Where’d you go, Bernadette?

11 / 11 / 2011 / 11 / 20

Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
on August 14, 2012
Pages: 330
Goodreads
four-half-stars

Bernadette Fox has vanished.
When her daughter Bee claims a family trip to Antarctica as a reward for perfect grades, Bernadette, a fiercely intelligent shut-in, throws herself into preparations for the trip. But worn down by years of trying to live the Seattle life she never wanted, Ms. Fox is on the brink of a meltdown. And after a school fundraiser goes disastrously awry at her hands, she disappears, leaving her family to pick up the pieces--which is exactly what Bee does, weaving together an elaborate web of emails, invoices, and school memos that reveals a secret past Bernadette has been hiding for decades. Where'd You Go Bernadette is an ingenious and unabashedly entertaining novel about a family coming to terms with who they are and the power of a daughter's love for her mother.

Hello!
I’m back with yet another book review. I’ve finally been getting out of my reading slump and reading more. Also hopefully I will be able to make my reading goals for this year, even though there was pretty big slump in the middle of the year.

I decided to make this a combined book and movie review because when I found out that this book was going to be made into a movie I knew that at some point I would need to do a comparison. In case you haven’t seen the movie, which is currently available on Hulu at the time of writing this. Check out the trailer below

I enjoyed the book and I probably could have finished it in one sitting since the twists and turns of the characters kept me turning pages and wanting to get to the end faster. As you can see from the movie trailer the basic synopsis of the story is the an eccentric architect marries a boring computer programmer and they have a child. The live in Seattle where the architect, Bernadette doesn’t get along with her neighbors. The daughter Bee decides that for her middle school graduation present that she would like for the family to take a trip to Antartica, soon Bernadette is wrapped up in the preparations for the trip ignoring everyone else. I won’t give away the ending of the book though I will say that it is different from the movie.

There are some big differences between the book and the movie. In the book, Bernadette has taken off for the trip to Antartica for months before Elgin and Bee decide to go on the trip themselves to find her. It is also during this time that Elgin’s admin Soo-Lin has fallen in love with him and become pregnant with his child. Also during this time you find out that Audrey and Kyle have gotten away to a rehab center to fix their relationship and deal with Kyle’s drug problem.

I love that the book is written through Bee’s eyes and through documents that she has acquired from her mother and the FBI. I love the intrigue the author brings with every turn of the page as to where Bernadette went and what actually happened to her.

Let me know if you have read this book or have seen the movie and what you thought of it. See you soon!

Way of the Peaceful Warrior

9 / 3 / 209 / 1 / 20

Way of the Peaceful Warrior: A Book That Changes Lives by Dan Millman
Published by HJ Kramer on April 13, 2006
Pages: 240
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
four-half-stars

Way of the Peaceful Warrior is based on the story of Dan Millman, a world champion athlete, who journeys into realms of romance and magic, light and darkness, body, mind, and spirit. Guided by a powerful old warrior named Socrates and tempted by an elusive, playful woman named Joy, Dan is led toward a final confrontation that will deliver or destroy him. Readers join Dan as he learns to live as a peaceful warrior. This international bestseller conveys piercing truths and humorous wisdom, speaking directly to the universal quest for happiness.

Hey!

I’m back yet another book review, which I suppose is good for me finally decluttering some of the books that have sat on my shelf forever. I’m not against buying and keeping books, but I am a recovering shopaholic and bookstore junkie and buying material things for the sake of buying things isn’t good. All those thoughts if you really want to know will be for another post or another conversation.

The book we are reviewing today is Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. I was interested in reading the book after I saw the movie trailer, but never actually got around to seeing the movie in 2005/2006ish. Here’s the trailer in case you want to see it:

I loved the book and came away with some good thought provoking quotes. I would be interested in seeing the movie, but it’s not on any streaming service currently, so I guess I’ll wait it out. Also the book is part of a 3 book series of which I hope to get to the rest in the future.

Have you read this book or seen the movie? What other books have you been reading lately? I feel like time is flying by so fast these days though my reading has been in quite a slump this year. So we read on. I hope to see you again soon in another post!

