Throwback Thursday (April 4) – Dead Poets Society

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

Here’s how it works:
  • Pick any bookish or literary-related media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago.
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Dead Poets Society (1989) starring Robin Williams, Robert Sean Leonard, Ethan Hawke

I’m cheating a bit, as this movie is not based on a book. But it’s chock full of references to Shakespeare, Walt Whitman, Henry David Thoreau, and others, and a huge part of it takes place in a high school poetry class. So I’d say it qualifies.

Plus, this is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time, and I’ll take any and every excuse to talk about how much I love it.

Because it is amazing and moving and beautiful.

And inspiring.

And heartbreaking.

And empowering.

And…and I know I basically just used gifs instead of actually telling you what I love about this movie, which is lazy and I’m sorry, but now you’ll just have to go watch it to find out. Because I forgot what day it was and now only have 5 minutes to write a post before I have to leave.

Sorry. Planning and blogging FAIL on my part. Life has been busy.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!



Throwback Thursday (March 28) – The Host

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

Here’s how it works:
  • Pick any bookish or literary-related media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago.
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

In honor of the movie releasing this week (which I am totally seeing opening night), today I am featuring that other book by Stephenie Meyer which is not about sparklepires. Here’s the Goodreads synopsis:

Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of human hosts while leaving their bodies intact. Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, didn’t expect to find its former tenant refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

As Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of Jared, a human who still lives in hiding, Wanderer begins to yearn for a man she’s never met. Reluctant allies, Wanderer and Melanie set off to search for the man they both love.

I’ll be honest – I really, really enjoyed this book. Say what you will about Stephenie Meyer and her writing (which, in my opinion, improves LEAPS AND BOUNDS between the Twilight Saga and The Host), but the woman knows how to keep the pages turning and the tension high. Yes, even when she’s writing about stalk-y sparklepires. But I like The Host so much more because it’s about ALIENS. And I love me a good alien story. Plus, while there is a love triangle in The Host – which is actually more of a love square – it’s different than in most books. The conflict is real and the solution is not obvious. HIGH FIVE for a love triangle where one of the choices is not infuriatingly stupid.

When I first read The Host – in about a day, because I couldn’t seem to stop reading it – the characters and the story stayed in my head for days after. I thought about them all the time, the choices they made, and what they would do next. To me, all technicalities aside, that’s the mark of a good story. If you think a clean alien romance might be up your alley but you’ve been putting this one off because it’s by That Twilight Lady – give it a shot. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Also, here is the movie trailer. WHO ELSE IS EXCITED? JUST ME? NO? OKAY GOOD.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!


Throwback Thursday (March 21): Stardust

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

Here’s how it works:
  • Pick any bookish or literary-related media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago.
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Stardust (2007) starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeifer, and Robert DeNiro
Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman

Because I am tired, here’s the Goodreads synopsis:

Hopelessly crossed in love, a boy of half-fairy parentage leaves his mundane Victorian-English village on a quest for a fallen star in the magical realm. The star proves to be an attractive woman with a hot temper, who plunges with our hero into adventures featuring witches, the lion and the unicorn, plotting elf-lords, ships that sail the sky, magical transformations, curses whose effects rebound, binding conditions with hidden loopholes and all the rest.

I’ll be honest – I haven’t read the book (YET), but I loved this movie. It’s sweet and inventive and beautiful. It’s fantasy at its best, and I hope you enjoy it.

This is a blog hop! Link your Throwback Thursday post below!



Throwback Thursday (March 14) – The Pelican Brief

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

Here’s how it works:
  • Pick any bookish or literary-related media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago.
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham

(Also adapted into a film starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington)

Remember how I always talk about how I read all the John Grisham books in high school, yet I’ve only ever featured one here on Throwback Thursday?

Well. There’s a reason for that. And that reason is: I didn’t think many of you would be ALL OVER the legal thrillers.

BUT!

I only read so many books in years past. And John Grisham was a hefty portion of them. So. We’ve reached that time where I MUST talk about Grisham, or be left without anything to blog about. And that, dear readers, would be sad.

The Pelican Brief was my very first John Grisham book, which I read following my very first John Grisham movie. You may have seen it. Julia Roberts plays a very non-Julia-Roberts role. It is tense and unexpected and smart. Oh, and Stanley Tucci. It’s important to always remember Stanley Tucci in films, because he is always a highlight. It’s a fact.

Anyway, here’s the synopsis from Amazon, because I’m tired and it’s been years since I’ve read/seen this and my brain isn’t working.

In suburban Georgetown, a killer’s Reeboks whisper on the floor of a posh home. In a seedy D.C. porno house, a patron is swiftly garroted to death. The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief.

To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it’s political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder–a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds that there is only one person–an ambitious reporter after a newsbreak hotter than Watergate–she can trust to help her piece together the deadly puzzle. Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House’s inner sanctums, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For someone has read Darby’s brief–someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime.

In a nutshell, I enjoyed the movie, it made me want to pick up the book, and I loved the book. Maybe it’s because my brain is wired in such a way I like logic and complex puzzles (my parents always suspected I would be a lawyer), but I am ALL ABOUT the legal thriller. They just push all the right buttons in my brain. And thus started my long-standing love of John Grisham thrillers. They’re smart, they’re tense, and they use ALL THE LOGIC. Sometimes, a person just needs logic. Perhaps it’s the Vulcan in me.

If you, like me, think crazy conspiracies and legal loopholes are WHERE IT’S AT, you should check it out.

This is a blog hop! Link up your Throwback Thursday post below!



Throwback Thursday (March 7): Clueless/Emma

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books.

Here’s how it works:
  • Pick any bookish or literary-related media (or non-media item) released more than 5 years ago.
  • Write up a short summary (include the title, author, and cover art, if applicable) and an explanation of why you love it. Make sure to link back to The Housework Can Wait and Never Too Fond of Books in your post.
  • Link up your post at The Housework Can Wait or Never Too Fond of Books.
  • Visit as many blogs as you can, reminisce about books you loved, and discover some “new” books for your TBR list – or some other classic!

Feel free to grab the Throwback Thursday button code from the sidebar to use in your posts.

Thanks for participating, and we look forward to seeing which books you choose to remember!

My Throwback this week is…

Clueless (1995) starring Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Stacey Dash, and Brittany Murphy

Based on the novel Emma by Jane Austen

When I first saw Clueless as a teenager, I had no idea it was based on a Jane Austen book. I also was kind of ashamed that I loved it as much as I did. On the surface, it’s a kind of superficial, vapid teen rom-com about equally superficial and vapid teens. But. BUT. It is also surprisingly thoughtful and introspective and sweet.

At least, it’s surprising until you realize it’s Jane Austen in disguise. And amazingly enough, it’s actually a fairly faithful adaptation. When I finally read Emma — years after my first — and second, and fifth, and eight — viewing of Clueless, I was honestly shocked that the Beverly Hills update follows the book so closely. I mean, aside from the fact that it’s in Beverly Hills, and it’s about Cher and Josh, not Emma and Mr. Knightly. And Josh is her ex-step-brother and not her neighbor. (Yeah, I know that sounds weird, but just go with it.)

In a nutshell, Clueless is the story of Cher Horowitz, who makes it her mission in life to matchmake the people around her while simultaneously making terrible and misguided decisions about her own love life. Her guidance is sometimes cringe-inducingly awful and sometimes she pushes her friends in the complete wrong direction, but it’s okay. It’s Jane Austen, and everyone finds their happiness in the end.

Clueless is available on Netflix and Emma is in your local library, or possibly on your bookshelf. Experience them together and feel the love.

This is a blog hop! Link your Throwback Thursday post below!