I haven't been posting much.  I owe you all another life update as well as several reviews and whatnot.  You're probably sitting at your computer think, "What's this? Liz posted?  And it's about a movie trailer!  She never posts about those!"

Or not.  Maybe your just sitting there thinking, "Ew, another post on The Great Gatsby trailer.  Next please!"  I wondered if you guys had seen several analyses of it already, but couldn't resist the urge to share my thoughts.


Oh my gosh! It's Jack...uh, I mean, Leonardo DiCaprio! 

Some of you may be familiar with a film called Titanic that came out in 1997 wherein a large boat sinks and two characters named Jack and Rose fall in love.  Oh, you haven't spent the past fifteen years under a rock?  Good!  So you're probably a.) aware that this is the highest grossing movie of all time and b.) not surprised to hear that Titanic was something of a milestone in my childhood.  That's right, folks, when I was in fourth or fifth grade, Titanic was my first ever PG-13 movie, and my first real experience seeing Leonardo DiCaprio in any kind of movie.  Yes, I even had a crush on him, and while Celine Dion writes that, "Love can touch us one time / And last for a lifetime," I quickly moved into Backstreet Boys.  Or was it NYSNC?  Now I can't look at him without seeing Jack Dawson and although I don't think he's a bad actor, I have hard time taking him seriously at the time.

Leo/Jack aside, I like the New York skyline we see at the very beginning of the trailer.  I think the costumes at least make a pretty good stab at accuracy.  The flashbacks to the war looked reasonably authentic.  And even though we only got a brief glimpse of the T.J. Eckelburg billboard, I really liked that.  Otherwise?  I have a feeling this one is going to flop.

To me, this movie lacks the 1920s atmosphere I expect from an adaptation of a Fitzgerald novel. No, I was not alive in the 1920s (please see above where I mention my school aged years and Titanic), but this is never what I imagined when I read The Great Gatsby. Who picked this music?  I sort of like the song at the end, but to me, nothing about it says 1920s. It says, "Well, the hipsters liked this book. I know, let's let them pick the music!"

The interior of the house?  The party scenes?  They're not doing a whole lot for me either.  The interior of the house just doesn't look right to me.  And the party scene?  It feels like they filmed it with Lady Gaga in mind and then remembered it was supposed to look like the 1920s.

I also wasn't wowed by Carey Mulligan (a.k.a. Kitty Bennet in , which I didn't know until just now).  Something was just missing from her performance.  However, viewers only get a bit of her here, so if she measures up as she has in the past, she'll do just fine.

The real reason I think this movie will flop among English majors such as myself is that The Great Gatsby is a brilliantly written book.  Anything else I tell you about Fitzgerald's prose will simply sound trite.  Truly amazing writing creates an atmosphere that you can you taste and emotions that make your chest ache.  You can give actors famous quotes from books, but that doesn't mean that you'll get the same emotional resonance as the prose.  Even if the most famous lines are dialogue, they not only have to be well-acted, but also be ensconced in the perfect atmosphere--lighting, music, scenery, everything.  Sure, your adaptation could be accused of being like Joe Wright's 2005 Pride and Prejudice was, but that scene made me (and many other viewers) cry, just like the book did. It wasn't the precisely the same, but the emotion was there.

I don't think The Great Gatsby has it.  I believe it will lack the atmosphere to convey the true evocation and despair of Fitzgerald's novel.  Regardless, my curiosity is piqued, and everyone plus their mothers will be seeing it.  I may be the one walking out with my face in the hands while whoever is with me at the time tries to shut me up.  Perhaps I'll be proven wrong, but we must wait until Christmas to find out.

Prentisstown isn't like other towns. Everyone can hear everyone else's thoughts in an overwhelming, never-ending stream of Noise. Just a month away from the birthday that will make him a man, Todd and his dog, Manchee -- whose thoughts Todd can hear too, whether he wants to or not -- stumble upon an area of complete silence. They find that in a town where privacy is impossible, something terrible has been hidden -- a secret so awful that Todd and Manchee must run for their lives.

But how do you escape when your pursuers can hear your every thought?

(Summary from Goodreads.com)

Until I read The Knife of Never Letting Go, it felt like every other blogger had read Ness’s Chaos Walking trilogy.  I even met Ness in the fall of 2011 before reading the books and got the whole trilogy in hardcover signed.  Even though several people told me how good Ness’s debut novel is, no one truly impressed upon me how awesomely fast-paced or gut-wrenching The Knife of Never Letting Go would be. 

