Tag: bookblogs

Book Blog

Should good books be adapted for the big screen?

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The movie ‘ruined’ the book!

How many times have we heard these words uttered by nearly every book lover and avid reader after coming out of a movie theatre?

I probably would have said it a couple of times myself!

But, let’s be honest here, there are a lot of book-to-movie adaptations that are just outstanding and have got people admitting that the movie was much better than the book.

Not that it’s a competition, mind you!

It isn’t really a question of “ruining” the book. There is just the simple fact that the movie and book are now accessible because of their reliance on each other.

And no matter how big your imagination is, there will always be aspects of the book that your mind just cannot capture.

Take Hogwarts, from the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowlings, for example. Were you really able to envision it as it was in the movies? I know I wasn’t able to.

Watching how the scene unraveled on screen for the first time just left me in awe. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have goosebumps.

What about The Da Vinci Code?

The Hunger Games?

How adorable were Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort in The Fault in our Stars?

I’m really just naming a few from the top of my head that I think were good adaptations.

I do make it a rule though, to always read the book before watching the movie, as I love to compare how my mind visualized the details of the characters and the scenery with how the screenwriters depicted all the information gathered from the book. It’s just one of the perks of reading.

But reading aside, watching the movie adaptation is an experience on its own. It’s a good opportunity to share this experience with different people throughout the years.

So, I’m all for adaptations! I’m a big fan of reading the book and watching its movie. I make it a habit to check out what books are coming to the big screen every year to make sure I am able to read it just in time!

Are you a fan of book-to movies? Or do you think books should be left for the enjoyment of readers only?

Read the full article from Khaleej Times here

Filed on January 12, 2018 on @bloggerheads

Bloggingfor books, Book Blog, Book Reviews

Book Review: Rooms

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Book Title: Rooms

Book Author:  Lauren Oliver

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️/5

Publication Date: September 23rd 2014

The good thing about an unpopular book, is that you get to make up your own mind about it. No influence whatsoever.

The bad thing about an unpopular book, is that you have no one to chat about it with. I think I only found one person who have read it and actually enjoyed it.

I did not like the book at all! Half the book was spent introducing characters(none of them likable at all!), a plot which I didn’t get at all but found it ultimately boring and the other half wrapping up the stories loose ends.

The only good thing about the book is that it was an easy read and can be finished in one sitting.

I was so in the mood for a good mystery but this one was completely lacking. There was no mystery of any kind or maybe there was but because I found my way to snoozville once in a while that I might have missed it.

Would I recommend anyone picking it up? Only if you have trouble sleeping at night.

Book Blog, Penguin U.K. Books

ARC Review : The Wardrobe Mistress

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Book Title : The Wardrobe Mistress
Book Author : Patrick McGrath
My Rating : ⭐️⭐️/5
Expected Publication Date : September 7th, 2017

My first book by this author, Patrick McGrath.

A historical set in London and its theater, during the 1940’s, we follow our protagonist, Joan whose husband, Gricey, just died and she was over-engulfed in grief. After certain events, she discovered a secret and realized her husband is not the person who she thought he was.

With such a beautiful cover, I really wanted to love this book. Badly!

I found the first chapters as readable as could be. I was interested in Joan, her relationships with her daughter plus the husband, and quite a few characters being introduced in the book.

I kept on reading on the hope that things will eventually make sense, but Alas! I was almost halfway through the book till new things started to happen and it wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. The author have prolonged the grief part a bit too much and everything else was just vaguely described.

For a historical, there wasn’t much talk about the war or the events. For a theater-based book, there wasn’t much description about it either.

I believe those who are passionate about the theater might (I still say might!) find it more interesting than those who don’t. I personally have never been to a theater before and wasn’t able to imagine or connect to it throughout the book and actually found it a bit dull.

I wouldn’t really recommend the book as I didn’t really get anything out of it.

 

Thanks to @penguinUkbooks for this book, which was given in an exchange for an honest review.

 

 

Book Title : The Wardrobe Mistress
Book Author : Patrick McGrath
My Rating : ⭐️⭐️/5
Expected Publication Date : September 7th, 2017

My first book by this author, Patrick McGrath.

A historical set in London and its theater, during the 1940’s, we follow our protagonist, Joan whose husband, Gricey, just died and she was over-engulfed in grief. After certain events, she discovered a secret and realized her husband is not the person who she thought he was.

With such a beautiful cover, I really wanted to love this book. Badly!

I found the first chapters as readable as could be. I was interested in Joan, her relationships with her daughter plus the husband, and quite a few characters being introduced in the book.

I kept on reading on the hope that things will eventually make sense, but Alas! I was almost halfway through the book till new things started to happen and it wasn’t as interesting as I thought it would be. The author have prolonged the grief part a bit too much and everything else was just vaguely described.

For a historical, there wasn’t much talk about the war or the events. For a theater-based book, there wasn’t much description about it either.

I believe those who are passionate about the theater might (I still say might!) find it more interesting than those who don’t. I personally have never been to a theater before and wasn’t able to imagine or connect to it throughout the book and actually found it a bit dull.

I wouldn’t really recommend the book as I didn’t really get anything out of it.

 

Thanks to @penguinUkbooks for this book, which was given in an exchange for an honest review.

 

Book Blog

Book Review : Americanah

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Book Title : Americanah
Book Author : Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Publication Date : May 14th 2013

 

I’ve had this book in my tbr for quite a while now. Kept putting off reading it month after month till I finally picked it as my first book of May.

This was my first Adichie book and it certainly won’t be my last – I’ve already went ahead and ordered another book of hers.

Her writing style is just flawless and poetic which makes it such a comfortable read.
The story revolves around two teenage Nigerians, Ifemelu and Obinze who fell in love and made plans to immigrate to America together. While Ifemelu makes it, Obinze doesn’t. They don’t meet again till after 13 years when Ifemelu finally comes back to Nigeria.

Throughout the book, we follow Ifemelu through her struggles in America with race, identity, immigration and hair issues(yep, hair issues, you read right). As much as I enjoyed the book, I did feel there were more characters than one can remember. It could get confusing as to who is who sometimes and their Nigerian names didn’t help at all 😂.

I was frustrated with a lot of decisions throughout the story and I really couldn’t make up my mind about Ifemelu, her character or her choices. I was in a love/hate relationship with her(leaning more to the hate side).

Overall, it’s an extremely good read, I gave it a four stars and I would definitely recommend that you go right NOW and pick it up.