Cradle and All – James Patterson

June 17, 2013 | by | Comments Off on Cradle and All – James Patterson
Categories: Reviews.

Cradle and All, by James PattersonToday I wanted to talk about James Patterson, one of my favourite authors. When I was younger, I got a hold of a book called Cradle and All by James Patterson. It was the first paranormal, fantasy book I had read and I loved it!

In the first place, it was a genre I enjoyed reading, and secondly, I found it very easy to read. You must understand that I am not a fast reader and I do envy those who are. It’s not like I can’t read fast but I find that if I do read too fast, I don’t grasp everything I read. When I’m reading, I picture the story as a movie in my mind, scene-by-scene, and Patterson’s writing brought out my imagination, (i.e. the movie in my mind), in great detail.

Cradle and All had such a spin to it, it kept me guessing right to the very end of the story. Kinda freaked me out a little too. LOL. I recommended the book to my sister, she read it, and she then became a fan of James Patterson too. Throughout the years we’ve exchanged Patterson’s books several times.

After that first paranormal book, I found I wasn’t shy about reading the books I enjoyed instead of following the mainstream trend of what others were into. I can’t stand sappy romance and most biographies bore me. I’m not into ‘do it yourself’ or self-help books.

Thanks to the book I really loved, I don’t have enough room on my shelf for all my books. I really envied Patterson’s ability to let his imagination run wild and put it on paper. I always wanted to do that but found I didn’t have the confidence to do it and ‘who would read what I write?’ is what I always thought.

In 2008 I decided ‘what do I have to lose?’ and started writing Trinity. As Patterson and so many authors out there, I let my imagination run wild and didn’t hold back. My first thought was to write about vampires but then changed my mind because the Twilight series was the hottest thing out there and I didn’t think I could compete with that. So I switched my focus to ancient history (one of my passions), and found the Gods of Gwynneth. From there, the words just flowed. I imagined it was how James and so many other authors felt as they were writing their books and it was an inspiration. I know, sounds corny, but it’s true. However, I do have a book in my head itching to get out that is vampire themed and it will be the focus of my next project.

My hope is to be as inspiring and successful as James Patterson and so many authors out there. I could give you a long list of them but that would take up too much room! Ha!

The paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy world opened my mind and is responsible for encouraging me to read more and more. I urge anyone who says they hate reading to find the genre you like and believe me, you will find your love of reading as I did.

Review – “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer

April 6, 2013 | by | Comments Off on Review – “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer
Categories: Reviews.
Tags: Movie & Book Review, Stephenie Meyer, and The Host.

The Host, by Stephenie MeyerThe blogging starts today. Bear with me as I have never blogged before and this is all very new to me. I’ve read other’s blogs though and I think I have the jist of it. LOL!

For my first entry, I decided to do a review on one of my favourite authors, (one of many). She has several books out and all have been made into movies to date. I must admit, I always prefer the books to the movies as they have much more detail.

I went to see “The Host” (Stephenie Meyer) in the theater, March 29, 2013. It was the opening day of the movie and it was the first time I’ve ever seen a movie on opening day. In addition, it was a gift from a couple of my best friends, who took me to see it for my birthday.

It’s been a few years since I read the book and I must admit, I wondered if I’d remember what I read as opposed to what I’d see on the big screen. It turns out, I did.

I must say that I did enjoy the movie very much and am happy to report that it was very close to the book I read. Stephenie Meyer continues her stance on having a movie made that is as close to her book as possible without changing scenes, dialog, etc. I admire her about that. So many movies are made that are based on a published book and many are very good movies, however, more often than not, they deviate from the book. That is always disappointing to me. If you’re going to make a movie based on the writings of an author, I prefer you try your best to keep it as close to the book as possible. I realize that most books are too long for a movie maker to include everything, but I applaud those who try their best to do so.

In the movie The Host, the only scene I recall that was missing (spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the movie), was where the doctor was trying to remove the alien invaders (called “Souls”) from the humans they had ‘kidnapped’. There were at least two Souls who realized what the humans were trying to do, and in the alien’s own defense, destroyed themselves and the hosts they occupied. This was how they dealt with threats to their existence.

I recently discovered that Stephenie Meyer is in the process of writing the second book to The Host; part of a trilogy, so I’ve learned. I really thought that The Host stood alone, but I’m glad to find out there’s more to come! I will be waiting patiently (not!) for book 2 to come out and will rush out to buy it when it does.

If you are a Stephenie Meyer fan and enjoy her books (i.e. the Twilight series), I encourage you to go out and see The Host in the theater.