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Woo getting a post in early for a change!

Hasn't been that long since the last post since I was late, hope everyone is doing well!

Note for book club: Threads are all posted! Feel free to tell your thoughts, there's also a finished reading thread if you just want to give all your thoughts at once instead of in sections.

This week I finished:

The Midnight Library - this was my books & brew read. I liked it, but didn't seem to hit me like a lot of people who LOVED it. I got kind of caught up in some of the mechanics which were distracting. I used it for book nerds book with a three word title, and around the year book related to the present (i figured that since she's in a limbo time for most of it, it's like continuously being in the present)

The Bloodprint - This was really disappointing for me. I thought it looked really interesting, fantasy based on a more middle-eastern setting. It just didn't work for me. I got bored even in the action scenes, I couldn't connect to the characters. The romance felt forced. Got tired of the main character being described as so beautiful, and how every male character just couldn't keep their eyes off her and wanted to marry her. Also she's in a position requiring a vow of chastity, yet somehow a romance was shoved in. Also ended on a big cliffhanger, which I hate. The current arc should be wrapped up in a book. Authors should make a reader want to read more because it's just so good you can't wait, not try to make you read more because they stopped the story in the middle. I didn't like it enough to read more, and it bugs me that there's no resolution. Anyhow I used it for my posugar Muslim American author, although she's British Bandadian, she lives in America right now. Not really sure why the American part would be important anyhow. Also used it for book nerds, book with a map,

Currently reading:

Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants - just started, not very far yet.

1Q84 - no progress. Really should get a move on this so I can just get it off my plate.

QOTW:

Most readers tend to prefer the book to the movie or tv show, but what do you think the best movie/tv adaptions are?

I think The Martian is great. The changes they made made sense for the screen, not frivolous. My only real qualm about it is that I think they stripped Mindy's character of most her humor/personality. Otherwise I felt like it really captured the tone and feeling of the book, while keeping it watchable.

I thought the Sharp Objects show did an excellent job with it, very slow burn but really great. The stuff they added to fill it out to a mini series length didn't feel forced. Loved Amy Addams in the role. Dark Places was also a great adaption. Gone Girl was actually probably my least favorite Gilian Flynn adaption, although it was decent. Mostly because I feel like the time got compressed in the movie, so you really didn't get the sense of how everything dragged out and just what lengths the Amy was going through. It just felt less impactful.

I'm sure there's others, but those spring to mind.

I just got my second vaccine shot today! Hopefully I don't get any side effects from it, but just in case, I took today and tomorrow off from work. So worst case, lots of reading time. :)

This week was apparently romance week. I finished two:

In a Holidaze - my Popsugar book about do-overs or fresh starts. The heroine is in a car accident on her way home after the holidays, and winds up going through a time loop starting the week before Xmas a few times before she figures out how to get out of it. It was fun, but ultimately I don't feel like the authors really explored the time loop concept very well.

Undercover Bromance - my Popsugar book set in a restaurant. Even though not all of the book is set in restaurants, there's a lot of scenes there. The story revolves around a pastry chef main character who's trying to take down her skeevy ex-boss after he fires her. The central conceit of this entire series is the male leads are all part of a book club that reads romance novels to try and understand their wives/girlfriends better, so it gets a little bit meta at times, but all in all it's pretty fun.

I haven't started my next book, but I've got Elatsoe queued up next, as my Popsugar book written by an Indigenous author.

QOTW: I agree with you on the Martian. The movie was a great adaptation.

I really like how they adapted and expanded the novel of Shadow and Bone for the Netflix series. They brought in characters early from the Six of Crows duology and gave them an intertwining story line with the events from the book. The changes that they made, I thought worked pretty well.

I know it's a kids show but I also really liked the Netflix adaptation of The Babysitters' Club. I grew up on those books, and I like how they kept the core of the characters and their story lines, but updated them for a modern audience.

I'll be two weeks post-vax this weekend and I'm gonna go in a store!

I knew this was going to be quite a week at work and I wanted something light, so I read Bryony and Roses. I appreciated the introduction in which the author explained that the book was inspired by Rose Daughter, as it very clearly was. I also appreciated her mention of "the very lengthy French version, which is...something else..." so now at least I know there is someone else in this state who's read the Villeneuve original. I did enjoy the actual book, although the author certainly does have a style, and Bryony has a lot in common with the protagonist of her Cinderella adaptation. I liked it more than Rose Daughter, which I didn't feel I really got, and it's probably a better book for adults than Beauty but I think that's still my nostalgic favorite.

