From a corner in the library

Book Info

Name: The Lovely Bones
Author: Alice Sebold
Date of publication: September 1st, 2006
Synopsis: "The Lovely Bones is the story of a family devastated by a gruesome murder -- a murder recounted by the teenage victim. Upsetting, you say? Remarkably, first-time novelist Alice Sebold takes this difficult material and delivers a compelling and accomplished exploration of a fractured family's need for peace and closure." [Goodreads.com]

Alright, so I have no idea what happened here... but I liked the movie better than the book. Somebody had told me about the book, and then I found the movie on Netflix, so I watched it! The movie has Stanley Tucci,
so of course it is awesome :) but it also was so weird, like the parts where she is in heaven... So I decided to read the book (which luckily was in the library where I work... how convenient). Anyway, I knew the plot, so I was not expecting any shocking new details (which I did get by the way, but which only manage to ruin the story for me!). But somehow the book was both more terrible and more boring than the movie. Let me explain:
-The story is very sad. I mean, this little girl is killed by this creepy old man, who turns out to be a serial killer... can't get any worse, right? Well, surprise, surprise... it can! The movie shows some really bad, horrible things... but the book is way worse and I don't think it makes the story better (OK, I might be biased because I watched the movie first, but it is terrible). For example, in the book they find an elbow... a freaking elbow!! That is sick! And yes, I know it happens in real life, but still.
-Also, the characters in the movie were so nice and supportive, and when the mom left it was not as harsh... in the book however, everybody was a jerk (OK, I know I have said before that movies sugarcoat things, and that books are always better, but I didn't like that in this case. Once again, I might be biased by the fact that I watched the movie first). Examples! The mother was a bitch!! She cheated on her husband with the freaking police officer/detective! *gasp* I mean, wtf?! And then she left because she couldn't handle the situation... Then Ray, he was an asshole! He was so mean in the book and so perfect in the movie!

You sit in a throne of lies!!!!!

And Ruth was a lesbian... I don't know how that contributed with the story, but OK. I mean, she still made out with Ray, so I guess she was bi...or confused :S so, so confused....
-The heaven is also different in both, and I think that the movie one is better. I just don't know how to explain it, but in the book I could read whole paragraphs without taking anything in... I saw the words, I understood the sentences, but they meant nothing. It was boring at times.
-And the sister,  she was different, I liked both versions of her. But on the book you are able to get to know her better! She was sweet and so mature and her relationship with Samuel is perfect! :P

It is very sad, and the fact that the Alice Sebold, the writer was also raped (and there's a memoir about it... Lucky I'm being followed by memoirs :S) makes it even sadder. I wonder how many of her experience helped shape Susie's personality and thoughts. It has a plot that was new for me, I hadn't read anything like that before. Maybe If I Stay is similar, but not really...
I liked Susie's voice in the book, she was honest and scared and so sweet. I kept imagining the actress' voice when I read the book. She was so pretty, too.
Rating: ★★
Favorite character: Susie, I guess...
Favorite secondary character: Lindsey  
Favorite part: I liked the part when Lindsey goes into Mr. Harvey's house to get evidence. She does it for her father and it is so brave (that was a very tense part during the movie!). And at the end it is what causes Mr. Harvey to leave, which is better than him being there and the police doing nothing!  
Favorite quote: “Murderers are not monsters, they're men. And that's the most frightening thing about them.”
Least favorite character: Mr. Harvey. He's despicable... how many girls did he kill?! And for what?! I was happy when he died :P 
Least favorite part: Well, of course all the first chapter is horrible!!! But also when Susie starts discovering in Heaven all of the girls that Mr. Harvey had killed.

Right in the feels...

Just a random post on a random night when the most impressive headache (caused by a toothache) has taken over my life.

Books I've read more than once:

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Once upon a time I was taking a Comparative Literature class where we read The Catcher in the Rye. By that time I was reading (or had just finished) Perks and I found both of them to be very similar, so I decided to write one of my papers comparing them... So I had to reread it.
• Looking for Alaska - John Green. I love the book, what can I say? It hurts more the second time around, btw...
• The Fault in Our Stars - John Green. I love this one too... I read it for the first time on February, 2013, second time February, 2014 and third time on May, 2014 right before the movie. I think the second and third time hit me harder than the first.
• A Streetcar Named Desire - Tennessee Williams. OK, maybe it is just a play and not a book, but gosh I love TW! And Blanche has to be my most favorite crazy character ever! and the movie? Like have you seen Marlon Brando as Stanley?

Books I've read, but want to read again:

• Brave New World - Aldous Huxley. I read that in weird class in the university... I remember it was weird, but I don't remember very well.
• Viaje al Reino de los Deseos - Rafael Angel Herra. I've always been a nerd, and I read all of the books that were assigned to me in high school (while most of my classmates just read the summaries, which weren't easy to get because it wasn't that easy to get internet back then... I'm not that old, I promise) or just watched the movie. With the exception of "Marianela" and like 75% of "Don Quixote" I read EVERY single book assigned. And this was one of my favorites. I think that if I read it, it will bring back memories.
• Anna and the French Kiss -  Stephanie Perkins. I read this last year, and I read Lola and the Boy Next Door this year... and I have to get Isla and the Happily Ever After!!!! But, I don't remember much about Anna. I do remember crying a lot :S 
• Twilight - Stephenie Meyers. Shut up!
• Horns - Joe Hill. The movie's coming up!!! I have to reread it before it so I can point out everything that's wrong with it and annoy the poor, poor soul that accompanies me to the movies!! :)

adorable

• The Percy Jackson series - Rick Riodan. Just because! :P
• The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkien. The last movie is coming and I barely remember a thing! It's been like three years since I read it.
• The Silver Lining Playbook - Matthew Quick. I loved this book when I read it, I just feel like reading it again. It is so much better than the movie (and the movie has Bradley Cooper!)

