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Books and Clevernesshttps://rdietz07.wordpress.comI am a creative writer and editor looking for a nice quiet place to put my thoughts! I love books, dogs, and knitting!
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Book vs Movie: Hugo (The Invention of Hugo Cabret)

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I haven’t done one of these in a while and I think it’s about time! A couple days ago my boyfriend and I were searching through Netflix to find something to watch (a process that usually takes about 40 minutes and always ends with us watching Dogs With Jobs) when we came across Hugo. I’d been wanting to watch it for a long time now, but never had, and he had seen it and liked it a lot. So we decided to watch it.

We watched almost exactly half of the movie but then we got tired and just wanted to sleep. However, I was in love with this movie from the start. About ten minutes in, I headed straight over to Amazon and bought the book the movie was based off of, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.hugo

Yesterday, I received it in the mail (thank you, Amazon Prime!) and I read the entire book. The book is more than 500 pages long, but it has about 284 pictures, so really I only read about 200 and something pages. Still, it was a lot for me to read in one sitting, but I just couldn’t put it down. The second I finished the book I knew I had to finish the movie, so I watched it today and I wanted to tell you about them.

First, I’d like to just say that director Martin Scorsese did a fantastic job. From what I’ve noticed, it’s incredibly difficult to turn a children’s book into a movie. I have a few children’s/young adult books that I’ve loved that have been turned into movies that I just hated. For example, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. Incredible book, but horrible movie. In this particular case, I thought it was flawless!

A lot of times the line between book and movie is so thick that it’s almost an entirely different story (I’m looking at you, Maze Runner!) but in this case they got everything right. I will say that they added a few things into the movie that weren’t in the book, and they took out a few things that were in the book. However, everything they added or took out was for a purpose. For example, in the book the main character, Hugo Cabret, goes to a Film Library with someone he had met at a bookstore. In the movie, the character still goes to the library, but with the secondary character, Isabelle. Which I thought made a lot more sense when I watched the movie. It’s too confusing to add in a random character that was only mentioned twice in the book into a movie.

I also have to say that they did a phenomenal job casting the characters. In the actual book, there are pictures of the characters – and not just one picture of a character, but tons of pictures of characters. Which meant that they had to find actors that very closely matched the pictures. And they did that perfectly.

They also used a lot of old-time-y cinema references that I only knew one of, and it was the most famous. So it was very obscure with the references, which was pretty cool, too.

I honestly can’t give you any negative feedback. This book was amazing. It was a great book to teach kids the art of persevering, of doing what you love, and teaching kids that it’s okay to be sad if something bad happens. And it’s okay to let your friends in to help you. It was an incredibly cute book, and it was an incredibly cute movie.

10/10! I highly recommend this book-movie combo to anyone who likes cute, imaginative stories, and anyone who likes incredibly well acted movies.

Until next time!

Rachel

e-mail: rachel@booksandcleverness.com

Go Set A Watchman By Harper Lee

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gosetawatchman

Happy Friday, blog family! As July came to an end, I began something new: the recently published Go Set A Watchman by the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee.

I first read To Kill A Mockingbird, like most people, in high school. Maybe I’m the only one, but I really didn’t care for it. My issue with the book is that it’s a great character study, and it has a very interesting, historically accurate plot, but the writing style seemed slow to me. Granted, I haven’t read the book in years but I do remember that I wasn’t crazy about it. My favorite part of the entire book was the trial and that only lasted a little bit.

Nevertheless, I heard that Harper Lee had just gotten a new book published. A sequel to To Kill A Mockingbird set 20 years after the trial. After some research I actually learned that the book was found in Harper Lee’s safety deposit box, and was written as the first draft of a manuscript of To Kill A Mockingbird. Lee decided that she would keep the book in safe keeping, but she began writing the book we’ve all read from the beginning. She made the characters she’d first created younger, and went into a lot of detail about the postbellum South (and particularly the justice system when it came to black people in the south).

Well, after going to Costco and seeing that the usually $30 book was only $15, I decided to read it. I had finished The Martian and wanted to read something shorter that I thought would be an interesting read. I was wrong.

