Showing posts with label Stephen Chbosky. Show all posts

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Recommend The Most

Posted by Sandra on Tuesday, March 26, 2013. Filed under: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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I just found out about "Top Ten Tuesday" hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. This consists on posting your top ten books about a weekly topic. It is super fun, because you get to share many books with your readers and connect with new people. So I'll start this time with the following topic:

Top Ten  Books I Recommend The Most

It's always hard to pick books to recommend, at least for me, because I always try to recommend them based on the things that people like, but I will try my best with my list. 

Ps. They're not in particularly order.

1. The Fault In Our Stars by John Green: I'm sure this is a highly recommended book, but I had to put it in this list because it made me feel so many different things at the same time, and it moved me. I'm a big fan of John Green's book, and this one wasn't the exception. Smart, funny, entertaining, sweet and heartbreaking. This book is a must read.

2. Pride and Prejudiceby Jane Austen: It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a person who enjoys reading, must be in want to read this book. This is my favorite book ever. Jane Austen was a fantastic writer, so inspiring and so clever. There's not much I can say about this, just read it. It's fascinating and the characters are amazingly real. Plus, you'll fall in love with Mr. Darcy.

3. Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins: This book falls into the paranormal category, it was written by the lovely Wendy Higgins. The plot is very original and creative, I'm sure that all paranormal/romance fans out there will love this one. Sexy, clever, heart-stopping and with swoon worthy characters, I really recommend this book. The sequel is coming out in April, so it's a good time to get your hands on it if you haven't already.

4. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling: Duh. It amazes me the amount of people who still haven't read Harry Potter. This books are my all time favorites. J.K. Rowling gave us readers a magical world, full of mystery, sacrifice, love, friendship, darkness and fantasy that will always be remembered. This books changed my life and if you haven't read it, I'm sure they'll change yours too.

5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: This is another amazing book. It also shocks me how many people haven't even heard of it. This read about human behavior will move you like no other story. It deals with so many social issues and it makes you think. Plus, Atticus Finch is one of the best characters I've read about, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky:  I read this almost 8 years ago and it was life changing. I highly recommend this to everyone, it's probably one of the books I recommend the most. This one is definitely a must read, and it saddens me to hear people saying "I watched the movie... No need to read the book" Seriously, if you have watched the movie you have to read the book, it will blow your mind.

7. Starters by Lissa Price: This is one of my favorite dystopian books. This book is smart. Fun, romantic without being cheesy, and with an amazing female lead character. Price took us readers to a horrifying future, and actually one of the most probable I've read. It gave me goosebumps just to read about it. If you're into good YA dystopia, this one's for you.

8. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: This is one hell of a book. It's very simple yet so complex, and it's highly entertaining. Plath's writing is poetic, fun and ironic. Some people say that this is not a book for everybody, but I'm telling you otherwise, this book will make you question yourself and the way you see things. I adore this book, I hope that if you read, you will too.

9. The William S Club by Riley Banks: I won this book on a Goodreads giveaway and I'm really happy I did. This is a thrilling story, with mysterious, sexy and great characters that will keep you on the edge of your couch/bed/place where you usually read. It contains explicit sexual situations, but it never ceases to amuse you. Addicting, sexy, romantic and fun. 

10. Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella: This is pure chick lit and I love it. This is an easy, fast read that will make you laugh and sigh. It's hilarity will make your stomach hurt. Romantic and also enlightening, this one is perfect for a rainy day, laying in bed with a cup of tea. I always recommend this book to people who are not into classics nor supernatural stuff.


Thoughts about "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" Movie

Posted by Sandra on Monday, January 21, 2013. Filed under: , , ,
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Well, I also got asked to post my thoughts about "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" movie.

The movie came out months ago in the USA, but I couldn't see it until mid-January because it took a while to premiere here in Mexico. I watched it twice and I absolutely LOVED it.

I am fully aware that there were some changes, but that is necessary when it comes to book adaptions and I think that nothing really important was left out of the movie. The fact that Stephen Chbosky wrote the script, directed and produced the movie made it 99.9% loyal to the book. 

