1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. For allowing me to inhabit a world full of quirky characters that felt so real and so dear, I was left wanting more after nearly 1000 pages.
2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. For giving the world Mr Darcy and Lizzie Bennet, arguably the greatest hero and heroine of all time, forming the greatest love story of all time.
3. Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. For being a good friend throughout my teenage years; for making me laugh and cry; and for making me feel like I wasn't alone, that what I was feeling was normal, and it was all going to be OK.
4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. For being so beautiful it moved me more than any other book ever has, and for teaching me that Death isn't such bad company - at least for a few hundred pages.
5. The Princess Bride by William Goldman. For bringing me joy every single time I read it.
6. Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. For teaching me that being a freckled, kinda strange, imaginative and talkative red-head is awesome, no matter who calls you "Carrots" (especially if people call you "Carrots").
7. Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares. For snapping me out of my judgey, anti-YA ways.
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling. For distracting me when I was stranded at Heathrow airport for two days with a chest infection and a broken rib and no idea when I'd be able to get home.
9. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. For putting me in the Christmas mood every year... and for The Muppet Christmas Carol.
10. Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright. For making me so mad I just had to express my anger - and so I started this blog.
Wednesday is fast becoming my fave day of the week, mostly thanks to My Book Boyfriend, a weekly meme hosted by The Unread Reader, all about fictional boys who make us swoon. This week my book boyfriend is Henry Lazar from Red Riding Hood - because he deserves so much better than lame Valerie who'd rather swoon over lame Peter.
About Henry
He's a blacksmith and works for the family business. This means he spends a lot of time dirty, sweaty, hot and shirtless.
He's the only rich boy in town - ka-ching! Wait, I mean... money doesn't matter. Yes, yes, that's it. Ahem.
He's totally in love with Valerie, so his dad arranges for him to be betrothed to her. Too bad lame Valerie has other lame ideas. Luckily for her, Henry isn't lame and doesn't force her to stick with the betrothal. He's nice like that.
Henry is also super sweet and does everything he can to help, support and care for lame Valerie - even after she's really lame to him.
Valerie is lame PURELY because she prefers lame Peter over awesome, amazing, adorable Henry. Peter is lame coz he's not Henry.
When I read the book, I pictured Ben Barnes as Henry, but after watching the movie, I think Max Irons is great. In fact, I'm kinda totally obsessed with him now.
Swoon-worthy quotes
"For a long while, Henry, his body half-bare as he threw vicious sparks, did not realise she was there... One of the fiery specks spat out of the forge and landed on his arm, searing his flesh. Punishing himself, he did not stop to remove it until finally, with one quick motion, he gestured violently toward the door. 'Valerie, leave,' he snarled. 'I don't want you to see me like this.'"
"She jerked against her bonds in surprise when she heard a voice close behind her. 'I'm going to get you out of here.' Even in the chaos, she knew it was Henry. But he was different. The power of his intensity, the feverishness of his concentration, frightened her... As he leaned in close, all Valerie could see, filling the eyeholes of her mask, were his brown eyes, glimmering in the flames. Sharply intelligent. Burning.'"
"Valerie looked back - and screamed, seeing the silver bolt flying straight and true, the one that was meant for her, meant to end her life... Instead, she was jolted aside, and with a thwap, the bolt lodged itself in Henry's side. He'd taken it for her... 'Go, Valerie. Go.' He shoved her with his good arm."
I finally saw the Red Riding Hood movie this week. It was totally craptastic. And I loved it!
After being disappointed by I Am Number Four, reading countless bad reviews of Red Riding Hood, and kinda hating the book version, I was a bit wary going into the cinema. I had a feeling it was going to be pretty bad. But I also hoped that it would be the kind of bad that I liked. Thankfully, it was.
