IMM: July Update

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren, which highlights books that have been received  during the previous week.

Hello! Happy 1st of August! I haven’t done a IMM post for a while but that doesn’t mean I had been nice and didn’t add something to The Pile. It’s completely the opposite. This month of July I had been extra naughty and devise a number of schemes how to smuggle these books inside the house without getting noticed:

The month started with me getting invited to a dinner hosted by Scholastic Philippines. After a great dinner and a nice chat with my fellow bloggers, they people of Scholastic gave us personalized tote bags containing several books. My bag contained the entire set of Stuart Hill’s The Icemark Chronicles Trilogy[The Cry of Icemark, Blade of Fire, The Last Battle of Icemark] and Rachel Ward’s Numbers and its sequel, Numbers: The Chaos.

My book club also held its 5th meet-up this month. It has been a tradition in our group to bring books you want to give away. The people in our group are very generous and we always end up a having a gigantic pile of books. There were games held to decide who gets to choose what books from the pile first. We really had a huge pile this particular meet-up that even though the team I’m in lose the game, there were still lots of good titles left after the team winners made their picks. I was able to pick sequels of Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series: Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots. I already have read The Eyre Affair and I thought it was pretty cool so I’m really happy I got the sequels for free. I also got a copy of Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List.

Meet-ups are also the time for borrowing and lending books. Chachic lend me her copy of Fiona Wood’s Six Impossible Things. I’m really interested reading this book but it’s an Australian YA novel and it’s pretty hard finding a copy of Aussie YA books here in my place. I’m thankful I know someone who collects these books and generous enough to lend her copy. My bookish big sister, Tina volunteered to lend me her copy of E. Lockhart’s The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. People are singing their praises to Frankie so I’m stoked to read this. You don’t get to read awesome girls in YA that frequently. I also borrowed another hard-to-find book from Ariel which is Brom’s The Child Thief. Because of this gigantic book I finally understand  the reason why Ariel created foot-long bookmarks that he gave away last December.

The much awaited NBS Cut-Price Sale finally started last weekend and it didn’t do good to me. At all. It’s only the first weekend and the damage is pretty huge already. There’s about three weeks more. Good luck to me.  All the books above except Patrick Ness’ A Monster Calls are bought only for Php99($2). It’s a long list so excuse me if I’ll just enumerate them:

• Green Witch (Green Angel, #2) – Alice Hoffman
• When You Reach Me – Rebecca Stead
•  The Tales of Beedle the Bard – J.K. Rowling
• Marcelo In The Real World – Francisco Stork
• Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker, #1) – Paolo Bacigalupi
• The Demon’s Lexicon – Sarah Rees Brennan
• The Book Thief – Markus Zusak

Finally, my copy of Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion that I won from Janicu’s Book Blog arrived. Everyone is basically saying that this is the most awesome zombie book to date. I love a couple of zombie books — Charlie Higson’s The Enemy and Jonathan Maberry’s Rot and Ruin among others — and I have yet to see if this will be added on that list.

So that’s the loot for the past month. I will really be trying to avoid bookstores for now. But I won’t promise anything.

On other news…

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Ten Books I’d Love To See Made Into Movies

Top Ten Tuesday is an original weekly feature hosted at The Broke and the Bookish.
Each week there is a prompt for a different themed list.

Recently, a book-to-movie deal is a common occurrence. We get that kind of announcement almost every week. With the two hugely popular book-to-film franchises approaching its finale, the search for the Next Big Film Franchise is on. Sometimes the filmmakers acquire rights to a potential blockbuster but sometimes an obvious flop. The only apparent requirement filmmakers have is popularity(either of the book or the genre of the book) or sometimes budget(more novels that requires only small budget are acquired than those novels with detailed world-building which obviously requires more and I think that’s one of the reasons why there are more paranormal films to hit the screen that science-fiction.) Here’s a list of novels I want to see made into movies — or tv series(I’m bending the rules. I is badass! ) Some of these are already slated for a film release so for those I’d say: Hurry up and produce it!

