Monday 16 November 2009

Book to Movie



American author Cormac McCarthy has struck gold with the film adaption of his Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Road, scheduled for release Wednesday, November 25. The post-apocalyptic thriller follows the journey of a father and son walking across a burned out America searching for the unknown. Cast includes Viggo Mortenson, Charlize Theron, Robert DuVal and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee. Think Oscar buzz...

McCarthy also penned the award winning No Country for Old Men, which won the 2008 Best Picture Award.
Laura

Friday 6 November 2009

Christmas Reads!



Christmas is just around the corner and publishers are releasing holidays books. Here are a few titles to enjoy over the holiday season.
Happy Holidays!
L

Wednesday 4 November 2009

Under This Unbroken Sky



"There is a black-and-white photograph of a a family: a man, woman, and five children. Scrawled on the back, in tight archaic script, are the words Willow Creek, Alberta, 1933. This will be their only photograph together.

Within three years, this farm will be foreclosed. Two years later, one will die. Two others, of whom there is no photograph, will be murdered.

But this day, in the moment right after the shutter clicks shut, this family takes a deep breath and smiles. "

In the spring of 1938, after two years in prison for stealing his own grain, Ukrainian immigrant, Teodor Mykolayenko is a free man. While in prison, his no-frills wife, Maria, takes of care of their five children and Teodor's delusional sister, Anna, on a barren homestead in the northern Canadian prairies.
Surviving Stalin's regime and near starvation, Teodor is determined to build a profitable farm and provide for his family and sister, but the odds are against him from the very beginning. Clearing the land and raising wheat in the middle of the harsh Canadian tundra is difficult enough, but when Anna's loser of a husband, Stephan, returns, Teodor's problems escalate.

This debut novel is not about the characters, but about the land and starkness of existence in the middle of nowhere. The author, Shandi Mitchell, shows the reader through language the difficulties of one man and his family as they try to build a home and provide for themselves against natural elements and family feuds.

If you enjoy literary books and beauty of language, you will devour Under This Unbroken Sky. I give this novel a 10!

L

Monday 2 November 2009

Top 10 Teen Books!



Nearly 11,000 teens across the nation voted for their favorite book of 2009 in YALSA's annual poll. One of my favorite authors, John Green, won first prize with Paper Towns.

Since I just checked out the book from my local library, I can't give you a review. But if it is as good as his award winning Looking for Alaska, you won't be disappointed. Other winners include:2. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

3. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

4. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare

5. Identical by Ellen Hopkins

6. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

7. Wake by Lisa McMann

8. Untamed by P.C. & Kristin Cast

9. The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

10. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Oh, did I mention Paper Towns will be hitting the silver screen with John Malkovich directing!

Laura