Notes on a Reader: 2012

A Novel Idea

17:12

Blood Shadows - Lindsay J Pryor

22:55

Blood Shadows is an amazing novel by Lindsay J Pryor, the first of the Blackthorn series.

Summary: "For vengeance - would you trust a vampire? For justice - could you betray your family? For love - are you ready to question everything you believe in? Gifted with the ability to read the shadows of 'third species' beings, Caitlin Parish is the Vampire Control Unit's most powerful agent. Despite that, her mission to hunt down Kane Malloy - a master vampire - comes with a death wish. Many have tried, but few have survived. For Caitlin, tracking Kane is about more than just professional reputation. With her parents both mysteriously killed 7 years apart to the day, Caitlin knows that without Kane's help she is next. She has four days to make a deal with the wicked, the irresistible, the treacherous Kane Malloy, The vampire who despises everything she stands for, Or die."

Living in a paranormal world where humans and vampires along with other 'third species' are in opposition; the humans rule and have Vampire Control Units keeping in line those who don't follow suit. Alongside this is the journey of Kane and Caitlin, him vampire and her human. They both have their own missions and a time limit so they have to work with, and against, each other in order to get revenge for their loved ones' deaths. The book plays with the idea of loyalty to one's own species and how quickly that can be compromised in different situations. It opens a whole world of things to come giving you just enough to understand what is happening but leaving you with this curiosity of wanting to know more and what is going to happen in the next book. It also tests resistance of physical, sexual and emotional desire, you watch as the characters fight against themselves and each other to resist these desires, which makes them that even more tempting. This story is definitely just the beginning and I think it is going to turn out to be a really amazing series.

One of the things that makes it a compelling read is the spark between Kane and Caitlin, it has enough passion and heat that you can really believe it and you can feel the depth of love between them, whether they fight it off or not. It is the kind of depth that made other popular paranormal books like Twilight so compelling, you want to fall in love just like they do. I liked how fun and fierce both characters were, they played off each other in their battles for power and fearlessness, trying not to let the other overtake them but as you are given the story from both perspectives throughout you get to really see inside their heads to know how they really feel and how they perceive each other. There are constant sub-tones of things to come; darker, more political social wars between species and their greed for control and power. Definite intriguing hints of dark, even deadly drama to come in the series.

I found it was written really well and an easy read which kept me hanging on to each page. I literally could not put it down! It combines what I wanted to happen with enough curve balls to make it unpredictable and make me want to find out how it all resolves in the end. I really enjoyed it and am already looking forward to reading the sequel!

blogging

Never Judge A Book By Its Movie

23:04

I don't know about you, but as a book lover, movie adaptations never quite live up to the books. I am one of those people that goes to see a movie of a book I've read and will spend the whole time comparing it to the book - "the book did this..." or "that didn't happen in the book!" are usual things that get whispered to the poor person next to me who came to the cinema with me.

I don't do this to be snobby or geeky about story-lines but it is genuinely true, the book is better. Maybe it is because there is so much of the 300 odd pages that you can find into a 90 minute film, or maybe the fact that when I read my head creates an image and I don't want to see a different version of that image. I get attached to stories when reading and so when that is given to me in a different image, I get even more attached to the original image I created. I mean that's the point of reading write? Creating that world inside your head from the words on the pages.
That is also why I will generally refuse to watch the film until I have read the book, if I want to read it. This does mean I always miss out on seeing the films I want to when they're in the cinema, but it pays off in the end I'm sure. If I watch the film first it then takes alot to make me read the book. Not only do I know what is going to happen, but the image is already given to me visually so I don't get to delve into the book as much and create my own world from the words.

