A Million Brilliant Shadows

This week’s Musing Monday:

How do you react to movies made of your favorite books (or even not-so-favorite books)? Do you look forward to seeing them, or avoid them? Do you like to have read the book before seeing the movie?

I’ve been thinking about movies based on books a lot lately. It seems like there are a ton of book-based films either out or coming out soon (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, My Sister’s Keeper, The Time Traveler’s Wife, and The Lovely Bones are the few that come to mind right now). I really think it’s a good idea, most of the time. Sometimes people gain an interest in reading the books because they’ve watched the films. This has happened with me with In Her Shoes and Twilight. However, it’s a bit of a disappointment when the film deviates too much from the book. In sixth grade, I watched Gone With the Wind for the first time and loved it. Imagine my surprise when I finally get around to reading the book and found out that Scarlett had three kids and Mammy helped her steal Frank Kennedy from her sister Suellen, among the many other things. Not that I don’t love the film and see where they were coming from. Can you imagine how much longer the film would have been if they’d tried to include more elements from the book? I just think filmmakers should at least try to stay as true to the book as they can.

Most of the time I look forward to seeing them. It’s interesting to see how the characters come to life on the screen and if the actor or actress who was casted comes close to looking like I imagined the character would. I’d rather read the book before I watch the movie, though, for that same reason. Once I’ve seen the film, I cannot imagine the character as looking like anyone other than the actor or actress who played them. I like getting a picture of the character in my mind first and then comparing it to how other people viewed them.

This week’s Musing Monday:

Do you have a favourite publishing house — one that puts out books that you constantly find yourself wanting to read? If so, who? And, what books have they published that you’ve loved?

I don’t have a favorite publishing house.  In fact, I can’t honestly say that I really ever even notice what publishing house has put out the books that I read. I usually pick books out based on the summary and reviews or general talk about the book.  Sometimes I’ll choose a book just because I’ve read and enjoyed something by that particular author before.

This week’s Musing Monday is a Library Habits meme:

1) If you don’t frequent your local library, why not?
I love my local library.

2) If you do visit the library, how often do you go?
I go at least once every two weeks, if not once every week. It just depends on how fast I’m going through my books.

3) Do you have a favorite section that you always head to first, or do you just randomly peruse the shelves?
I usually check out the new books first to see if there’s anything interesting. Otherwise, I go to the fiction section.

4) How many books are you allowed to check out at one time? Do you take advantage of this?
It’s my understanding that adult library cards can check out up to fifty items at a time. I’ve never taken advantage of this, yet anyways.

5) How long are you allowed to have the books checked out?
Two weeks

6) How many times are you allowed to renew your check-outs, if at all?
As long as the book or movie isn’t reserved for someone else and isn’t an interlibrary loan, you can renew them twice. You can’t renew interlibrary loan books at all.

7) What do you love best about your particular library?
I love that they’ll pull books for you if you request them online. It saves so much time. Plus I don’t have to juggle a baby and all the books I check out for her while trying to search for books for me.

8) What is one thing you wish your library did differently?
I really wish they opened at 8 A.M. during the week. It would be really nice to go to the library before work so I don’t have to battle the traffic in the afternoons.

9) Do you request your books via an online catalogue, or through the librarian at your branch?
As long as you aren’t requesting an interlibrary loan book, you can do it either way. The only way to request interlibrary loan books is through the people who work the information desk.

10) Have you ever chosen a book on impulse (from the online catalogue OR the shelves) and had it turn out to be totally amazing? If so, what book was it, and why did you love it?
I do it all the time. The last one was Feeling for Bones by Bethany Pierce. I can’t really put my finger on exactly why I loved it other than it was very well written and it just really drew me in.

Today’s Musing Mondays: Do you have an account with an online book database site (LibraryThing, Shelfari, GoodReads, etc)? If so, do you have a preference? Do you use it for – your own record keeping? finding new books to read? social networking?

I have a GoodReads account. Right now, I mainly use it just for record keeping. I just set up my account a few days ago so I haven’t really had time to start browsing through to find new books to read or to use it for social networking. I also didn’t realize there were other online book database sites. (I need to get out more!) So, I guess I’ll have to check them out and decide which one I like best.

Today’s Musing Mondays: We all know the old adage about not judging a book by it’s cover, but just how much sway does a book cover have when it comes to your choice of book – whether buying or borrowing? Are there any books you’ve bought based on the cover alone?

I wish I could say that I don’t judge any books by their covers, but I do. When I’m walking through the library, the books that jump out at me are the ones that have interesting looking covers. When the cover jumps out at me, I’ll usually see if the title looks interesting and, if it does, then I’ll read the book summary. If I like what I see, then I’ll get the book.

Being on a budget, having a new baby, and trying to get bills paid off doesn’t leave much splurging room when it comes to books so about 95% of the books I buy are used. When it comes to buying books, I don’t let the cover sway my decision in any way. I usually buy books I’ve already read and loved. Before buying a book I’ve never read, I’ll usually skim the first few pages to see if I like what I see.

I’ve also learned to take what other people say about the book with a grain of salt when it comes to books. In the past few months, I’ve had someone give me two books that I never would have bought for myself (one a novel, the other a parenting book) and rave about how life-changing they both were. I wasn’t able to get past chapter two of the novel. I forced myself to read the parenting book and then prompting tossed to book in the donation pile because I didn’t agree with most of what it said and the one thing the book advocated that I did try came back to haunt me for about six weeks.