"The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids On 25 Words Or Less" by Terry Ryan

Lately I have been on a kick of reading non-fiction.  I just re-read one of my favorite books, The Prize Winner Of Defiance, Ohio: How My Mother Raised 10 Kids On 25 Words Or Less by Terry Ryan.  Terry is one of Evelyn and Kelly Ryan's 10 children.  Growing up in the 1950s, it was normal for the father to work outside of the home and the mother to take care of the children and the house.  So how does a family with an extremely small income manage to keep a roof over the heads over the heads of their brood?  By contesting of course!

Evelyn Ryan entered contest after contest in hopes of winning some prize- either something that could be sold to pay the bills or that could in some way support her children.  If the family needed it, she won it.  The lives of the Ryans are chronicled in this wonderful book.  Evelyn kept stacks of notebooks with her contest entries- these are sprinkled throughout the book as well.  This book is an excellent documentation of how many people lived during this era.  Things were very similar as they are today.  Families faced hardships and financial problems.  Sometimes my generation isn't aware of how things used to be as we are spoiled with re-runs of Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best.  This book captures the reality a real family lived and how they overcame what life threw at them.


The movie is pretty spectacular too!

Happy Reading!
-Melly

"Scott Pilgrim" by Bryan Lee O'Malley

Here’s something you need to know about me.  I have been known to yell at a movie, “that didn’t happen in the book!”  Ok, so that only happened once, but staying faithful to the book tends to be very important to me.  There is the occasion movie that I feel does the book justice and my love for the movie is tied for my love with the book.  But I never like the movie more than I like the book.  That is, until Scott Pilgrim.  I am absolutely obsessed with this movie, but not so much with the book series.

Now don’t get me wrong.  I respect the books completely.  I am not a graphic novel reader.  I read one occasionally, but they are just not for me. Bryan Lee O'Malley's series has been one of the few that I have really enjoyed and greedily lapped up.  The storyline is unique and plays out nicely.  I adore the characters and enjoy the little jokes scattered throughout.  When it comes to recommending books, I try to stick with the genres that I am comfortable with, mainly YA.  But this is a series (and movie) that I recommend that everyone gives a try!

Happy Reading!

-Melly

"Anna and the Franch Kiss" by Stephanie Perkins

It seemed that every other book blogger on the face of the planet was absolutely raving about Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins so of course I had to read it.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the heck out of this book but at the same time I didn’t feel that it was as amazing as I expected it to be.  I suppose I was expecting the Harry Potter of teen romance?  Despite the book not quite meeting my expectation, it was still a really fun read!

Anna is about to start her senior year of high school in the most romantic city in the world- and she isn’t too thrilled about it.  She has no desire to leave her best friend or Toph (her co-worker and crush/almost boyfriend) and she doesn’t know a word of French.  But her father has sent her to Paris anyway.  It takes some time, but Anna starts to make friends in this new city.  And more importantly she meets Étienne St. Clair, the most wonderful British/American guy in France who conveniently has a girlfriend.  Anyone that has ever read a book or seen a movie with a romantic plot immediately knows that Anna is eventually going to fall for St. Clair, it’s just a matter of time.  Just like in a Taylor Swift song, Anna and St. Clair become extremely close but because Anna knows he has a girlfriend, there is nothing she can do about it.  The reader spends the majority of the book waiting for St. Clair to break-up with Ellie (sadly a name I love was given to a rather unpleasant character) and to get together with Anna.  But will that ever happen (don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you).  Another element of this book that is fairly important is Anna’s love of cinema.  Back in her hometown of Atlanta, she worked in a movie theatre and dreamed of being a professional movie reviewer.  In Paris she discovers that the city shares her love and spends a good portion of her evening soaking up the flickering lights of the big screen.  I felt that Anna was a well developed character and enjoyed that her likes and interests where an important part of the story.

This book felt very familiar.  There was nothing horribly surprising about it and it deals with themes extremely common in YA literature.  However, I fell that it is well written and well researched.  As I was reading it, I felt that the characters and their actions where believable.  Overall I really enjoyed this book and felt that it would be perfect read for a lazy afternoon.

You can expect my review of Perkins’ companion book, Lola and the BoyNext Door within a few days (I am loving it!).

Happy Reading!

