Showing posts with label The Reviewers' Roundtable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Reviewers' Roundtable. Show all posts

Monday, July 8, 2013

The Reviewers' Roundtable - Books To Movies



The Reviewers' Roundtable is our version of a weekly feature where we discuss a book related/blogging topic.


Meet the Reviewers:
Michelle from Pink Polka Dot Blog (Thursdays)
Emily from Read Your Bookcase (Fridays)
And me (Emily) from Emily's Crammed Bookshelf (Mondays)



This is probably one of the most popular kind of discussion posts.  Books To Movies.  Either you hate 'em or you love 'em.  But what, in your opinion, makes a good movie adaptation of a book?  Here's what I think are essential:

Casting.  They have GOT to get the casting right.  If someone is going to be acting in the role of my favorite character, they better look how I imagine the character.  And the actor/actress has to capture the personality of the character.

The story line.  If you're gonna make a movie based on something that has already been worked out, the twists have already been written, and the story is already known, you've GOT TO stick to it.  Don't change it, don't make it so unrecognizable that people watching it who have read the book have no idea what books it's based on.  Keep it simple and stick to the events.  Now, of course, there are some exceptions to this rule lol.

The basic movie expectations.  When you go in to watch a movie you expect good acting, good lines, a good story line, and good camera angles  and shooting.  Of course, that doesn't always happen, but it's expected.




So there are my basic must-haves for books to movies.  It's really simple, but necessary.  I was planning on doing a list of awesome books to movies that I've seen but I'm going to be doing that for Top Ten Tuesday today tomorrow...so I guess I'll just do a list of books that are being made into movies and are coming out soon!



There has been SOO much buzz about this movie on Instagram in recent months. I am so UNBELIEVABLY excited about this movie because the first movie was amazing (even though some things were changed and didn't make much sense) and I just recently read all the books in this series and ugh.  This one is going to be a doozy.












Divergent by Veronica Roth
This book is on the same popular level as the Hunger Games, but, unlike with the Hunger Games, I didn't like this one.  Like at all.  I had a huge problem with the bad staging and too-easy story line and the wooden love interest and the annoying, stuck-up main character.  Nevertheless, I AM excited for the movie because I think that Tris might have a different personality in the movie (yes I know I said above that I didn't want the character's personaly to be changed but in this case it needs to happen) and the actor playing Tobias is HOT!  So I think it will actually be a pretty good movie.









City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
This book/series is SOO popular and hey guess what...I haven't read it yet.  DON'T KILL ME!  The movie is coming out next month (August 21 if I'm not mistaken) so I WIILL be reading it soon.















Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
OH YEAH WHAT UP I HAVE READ THIS BOOK YEP UH HU I'M AWESOME!  Loved this book, I don't know much about the movie because it's a ways away and there hasn't been much hype on Instagram...but yeah.














The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan
I'm sure you guys have heard of this one, I'm sure you know it's part of a series, I'm sure you've heard about how the movie for The Lighting Thief SUCKED.  I'm not really that excited for this movie.  They better freaking impress me!













The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I've heard so many great things about John Green's books and about this book...but I haven't freaking read it.  Poo on me.
















So that's it for this discussion!  Now comes you guys. I want to know what you think about books to movies.  What makes a good adaptation in your opinion?  What is your list of essential things in a boo to movie adaptation?

Monday, June 24, 2013

The Reviewers' Roundtable - I Just Didn't Like That Book



I am a new member of the awesome reviewers at The Reviewers' Roundtable! *happy dance*

The Reviewers' Roundtable is our version of a weekly feature where we discuss a book related/blogging topic.


Meet the Reviewers:
Michelle from Pink Polka Dot Blog (Thursdays)
Emily from Read Your Bookcase (Fridays)
And me (Emily) from Emily's Crammed Bookshelf (Mondays)



You know when there's this book, this really hyped up book that everyone is obsessing over and fangirling over and oohh it's just so amazing?  Yeah, I'm sure we've all heard of them.  Well, what happens when you don't actually LIKE the hyped up books?  What happens when you are the only living person on earth who didn't like a book?  Well, you're all alone with your failure.


Really popular books that everyone loved...but I didn't:



House of Night series by P.C. & Kristin Cast
I read the first book, Marked, and could barely get through it.  And, when I looked on the Goodreads page there were 5 stars pretty much across the board.  I have absolutely no interest in continuing this series.  It had no substance, no building, annoying characters, and horrible writing.  I truly hated this book/series.











