The media when it comes to book adaptations

Contains spoilers of Mockingjay Part 1 the movie and Mockingjay the book

As you should know I love books. (Why else would I have a blog dedicated to books?) Another thing I love is good book adaptions. In my opinion a movie is a good adaption if:

• ·         They cast the characters according to the book descriptions.
• ·         There aren’t major alterations to the plot.
• ·         They don’t make a 300 page book into 3 movies! (*cough The Hobbit cough*)
• ·         They ask the author to there input, so that the movie has the same vibes as the book.
• ·         The movie doesn’t kill off a character that didn’t die in the book (*cough My Sister’s Keeper cough*)

      To be honest I’m not even sure how Hollywood could mess up movie adaptions so horribly. Come on, you already have a plot and characters and all you need to do is to bring the story to life, but for some reason, that seems too hard to do. Recently I watched Mockingjay Part 1 and I want to congratulate everyone who worked on that movie. It was so true to the book had amazing acting all around. I found it difficult to believe that some of my friends didn’t like the movie when I loved it so much. Everything was on point and I was in tears when Katniss finally found Prim and Prim was saying that she couldn’t live with herself if she left her cat, Buttercup, behind. I was watching it with my sister and at that moment we were both clutching on to each other and being glad that we have each other.

      For this post I wanted to talk about the media when it comes to book adaptions. My friends who didn’t like the movie said that they didn’t like the movie didn’t have enough action. It was then that I found out that hadn’t read the book and thought it was going to be as action packed as Catching Fire. What they didn’t understand, not just my friends but other people and critics that didn’t like that it wasn’t full of action, is what all the action and violence had done to Katniss. She isn’t some amazing superhero. She’s a teenager who’s suffering from post-traumatic stress and that’s something important to remember while watching the movie.

     

      Another thing I really wanted to mention is this #teampeeta against #teamgale, okay I understand shipping. I personally like to ship my favourite characters. But the way #teampeeta and #teamgale are being pushed in people’s faces needs to stop. The media is taking this way too far. In the Mockingjay Part 1 the president blew up a hospitable full of defenseless and sick people, hijacks Peeta, tortures all the victors and kills so many innocent people and yet the media is going ‘hey are you on #teampeeta or #teamgale?’ like it is the most important part of the story. 

I’m sorry I’ve been on hiatus for so long, but I needed time to focus on other things like school and family.  I’m also sorry that this post is an incoherent mess, but I’m just so mad and disappointed at the same time about what the media doing to Mockingjay Part 1.

-The girl with her head in the clouds 

Why Harry Potter is important to us?

A collaboration with Beth aka http://www.harrypotterislife.blogspot.com.au/

Our lives before Harry Potter were dull and grey existences. Personally I did not have an active imagination and I did not like reading at all. I found reading boring, tedious and obsolete. Now I look back with incredulity that I could ever think of reading in such a profound way.  Before Beth and I had read Harry Potter our lives had not even a hint of imagination what so ever. So when we both read the first page, we were instantly transported into such a distant and amazing world; a world of adrenalin, apprehension, humour, and of course… magic.

A couple months shy of my 9th birthday my aunt let me borrow her copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. At that time it was a big deal, because she was very protective of her books. I was sceptical about it, because at the time I did not like reading at all. To my surprise I really enjoyed it. That was the first time of many that I experienced the exhilaration that comes with reading. It did take me a month to read it though. I was a shy child so I rarely talked and when I did I used a limited vocabulary. After reading Harry Potter my grades improved. I had a larger vocabulary, I could spell better and overall I received better results in all subjects, even maths. I tried so much more in class. I gained the courage to ask for help when I didn't understand, which was a very big thing for me to do. Hermione Granger was a great role model for me. I wanted to be so much like her that I went to the library every day. Prior to my Hermione Granger phase I didn't even know what a library was. I was elated when I got my own library card and could finally bring books home. My library card was my ticket to so many worlds; dystopian worlds, fantasy worlds, the rest of the world, a world of cooking and so much more. With that one library card I was exposed to so many new ideas and ways of thinking that I had never even dreamed of in my sheltered childhood.

Beth’s story is a little different from my own, she had always like reading and never hated it, but she hadn’t read a book that would have filled her life with magic. This is what Beth had to say when I asked her why Harry Potter is important to her. "I simply loved how J.K Rowling started out her first novel. She made you feel sorry for harry, as his parents had been murdered when he was an infant and then sent to his abusive family., he had no connection to the outside world, and even society. He was stuck in a little cupboard under the stairs for most of his life. This is where your heart melts for him.

But this all changed on his 11th birthday. When gamekeeper Hagrid storms through the Dursley’s door and helps harry, his life is changed forever. He is sent to Hogwarts School of witchcraft and wizardry. He makes many acquaintances but also precarious enemies in his later years. He goes through perilous challenges and faces treacherous creatures. Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows was an amazing ending to the Harry Potter series. There were many plot twists, and J.K Rowling kept everyone without a doubt, glued to the book until the very end. Severus Snape had turned out to love Harry and his family, one of the most captivating moments of the books I believe. He loved Lily Potter, and saved Harry from many perilous encounters.

The Dark Lord, Voldemort, had finally been stripped of immortality when his 8 Horcruxes had been destroyed, one of them unexpectedly being Harry Potter. The devastating battle of Hogwarts was one of the most heartbreaking moments as many students and teachers of Hogwarts had been murdered. It finally came to an end when Harry finished what Voldemort started. Friendship was one of the many scintillating message in the book. It was very realistic, unlike in most movies and books where there are no fights, quarrels and everything goes right. It’s not like that. Harry, Ron and Hermione got into fights, had their own opinions and tiny quarrels. It wouldn’t be the best experience, but in a way, it makes the bond even tighter. This is why I love the Harry Potter series so much. It’s a very powerful, beautiful and encouraging message to everyone.”The first Harry Potter book took me a month and the last one only took me a week! The Harry Potter obsessed period of my life is the foundation for who I am today. Since then I have read so many more books and have a list of favourite books because I get stressed out when people ask me what my favourite book is. As if I would only choose one! I’ve spent probably thousands of hours of my life just reading. There are probably millions of words in the English language probably more being made each year, with words like 'selfie', but I couldn’t possibly string together the words to describe how grateful I am for the positive impacts reading has made upon my life and how much I love it. Without reading I won’t be who I am today. I wouldn’t have a blog dedicated to reading. I wouldn’t have all my wonderful friends who I met through our shared love for reading. I wouldn’t have a bookshelf full of my favourite books. Now with the wisdom of my teens I’m only beginning to understand why reading is so important to me, it has changed my life for the better and I truly can’t imagine a world without reading.                                      

