FF Friday: In Which I Talk About Stephen King Movies (Again)

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

This week’s question: What are your favorite books that have been made in to movies?

Answer: Since it’s Halloween tomorrow, I thought I’d tell you about my favorite Stephen King books that have been made in to movies. I know I’ve talked about all of these before, but I don’t know if I’ve put them all in one post.

Ironically, my favorite Stephen King movies aren’t the super-scary ones. My favorite King book and movie is The Green Mile. The story is thought-provoking, and the cast of the movie is perfect.

At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, killers as depraved as the psychopathic "Billy the Kid" Wharton and the possessed Eduard Delacroix await death strapped in "Old Sparky." Here guards as decent as Paul Edgecombe and as sadistic as Percy Wetmore watch over them. But good or evil, innocent or guilty, none have ever seen the brutal likes of the new prisoner, John Coffey, sentenced to death for raping and murdering two young girls. Is Coffey a devil in human form? Or is he a far, far different kind of being?

My next two favorite movies come from the book Different Seasons. This is a collection of King’s novellas, and it’s really good. If you’re new to Stephen King, I’d suggest starting with this book. Some of his best writing is in this collection. One novella is called The Body. It was adapted in to the movie Stand by Me. The novella and the movie both have very realistic child characters.

Another movie adaptation from Different Seasons is Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption. This became the movie The Shawshank Redemption. It’s another movie with a great cast.

From the magical pen of Stephen King, four mesmerizing novellas . . . 

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption: An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge. 

Apt Pupil: Todd Bowden is one of the top students in his high school class and a typical American sixteen-year-old—until he becomes obsessed with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. 

The Body: Four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. 

The Breathing Method: A disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death.

Since it is Halloween, I guess I should mention a scary Stephen King movie. One of my favorites is Misery. Annie Wilkes is creepy. She’s one of my favorite fictional bad guys.

Misery Chastain was dead. Paul Sheldon had just killed her—with relief, with joy. Misery had made him rich; she was the heroine of a string of bestsellers. And now he wanted to get on to some real writing.

That's when the car accident happened, and he woke up in pain in a strange bed. But it wasn't the hospital. Annie Wilkes had pulled him from the wreck, brought him to her remote mountain home, splinted and set his mangled legs.

The good news was that Annie was a nurse and had painkilling drugs. The bad news was that she was Paul's Number One Fan. And when she found out what Paul had done to Misery, she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.

Which of your favorite books have become movies?

The follow part: If you are a book blogger and you leave a link to your blog in the comments below, I will follow you on Bloglovin’. I’d love it if you also followed me. If you want to be friends on Goodreads, Twitter, BookLikes, or G+, that would be awesome, too. Click the links to go to my pages on those sites. I’m looking forward to “meeting” you.

October Currently . . .

I’ve been debating with myself over whether or not to include personal posts on this blog. Part of my brain says, “Nobody cares about you. They come here to see books.” The other part of my brain says, “But I like reading personal posts on other people’s blogs.” So, instead of arguing with myself like a weirdo, I thought I’d do a personal post and see how it goes.

I’ve seen versions of this “Currently” post on a bunch of different blogs. I first saw this version on Sarah’s Chapter. I added a “Stalking” category to spread some bookish love.

I’m Currently . . .

Reading: Printz Award winners. You probably already know about this because I blather about it constantly.

Watching: 90 Day Fiancé. I know that this is melodramatic trash TV, but I’m hooked. I’m also loving The Great British Bake-Off. I wish that American TV would show the most-recent seasons. I’ve only seen old episodes because I don’t like watching TV on the computer.

Stalking: I know I mentioned Sarah’s Chapter already, but I really like this blog. It’s well-designed, well-written, and full of pretty pictures.

Planning: Trips. I won’t be home for most of November. I’m going to California for a few days and then Kentucky for a few weeks. There won’t be many posts on this blog next month.

Making: Toaster s’mores. A lot of people around here have fire pits in their yards. Campfire smoke makes me crave s’mores, but I don’t have my own fire pit, so I make them in the toaster.

Stocking up on: Travel supplies and winter clothes.

