Opinion: Books I Don't Want to See Made into Films

With all the amazing book to film adaptations coming up at the moment, it got me thinking about which books I don't want to see made into films. And not because I don't like them, but because I think they just work better as they are - as books. Here are a few I could think of off the top of my head. I am sure there are much more so maybe I'll do another post like this down the road. Enjoy!

 Feeling Sorry for Celia/Ashbury/Brookfield series by Jaclyn Moriarty

 This book, and the rest of the series, is told through written letters and notes between the characters. It's something that works so briliantly written down but I can see being really hard to translate onto the big screen!

Shiver/Wolves of Mercy Falls by Maggie Stiefvater

 Now I do love this series but there's something about the writing style that makes me think it could be lost if translated into film. It's so poetic and beautiful and I think getting inside the characters' heads is a huge part of the story with the multiple perspectives.

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer

When I read this, I felt it was a book for book-lovers. The whole premise is based around a girl escaping to a book and I think you'd get the most enjoyment by reading it yourself. It certainly reminded me why I love reading.

What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang

The great part of this book was the internal monologue between the two main characters, two souls who are sharing a body. I don't know how that would be done well on screen because in the book the speech between the souls is set out differently on the page making it easier to differentiate. Internal monologue is usually the one big sacrifice when it comes to films so in this book it's even trickier, because you have two internal monologues.

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
Again, this is a book with a very distinctive writing style, due to the main character's illiteracy. That unique way it was written made me really love the writing. Whilst you could portray Todd's voice with the use of an accent or dialect in a film, I'd really miss reading it and getting lost in Todd's thoughts.

Are there any books you'd prefer stayed as books? Or do you hope to see a film adaptation of all of your favourites? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this so let me know in the comments!

 

Review: Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty

Feeling Sorry for Celia by Jaclyn Moriarty

[Goodreads page]

Author: Jaclyn Moriarty. Website|Blog
Published: 1 May 2000 (Pan MacMillan)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 278
Amazon: Paperback|Kindle
Waterstone's: Paperback|e-book
Book Depository: Paperback

Source: Bought

Plot Summary (from Goodreads):
Life is pretty complicated for Elizabeth Clarry. Her best friend Celia keeps disappearing, her absent father suddenly reappears, and her communication with her mother consists entirely of wacky notes left on the fridge. On top of everything else, because her English teacher wants to rekindle the "Joy of the Envelope," a Complete and Utter Stranger knows more about Elizabeth than anyone else. But Elizabeth is on the verge of some major changes. She may lose her best friend, find a wonderful new friend, kiss the sexiest guy alive, and run in a marathon. So much can happen in the time it takes to write a letter.... 

My Review:
Okay so this is one of my all time favourite books (and series) so I've been dying to re-read it. For me it's one of the original YA books and one of the ones I actually read as a teenager. Feeling Sorry for Celia tells the story of Elizabeth Clarry, whose best friend Celia has run off - again.

The absolutely brilliant thing about this book is how it's written through a series of notes and letters. Elizabeth's English teacher has started a letter writing project with the local state school so a lot of the book is taken up by letters between her and her Brookfield penpal Christina. As well as that you get notes between Elizabeth and her mother, postcards from her friend Celia and strange anonymous notes from fictional societies such as the Association of Teenagers or the Cold Hard truth Society. I absolutely adore books written in different and quirky ways and it's just genius how the story is told through the letters and notes. It keeps the story pacey and means you really get to hear the characters voices! I love it.

I really like Elizabeth as a character. She's sort of the eye of the storm in that there's all this crazy stuff going on around her but she's calm and collected and just trying to muddle on and deal with everything. There's so many relationships explored throughout the story, from her friendship with Celia which was really interesting, her budding friendship with Christina which just made me laugh - a lot - and her relationship with her quirky mother and absent father. I loved the different dynamics between everyone and how even the smaller characters have their own back story and significance.

One of my favourite things about this book is how real everything is. The characters feel so real, the situations feel real and it just seems like a perfect portrait of teenage life and all the worries that comes with. I think it helps that its an Australian novel set in an Australian school so it has a completely different feel to American high school stories. It deals with a lot of issues but not once did it feel to me like a serious book. Even with all the ups and downs it managed to keep that light-hearted tone and wicked sense of humour that made the whole story completely enjoyable and engrossing. I think so many people will be able to relate to the characters and the story. Having read it as a teen I know I did, and even now it makes me feel all nostalgic reading it back!

The whole book is so wonderfully clever, from the way its written through to the interconnecting lives of all the characters. There's plenty of twists and turns along the way that keep you racing through the chapters. I felt so invested in the lives of all the characters and my heart always went out to Elizabeth. It has a bit of everything from friendship to romance to family drama, all wrapped up in a humourous package.

I really can't stress how much I love this book and how I want everyone to read it. It's the first in a series (although the series can quite easily be read out of order as each has a standalone story but the characters overlap) and I'd highly recommend the rest of the books as well. I'll definitely be needing a re-read of Finding Cassie Crazy after this! Seriously, just go and read it and see for yourself. 

