Armchair BEA Day 4 - Book to Movie Adaptations

If there is one thing that I enjoy, is watching book to movie adaptations.  There are times in which I don't get to read the book right away, but do eventually do get around to reading the book.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

About a Boy - I did read the book afterwards and the movie was fairly faithful to the book and it was quite enjoyable as a film

Sense and Sensibility - while there are some aspects of the movie adaptation which seem a little far-fetched (one being Emma Thompson playing the role of a character who is probably 15-20 years younger), it is a pretty good adaptation and had a really good cast (Hugh Laurie is in the film and it wasn't until much later that I was able to recognize him in the film).  I didn't even recognize Alan Rickman when I first watched the film, as I remember him being the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Pride and Prejudice (1995) - Probably my favourite adaptation.  Personally I don't care if there are things that are different, I just really like how the miniseries was able to capture the book very well.  And while Kiera Knightly did a good job as Elizabeth in the movie that came out 10 years earlier, I just feel that this is the best adaptation of the book out there.  Doesn't hurt that I began a life-long love with Colin Firth (I have watched a number of his other movies, including A Single Man, which was excellent).

North and South (2004) - Love this miniseries.  Now I don't know how accurate the miniseries to the book and how much was and wasn't included from the book in the miniseries, but I  know that I just find Richard Thorton gorgeous and every summer I will sit down and watch it again.

Jane Eyre (2006) - Having read the book a number of times, I find it a pretty faithful adaptation. There are a few things that are different in the miniseries than what is included in the book, but for the most part it is pretty faithful to the book and enjoy watching it from time to time.

There are others that I could mention, but since I feel the need for a nap, I am going to stop here.

Armchair BEA Day 3 - Blogging Q & A

Today one of the topics ask us about our blogging habits and what keeps us going.

What keeps me blogging here is interacting with other readers and the community that I have created with them as a result of being apart of the community.

The blogging platform that I use is Blogger.  I think part of the reason was that it was a platform that I was aware of at the time that I started a previous blog that I haven't really blogged on since.  Since I have heard about WordPress, but I choose to stay here because I know what to expect than if I would move over to WordPress, especially in regards to adding photos and other media to my blog.

I network by getting involved in with memes, getting involved with readalongs and making sure that I have somesort of social media presence for the blog (I have a Facebook page for this blog under the same name) and by also linking up my blog posts through NetworkedBlogs.  And also by keeping up to date with book reviews (which for some reason that I have not been able to do over the last few months).

As for web designs, I just stick with what works for me, but what appeals to me as a reader of blogs is something that has interesting content and also keeps the blog neat and tidy, with not a lot of clutter on the blog, making it easy for a reader to read the stuff on the page, without everything else becoming the object of the readers eyes.  Of course you want relevant material on the side to inform readers what is going on with your reading life.

Enough of me chatting, I would love to hear what you think.

ArmchairBEA Day 2: Social Media

 Armchair BEA is for those people who cannot visit Book Expo America but still want to join in the fun. This week, May 27th to 31st, there are celebrations for those who stay at home rather than make it to New York. Check here for other participating blogs discussing social media. 

Today, Thursday, is about the use of social media.

TWITTER

I have two twitter accounts, actually.  One, @melissawiebe, is my primary twitter account and where is you can chat with me on any issue on the sun and the one that I use most of the time the second one, @mjreadings, is one that I primarily use for my book blogging

FACEBOOK

I do use it for personal reason, but I also have a Facebook page for my blog, Jayne's Books.There I link up with my blog posts here.  I also put things that might interest my readers that I might not be able to post on my blog here, but that is very occasional.

INSTAGRAM

I also have an instagram account (@melissajayne80) that I post the covers of the books that I am currently reading  and other bookish things.  I also post other things as well that interest me and catch my eye from time to time.  I link up to my main Facebook or Twitter accounts as well.

Armchair BEA - Introduction Questions 2015

It's that time of year again; a time when a number of bloggers look forward to sharing the excitement of those that are heading to the BEA Expo from the comfort of their own homes.  And to kick things off, we answer a bunch of questions.

Here are the questions for this year:

Tell us a bit about yourself: How long have you been blogging? Where are you from? How did you get into blogging?

Why do you loving reading and blogging?

What is your theme song?

What does diversity mean to you?

What is one book everyone should read?

Share your favorite blog post on your blog. (aka written by you!)

What is your favorite genre and why?

What book are you reading right now?
What is the top book in your TBR pile?

What book are you most looking forward to reading this summer?

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what author would you want to bring with you? Why?

