literary junkies - october

1. What are you reading right now? Tell us about it.

I have been reading Charlie N. Holmberg's Paper Magician Trilogy. I wanted to read something magical for Halloween, and saw these titles on Kindle Unlimited. In Holmberg's alternate Victorian universe, young people can choose to go to school to train as magicians just as one would go to culinary school. In this world, magicians can only control man-made substances, and after graduation, the young magicians choose one substance to be bonded to for life - fire, metal, paper, glass, or plastic. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of paper magicians in England, so Ceony Twill is required to apprentice to a paper magician rather than learning to work with metal as she'd hoped. There are shades of Daddy Long-Legs when Ceony learns that her mentor, Magician Emery Thane, was the benefactor who paid for her scholarship to secondary school. After learning this, her heart warms a bit toward him and she is charmed by the possibilities of paper magic - like the cute little paper dog Thane makes her because she misses her terrier. She also learns Thane's secret - that he was married to Lira, a woman who became a practitioner of a forbidden form of magic - blood magic. When Lira returns, determined to claim Thane for only herself, Ceony has to literally venture into his heart to save him. It's a really creative take on magic, Ceony is a lovable main character, and even though the books aren't branded as MG/YA, they would be appropriate for younger readers.

2. What was your favorite book you had to read in school and which was your least favorite?

My favorite novels were To Kill a Mockingbird and The Great Gatsby - those two taught me so much about writing. I can still remember my tenth grade English teacher telling us there wasn't a single word in TKaM that didn't need to be there, and that stuck with me. I also really loved it when we read plays in class - I was a strong oral reader from a very young age and I was always that kid who wanted to read a big part like Juliet or Ismene in Antigone. My least favorite was The Scarlet Letter - I distinctly remember wanting to throw it out the school bus window.

3. What is your favorite book that was turned into a movie? Were you happy with the movie?

 

My favorite book, The Time Traveler's Wife, was made into a movie and I thought it was a good adaption of the book but some of my favorite scenes (like the Velvet Underground concert) didn't make it in. My favorite movie adaptation of a book is probably The Book Thief - the movie is beautifully made and captures the book's magical realism and depth of emotion.

4. Which book do you wish would be turned into a movie?

Maggie Stiefvater's The Scorpio Races is being made into a movie, and I'm very excited about that. I think Diane Duane's So You Want to Be a Wizard would be a really fun movie, but as far as I can tell it was optioned for film back in 2007 and it never got made.

5. Did you set any reading goals for 2015? How are you doing with them?

I use Goodreads to set a reading goal each year. This year my goal is 35 books - I've been very busy at work this year, and devoting more time to hobbies other than reading, so I had to set a slightly lower number of books as my goal to be realistic. I'm only two books behind schedule right now, which is fine with me.

What have you been reading lately? Come link up with us at 
Pink Heels Pink Truck and Life with a Side of Coffee!