My Book Boyfriend: Henry Lazar

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."

Related fun
Max Irons is Attractive

Bookish Buys: I'm a Stationery Nerd

Confession: I'm slightly addicted to stationery. But I use it every day, so I figure it's a relatively healthy habit.

Notebooks are a particular favourite of mine, and at the moment I'm in love with these vintage/French/Austen-inspired moleskin journals from Mulberry Muse. I nabbed myself the Emma notebook as well as "Keep Calm and Drink Tea". So sweet!

 

I also adore these upcycled Golden Book notebooks from This Handmade Life. I had a bajillion Golden Books when I was little (my book obsession started early!), so these get bonus points for nostalgia. My fave is The Saggy Baggy Elephant!

Bouncing Ball Creations has a cute range of pens and pencils, wrapped in assorted book pages. I'm tossing up between Peter Pan pens and pencils wrapped in definitions of my favourite words. I guess I could always use both...

 

In My Mailbox: Ooh, Pretty!

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by The Story Siren, highlighting cool books that bloggers have gotten each week by buying, borrowing or, er, being sent (I had to keep the alliteration going, sorry). I haven't participated before, but this morning I received such a pretty book that I just had to share. Seriously, I just keep looking at it. It's so pretty. And SHINY.

But I'll take my eyes off it for a minute to tell you more about it: It's The Beautiful and The Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as you can see by the dodgy picture above (that REALLY doesn't do justice to the prettiness). After loving The Great Gatsby, I wanted to read more of Fitzgerald's work, and when I saw this book from the Penguin Classics hardcover collection on AbeBooks, I knew I had to have it. Now I can look at it lovingly and stroke it as much as I want... oh, and read it too.

I also picked up The Woman in Black by Susan Hill from AbeBooks, because I've been interested in reading it since seeing the still of Daniel Radcliffe looking very periody and un-Pottery for the upcoming movie adaptation. Plus I received my copy of Caroline Overington's Ghost Child from Fishpond, which I'll be reading and reviewing in the next week or so as part of Aussie Author Month. Any other day, I would have been super excited to receive both of these books, but they had the misfortune of arriving on the same day as the shiniest book I've ever seen. I tend to get distracted by shiny things.

Now, excuse me while I go back to staring at my precious...

Top Five: Actors Who Should Do Audiobooks

I've never really been into audiobooks, but after hearing that Ed Westwick is recording Cassandra Clare's City of Fallen Angels, I decided to investigate further. And I struck gold - the first site I came across was Silksound Books, which features voice porn audiobooks from the likes of Jeremy Northam, Bill Nighy, Terence Stamp, Rufus Sewell and Toby Stephens. Then I found the jackpot - a bunch of audiobooks by Richard Armitage, owner of the Sexiest Voice on Earth. Clearly, I have been missing out!

So I got to thinking about other swoon-worthy voices and decided that these guys should record audiobooks, like, now. Coz I would download the shizz out of them:

1. Alec Baldwin. His voice is a star in itself. Seriously - 30 Rock had a whole storyline about it.

2. Christopher Daniel Barnes. I've mentioned before that Prince Eric from The Little Mermaid was my first love (and yes, I know he's a cartoon. He's still hot). A big part of that love is his voice - borrowed from Christopher Daniel Barnes. Also known as, um, Greg Brady.

3. Gerard Butler. Whether it's singing or speaking, in an English, Irish, Scottish or American accent, I can't get enough of Gerard Butler's voice.

4. George Clooney. I know a lot of women love him, but George Clooney doesn't really do it for me. That is, except for his voice. Now that is worth a phwoar! (Note: the below clip is merely to demonstrate his voice - I may be attracted to animated princes, but even I draw the line at animated foxes. Except maybe Robin Hood).

5. Michael Fassbender. His portrayal of Mr. Rochester in the new Jane Eyre - and his booming voice in particular - was enough to make me doubt my devotion to Toby Stephens as the number one master of Thornfield. Amazingness.