At least for a while, I was wrong. You see the book starts out really really really slow. The first exactly one hundred pages (out of 279, by the way) were slow. No, not slow, boring. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been reading books that are all excitement from page one, but this book was really boring.

But for a couple days I figured that I might just be feeling this way because I didn’t like the first book. Then it dawned on me that I was really only reading this book because I felt I needed to. I felt obligated to read this book because it was written by somebody incredibly well known, and it was her first published book since the original back in 1960. It was something I had chosen to read, but not because I thought the story sounded interesting. Still, I kept reading. On page 104 the book got somewhat interesting. Or, at least, at page 104 a plot appeared.

Honestly, the second the plot appeared I couldn’t put it down. I’ve mentioned how recently I’ve been reading very slowly. Well, from page 104 to 279, it took me a total of 3 hours, over the span of two days, to read the rest of the book. Which is great considering I’ve been reading about ten pages a night, if that.

So anyway, when the plot began to thicken, I couldn’t put it down. The end of the book was seamless and actually pretty sweet. It was a very nice ending – not necessarily a good ending, by the way, but a nice ending. There was a line I thought was very well written. Lee wrote, “Remember this also: it’s always easy to look back and see what we were, yesterday, ten years ago. It is hard to see what we are. If you can master that trick, you’ll get along.”

I thought that was very well said. It’s quite true that looking back on your life you’ll think of what you should have done and how naïve you were. It’s so easy to think those things. It’s so easy to get lost in the past. But what is in the past is past. It’s much harder to look at yourself and understand who you are now. It’s something that so many people struggle with.

Now, back to Go Set A Watchman. I had a very hard time with this book character-wise. I don’t want to give anything away so I’ll just mention these two characters:

Scout. The beloved Scout, who ran rampant with Jem and Dill and always took Boo Radley’s gifts for granted, is now called Jean Louise. Okay. I can get behind that because I understand that it’s 20 years later and she’s a 26 year old woman. But what I can’t get behind is the fact that she’s 26 years old, called Jean Louise, living in New York City, never sees her family and is a complete brat for the first 170 pages! Come on, Scout. You’re better than this…

This isn’t a spoiler because it’s on the back cover of the book, so don’t blame me: Atticus is super sick! He’s been declining for a long time. In fact, he’s been declining for years. And guess how long it’s been since Jean Louise saw him? TWO YEARS. TWO. Come on, Scout.

Dr. Finch (AKA Uncle Jack). I don’t actually remember if this man was in the first book or not, but oh. my. god. I love him. I wish I could follow Dr. Finch around for 279 pages instead of Jean Louise because this man is so brilliant. He’s such a great character and has so much to contribute. In fact, that quote I mentioned a few paragraphs ago, that was said by Dr. Finch. He was wonderful.

Okay, so last thoughts. The book was alright. In a way I’m glad I read it, but I also wish I hadn’t read it, just because I would have gotten to leave the characters eternally where I left them: as kids. I understand peoples desire to read this book and learn more about the future of the Finch family, but I wasn’t crazy about that.

HOWEVER, had this book not been affiliated with To Kill A Mockingbird at all, and had just been a new book about a girl who visits her hometown for a couple weeks, I think this would’ve been a pretty decent book. But because it had those ties to the characters everyone knew and loved and kept in their memory, it kind of ruined it a little bit for me. Had Harper Lee changed the names of the characters and changed the name of the town, this could’ve taken place anywhere in the South and it would have been an interesting read towards the end.

If you loved the first book, chances are you’ll like this one too. It has a lot of the same things: writing style, characters, message, etc. It just wasn’t for me.

If you’ve read it and liked it, or didn’t like it, let me know in the comments or send me an e-mail at rachel@booksandcleverness.com and we can have a conversation about what we thought!

Until next time!

Rachel

A Very Long Review of The Martian by Andy Weir

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I’d like to tell you a little story about how I never listen to my dad. First, let me start by saying that when I was a kid my dad would always joke, “don’t trust your father.” Obviously he was kidding, but I did end up taking that lesson with me in two aspects: books and movies.

