The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

I love crime movies that have a satisfying ending - the bad guy gets thrown in jail or dies and everything is ok. Can I just read any crime book that does this? It's pretty common in crime fiction... I feel like I'm cheating or something.

Rhea wrote: "Can anyone think of something that's public domain or more literary? My college doesn't stock a lot of popular fiction, especially not popular fiction published within the last 10 years.
.."

When I was in college, mine didn't either, so I got a card at the local public library. Maybe that would be an option for you?

I have a card from the New York Library that I can use to check out ebooks, so it's all good. They just don't have Sphere or Darkfever.

I could definitely use IDS to get them, it just never occurred to me for some reason that I could use IDS to get non-academic books. Thank you!

Leigh Ann wrote: "I love all the fairytale retellings too, and I just added a ton of Cameron Dokey to my TBR shelf. I've never read any of them, but I think that's what I'll do for this task. Something light and fun!"

I'm a goodreads librarian, and I just added series information yesterday for that fairy tale retelling series she writes—there are a bunch of other retellings by different authors. Here's the series link: http://www.goodreads.com/series/50079...

Rhea wrote: "I have a card from the New York Library that I can use to check out ebooks, so it's all good. They just don't have Sphere or Darkfever.

I could definitely use IDS to get them, it just never occur..."

lol, it didn't occur to me until my spring semester of my senior year. I was so upset with myself...

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I don't know what to choose. I like fairy tales too. Right now I am watching Quantum Leap and I like Scott Bakula's character where he leaps in his own lifetime setting things right that went wrong..."

I absolutely adore Quantum Leap! I have a special place in my heart for Al :3

I have no idea what I'm going to use for this task, though I'm definitely drawn to "weird" movies--Terry Gilliam's works, Inception, The Matrix, and the like. Things where reality isn't always what it seems and the audience needs to pay attention to actually figure out what's going on (is that an actual trope? lol). I'm thinking Something Wicked This Way Comes for this task since I've never read it all the way though (and the last time I picked it up was about five years ago). And there's always Philip K. Dick or Snow Crash or some of the other SF greats.

I also like the dichotomy of good and evil, but especially when the "good guys" aren't necessarily good (like the male leads in Wedding Crashers), someone who seems good betrays everyone (again, like Cypher in the Matrix), or "good" and "evil" are relative only because of what each of them believe or how they act (probably a stupid example, but like most of the characters in Talladega Nights). A book with an anti-hero would probably fit the bill if I went with that as my plan. This is another task I'll probably decide last-minute, but I like the idea. Definitely making me think about what makes me enjoy certain movies beyond attractive characters (300 *shifty eyes*).

i'm assuming you aren't in PA - however you can get an out of state membership for the Philadelphia Free Library (I think it is called) for $15 - and they have a huge ebook/audiobook - they might have any of the Fever series...

Rhea wrote: "I have a card from the New York Library that I can use to check out ebooks, so it's all good. They just don't have Sphere or Darkfever.

I could definitely use IDS to get them, it just never occur..."

I LOVE movies, I think more than book (gasp!, I know), is hard to pick, but I think I'll go with chick flick.

I love the (best)friend to couple plot or people that hate each other at the beggining and end up together. Suggestions...

I enjoyed:
It Happened One Autumn - don't like each other/ fall in love
Lord of Scoundrels - don't like each other/fall in this - this one has some really good witty banter and she shoots him at one stage
Damage Control - best friends who get drunk one night...its cute, but i read it in ebook, not sure if its available in print (and slightly spicier than a traditional romance)

Penny wrote: "I LOVE movies, I think more than book (gasp!, I know), is hard to pick, but I think I'll go with chick flick.

I love the (best)friend to couple plot or people that hate each other at the beggining..."

Penny wrote: "I LOVE movies, I think more than book (gasp!, I know), is hard to pick, but I think I'll go with chick flick.

I love the (best)friend to couple plot or people that hate each other at the beggining..."

I really enjoyed Testing Kate by Whitney Gaskell.

Thnaks Dee I have those on my TBR, I loveeeee the friend or childhood conect theme.

Thank Charity.

Penny wrote: "I LOVE movies, I think more than book (gasp!, I know), is hard to pick, but I think I'll go with chick flick.

I love the (best)friend to couple plot or people that hate each other at the beggining..."

Gone With the Wind fits this as well, at least for much of the book.........

Thanks Sandy, but I've already read Gone with the wind.

Rhea, since you asked about something more literary a university library might have, would you consider The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton or Howards End by E.M Forster? I think the interpretation of these plots as "turning sour and unexpected" is up to the reader, but I personally thought they started out with these nice, dignified people and then all of a sudden, nope, these guys are freaking nuts!

Stacey wrote: "I'm a big fan of the film noir femme fatale."

Stacey, reading the "companion" novel for a movie is fine. Actually, the "noir" films you're talking about were one of the first options I thought of for this task - specifically the Maltese Falcon and how the Harry Bosch books by Michael Connelly remind me of it.

Kandie wrote: "I love crime movies that have a satisfying ending - the bad guy gets thrown in jail or dies and everything is ok. Can I just read any crime book that does this? It's pretty common in crime fiction...."