Rating: 5*
What to read next: Finding Cassie Crazy by Jaclyn Moriarty, book 2 in the Ashbury/Brookfield series
Books like this: Becoming Bindy MacKenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty

In My Mailbox/Weekly Round up! - 17th June

Hello! This week I've decided to take part in In My Mailbox, a meme hosted over at The Story Siren. Be sure to go over there and check out a great selection of books and blogs.

The reason I wanted to do it this week was because I actually ordered some books and had them come in the post, woohoo! Here's what I got:

Now I am a HUGE Jaclyn Moriarty fan (I'll say that a lot on this blog) but unfortunately some of the books of hers I absolutely loved as a teenager ended up being cleared out my mum years and years ago (sad face) and it's always made me sad that I no longer had copies of those books. So imagine how excited I was when I found one of them on Oxfam Books! (very). Feeling Sorry For Celia (which is an amazing, amazing book) was available at a steal for just £1.49 so I grabbed it.

Upon searching the Oxfam website I also found The Spellbook of Listen Taylor which is the one book of Moriaty's I haven't read yet, so I grabbed that too! I'm really excited to give that a read as it's the first book that isn't a part of the Ashbury/Brookfield series.

After finding Feeling Sorry For Celia I went on an Internet search to find the second book in the Ashbury/Brookfield series Finding Cassie Crazy. I managed to grab that for £2.48 from an Amazon seller.

All these copies are second-hand but I don't mind that about books - it means they've been read and loved by somebody else and that's awesome!

If you haven't read any of these books then here's a quick plot summary of each (from Goodreads). You need them in your life, you really do. (Note: although the Ashbury/Brookfield books are part of a series, they can all be read independently as each book has it's own unique plot focusing on certain characters, but characters from across the series pop up in each of the books so it's a better reading experience to read them all.)

Feeling Sorry for Celia (Ashbury/Brookfield book #1)

Life is pretty complicated for Elizabeth Clarry. Her best friend Celia keeps disappearing, her absent father suddenly reappears, and her communication with her mother consists entirely of wacky notes left on the fridge. On top of everything else, because her English teacher wants to rekindle the "Joy of the Envelope," a Complete and Utter Stranger knows more about Elizabeth than anyone else.

But Elizabeth is on the verge of some major changes. She may lose her best friend, find a wonderful new friend, kiss the sexiest guy alive, and run in a marathon.
So much can happen in the time it takes to write a letter...

Finding Cassie Crazy (aka The Year of Secret Assignments) (Ashbury/Brookfield book #2)

Three Aussie girls become pen pals with three guys at another school in this delightful, high-spirited read by Feeling Sorry for Celia author Jaclyn Moriarty.

Told entirely through letters, diary entries, emails, and other writing, Moriarty's novel introduces us to Emily, Lydia, and Cassie -- all students at Ashbury High -- who begin writing to their Brookfield High counterparts through the schools' organized pen pal project. Readers learn quickly that each girl has her own writing style and that at two of the Brookfield boys (Seb and Charlie) seem to be smitten with Lydia and Emily. The only trouble is Cassie's pen pal, Matthew, a shady character who first sends her short, threatening letters and then becomes strangely sweet toward her. Nobody can figure out why Cassie keeps writing to him, but after she has a crushing meet-up with Matthew, Cassie discovers -- with the help of her friends and the Brookfield guys -- that he hasn't been honest about his identity. All could be ended there, but when Charlie helps take revenge and Brookfield High gets mysteriously vandalized, the group comes together to deliver justice and save the endangered pen pal project.

The Spellbook of Listen Taylor

A fairytale, a mystery, a history of hot-air ballooning, and a romance . . . A novel so brilliant, moving, zingy -- and Zingy -- that it could only have come from Jaclyn Moriarty.

The Zing family lives in a world of misguided spell books, singular poetry, and state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. They use these things to protect the Zing Family Secret -- one so huge it draws the family to the garden shed for meetings every Friday night.
Into their world comes socially isolated middle grader Listen Taylor, whose father is dating a Zing. Enter Cath Murphy, a young teacher at the elementary school that Cassie Zing attends, suffering from a broken heart. How will the worlds of these two young woman connect? Only the reader can know!

Since starting this blog I've also had some e-book ARCs arrive in my e-mail inbox! The books I got were Intangible by J. Meyer, Deception by Ashley Strachan. I can't wait to read them both!

The Weekly Round Up! Here's what I've been reading this week:

Books finished: Crossed by Ally Condie, The Iron King by Julie Kagawa, My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher.

Currently reading: The Gathering by Kelley Artmstong, the first book in the Darkness Rising trilogy.

Library hold: Ready to collect on Monday - Falling Fast by Sophie MacKenzie.

Don't forget to check out more IMM posts on The Story Siren!