The first Harry Potter book took Kellie a month and the last one only took her a week! The Harry Potter obsessed period of our lives is the foundation for who we are today. Since then we have read so many more books and have a list of favourite books because we get stressed out when people ask me what my favourite book is. As if we would only choose one! We’ve spent probably spent thousands of hours of our lives just reading. There are probably millions of words in the English language probably more being made each year, with words like 'selfie', but we couldn’t possibly string together the words to describe how grateful we are for the positive impacts reading has made upon our lives and how much we love it. Without reading we won’t be who we are today. We wouldn’t have a blog dedicated to reading. We wouldn’t have all our wonderful friends who we met through our shared love for reading. We wouldn’t have a bookshelf full of our favourite books. Now with the wisdom of our teens we are only beginning to understand why reading is so important to us, it has changed our lives for the better and we couldn’t truly imagine a world without reading.      
Harry Potter helped us escape reality when we were feeling low. One night we were off to fight dragons and another night we were at Hogwarts learning how to make potions. We both strongly believe in the messages portrayed in Harry potter, which are friendship and love. Love is emphasized so much in the Harry Potter series. For example: The only reason Lord Voldemort couldn’t kill Harry was because he was protected by his mother’s love. It was stronger than Voldemort’s dark magic. It teaches us a lesson, it stays with us forever. J.K Rowling has made the most captivating and unbelievable book series in our generation. Her stories will live in us forever. Harry Potter had opened so many doors for us both. We had known each other since we were 4, but we wouldn’t be this close without Harry Potter, Harry Potter may not be the centre of our universe anymore, but we were deeply changed when we opened that first book. Harry Potter lives on in us. We are a part of the Harry Potter generation.

Zac and Mia by A.J Betts Review

-Contains Spoilers-
Comparing; The act of noting or recording the similarity or dissimilarity between an object or abstract entity, quality, or concept. I think it is no surprise that I like, maybe even love The Fault in Our Stars and naturally I compare every book I about cancer to TFiOS. I really shouldn’t do that, because every book has its own story and its own message so I really shouldn’t compare them to each other, but to me it’s a natural instinct to compare what is similar to each other. I also seem to forget that John Green isn’t the only author to ever write about cancer. As I probably already let on Zac and Mia is a book with cancer patients as the protagonists and since it’s a cancer book I compared it to the much beloved The Fault in Our Stars. Zac and Mia is a sweet story and more realistic than The Fault in Our Stars, but had scenes that had me skeptic. Please let me stress that this book should not be in comparison to The Fault in Our Stars, Zac and Mia carries its own, unique story about two teens living with cancer.

I felt that character development was almost perfect with Zac and Mia and they were such believable characters. Zac’s attitude is ‘okay, I have cancer. I can’t change that. I’m just going to accept it and go through therapy.’ While Mia is vain at the start of the novel and her attitude speaks volumes about her, ‘I hate cancer. I don’t want to lose my hair! What I have to lose my ankle?! Life is so unfair why this is happening during MY YEAR 12 FORMAL?!!’. I sort of understand where Mia is coming from. I won’t want to lose my hair or have cancer or have my formal spoiled, but I couldn’t help resenting her. Due to her sense of self-worth she doesn’t see how lucky she is. She has the best odds of surviving at of everyone in the ward. She has a mother who means well and her cancer is in her ankle so she could just cut it off. I felt that she was such a brat and drama queen about it.

Zac’s cancer is in his blood stream and bones, he can’t cut a limb off to get rid of his cancer, his cancer is everywhere. (He has leukemia) If by some cruel twist of fate I get cancer I think I would have been a mix of Zac and Mia, but would have acted more like Zac. Zac was mature about it and didn’t try to ignore his cancer and wasn’t vain. Zac was a very likable character and he had an easy going nature. In the end I started warming up to Mia and loved her relationship with her mother. When I finished the book I wasn’t sure if I liked Mia or not, but now that I have had more time to dull on it, I think I like Mia, but not as much as I like Zac and her mother. I think the mothers made the story more meaning. Zac’s mother is the perfect mother who is caring, supportive and overbearing. Mia’s mum mean’s well and does what she can to help and protect her daughter. Throughout the book I felt how much she cared about Mia and how much she loved her. I also was on her side when her daughter hated her for allowing the doctors to cut off her ankle to save her. The mothers off this book just made me like it so much more.

This is my own edit, that I made a while back.

The plot I felt was a little weak. The story started out strong, but went a little downhill. Mia running away felt too dramatic and her running into Zac felt too planned and not natural. The world is small, but not that small. Australia is a big country and I doubt that they would run into each other, but it was an important part of the story for them to run into each other after their treatment, but I wish it was done in a different way. Briefly, the plot seemed a little lacking to me; some background drama would've been preferred to make it more eventful. I forced myself to read through it sometimes, because it wasn’t very interesting at some parts. All in all, with minor flaws in the plot and characters, I found myself still loving the story overall. Compassionate and confronting are two words to describe this novel. While not perfect, Zac and Mia has a strong story filled with wit, humour and heart felt moments.

A.J Betts signature when i saw her at the Writers Festival.

The author of this novel is A.J Betts. Originally after reading the book I felt disappointed, because as mentioned before the plot seemed a bit lacking. On the 27th of August my school went to the Writers Festival week in Melbourne and we saw her talk for about half an hour. She was so humble, funny and down to Earth. I really wanted to talk about the book with her more in depth, but I got shy, but I was able to get a picture with her with my school book club. After hearing her talk I felt like I appreciated the book more. I now knew why she wrote it how it was. I now understood that to me it might have seemed downhill, but in reality it didn’t go downhill it went realistic. It went into a moment when everything was raw. Cancer was romanticised, it was shown in a realistic way, in all its fury and terror.  The character’s weren’t sick when it fit into the plot, they were consistently sick. Authors get to influence what a reader reads, but ultimately the reader gets to decide on how they interpret the story.  In the end, with this book I feel like the author got to decide what I read and how I ended up interpreted the story.