Movies are the easiest for me to explain. For a long time we would watch movies together that he wanted me to see and know of. I would always play it cool and say that they weren’t that great of movies (even though they were pretty fricken awesome). So whenever he recommended a movie to me he’d say, “don’t you trust me?” and I’d always say “No.” Of course this has changed, and if my dad recommends a movie now it goes immediately onto my watch-list…

…Except for Chappie, which he pitched to me as “it was so bad. You really shouldn’t watch it…. Actually, watch it and see how bad it is. It’s so bad.”

But books are different. My dad is an avid reader, albeit an incredibly slow reader, but he loves books. He got me addicted to fantasy and science fiction, and I’m forever grateful for that. However, as I’m sure you’ve figured out, I take books very seriously. I love when people give me recommendations so I can add them to my to-read list, but I don’t like being pushed into reading a book. I’m stubborn like my mom and the more you push me to read a book, the less likely I am to read that book out of sheer principle.

My dad is the King of Pushers. He will recommend a book, and I’ll usually find that book’s concept pretty interesting, but I’ll add it to my list and keep going through the books I already have lined up. This does not satisfy my dad. He will continually say, “You HAVE to read this book. When you’re done with your book, you NEED to read this one.” and when I finish my book, and start reading a different book, he’ll say the same things. Over and over again, until he gives up and reads a new book that I HAVE to read.

But something strange happened. I learned about the upcoming movie, The Martian, starring Matt Damon (and if you read my To See or Not To See post back in February you’ll know that I love Matt Damon. I really do. He’s wonderful. Also, my sister would hate me for saying this but Ben Affleck is not as attractive as everyone thinks. Matt Damon totally wins that contest, hands down), and realized it was a book. The second I found that out, I was hooked. I had to add it to my list.

But then my boyfriend and I went over to my parents house for dinner. I told my mom about this really cool new movie that’s coming out that has Matt Damon in it, about this guy that’s stuck on Mars and has to plant crops on Mars and survive, and it’s even a book! And to my surprise she said, “That sounds like the book that Dad’s reading.”

What?! My dad is reading a book I want to read before I even hear of it?? What alternate universe is this??

It turned out, he was reading The Martian. He recommended it instantly and said, “oh my God, Rae, you HAVE to read this. The writer reminds me so much of your writing style. It’s funny, written well, and you just have to read it.” But this time, I trusted him. (Note: Sorry, Dad, I’m learning how to trust you again. I know this dampens your street cred.)

What happened when I started reading The Martian, written by Andy Weir, was magical. The first page made me laugh, and I entered a world that was completely foreign to me, but I felt completely at ease.

The story is about a man who is believed to be dead on Mars, but he’s not. He needs to figure out a way to survive on Mars indefinitely, using only a small amount of resources. It’s so good.

Andy Weir’s writing style is so sarcastic, but so detailed and rich that it’s not like reading a book where the author just tries to be snarky, instead it’s actually like reading this man’s life, and reading what he’s going through – being Mark Watney’s friend. Weir is an incredible writer, with a ridiculous amount of knowledge when it comes to science and math (something that just went straight over my head), but always finds a way to make the characters relatable even with them being super science and math driven.

If I could give this book 500 stars out of 10, plus 15 high fives, and four thumbs-ups, I would. 18 Quatloo’s for you, sir!

Everyone needs to read this book before the movie comes out. I know I’ve mentioned a hundred times that I don’t necessarily think that seeing the movie first is a bad idea, but in this case: read the book first. The movie comes out October 2015, so you have a few more months to read it, even if you’re as slow of a reader as my dear old dad. Go get it!

All that said, I’d like to give a shoutout to my dad (as if there haven’t been enough in this post) for finally getting me to read one of the books he’s recommended. Good job, Pops. This is a big day for you.

If you’ve read this book, please comment below so we can discuss it because oh. my. god. All I want to do is talk about it right now. If there could be a The Martian chat room, I’d join it right now.

Until next time, blog family!

Rachel

email: rachel@booksandcleverness.com

Fool Moon Review – The Dresden Files

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Hello friends! After a long couple of weeks, I’m back in the writing game. I know it’s been quite sporadic, but you’ll have to bear with me. I’m trying!