If there's one thing Catherine Hardwicke does well, it's sexual tension. Boy, does it permeate this flick. I think that's what made it so much more exciting and fun than the book. The story was the same, pretty much point by point, but the stunning visuals (they really milked that red cloak!) and soundtrack effectively enhance the mood and play up the characters' emotions of longing and paranoia. Of course, there's still a bunch of plot holes that bugged me and quite a few unintentionally funny moments, but I was entertained and happy - which is what you want from a movie!
Changes that worked
As I mentioned, the plot follows the book pretty closely - or, I should say, the book followed the movie pretty closely, because it is a novelisation after all. So there aren't too many differences, but one massive one that really worked was the fact that the whole boring/weird first section of the book isn't in the movie. Funnily enough, without this extra "back story", the motives and actions of all the characters made a lot more sense - including, importantly, Valerie's love for Peter.
The actress playing Madame Lazar is even scarier than I pictured her to be in the book.
There were a few things that weren't explained very well in the book that were a lot clearer in the movie (like how Valerie obtained the contents of her basket at the end).
The ending, believe it or not, was included in the same product! Unlike the book. Yes, I'm still bitter about that.
Changes that didn't
(Spoiler alert) The truth about Lucy's parentage is revealed quite early on in the film, whereas in the book it was part of the big twist ending. I'm not sure why they changed this - I think it works better at the end.
The snow was pretty, but not much else, apparently. Everyone was running around, quite happily, in thin clothes like it was the middle of summer. It detracted from the movie just a bit (I know, coz everything else was so realistic, right? But it bothered me more than anything else).
Rating: 4/5 (note: for enjoyment, not quality).
Eye candy
I have no complaints about Amanda Seyfried as Valerie - she was beautiful, as usual. And my, what big eyes she has!
I don't know what it is about Shiloh Fernandez, but he just doesn't do it for me. I still didn't really want Peter or want him to be with Valerie. I think maybe he's just too short (I like tall guys). Although, I'll admit, he did kinda make me swoon in the dance scene. That was hot.
Then there's Max Irons. Oh, Max. I think I'm a little bit in love with him. OK, more than a little bit... I may have spent the past two days googling pictures of him. I hope Max is the breakout star of this film, coz I want to see a lot more of him! He's gorgeous as Henry, who's once again SO MUCH more preferable to bloody Peter. My friend and I were discussing this in our postmortem of the movie, and decided that if they just switched the places of Peter and Henry, the story would be a hundred times better. They screwed up by making the "third wheel" so much more likeable and pretty than the leading man. Poor Henry - he sure had me swooning!
I finally got my hands on the bonus chapter of Red Riding Hood. Even though it's not released here in Australia until March 25, I discovered it's actually already available to download on the US site. I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier!
Anyway, aside from the fact that I'm still mad about the whole gimmick, I was pretty satisfied with the ending. There were a few things that were left unexplained, but at least the major thing was. Yep, we finally get to find out who the Wolf is. It was someone I suspected - but then, I suspected just about every character so that's no big revelation. The very last page seems to be setting up for a sequel, but at least the first story is mostly resolved - even if it is in a bonus chapter online. If it had've been attached to the original book, I probably would have given it 3/5. But it wasn't. So my original opinion still stands.
Related: I've had this song in my head all weekend.
I can't remember the last time a book made me feel so stabby.
Last Friday afternoon I was facing a two-hour train journey and had two books in my bag: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and this little sucker (the red theme was pure coincidence). I first reached for Scarlet because I've been meaning to read it for awhile, but one sentence in and my Friday-arvo brain-mush was ready to fall asleep. So I turned instead to Red Riding Hood because a) A trashy read was just what I needed; and b) I was curious to find out who the damn wolf was after watching the movie trailer:
The introduction by director Catherine Hardwicke reveals that this novelisation (based on the Red Riding Hood sceenplay) is a more in-depth look at the characters and their back stories, which couldn't be shown in the time-limited movie (she also reveals the whole thing was based on an idea by Leonardo Dicarprio - random!). After getting halfway through the book on my two-hour trip, I was left thinking that maybe the movie will be worse than I anticipated, given that the characters and their back stories are basically non-existent in the book, and I'd hate to see what they look like with LESS development.