-The girl with her head in the clouds

Life in Outer Space by Melissa Keil

-Contains Spoilers-
Lately I’ve been obsessed with books set in Melbourne. The two main characters in Life in Outer Space are Sam and Camilla. Sam Kinnison is a self-confessed nerd and he’s fine with that. He’s a believable nerd who’s constantly referencing the video games, movies, books and magazines. His internal monologue is also very hilarious. I’d say this book is almost casually hysterical because Sam’s witty humour was prominent in every scene. He loves slasher horror film and, writes screenplays about Killer Cats from the Third Moon of Mars. Surrounding Sam are his best friends, Adrian, Allison and Mike. Like him, they’re misfits, bullied by the popular kids, also called the A crew, and resort to hiding out in the IT lab during lunch. Allison is the only female in the group before Camilla. She has wispy blonde hair, the body of ‘a twelve year old boy’ and is obsessed with Hello Kitty.

“She grimaces a lot. I don’t always understand why. But in spite of the Hello Kitty, I know that a habitual grimacer is one of my people.”

Mike and Sam have been friends for a long time and were said to be very close before the year started. Mike also happens to be gay. When he tells his friends this, they embark on an ‘Extremely Gay Weekend’ in order to try and confirm it.  He is also obsessed with karate.

“Mike has been obsessed with karate since year seven, when he discovered that kicking people in the face was a legitimate sport.”

Adrian is described as very short and having a very scruffy beard. He gives some much needed comic relief and made me laugh out loud multiple times. Besides from that not many things stand out about him for besides that he’s a loyal friend. You would have to be a loyal friend to forgive your best friend for punching you in the eye that severely discolours it.

Everything changes for this group of friends when a new girl shows up in Sam's English class. Her name is Camilla, her father is a famous rock journalist and if she wanted to, she could easily set herself up to be the most popular girl at school. Instead, she hangs out with the geeks and also the popular kids.  He and Camilla share a love of World of Warcraft and start talking through it. He then figures out that strange Camilla can bounce from clique to clique and back again without repercussions. Thanks to Camilla's friendship, this group of misfits goes from being bullied, to being ignored, to being sort of accepted and this book is mostly about their journey along the way and how it changes them as individuals as well as their friendships.

Sam is a funny character but some moments just make my blood boil because Sam is just a jerk. For example this:                                                                                                                                               “Allison is as good as I'm likely to get. I dunno. I've tried, experimentally, picturing her shirtless; I suspect she looks like me when I was twelve.”                                                                                   That part just made me so angry. It was just uncalled for and nobody should be judged like that. I understand it’s just a book and fictionally view but it didn't stop me from feeling mad.

This book was a breath of fresh air because I haven’t read many books about nerds that accept who they are and not constantly seeking popularity. I adored Sam and his nerdy crew. On whole, this novel was not perfect, but had many shining points that are worth of mention. Life in Outer Space is sweet, awkward, believable and raw. There are messages thrown around and topics being addressed throughout that I believe got a fair amount of attention. I would recommend this book to teens who like to read contemporary books.

-The girl with her head in the clouds

If I Stay written by Gayle Forman

If I Stay is a young adult novel by Gayle Forman that was first published in April 2nd 2009 by Dutton Juvenile. The story is about a 17-year-old girl named Mia Hall as she deals with the aftermath of a car accident that killed her family. In a coma, Mia has an out-of-body experience, and watches as friends, family gather and boyfriend, Adam Wilde, at the hospital where she is being treated. Mia watches as them and at the same time her memories flash before her eyes as she comes to realize that she must decide if she is to wake up and lead a life far more difficult than she ever anticipated, or to slip away and die. A sequel was released in April 2011, titled Where She Went.

Although this was first published more than 5 years ago I had never heard of this book before. I had heard of this book through the teacher in charge of my school book club. At my school book club our teacher brings in sweets and then we discuss good books we have read and the teacher recommends some of her recent reads. When the teacher told us a short synopsis of the book, I was intrigued by it. I knew that it was a book that I had to read so I want to my school library to borrow it and I’m so glad I did.  The novel follows Mia's experience as she lies in a coma fully aware of what is going on around her and everything her visitors say and do. Feeling the agony of loss of those closest to her yet aware of the abounding love of those that remain, she must make the choice to hang on or let go.

There are many books in this world. There are books about handsome and sparkling vampires. There are also the other kinds of book that will touch your heart and will haunt you for the rest of your life. I enjoyed this book so much that it took me only 2 nights to read. I could have probably read it in one night, but I had a test that week and had to study. I loved the flash backs because it showed why Mia is who she is and why she plays the cello in a family that loved rock music. It also gave a look into how her life was before the accident. She was just a normal girl who had a bright future playing the cello. This book was so captivating because you can see the inner conflict within her about whether she wants to die along with her family or wake up and orphan.  Either way, she has something to gain and something to lose. This book was very endearing and tugged my heart strings deeply. This book had many classic clichés, but is still well written.

This book is beyond beautiful. It's heart-warming and heartbreaking at the same time. You'll laugh, you'll smile but you will cry or drop a tear now and then. This book made me wish that played the cello as exquisitely as Mia does. This book makes you think about your life and how it isn't easy but that, when you're surrounded by people you love, it's, somehow, easier to cross over all those obstacles life puts you through. Mia sure is constantly sharing wonderful memories with us, but what is so impressive is that the author subtly included a message in each of them. It is well-written, with a perfect atmosphere fitting the story and all the emotions of the characters.

This is the movie poster for the movie adaption that is going to be released in Australia on the 28th of August.

Mia’s parents were every child’s ideal parents. They were cool, know music, laidback, had wild childhoods and understand teenagers.  Mia is a big fan of classical music and Adam is into punk music. Their relationship is the cliché where the quiet girl and the dark and mysterious guy fall for each other. I didn’t mind the cliché though. Thanks to the flash backs you can see how much Mia and Adam loved music and how their strong passion for music bought them together. In some of the flash backs Mia and Adam have some very cute and adorable scenes. There are flashbacks from happy moments with her family, her best friend Kim and her boyfriend Adam. Mia's close relationships with her parents, brother, and with her grandparents were all wonderfully vibrant and amazingly realistic.

