Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief MOVIE

I just finished watching the movie Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief. 

Wow.  This was definitely one of those movies that I could TEAR apart the differences between the book and the movie. 

The movie was good too. The book was better.

My thoughts:

• This movie was quite a bit more scary and intense than the books.  I could totally see some younger kids who loved the books be kind of frightened by the movie.  (That being said, I thought some of the characters that were digitally created were pretty fantastic.)
• One can read the book, and then watch the movie and get basically 2 completely different stories!  While the basic plot frame (like the general idea of plot) is the same, there are few similarities otherwise.  Which I can't decide if I like or not. 

One thing I did find exciting was the feature of Nashville in the movie!  Instead of the threesome heading to St. Louis and the arch, they went to Nashville and the Parthenon.  I'm a Nashville native and LOVED seeing Centennial Park on the movie screen.

Overall, I thought it was a very enjoyable movie.  I think I'm going to have to stop reading a book then immediately watching its movie counterpart...I spend to much brainpower picking apart the differences rather than just enjoying the experience.

So have you read the book and seen the movie?  What are your thoughts?  I'd love hear them.  Leave a comment!  

 

The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson & the Olympians #1 by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson can't seem to stay out of trouble.  He's about to be kicked out of another boarding school, where some events seem just....odd.

Upon returning home for the summer, he and his mother take off for a relaxing weekend when it takes an unbelievable turn causing Percy to battle against a monster and then running for refuge at a summer camp.

A camp for kids who are half-bloods...on half human, one half Greek god.

Percy is a wanted kid already, and is sent on a quest to prevent a war between the gods!   His time is limited, he is still figuring out his new life...will he succeed?


What I Thought: 
I'm very late to the Percy Jackson party, but glad I joined.  It's not one of my favorite series out there, and it did take me a while to get hooked into the story line but once I did I had to finish the book!  I'll eventually pick up book 2, but I'll have to wait for the title to go off the holds list!

Anyway, this book made me want to freshen up my Greek mythology knowledge.  I was pretty confused throughout the first part of the story trying to figure out what god did what and went with who.  However, by the end I felt pretty caught up, though I still think I should really do some brushing up before I move ahead in the series.

This is a super fun book that has all the elements that kids want...super kid hero, action...the works!

If your favorite tween hasn't read it yet...head on down to your local library and check it out!  I'm looking forward to reading book two, and check out the movie of this book.

Highly recommended!

Want to see more?   Check it out on Amazon: The Lightning Thief: Percy Jackson & the Olympians #1 by Rick Riordan.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

In this memoir, Justin looks back on many of the conversations he and his dad have shared over the years. 

What I Thought: 
HILARIOUS!

My husband follows Justin's twitter feed and has literally laughed until tears ran down his face.  When this book arrived at the library last week, I couldn't wait to bring it home so we could read it.  My sweet hubby let me read it first!  He got so tired of me trying to read some of the funny quotes to him aloud (I was laughing so hard that I couldn't get the whole phrase out in one breath) that he kindly requested that I not share...he just would read it himself.  :)

It's obvious by the title that this is not a kids book!  If you're easily offended by language this is NOT the book for you.  But if you're looking for a book that will make you laugh, this is it.  Justin's dad definitely shares what he thinks, and doesn't sugarcoat those thoughts with anything.  But through all the crazy conversations and quotes, it is very obvious that Mr. Halpern loves his family and only wants to see his children grow up to be great human beings.

As briefly mentioned, this book came from a twitter feed that is wildly popular...and in the fall CBS will have a show by the same name featuring William Shatner.   I'm interested to see how it turns out!  (And quite interested to see how they tone down the language.)

Recommended.

Want to see more?  Check it out on Amazon: Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern.

Reviewed from a library copy.

Eclipse The Movie

I went and saw The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on opening day.  I didn't go with many of my friends who saw the midnight showing...I had to be spunky for work that day!  But I did grab a ticket to a matinee on the 30th.

I like it!  I probably made the mistake of rereading the book just before the movie came out so I critiqued every bit of the film and it's accuracy to Stephenie Meyer's text. 

The movie was pretty good!  I think the producers did a great job sticking with the text and including all the major plot points and many of my favorite one liners.  I even giggled some out loud!

There were several points that were seriously changed from the book, but I understand that had to be done to keep the movie plot moving and perhaps even to tie some parts together that would have taken too long in the movie. 

I think I liked New Moon better though. 


But wait...before you begin the flogging...I have a theory. 

Eclipse is my favorite book...New Moon was my least favorite.  I didn't have high expectations for the New Moon movie, I had HUGE expectations for the Eclipse movie.  Maybe too high! 

Anyway, I'm leaving all the plot points out for those who haven't seen it yet.  I don't want to be a spoiler! 

I am rather looking forward to seeing the movie again...perhaps a second viewing will change my views!

If you haven't seen it...go see it!  It's a good one!

Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Movie Trailer

It can be found right

HERE

from Warner Brothers.

I.  CANNOT.  WAIT. 

What I Love

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to reread Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer before the movie came out.  I typically feel very guilty about rereading books as my list of books to read for the first time is quite long!  It doesn't help that I feel spectacularly under read, which does not bode well for my professions.

Of course, if I cut out some TV, this problem may be thwarted.  But, I digress.

So when I finished Eclipse, I of course needed to reread Breaking Dawn.  So I did. 

And here is what I love:

I LOVE when I know how a book ends (because I've already read it) but I cannot remember EXACTLY how the ending happened.  It was like reading it for the first time having the knowledge that everything will be okay.  The journey to get there was practically new!   All the details came rushing back, creating that sense of excitement and drama.  It was awesome.

This is a pretty exciting discovery.  I've decided that I will reread the entire Harry Potter series comes out before November when Harry Potter 7, Part I comes out.  So while I know what happens, I'm excited to dive back into Rowling's world and relive all the wonderful details that creates the journey to the end.  It'll be almost like new!