See, Valerie, our heroine, is different from the rest of the inhabitants of her village. We know this because we're told: "Even at the age of seven, she knew that, somehow, she was different from the other villagers." At the age of 17, she falls instantly in love when she sees her mysterious childhood friend, Peter, for the first time in 10 years. He's mysterious because we get approximately 12 words from him in the first 80 pages. Of course, she's betrothed without her knowledge to Henry Lazar, the son of the only rich man in town, whom every girl has the hots for. Except Valerie, of course. Coz, y'know, she's different. Oh, and there's a Wolf who's been terrorizing the village once a month for who knows how long (seriously, who knows? That back story is never explained). He (or she?) has been kept in check by animal sacrifices... until now. DUN DUN DUNNNN.
The first part of the book is quite slow and the flowery language is in full bloom; I have to admit that if I hadn't been stuck on a train I probably wouldn't have kept reading. Interestingly, after I went on a mad googling session upon finishing the book (more on that in a sec) I discovered that this part is the "back story" that was added by Blakley-Cartwright, which gives me hope for the movie after all. Because the story does pick up after that and becomes much more interesting and better paced.
The best part of the book (and also the worst, but I'm getting to that) is that I wasn't able to guess the identity of the wolf. Sometimes I thought it was Henry, then Adrien, then Peter, then Grandma, then Mother, then Father, then Grandma, then Peter... this thing keeps you guessing to the very end. Literally. Which brings me, finally, to why I felt so stabby and went on a Google bender: THERE IS NO ENDING. That's right, just an online pointer to a website that tells you that the final chapter WON'T BE RELEASED until March 25th. As in, after the movie comes out. Coz they don't want to spoil it and all. A fact which is especially frustrating when your primary motive for reading the book is to find out the ending of the movie. All I can say is: Grrrrrrrrrr.
Look, it won't stop me from seeing the movie. Or rushing online to read the last chapter when it's finally released. But the whole gimmick is just so insulting to a reader and seriously devalues the book. I definitely wouldn't recommend anyone else read it - at least until the movie/ending comes out!
Rating: 2/5
Talking Points
Did I mention the ending made me angry?
I seriously felt bad for Henry and preferred him SO MUCH to silent, broody Peter. There was so much more development to the Henry/Valerie relationship compared to the Peter/Valerie one. And no, vague flashbacks to when they were five and a random, silent, stolen horseback ride don't count as development.
I'd love to know more of the, ahem, back story about the Wolf - especially why, oh why, did the villagers not try to destroy it earlier? Or, I don't know, move away?!
I also want to know more about Grandmother. Like, why on earth is she living in a treehouse out in the forest all by herself with a Wolf on the rampage once a month?! Maybe this will be revealed in the movie/final chapter. Maybe it won't and I'll still feel angry.
What's the significance of the red cloak? Other than the title, obviously. It seems kinda mystical and was given to Valerie by none other than the witchy-possible-werewolf Grandmother. Once again, I hope the connection is explained!
Eye candy
Having already seen the movie trailer prior to reading the book, plus having Amanda Seyfried on the cover and all, it was kinda impossible not to picture her as Valerie. Which was fine, coz I think she's stunning.
Shiloh Fernandez (right) also kept popping into my head as Peter, which may have played a part in me not really rooting for him, coz I don't particularly find him attractive. From this picture I'm once again more drawn to Henry (played by Max Irons) - look at that jawline!
However, when I started reading the book I couldn't recall Henry in the trailer, and being on a train with no IMDB or YouTube handy, look who sprang to mind:
I still think Ben Barnes would be great, but from what I've seen of Max so far, I'm pretty satisfied with his casting. Especially after seeing this picture:
