The Fault in Our Stars Movie Trailer

Here it is! The trailor for the movie based on The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is out.

Looking for Alaska by John Green (Spoiler Warning)

Book Description from Amazon

Before. Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home. His whole life has been one big non-event, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart. Then. . . .

After. Nothing is ever the same.

**Spoiler Alert**

This is one of those books where reviewing it is impossible without revealing spoilers. In this case the spoiler would ruin the entire story. So if you do not want the entire book ruined, please do not continue reading this review. I hate writing reviews with spoilers but I can't figure out a way around it this time.

First, what I didn't like. Now, I've never lived at a boarding school but these high school kids seemed to behave more like college kids to me. There was just so much drinking and smoking! Yes I was in high school once and I suppose I actually did drink about as often as these kids (never smoked) but maybe because I'm a mother, there was just something off putting about all that drinking and smoking.

I wish I had read Looking for Alaska before I read The Fault in Our Stars because since I knew what kind of writer John Greene was, I saw it coming. Each chapter is a countdown to something big. Granted this made me want to keep reading. I wanted to know what was going to happen on the day Pudge was counting down to.

Okay, I'm going to give you one more chance to stop reading this review. I'm going to start revealing spoilers!

To be honest, I didn't really like Pudge all that much. He treated Lara really badly because he was in love with Alaska. Oh that cliche teenager issue of unrequited love. Actually now that I think about it, I didn't really care too much about any of the characters. Don't get me wrong, I liked most of them but I didn't care deeply about what happened to them. The entire book is a mystery and I enjoyed it so much because I wanted to solve the mystery. (Which makes me wonder if I really should start reading some mysteries, but I digress.) 

I really should say "mysteries." First, I wanted to know what Pudge was counting down to. Once I learned what the life altering event was, I wanted to know why it happened along with Pudge and the gang.

But like I said earlier I kind of knew what was going to happen from the very beginning. I just knew Alaska...and here's the big, huge spoiler....was going to die. I didn't know how and it honestly didn't happen the way I expected it to. Alaska dies in what appears drinking and driving accident that may or may not have been a suicide. 

Pudge and her other friends spend the rest of the novel struggling with their feelings of guilt because they knew she was drunk and let her drive anyway as well as investigate like Mystery Inc. (Scooby Doo and the gang) into clues about whether Alaska killed herself. 

One scene that I found completely and utterly unbelievable was how the students at the boarding school was informed of Alaska's death. No school headmaster in his right mind would tell Alaska's closest friends during a school assembly like that. 

I'm going to get personal here. Real personal. 

Reading this book was actually very hard for me because my husband died 7 years ago in a head on crash a week after admitting he was suicidal. However it's because I've experienced this that I know what John Greene wrote was realistic. In fact, he nailed it. 

I remember pouring over clues trying to figure out if my husband's crash was accidental. I called the truck driver's work to speak with him and asked to meet with him about the crash. I met with him and asked almost the same questions the kids as the police officer. I spoke with the coroner's office and asked then a dozen question. And I waited the excruciating weeks for the police report because they did a toxicology test on the truck driver. My one clue that is wasn't a suicide was that my husband braked before the impact.

What I liked about the book is that Pudge and gang never come to a definitave answer. Instead they learn that they have to let go of trying to answer all the questions and focus on remaining close friends. They do this by bonding together to plan a hilarious and epic school prank involving a stripper at a school assembly. I loved that it was humor that helps all of them heal. I felt like all the loose ends were tied up, even if the mystery was not totally resolved.

Now here's what I hated about the ending. For being a group of kids as close as they were, they didn't seem too broken up about leaving boarding school and each other to go back home for the summer. I thought the way they were so nonchalant about it was completely unrealistic.

Another thing I loved about this book was all the "last words" quotes. Last words as in the last thing famous people said before dying. I found this absolutely fascinating and wish John Green had included more than he did. It made me want to start collecting my own "last words."

I also loved how philosophical the book was. Unlike The Fault in Our Stars the way the teenagers discussed philosophical matters was a lot more realistic. It didn't bog down the story or ever seem pretentious like it sometimes did in The Fault in Our Stars. 

Also one issue I think Greene seems to have with both of these books is that he doesn't know how to realistically write about teenage love, dating, and relationships. He also always makes his teenage characters far too mature. They are always deep and even wise beyond their years. Just once I'd like to see someone that reflects current teen culture.

