Tuesday Top Ten

top ten cry

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the top ten books that make me weep…  I’m getting a little teary just thinking about them…  But I’m not going to tell you WHY they make me cry, if I do that it’s like giving away the ending and I wouldn’t want to do that!

  1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
  2. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
  3. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
  4. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
  5. America by E.R. Frank
  6. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
  7. The Fault in our Stars  by John Green
  8. Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
  9. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
  10. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
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Tuesday Top Ten

top ten names Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the top ten names that we love from book characters.  I guess I don’t generally give character names a ton of thought, so this one took me a while, and I’m sure I missed a great one somewhere, but hey – I gave it a try!

  1. Hermione Granger, Minerva McGonagall, Dumbledore, Neville Longbottom, Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling – Seriously, what a bunch of fantastic names!
  2. Pippi Longstocking from Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
  3. Pip from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  4. Ebenezer Scrooge from The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
  5. Sherlock Holmes from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
  6. Bilbo Baggins from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
  7. Atticus Finch, Scout Finch, Boo Radley from To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  8. Mary Poppins from Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers – OK, Mary alone isn’t all that exciting – but add the Poppins and you’ve got something!
  9. Artemis Fowl from the Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer
  10. Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet, Winnie the Pooh from The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne

Tuesday Top Ten

top ten movie

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week’s challenge was to list the best/worst movie adaptations from books.  To be fair, I only considered those where I have read the book and have seen the movie.  There are many, many that I could add to both the lists of good and bad, but most are just mediocre – not fantastic, but not awful enough to offend me!  You will see that my list is pretty heavy on children’s movies – having kids these are the movies I have seen the most often and typically multiple times so they are the ones that stuck with me!

The Good

  1. Harry Potter – I won’t try to pick the best of the movies – but they were all fantastic – some followed the books more closely than ever, but I never was disappointed after watching a Harry Potter movie.
  2. The Wizard of Oz – The movie may arguably be better than the book (ruby slippers are far superior to silver ones!).
  3. Gone with the Wind – A classic, beautiful costumes, wonderful cast, just a great movie if you have four hours to spare!
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird – Another classic – both the book and the movie are fabulous.
  5. Because of Winn Dixie – A wonderful family movie with a cast of great actors that closely mirrored the book.
  6. Charlotte’s Web – Both the 1973 animated movie and the 2006 movie were both fantastic depictions of this great childhood favorite.

The Bad

  1. Tale of Despereaux – I LOVED this book and I HATED this movie!  It was the most awful depiction of a book that I have ever seen, even my kids could not sit through it.  Don’t waste your time!
  2. The Cat in the Hat – Great children’s book, horribly overdone ridiculous movie.

Some of Both…

  1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas – The 1966 cartoon is still a favorite from my childhood and I eagerly watch it every Christmas, but I am not a fan of the 2000 movie – too annoying, overdone, and ridiculous.
  2. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – I loved the 1971 version, a childhood classic, and an amazing world full of candy!  But the 2005 version?  I’m sorry, but Johnny Depp was far too creepy – I would never let my kids go into a candy factory with his character!

Top Ten Characters I Would Crush On If I Were Also A Fictional Character

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Book bloggers create their own lists based on the chosen topics and post links to our lists. It’s a way of all sharing our thoughts and our love of books.  And who doesn’t love lists??

So this week the challenge is to list the characters that we would “crush on” if we were also a fictional character (because of course no real person ever actually crushes on a fictional character – that would just be silly and we are all firmly planted in reality…).  This was actually a really difficult list for me, I don’t tend to crush on fictional characters all that  much – I might like them, think they’re funny, inspiring, intriguing – but the idea of having a “crush” on them was a little weird for me, and I may have ended up with a list of male characters that I like, but don’t “like-like”, but I tried…

  1. Jack Reacher  – The main character in Lee Child’s Reacher series (the way that he is written – NOT Tom Cruise!!!), he is certainly characterized as being smart, tough, good-looking, and good with women.  He’s a tough guy, and you know that he’s going to move on after the current catastrophe is resolved, but hey – not a bad guy to have around if your life needs saving…
  2. Morelli vs Ranger – For fans of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series I will provide my thoughts on the Morelli vs Ranger question.  My vote?  Morelli.  Sure, Ranger is supposed to be crazy hot, but so is Morelli and wouldn’t it be nice to have a guy who was there even when your car wasn’t on fire?
  3. Edward vs Jake – For fans of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight stories – I pick Jake.  Sorry, but vampires are creepy – all that undead, blood-drinking, not sleeping, pale skin – doesn’t do anything for me.  Jake may be a werewolf, but at least they’re living, somehow makes it less weird, I guess?
  4. Atticus Finch – The dad in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely crushable – honest, ethical, a great single dad – and always Gregory Peck in my mind…
  5. Lucas Davenport – The main character in John Sandford’s Prey series is intense, well-dressed, extremely wealthy from his former dork-days (I’ve always been a sucker for a cute dork), and always catches the bad guy – what’s not to like?
  6. Robert Langdon – I have a soft-spot for smart guys, and Langdon from the Dan Brown books is definitely uber-smart, travels all over the world, and has crazy history-changing adventures.  Sounds like fun to me… as long as I don’t get killed…
  7. Cliff Janeway – Cliff Janeway is a former cop turned rare book dealer in John Dunning’s Janeway series.  A tough guy, always saves the day, who knows and loves books – what’s not to love?
  8. Rhett Butler – I’m much more reasonable than Scarlet ever dreamt of being, Rhett wouldn’t have to curse at me…
  9. Inspector Gamache – Inspector Gamache from Louise Penny’s mystery series is probably just a character that I really want to know – not necessarily a crush – I would be happy to have him as a friend, an uncle, a colleague – his constance, his sincerity, his intelligence, his kindness – I have always wished that I could actually meet him!  Plus, he’s married to a librarian… 😉
  10. Rudy – The perfect childhood crush – filled with innocence and adoration – the boy that will do anything for you while begging for a kiss and annoying you – Rudy from Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief is my definition of great childhood love.