QOTW: I really don't watch many movies or shows. The Poirot series with David Suchet is (mostly) very good. (Ustinov is OK. I haven't seen the Branagh.) I've probably seen all of LotR at one point or another, and my opinion of them is probably equal to my opinion of the books, which is that they are fine and I lack any desire to engage with them further. (I like The Hobbit but everyone says the movies are terrible, so I haven't seen them.) I should probably watch The Martian.

Got my 2nd shot as a Mother's Day gift from the state. Tolerable side effects the next day. Hope everyone is well.

This week I finally(!) finished The Brothers K. Used it for book nerds book about an athlete. But wow. I gave it 2 stars, instead of 1, because the last 150 pages were finally engaging. The first 500 pages were a slog to get there though. I just don't get the high praise and high rating on the GR reviews. Truly I don't. So much of it was just random. I never would have finished nor gone back to it if my daughter hadn't asked for the book back when she visits in a week. I mean it wasn't terrible but oh so long for no reason and I just never formed a bond where I cared about the characters or their story that much (in the first 500 pages). Anyways, it's a finish!

I am a little less than halfway through listening to The Once and Future Witches. I am getting through it much faster as an audiobook. I need to look at the discussion posts.

QOTW: Clearly the Martian comes to mind. I'd also include The Princess Bride but I have not read it as a book. I've seen that classic movie so many times.

My finish last week was The Space Between Worlds, which I used for the debut novel prompt and what an impressive debut! The characters were engaging but it was really the worldbuilding that was the star. Such a neat version of the multiverse concept.

I'm also reading Come as You Are: The Surprising New Science that Will Transform Your Sex Life because I am an advice column addict and this one was recommended by one of my favorite columnists, so why not? :)

QOTW: Agree with the Martian and Princess Bride (have read the book AND seen the movie many times). [tangent - if you have not seen click and prepare to laugh yourself silly]

I am really enjoying the Expanse adaptation - I've read all of the books, and am partway through season 3 of the TV series. I wasn't sure how it would translate but the adaptation is really well done and I love almost all of the casting choices (I don't love Frankie Adams as Bobbie - she is nothing like I pictured the character). Also have to mention the LotR trilogy! I have not seen the Hobbit trilogy, because I have issues with taking a tiny book and blowing it up into three movies, but I loooooove the movies of the original trilogy.

@shel OMG How did I forget about The Expanse?! I wholeheartedly agree. I had seen most of the TV seasons before reading the books so in my head for the book, Bobbie is Frankie Adams. Honestly I probably would not have read the books if I hadn't see the TV show first. They're a big commitment and enjoying the show helped me start on the books.

QotW:
gah. i've read so many books that they made into movies and TV shows.... what's good? bad? I've enjoyed them all.... books and their translation to the screen.

i will say this: I will never again finish reading a book and then see the movie that it's based on. a million years ago, when Jurassic Park came out, hubby (BF at the time) and I went to see it. i had literally just finished reading the book that morning, and now I was watching the movie. no joke, just about every third line on-screen, I was nudging him, saying "that wasn't in the book!" yeah, I learned that lesson right there.

sometimes I see the screen version and read the book; or read the book first and then see it on the screen. taken as a whole, they're usually mostly faithful. sometimes the screen version has to decide what plot of the book they want to highlight while smaller plots fall by the wayside. other times, they create a plot for the screen version that wasn't in the book, and it turns out that it just works.

i live by the mantra that I enjoy everything I watch and read, so it's all good to me.

the one big thing that's gone from page to screen that I did NOT see was Game of Thrones. but I read, and I know things. XD

I've missed a few weeks...work has been beyond crazy, so I haven't wanted to spend extra computer time after hours. :) But I'm pretty sure I was reading A Fatal Grace when I last checked in, and I did (barely) finish in time for IRL book club #2's meetup. Others in the group have read ahead in the series more, so they're more into talking about the characters and things they'll do later, so that probably helped me enjoy it more.