1. The Mortal Engines (Philip Reeve)
Who wouldn’t want to see that 7-tier London Traction city on-screen? Or Airhaven? Or Shrike? I’m calling it now: Mortal Engine is a blockbuster film waiting to happen. In Peter Jackson we trust.

2. Leviathan (Scott Westerfeld)
Kind of like Mortal Engines, Leviathan offers an interesting technology that I would love to see on-screen. Those battles between Clankers’ machines and Darwinists’ beasts would be very fun to watch. Because of Keith Thompson’s drawings I can’t see a live action film of this book. It has to be an animated feature film. Hello Dreamworks? Hello Hayao Miyazaki?
3. GONE(Michael Grant)
Each book in Michael Grant’s GONE series is too eventful and admittedly too long for a 90-120 minute feature film. If it will be adapted into a movie, more than half of the events and the subplots will be cut which its fans, including me, don’t want to happen. So I suggest a tv series adaptation would be more applicable. It has all the making of becoming an E4 tv series because of the gritty nature of the novels.  Also because E4 produces the coolest tv shows on the planet(Misfits, Skins, The Inbetweeners, Dead Set–yes, I am an E4 fanboy.). I believe the GONE novels suit the E4 6-8 episodes long series format with one book comprising as one series.

4. Ender’s Game(Orson Scott Card)
Although there’s zero chance that a movie version will be as bold and as gritty as the novel, this novel remains as one of those classic books that should have been made into a movie way before. The creators of the sci-fi tv show Fringe(minus JJ Abrams) are now working on the much-awaited film-adaptation. Honestly, guys, what took you so long?

5. Graceling(Kristin Cashore)
Enough of those wimpy and spineless heroines, Hollywood. What was the last film that features a warrior heroine that’s not playing a sidekick or just the love interest of the hero? I don’t know. The only thing that comes into mind is Mulan and it’s a 1998 film. I guess that’s saying something. I also think that there’s not much, if not nothing at all epic fantasy YA books optioned for a film.

6. Unwind(Neal Shusterman)
Unwind is gem that deserves to be a phenomenal hit. This is the YA dystopian novel producers SHOULD be frantic acquiring the rights and not those pretentious newly released ‘dystopian’ novels. This is the real deal, people. It handles concepts our society is now facing and offering no clear solutions. The dystopian genre was never about preaching, for frak’s sake. It should just present issues, show the consequences and ultimately, ask the question: What now? Unwind perfectly accomplish that in a thrilling breakneck pace(when I say breakneck, I mean wait a minute let me breath I’m getting dizzy with all the suspense going on.) Thankfully, a film adaptation is currently in production. I just hope it will be released before those bad YA dystopia novels are released.

7. Maze Runner(James Dashner)
This James Dashner’s novel has a premise interesting enough to boot an adaptation. The novel is one huge puzzle you have to figure out while reading. Isn’t that the element common in the blockbuster intelligent thrillers lately? They just have to make sure that the questions would be answered in the film because the “Wait for the next book for answers” trick doesn’t work well in films.

8. Paper Towns(John Green)
Most of the times in films, teenagers are either in some petty highschool feud between the populars and the brainiacs or in a trip to some place where they will be murdered one by one until the last girl(it’s always a girl) survives. We are on a drought for intelligent teen movies. A John Green book can easily solve that and among all John Green’s novel, Paper Towns is the one that has the bigger potential of having a film version(or I’m just biased because it’s my favorite John Green book.)

9. Fablehaven(Brandon Mull)
Fablehaven is too colorful and magical for not to be adapted into a film. It will be a great shame if the filmmakers let the chance of making something this cool pass. It’s the ultimate treat for the child in me and everyone else.

10. Monstrumologist(Rick Yancey)
Let’s go from colorful to dark. Rick Yancey’s Printz honor book has all the makings of becoming an atmospheric horror big hit. It features a formidable yet very complex character who is Dr. Pellinore Warthrope, the titular character. If the film is handled carefully, Dr. Warthrop can be an icon.

What about you, what are the novels you’d love to see made into a movie?

