Movie and Book Review: Week 1

No spoilers! These posts are written to help those who are debating whether or not to read/watch these titles, not to spoil them. 

Movie:

Saving Mr. Banks - PG: I cried. In my language, that means that it was good. The stories created a perfect parallel and I was left appreciating the art of human forgiveness. And yes, I do consider forgiveness complex enough to be called an art. My husband and I both thought it was well made and I'm sure Little Boy Phelps would have too if he had been a bit older than 7 weeks. 

Summary: The true story of Mary Poppins is revealed as Disney tries to convince the book's author to let him turn it into a feature film.

Book:

The Maze Runner:  The story is incredibly creative, but the writing fell a bit flat for me. I finished this book in probably 2 days as it was a very easy read, but I'm stopping after book 1. My favorite thing about reading is getting to disappear into the world of the book and I struggled to do that with this one. Maybe because I'm a grown woman reading about teen boys, or due to the writing style. I will give it props for having a truly surprising ending, even if it wasn't one I liked. 

Summary: Thomas wakes up in a community made of teenage boys who have all had their memories mysteriously erased. Their only way to find out why is to escape through an ever-changing maze filled with terrible creatures.

Explanation:

I didn't want to procrastinate those reviews for anyone interested, so I'm doing the backwards thing and putting my reading history last instead of first. What if someone is standing at Redbox having to decide between Saving Mr. Banks and...Barbie and the Secret Door (really there right now) and they are hoping to use my post as guidance but they have to read through THE WHOLE BACKGROUND to get to my review? Their family would start honking and they'd get embarrassed, but the background would be too entertaining for them to skip. It is for you, red-faced movie shopper, that I rearrange my post. 

Reading History: 

When I was a kid, the highlight of my week was going to the library with my Mom.

Favorite Book Series:

Elementary School Age: Animal Ark (each book with its own alliteration like Kittens in the Kitchen or Seals on the Sled), Bunnicula (just what it sounds like- a fluffy vampire bunny) , Nancy Drew, The Magic Tree House (their tree house teleports them to different times in history), Pony Pals, and Dear America (diaries of kids who lived during different times in American history). Sometimes at sleepovers my friends and I would do Goosebumps Choose Your Own Scare books and have a competition to see who could live longer. The record can't have been much past 6 choices - those books were rigged! I'm not big into history and the only events that seem interesting to me seem to stem from either a story in one of these series or Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego. 

Middle School: A Series of Unfortunate Events (which are still witty to me as an adult), 1-800-where-r-u, The Princess Diaries, Harry Potter, Twilight, Sweet Valley High, anything by Tamora Pierce like Wild Magic, and a million more. Whenever a new Harry Potter came out, my whole family would fight over who got to read it first and whoever had it usually got so into it that we read for about 18 hours a day - eating only when forced to by our Mom. 

High school: Books replaced by social life. 

Low 20's (most within the past 6 months): The Hunger Games (Warning: Do not read during an exam week in college), The Book Thief (the most beautifully written book that I've ever read), The Fault in Our Stars (a quirky tearjerker), The Giver (I think I'll name our next son Jonas), To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help, and The Time Traveler's Wife. I have no problem with reading a book and watching the movie of it as long as I can read it first. Half the charm of a book  for me is being able to create my own vision of the world and characters inside it. The charm disappears once I've seen Hollywood's version. 

Something that I'd never noticed before is how much easier of a time I have remembering books than movies. I don't think I could successfully make a list of my favorite movies during these same time chunks. I wonder if it's because book series can be so much longer than movies' or because each book is more time-consuming. 

What would you recommend for next week's movie and book?