I enjoyed this book very much and I strongly believe this is a good book to read. My friend, who will remain nameless, loved this book almost to an obsessive level. When I asked her why she liked it so much she said that she nearly lost her dad so she connected to the character who she believed was like her dad in going through something though. She also said that the theme of this book is family and friends which is something she loves dearly so that’s why she loved this book so much. After talking to her I can to the conclusion that this book is so popular because most people can connect to it because it’s about losing family and grieving but has a strong sense of family and friends.

Books about death are sometimes hard for me to review to or form coherent thoughts on. The way readers react to them is so deeply personal and reflects on the reader. This book had its cute clichés and some parts which I can’t imagine any teenagers actually saying or doing, but I still thoroughly recommend this book. Overall I found the book very enjoyable and I would strongly recommend it to other teens and even adults. 

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley

-Contains minor spoilers-

Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley is a book that is narrated between two people; Lucy and Ed. It also includes some of Poet’s/ Leo’s poems. For Lucy it’s the end of Year 12. Lucy and her friends, Jazz and Daisy want to go out with a bang. Lucy’s looking for Shadow, the graffiti artist everyone talks about. She is also looking for Poet, Poet is Shadow’s accomplice, but mostly she wants to find Shadow.  His work is all over the city, but he is nowhere. Ed, the last guy she wants to see at the moment, says he knows where to find him. He takes Lucy on an all-night search to places where Shadow’s thoughts about heartbreak and escape echo around the city walls, but the one thing Lucy can’t see is the one thing that’s right before her eyes.  It was first released in 2010, but I just had it recommended to me my a librarian. 

I REALLY loved reading this book so much and it's up in my top 5 favourite books. I particularly love that the book is set in one night. Most books spend over weeks or month. Graffiti Moon is just a fantastically fast paced novel. Cath Crowley really has this way that really captures the essence of adolescence. It doesn’t feel like an adult is writing this, but rather a teenager who really understands what it means to be a teenager with adult responsibilities. Graffiti Moon discusses the idea of abstract love and family difficulties. This book also has a lot of laugh out loud humour that was just too funny to keep my laughter in.

This book also gave me different insight about things. In this book there is this group of people by who are basically the popular kids who don't go to class they are called the sheddies. I never really thought about it as they might be having a hard time at home.  That it's not that they don't want to go to school, it's that they feel like they can't read or write well. I also loved how art is described in this book. It makes art sound magical and amazing, which is what it is. When I was younger my family used to come out into the city all the time sometimes just to watch from the car, other times just to walk down its streets.  I never really appreciated graffiti art then. Sometimes I’d see vandalism graffiti. It didn't have a purpose or a story. It was just spray paint used to paint mustaches on a poster’s face. Then I would see these awe inspiring pieces. I was too young then to appreciate the art; I just thought that it looked cool. I’m not a very talented artist but I like to draw and paint. There are thousands, maybe even a millions, of words in the English language and sometimes when my friends or family ask me why I like art so much I find myself unable to express why I like it. Cath Crowley did an amazing job describing art and how it isn't just art. It’s an artist’s outlet to be creative and show how their thoughts on a canvas page or wall. Now I have a habitat of analysing the art. I have learnt to appreciate it just as much as appreciate drawings and oil paintings. No matter what some people say graffiti is a form of art and it’s beautiful and that one of the main lessons I have learnt from the book.

The characters within this book are so beautifully written and seem so genuine. Unlike over young adult books these teenagers, seem real and are relatable. The main teens in this book are Ed, Lucy, Jazz, Leo, Daisy and Dylan. Ed is Shadow, the local graffiti artist. His best friend is Leo, who is Poet and he does the writing. Lucy is a glassblower and her best friend is Jazz who claims that’s she’s psychic. Then there is the struggling couple, Daisy and Dylan. Ed is a teenager who is saved by art. At first it seemed that he would be just a hot artist who the main female protagonist will fall for. At the end of the story she does, but the novel also goes through his story in depth. At my school there is definitely a group like the sheddies; those people who seem so care free about school and are willing to ditch class. It was wonderful to reminder that they are still people and that there are always more then what meets the eye. I feel like it was a very wise decision to write the story through both Ed’s and Lucy’s points of view. Lucy is naïve and has a complicated life at home. She has a very loving family though. I feel that she understands that she doesn’t have a normal family, but she doesn't resent her parents for it though. While reading this book I thought that Ed and Lucy would be a perfect match.  Ed is a sort a dark mysterious character and Lucy is the light, who is bright and always so hopeful. My favourite part about her is that she couldn't afford the full price of her glassblowing classes, so she cleans the place so then she only has to pay half. It just gives the readers an insight into her character. It shows that she is resilient and if she finds something she’s passionate about she will find a way to make it work. I laughed out loud when she revealed that she would do it with Shadow. It was funny to think that just told Shadow she wanted to do it with him, but she has no idea who Shadow is. I also felt a sense of elation because throughout the book I knew that Shadow was closer to Lucy then she thought. During my experience reading this book I had this impression that for Lucy it was much more fun to imagine love in abstract rather than experience the messy, frightening reality of getting to actually know and care for a real, flawed person. That’s why she loved the idea of an invisible graffiti artist. The book shows teenagers in a realistic way. They are flawed and they accept it and do not deny it. I felt like I knew the characters enough to understand why they did things, and was crossing my fingers for them. The aura of extraordinariness of the night can be felt, and it's filled with so much anticipation.

Leo doesn’t exactly have the ideal life. He lives with grandma and has debt to Malcom Dove. Leo is described as a big muscular guy who can look after himself. In the novel the reader doesn't get to read through his point of view. Instead the reader gets to read his poems. His poems are his personal why to express his feelings. While reading Graffiti Moon it didn’t feel like Leo is a two dimensional character. I understood his motives and why he did what he did. I also got a feel of how much he cares about his grandma. Jazz is such a fun character. I laughed out laugh at her psychic prediction at Lucy being allergic to guava juice. She’s that friend that you want to look out for and never want to lose. She was just a great fun character. Dylan and Daisy are truly the cutest couple. Daisy is a strong independent and Dylan is a clueless, but sweet boyfriend. There are very obvious cracks in their relationship, but they seem to work around them. The readers can feel Dylan’s love for Daisy and how desperate he is for her not leave him. I also wanted to mention Lucy’s parents. They are very minor characters, but they convey the impression that Lucy’s character is mainly thanks to them raising her well. They have an unusual sleeping arrangement, but it’s obvious that they care for each other and Lucy.