1) I am from Vancouver, BC. I have been blogging for about 4 years, but probably a bit longer. I started blogging on LiveJournal and eventually made the transition to Blogger.

2) I love reading because it gives me an ability to go to different places and times and I love blogging because I get to share my enjoyment of my reading with others.

7) I would say that my favourite genre is historical fiction with literary fiction not far behind as my favourite genre

8) I am reading a number of books, but am mainly reading All Quiet on the Western Front

10) If I was stranded on a deserted island, I would probably bring Tolstoy along with me, as his two main books, Anna Karenina and War & Peace would last a long time and probably make good kindling for fire, if need be.

#armchairbea 2014 - More Than Just Words

Since my interactions with authors has been very few, I will concentrate on the second portion of this day's focus.

I have really enjoyed over the past few years listening to audiobooks.  Here are some that I have enjoyed:

• The Help by Kathryn Stockett: Its narrated by Jenna Lamia, Bahni Turpin, Octavia Spencer, Cassandra Campbell

The real gem is that Octavia Spencer does the audio for the same character that she won her Oscar for in the movie adaptation of the book and quite honestly I can't see anybody else doing the role of Minny.

• The Flavia DeLuce series: Narration by Jayne Entwistle.

Was turned onto the audiobooks through a blog that I follow and I haven't been disappointed.

• The Book Thief: Narration by Allan Corduner

The guy just sounds like he could be death himself.

• The Harry Potter series: Narration by Jim Dale

Probably the first audiobook that I listened to and loved it.

• The Hunger Games series: Narration by Carolyn McCormick

Love her voice.  I remember watching her on Law & Order as Dr. Elizabeth Olivet; great pacing.

Hope you can check out these amazing audiobooks! 

#armchairbea 2014 - Introduction & Literature

I am sorry I am really late with this; I was really tired and I couldn't get myself to do much other than watch some stuff I had recorded.  Better late than never.

Here are five questions that I have chosen from a list that the hosts of Armchair BEA have selected to ask:

1) Describe your blog in just one sentence. Then, list your social details -- Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. -- so we can connect more online.
My blog is bookish, with a bit of some of other aspects of my life.  You can find my blog on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jaynes-Books/175685312448957?ref=bookmarks

My main twitter account is @melissawiebe, but be forewarned that I talk more than books there as well.  I also cross post my Instagram photos there as well.

2) What genre do you read the most? I love to read because ___________________ .
I like to read a wide variety, but I seem to read more literary books more than anything.  I love to read because it allows me to places and times that I couldn't otherwise go to.

3) What was your favorite book read last year? What’s your favorite book so far this year?
I can't recall what my favourite book last year, but it probably was Dearie by Bob Spitz.  So far my favourite read this year is The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens.

4) Share your favorite book or reading related quote.
My absolute favourite book would have to be A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens, with Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson a very close second.

5)  What book would you love to see as a movie?
I would love to see Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson as a movie; such a great story.

Literature

When I think of literature, I think of something that talks about multiple issues on different levels and allows for different interpretations by different people.

#ArmchairBEA 2013 - Genre: Genre Fiction

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

Today, Wednesday, is about genre fiction: What draws you to a specific genre?  Do vampires, zombies, or witches float your boat?  Or, do you prefer the heat of romance?

In addition to reading classics, I also enjoy reading historical and literary fiction.  I suppose my fascination with literary fiction comes off of my love of classics and the wanting to read new things.  My love of historical fiction comes off of my love of history and it also gives me a perspective of something that history books can't really expound on.

I also like reading YA fiction, as I find some of the YA fiction better than what I was able to read as a teen and sometimes even find it better than the adult stuff at times.

#ArmchairBEA 2013 - Genre: Classics

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

Classics have always appealed to me, no matter what sort of reading phase I am going through.  I suppose one reason that I have always been appealed to them is because no matter whether you do like the book or you don't like the book, you always do know that in general they are going to be pretty well written and that while there might be mistakes, they will usually be so minor that most readers won't notice them.  I also like classics because they are pretty readable.  They don't overuse language.  What I mean by that is that these authors always have some reason for what they are trying to say and that their message is pretty straightforward.  Okay some authors don't have a clear message, but as one thinks about what you have read, you can extract some sort of meaning from it. The final reason that I enjoy classics because the first novel that I fell in love with was a classic and no matter how many times I read Jane Eyre, I can always turn to it with fairly fresh eyes.

Kicking off #ArmchairBEA: Introductions First!