Considering I plan on reading all of his books I probably should look for a John Green reading challenge as this point.

My rating is a solid  

The book is being made into a movie. I have to admit I think this book would make a far better movie than The Fault in Our Stars.

Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding

Book Description from Booklist

It’s been 15 years since readers first met the charmingly insecure Bridget Jones, and 13 since her last adventure in Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2000). Bridget is now 51, and, most readers will be chagrined to learn, a widow. She is also raising the two children she had with the now deceased Mark Darcy and gingerly wading back into the dating pool while working on a screenplay. When she joins Twitter, she obsesses about the number of Twitter followers she has the same way she used to agonize over her weight, which does remains a concern. Bridget begins a Twitter flirtation with a sexy guy named Roxster, who turns out to be only 29. Most of the novel is devoted to the ups and downs of their ensuing relationship. It is fun to revisit Bridget and all her neuroses, but the novel is at its best when Fielding focuses on the challenges Bridget faces as a single parent, including her love/hate relationship with one of her son’s teachers, rather than on the somewhat unrealistic May-December romance.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: The longed-for return of Bridget Jones is supported by a hefty print-run (250,000), a first serial in Vogue, and a major author tour. --Kristine Huntley

How on earth I reviewed Bridget Jones's Diary only a few weeks ago and completely missed that Helen Fielding finally wrote a third book after only 14 years, I don't know. I discovered Mad About the Boy while at the library. There it sat in the new books display and I was so excited that I immediately rattled off a Facebook status to express my excitement. Then I was as anxious as a child who had to wait to play with a new toy while I ran my errands. I couldn't wait to get home and begin reading!

Before I started reading Mad About the Boy I made the huge mistake of going onto Amazon to see the release date. (October! This book had been out for months and I didn't even know!) I couldn't help but notice there were some less than stellar reviews. I started reading some and ran into a huge spoiler. I normally don't write spoilers into my reviews but if you've read anything about Mad About the Boy (articles and such) then you will find out Mark Darcy is dead. Bridget Jones is a widow and mother of two.

While other decade long fans were furious that Mark Darcy was killed off, I was even more excited to read the book. You see, I'm a widow and a single mother myself. The idea that my favorite literary heroine of all time was now a widow just like me was almost more than I could stand. It was as if Helen Fielding had peeked into my head and written the perfect book. (And truth be told, I never really liked Mark Darcy anyway.)

Then I read another detail about Bridget Jones that made my "perfect book" not so perfect anymore. Bridget Jones is fifty-one!? Was this some kind of joke? But even` at 38, I could still relate to Bridget worrying about grey hair, wrinkles, and getting older.

Which brings me to the biggest flaw in the book. It is impossible to believe that Bridget Jones is 51. She doesn't even remotely behave like someone middle-aged. She seemed much more like someone my age. So I decided to ignore the fact that Bridget is supposed to be middle-aged and decided she was in her late thirties. The story just works better that way.

Many people complained that Bridget hadn't learned her relationships lessons and behaved, well, like the Bridget Jones we know and love who is obsessed with men, weight, dating, and relationships. I assure you this is actually quite realistic. You see, after being married for a long time and suddenly thrust into the world of the singleton as a widow, it is exactly like that. You have to resort to remembering what things were the last time you were single and dating.

Like Bridget, I could relate to suddenly having to deal with meeting people online, social media, and texting. I have never met anyone from Twitter though. I found it a little hard to believe that Roxster was willing to meet Bridget having never actually seen what she looked like even in a picture. Although I imagine he probably asked their mutual friend what Bridget looked like. While I've never dated anyone 20 years younger than me, how Roxster reacted to the idea of dating someone with a pre-made family was realistic. (However, I did find it hard to believe that Bridget got over 700 Twitter followers.)

What was most touching about the novel was what Bridget experiences as a widow. This was so true to how it really is. The memories of your late husband and the grief can strike you completely out of the blue even when you are at your happiest. Like Bridget, you feel guilty for feeling happy. You don't want to feel sad but you just can't help it and sometimes the grief and stress is overwhelming.

The part of the book that affected me deeply was when Bridget was at the picnic style concert watching her son playing his solo on the bassoon. She watched all the other married couples with their children and felt intense loneliness and grief that her husband and father of her children couldn't be there. Even anger about the unfairness of it all. I had to put the book down because I was crying so hard. Helen Fielding couldn't have gotten this experience more perfect or right. 

