Category: Blog Hop

Blog Hop: Casting Your Favorite Books

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop, Ruminations3 Comments

Remember last fall I participated in the Book Blogger Hop a few times?  I had fun with it, but then I got distracted or something, and haven’t looked at it in quite a while.  I finally checked back in, and found some very interesting discussion topics in upcoming weeks!

book blogger hop

This week’s question is: If you could turn one of your favorite books into a film, who would you cast?

I am so immensely intrigued by this question!  And after spending quite a few minutes staring at my bookshelves and thinking…I found out I’m immensely bad at answering it.  I have a theory, though.  See, my favorite books are often my favorites because the characters are so vivid and alive–to the point that I can’t imagine any actor filling that role.

I’d love to see a movie version of Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet…but how could anyone possibly live up to the role of Alanna?  I don’t think it can be done.

But I did hit on one book I could cast–Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean.  It’s a Peter Pan sequel, and practically the only sequel-to-a-classic-by-a-different-author that I actually like.  In fact, it’s excellent and I highly recommend it!  There are only three major roles–Wendy, who I think could be played very well by Chloe Grace Moretz, recently in Hugo.  She could handle a nice mix of child and seriousness.  Then there’s Ravello, the sinister but charming villain, for whom I would cast Johnny Depp (probably surprising no one!)  I struggled on who could play Peter, but finally hit on someone–Daniel Huttlestone, who played Gavroche in Les Miserables.  He could definitely play another cheeky, cocky boy.

So what book would you like to see as a film?  And who would you cast?

Blog Hop: Character Cross-Overs

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop, Ruminations9 Comments

The blog hop today is hosted by Butterfly-o-Meter Books, with a truly fascinating question:

Mix’n’Match: The bookish gods are giving you a free hand, you can pick any one character (book, TV series/movie, play etc) and inject them into a different novel of your choice. Which character and series would you mix’n’match?

I am immensely intrigued by this idea–but I also found it quite difficult, and I had to think about why.  I think it’s because most of my favorite book characters (and movies and TV) exist within very clear worlds, where there are very clear rules–not laws, just the way the world functions.  But they’re all very different…so I struggle to imagine a character taken out of one universe and moved to another.  I find it easier to imagine characters from different worlds in a kind of limbo third place, coming together for a social gathering.  I’ve written short stories along those lines.

So who do I think could gather together and have brilliant conversations with each other?  Links go to relevant reviews!

I think the Phantom of the Opera and the Hunchback of Notre Dame would have quite a lot to talk about.  Watch out for those Parisian mobs, but gotta love the views of the Seine.

Princess Cimorene of the Enchanted Forest Chronicles could be great friends with the princesses from Jim C. Hines’ Princess Series.  They’re all strong women in fairy tale worlds.  If she was a few years older, Merida from Brave would be a great addition to the group too.

All of L. M. Montgomery‘s heroines live in the same world, so it’s easy to imagine them together.  I’d love a story with Emily and Anne together.  The fantasy worlds those girls could invent if they bounced off each other!  I bet they’d get on famously with Tom Sawyer too, who certainly has just as wild an imagination, even if it goes in rather different tracks.

Jane Eyre and the second Mrs. De Winter really should have a chat.  The second Mrs. De Winter may think she has problems, but at least Rebecca really was dead.  Things could be worse.  Interestingly, both characters were played by Joan Fontaine in movie versions.

Jacky Faber and Captain Jack Sparrow would turn the world upside down if you got the two of them together.  It’s entirely possible that the British Empire would fall.  But such adventures along the way!  I don’t think I can top that.  🙂  Captain Jack and Jacky really ought to have an adventure together.

So who would you toss together to  have a chat?  Or would you take someone and drop them into a totally different world and let chaos ensue?

Blog Hop: Long Languishing Books

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop, Ruminations8 Comments

Today’s blog hop is hosted by The Fake Steph, and the question is:

Is there a book that has been languishing on your TBR pile even though you spent months anticipating its release?

I can honestly say I don’t–technically–do this.  People who have seen my bookcases probably won’t believe me when I say this, but I am extremely selective about what books I buy.  Unless I really trust an author, I rarely ever buy a book that I haven’t already read.  So I rarely end up with much anticipated books actually in my house that I don’t get to for ages.  I get unread ones sometimes, but they tend to be gifts or ridiculously cheap impulse buys, or something from a book swap.