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging? 
2. Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures. 
3. Have you previously participated in Armchair BEA? What brought you back for another year? If you have not previously participated, what drew you to the event? 
4. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2013? 
5. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you. 
6. Name your favorite blog(s) and explain why they are your favorite(s). 
7. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read? 
8. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why? 
9. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why? 
10. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? 
11. Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?

1) My name is Melissa.  The name of my blog comes from my middle name.  I have been blogging since about 2005, when I first joined LiveJournal.  I intially got into blogging because some people I knew on a fan board for a TV show were blogging over there and I thought it was a great way of connecting with people that liked the show and it grew from there.  I have been blogging here for about 3 years.

2) I am blogging from the southwestern corner of BC in an area that is commonly referred to the Lower Mainland and more specifically from a region called the Fraser Valley.  The major centre near where I live is named after Captain George Vancouver and has one of the largest city parks in the world and is more than 10% larger than Central Park.

3) I participated last year and what brought me back this year was because I enjoy participating in it last year.

4) I am currently reading a number of books and am really enjoying the classics that I am reading at the moment.

5) I am a big Vancouver Canucks fan (NHL team from Vancouver) and like to read while watching various sporting events.

6) I have a number of favourite blogs, but I would say that its probably The True Book Addict and its my favourite because she has had a number of readathon events that I have attended.  I also like BookJourney because she not only shares her love for books but also the love that she has for her family and friends and Shelia seems like somebody I could have a cup of coffee with.

7) My favourite post would be the one I did on the fascination with the 1960s.

8) I would love to have dinner with Bridget Jones because she seems the sort of character that I could identify with and if I had to pick an author, I would probably choose Jane Austen as I would love to know what made her write the books she did and what were her influences.

9) The literary location that I would love to visit would probably be the house that was used for Pemberly in the 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice.

10) My favourite thing about the book blogging community is the fact the friendships that are formed through various blogs and that our book blogs are really just an extension of our lives and that we feel each others pain and experience each others joys and sorrows and that really we are there for each other, despite the distances between us and the differences in genres that we read.  What connects us is our love for reading and bookish things.

11) I don't know what I would like to see change in the next five years.

#ArmchairBEA 2012 - Day 5: Ask the experts

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

I hate to ask it, but how do get people to comment on my book reviews?  While I do link up my reviews for my book reviews, I don't really get any comments when I initially post them.  I do agree that they aren't my strongest suit and I don't particularly like to spend a lot of time describing the book, but I would like some advice on how I can make my book reviews stronger and more likely that people will comment on them.  Should I be adding quotes from the books to the review to make it more interesting?

#ArmchairBEA 2012 - Day 4: Beyond the Blog

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

Today we are supposed to blog about the ways we monetize, write for other outlets, and things like that.  And quite honestly while I have thought about possibly monetizing and making some extra cash, it just isn't possible for me to do so.

I know that some of you are wondering why this isn't the case.  The reason is because I am on social assistance and have a job that pays me the amount of money that I can make in addition to the amount that I receive from the provincial government, I am unable to do so.  Unless of course I can get paid in cash directly, there is no way I can do it.  I would love to do it, but its just not possible for me to do it at present.

But I guess the only thing I do do that would be considered beyond the blog would be a book club me and some friends have doing for 5 years (we are starting our sixth year this coming fall).  I have also been doing some bookclubs online, but my attendance has been somewhat sporadic at best.  I am thinking of joining a bookclub meeting through my local public library.

#ArmchairBEA 2012 - Day 3: Why I don't physically network

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

I realize that should network my blog more.  I have complained about the lack of comments on my blog in the past and that has usually made me rethink why I blog.  Sure I realize that I should be hosting meme's, events, etc., but honestly after hosting an event that basically flopped because somebody else put an event on the same weekend as mine (I think we even were using the same hashtag), I don't  feel much like getting burned again.

Now you may ask, why not book tours or ARCs? Its a good idea, but quite honestly, I have enough books to read that I don't need more.  I am also a relative slow reader and it can sometimes take me awhile to finish a book and I like to take in the details of the book.  Basically I want to experience the book.  And I feel that if I constrained by a fixed time, I should go back to get my minor in English Lit (I am about 2 or 3 courses short and no, I don't care, because I really was a poor English Lit student, even though I have a great love for literature; I just can't express it on paper for some reason).  I hate deadlines, other than the deadline to get the item back to the library.  I want to have the flexibility to finish a book.