Wishing for: Calm. It always feels like there are a million things going on, and I can’t keep up.

Enjoying: Walking my dogs. The leaves are changing color, the weather is cooler, and there is a lot of wildlife around my house. This makes the walks more interesting.

Trying: To make more time for reading. I got a lot more reading done this month because I’m trying to make it a priority. More time spent reading; less time spent screwing around on the Internet.

Eating: Halloween candy and junk food. I know it’s bad for me, but I’m busy. That’s my excuse. (Also, I really, really like chocolate.)

Goal setting: To survive the beginning of next semester. I’m on a nontraditional school schedule, so I start my third semester of graduate school in November. The first few weeks of every semester involve traveling and doing a lot of stuff outside of my comfort zone. It’s hugely stressful and unpleasant, but hopefully it’ll be worth it in the end.

Learning: To change the things that make me unhappy instead of living with them.

Printz Review: Postcards from No Man’s Land – Aidan Chambers

Postcards from No Man’s Land – Aidan Chambers

Seventeen-year-old Jacob Todd is about to discover himself. Jacob's plan is to go to Amsterdam to honor his grandfather who died during World War II. He expects to go, set flowers on his grandfather's tombstone, and explore the city. But nothing goes as planned. Jacob isn't prepared for love—or to face questions about his sexuality. Most of all, he isn't prepared to hear what Geertrui, the woman who nursed his grandfather during the war, has to say about their relationship. Geertrui was always known as Jacob's grandfather's kind and generous nurse. But it seems that in the midst of terrible danger, Geertrui and Jacob's grandfather's time together blossomed into something more than a girl caring for a wounded soldier. And like Jacob, Geertrui was not prepared. Geertrui and Jacob live worlds apart, but their voices blend together to tell one story—a story that transcends time and place and war.

Review: I really liked half of this book and really disliked the other half.

In 1995, seventeen-year-old Jacob goes to Amsterdam to meet Geertrui, the woman who took care of his injured grandfather during World War II. Geertrui is too ill to spend much time talking to Jacob, so she writes him a letter that explains the secret love affair that she had with his grandfather. The chapters alternate points-of-view. Half of the book is about Jacob’s trip to Amsterdam. The other half is Geertrui’s letter.

I’m conflicted about this book because I love Geertrui’s chapters, but I was constantly tempted to skim Jacob’s. Geertrui’s chapters are about how she fell in love with a wounded British soldier who she was hiding from the Germans. In her story, there’s tension and drama and likeable characters. In Jacob’s story, there’s . . . pretty much nothing. He travels from his home in England and wanders around Amsterdam. He doesn’t spend a lot of time with Geertrui, and he doesn’t have much personality, so I got bored with him quickly. I also wish that his part of the book had more resolution. Ambiguous endings usually don’t bother me, but after slogging through that many pages, I wanted more of a conclusion.

One thing that I do love about the entire book is how sex and sexuality are handled. Sex isn’t just something that happens. The characters actually think about it and make decisions about it. Geertrui considers birth control and weighs the pros and cons of having an affair with a married soldier before she does it. Jacob’s trip to Amsterdam gives him a chance to think about his own sexuality and admit that he may be bisexual.

This isn’t my favorite Printz Award winner. The writing is a bit preachy at times, and I think I would have liked the book a lot better if we got more Geertrui and less Jacob. Actually, a whole book about Geertrui would be fabulous. She’s an interesting character.

Top Ten Tuesday: Childhood Favorite Stephen King Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is a Halloween-themed freebie. I’m going to list my top ten childhood favorite Stephen King books. Stephen King was pretty much the only author I read when I was a preteen/teen. These are the books that I remember loving the most when I was younger. I wonder how much my opinions would change if I reread them as an adult?

10. The Shining

Danny was only five years old, but in the words of old Mr Halloran, he was a 'shiner,' aglow with psychic voltage. When his father became caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, his visions grew frighteningly out of control. 

As winter closed in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seemed to develop a life of its own. It was meant to be empty, but who was the lady in Room 217, and who were the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why did the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive? 

Somewhere, somehow, there was an evil force in the hotel—and that too had begun to shine . . .