However, the entire book wasn't always this perfect or right. While I loved the storyline, I absolutely hated at least the first one third of this book. I can't really tell you what was so bad about it. Bridget just got on my nerves and was just such a ridiculous person. 

Then I started to like the book but two sentences nearly made me want to put the book down and never return to it ever. There's this scene where Bridget feeds her children chocolate buttons that may or may not be smeared with dog poo. I wish I was joking. It reads:

"'Two trails,' I added laying a careful line of exactly matching chocolate buttons...ignoring the fact that tradesmen may previously have trailed dog-poo traces into carpet. The two of them [Bridget's kids] obediently trotted up the stairs after me, stuffing the no-doubt-poo-smeared buttons into their mouths."

WTF!? Seriously WTF? What in God's name is wrong with Helen Fielding that she would write this? What is wrong with her editor that the editor would leave it in the book? It was just messed up on so many levels.

I decided to return to the book but I was only able to continue reading because I pretended like these two horrifying sentences were not actually in the book. Fortunately after this the book got quite good. There were lots of laugh out loud and touching moments of Bridget as a mother and singleton. It was refreshing even to read about a mom that isn't Supermom and doing everything perfect all the time. However, sometimes the idea that Bridget is still screwing up so much at the age of 51 is a bit ridiculous.

The book also needed some editing. There was a lot of subplots regarding Twitter, the neighbor with the weird hair, the leathercoatman, and this part where Bridget puts her to do list into The 7 Habits of Higly Successful people into quadrants, and so on that just cluttered up the story.

There is one final unbelievable thing that Bridget does. She is writing a modern adaption "Hedda Gabler" for the silver screen called "The Leaves in His Hair." She misspells it "Hedda Gabbler" and believes it was written by Anton Chekhov. This is ridiculous and stupid. Helen Fielding makes Bridget a complete joke as a career woman. I understand it's Bridget's thing to screw up constantly but couldn't Fielding let her get just one thing right?

This novel was hit and miss. There were parts I adored and parts that I absolutely loathed. (Still it was better than The Edge of Reason. I didn't like the Edge of Reason so won't bother rereading and reviewing it.) Was Mad About the Boy worth a 14 year wait? It wasn't what I, along with thousands of other fans were expecting. We wanted Bridget planning a wedding, experiencing pregnancy, and we wanted to see her married to Mark. Maybe Helen Fielding will take the hint and write us a prequel?

My rating is overall is  but the book was only two stars in some places and a solid four in others. I don't think I've ever read a book that wavered so much in quality. And I sincerely do hope this book becomes a movie.

Announcing The Stephen King Perpetual Reading Challenge!

I'm so excited! I'm hosting my very first reading challenge! And oh my is it ambitious.

Considering the name of this blog was inspired by Stephen King, it's amazing that I didn't create this reading challenge until now. I felt guilty that I haven't read everything that Stephen King has ever written and want to right that wrong.

The goal of this challenge is to do just that. Read everything Stephen King has written!

I figured it would be far more fun to do it as a group instead of on my own.

This is not the sign up page, but if you go here you will find all information and rules about this reading challenge and you will be able to sign up!

The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Book Description from Amazon

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season and shore leaves are granted every other year at best, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel. Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. 

Tom, whose records as a lighthouse keeper are meticulous and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel has taken the tiny baby to her breast. Against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them. 

M. L. Stedman’s mesmerizing, beautifully written novel seduces us into accommodating Isabel’s decision to keep this “gift from God.” And we are swept into a story about extraordinarily compelling characters seeking to find their North Star in a world where there is no right answer, where justice for one person is another’s tragic loss. 

The Light Between Oceans is exquisite and unforgettable, a deeply moving novel.

I literally read this book in a day. I haven't wanted to see how a book ended this badly since reading the last Harry Potter. I can't say I liked the ending but I wasn't disappointed either. 

This book is not an easy read emotionally. A couple who take care of a lighthouse on an isolated island make an unusual discovery. They find a baby in a boat with a dead man. Isabel, who has suffered two miscarriages and a stillbirth, wants to keep the baby to raise as their own. Tom, her husband, doesn't feel right about it but goes along with his broken-hearted wife. 

Then 4 years later, their secret is discovered and nothing good comes of it. What kept me glued to the pages was how their secret comes to light. (Excuse the pun considering the story centers around a lighthouse.) 