That being said, I do have a dedicated page for my blog on Facebook and I have a dedicated Twitter account for my blog and I do connect to my blog through my personal Facebook and Twitter accounts and do connect through Google Plus and do allow people to read my posts in Google reader or to have them sent to their email accounts. And I do post in Sunday Salon on a somewhat regular basis and I try to participate in readalongs (seem to always fall flat on my face on those).

So I guess in my Introverted way, I do network through social networks, but that is about it.  Sometimes I will participate in a blog hop feature, but sometimes I am just not interested in the question or can't really think of an answer, especially if its something creative.  I prefer standard questions that don't require me to think creatively a lot.  I like questions that I can answer within one or two sentences.  Asking me to cast my favourite book...you aren't going to get anything out of me.  Look at my answers for those sort of blog hop memes (Teaser Tuesdays, the blog hop hosted by Crazy for Books, Musing Mondays, etc.) and you will see a pattern in that I like questions that require  straightforward questions and while I know that Sunday Salon requires some creativity in that I have to think of the topic myself, it usually becomes a place where I can let my thoughts and feelings on whatever I want to talk about, including me complaining about not being able to read, etc.

#ArmchairBEA 2012 - Day 2 : My Favourite Reads of 2012 (so far)

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

I haven't read anything that has been published/released in 2012.  Part of the reason is due to the fact that I don't have a lot of money to purchase new released books and the second reason is that if I do see a book I like, my library doesn't necessarily get them for about six months.  The other reason is that I don't like getting ARCs.  I know that last one seems stupid, but I want this to be a blog in which I share books that (a) are published and (b) stuff I want to read.  So I am going to give you my favourite reads from this year, so far.  I am going to exclude any Harry Potter books, because those are just too plain obvious.  There is a link to my review of the book in the title below.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Kitchen Counter School by Kathleen Flinn

11/22/63 by Stephen King

My Life in France by Julia Child with Alex Prud'Homme

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

Hope you all have a wonderful day and I look forward to reading your comments.

Kicking off Armchair BEA: Introductions First!

(design credit: Emily of Emily's Reading Room)

After seeing this last year on a number of the blogs that I follow last year, I really wanted to participate and when I saw the sign ups a few weeks ago, I knew that it was something that I had to participate in.  And to kick it off, the lovely ladies over at Armchair BEA have gone put up an introductory post with questions that they have developed.

1. Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?
2. What are you currently reading, or what is your favorite book you have read so far in 2012?
3. Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.
4. What is your favorite feature on your blog (i.e. author interviews, memes, something specific to your blog)?
5. Where do you see your blog in five years?
6. Which is your favorite post that you have written that you want everyone to read?
7. If you could eat dinner with any author or character, who would it be and why?
8. What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?
9. What is your favorite part about the book blogging community? Is there anything that you would like to see change in the coming years?
10. Have your reading tastes changed since you started blogging? How?

1) My name is Melissa.  The name of my blog comes from my middle name.  I have been blogging since about 2005, when I first joined LiveJournal.  I intially got into blogging because some people I knew on a fan board for a TV show were blogging over there and I thought it was a great way of connecting with people that liked the show and it grew from there.  I have been blogging here for about 2 years.

2) I am currently reading a number of books, including The Descendants, The Devil in the White City and a number of classics.

3) One non-book-related thing that people reading my blog may not know about me is that I lived in Brazil for two years when I was a young child and cheer for the Brazilians (or Brasilians as they spell it) during the World Cup (the world cup of soccer for those that don't know).

4) Since I don't host a feature on regular basis, I can't say what my favourite feature would be.

5) I really don't know, but I probably doing some of the same things that I am doing at the present time.

6) My favourite post would be the one I did on the fascination with the 1960s.

7) If I could eat dinner with any author or character, it would probably be Peggy Olson.  I know its a TV character, but I would like to pick her brain about what it was like to work for Don Draper and Pete Campbell and ask her why she left SDCP.

8) I would like to visit Stratford-Upon-Avon in England. I have always been a fan of Shakespeare and its just a place I have always wanted to visit.

9) My favourite part about the book blogging community is that I am introduced to so many books that I have to keep my library's webpage open, just in case I find a book I am interested in reading.  One thing I would like to see change in the coming years in the book blogging community is for book bloggers to read books that are outside of their comfort zone and I would like to see more non-fiction blogged on.  It seems that book bloggers like to blog about books they are comfortable in reading and don't go too far outside of their comfort zone (I am guilty of this) and I would like to see more non-fiction blogged about and not just memoirs/biographies.

10) That's hard to say if my reading tastes have changed, but I can say that I am more willing to try books that are outside of my comfort zone.  Some I have loved, some I haven't, but at least I have tried.