9. The Talisman

On a brisk autumn day, a thirteen-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack, everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey across America—and into another realm.

8. Lisey’s Story

Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and bools. Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went—a place that both terrified and healed him, that could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons, Lisey's turn to go to Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. Perhaps King's most personal and powerful novel, Lisey's Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love.

7. Pet Sematary

Sometimes dead is better . . . When the Creeds move into a beautiful old house in rural Maine, it all seems too good to be true: physician father, beautiful wife, charming little daughter, adorable infant son—and now an idyllic home. As a family, they've got it all . . . right down to the friendly cat. But the nearby woods hide a blood-chilling truth—more terrifying than death itself . . . and hideously more powerful.

6. Needful Things

A wonderful new store has opened in the little town of Castle Rock, Maine. Whatever your heart’s secret desire—sexual pleasure, wealth, power, or even more precious things—it’s for sale. And even though every item has a nerve-shattering price, the owner is always ready to make a bargain.

5. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft

Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999—and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly, and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it—fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

4. Different Seasons

From the magical pen of Stephen King, four mesmerizing novellas . . . 

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption: An unjustly imprisoned convict seeks a strange and startling revenge . . . the basis for the Best Picture Academy Award nominee The Shawshank Redemption. 

Apt Pupil: Todd Bowden is one of the top students in his high school class and a typical American sixteen-year-old—until he becomes obsessed with the dark and deadly past of an older man in town. The inspiration for the film Apt Pupil from Phoenix Pictures. 

The Body: Four rambunctious young boys plunge through the façade of a small town and come face-to-face with life, death, and intimations of their own mortality. The film Stand By Me is based on this novella. 

The Breathing Method: A disgraced woman is determined to triumph over death.

3. The Long Walk

On the first day of May, 100 teenage boys meet for a race known as "The Long Walk." If you break the rules, you get three warnings. If you exceed your limit, what happens is absolutely terrifying . . .

2. The Stand

Imagine America devastated by a vast killer plague that moves from coast to coast. Imagine the countryside destroyed and great cities decimated as the entire population desperately and futilely seeks safety. Imagine then an even greater evil rising to threaten the survivors—and a last embattled group of men and women coming together to make a last stand against it.

1. The Green Mile

At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, killers as depraved as the psychopathic "Billy the Kid" Wharton and the possessed Eduard Delacroix await death strapped in "Old Sparky." Here guards as decent as Paul Edgecombe and as sadistic as Percy Wetmore watch over them. But good or evil, innocent or guilty, none have ever seen the brutal likes of the new prisoner, John Coffey, sentenced to death for raping and murdering two young girls. Is Coffey a devil in human form? Or is he a far, far different kind of being?

What is your favorite Stephen King book? 

Printz Review: A Step from Heaven – An Na

A Step from Heaven – An Na

In this first novel, a young girl describes her family's bittersweet experience in the United States after their emigration from Korea. While going up and up into the sky on the flight from Korea to California, four-year-old Young Ju concludes that they are on their way to heaven—America is heaven! After they arrive, however, Young Ju and her parents and little brother struggle in their new world, weighed down by the difficulty of learning English, their insular family life, and the traditions of the country they left behind. An Na's striking language authentically reflects the process of acculturation as Young Ju grows from a child to an adult.

Review: A Korean family immigrates to the United States for a better life, but they bring so many personal problems with them that achieving a better life is nearly impossible.

I’m amazed by how much time is covered in this short book. The story starts when the narrator, Young Ju, is four years old. It ends when she’s an adult. This might make it sound like the story is rushed, but it isn’t. It somehow works perfectly. Young Ju is one of the most realistic child narrators I’ve ever read. That realism continues through the entire book. She matures in a very believable way. It’s interesting to see how her narration style changes as she becomes older and more Americanized. Young Ju is easy to love, and her story is so authentic and honest that it doesn’t always feel like fiction.

The writing is so good. It’s sparse, and it’s powerful. It seems like the author put a lot of thought in to every single word. This book took some serious skills to write. I especially like the first few chapters and the very last one. The whole book is well-written, but those chapters are more artsy than the others.