But I am guilty of the spirit of this.  I see a book, or hear of a book that’s coming out, get deeply excited…and then don’t actually read it for months or even years.  I don’t know why that is, so if someone has a theory, I’d love to hear it!  My best guess is that there are just too many books, and I get sidetracked.  Or I’m somehow waiting for the “right” moment.

And then sometimes I’m not sure about reading a book…but it just stays in the back of my mind as one I ought to read some time.  Pirates! by Celia Rees was one of those.  I saw it in bookstores and the library for years, and kept thinking I ought to read it (because, I mean–pirates!)  This was one that languished on my pile.  I saw it at a book swap, got quite excited, brought it home…and didn’t actually read it for months.  When I finally did, it was good, although I didn’t love it enough to keep it.

I do think a factor may be that there’s just always another book.  So the To Be Read list is not so much a pile, as a line…and it takes some time for books to get to the front!

Anyone else see this in their own reading?  Anyone with a theory on why we don’t just read the books we get excited about?

Blog Hop: Finding Book Blogging

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop, Ruminations5 Comments

I’m participating in the Book Blogger Hop again this week, which invites book bloggers to answer a bookish question and visit each other’s blogs.  Hosted at Knitting and Sundries this week, here’s today’s question:

How did you find out about book blogging and what made you decide to start one yourself?

This is a funny one, because I don’t feel like there was a point when I found out about book blogging as a thing.  I’d been involved in my company’s blog in the past, so I’d done some writing and knew how to use WordPress.  I toyed with the idea of starting my own blog for a while, but didn’t know what I wanted to write about.  I needed a topic that I knew I could generate ideas around for a long time, and eventually it occurred to me that, considering how much I read, book reviews were probably a good direction to go…

I didn’t actually read book blogs before I started my own, which maybe is odd…but it never really occurred to me that it was a thing.  I suppose I assumed that other people had the same kind of idea and that there was probably a blog community of sorts, but it wasn’t until I started writing myself that I explored that community.  And then I was lucky, because I started right around the Cybils, and lots of blogs were linking to the blogs that were judging the awards…which gave me ready-made lists of bloggers focusing on the same genres I was interested in.

Since then, I shake-up the list of blogs in my reader every so often.  I love finding new blogs that old favorites are linking to, or by participating in blogging events.

I know lots of my readers are also book bloggers–how did you get started?

Blog Hop: Autumn Books

On By cherylmahoneyIn Blog Hop, Ruminations8 Comments

I’m participating in the Book Blogger Hop again this week, which invites book bloggers to answer a bookish question and visit each other’s blogs.  Hosted at Soon Remembered Tales this week, here’s today’s question:

With Autumn upon us and Halloween drawing near, what books remind you of fall? What ones do you enjoy reading that are about autumn?

My first thought was that Autumn doesn’t seem to get that much play in fiction.  Summer and winter, with their more dramatic temperatures, seem to be more usual choices–and then of course, spring is the traditional setting for love stories.  (Also for L. M. Montgomery books, which while not all in the spring, all have that feel.)

But perhaps I don’t think of Autumn as a frequent setting because I don’t read the right books.  Perhaps Autumn comes up all the time in ghost stories and horror novels.  I wouldn’t know.

Anyway, I thought a bit more, and I did hit on two favorite books where Autumn plays a role.  First, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland by Catherynne M. Valente features a heroine named September.  While not entirely set in Autumn, there is a scene where September turns into a tree–and begins to dry and crumble as Autumn comes in.  It’s truly frightening, and one of the most striking moments of the book.

Second, I thought of Peter Pan in Scarlet, Geraldine McCaughrean’s sequel to J. M. Barrie’s Peter Pan.  I imagine there are all seasons in Neverland (probably delightfully crammed together), but in a metaphorical sense, Neverland exists in a perpetual summer time.  This book explores what happens when the magic begins to crumble, and Autumn comes to the island.

I was in Kensington Gardens this September, where Peter Pan lived before going to Neverland.  True to the magic of the Gardens, Autumn seemed to arrive over night.  My hotel was nearby so I was visiting daily–and one day it was warm summer, the next it turned cold and drifts of leaves covered the ground.  It’s not hard to imagine that the fairies decided it was time for a season change, and went to work!

Autumn in Kensington Gardens