Category: Favorites Friday

Favorites Friday: Female Characters

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday4 Comments

I was originally going to do a post about favorite characters in general.  But then I started going through my shelves and pulling off books and I ended up with such a big stack I decided I’d better divide this up.  So, I’ll start off with favorite female characters, and get to the men another day.  This is not exhaustive–there are simply too many–but here are the first ones I grabbed in a scan of my bookshelves.

Alanna from the Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce

Alanna is very possibly my favorite book character.  I think my belief that girls can do anything is due mostly to my mom, and to Alanna.  She’s a girl who wants to become a knight, in a world where girls don’t do that.  She defies the odds and does it anyway, to large extent through sheer stubbornness.  She’s strong, capable, imperfect and not always sure of herself.  And I love her.

Valancy from The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

Valancy has been repressed and afraid her entire life; when she believes that she’s dying, she starts really living for the first time.  It’s wonderful to watch her seize life.  She’s always been dreamy and imaginative.  When she stops being afraid, she becomes witty and daring too.  Not to mention, she lives inside one of the most beautiful books I’ve ever read.

Tavia from A Fighting Man of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tavia, like Alanna, is strong and capable and doesn’t let anything stop her–be it monsters, a war, or an unwanted suitor.  She can use a sword as well as any man, and combines her strength with depth of feeling and a self-sacrificing nature.  All in all, she’s a wonderful heroine from an author who rarely gave us more than a pretty face.

Jacky Faber from the Bloody Jack series by L. A. Meyer

In some ways I think I admire Jacky less than the other characters on this list–I certainly want to shake her more often–but she’s on here because she’s just so much fun to read about.  For sheer hijinks, she can’t be beat, and I do admire her resourcefulness and “never say die” attitude.

Menolly from The Harper Hall trilogy by Anne McCaffrey

Menolly is gifted with musical talent, and she’ll do anything to write music.  I love that she takes her life into her own hands, and has wonderful adventures in the process.

Stay tuned for favorite male characters!

Favorites Friday: Book to Movie Adaptations

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday10 Comments

The book is always better than the movie.  Except once in a while when it’s not–sometimes they’re equally good, and on very rare occasions, the movie is actually better.  I’ve found that I probably shouldn’t watch movie versions of books I love, and if I want to try something new that’s in both formats, I should watch the movie first.  In many of the cases where I like both, I saw the movie before I ever picked up the book.

That’s my overall philosophy on this subject.  But for today, here are a few where the movie producers really did get it right.

Horatio Hornblower miniseries

This list is in no particular order, except that Horatio Hornblower has to come first.  I watched the miniseries with Ioan Gruffudd, then went on to C. S. Forrester’s books–and found out that all my favorite parts of the miniseries aren’t in the books!  By parts, I mean plot points, characters, and sometimes even themes.  Oddly enough, the creators of the miniseries managed to follow the books fairly closely–they just added in a bit here and a tweak there that made it so much better.  And I find Ioan’s Horatio so much more likable than Forrester’s Hornblower.

Gone with the Wind

In a way, the opposite of what happened with Horatio Hornblower–the movie took out great swathes of the book, but managed to zero in on the most essential parts.  Although I’m probably biased about what’s essential, since I saw the movie first.  In this case, I wound up liking them both.

The Wizard of Oz

I was obsessed with this movie when I was a kid.  I can’t remember when I first read the book, but it’s very different from the movie in a lot of ways, and I found that disappointing.  It could be that the movie spoiled the book for me.  I don’t really like Baum’s Wizard of Oz–but I love his later books in the series.  I can’t explain that, except that the movie probably affected my expectations.

Bridge to Terabithia

A rare case where I read the book first and still loved the movie.  A beautifully-rendered version of the book.  The characters were perfect, the plot was well-captured…well-done.
I ought to get around to buying it so I can give you a picture!

Hmm, short list.  Any good movies I’m missing?

Favorites Friday: British Children’s Fantasy Classics

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday1 Comment

I think there was something in the water in Great Britain near the beginning of the last century.  Fairy dust, perhaps, because that’s when so many of the great classic children’s fantasy books were written.  There’s something about them, a style, a flavor, a spark, that marks them out as part of that group.

I doubt many titles or authors on this list are new to you–they are, after all, classics–but still, here’s my list of favorite writers of British children’s fantasy classics, noting their most famous books.  Some books are earlier and some are later, but all have that particular flavor.

In no particular order:

  1. P. L. Travers – Mary Poppins series
  2. Edith Nesbit – Five Children and It, among others
  3. J. M. Barrie – Peter Pan
  4. Frances Hodgson Burnett – A Little Princess and The Secret Garden
  5. Lewis Carroll – Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
  6. Kenneth Grahame – The Wind in the Willows
  7. Charles Kingsley – The Water Babies
  8. George MacDonald – The Princess and the Goblin and The Light Princess
  9. A. A. Milne – Winnie the Pooh

And #10, Honorary Mention, is L. Frank Baum, who wrote the Oz series (and many others that are just as good).  He was American, not British, but somehow contrived to write books with that same magical flavor.