I’ve been reading rather slow lately. While a couple months ago I could read 150 pages in one night of reading, recently I’ve been reading maybe 30 pages every night of whatever book I’m reading (no matter how awesome it is). I’m just an old person now and when I read more than ten pages I just get so tired. So my actual book reviews seem to be pretty far apart nowadays.

Nonetheless, I’m still reading! And my most recent finished book is the second book in a series I started called The Dresden Files. The series is about a wizard private investigator named Harry Dresden who is often used by the police in the Special Investigation unit. They bring him in if there is a case that seems, well, different. It’s really well written and there are currently 15 books in the series.

The second book by Jim Butcher, the one I just finished, is called Fool Moon and chronicles Harry Dresden’s next case after the first book’s case has been solved. This time: werewolves.

I think I may have mentioned this in the previous Dresden File blog, but I didn’t actually find this book on my own (sadly). I was looking for new genres to read because I kept reading the same types of fantasy stories. I was getting a little tired of the genre, not because I don’t love it, but because I really felt like I had exhausted myself with mystical beings and creatures and lives, and needed a break.

So of course, the next books I started reading were of the fantasy genre. I JUST CAN’T QUIT SOMEBODY HELP ME! HALP!

I read two of the Maze Runner books and ended up frustrated with the writing and never read the third (even though I bought it. side note: I have a serious problem. Does anyone else start reading a book and love it so much you just go out and buy all of the books in the series? Because I do that, and then sometimes I end up hating the series and wasting money on a book. Again, HALP!). But then I did venture out of my comfort zone a little and read Gone Girl. Holy crap, Gone Girl. Easily one of the most suspenseful, intricate, well-written, exciting, and fucked up books I’ve ever read.

But then I was at a loss. I had books that I’d bought and stockpiled, but nothing that I was in the mood for. That was when my boyfriend’s friend suggested The Dresden Files (and just about everything else Jim Butcher has written). I thought it sounded interesting, and definitely different from what I’d been reading: instead of young adult fantasy books, I had graduated to adult fantasy books. BOOYA!

I read the first book, Storm Front, and loved it. I loved the writing style, I loved the story, I loved the creativity, I just loved it. But I didn’t run out and buy the other books of the series (oddly), instead I read other types of books. The Fault in Our Stars, The Legend of Drizzt, etc. But then I couldn’t take it anymore. I bought Fool Moon and the third book, Grave Peril. (HALP ME!)  The good news about me buying Grave Peril is that I absolutely loved the second book. So I’ll definitely be reading the third book.

So yes, I loved the book. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys dark, well-placed humor, a good action-y book, and super creative story lines. My only concern is that it’s 15 books. I’m a little worried I’ll get sick of it, although I can guarantee that my boyfriend’s friend will tell me “ABSOLUTELY NOT. YOU’LL LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT” We’ll see.

5 stars, Jim Butcher, 5 stars.

Until next time, friends.

Rachel

P.S. I’m always open to suggestions if you ever think there’s a book I should review!

email: rachel@booksandcleverness.com

Life is Short

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Hi blog family! I just wanted to put out a little public service announcement. The past week has been incredibly difficult with the loss of my boyfriend’s amazing mother.

I can’t pretend that this hasn’t changed either of us in a huge way, and I can’t say that it isn’t a really sad time right now. What I can say is that life is too short. Enjoy the people you love while you can, because you never know when they’ll be gone.

This can also be said for doing something you love. Life is too precious to be doing something that doesn’t interest you. Life is too short to sit at a desk for forty hours a week being chronically unhappy. If you have a dream, go for it. If you can see the potential in yourself, then others will see it too.

If you put the work in and you’re willing to fall down and keep getting back on the horse, then you’ll have succeeded.

I’ve been listening to Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ The Heist and there’s a line in the first song that says,

“The greats weren’t great because at birth they could paint,

The greats were great because they paint a lot.”

It’s true for a lot of things. You’re never going to be great the first time. But if you’re passionate and you’re willing to fight for what you want, you’ll get there.

In the meantime, tell the people you love that you love them. Tell your friends thank you for being there. And don’t be too hard on yourself. You’ll get there.

Until next time,

Rachel

e-mail: rachel@booksandcleverness.com