I did have some problems with the Korean words in the story. They’re not defined, so it took me a while to figure out what they meant. Most of them are clear by the end, but I was slightly confused in the beginning.

I was also caught off-guard by this story. The summary makes it sound like it’s about the challenges of immigrating to an unfamiliar country, but most of the story isn’t about immigration. It’s about Young Ju struggling to deal with her disintegrating family. Her father is an abusive alcoholic, and her younger brother is following in his footsteps. Her mother isn’t strong enough to stand up for herself and stop the violence. The story is about surviving abuse. The characters just happen to be Korean immigrants.

A Step from Heaven is a short, brutally realistic book. Despite its difficult subject matter, the honest narrator and unique writing style make it an enjoyable read.

The Sunday Post #24

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news.

On The Blog Last Week

• On Monday I reviewed Monster by Walter Dean Myers.
• On Tuesday I got wishes from the book genie.
• On Wednesday I reviewed Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond.
• On Thursday I told you about The Martian movie.
• On Friday I demanded that a certain book be rewritten.

On The Blog This Week

• On Monday I review A Step from Heaven by An Na.
• On Tuesday I tell you about the Stephen King books I loved as a kid.
• On Wednesday I review Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers.
• On Friday I tell you about my favorite books that have become movies.

In My Reading Life

I read 4 books last week! One of them was a graphic novel, so don’t be too impressed. I read The First Part Last by Angela Johnson, How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff, Looking for Alaska by John Green, and American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang. Up next is The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean.

In My Blogging Life

I’ve started posting my Printz reviews. If you’re interested in the Printz Award, check them out.

Shameless self-promotion: I’m really close to 300 Bloglovin’ followers. If you have a book blog or author blog, and you follow me on there, I’ll follow you back.

Also, Twitter: For some reason, Twitter doesn’t always give me notifications when someone follows me. I just went through my followers list and tried to follow back all the authors and book bloggers. If you’re following me, and I’m not following you, let me know. I’ll follow you.

In The Rest of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. I’m going to California next Saturday.
2. I loved all of the books I read last week. Five stars for everyone!
3. I figured out how to make s’mores in the toaster oven without starting a fire.
4. New winter boots. No frozen, soggy feet this winter.
5. I’m actually a tiny bit excited for my writing workshop at school next semester. Usually I dread workshops, but I think this one will be okay.

I hope you had a great week! I’ll see you around the blogosphere!

FF Friday: In Which I Potentially Screw Up Great Literature

Feature & Follow is a weekly blog hop hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read.

This week’s question: If you could rewrite a book, which one would it be, and what changes would you make?

Answer: This question is a bit presumptuous. It assumes that I know how to rewrite someone else’s book. I really shouldn’t be given that kind of power. Nothing good will come of it.

Instead of having me rewrite a book, can I make Suzanne Collins rewrite Mockingjay? I love The Hunger Games trilogy, but there’s so much stuff in Mockingjay that could have been explored in more depth. I needed that book to be, like, three times longer. Or, can we have a fourth book? That would be awesome. I’d probably read a hundred Hunger Games books.

The follow part: If you are a book blogger and you leave a link to your blog in the comments below, I will follow you on Bloglovin’. I’d love it if you also followed me. If you want to be friends on Goodreads, Twitter, BookLikes, or G+, that would be awesome, too. Click the links to go to my pages on those sites. I’m looking forward to “meeting” you.

I Saw The Martian Movie!

I went to see The Martian movie last Thursday. I don’t feel qualified to review it because I don’t watch many movies. The Martian is actually only the second movie I’ve seen so far this year. I’ve watched bits of other movies, but I rarely have the patience and attention span to sit through a whole one. So, this post is more of a ramble than a review. Seriously, I have no idea what I’m talking about.

Overall, I really liked the movie. There is a lot of action, and the actors did a great job with their roles. Sometimes with book-to-movie adaptations, the actors don’t match up to how the characters are in my head. That wasn’t the case with this movie. The actors did a believable job of portraying the characters.