My favourite part of the part of the book was when Ed said a quote about Shadow being everything she had idolised until she meets him Land how Lucy’s romanticising and idealising will only leave her disappointed when she meets Shadow. (I couldn't find the exact quote, but if I do I’ll put it up.) It’s just an example how good and sentimental the dialogue in this book are, because I think everyone has those moments when they romanticise and idealise something and have such high expectations that they are bound to be disappointed.  The dialogue in this book is so well written and feels genuine and authentic. I another reason loved how this book is set in Melbourne, Australia. Most of the books I have read are set in America are some over place where I'm not familiar with. While reading Graffiti Moon I felt a connection with the characters because I am familiar with the landscape. When they were going down Flinders street I could see all the buildings and the lights. It just deepened my connection with the book and the characters. It helped me see everything more vividly.

 I haven’t read any other Cath Crowley’s works, but if they are even half as good as Graffiti Moon I’m sure that I will enjoy it. Graffiti Moon has a beautiful atmosphere and eclectic characters that are very hard to dislike. The author should be praised due to her skill with words. The dialogue has the right amount of realism to it. I loved how the story was not only narrated between Lucy and Ed, but also with Leo's poems. It truly is a phenomenal book that is worth the time reading.

-The girl with her head in the clouds

“Let me make it in time. Let me meet Shadow. The guy who paints in the dark. Paints birds trapped on brick walls and people lost in ghost forests. Paints guys with grass growing from their hearts and girls with buzzing lawn mowers.”

PS I was going to meet Cath Crowley and A. J Betts for a workshop thing and I was so excited, but it was fully booked. My school was then going to meet her for a different workshop with just her, but no one knew who she was so we decided to go to another one. Then the next night I read the book. I’m so sad that I’m not going to meet her and that I had read her book before so that I had known her so that I could vote to go see her. L

The Fault in Our Stars Movie Review

-Contains spoilers-  

The screen adaptation of John Green's 2012 young-adult bestseller about star-crossed teens came out on the 5th of June in Australia and recently I just watched it.  The book and movie follow Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus Waters who meet at a cancer support group. I was a big of the novel so I was going to be a harsh critic. One of the reasons my friends don’t like watching movie with me because if the movie was a book I’ll point out every different scene from the book. When popular books or books that you love get adapted into movies, there’s always the fear that you’re about to watch your favourite story get brutally abused.  I was so happy the movie stayed true to the book though so they only time I was actually talking was to reassure my friends that I was alright.  Before watching and reading the Fault in Our Stars I was so oblivious to cancer. I have never had never had any close relatives with cancer, so the book and movie were very insightful for me.

In the introductory voice-over, we are promised by the heroine Hazel Grace Lancaster that it won't be a typical terminal illness story that “sugar coats” the characters' afflictions. I feel like that movie is a mixture of both. It slightly romanticises cancer and terminal illness, but also shows the real reality of living with one. The heroine at the heart of the story is Hazel Grace Lancaster, a terminally ill teenager whose thyroid cancer has spread to her lungs. To please her she attends a local support group in ‘the literal heart of Jesus’, where she meets the charming Augustus Waters, who had lost part of his leg to osteosarcoma. Hazel doesn’t want to have a relationship with Augustus at first stating that she’s a grenade, but the inevitable happened and they shared a kissed in the Anne Frank house. Though they both acknowledge the painful realisation that their days together are numbered, they refuse to be defined by the disease. This is a beautiful movie about adolescents forced to make every moment count.

I am by far one of the biggest fans of the Fault in Our Stars in my group of friends. At every sad part of the movie my friends turned and looked at me. They all expected me to ball my eyes out and they were right. At the end of the movie one of my friends came and gave me a big comfortable hug. She later said to me, “I was worried, you were violently sobbing’. All of my friends thought that I was crying because Augustus had died, but honestly I did let a few tears slip due to his death, but at the end I cried so much because this book and movie really opened my eyes. Anna, Van Houten's daughter, which he said died of cancer at eight years of age, was a big tear jerker for me. At the end of the movie I cried because my sister is eight years old and I was so grateful that my sister, mum and I don’t have cancer. I also cried because of the unfairness of cancer, but no one ever said life is fair. I’m not a very religious person, so I won’t call it praying, but after the movie I found myself hoping for the best of all cancer patients. After watching the movie of the Fault in Our Stars I felt a mixture of gratefulness and sadness.

The Fault in Our Stars has been giving nothing but positive vibes to its fans, with the trailer being one of the most liked videos on YouTube. A lot of the dialogue is word-for-word from the novel. My friends and I found that we were mouthing the words to our favourite quotes.  I’ve never seen a more faithful book-to-film adaptation. The dialogue that isn’t directly taken from the book remains true to the characters. Some story is trimmed and condensed, but hardly anything is cut altogether. In my review of the book I have already stated that some of the speech is very farfetched for teenagers and I still stand by that statement, but Ansel Elgort and Shailene Woodley make it look so natural. Some of Hazel’s narration is turned into voiceovers so that her inner observations about cancer aren’t lost. Though, Isaac’s story is a little more light-hearted in the film than in the book. The whole cast are amazing and portray their characters so well. Nat Wolff also brought so much humour. His acting in the trophy breaking scene and in the egging scene made me laugh so hard. (Also Nat Wolff followed me on Instagram once, but his account got hacked and now he has a different accountL) Laura Dern and Sam Trammell were wonderful as Hazel’s parents. Sometimes in movies and books the parents seem to disappear, but in this story the parents are very involved. I was particularly anticipated to see the scene where Hazel’s mum says she’s not a mum any more. It was a very short scene, but I love it. My favourite quote from the movie is “See we may not like much. But between the 3 of us we have 5 legs, 4 eyes, 2 1/2 working pairs of lungs, and 2 dozen eggs.” That quote wasn’t in the book, but it was only in movie, but I’m so glad they included it. I'm still so shocked that the movie is so much like the book. 

