Top Ten Tuesday: Best Beginnings and Endings!

In which Sam rants about the English language, raves about Hemingway (as usual) and rambles on absolutely forever. 

For this week's TTT, we've been asked to share the best book beginnings & endings. I took this rather literally and sought out the words that most shook me up when I read them first (rather than "I'm so glad that X person got a dragon in the end" because, well, I am nearly always glad to rave about the presence/rant about the absence of dragons.)

Also, this TTT is super long. You've been warned. 

And as always, credit to The Broke and the Bookish for this fabulous feature!

Top Ten Tuesday: Best & Worst Film Adaptations

In which Sam rants and raves about five of the worst and five of the best film adaptations of YA/NA novels, including (1) a quick synopsis, (2) whether the book is worth the read, and (3) whether the movie is worth the watch!

Without further ado, we here at Mad But Magic are very excited to share our Top Ten Tuesday list of Best & Worst Movie Adaptations – original feature, as always, courtesy of The Broke and Bookish :)

TOP 5 BEST MOVIE ADAPTATIONS

#5 S.E. Hinton’s novel The Outsiders and the 1983 film adaptation, The Outsiders

Synopsis: Young men on the edge – of sanity, of society, of adulthood – stalk the night streets in leather jackets and linger on in your heart.

Is the book worth the read? YES! One hundred times, yes. The Outsiders was written by a woman who wandered the streets getting to know young men just like her protagonists – who, by the way, have some of the best names you’ll ever encounter in fiction – Ponyboy and Sodapop are my favorites. True to publishing industry fashion when it comes to female authors like J.K. Rowling, S.E. Hinton is really Susan Eloise Hinton – and she wrote the book while still in high school!

Is the movie worth the watch? Absolutely – it’s old but it’s fun, and it’s a bit of a tearjerker, too. Also, it’s a delight to look for today’s well-known stars in some early roles, like Diane Lane, Matt Dillon, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Maccio, Rob Lowe, and Tom Cruise!

In sum: Do it forJohnny.

Top Ten Books At The Top Of My Summer TBR List

In which Sam tells you about the next ten books To Be Read by her this summer, in no particular order, with explanations that may be less than satisfactory and a number of parentheses that may be more than reasonably necessary.

Original feature courtesy of The Broke and the Bookish!

Why yes I did take this picture using Instagram.

TBR lists tell you a lot about yourself. Sadly, this list tells me that I still quite often judge books by their covers. (This tendency will almost certainly be the topic of later discussion here at Mad But Magic.) As I have yet to really read any of the next ten books I can only vouch for their sparkling potential, and give you a glimpse into my book selection MO. Let’s plunge ahead!

1. Deborah Harkness, Shadow of Night. The second book in the All Souls trilogy, and the only book in this list I’ve actually started reading. Witch meets vampire meets history of science meets magic meets FEELINGS.

Why did I pick it up? Because the author is a respected historian who studies the history of magic and science. So pleased to discover that was a thing, a thing one could study (why am I in law school again?) that I simply had to pick up the first book in the trilogy – A Discovery of Witches – and after falling into Diana and Matthew’s world I had to join them on their next adventure.
In sum: HISTORY IS VERY SERIOUS.*