If you didn’t like the book, you might like the movie. It’s less sciencey and more intense. The action scenes from the book translate really well to the screen. The main character, Mark Watney, also shows a bigger range of emotion in the movie. One of my complaints about the book is that Mark is just sarcastic all the time. His emotions didn’t always seem realistic. The movie character still has a great sense of humor, but I think the movie character is more believable than the book character.

There are a lot of things I like about the movie. It’s funny, and the music is awesome. The scenes that take place on Mars are my favorite. There’s one scene that has tornadoes in the background. It looks so cool.

Some stuff from the book was changed or left out of the movie. Most of the changes happen at the end. I prefer the book ending because it seems more realistic to me (not that I know anything about space), but I understand why the changes were made. The movie-makers wanted more drama and more closure.

The only thing that disappointed me about the movie is Mark’s journey across Mars at the end. It’s way, way shorter in the movie than in the book. I guess it would have been expensive for the movie studio to create, and it would have made the movie much longer, but I really wanted to see it.

The Martian is an entertaining way to spend a few hours. It follows the book better than a lot of adaptations. I enjoyed it.

Printz Review: Kit’s Wilderness – David Almond

Kit’s Wilderness – David Almond

The Watson family moves to Stoneygate, an old coal-mining town, to care for Kit’s recently widowed grandfather. When Kit meets John Askew, another boy whose family has both worked and died in the mines, Askew invites Kit to join him in playing a game called Death. As Kit’s grandfather tells him stories of the mine’s past and the history of the Watson family, Askew takes Kit into the mines, where the boys look to find the childhood ghosts of their long-gone ancestors. Written in haunting, lyrical prose, Kit’s Wilderness examines the bonds of family from one generation to the next, and explores how meaning and beauty can be revealed from the depths of darkness.

Review: After the death of his grandmother, thirteen-year-old Kit’s family moves back to their hometown. Kit quickly becomes friends with a group of kids who play a game called Death. After Kit “dies” in the game, he begins to see the ghosts of children who died in a mining accident centuries ago.

I’m conflicted about this book. My adult self loves it, but I’m doubtful that my middlegrade self would have felt the same way.

Kit’s story is beautifully written. The writing is poetic and creates an eerie atmosphere that pulled me into the story and held me there. The book is set in a rural English mining town, which adds to the eeriness.

The characters are realistic and flawed. I especially like John Askew, the inventor of the Death game. He’s a creepy character, but I felt so bad for him when I learned his backstory. Deep down, he’s really just a confused and lonely kid. I love his complexity, and I love that Kit tries so hard to understand him. John is a bully, but the author doesn’t oversimplify or stereotype him. Over the course of the story, Kit discovers why John is a bully. I haven’t seen many YA/middlegrade books that do such a good job of humanizing the “bad guys.”

As an adult, I can see the brilliance of this book, but I don’t think I would have seen it as a thirteen-year-old. I have a feeling that my thirteen-year-old self would have been bored and baffled by this story. The plot is slow-paced and often seems directionless. The book is multilayered, rich in symbolism, and requires the reader to actually think about what’s happening. The author doesn’t spell anything out for you. If you want to know the meaning of the story, you have to connect the dots for yourself. I don’t think thirteen-year-old me would have been up to the challenge.

On the surface, Kit’s Wilderness is a magical realism book with some weird horror elements. If you dig a little deeper, it’s a beautiful story about stories. The dead can live on through the stories we tell each other, and stories can be used to understand people who are very different from us. This is a book about empathy, kindness, and understanding, which is awesome. The world needs more of those things.

Kit’s Wilderness is probably challenging for young people to read, but it’s the type of story that will haunt you long after you finish it. 

Top Ten Tuesday: The Book Genie Grants Me Wishes

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s topic is ten wishes I’d ask the book genie to grant me.

My Wishes

1. The ability to read faster. I’m a slow reader with a huge TBR pile. That’s not a good combination.

2. The ability to understand every language. The only language that I speak fluently is English. Do you know how many books I’m missing by not being able to understand other languages?

3. All the money. Yeah, books are expensive.

4. Unlimited shelf space. Books take up a lot of room. I’m constantly running out of shelves.

5. The ability to absorb an author’s talent. Have you ever read something awesome and said, “Damn, I wish I could write like that”?