Do you listen to audiobooks? Whose voice would you like to get lost in?

Bookish Fun: Slaughterhouse 90210

There are few things I'm obsessed with as much as books - but trashy TV comes close. Which is why I love Slaughterhouse 90210 - it combines two of my favourite things and it's GENIUS. Featuring screencaps of random shows captioned with quotes from literature, it's totally hilarious. Here are some of my faves:

“A real friendship ought to introduce each person to unexpected weirdness in the other.”
— Jaron Lanier, You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto

“She has many rare and charming qualities, but Sobriety is not one of them.”
— Jane Austen, Juvenilia

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
— Arthur C. Clarke, Profiles of the Future

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”
— Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

Check out a lot more amazingness at Slaughterhouse 90210.

Review: The Nest by Paul Jennings

Reading this book was like catching up with a childhood friend.

Paul Jennings was one of my favourite authors when I was a kid, so it was wonderful to return to his writing with The Nest, his first book for older readers (it's aimed at the late teens). From page one I recognised his distinctive style, and it gave me a feeling of, "Oh, so there you are". Now I want to go dig up and reread my old Jennings collection, even though I'm waaay out of their target demographic.

But let's talk about The Nest. It tells the story of Robin, a troubled teen living in the Victorian Alps with his cruel father. His mother disappeared from his life when he was young, something that still profoundly affects him. He's plagued by worrying thoughts, and while he's trying to get a grip of them and deal with his dad, he's also navigating the tricky territory of first love (and first lust).

This book is a lot darker than most of Jennings' other work (hence the older audience), but it still bears his trademark humour, straightforward storytelling and, of course, an incredible twist. The snowy setting was unusual for an Australian story (definitely not the typical beach or outback environment), but the stormy weather added to the growing sense of turmoil in Robin's world. A writer himself, the plot is spliced with the stories Robin writes, which themselves reveal small hints of what's to come. I also enjoyed them because they reminded me even more of Jennings' own short stories (nostalgia points!).

I loved this book. Even without the nostalgia, it would be a great read. The story is simply told, but powerful. I read in an interview with Jennings that he wanted to write this story to let teens, who might be going through a similar experience to Robin, know that they're not alone. And he's done a brilliant job - I really connected with Robin and felt his pain. There were quite a few times that I just wanted to give him a hug and tell him that he wasn't alone, and that everything would be OK.

Rating: 4/5

Talking Points (Spoiler Alert!)

• I loved the way everything was connected, especially the way Robin's stories were interwoven with the plot. The only one I didn't quite get the significance of was the champagne bottles - I saw the connection with Robin's images of champagne corks popping, but I was expecting that to play a more significant part in the end, and when it didn't, I wondered what the point was.
• The final lines were amazing, and really summed up the whole book for me: "And he must walk in the night for a while, for without the dark there is no day, nor star to see, nor tale to tell... to show the way."
• Jennings stated in an interview that Robin has OCD (exactly what his problem is is never mentioned in the book), but I didn't pick up on that at all. Maybe I just don't know enough about it, but I thought Robin was depressed, or perhaps even schizophrenic. But I guess that's a minor point, because either way, the portrayal of Robin's feelings of hopelessness and his inability to control his own thoughts was really powerful and effective.

Eye Candy
Probably because I've recently seen him in I Am Number Four, Callan McAuliffe was Robin for me. He's got the right dorky/cute look:

 
Robin repeatedly describes his friend/crush, the compassionate "greenie" Charlie, as beautiful. For some reason Ashleigh Brewer, a.k.a. Kate Ramsay on Neighbours, kept popping into my head. I don't know why - I don't even watch the show. But she is very pretty:

Sophie Lowe really pulled off the creepy/selfish/temptress vibe in Beautiful Kate, so I thought she was the perfect fit for Verushka:

Fine print
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Penguin Books Australia
First published: 2009
Best deal: Book Depository

This post is part of Aussie Author Month, which supports the Indigenous Literacy Project.