PS I Love You

8 / 25 / 208 / 21 / 20

P.S. I Love You (P.S. I Love You, #1) by Cecelia Ahern
Published by Hachette Books on January 5, 2005
Pages: 501
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
four-half-stars

A novel about holding on, letting go, and learning to love again.
Now in paperback, the endearing novel that captured readers' hearts and introduced a fresh new voice in women's fiction Cecelia Ahern.
Holly couldn't live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other's sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed.
The kind of enchanting novel with cross-generational appeal that comes along once in a great while, PS, I Love You is a captivating love letter to the world!

Hey…
I know that it has been a minute since I have been here, but I just finished another book and I wanted to review it for you. This was a Paper & Glam book club read for February , which I didn’t get around to reading to until now.

I had seen this movie when it came out in 2007. If you haven’t seen it yet, it stars Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler it’s really good. I would highly recommend that you have a box of tissues near you because you will cry quite a bit through the movie.

The book is quite a bit different from the movie, so if you have watched the movie first you won’t be spoiled by what happens in the the book. You will definitely love the book hopefully just as much as the movie. If you haven’t read the synopsis above make sure that you check that out.

I would definitely recommend this book if you are into more modern love stories and yet not want something super mushy or something too lit-erotica.

I would love to hear if you have read this book and what you thought about it. This has definitely been a tough reading year for me with everything that has been going on, but hopefully I am finally turning a corner. Let me know what you have been reading lately and what you would recommend.

See you soon !

Artemis Fowl

8 / 4 / 207 / 29 / 20

Artemis Fowl (Artemis Fowl, #1) by Eoin Colfer
Published by Disney-Hyperion on April 1, 2003
Pages: 396
Format: Paperback
Goodreads
three-half-stars

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories—they're dangerous! Full of unexpected twists and turns, Artemis Fowl is a riveting, magical adventure.

Hello!
I’m back with yet another book review. After Artemis Fowl the movie was released on Disney + earlier this month and I had a rather disappointing thoughts on the movie. (It had so much potential!!! It’s been in production for nearly a decade) I thought that I should read the book because maybe the book was better.

I would agree with critics to say that the book was better. I think the fact that in this first book that Artemis Fowl starts out as a villan with good intentions as we found out in the end, makes the character likeable. In the movie, we are made to root for the character from the jump being that his dad has suddenly been kidnapped and Artemis Fowl needs to save him. While most of the book we aren’t completely sure of his motives we are shown that he comes from dire circumstances in which we made to feel at least a little bit of compassion for him.

While the book tops out at just under 400 pages and is marketed as a middle grade novel, as an adult I didn’t find the book written down to. There were parts that due to seeing the movie first that I was grossed out by but overall I found the book to be more enjoyable and added more depth to the character of Artemis Fowl.

I don’t see myself continuing the series I did find the book intriguing enough to finish it and give it an average rating.

Let me know if you have read this book or have seen the movie and what you thought of it. I would like to tell you that I will be back in a more regular capacity and that there will be some content on the blog changing, but we’ll see. See you soon!

Let it Snow movie

12 / 27 / 1912 / 27 / 19

Hello!
I’m back again with yet another review, but this time it’s a movie review. Netflix recently released Let it Snow a movie loosely based on a compilation of stories by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle. I did a review on the book which you can read here.

In this movie though the storyline is basically the same. A group of friends work at the Waffle Town and over the course of 2 days get into various hi jinks as well as throwing a raging party of the year. This is where the similarities of the book and the movie mainly end. Julie meets rising pop star Stuart on the train and when the train stalls out near the Waffle Town runs in there to get out of the cold. Julie then ends up taking Stuart to meet her family to get him away from the paparazzi and into her normal boring life. Meanwhile into the Waffle Town walks a group of cheerleaders which causes one of the employees to struggle to create a balance between her crush and her best friend.

I really enjoyed the book that lead to the screenplay for this movie. I felt that each of the stories had a deeper depth on its own as well as together. In the movie, there seem to be disjointed parts that weren’t explained well in the movie such as the appearance of the pig, why there was a need for a party at the Waffle Town and why everyone was obsessed with Waffle Town. I would still recommend that you see the movie since I thought it was a charmingly cute holiday movie worth watching during this season.

I hope to see you in another post very soon!