6. Knowledge of the classics. For the most part, I enjoy reading classics, but some of them are absolute slogs. I want to understand what these books are about, but I don’t actually want to read them.

7. All the ARCs. I want to ask for an ARC and have it appear in my hands immediately.

8. The ability to travel to fictional worlds. Basically, I want to go to Hogwarts in real life.

9. The ability to write awesome book reviews. Have you ever read a review where the reviewer says everything that you wanted to say, but they say it much better than you ever could? I want to be that person who writes awesome book reviews.

10. The ability to become a fictional character. I want to be a beautiful, immortal, time-traveling badass with superpowers and an unrealistically perfect boyfriend. That would be great.

What wish would you ask the book genie to grant you?

Printz Review: Monster – Walter Dean Myers

Monster – Walter Dean Myers

This New York Times bestselling novel and National Book Award nominee from acclaimed author Walter Dean Myers tells the story of Steve Harmon, a teenage boy in juvenile detention and on trial. Presented as a screenplay of Steve's own imagination, and peppered with journal entries, the book shows how one single decision can change our whole lives.

Review: Sixteen-year-old Steve is on trial for the role he played in a robbery and murder of a shopkeeper. To cope with the stress of the trial, Steve starts recording his life as if it were a movie. Steve’s story is told through a mixture of diary entries, movie script, and illustrations.

I was a little hesitant to read this book because I don’t like courtroom dramas. I usually find them tedious. Fortunately, the script format of Monster cuts out most of the boring parts. This book is fast-paced and very easy to read. I sped through it in a few hours. The majority of the story does happen in a courtroom, but the courtroom scenes are broken up with illustrations, flashbacks, and Steve’s diary entries about life in jail.

The best part of this book is its ambiguity. Since most of the story is a screenplay, the reader becomes a jury member who is watching Steve’s trial. Like any good lawyer, the author is very careful about what information he reveals and how he reveals it. Steve is an unreliable narrator, so you’re never completely sure who you should trust. A lot of readers will come to a different conclusion than the jury at the end of the story. I love that this book encourages audience participation. The reader is forced to make judgments about the characters based on less-than-trustworthy testimony. It really does feel like you’re sitting on a jury.

I know that the author wanted to create a sense of mystery and uncertainty about Steve, but I would have liked more backstory. How did he get involved with criminals? I also wanted to know more about the robbery and murder. If the teens were going to split the money four ways, would the crime even be worth it? How much money is in a convenience store register? I can’t imagine that the teens got very much from the robbery.

The only time that I didn’t like the screenplay format was at the very end. Each of the lawyers has a multi-page monologue. I know that the closing statements are realistic, but they aren’t very interesting to read.

Monster left me wanting more, but I wasn’t unsatisfied. This book provides a unique reading experience that I’ve never gotten from another book. I think it’s worth reading.

The Sunday Post #23

The Sunday Post is hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, and share news.

On The Blog Last Week

• On Monday I reviewed Vengeance Road by Erin Bowman.
• On Tuesday I played TBR tag.
• On Wednesday I reviewed The Weight of Feathers by Anna-Marie McLemore.
• On Friday I talked about books I hate.

On The Blog This Week

• On Monday I review Monster by Walter Dean Myers.
• On Tuesday I get wishes from the book genie.
• On Wednesday I review Kit’s Wilderness by David Almond.
• On Thursday I tell you about The Martian movie.
• On Friday I demand that certain books be rewritten.

In My Reading Life

Last week, I read A Step from Heaven by An Na, Postcards from No Man’s Land by Aidan Chambers, and Jersey Angel by Beth Ann Bauman. Up next is The First Part Last by Angela Johnson.

In The Rest Of My Life

Five things that made me happy last week:

1. I got a new laptop. It’s lighter than my other one, so it’ll be easier to drag around with me.
2. I saw The Martian movie, and it had the trailer for Mockingjay Part II, which looks awesome. The Martian was good, too.
3. I also saw the Warm Bodies movie.
4. I have more blog posts scheduled than usual. I’ve been trying to get ahead for the holidays.
5. Caramel apple season! I love those things.

I hope you had a great week. I’ll see you around the blogosphere.