Shailene Woodley brings Hazel to life, making the audience empathise with her without ever asking us to pity her. Before the role of Augustus was cast, there were talks about Zac Efron being cast the role of Augustus Waters. I’m glad that they went against casting him, because during the whole movie I would have seen Zac Efron playing Augustus Waters. Ansel Elgort for me was Augustus Waters. He played the role how I saw everything in my head. His performance in the plane scene was particularly noteworthy. He is just an amazing actor. There was talk before the movie about Shailene and Ansel playing siblings in Diveregnt and now lovers. That’s the beauty of acting. You can live a thousand lives within a single life. When watching the movie I was so engaged that I couldn’t think about anything else besides from the movie. Also Shailene Woodley with long hair and short hair look very different as well; so that wasn’t a problem for me. The movie doesn’t live up to the full tragedy of their love story, but it does tell it in a beautiful and filmic way, though that’s needed to make a popular movie. After watching the movie I doubt that any fans of the book will leave disappointed, or with dry eyes.
-The girl with her head in the clouds

This star won’t go out book review:

-I don't recommend reading this if you haven't read the book, but it doesn't have any major spoiler or anything-

This Star Won't Go Out is an encouraging and inspirational read about Esther Earl’s life, which ended in August 25th 2010, when she was 16 years old. She was focussed on a daily mission to comfort and care for others, and no matter what pain and agony she might have been going through, she refused to abandon her family and friends. The whole book is like memoir, with pages of her journals, sketches, letters, photos, updates from Esther’s website, and an introduction by John Green. John Green is an award winning author, who dedicated his international bestseller The Fault in Our Stars to her. There are also photographs and essays by family and friends which help to tell Esther’s story along with an introduction by award-winning author John Green who dedicated his bestselling novel The Fault in Our Stars to her. The Fault in our Stars is a book about a girl named Hazel Grace Lancaster who is 16 and has the same kind of cancer as Esther. John Green has stated that Esther inspired the story but that the story isn’t about Esther.

I had heard of this book through John Green who mentioned it in one of his vlogs on YouTube. I was going to buy the book when I saw the book in my school library. Thank goodness for the library or I’ll be broke, well more broke then I am now. I was very excited to be able to get my hands on this book, but I was not prepared for the emotional roller-coaster I was about to go on while reading this wonderful book. At certain points of the book I was laughing at Esther funny and witty jokes while other parts of the book I was in tears. I have never personally known anyone with cancer, though I have had distant family who have died from cancer, but I have never met them before. Whenever my mum tell tells me about their death I feel this sense of sadness and this sense of guilt that I haven’t taken the time know them while they were still alive. I always have imagined them as bedridden people who are too sick to go outside. Sometimes society has his perception of people with cancer. This book was so insightful for me to see that just because they’re sick doesn’t mean they’re less whole then those who aren’t; also that a short life can be a whole one.

This Star Won't Go Out is a rare look into the life of a young person living with and dying of cancer. It reveals Esther’s indomitable spirit, her thoughts and fears about death, her goofy sense of humour and, reminds us that “cancer kids” aren’t these gleaming beacons of Hope and Inspiration for us all. They are kids who happen to have cancer and have to learn to cope with that to the best with what life has given them. That includes moments of great courage, but it also includes moments of sadness, anger and frustration at the physical restrictions ofcancer. My favourite part of the book is the sections that included Esther’s journal. One of the reasons the fault in our stars was so successful was because it was so different to read such an emotionally raw account about having cancer. I loved this book so much because unlike The Fault in Our Stars, the main writer did have cancer so it showed through the snippets of her journal. While reading the journal entries seem so much more authentic and not romanticised. Esther Earl was an amazing and extraordinary writer and her journal was very insightful.

There is a beautiful and heartfelt introduction to the book by John Green:

"Esther's story belonged to her, and fortunately for us she was an extraordinary writer, who in these pages tells that story beautifully. I find comfort in that, but make no mistake: I am still pissed off that she died. I still miss her. I still find her loss an intolerable injustice. And I wish she'd read The Fault in Our Stars. I am astonished that the book has found such a broad audience, but the person I most want to read it never will."

In This Star Won’t Go Out did not only include insights in Esther Earl’s life, but also into her parents and siblings. It was interesting to see how Esther’s sickness didn’t just affect her life, but also those around her. Like I have stated before I haven’t have any personal experiences with cancer and reading about it is very astute for me. I moderately feel bad for analysing this book and finding it interesting, when it’s so sad and laced with sorrow. This is a real person I was reading about, not just a made up story; I believe that’s what struck me most.

In her journal entries, Esther was insistent about being seen as a complete human being. When the Make-A-Wish Foundation approaches her, she can’t think of anything she would want from them. She writes, “I literally have all I want and that sounds very ‘oh what a cute cancer kid I’ve got watery eyes’ but really it’s just ‘I already own things of interest.’” When she becomes famous to the nerdfighter community, she worries that what John Green and her other friends say about her makes her sound more exceptional than she thinks she is. She writes, “I feel like I’m fooling you all, because I’m not always amazing, and I’m not always awesome, and I’m not always strong, and I’m not always brave, and you guys should know that, you know? I mean, I’m not always this perfect person. I get pissed…I do stupid things. I get angsty. I cry. I hate my cancer. I judge people. I yell at my parents.” Esther’s humility in these kinds moments reminds the reader that she is very much a human being, but also goes further to remind the reader of her self-awareness and humility. The book itself is beautifully organized (color-coded!), so it was easy to distinguish the different sections. My usual problem with biographies is how impersonal they can feel. This book isn’t just sentence after sentence of facts about Esther’s life. It’s all the emotions and experiences of her, her family, and her friends.

Esther Earl was an awesome person who did awesome things. She was a Star who shone her light on all she met. Even after death she is still inspiring and shining her bright light them. It was a privilege to be able read this book and get to have a look into her life; to celebrate her life and legacy.
This star won’t go out and I won’t let it.

-The girl with head in the clouds

"Just… just be happy.  And if you can’t be happy, do things that make you happy.  Or do nothing with people that make you happy."    -Esther Earl

After her death the This Star Won't Go Out foundation was created by her family in her honour to financially help other young people struggling with cancer. Additionally, every year on Esther's birthday, August 3rd, people across the world participate in Esther day, a celebration of Esther's life and, as Esther requested, love and family. The Volgbrothers also make a video with the theme of love, due to Esther's request.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The link to the site http://tswgo.org/

While just randomly searching around the internet I am across this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/my-sister-esther-inspired-the-fault-in-our-stars-the-movie-is-her-sequel/2014/06/12/504c2ca4-efef-11e3-914c-1fbd0614e2d4_story.html?tid=pm_pop                      It’s worth having a look at J

Why is the Fault in Our Stars so good?