Graceling by Kristin Cashore
I by no means hated this book.  I actually gave it 4 stars.  I actually kind of loved it...except for the beginning.  The beginning was all kinds of wrong.  The main character, Katsa, was a complete brute, there was a crazy case of insta love and then insta-love-with-sex.  What I couldn't believe was that there are so many reviews of this book, yet none of them seemed to mention any of those flaws.  But the second half of this book was SOO amazing it more than made up for the horrible beginning.  Let's just say the first part of this book belongs on this list...but the second belongs on my favorites list.









Divergent by Veronica Roth
This book I didn't really like...like at all.  This book is on the same popular level as Hunger Games and Harry Potter...and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why.  The idea was amazing, but to me the writing was below-par, the story line was boring and predictable, the romance was completely bland, and the characters were blocks of wood.  I'd heard how strong Tris was but to me she came across as really stuck up, mean, emotionless, and very above everyone.  I'd also heard that Tobias was so so SO sexy...but he wasn't.  He had absolutely no personality.  At least Peter had personality!  I actually kind of liked him more than Tobias.
Ok sorry.  Rant over.  I did hear, though, that the second book is a LOT better, so I'm still going to be checking it out.  And I'm also really excited for the movie because I don't think they'll depict Tris as how she was in the book, and I've seen pictures of Tobias and he actually looks really hot.




Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
I can't even remember what happened in this book. I think I read it like a year ago and I remember thinking "Wow, this is kind of bland and boring".  It just wasn't the amazing, fast-paced book I had heard it was going to be.  But I think I'll re-read it soon so I can at least remember what happened and support my argument lol.













The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer
I didn't hate this series either.  I just can't remember it (again).  I can remember the beginning of the first book, the ending of the first book (but only because I just saw the movie) and the beginning of the last book.  Everything in between is blank.  I DO remember hating Bella and Edward.  I was totally Team Jacob.  Also the writing wasn't very good.  I can't talk about the story line because I can't remember WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED. Haha.








Really popular books that everyone has read...but I haven't:



The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare
EVERYONE HAS READ THIS SERIES!  FREAKING EVERYONE!  Except me. *hides in shame* *cowers in corner*  I'm listing this one first because I MUST read this series soon.  I have the first 3 books sitting on my shelf just begging me to read them...and I will very very soon because the movie is coming out in August.  Yeah.











The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare
Oh hey waddya know...another Cassandra Clare series that everyone has read and that's being made into a movie and I still haven't read I don't even own and need to go buy like now bye *orders off Amazon*














The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
Yep.  Haven't read this one either.  Don't hate me or make fun of me or be mean to me!  I know what a bad girl I am!  But I will need to read this soon because there is going to be a movie and I need to read before I can watch.  That is the rule that I've made for myself.












Really popular books that everyone has read and loved...and I have too:

These books are the most epic of the epic.  They're so amazing I can't even describe how amazing they are, I can't even put into words how much I loved them.  So yeah.




The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins
THIS SERIES IS FREAKING AMAZING!  I actually own this box set and omg it's so beautiful!  The writing, I will admit, isn't amazing, but that is more than made up for with the amazing characters, action, story line, and twists.  My favorite book was the first one, I completely guessed the ending of the second one, and the last one was a lot more boring and dark, but I still LOVED them all!  So much!!!

Also, I really loved the movie!  OMG it was so amazing!  You guys have no idea how freaking excited I am for Catching Fire to come out.  I CAN'T FREAKING WAIT!!

OH OH AND ONE MORE THING!  I just wanted to tell you guys this because I think it's SO COOL!  My birthday is May 8...AND KATNISS' BIRTHDAY IS MAY 8 TOO!!  AAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!






Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
The epicness of this series cannot be matched!  It is easily the best mythology and adventure series I've ever read.  The characters and the twists and the story and the writing and the humor all combine to make one big ball of awesomeness...in the shape of a book.  Yeah.

Yes, the Lightning Thief movie was the worst movie ever, but they have a second chance with the Sea of Monsters movie...which I'm not expecting much out of. But the books are just so good that the fact that the movies are shit can't even ruin them.  That's how you know if a book is good.





Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling
Honestly I'm not even going to talk about this one much.  It's freaking Harry Potter!  Need I say more?
This series is the best series ever.  I've actually read it so many times I am sick of it.  But it's still the best story I've ever read.

The movies...I wasn't a fan.  But, like with PJO, the books were so good that even the movie couldn't ruin it.










Okay there ya go!  My first post for The Reviewers' Roundtable.  THAT WAS SO FUN!


LET ME KNOW WHAT YOUR THOUGHTS ARE ON OUR TOPIC!!!
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