Next up was The Widows of Malabar Hill for IRL book club #3. I'm really interested in how this discussion is going to go, because this book club is all dudes who don't spend much time around ladies (except me), and the plot is very intertwined with women's health issues. Mystery-wise, though, it was pretty good - not totally unpredictable, but a little more twisty than a cozy, while not being quite as hardcore as a thriller. Definitely will read the next one at some point.

Next up was Circus Mirandus for IRL book club #1. It had been on my list forever, and that group was looking for something short and easy to find after The Midnight Library took everyone so long to track down, so I suggested it and was worried it wouldn't live up to my expectations after all this time. I LOVED it, though. Although the plot is not the same, it has a strong Night Circus Jr. vibe, and is that kind of fairy tale story where you can't really tell where they are or what year it is, but it doesn't matter. It's a super quick read, so I'll be seeking out the sequel soon.

After that, I got ahead of things for once and read Juror #3 for IRL book club #2. It's James Patterson, so it keeps you drawn in and turning pages while you're reading, and it's not until it's over and you're thinking about it that you realize some parts of the story didn't make sense. It definitely feels like the first in a series, with the setup of the town and supporting characters, so I would be interested to see where this one goes.

I'm now reading Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life, which was the fall or winter book for an online alumni book club I sometimes check in with, but I didn't have a chance to read it until now. It's a lot of fun - my science knowledge is pretty limited, so it's perfect for someone like me who's interested in how things work but doesn't have a lot of information to base things on. It would probably be oversimplified for some of you who seem to read much more in-depth science titles, but I definitely recommend it to the non-scientific among us. The author is British, though, so it does sometimes make you realize that there are parts of "everyday life" that are pretty different between England and the US...like the big buildup about "something every one of you has in their kitchen" - and it was a scale. I don't know anyone who isn't on a special diet, baking commercially, or from another country who has a kitchen scale - maybe they're more common in other parts of the country, but obviously not to the extent they are over there.

QOTW: The first one that springs to mind is Love, Simon - I love the books, too, but the movie stand on its own just fine, which is especially impressive for being based on a book that's about writing. Howl's Moving Castle, too - maybe it was because I saw the movie first, but the book was kind of underwhelming. And I know it's a play and not a movie (yet), but Wicked has almost nothing in common with the book other than the title and most general aspects of the premise - but it is SO much more enjoyable. Same for Phantom of the Opera - the book is about 23 bazillion pages of people wandering around a basement, so it absolutely amazes me how anyone looked at that and was like "yep, that would make a great silent movie," then "and also a great musical."

I had one finish this week: The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. I generally liked it, but it didn't bowl me over like it did for a lot of other reviewers. I've never been a big fan of Alice in Wonderland, Narnia, or Oz, so I guess these portal-type fantasy stories aren't my thing.

QOTW: I think a lot of suspense/thriller stories translate well to screen. In particular, I'm thinking the Bourne series and the Jack Ryan books. In both cases, they've been able to bring the 1980s books a little more up to date and, if anything, made the tension more intense than in the books. Peripherally, I guess the Bond series would apply here, too.
My personal favorite adaptation is the movie 2010, but most movie buffs prefer 2001. Also, 2001, the book and movie, were developed concurrently (and there's a great book detailing this: The Lost Worlds of 2001 - it's an old, out-of-print paperback that I have rattling around the house somewhere). So, not strictly an adaptation, but close!

A bit of a disappointing set of finishes since last check in. I read A Wrinkle in Time as my classic for book nerds; can't remember if I read it as a kid. It was fine, but I think I'm spoiled by so much modern well-written science fiction to appreciate how different it was in the 60s.
Next was the first of a trilogy I got on a kindle sale, Witch Slapped. It was cute, but trying a little too hard to be funny. Not sure if I will read the rest.
Last one was Garden Spells, which I believe I added to my list from a FoE suggestion. It was fine but predictable. I have certainly enjoyed a lot of predictable romances as brain candy over the years, but I think I thought it was going to be more fantasy so started off with the wrong mindset.
For QOTW, I will add Mary Poppins to the list (including the sequel). They picked the best chapters to use in the movies. One of the best movie adaptations ever was the Captain Underpants movie; we read those many time to kidbots when they were little. Eldest mentioned that he enjoyed it more than he expected, so I watched it on a plane at it was hilarious.