Even though Todd and Manchee’s story is immediately engrossing, I wasn’t immediately drawn in by the writing.  Todd is only a semi-literate character, so the text is filled with deliberate misspellings, and some pages are filled with Noise, which is the thoughts of everyone around Todd.  Once I trained myself to read Todd’s narrative as though it were spelled correctly while keeping his literacy level in mind, I was set.

The premise of Ness’s world is totally ingenious.  Once you learn that everyone around Todd can hear his every thought, including the people who are chasing him, how could anyone not want more?  I also latched on to Todd and Manchee quickly.  Todd is obviously a good person and Manchee is the type of dog anyone would love to have.  If you have read this story and know how much I love dogs, I’m sure you can guess how Manchee’s story made me feel.

The story of Todd and Manchee gripped me right away and didn’t let go until I was done.  I cringed at the gruesome descriptions, cried, gasped, and was ultimately blown away.  If you’ve already read and are looking for another great dystopian novel, you must read The Knife of Never Letting Go. 


Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book.

Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A.

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

Are you looking for an -esque story that you can read in one sitting, ultimately warming the cockles of your could little heart?*  Because if you are, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is it.  I curled up with this one on a cold rainy night, needing a refresher after finishing a different book which both bored and depressed me.  It was exactly what I needed.

I knew I needed to have this book as soon as I saw the cover.  I can’t even pinpoint what I love so much about it, I just do.  The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is written in third person present tense, so once I dug in, it took me a few pages to get into it.  Once I got a few chapters in, I was enamored with how Smith could create tension in just one short paragraph.

A lot of people are intrigued by this book because of the promise of a cute boy (who reminded me of Etienne St. Clair) and an even cuter love story.  What kept me hooked was that this was also story about real life and how one girl couldn’t seem to stop hers from changing.  Hadley’s family drama is not over or under done--it’s simply there, and that fit the story, because that is how real life works.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight gave me warm fuzzies when I needed them. I enjoy this book and its cover so much that I’ve felt compelled to leave it on my nightstand since finishing it.  Even if it bordered on predictable at times, I can’t wait to reread this one when I need a quick read to put me in a great mood.

*I don’t really think you are cold-hearted, unless you are Misty of , who has described herself as such.

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.  Thank you!

In an alternate London where magical creatures are preserved in a museum, two teens find themselves caught in a web of intrigue, deception, and danger.

Vespa Nyx wants nothing more than to spend the rest of her life cataloging Unnatural creatures in her father’s museum, but as she gets older, the requirement to become a lady and find a husband is looming large. Syrus Reed’s Tinker family has always served and revered the Unnaturals from afar, but when his family is captured to be refinery slaves, he finds that his fate may be bound up with Vespa’s—and with the Unnaturals.

As the danger grows, Vespa and Syrus find themselves in a tightening web of deception and intrigue. At stake may be the fate of New London—and the world.

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

When Henry meets Clare, he is twenty-eight and she is twenty. Henry has never met Clare before; Clare has known Henry since she was six. Impossible but true, because Henry finds himself periodically displaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. Henry and Clare's attempts to live normal lives are threatened by a force they can neither prevent nor control, making their passionate love story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable. The Time Traveler's Wife is a story of fate, hope and belief, and more than that, it's about the power of love to endure beyond the bounds of time.

I’d always been mildly intrigued by the premise and cover of The Time Traveler’s Wife, and my interest in reading it was piqued a few years ago when I heard it was made into a movie.  Once I started mentioning to friends that I planned to read it, 9 out of 10 people referenced how hard Niffenegger's  novel made them cry.  Suffice it to say, when I finally picked up The Time Traveler’s Wife over Christmas break, the bar was set unusually high.  The Time Traveler’s Wife is a well-crafted story that is worth reading, even if it didn’t gut me the way I thought it might.

Niffenegger’s debut novel is one to be savored and carefully read.  The narrative literally skips around throughout time, making it hard to follow Henry and Clare’s adventures at first.  It took me about 200 pages before I fully understood, and by the time I got there I was not only impressed but engrossed by the story.

While I have no real issues with this book, for me the hype surrounding it stopped me from loving it. And honestly?  This is my fault.  Maybe my expectations for this book would’ve been more realistic had I not asked all of my friends what they thought of this book.  I really didn't know what to make of the premise or what type of book it would be, so I kept asking others about it.  Even though I sometimes pick up books and love them based on friend recommendation, this was a situation (and these do arise occasionally) where hearing about other people’s opinions of a book totally backfired for me.

The ending of this book still warmed my heart.  I still The Time Traveler's Wife is  a book that’s worth reading if you want a love story that is both different and literary.  My high expectations just made me feel like a piece of this book was missing for me, and I’m not quite sure what that piece would be. 

Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book.