There must be classics I’m missing–what are some of your favorites?  And are they sprinkled with the same fairy dust?  🙂 I hope so–I’d love to find more!

Favorites Friday – Closing Lines

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday6 Comments

To bookend my last Favorites Friday, Opening Lines, why not follow-up with favorite closing lines?  I won’t share any that are undue spoilers!

“And he kissed her as they rode away down the high road, where pilgrims traveled, and gleemen, where the king’s lords journeyed amidst minstrels and knights and herbalists and gypsy caravans to all the reaches of Gies and beyond, to Brugest and Apulia and Calabria and to countries so small one had never heard of them.”
—Silver Woven in My Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy

Charming and whimsical and magical.  And it makes me want to ride away on the high road in search of magical places and new adventures.

“If it’s any of my business, how the devil did you ever get into that bally jungle?”
“I was born there,” said Tarzan, quietly.  “My mother was an Ape, and of course she couldn’t tell me much about it.  I never knew who my father was.”
—Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs

I wonder how many people have been absolutely baffled to reach the end of Tarzan and watch him throw away his birthright and his chance at the beautiful Jane in a single noble effort.  Not what anyone expects, right?  But don’t worry–there’s a sequel.

“Happily ever after?  I don’t think it’s quite what you meant, Alianora,” Cimorene murmured to the empty tunnel, “but one way or another, I rather think I will.”
—Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

I love fairy tale retellings that can make “happily ever after” work.  And she will live happily ever after–just not quite the way fairy tales usually wind up.

“So they went off together.  But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing.”
—The House at Pooh Corner by A. A. Milne

I find the last chapter of this book so heartbreaking–Christopher Robin is growing up (which is not the heartbreaking part) and as a consequence he has to say good-bye to all of his magical playmates, and he asks Winnie the Pooh to promise not to forget about him.  It’s lovely.  And sad.

“I’ll think about it tomorrow, at Tara.  I can stand it then.  Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back.  After all, tomorrow is another day.”
—Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

People tend to like Scarlett, dislike Scarlett, or not know how they feel about her but be fascinated by her either way.  I’m in the third category.  She’s just Scarlett and she’s fascinating, and nothing is ever going to keep her down for long–because she’ll fight and claw her way back no matter what happens.

Anyone else with favorite final lines?  I’d love to hear!

New Feature: Favorites Friday – Opening Lines

On By cherylmahoneyIn Favorites Friday8 Comments

I’ve been thinking about Fridays.  As regular readers know, on Fridays I normally post my own writing.  Which is fun, but I think I want to mix it up with a new feature.  Book reviews are normally a drill-down focus on one book (or series or author).  But sometimes I want to do a round-up of several favorites of something…favorite characters, favorite opening lines, favorite paintings that plainly have a story in them (most of my favorite paintings are like that!)  Because I have a thing for alliteration, I’m going to start doing Favorites Friday.  I’ll still do Fiction Friday too, but I want to do a mix of both.  And by all means, let me know your preferences too!

To start us off, why not begin at the beginning?  Favorite opening lines.

“All children, except one, grow up.”
—Peter Pan, by J. M. Barrie

Six words, yet it’s all there.  The tragic thread throughout, especially at the end, of children growing up and changing and leaving (“tragic” seems to be Barrie’s feeling on it).  The magic of one child who defies this most basic convention.  And the poetry and charm of Barrie’s writing.

“I have been in love with Titus Oates for quite a while now–which is ridiculous, since he’s been dead for ninety years.  But look at it this way.  In ninety years I’ll be dead, too, and the age difference won’t matter.”
—The White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean

Brilliant, funny, and I love the way she talks about him simultaneously as both a distant historical figure, and as someone immediately present in her life–which is how Titus is throughout the book.

“If it had not rained on a certain May morning Valancy Stirling’s whole life would have been entirely different.”
–-The Blue Castle by L. M. Montgomery

And now you have to keep reading to find out why, right?

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”
—Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

I can’t analyze for you why I like this so much–but somehow it’s got into my head and when I read it I want to sigh and say, oh yes, Manderley…

And speaking of sighing:

“Sam Vimes sighed when he heard the scream, but he finished shaving before he did anything about it.”
—Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Which is Discworld in a nutshell.  And Sam too, for that matter.  Rather world-weary but still going about his business as head of the Night Watch.  In this case, tending to a would-be assassin who has fallen into his booby trap.  I don’t think anyone handles “oh bother, another assassin” quite like Pratchett–and makes it funny!

What are some other great opening lines?  I’d love to hear your favorites!