-Melly

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins

I think I sometimes jump on the bandwagon for popular books a little late and this was no exception.  Boy, was I missing out.  I had little desire to read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins until I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie last week.  Waiting was a mistake.  This book is AMAZING!  From the very beginning I was on the edge of my seat and could barely put the book down (there are not many books that I stay up late and wake up early to read).  It is magnificent!

If you are in the very small percentage of book nerds that hasn't read The Hunger Games let me clue you in.  Katniss lives in a world very different from our own.  To remind the citizens of what used to be North America of the mistakes made in the nation's history, each of the 12 districts must give up one young woman and one young man to compete in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death where one will live and twenty-three will die.  When Katniss' sister is selected as tribute for District 12, Katniss selflessly volunteers to take her place.  She then enters a world even stranger than the one she left, a world where people horribly change their appearance to appear beautiful, feast on wonderful foods everyday, and take pleasure in the deaths of children.

I have read many reviews referring to Katniss as the anti-Bella.  There is no better description for our heroine.  She is a wonderful role model for girls- powerful, brave, and self sufficient only a few words that I feel accurately describe her.  This book has action, romance, fantasy and can appeal to all readers, both male and female.  If you haven't read this yet, trust me, you are missing out!  Get a copy, read, and enjoy!

Happy Reading!
-Melly

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

Words cannot describe the brilliance of Kathryn Stockett's The Help.  Once I started the book I could hardly put it down.  And it took me quite awhile to start the book since I had to wait several months to get my hands on a copy (in case you haven't noticed, it is insanely popular).  I am usually not as up to date on books from the Adult Fiction area, I tend to stick mostly to Young Adult and did not really know much about this book prior to the movie's release this past summer.  Unfortunatly my schedule didn't allow me time to see the film, but I plan on picking up a copy shortly after it's release this week.

This book is full of strong female leads and focuses on three characters: Aibeleen, Minny, and Skeeter.  After witnessing the way her friends treat their hired help, Skeeter gets the idea to interview the maids of Jackson, Mississippi and put their stories together in a book.  Set against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, this novel is invigorating and inspiring.  These women are taking a near unimaginable risk all for the sake of sharing their stories with the world.  While reading I felt a plethora of emotions; happiness, sadness, and several moments of laughing-out-loud-ness.  If there is one book that you need to read this year,  this is it.

Happy Reading
-Melly

48 Hour Film Challenge with the Four Corners Film Makers

The past few months have been interesting.  I have had the wonderful opportunity to be involved with several local film products (Calendar Company, Highlander: The Watcher, and I'm Waiting).  It has only been behind the scenes stuff: photo taking, providing baked goodies and a little bit of reflector and boom mic operating.  Since I have no aspirations to be an actress, this sort of thing is perfect for me.   So how did I end up "acting" in my first short film?  Four words: 48 Hour Film Challenge.

Frantically writing...or tweeting... #FilmChallenge

This weekend I worked with the Four Corners Film Makers to create a short film over the course of a weekend (as I am writing this, editing is taking place.  As soon as the film is up on youtube, you can trust that I will be posting it here).  It was a lot of hard work but also a lot of fun.  The FCFM team was assigned: 

Genre: Film de Feme or Coming of Age
Character: Francis Tucker

Occupation: Marathon Runner

Prop: A wine glass
Line: "Let's pretend this never happened"

My minimal note taking and third Mountain
Dew of the night

I don't want to give anything away (I'd rather you get to see it for yourself) but let's just say our film is AWESOME!  We had an amazing cast!  I can't believe how much talent there is in my town.  The crew (many will be featured in the film) also rocked!  It was great to see a rather large group of people come together and create something in such a short amount of time.

Our fearless leader (and director), George Thomas

So many people complain about my town, saying that there are no opportunities here.  My guess is they don't look very far.  Yes, it's unlikely that some major Hollywood exec or music producer will discover anyone in Farmington, but that's not to say that someone from Farmington can't be found.  I am very excited that I have the chance to work with these amazing people and am very thankful that they've allowed me to help them produce such awesomeness!

Our prop!

If you haven't already, check out some of the videos from:

Elsewhen Productions 

Storymark Productions (Facebook)

Double Wide Productions (Facebook, Blogger, Twitter)

Out of the Void Productions (Facebook, Blogger, Twitter)

And of course:

The Four Corners Film Makers (Facebook and Blogger)!

