The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

One Corpse Too Many (The Cadfael Chronicles, Book Two) Ellis Peters, 1979 Cadfael, Episode One: One Corpse Too Many 1994 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107746/  This is a fun book, and a fantastic adaptation. I had just gotten to this volume when the first season of Cadfael adaptations appeared on Netflix, so I wanted to talk about both. Premise: The quiet life of Shrewsbury is interrupted when the front line of the civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud arrives in the town. Between battles, escaping rebels, hidden treasures and aspiring romances, for a while it seems the only person who cares about finding the killer of a mysteriously murdered young man is Brother Cadfael. I didn't love this book as wholeheartedly as I did the first volume, but I did enjoy it quite a bit. Cadfael runs up against Hugh Beringer, a younger man who may be as clever as he is, and the two spend most of the book trying to outwit each other and decode each other's motives. I ad...

A Princess of Mars Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1917 John Carter Directed by Andrew Stanton Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Mark Andrews, Michael Chabon Disney Pictures, 2012 I went to see John Carter last weekend, and I really enjoyed it. For the occasion, I also re-read A Princess of Mars . The Book: Premise: John Carter is a life-long soldier, a veteran of many wars. While prospecting for gold during a time of peace, he is driven into a cave full of a deadly gas. He dies. Yet his greatest adventure lies ahead of him, for he then goes miraculously to Mars. He has to learn to live among the violent warring Thark tribes, especially once he decides to rescue Dejah Thoris, princess of Helium. Adventures ensue! I liked this book a lot more than I remembered. It does have a good deal of telling-rather-than-showing at times, and especially early on there are some dated attitudes that are pretty awkward to read. Before too long, though, it settles into a good pulpy science-fant...

Hi all Yes, it's another meme, but I quite like lists, so... here we are. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and the Bookish . This week's prompt is: Top Ten Book to Movie adaptations I'm trying to only choose works in which I've read the book AND seen the movie, and the adaptation is good, and both the book and movie are decent. (This eliminates things like The Great Mouse Detective , which is a great movie based on a boring book, or many of my favorite Bond movies, in which the book is great, the film is great, but the two have nothing to do with each other.) In No Particular Order, my picks are: 1: Lord of the Rings (2001, 2002, 2003) Is this one, or three? Whichever. While plenty was cut, and plenty was changed, this still stands as a fantastic adaptation. 2: Sherlock Holmes (Granada TV Series) Gorgeous, spectacular adaptations of Doyle's stories. No other version of Holmes on film makes me as happy, and most of why I love it is the...

True Grit Charles Portis, 1968 True Grit IMDB Cast and Crew List , 2010 I saw "True Grit" in the theater back in December, and I liked the movie so much that I sought out the novel.  As it turns out, I almost didn't need to bother. Premise: 14-year-old Mattie Ross is determined to see Tom Chaney die for the murder of her father. She hires the meanest Federal Marshal in Fort Smith to hunt her quarry, and intends to go with him to see it done. The novel and the movie are each a delight, although this is one of those cases in which the adaptation is so close that to experience both almost feels like overkill. The movie takes much of its dialogue straight from the page. There are a couple scenes that play out slightly differently, but I think the movie might have the edge in these because it always takes the more dramatic option.  The language is simply fantastic.  Mattie is a great character, one you're drawn to admire, but she's prickly and cares ...