My Book Boyfriend: Captain Wentworth

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly meme hosted by The Unread Reader every Wednesday. It's all about fictional boys that make us swoon. This week, I'm swooning over Captain Frederick Wentworth from Jane Austen's Persuasion.

I was initially going to go with Mr Darcy (the obvious choice, I know), but when thinking about my fave fictional moments in response to The Perpetual Page-Turner's post on fictional men the other day, Captain Wentworth was the one who sprang to mind first, and stuck there...

About Wentworth

• He falls in love with Anne Elliot at a young age. Austen describes him at that time as "a remarkably fine young man, with a great deal of intelligence, spirit and brilliancy." Eight years on, when the novel is set, "he was not altered, or not for the worse... [the years] had only given him a more glowing, manly, open look."
• He starts out poor, but his confidence and ambition - and, er, broken heart - motivate him to move up the ranks in the navy, and he soon makes a fortune.
• He's one hell of a letter-writer.
• I first read Persuasion not long after my Ever After phase, so, inevitably, my Wentworth looked a lot Dougray Scott (and, come to think of it, my Anne looked pretty much like Drew Barrymore).

• In all the adaptations, only one Wentworth has made me waiver from my original picture: Rupert Penry-Jones from the 2007 BBC version. He looks totally different, but he's totally gorgeous:

Swoon-worthy quote
Two words: the letter. If nothing else, Persuasion would be worth reading for the letter alone (though as a bonus there's a lot of other awesomeness). Here are my favourite parts - warning, spoilers ahead... but they're kinda worth it.

"You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever. I offer myself to you again with a heart even more your own, than when you almost broke it eight years and a half ago... I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone I think and plan... I can hardly write. I am every instant hearing something which overpowers me. You sink your voice, but I can distinguish the tones of that voice, when they would be lost on others. Too good, too excellent creature!"

Review: The Vampire Diaries: Stefan's Diaries, Vol. 1: Origins

Whew. Is that a long title or what? I didn't even include the author in my post heading - mainly because I'm not quite sure who wrote it. The cover says "based on the novels by L. J. Smith and the TV series by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec", and  there's no other mention of who the author is. I'm not sure if this means L. J. Smith wrote it, but I'm assuming she didn't, because it's a total departure from her original Vampire Diaries books.

Stefan's Diaries is, as the name suggests, told from the perspective of Stefan Salvatore. It's a prequel to the TV show (which is based on L. J. Smith's books), telling more of the story that viewers have seen only glimpses of in flashback scenes. We see Stefan and his brother, Damon, meet the vampire Katherine; each fall in love with her; become vampires themselves; and end up hating each other (no spoiler alert is necessary because knowing that is kinda the whole motive for reading the book).

I picked this book up after experiencing major VD withdrawals (ahem, no pun intended) due to the show being on hiatus, and it definitely gave me the fix I needed (although I would have preferred a bit more Damon, but I'm biased). I loved the flashback episodes on TV, so it was a delight for me to be able to discover the whole back story in detail. The writing was adequate with only a few groan-worthy moments (actually less than I was expecting!), and even though I knew exactly where the story was going, I was excited to find out how everything would fall into place.

Being totally obsessed with the TV show, it's hard for me to say whether this would appeal to those who haven't seen it, because, to me, that was the whole appeal. It'd definitely be confusing if you've only read L. J. Smith's original Vampire Diaries books, because in those, the back story of the brothers is completely different (they're alive in the 1600s, not the 1800s, and are from Italy, not Mystic Falls, and, er, Damon is kinda evil from the start). If you are a fan of the TV show, however, I would say it's definitely worth a read. I totally want to rewatch the show from the beginning now, with all this knowledge of the characters' history and headspaces. Like I need an excuse.

Rating: 3/5.

