Day 19: Favorite book turned into a movie

Continuing with the 30 Day Book Challenge, it is time to discuss the film adaptations of your most liked books. I am rather discussing here the film adaptations I didn’t like at all because they had ruined the story from the book and those which I liked, for they remained true to the story. I have just taken the question, a step further.

Some of the movies I did not like are-

1. It’s Kind of A Funny Story: This is the first novel in which I could relate with the protagonist because of the same “situations” in life. The fact was that I read this novel around the time when I started acknowledging my own mental-health related problems. I did not feel such connection with the movie, which was really strange according to me. The novel made me understand about the characters, while the movie was a mess in which I could not understand what was happening.

One scene which was true to a few lines of the novel

2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: This is one of the most important books in the series because it tells of the story of Voldemort and how he turned out to be as he was, but it was thoroughly ignored in the movie. The movie was all about absurd relationships (which is not the main theme of Harry Potter) and some incidents which were completely out of context.

3. The Silver Linings Playbook: A thought-provoking book has been turned into a love story in the movie. The way the depression is portrayed in the movie seemed to me quite radical. I just didn’t like the entire setting. They must have informed before hand that it was going to be a movie based on the game of football.

And the movies I liked-

1. The Perks of Being A Wallflower: This is one movie which complied with the story and presented the characters as they were meant to be. the main difference here is that the movie is directed by Stephen Chbosky, who is also the author of the novel. That really worked.

2. Never Let Me Go: I watched the movie before I read the novel (also in case of The Silver Linings Playbook). I liked the movie originally and continued to like it even after reading the novel. Because the movie had summarized the events of the novel in an amazing way so that nothing important is left.  Reading the novel afterwards was just knowing more about the characters and the story.

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Day 18: A Book That Made You Laugh

First of all, I haven’t read any book which could be pertained to be belonging to the humor genre. I tried reading Hitchhiker’s Guide To Galaxy but I found it morbid rather than funny. I rather laugh at the incidents from the books I read, whether they are a drama or an adult fiction.

Some of these books are-

1. The Help by Kathryn Stockett: It is a brilliant book with all the elements of life, sadness, racism and even some humor, gathered together in a bundle which is this book. I loved Minny Jackson and her “sassiness” a lot. There were certain stances where I couldn’t control my laughter, like Minnie’s comments about Celia Foote or the chocolate pie incident (Hilly’s mother buying the pie for her, that was hilarious). If you haven’t read the book, I won’t spoil the fun. Go grab a copy now.

2. PS I Love You by Cecelia Ahern: This is the only chick lit which I read and completed, and that is not because of the roots of sadness in this book but because of certain funny events that span throughout the story, like when the three friends are stranded on a raft far away from the beach and their mad conversation.

3. A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle: It is a nonfiction book, in which the author discusses his first years living in Provence in France. It is a warm tale and quite funny as well, as the author informs of the lifestyle of his neighbors and the damn funny conversations that ensue between them and the difficulties they had to deal with to get some repairs done as well as because of the distant friends who would invite themselves at their place. It was indeed a fun read.

I guess, that much is enough for today.

Day 17: Favorite Quote from A Book

I have many favorite quotes that come from a variety of books. Some of them are:-

“Imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia. (…) You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you’ll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.”
— John Green (Looking for Alaska)

“But there was something I liked about the idea of those seeds buried so deep having at least a chance to emerge”
— Sarah Dessen

“We took away your art because we thought it would reveal your souls. Or to put it more finely, we did it to prove you had souls at all.”
— Kazuo Ishiguro (Never Let Me Go)

“What is pertinent is the calmness of beauty, its sense of restraint. It is as though the land knows of its own beauty, its own greatness, and feels no need to shout it.”
— Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)

“Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
— J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)

“No one knows for certain how much impact they have on the lives of other people. Oftentimes, we have no clue. Yet we push it just the same.”
— Jay Asher (Thirteen Reasons Why)

“When did we see each other face-to-face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
— John Green (Paper Towns)

I will not write anything else but this:-

“A quote is something that grabs your heart; you feel its absence in your chest because it has been stolen by the words that you thought were written just for you.”

-HA

Day 16: Your favorite genre

Okay, now it comes to favorite genre. I don’t know how to answer that question. Because I enjoy reading books just like that. I read the books of different genre based on my desire of what I want to read. If I want to read suspense/thriller, I will pick up a novel by Sidney Sheldon or explore some other spy/crime thrillers.

Hence, I am going to list down the genres I like and some of the books I like, which can be interpreted to be belonging to that genre:-

1. Mythology- I am like a teenager that way because I like the Percy Jackson series as well as The Kane Chronicles, both by Rick Riordan.

2. Horror- Desperation and Salem’s Lot, both by Stephen King

3. Mystery/Suspense/Thriller- Sidney Sheldon novels, A Prisoner of Birth by Jeffrey Archer, Dan Brown books to some extent

4. Historical Fiction- The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro, novels by Khaled Hosseini, The Shadow Lines by Amitav Ghosh

5. Biography- Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle

6. Drama- Books by John Green, Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

7. Fantasy/Supernatural- The Dead Zone by Stephen King, Every Day by David Levithan, Harry Potter series

8. Science Fiction- Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro,

9. Short Stories- Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, short stories collection by Jeffrey Archer

10. Adult Fiction- The Zahir and The Winner Stands Alone, by Paulo Coelho, The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

and etc, etc…

I don’t like the idea of literary genres. I rather believe in something like this:

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Day 15: Your Five Favorite Characters

A very hard question. I like so many characters. I don’t know which of them are my favorites; so I am discussing some characters that I liked (again, in no particular order):

1. Mariam from A Thousand Splendid Suns: She is sort of a submissive character who adheres to the male-dominant society throughout her life but when it gets unbearable, she revolts and she becomes mighty powerful. It was the change in her character with time along with her ultimate sacrifice which makes her a very powerful character,

2. Tridib from The Shadow Lines: He is a mysterious character who is kept to be quite suspenseful throughout the book. He is mature, understanding and a master story-teller. He is instantly likable. Even though he holds a small part in the book, he is significant to the story.

3. Margo Roth Spiegelman from Paper Towns: She is another mysterious character and the basis of the plot of the novel. She is a free soul who thinks deep and make such decisions to live a life, breaking the social norms. She is a person I would like to be myself.

4. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye: Here I am mentioning once again, one of the most criticized characters. He is some one with a distinct personality with individual thoughts which are sometimes confusing, yet profound. The character development is really commendable in this classic by J.D. Salinger.

5. Balram Halwai from The White Tiger: The protagonist who is also the antagonist from this Man Booker Prize (2008) winner book is some one I wouldn’t like at all as a person but would have understood him and his actions to some extent, which given any degree of circumstance were still not justifiable. But I do like the character sketch which is successful in bringing to life this character. I would recommend you to read this book to know this complex character who is just a common man but a lot more than that.

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That is all.