We're dorks! 

My lovely co-stars!

Have a good one!
-Melly

Photos by Melanie Leeson ©2011

In Honor of "One Day" with Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess, Based on the Book by David Nicholls

One Day

So I saw the movie based on David Nicholls' book last night with the crew of The Void Zone Podcast (will post a link to the review soon!) and really enjoyed it. I plan on reading the book as soon as a copy is available at my library again (I'm second in line to check-it out, so hopefully soon) and will attempt to do a movie/book comparison review. However, in the mean time, I highly recommend the movie!

In honor of One Day, here are some Anne Hathaway movie recommendations (and of course, these movies are based on books).

The Princess Diaries

Even though this movie is very loosely based on Meg Cabot's AMAZING series, I still enjoyed the movie. And can you blame me? Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews? Of course I liked it. Despite some major changes (for instance, Mia's father is still alive in the books) and some rather minor ones (it doesn't matter too much plot wise that the location changed from New York City to San Francisco, at least in my opinion. Though, that's what this blog is, my opinion) I feel like it's a fun movie that is easy to watch either alone or with friends, and it's not the type of movie you have to pay attention every second to remember what is going on with the plot.

On the other hand, I am not a huge fan of the sequel. I did see it twice in theaters (a rarity for me) and own the DVD, but overall it's low on my list of likes. I didn't care much for the repeat of jokes from the first movie, “thank you culinary people” and my favorite line from the trailer was cut as well (“Grandma said shut-up? Shut-up!”). Plus, I was always the one holding out for Mia and Michael to get back together. Overall, that was one book deviation I really wasn't okay with. But I will still occasionally pop it in the DVD on a lazy afternoon of watching movies.

As a whole, I enjoy these movies quite a bit. I have a tendency to like movies based on books far more if I see the movie before I read the book. If I have already read the book, I tend to be more attached to the characters and plot and be unhappy when things are changed. Thankfully at the time of the first movie's release, I did not realize it was based on a book and I'm sure this is part of why I enjoy it so much. If you haven't seen it yet and are in need of a fun chick flick, grab both movies and set your self up for a fun marathon.

Check out the amazing Meg Cabot on Facebook and Twitter!

The Devil Wears Prada

I guess I am a bit of an Anne Hathaway fan. I don't make it point to see all of her movies, but I've seen many and enjoyed most. (How did Jane Austen fans feel about Becoming Jane? I'm sad to say I was bored during it, though I am willing to give it another try.). I immediately wanted to see The Devil Wears Prada the first time I saw the trailer. I loved it then (though I was the one in the theater overly upset that Meryl Streep's daughters now had copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and I did not) and it is still in heavy rotation in my DVD player (how I love unintentional puns). I didn't realize immediately that this movie was based on a book. That happens to me often with adult fiction (I have a habit of heading directly to the Young Adult books, checking out of the kids fiction and picture books, making a stop in the biography section, then discovering that I am about to buy more books than I should and leave without ever making it to the rest of the bookstore-or library) so I often miss out on those sort of things. But I found Lauren Weisberger's book (I believe on display at WalMart), immediately bought it and began to read.

I am fairly certain that had I read this book without seeing the movie I would have enjoyed it. But reading it after the movie, I felt a little let down (another case of liking a movie better if I see the movie first). I was especially disappointed with the book's ending. Good for book-Andy to take financial responsibility and get rid of clothes she didn't need to pay off her loans. But I prefer that movie version of Andy giving the clothes she received in Paris to Emily. I liked seeing this character I already loved, doing the selfless thing to benefit someone who was never really nice, but who deep down I think wanted to be.

The book has fun characters that were sadly cut from the movie, but for time and such, these cuts made sense. Overall, I absolutely love the movie and the book will always have a spot on my shelves. It's likely that the book will receive several re-reads from me as well. This is another fun movie for a group of women to watch together (and for a marathon, team it with Confessions of a Shopaholic, and I recommend both Sophie Kinsella's book and the movie in this case!).

I hope I've given you some useful movie ideas.  As always, read the books and make your own opinion.  If you like books I didn't that's fine.  And if you disagree with my opinion, that's okay too.  

Happy Reading!

-Melly