Kandie, any crime book with a happy ending is fine. If it seems too easy, you can make the "plot" more specific - just make sure it matches a movie AND the book.

Mrs.soule wrote: "Kandie wrote: "I love crime movies that have a satisfying ending - the bad guy gets thrown in jail or dies and everything is ok. Can I just read any crime book that does this? It's pretty common in..."

Excellent! I'll have a look at what I have and see if I need/want to make it more specific. I might also end up going with a noir plot. Thanks for the help :)

Ms Anderson wrote: "Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I don't know what to choose. I like fairy tales too. Right now I am watching Quantum Leap and I like Scott Bakula's character where he leaps in his own lifetime sett..."

Ms. Anderson, just came across a list of antiheroes books in listopia:
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/28...

Your description of what you like in a movie (2nd paragraph) made me think of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold where you're not sure who's good and who's bad or even if that dichotomy exists at all.

As far as "pay attention" books go, do any of these sound good?
Phantastes & Lilith by George MacDonald
The Circle trilogy by Ted Dekker (starts with Black: The Birth of Evil - Ted Dekker is a Christian author)
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
Any of the Ender's series by Orson Scott Card - Speaker for the Dead is one of my favorite books ever!
I know I recommended this for Rhea, but I think Sphere would fit for you too.

Penny wrote: "I LOVE movies, I think more than book (gasp!, I know), is hard to pick, but I think I'll go with chick flick.

I love the (best)friend to couple plot or people that hate each other at the beggining..."

Have you read Bridget Jones's Diary yet? It's a modern (loose) interpretation of Pride & Prejudice so the characters that despise each other are the ones together in the end.

Also, if you don't mind vampires, the Undead series by MaryJanice Davidson is funny and light with a heroine who refuses to be a heroine AND refuses to fall in line with the obvious hero figure.

How do you define a chick-flick? Does it have to be modern and "fluffy" or just a romance? I can think of several romances (military and historical) that fit the couple not liking each other at first, but I'm not sure that fits the "chick" part. :-)

Thanks Mrs. Soule, I have read Briget Jone's Diary.

It can be any of those; romance historical are more than welcome.

ack, there is another one i read recently and i can't remember the title...where she fell in love with him as a teenager, something happened (I think she saw something), so she set out for revenge and they ended up falling in love...now I just have to remember the title!!

Penny wrote: "Thanks Mrs. Soule, I have read Briget Jone's Diary.

It can be any of those; romance historical are more than welcome."

Penny wrote: "Thanks Mrs. Soule, I have read Briget Jone's Diary.

It can be any of those; romance historical are more than welcome."

Penny, I just finished Don't Tempt Me by Loretta Chase, which is a historical romance that sounds like what you are looking for. Ignore the Whoa cover art--it doesn't match character's physical description (one of my pet peeves).

Penny wrote: "Thanks Mrs. Soule, I have read Briget Jone's Diary.

It can be any of those; romance historical are more than welcome."

Ok, couple-doesn't-like-each-other books:
Historical Paranormal
Soulless by Gail Carriger
After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros

Military Romance
Don't Let Go by Marliss Melton
SEALed with a Kiss by Mary Margret Daughtridge

More Chick-Lit - the dialogue in these books is hysterical
Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep
To Die For by Linda Howard
Open Season by Linda Howard

Thanks Mrs. soule. I should have been more specific PNR is really not my cup of tea, I <3 fantasy, not so much PNR, I even have it as one of my options for the New Horizons task.

And I'm a coward, so I don't really read "mysteries" or "crimes" that much.

Sara ♥ wrote: "Leigh Ann wrote: "I love all the fairytale retellings too, and I just added a ton of Cameron Dokey to my TBR shelf. I've never read any of them, but I think that's what I'll do for this task. Somet..."

I must have found that list right after you did it because it's the one I used. I added every one of them to my TBR shelf! I think I'm going to read Golden: A Retelling of "Rapunzel" for this task because it's the only one my library has. Rapunzel was always my favorite princess too.

I'm really liking this task! My only problem will be trying to pick from a big list of possibles!

Penny wrote: "Thanks Mrs. soule. I should have been more specific PNR is really not my cup of tea, I <3 fantasy, not so much PNR, I even have it as one of my options for the New Horizons task.

And I'm a coward,..."

Wow, I'm noticing a marked lack of happy-ending fantasy in my read-collection! Are you able to go with any of the historical romance suggestions Donna Jo, Charity, & Delicious Dee gave? I know it can be hard to find a specific book if you don't already own it, thus me trying to give more options!

I enjoy movies like National Treasure where the characters have to follow the clues to solve the mystery or find the hidden treasure. Could I read The Lost Symbol for this. I have read The Da Vinci Code but not seen the movie. But I feel that the book has the same characteristics that I like in National Treasure. I don't want to do a reread if I can help it.

you could try James Rollins...he has a series called Sigma force and quite a few of them are solving mysteries etc

Coralie wrote: "Having slept on the question, I have decided that what I like in a movie is an unexpected twist at the end. Does anyone have any suggestions for books with unexpected endings?"

