) movie before I read the books. Now that I've read them all I need to watch the (TV) movies, in order. Billie Piper in Victorian costume? Yes please!)
9. Anna Karenina (I haven't read the book, but I've watched an older movie adaptation, and now I want to see the newer one. I can't resist Keira Knightley.)
10. The Three Musketeers (I read the book last year, and I'm thirsty to see Matthew Macfadyen,
    Logan Lerman, Luke Evans, and Orlando Bloom all in the same movie! I'm also interested in the TV adaptation.)

Read More

Top Ten Books That Would be on My Syllabus if I Taught Historical Fiction 101

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

This week's theme is Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101 (examples: YA fantasy 101, feminist literature 101, magic in YA 101, classic YA lit 101, world-building 101).

1.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

I reviewed this the other week and gave it a pretty high rating, so it has to make the list!

2.

 

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

More mythology than historical fiction, but it's still all shades of awesome. I reviewed this one too.

3.

The Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

There might not be much to teach, but it's still excellent. The students would probably end up finishing the series without me needing to say so.

4.

The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf

Everything they need to know about Titanic they would learn from this book. I reviewed this last year.

5.

The Sultan's Eyes Kelly Gardiner

This is a sequel to a book I can't even remember reading, but this is great for learning about Italy and Turkey and the Inquisition in the 17th Century. 

6.

Theodora: Actress, Empress, Whore by Stella Duffy

Really good for learning about the Roman Empire in the 6th Century CE. Interesting information about religion and society as well as Theodora's life.

7.

The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen

I read this aaaages ago and there's probably not a lot in it, but I loved the romance and the setting (I think it was 1715, an era I'm not familiar with, so it was vaguely educational).

8.

The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux

I used to love the movie, until I read the book. Then I found the movie incredibly lacking. There is much more in the book so I would make students read this instead. That doesn't mean the songs from the musical aren't fantastic though.

9.

The Silver Blade by Sally Gardner

One of my favourite books ever, there's no way I would miss the opportunity to teach this book. French Revolution, romance, magic (so that's more fantasy than historical, but I wouldn't label this novel as fantasy)... I love it.

10.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith, Jane Austen, Philip Smiley (Illustrator)

I don't know why Pride and Prejudice is still taught in schools, because it's not serious literature - it's good, but Jane Austen herself said that she couldn't write a serious novel to save her life. This book is definitely not serious literature, so what's the harm in levelling up a bit? At least the humour is more suited to 21st Century readers.

Read More

Top Ten Authors I've Read The Most Books From

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Posting a day late because I haven’t had internet for the past twenty four hours.

1. Tamora Pierce (24)

Mistress of fantasy, I started reading the Song of the Lioness quartet in 2010 and couldn't stop. 

2. John Marsden (14)

Why is Australian fiction so good? We will never know. I actually saw John Marsden speak at the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival in 2014. He was very funny. 

3. Louise Rennison (14)

Her books aren't necessarily good, but they make me laugh. Out loud.  

4. Miyoshi Tomori (13)

I'm not a big manga fan, but I absolutely loved her A Devil and Her Lovesong series. 

5. Isobelle Carmody (12)

Isobelle Carmody. Sigh. One of my favourite fantasy authors, but doesn't seem to be able to just finish a bloody book.  The first Obernewtyn book was published in the 80s and the last one still isn't out yet. It's a similar story with Legend Song. She came to my school to speak to the Year 9s two years ago, and I still haven't forgiven my sister for listening to a talk about one of my favourite authors when I wasn't invited because I was Year 11.

6. Cassandra Clare (12)

Words can't describe how much I love her Shadowhunter books. I'm undecided on whether to read her next series, but I love her already published books. I saw her at the Auckland Readers and Writers Festival in 2011 and she signed my copy of City of Fallen Angels. 

7. L.A. Meyer (11) 

The Bloody Jack books are fantastic - they're historical fiction with action, romance, and humour. Definitely recommend.

8. Robert Muchamore (10)

I started reading his CHERUB series, which I really enjoyed, but never got around to finishing. 

9. Allan Frewin Jones (10)

It's been a very long time since I read his books, and I think they'd be too young for me now, but I especially loved his Warrior Princess books.  

10. Carolyn Meyer (9)

She writes historical YA fiction, mostly about quite mainstream queens when they were young, but you do learn a lot about those characters.

Read More

Top Ten Books That Celebrate Diversity/Diverse Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.When I first saw this week's theme, I thought that I'd never be able to find ten books I've enjoyed that celebrate diversity, but I was wrong, and here we are.

1.

 

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

I'm studying this in English this year, and at first I thought it was just another boring book about racism in America, but it's so much more. The protagonist is a lesbian POC in the early 20th Century, and this book was published in the 80s! Yay for diversity!

2.

 

Blood Red Road (Dust Lands Trilogy #1) by Moira Young 

A post-apocalyptic series written how the characters talk. The language takes some getting used to, but it's very effective, just like the above! (That wasn't a conscious decision of mine when doing this meme.) The protagonist may or may not be a WOC, it's hard to say - she describes her brother as light and herself as dark, so it's possibly they're mixed race. But it has been some time since I read it.

3.

 

The Comet's Curse (Galahad #1) by Dom Testa  

This series is futuristic sci-fi, and with all the characters it would be hard for there not to be diversity in race and background. It could have had more LGBT representation though, as it's set on a spacecraft with 251 teenagers from Earth. 

4.

  

Light Years by Tammar Stein  

This novel taught me a lot about the reality of life in Israel, and completely changed my misconceptions about the country. 

5.

 

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell 

This may be pushing it a bit, but it's such a great book (that I can relate to) that I couldn't leave it off the list!

6.

  

The Elites by Natasha Ngan 

A dystopian novel with racial diversity (but not necessarily acceptance) that I read in the past couple of years and actually didn't get sick of. Read my review here.  

7.

 

Adaptation (Adaptation #1) by Malinda Lo

 Aliens and a bisexual protagonist. All the yes! 

8.

 

Debbie Harry Sings in French by Meagan Brothers 

One of the first LGBT-ish novels I ever read, complete with music I recognise from my parents' time. 

 
9.

Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills  

The first (and possibly only) novel I've read with a transgender protagonist. Very educational; I strongly recommend it.  

10.
  
Sister Mischief by Laura Goode  

An awesome novel about a Jewish lesbian lyricist. I really enjoyed this one, and it was also one of the first LGBT novels I ever read.

Read More