Books I've started but not finished

•  Dracula - Bram Stoker. Not my fault, though. I started it when I was living in Pittsburgh and half way through it I left to go to Miami (visiting relatives) and then back home... I had no time to read!
• The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde. I don't know what happened. I have no recollection of it whatsoever. But I'm sure I started it!
• How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie. I couldn't... Just too annoying! "Smile" "Care about what people say" "Learn people's names" I tried, I really did, but it was just too much not me...
• Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky. The gods know I've tried hard with this one. I've tried three times, because it is my mom's favorite book and she bought it for me. But it is just too slow and boring at the beginning that I don't get too far before forgetting about it. I'll try again in December.
• A Simple Plan - Scott B. Smith. I got it from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, but I didn't finish it and took it back after renewing it twice. It was boring, or just didn't get into it at the time.

Books I've put in my "read-before-the-year-ends" list 

• Isla and the Happily Ever After - Stephanie Perkins
• A Long Way Gone - Ishmael Beah
• We were Liars - E. Lockhart
• Let It Snow - John Green with Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle
• The Road - Cormac McCarthy
• Hollow City - Ransom Riggs
• Dracula - Bram Stocker
• Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
• Where She Went - Gayle Forman
• The Dead Zone - Stephen King
• The Hobbit - J.R.R. Tolkien
• The Jane Austen Book Club - Karen Joy Fowler
• Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn (This is gonna be a movie, whaaat?! with NPH?! a must-see!)
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - James Thurber
• Breakfast At Tiffany's - Truman Capote
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling

I feel so happy when I write/think about books... my headache is almost gone!

  Any recommendations?

Name: Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
Author: Piper Kerman
Date of publication: April 6th, 2010
Synopsis: With a career, a boyfriend, and a loving family, Piper Kerman barely resembles the reckless young woman who delivered a suitcase of drug money ten years before. But that past has caught up with her. Convicted and sentenced to fifteen months at the infamous federal correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut, the well-heeled Smith College alumna is now inmate #11187–424—one of the millions of people who disappear “down the rabbit hole” of the American penal system. 

 This book was a gift... I'd probably wouldn't have gotten it otherwise. I'm not into memoirs, but if I get a book in my hands I read it, no matter the type of book.
OK, so before I start comparing with the only episode of the TV show I've seen... Let me say that I don't understand what the deal is with putting movie/TV show posters on books! Book covers are beautiful and the posters are made for other reasons. Like have you seen the book covers for The Book Thief?!

The book one is wonderful! and the other is nice, yes...but for a movie! (Guess which one I have ¬¬')
My copy of OITNB has the TV show cover and I don't hate it, but I don't feel particularly excited about it. I think it is because the actresses are scary-looking.
Right, I finished my ranting!
The book is interesting. 1. Because it portrays a reality we don't really get to see (and gods I hope I never live through that! :S) and 2. Kerman can write. She might actually be a good novelist, who knows...
The thing is that since I don't know much about that 'life' I couldn't relate very well to it. I enjoyed it, but if you ask me now I've forgotten some of the details (like names and situations... is that bad?)
Also, it might be because of all of the TV and movie influence I have but everything seemed to be very light and happy. Not like I wanted it to be dark and sad and terrible... but I guess it was OK. Now, at the end of  the book, in this Q&A, she says that she went through that experience trying to be optimistic about everything. There were some nasty and depressing moments, but (according to her recollection) she was super cool about it. And I wonder if we don't tend to sugarcoat bad experiences we had in the past... I tend to just forget them, but if I were to write my autobiography (gosh, that sounded lame!) I'd probably reduce the amount of bad moments. Because who wants to read about that? Who would want to write about that? 
Hmm...thinking about the memoirs I've read, all of them portray this really, REALLY brave person. Is it because only brave/strong people survive? I'm giving myself a headache here!

Is that the reason why I liked it, because I didn't really believe everything? I just thought about it as fiction? Huh, interesting... I read this book back on May, and I just now think about this. It seemed to me that everything went suspiciously well.
Anyway, the TV show. I watched the first episode and I was just grossed out! The book does not have that many sexual moments... and I guess that is why people prefer to watch TV than to read books. Did they really have to be so explicit? Also, it makes me mad when they add things or change things (not only with this, but also with movies-that-were-books-first). For example, she doesn't see Nora until the very end of  her year when she goes to declare against the main drug dealer (can't remember his name). Nora is NOT in the same prison as her!!! Ugh!!! That's not what happens in the book!!!!!

I might give the series another chance and see the second episode whenever I have time (which is not gonna be anytime soon...sadly, or luckily, don't know)

Rating: ★★★
Favorite character: Hmm... Piper? No... I think it was her friend/bunkie Natalie (was that her name? I think I should start to worry about my memory :S)
Favorite secondary character: Yeah... I don't really remember the names of all the women who were nice to her while she was in  Danbury... and no, I'm not going to say Larry (he seems too good to be true :P)
Favorite part: Obviously when she goes home!!!
Favorite quote: Can I say what the person who gave me the book wrote on the first page? xP
OK, here's my fave quote from what the author wrote: "When you are deep in misery, you reach out to those who can help, people who can understand"
Least favorite character:  Nora?? Or that guy she worked for while she was in prison, and she kept trying to change because the other guy was nicer (what is wrong with me, I don't remember any names!!!!) Least favorite part: When she was saying bye to Larry (yeah, I don't really like him, but hey, I still have a heart...or part of it)