Gentlemen and Players has "unexpected twist"

Thanks anyways Mrs.soule.

Leigh Ann wrote: "I must have found that list right after you did it because it's the one I used. I added every one of them to my TBR shelf! I think I'm going to read Golden: A Retelling of "Rapunzel" for this task because it's the only one my library has. Rapunzel was always my favorite princess too."

I just started it last night; I'm 50 pages in. It's definitely taking a different spin on the story than usual! I'm wondering where the locked-in-the-tower part is going to come into play.... or the hair part, for that matter! (You'll see!)

Mrs.soule wrote: "More Chick-Lit - the dialogue in these books is hysterical
Karma Girl by Jennifer Estep"

I'm laughing just thinking about that book. HILARIOUS! Gotta love a great superhero chick-flick, eh? Here's a quote from the review I wrote about it (please excuse the excessive capitalization...):

"WOW! That was SO INCREDIBLY CHEESY, it should win a cheese award! But a GOOD cheese award (cheddar/mozzarella/swiss/provolone)... as opposed to a BAD cheese award (Kraft Singles/American/Velveeta). This book was FUNNY and CUTE and SILLY and UTTERLY-RIDONKULOUS in ALL the right ways! I LOVED IT!"

Bluemoon wrote: "I enjoy movies like National Treasure where the characters have to follow the clues to solve the mystery or find the hidden treasure. Could I read The Lost Symbol for this. I have re..."

Bluemoon, sounds perfect.

Does anyone know of any books about heists? Sort of like Ocean's Eleven? I would want to read about the guys pulling off the heist...not the detective trying to find the guys pulling off the heist. If not, I might just do what Bluemoon is doing. I like those kinds of movies as well.

Heist Society... I'm not really sure what it's about, but Heist is right there in the title!

Sara ♥ wrote: "Heist Society... I'm not really sure what it's about, but Heist is right there in the title!"

Heist Society was pretty good. It is about this girl whose father is accused of stealing these three pictures from a bad man and so to get him off the hook, they decide to steal them from the museum they are at to get her father off the hook. I think that doesn't give anything away. It is a Young Adult novel, so if you don't like YA, don't read it. I enjoyed it. It was a nice, easy, light read. It did kind of remind me of Ocean's Eleven.

I found a "heist" shelf - don't know which of these have a "happy for the bad guys" ending:
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/t...

Sara ♥ wrote: "Heist Society... I'm not really sure what it's about, but Heist is right there in the title!"

Thanks...I actually had that on the "book with a smile on the cover" task, and I completely forgot about it. I could always move it. Thanks for jogging my brain.

Kathryn wrote: "Sara ♥ wrote: "Heist Society... I'm not really sure what it's about, but Heist is right there in the title!"

Heist Society was pretty good. It is about this girl whose father is acc..."

Thanks...I actually had that on the "book with a smile on the cover" task, and I somehow for got about, cause I can be a dork. Thanks for the advice. And I do enjoy a good YA book.

Carly wrote: "Does anyone know of any books about heists? Sort of like Ocean's Eleven? I would want to read about the guys pulling off the heist...not the detective trying to find the guys pulling off the heis..."

If you like romance at all, I just finished an older Nora Roberts book called Sweet Revenge that fits this scenario. The female lead is a princess, but also a world-renowned cat burglar (not that anyone knows that... except maybe the hero...). The hero is a former cat burglar turned Interpol informant and, together, they attempt to pull off the riskiest job of their lives.

Mrs.soule wrote: "I found a "heist" shelf - don't know which of these have a "happy for the bad guys" ending:
http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/t..."

Ooh...thanks...I will definitely be perusing that. I don't need the bad guys to win, but I guess that would be a plus. Thanks again!!

I love horror movies where the evil is in something unexpected. So I would read The Mailman. Would that be ok? Evil comes in form of the mailman...

Pinky_rocks wrote: "I love horror movies where the evil is in something unexpected. So I would read The Mailman. Would that be ok? Evil comes in form of the mailman..."

Sounds perfect!

Penny wrote: "Thanks anyways Mrs.soule."

Penny, I just finally read a NON-paranormal historical romance where the guy & girl hate each other at first - it'd been sitting on my TBR shelf forever: If You Dare by Kresley Cole - it was so good and no vampires or mystery in sight. :-)

Mrs.soule wrote: "Penny wrote: "Thanks anyways Mrs.soule."

Penny, I just finally read a NON-paranormal historical romance where the guy & girl hate each other at first - it'd been sitting on my TBR shelf forever:..."

Thanks for letting me know.

I need help with this... here are some of my favorite television shows and movies.

TV Shows: White Collar, Golden Girls, Hannah Montana, My Name Is Earl and George Lopez

Movies: Cars (Pixar), Tuesdays With Morrie, The Bucket List, Seven Pounds and Marley and Me.

I'd recommend The Art of Racing in the Rain for Marley and Me. It too has a dog as a main character within the plot.

I am addicted to the HBO series True Blood, so could I read Dead to the World for this task?

Valorie wrote: "I am addicted to the HBO series True Blood, so could I read Dead to the World for this task?"

The Sookie Stackhouse series works fine for the TV version.