There are parts of this book where I was bawling. It was heart wrenching at places. What also made the book so good is that the couple were good people who made a very bad decision. They were likable but their moral choices were questionable. What was also interesting about the book is that it makes you the reader wonder what you would do if you were in the same situation. I liked that this book made me examine my own conscience and what it I feel is right and wrong.

When I first heard about this book I thought it was something I would never be interested in reading. Why? The story takes place in Australia in 1926. I've never been one for historicals, much less historicals about completely different countries. After reading this book I'm more likely to give foreign historicals a chance.

Another thing that was interesting about the book is that the main character,Tom, experiences post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Of course it wasn't called this back then, yet the descriptions of what he goes through is surprisingly modern. Part of the reason he chooses to be a lighthouse keeper on the isolated island is because he can't adjust to civilian life.

I saw on Amazon that some people gave this two even one star. I think some of them are confusing the difficult subject matter with bad writing. I agree the subject is not an easy one. Watching people do immoral things isn't something that is easy to read about. This book puts you through the ringer emotionally. But that's why it is so good!

My rating is a solid ! There are rumors that this book will be turned into a movie. I hope it is!

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Book Description from Amazon.com

In The Fault in Our Stars, John Green has created a soulful novel that tackles big subjects--life, death, love--with the perfect blend of levity and heart-swelling emotion. Hazel is sixteen, with terminal cancer, when she meets Augustus at her kids-with-cancer support group. The two are kindred spirits, sharing an irreverent sense of humor and immense charm, and watching them fall in love even as they face universal questions of the human condition--How will I be remembered? Does my life, and will my death, have meaning?--has a raw honesty that is deeply moving. --Seira Wilson

I loved this Young Adult book in all its pretentious glory. Then again I love anything where people discuss philosophy and existential crises. I sometimes wish every human being on earth talked like Hazel and Gus. Okay maybe that would be too much. I'd settle for one person in my life who talked like these completely unbelievable but completely enchanting characters.

Hazel is a 17 year old who has terminal cancer. She meets and begins a romance with Augustus who is a cancer survivor. The story is about their journey through first love, the meaning of life and death, and of course, cancer. 

I found Hazel and Gus to be utterly charming. I loved that this book made me think. Think about the meaning of words, ponder various existential issues, and remember that prose can sound like poetry.  I also loved the fictional book An Imperial Affliction. I loved it so much I actually went to Amazon hoping it was a real book. Sadly it is not. I love so many of the lines in this book that I was sad my copy was a library copy and I couldn't highlight them.

This book made me cry a few times because these teenagers fight with cancer seemed very real and touching. I admit it did get overly sentimental at times but death and family and first love is overly sentimental. However, I laughed twice as much as I cried and this is another reason I fell in love with the book.

Like some I got the feeling while reading the book, this book is one of the best books I have ever read. It's written so well in places that you forget overall it's actually pretty badly written overall. The idea that two teenagers like this would happen to find each other is a bit unbelievable. The idea that they would talk like this is completely absurd. Yet I loved that they did. The teenagers debated the deeper meaning of scrambled eggs for goodness sakes!

What bothered me most about the story is the subplot with Peter van Houten. I wish I could say what bothered me so about what happens with Peter van Houten but that would be a MAJOR spoiler. I will simply say this one word: contrived.

In fact, that kind of sums up the entire plot of this story: contrived. Oh and of course, pretentious. But like I said I loved that it was pretentious. I think the pretentiousness of it all was actually a metaphor. Ironic even. As much as we like to give life and death deep meaning, in the end it's all kind of bullshit. 

This makes John Green kind of a genius in my eyes. 

Even with the incredibly contrived plot there was so much I loved about this book that I'm giving it

.

Movie Review coming...not so soon!
The movie version is due for release June 6 of this year. I predict that it won't even be close to as good as the book.

2014 Reading Challenges

2014 Outdo Yourself Reading Challenge

2014 Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge

The 2014 Romance Reading Challenge

2014 Book to Movie Challenge

Operation Actually Read Bible

2014 Mental Advocacy Reading Challenge

2014 I Love Library Books Reading Challenge

2014 Short Story Reading Challenge

Back to the Classics 2014

`

2014 Women Challenge

2014 TBR Pile Challenge

2014 Finish the Series Reading Challenge

Dive Into Poetry Challenge 2014

2014 Nonfiction Reading Challenge

2014 Everything YA Reading Challenge

2014 Get Steampunk'd