Musin Monday(May 17)

(Musing Monday's are hosted by Rebecca)

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about movies based on books…

What happens when you see a movie based on a book/story, especially one you’ve not read? Do you feel the need to track it down and read it?

When I learn a movie is based on a book, I track down the book version like a rabid hawk! I'm very into reading the book that a movie is based on, it help's me to compare and contrast the two which is a favorite past time of mine.

Why I Love The Anne Series by L.M. Montgomery

When I was little I loved watching the Anne movies, when I turned 12 or so I read the first book Anne of Green Gables. I tried reading Anne of Avonlea right after it, but I never got very far. A couple month's ago I was feeling really down, none of the book's I was reading were making me happy, I was longing for something in literature that I was not finding. On a lark, I picked up our beautiful copy of Anne of Avonlea and thought I would try and give it another go. I haven't read any classic children's literature in a while. I forgot how wonderful, and beautiful they could be with their everyday plot's full of humor, and gentle lesson's and character's that you really come to love. After Anne of Avonlea I quickly moved on to Anne of the Island and then Anne of Windy Poplar's and loved every single one of them. It was nice to read of adventures Anne has that you never see in the movies (although the 1st two adaptation's certainly do the stories justice.) and meet character's you would have never met before like mischievous but loving Davy and his perfect sister Dora introduced in the 2nd book, or the carefree seemingly shallow Philippa who Anne befriends in the 3rd book.
I found that the Anne series was just what I needed at the time, I was lost in every page, wishing I could jump into her Gibson girl life on Prince Edward Island. I am now working on Anne's House of Dream's and will go on until I finish the whole Anne series. Then I'll move on to L.M. Montgomery's other works particularly the Emily series. You know I never knew until recently that Montgomery wrote anything outside of the Anne series. Silly me! :P What are some of your favorite classic children series? Do you still read them, and why do you love them?

Book Blogger Hop!

YAY! It's the next book blogger hop, hosted by Crazy-For-Books. If you are new to the hop click on the link and see all the other amazing book blog's out there and join in on all the fun!

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

"This petty little business, as you call it, bears directly on a very big business, bigger than either you or miss Tuppence know. If this boy is alive, he may have valuable information to give us."
--The Secret Adversary by Agatha Christie

Book Challenges

I've joined two challenges this month that I'm really excited about. The Thriller and Suspense Reading Challenge of 2010 and the Marple, Poirot, and Holmes Challenge. I can't wait to start on them (I'm picking out my first book right now) and if you have any interest in them and wish to join and learn more about them just click the pictures. The thriller challenge is hosted by Book Chick City and The MPH challenge is hosted by At Pemberly.


Review's for T&S Challenge: 1. The Secret Adversary

Heist Society: A Book Review

Title: Heist Society(Great title huh?)

Author: Ally Carter

Genre: Crime fiction (I'm not sure if this is the right genre, but it's the closest I could get.)

Reading Level: 11 and up

Summary: When Katarina Bishop was three, her parents took her to the Louvre . . . to case it. For her seventh birthday, Katarina and her Uncle Eddie traveled to Austria . . . to steal the crown jewels. When Kat turned fifteen, she planned a con of her own — scamming her way into the best boarding school in the country, determined to leave the family business behind. Unfortunately, leaving “the life” for a normal life proves harder than she’d expected.
Soon, Kat’s friend and former co-conspirator, Hale, appears out of nowhere to bring her back into the world she tried so hard to escape. But he has good reason: a powerful mobster’s priceless art collection has been stolen and he wants it returned. Only a master thief could have pulled off this job, and Kat’s father isn’t just on the suspect list, he is the list. Caught between Interpol and a far more deadly enemy, Kat’s dad needs her help.
For Kat there is only one solution: track down the paintings and steal them back. So what if it’s a spectacularly impossible job? She’s got two weeks, a teenage crew, and, hopefully, just enough talent to pull off the biggest heist in her family’s (very crooked) history — and with any luck, steal her life back along the way.



My Review: I am now an Ally Carter fan. Her first YA novels in the Ghallagher Girl's series we're cute, but Heist Society was smart, it was fun, it was a new genre you don't see running around YA that much. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it. The characters we're clever, and quirky, I liked Katarina's character, and her devotion to her friends and family brought depth to her character which otherwise would have made her very run of the mill(the typical run away from my calling hero.). All the usual suspect's are back in this heist romp, the witty love interest, the tech prodigies, the boy who's not what he seems, there's even a villanious mafia art collector, but Ally write's them in with pizzazz and humor, so you don't mind meeting them again. There's a lot of hopping back and forth through romantic foreign countries, and all the gadget's and planning for stealing from a famous musuem that send chill's of anticipation and excitment down your spine.

I also feel that Ally Carter write's better in the 3rd person. The style was snappy and witty, and you got to see more of the whole picture of what was going on in the novel instead of seeing everything from one character's eye's which can be quite restricting at times. It is especially good in this novel since so many different thing's are going on and there are so many character's that it can get confusing at times, but other than that it's fine.

It's very ocean's eleven at time's only with teen's. It's been optioned for a movie, which I think is a great idea, although I don't think they should up the characters age to 20 for the fact that it's like ocean's eleven. I wonder why so many book to movie adaptations are straying away from the original source particularly YA adaptations? Oh well, I'll still probably go see it.

Content: Just some silly comment's about a girl's figure.

Rating: 4 star's out of 5

Recommend: For fan's of lightweight crime fiction.

Book Blogger Hop-May 7-13, 2010

I'm doing the blog hop this week, hosted by Crazy-For-Books and if you click that link you can see all the fabulous details about this fun and encouraging event, and join in!
Through this blogger hop I've found a bunch of nice new book blog's and you might too so don't hesitate to join in on all the fun! Clink the links! Spread the Book blog love!!