One thing that disappointed me a bit, was the fact that the tunnel song was changed. I do love David Bowie but I was expecting "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. I think "Heroes" was a good choice and I really liked, YES, but I adore Fleetwood Mac, so that was the only let down for me. 

When it comes to acting, WOAH!! I was so surprised with Logan Lerman's performance. He did an outstanding job portraying Charlie. I'm a big fan but I wasn't sure he would be a good Charlie... Turns out I was wrong and he was excellent. He made me feel everything he was feeling, he made me think what he was thinking, just as if I was reading the book.

Another surprise was Ezra Miller... Damn that boy can act. I watched "We Need to Talk about Kevin" and he was terrific in it! He did an excellent Patrick, I wasn't expecting him to be so good. I didn't imagine Patrick to look like Ezra, but he shut my mouth with that acting.

And well, Emma Watson. No words needed. As a Potterhead I love her. I got super-duper excited when she was casted as Sam. She was flawless, her acting is so good and she played Sam amazingly!!! 

Another favourite of mine was Paul Rudd as Mr. Anderson. He is one of my fave characters in the book and I have a crush on Paul Rudd since forever, so this casting was perfect for me.

As you read, I found this casting GENIUS! I'm not used to be pleased with the cast of a book adaptation, so another reason to love the movie. It was as touching, overwhelming, deep and fun as the book. I left the movie theater in tears after watching it, and I can't wait to buy the DVD and watch it tons of times. Just perfect!!!

Perks of reading Perks.

Posted by Sandra on Saturday, January 19, 2013. Filed under: , , , ,
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Title: The Perks Of Being A Wallflower
Author: Stephen Chbosky

Pages: 213
Published: 1999
Read In: 2005
Rating: 5/5

I'm really happy because today I got a mail from a Brazilian girl who asked me to post my review of Stephen Chboskys's "The Perks of Being a Wallflower".

The main reason why I got excited is because someone in Brazil reads my blog!!
The second one, because she asked me to post a review about the book that made a difference in my life. 

So, I'm not quite sure this is an objective review since I adore this book, but here are my thoughts about it:
When I first read this book I was 12 years old, and I was going through a lot of similar situations related to school, friends and self discovery. I didn't own the book back then, a friend lent it to me so I used to read it in my recess time at school. This book changed my life, it truly did. It changed the way I used to see the world around me, it made me wonder: Am I a wallflower?

In my opinion, this was such and original and amazing way to narrate a book: Through letters.


Charlie is an amazing character, so complex, unique and real and he talks about his life through letters sent to an unknown character (I thought that by the end of the book I would know who he was writing to, sadly I didn't). Charlie poured his heart on those letters, he wrote about his struggles in life, constant body and mind changes and how he dealt with it. He had to deal with a lot of issues, like the suicide of his best friend, falling in love with someone older than him that only saw him as a friend, discovering sexuality, being introduced to a world of drugs and alcohol at the age of 15, violence, sex abuse and self discovery. I, like Charlie, want to be a writer, and that's another reason why I loved him so much.


In my opinion he is an amazing, complex, well-written character, and I totally connected with him through the whole reading. This is a story of a real person, it’s not fiction, and maybe that’s why I liked it so much, because this book gave something unique to us readers, it is real and it’s honest, maybe a bit raw when it comes to certain situations, but that’s what makes it an amazing and compelling story.


Charlie’s development through the book is amazing, you can see how he starts as a shy, disturbed guy, and how he finds out that there’s more to life than to pity himself, how he discovers the true power of friendship and love, and most important, how he realizes that he is important, that he matters and that he can accomplish everything he wants. How could this book not be amazing? I really wish I had friends like Patrick and Sam, they are incredible. It has a great writing quality, Stephen Chbosky made a great job with his modern prose and with the characters he created, the plot is believable, touching and well, amazing. 


OH and thank you Mr. Chbosky for making me feel infinite and giving me one of the most utterly amazing, real, useful quote of my life: 


"WE ACCEPT THE LOVE WE THINK WE DESERVE" 


I've read this book 13 times in 8 years. Now I have my own copy, and it has an special place in my bookshelf and in my heart. Everything about this book screams classic! One of the best Young Adult books I’ve ever read in my whole life.

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