This view though, I've found, is only ever shared by book lovers. Those that don't read as much aren't normally as bothered by the book/film differences, they can just watch/read it for what it is - which could be considered a blessing in some ways. Many a story line has been massacred by the films. Twilight for example is a good, if not cliche example to use. I actually found the books really quite amazing to read, even if paranormal isn't my thing. I read all 4 books within about a week, taking them with me everywhere and reading in every spare moment kind of thing. I was entranced by the romance of it all. But the film ruined it for me - not only did it create crazy, obsessed teen fans swooning over the characters to over extremes, but I found that the performance on screen lacked the same kind of passion and love that was portrayed in the books. I know that books are easier to convey emotion and thoughts as you can write in narrative whereas on screen it has to more visual and dialogue but it never seems to quite hold the same magic that reading a book does?

I have however found a few films that live up to the standards set by the book. 'One Day' and 'Time Traveler's Wife' both conveyed the magic and romance told in the story and the choice of actors/actresses were excellent which really brought the characters to life. The only film I have found so far where I have preferred the film to the book is 'The Notebook' surprisingly! I think the book is very good and I would recommend it but it does follow a slightly different route to the film. I think because the film has become quite iconic in its own right, slightly separate from Nicholas Sparks' novel that actually I was quite surprised how different it is from the book. But in all honesty my favourite bits of the film: the 'if you're a bird, i'm a bird' scene for one isn't even in the book! I was both surprised and impressed at the screenwriters for putting such beautiful scenes in that enhanced the story even more.

I think this is a situation that is never going to be resolved for me, the book will (almost) always be better, but then I would pick a book over a film any day, that's what you get for being a aspiring publisher. I like films, but I like watching them in isolation without the books, in order to appreciate them, rather than constantly comparing every word or action and I think that is how it should be.

http://ef64.tumblr.com/post/35801102133/never-judge-a-book-by-its-movie

50 Shades of Grey

50 Shades of Chick Lit

22:33

Posted on Tumblr: http://ef64.tumblr.com/post/35591732542/blogink

As a recent English graduate with an ambition to work in book publishing, I’m pretty sure I could talk about books all day, in fact I know I can and almost certain it’s what I do spend most of my time talking about. One thing that’s always a debate in literature circles as well as between other readers and those beyond is that of the credibility of ‘chick lit’. I like to say that I am well read (but what reader doesn’t?), I alternate between the current award-winning authors and debut novelists still finding their feet, from absolute classics to the unknown stories that make the heart race and the emotions flow at each turn of the page. However, there is nothing wrong with picking up a romance book in between all of these, a typical ‘girl-meets-boy and falls in love’ story -the kinds of stories that have been deemed ‘trashy’ or a bit of ‘girly fluff’.

In my last semester of university I chose to take a ‘Contemporary Women’s Writing’ module, which is taught by one of the most feminist tutors you could imagine – the angry-at-men-all-the-time kind of feminist - and one day she asked if any of us read chick lit. Out of a class of 15 girls, I was the only one to put my hand up. It has become a taboo - how dare I when studying a module that hates on how belittled women are in literature, read books that promote the women as the man-seeking, happy ever after type? Spending three years studying literature classics, reading a bit of light-hearted fiction is a pleasure. I’m not brainwashed, I understand that sometimes it has to be taken with a pinch of salt, I don’t compare every relationship to the latest romance novel I’ve been reading, but surely at the end of the day it’s a bit of escapist fun? Plus maybe it does convey some reality to it? – Some people do have that fairy tale ‘happy ever after’, some of these books are the most realistic, down to earth stories in the fiction world which make them so relatable and so easy and enjoyable to read. Anyway, where’s the harm in a little light fantasising on the tube home every day?

I don’t think there is anything wrong with chick lit and I think the stigma attached to it is well overdue a re-evaluation. It has become such a massive part of today’s publishing market and there is always demand for the new books from the likes of Sophie Kinsella or Marian Keyes. These are the type of books that women do discuss over coffee, at book clubs, or pass on to each other in the group. These books are becoming an increasing social point amongst women and at the end of the day, if it gets people reading then it is always a good thing, no? Even if it has to be the likes of 50 Shades of Grey!

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