The Fault in Our Stars

-Contains Spoilers-

The fault in our stars by John Green has been an international hit. With the movie adaption of popular young adult novel ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ released last week I’m going to discuss possible reasons why ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is so popular among readers in my age group and why it is just so good. (For those who have not read the Fault in our Stars you shouldn’t be reading this since it contains many spoilers about the story line, but I know some of you will read on anyway so I’m going to write a quick synopsis of the story line.

Synopsis                                                                 
The story takes place in Indianapolis, Indiana, where sixteen-year-old Hazel Grace Lancaster reluctantly attends a cancer patients' support group due to her mother’s insistence. In one of the meetings she catches the eye of a teenage boy, and through the course of the meeting she learns the boy's name is Augustus Waters. He's there to support their mutual friend, Isaac. Isaac had a tumour in one eye that he had removed, and now he has to have his other eye taken out as well. Before Augustus takes Hazel home, they agree to read each other's favourite novels. Augustus gives Hazel The Price of Dawn, and Hazel recommends An Imperial Affliction. Hazel explains the magnificence of An Imperial Affliction how it's the only account she's read of living with cancer that matches her experience. She describes how the novel ends mid-sentence leaving the reader in suspense. A week after Hazel and Augustus discuss the literary meaning of An Imperial Affliction, Augustus miraculously reveals he tracked down Van Houten's assistant, Lidewij, and through her he's managed to start an email correspondence with the reclusive author. Van Houten eventually replies, saying he could only answer Hazel's questions in person. He invites her to stop by if she is ever in Amsterdam. Shortly after, Augustus invites Hazel on a picnic. It turns out he's planned an elaborate Dutch-themed picnic where he reveals that a foundation that grants the wishes of kids with cancer has agreed to grant his. She knows she'll hurt him when she dies since she is terminal. She compares herself to a grenade. In the midst of her struggle over what to do about Augustus, Hazel suffers a serious episode in which her lungs fill with fluid and she goes to the ICU. Augustus delivers Hazel another letter from Van Houten, this one more personal than the last. After reading the letter, Hazel is more determined than ever to go to Amsterdam. There is a problem though: her parents and her team of doctors don't think Hazel is strong enough to travel. However Dr. Maria convinces Hazel's parents that Hazel must travel because she needs to live her life. The plans are made for Augustus, Hazel and Hazel's mother to go to Amsterdam, but when Hazel and Augustus meet Van Houten they find that instend of the genius they expected him to be, he is a dream crushing drunk who claims he cannot answer any of Hazel's questions. The following day, Augustus confesses that while Hazel was in the ICU he had a body scan which revealed his cancer has returned and ‘I lit up like a Christmas tree’. They return to Indianapolis, and Hazel realizes Augustus is now the grenade. In his final days Augustus arranges a pre-funeral for himself, and Isaac and Hazel give eulogies. She says how much she loves Augustus, and that she would not trade their short time together for anything in the world. Augustus dies eight days later. Hazel is astonished to find Van Houten at the funeral. Van Houten explains that he and Gus continued correspondence and that Augustus demanded Van Houten make up for ruining their trip to Amsterdam by coming to his funeral to see Hazel. A few days later, Isaac informs Hazel that Augustus was writing something for her. As Hazel tries to locate the pages she encounters Van Houten once more. He drunkenly reveals that Anna was the name of his daughter. An Imperial Affliction was his literary attempt at reconciling himself with her death. Hazel tells Van Houten to sober up and write another book. Eventually Hazel learns that Augustus sent the pages to Van Houten because he wanted Van Houten to use the pages to compose a well-written eulogy about Hazel. Lidewij forces Van Houten to read the pages and sends them straight off to Hazel. The novel concludes with Hazel reading Augustus' words. He says getting hurt in this world is inevitable, but we do get to choose who we allow to hurt us, and that he is happy with his choice. He hopes she likes her choice too.

I know I said a short synopsis but I couldn’t bring myself to shorten it any more. You really should read the book if you haven’t yet.)

One of the main reasons I believe ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is so popular among us teenagers is because the majority of us have never experience anything life frightening in lives. The preponderance of us young adults take bounteous things for granted, so we do not realise how lucky we are.  ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ opens a window for its teenage readers to see what it is like to be a young adult with a life freighting disease in this time and age. It just shows how everyday aspects of life that we take for granted can be very difficult for other people our age. After reading the book I actually felt very ashamed of myself, I had so much in life to be grateful but most of the time I wallow in self-pity. John Green has stated that the first inspiration for The Fault in Our Stars came from when he worked as a student chaplain at a children's hospital. He found the children to be as human as healthy people, and wanted to capture the feeling that "the stories that I was reading sort of oversimplified and sometimes even dehumanized them. And I think generally we have a habit of imagining the very sick or the dying as being kind of fundamentally other. I guess I wanted to argue for their humanity, their complete humanity." The novel was also influenced by Esther Earl who was a nerdfighter (for those who don’t know what or rather who a nerdfighter is, they are people made up entirely out of awesomeness not cells) and friend of his with who died when she was 16 years old of thyroid cancer. He credits Esther Earl for inspiring him to finally write the book, as she demonstrated how a short life could also be a full one.

Another reason why I believe that ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ is so successful is because it has a tragic romance theme. I believe it is a modern day Romeo and Juliet. It has a beautiful love story but a tragic plot twist, that the two main characters, Hazel and Augustus, both have cancer. I think we like the tragic romance theme because it reminds us that even if things are bad there is always a chance something positive to come out of it. Entertainment Weekly wrote, "[Augustus and Hazel's] love story is as real as it is doomed, and the gut-busting laughs that come early in the novel make the luminous final pages all the more heartbreaking", and gave the novel an overall A− grade. I believe that most people enjoy a good love story despite Augustus (even with Augustus dying) The Fault in Our Stars is a beautiful love story and I’m a complete sucker for a good love story especially when it doesn’t show that love is always going to be easy and romanticise being in a relationship.