In My Mailbox: February 14

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme hosted by Kristi of The Story Siren, which highlights books that have been received  during the previous week.

I don’t buy books this many within a month’s time and much less in a week, but how can I resist buying if all the three leading bookstore chain here in my place held a weekend sale? I actually bought at least one book from each bookstore.  Here’s what I got:

The Golem’s Eye by Jonathan Stroud – I recently enjoyed a book with footnotes(kudos to you if you can guess what it is) and many tells me that this series has funny footnotes, too. I didn’t realize that I picked up the 2nd book instead of the first one. Fail.

The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde – I’ve already read two Jasper Fforde novel and I am really impressed with the guy’s imagination. I will never dare to miss the chance of reading Jasper Fforde’s first Young Adult fantasy novel.

If I Stay  by Gayle Forman – I think starting the year with a book about a dying teenager is a bad idea. If I Stay and Before I Die shares the same prominent theme that is death at a young age. If I’m still a teenager, I would be really nervous about this.

Before I Die by Jenny Downham – I want to read Downham’s new novel, You Against Me, but since it’s not yet available here, might as well start with her debut novel.

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly – This book gained a lot of praises the past few months and I haven’t read any historical fiction for quite a long while so I picked up this book. There’s time-travel involved in here and I’m a sucker for time travel books.

The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner – Time Travel Book #2. Does YA books published in New Zealand still counts as OzYA?

Everlost by Neal Shusterman - Neal Shusterman is a Hit or Miss author, and many claims that Everlost — along with Unwind and The Schwa Was Here — is one of his Hit books. Another book about dying. Uh-oh…

That’s about it. I think I should ban myself from bookstores for the mean time. What about you, what books did you got recently?

Image courtesy of ulaulaman.tumblr.com

Happy Valentines, everyone!

Want Books: The Thirteen Treasures by Michelle Harrison

Want Books? is a weekly meme hosted at Chachic’s Book Nook and features released books that you want but you can’t have for some reason. It can be because it’s not available in your country, in your library or you don’t have the money for it right now.

Last December when all book bloggers are posting their bests of the year lists I notice one book/series that keeps showing up on most of the UK-based book blogs I follow and that is Michelle Harrison’s The Thirteen Treasures series. I’m well aware that it’s a fairies book. I am okay with fairies as long as the book doesn’t romantacize them. (No silly fairy love triangles!) Plus, I’ve heard that Harrison’s fairies are not the Disney-like kind of fairies, they are dark ones.

Brandon Mull’s Fablehaven series(a really cool series, you should try it), along with all the different kind of magical creatures, have fairies in it. His take on this tiny creatures is really cool. One thing I find particularly cool with Fablehaven’s fairies is the rule that when you capture a fairy and keep it inside over night they become imps aka Fallen Fairies. Aside from the physical changes, their nature also change. From being nurturing but self-centered beings(they frequently bicker who is — excuse the pun — fairest of them all, one of the many funny things that will make you laugh in this series), they become complete savages.

From what I’m hearing from those who read the series, Michelle Harrison also gave her fairies their own set of cool rules. I’m stoked to read these books but the only available copies available here are the US hardback ones and I want the UK paperback. I’m picky with covers like that so I guess I just should wait for the UK copies to reach here or order it through Book Depository. Here’s the synopsis of the first book in the series copied from its Goodreads’ page:

“No one else can see the evil fairies that rouse Tanya from her sleep, torturing her at the slightest mention of their existence, but they are as real to the 13-year-old as anything she’s ever known. She cannot rid herself of them, nor can she ignore them. But it is her insistence on responding to them that has her banished to her grandmother’s secluded countryside manor.

There is much to explore and even more to fear in the woods surrounding the estate. But, the forest isn’t the only source of dark secrets, and Tanya soon finds herself entangled in a mystery that could trap her in the fairy realm forever.

The evil fairies and Tanya sounds similar with Seth Sorenson’s (hilarious) hate relationship with Fablehaven’s fairies. I’ll read this once I’m finished with Brandon Mull’s series. Do you have any (non-romantic) fairy book you like to share?