Talking Points

• Although the writer attempted to go all olde worlde with the language, it was really jarring for the characters to refer to everyone - including people they'd just met and their elders - by their first names. I might be wrong (but I don't think I am), but that's a MODERN thing.
• While we're on the subject, I also thought Katherine's character was a tad modern. I get that she's supposed to be a free-spirited, strong-willed vampire chick, but all the flirting/touching/swimming/running/skin-baring she does in public would have been just a bit more scandalous than it's shown to be.
• I'd like to know more about Katherine's interactions with Damon. We get the full picture of how she got Stefan to fall in love with her, and how he turned against her, but we still don't understand exactly what she said or, ahem, did with Damon. She told Stefan that she treated him like a brother, but given Damon's feelings for her, I somehow don't think that's true. Damon's Diaries, anyone? *Wishful thinking*
• (Minor spoiler alert) It was interesting that the writer introduced the crow at the end, and its apparent connection to Damon. The crow appeared in L. J. Smith's original books, as well as in the pilot episode of the show, but has since disappeared from the series without a mention. I wonder if they'll explain more about the connection in the other two volumes of Stefan's Diaries.
• Which brings me to the fact that, yes, this is part one of a trilogy. When I first started reading it I thought that, while this book really appealed to me, I didn't really see the point of turning it into a trilogy, because the back story/love triangle is pretty much totally explained in this one. However, after finishing it - and reading the preview of the next book - I'm kind of curious to read the rest. It might be interesting to see exactly how Stefan found his way back to his humanity, Damon lost his, and they totally lost each other. And, of course, how they discovered the rumours about Katherine's whereabouts and what drove their return to Mystic Falls (assuming all that is covered in the books, of course).

Eye Candy
What the characters looked like was a bit of a no-brainer for this one, seeing as, y'know, it's based on the TV show that I'm just slightly addicted to. I even had the flashback episodes as a visual references for the old timey clothes. Not gonna lie, though - I pictured Stefan and Damon's modern hair. Their old timey hair just sucks.

Damon knows the trick to covering bad hair days...

...he never leaves home without a hat.

Otherwise people laugh at him. Oh Damon, don't look so concerned - you only have to wait 250 years for the GHD.

In the meantime, be grateful that your hair still looks better than Stefan's.

Hoorah for GHDs and hair gel!

Wait a minute, I don't remember a reference to Damon shirtless. *rereading*

Did someone say Damon shirtless?

Why, yes, I believe I did.

I think we need that from another angle. You know, for accuracy purposes. Or something.

So THAT'S what he'd look like sleeping.

OK, I'm done now.

The Movie Was Better: Red Riding Hood

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!

 Earlier

• Review: Bonus chapter of Red Riding Hood.
• Review: Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright and David Leslie Johnson.

Aussie Author Month

I can't believe we're in April already! This year is going so fast. But one good thing about it being April is that it's Aussie Author Month. Organised by Book Thingo, Fangbooks, and a Writer Goes on a Journey, it's all about supporting and promoting Aussie authors, as well as raising money for the Indigenous Literacy Project.

I've decided to take part because it sounds super-fun, and I've realised that I definitely don't read enough local authors. Unfortunately I didn't finish Stefan's Diaries in time to start with an Aussie book straight away (I've been mega-busy this week), but as soon as I'm done with that - hopefully this weekend - I'll be focusing on reading and reviewing only Aussie authors for the rest of the month. Here are the options I have lined up:

• The Nest by Paul Jennings.
• Ghost Child by Caroline Overington.
• Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey.
• Not Meeting Mr Right by Anita Heiss.
• On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta.
• My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin.

I don't know if I'll manage to squeeze them all into the month, but I'm going to give it a go. I've also decided to join the Aussie Author Challenge run by Booklover Book Reviews - the deadline for this is not until the end of the year, so whatever I don't read during the month I'll definitely get to at a later stage - and then some! I'm aiming for "True Blue" status - you have to read and review at least 12 Aussie books (from at least nine different authors) by the end of the year. I'm really excited about this - Aussie, Aussie, Aussie! (Sorry, that's the bogan in me coming out).