For Christmas I received a singed copy of TFiOS 

One of the main reasons my friends and I love the fault in our stars is because of the amazing quotes in it. “Were she better or you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed but it is the nature of our stars to cross. There is no shortage of faults to be found amid our stars.” Though some of it I feel is never going to happen. For example, "I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasures of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout out into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labour is returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I’m in love with you.” -Augustus, pg. 153  A 17-year-old boy in modern-day America who went to public school who doesn’t show much interest in either poetry nor classic literature just said this out loud on a plane to a girl he has only known for a couple weeks.  I’m a teenager myself and have never heard any teenager speak with that level of intellect, but in saying that this this a fiction novel and anything can happen in fiction and I love these sorts of quotes in this book so much. These quotes make me feel this bubbliness and giddiness whenever I read it and just make me feel happy. These quotes also make the book so much more fun to read sound more intellectual and deep.

The Fault in Our Stars in all honesty is an amazing book and is there with my top 20 books, with Harry Potter (of course duhh!) and The beautiful forevers (although I haven’t finished reading The Beautiful Forevers I’m really enjoying it and I’m grateful John Green put it in the Nerdfighter bookclub.) My friends all think I’m weird for having such a strong connection with it and the boys in my class think I only like it because Augustus Waters is my dream guy, but they don’t know the truth and even if I told them, they wouldn’t be able to understand. It’s like with Harry Potter, I got sucked into the book and I was going on adventures with Harry, Ron and Hermione. While reading this book I got sucked into a story once again and I believe I would have eventually gotten over it if I had not discovered John Green has a YouTube channel with his brother, Hank Green. Due to the Fault in Our Stars I’m now a proud nerdfighter. The Fault in our stars has opened new doors to me. John Green, even though we have never met, has taught me to embrace my nerdiness and geekiness. I now accept that I’m not popular but I’m surrounded by geek friends who like me for who I am. Just last weekend I was proudly wearing my Pizza John shirt even though my sister said it was weird that I was wearing a shirt with a 36 year old man whom I have never met on it. The Fault in Our Stars is a fantastic book that is now somehow apart of my identity according to friends but I don’t care. This book truly taught me not to fear death because it’s inevitable and just live life and embrace whatever comes my way.
-The girl with her head in the clouds

P.S I’m going to watch the movie in 2 days I’m so excited!

Also I’m EXTREMELY not okay with Augustus’ death, but I’ve accepted it. Death is inevitable and I’m just glad John Green gave him a good, short life then a long, bad (sorry my vocabulary is so limited) life.

“Do not pity the dead Harry.  Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.” 
“It’s the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.” – Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore                                                                                                                                                 
These two quotes written by J.K Rowling kept on jumping into my head when I was reading the aftermath of Augustus’ death, so I thought I might include them somewhere. J

Why do we as a society love dystopian future stories such as Divergent and the Hunger Games?

Recently I have read the Divergent trilogy written by Veronica Roth.  The two follow up books are Insurgent and allegiant. The Divergent trilogy is based on a dystopian future where the population is separated by personality traits; Dauntless (the bravery), Abnegation (the selfless), Erudite (the intelligent), Amity (the peaceful) and Candor (the honest). In the past 3 years dystopian future stories have become so popular and mainstream.  I have pondered why the idea of what kind of society gets formed after our life time is so appealing. Other popular dystopian future stories are the ‘Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins and ‘The Maze Runner’ James Dasher. I have also read the Hunger Games but have yet to read the Maze Runner. The Hunger games have been a very successful movie and book franchise, with Mockingjay part 1 coming out this year.  

  

After pondering on why we as society love dystopian future novels, I have come to believe that we as a society love dystopian future stories such as Divergent because we see our society in it. The dystopian future stories often mirror our own societies but often just exaggerated. For example ‘the Hunger Games’. Obviously we don’t send children to fight to their death but we are doing something very similar. Panem is the setting for the story and the people who live there are wealthy, powerful and are very self-conscious about wrinkles, weight and other things they believe to be flaws. Does that sound familiar to you? While the surrounding districts are very poor and don’t have enough to eat and just barely survive. The Hunger Games is reflecting on our society and Panem is the big powerful countries like America, England, Canada and Australia. While the districts are the developing countries where so many people barely have enough food to eat and will often starve to death and we aren’t doing much to stop it, but we have a society have been trying to donate money to charity but it’s not helping as many people as we would like to.        

In Divergent the factions are like the social groups of high schools. Today in high schools teenagers are pressured to act a certain way to fit in to a group of be an outcast. One of the factions in Veronica Roth’s Divergent is Dauntless. The Dauntless kids are the reckless and often irresponsible teens. They are often the ones who don’t care about school and will often drink and smoke underage. Then there is Erudite, the intelligent teens who are always seeking out new information and intellect. You will often find them in school libraries reading, doing homework, studying for test and worrying about their grades. Next is Candor, the truthful. They are the teenagers who are usually very blunt and straight forward. In today’s society you will often find these teens gossiping online, spreading rumors in school corridors and very often going up to their peers who they don’t know that well and start pointing out their flaws. Next there is Amity the peaceful. In our society they will be seen as the hippies who love the environment and world peace. They will often be the teens who are being supporting equality, started the peaceful protests and the teens who are becoming vegans and vegetarians. The last official faction is Abnegation the selfless. They are the teens who are joining protest, volunteering for charity and defending the awful teachers. If you do not fit in one of those groups but multiple groups you are an outcast, you are divergent, but unlike the book, being a divergent in real life isn't fun, because people will often pick on you. 

I strongly believe that we love dystopian future stories so much is because they mirror our society. Also when we read and watch a society with even more flaws than our own we feel smarter than those people. We can relate to the stories so well because most of the dystopian mirror our own society so well it is almost scary.  Other times the dystopian futures ARE our society. I feel like divergent is like a metaphor of adolescence and the Hunger games is an exaggeration of the unjust and tension between the wealthy and the poor. In dystopian genre I believe that behind the black ink on pages are flaws in our society and a call for change. Whether or not the authors of these dystopian stories intently put the message and metaphors in their stories I do not know, but what I do know is that we as society love reading dystopian stories and now I have at least some an idea why.  
-The girl with her head in the clouds