Top 5 Wednesday | Books I’d Like to See as Movies

 

I have been watching Top 5 Wednesday videos on YouTube for a while now. Top 5 Wednesday or T5W was created by Lainey at gingerreadslainey on YouTube.

The theme for this week is the top 5 books I’d like to see as movies. It didn’t take me long to decide on what books I wanted to be turned into movies (or TV shows). I don’t know if any of these books are in the process of possibly being turned into movies or not. I will put the books in order from 5-1. One being the most anticipating.

 

5. Bones by Jan Burke:

This is the seventh book in the ‘An Irene Kelly Mystery’ series. I have not read any other book in this series. This book is about journalist Irene Kelly who goes along with the police and murderer Nick Parrish to a isolated mountain in hope that Parrish will lead them to his victims. Everything goes well until all hell brakes loose.
This book is great and would be a excellent movie for fans of horror and suspense.

Goodreads

4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell:

It’s hard to only name one Rainbow Rowell novel, I would like to see all her books as movies. I have to choose Fangirl as my favorite. It’s my most resent reads and I found it easier to connect with that book than the others. Fangirl is about Cath’s college life and her fan-fiction writing about Simon Snow. It would be great if there would be scenes from her Simon Snow fanfic in the movie along with her daily life.

 Goodreads

3. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent:

This was the first book I read in 2014. Burial Rites is about the last months in the life of Agnes Magnúsdóttir who was the last person the be executed in Iceland. I think that this could be a great movie. It could have flash backs when Agnes is telling her story-for the viewer to see how things really happened. It is rumored that Jennifer Lawrence will be Agnes and Gary Ross will be the director but no other information is out yet. Who knows what will happen.

Goodreads

My Review

2. The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons:

This is the only book that I have yet to finnish. I started it last night and am about 100 pages in and loving it so far. A historical romance set in Russia during the second World War, who wouldn’t love that?
I don’t know much about this book but as far as I have read I would like to see it as a movie.

Goodreads

1. The Diviners by Libba Bray:

Finally, the most anticipated book to movie adaptation (possibly). The Diviners by Libba Bray. There is so much that is going on in this book. The murder mystery and all the people with supernatural abilities. I think that this book, and the rest of the series, will be great as a TV series. There is to much going on to fit into one movie. The scenes with Naughty John could be so creepy!

Goodreads

My Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other people who are also doing Top 5 Wednesday can be viewed here.

The Diviners by Libba Bray

Name & Author: The Diviners by Libba Bray

Publisher: Little, Brown Books

Release Date: September 1st 2012

Genres: YA, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Mystery, Horror

Summary:

Evie O’Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City—and she is pos-i-tute-ly ecstatic. It’s 1926, and New York is filled with speakeasies, Ziegfeld girls, and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is that she has to live with her uncle Will and his unhealthy obsession with the occult. 

Evie worries he’ll discover her darkest secret: a supernatural power that has only brought her trouble so far. But when the police find a murdered girl branded with a cryptic symbol and Will is called to the scene, Evie realizes her gift could help catch a serial killer.

As Evie jumps headlong into a dance with a murderer, other stories unfold in the city that never sleeps. A young man named Memphis is caught between two worlds. A chorus girl named Theta is running from her past. A student named Jericho hides a shocking secret. And unknown to all, something dark and evil has awakened. -Goodreads

My Thoughts:

This is the second book that I have read by Libba Bray. The first was A Great and Terrible Beauty, the first book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy, which I really liked but for some reason didn’t finish the trilogy. I’m really glad that I picked this one up, it was amazing.

The Diviners is set in New York in 1926. I really like this time period and Libba Bray described it very well and in a realistic way.

Evie O’neill is the main character. I didn’t like her in the beginning. She seemed shallow and self centered. My opinion changed through out the book. In the end she is a strong character and is nothing like she was in the beginning.

The book is very creepy and scary. The villain Naughty John always sings the same creepy song when he is nearing his next victim. Libba Bray’s writing is amazing. I loved the way she made different characters or moods shine through in her writing. You feel the innocence in some characters and then the creepy and really scary feeling with others.

There was only one thing that bugged me in the book and that is all the characters with some extraordinary abilities. She writes very much about them but they don’t have anything or much to do with the storyline. I think that they will all be a big part of the next book Lair of Dreams, but they weren’t in this one. It isn’t bad to have them in the book, but it confused me at times.

I loved this book, it’s amazing. I recommend all who haven’t read it to pick it up and those who have read it to read it again. The next book, Lair of Dreams comes out in August 2014.

5/5 stars!

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

 

Name & Author: The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: October 1st 2013

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance

 

Summary:

An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love. 

Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.

Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.

The Rosie Project is a moving and hilarious novel for anyone who has ever tenaciously gone after life or love in the face of overwhelming challenges. -Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I don’t usually read books translated into Icelandic if they are originally written in English. But, I did with this one and I don’t think there would have been much difference if I had read it in English. I really loved this book. It made me laugh out lout, smile to myself and cry.

The Rosie Project has many different characters. There is the social awkward one, the open one, the player and many more. Don Tilliman is the social awkward one. At the beginning of the book I felt I was reading a Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory) love story.

Don invents the Wife project to find him a wife because married men are ‘more successful’ in life. In that journey he meets Rosie-a complete opposite of what his ideas of the perfect wife are. And of course she is the one for him. Together they continue the Wife project and start the search for Rosie’s biological father. And slowly they fall in love. One of my favorite quote from the book is when Don is trying to express his love for Rosie:

“I haven’t changed my mind. That’s the point! I want to spend my life with you even though it’s totally irrational. And you have short earlobes. Socially and genetically there’s no reason for me to be attracted to you. The only logical conclusion is that I must be in love with you.”

Graeme Simsion originally wrote this story as a movie script when he was studying screenwriting at RMIT. While reading the book I felt like the story could easily been made into a movie. It didn’t feel like it was written to be made into a movie which is a good thing.

This book is amazing and fun read. I recommend everybody to give it a try.

5/5 stars!

Poison Dance by Livia Blackburne

 

Name & Author: Poison Dance by Livia Blackburne

Publisher: Lion’s Quill Press

Release Date: September 12th 2013

Genres: YA, Fantasy

Summary:

James is skilled, efficient, and deadly, a hired blade navigating the shifting alliances of a deteriorating Assassin’s Guild. Then he meets Thalia, an alluring but troubled dancing girl who offers him a way out—if he’ll help her kill a powerfulnobleman. With the Guild falling apart, it just might be worth the risk. But when you live, breathe, and love in a world that’s forever flirting with death, the slightest misstep can be poison. Poison dance is approximately 14,000 words, or 54 printed pages. -Goodreads

My Thoughts:

I have been looking forward to read Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne for some time now. When Livia contacted me and offered me a copy of the prequel to the book, Poison Dance, I got really exited. This is the first time I have gotten a book (novella) for review.

I think that the novella is a great introduction to the world. Even though this was not a full novel I felt that the world and the Assassin’s Guild was well described and it felt at parts like I was reading a full novel.

The novella tells the story of James and Thalia. Even though I liked their story I’m not sure how they (James mostly) connects to Midnight Thief. I read somewhere that he is a secondary character. I didn’t connect as well with him as I did with Thalia.

When I started reading the novella I wasn’t sure about the time period the story takes place in and that bothered me a little. If I had known that this is a medieval time period some things in the book would have made more sense. I didn’t like the use of the word ‘Lass’ when the men referred to Thalia.

All in all I really liked the story. And I can’t wait to read Midnight Thief when it comes out in July 2014.

4,5/5 stars!

 

 

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Name & Author: Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends (Macmillan Publishers)

Release Date: January 1st 2012

Genres: YA, Dystopian

Summary:

Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. 

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future. -Goodreads

My Thoughts:

When you think of Cinderella you immodestly think of a princess in a blue dress and prince charming. What if that princess was really a cyborg?

I have never been a fan of fairy tale retelling, but for some reason I really liked this one. It has many elements from the Cinderella fairy tale; the orphaned girl, the evil step mom, prince charming, the ‘shoe’ (a foot in the book) and the pumpkin wagon (a car in the book).

The main character is Cinder. She is the best mechanic in New Beijing. The only different thing about her is that she is a cyborg. She is a really strong characters and doesn’t let anything pull her completely down. She is a very likable character and I felt connected to her through out the book.

The world building is good. It’s futuristic but real. There is an epidemic – a plague. I found it weird that there could be portscreens and other futuristic technical stuff and they couldn’t make an antidote for the plague. There are cyborgs and androids. Cyborgs are part human and treated very badly by most people.

Like the fairy tale Cinder has some characters that readers hate. I usually feel like the word ‘hate’ to be a really strong word but it’s the right word to use for some characters. The evil step mom and the Lunar Queen.

The book is well written and fast paced. I really liked it but it was predictable at parts.

4/5 stars!