TV Adaptations

For those of you in the US (and maybe Canada?), have you seen the new TV shows "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" or "Kings"? I'd love to hear what you think about them.


The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

I caught a rerun of the premier this past week. Having not read the books (by Alexander McCall Smith) I didn't know what to expect but I really quite enjoyed it. Here's a clip if you haven't seen it yet:

I love the line about the apostrophe - was that in the book?! It's GREAT! I'll definitely be watching this show from time to time.


Kings

I've seen the first three episodes so far and I am intrigued. If you haven't heard of this, it is an alternate history show based on the Biblical story of King David in the Old Testament. In the show, David is a front line soldier who saves the King Silas's son by taking on a tank (called a Goliath - go figure). David is then invited to live in the capital city and work as a press liason for the king.

The plot thickens when Reverend Samuels lets King Silas know that God is not pleased with some of the king's recent actions. And then Silas sees a sign that clearly shows him that God's favor has moved from him to young David.

Here's a clip from the show:

There's another clip at this link that gives some additional info. And Tor.com did a great recap/analysis of this show recently. Check it out if you want more details on the show.


Have you been watching either of these shows? What do you think of their adaptations from the written stories? If you haven't seen them, do you want to now? Please share your thoughts.

The Time Machine

The Time Machine
by HG Wells
audio book: 3.8 hours
originally published in 1895

I listened to the audio version of this while I was at work, sort of as background noise. Of course that means I didn't pay as much attention to it, but as I'm already familiar with the story - and as I've seen the 1960 movie - I let myself get away with it.

For those who are NOT familiar with this classic work of literature, here's the basic plot:

Our unnamed narrator tells the story of his unnamed friend, who he refers to only as "The Time Traveler". The Time Traveler invents a machine that he claims can take him through time. He invites a group of friends over for dinner one week from the start of the story, and over dinner regales them with the tale of his experiences in the future which he visited during the intervening days. He traveled to the year 802,701 and encountered two groups of "people" ... for want of a better word ... and I won't say more than that or else I'll give away the story.

On the whole, I enjoyed it ... but not overly much. I think it was just too short for me to really get into it.

If you want to see something amusing, here's the trailer for the 1960 movie version (a rather poor adaptation, but still entertaining):

And this book counts toward the 1% Well Read Challenge - a bonus for me, as I didn't realize that when I started listening!

Kiddo on Ice

A quick update on Kiddo ...

In late February I took Kiddo's Cub Scout Pack ice skating. It was kiddo's first time on ice and he got the hang of it quickly.

That night, he announced that he wanted to play ice hockey. ?!?! This, from the musically-inclined boy who refuses to play most sports and who loves Irish Step Dance?! (Those links take you to videos of kiddo - enjoy!) But he was adamant, and so we decided to try it out.

We signed him up for a beginners ice hockey clinic starting the following week. After he had been skating two different times we got him all the gear and sent him out on the ice for his first clinic.

After an hour of falling down over and over again, here's the video from the end of that first clinic:

WOOHOO! We've found something Kiddo loves to do!



Here is a video from the 3rd week of hockey clinic. At this point he's only been on skates 6 different times ... but the improvement is AMAZING!





I'm so proud of how hard he's working at this. GO KIDDO!


PS. Can I tell you how frickin' COLD it is in there?! I had to buy myself some UnderArmour pants to wear under my jeans, and I bring a cushion to sit on as well as a sweater, a coat, a hat, and gloves. I'm dreading summertime - I'll have to change out of shorts and a tank top into full winter gear every time! But I'm not complaining - Kiddo is having a blast and that's all that matters to me.

Random Update

So it might be quiet for a few days around here. See, I'm sort of ... exhausted. By the time I'm getting home from work I just want to lounge on my couch of course there are all sorts of activities to do with kiddo before that can happen. By the time I DO get to relax I'm too tired to read.

But I AM reading - and they are some pretty cool books too. Here's a sneak peak at the books I'll be reviewing soon ...

• Evelina, by Fanny Burney - This book is from the late 1700s and it is FUN! If you like Pride & Prejudice and books of that nature then you will enjoy Evelina. I'm reading it for the 1% Well Read Challenge. The entire book is a series of letters between 17-year-old Evelina and her family and friends. She was raised quietly in the country and I'm at the part where she visits London for the first time. She accidentally insults some people and accidentally impresses others, and she relates all this to her guardian in her letters. I'm having such a good time reading this one!
  
  
• Locked Rooms, by Laurie R. King - This is the 8th in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series. It is good, but I can't seem to stick with it for more than a chapter at a time. I think that has a lot to do with me being to tired though. And I just found out it is the book up for discussion in the author's Virtual Book Club - I'll definitely be participating this month!
  
  
• The Secret of Lost Things, by Sheridan Hay - This is my current audio book. Unfortunately I'm not finding much time to listen to it. That, and it isn't drawing me in as quickly as I'd hoped. Again, this could have to do with my exhaustion level ...

I probably won't have many reviews up during the next week but I have some photo posts I'd like to do. Hopefully you all will enjoy them ... and I promise to get some book-related stuff up soon.

Laurie R. King coming to DC & Baltimore

Here's a great chance for all of you who live in and around Washington, DC. and Baltimore, Maryland - you can meet author Laurie R. King!

Details on each event are below, along with a bit of info about her upcoming book.

I'll definitely be at the Baltimore event ... will I see any of you there?

"In 1994, Laurie King's The Beekeeper's Apprentice introduced young Mary Russell to Sherlock Holmes, and a cult was born. The ninth book in the Russell/Holmes series, The Language of Bees, returns the duo to Sussex Downs where they met and to the beekeeping passion that became Holmes' avocation upon his retirement from Baker Street."

~Washington, DC ~

The Language of Bees: A book talk by Laurie R. King
A book sale and signing courtesy of the Trover Shop will follow the program
Sunday, May 3, 2009, 2:00 pm
Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library
3310 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
1st floor Auditorium
For more information, call 202.282-3080

~ Baltimore, MD ~

Laurie R. King talks about her new book, The Language of Bees.

Award-winning author Laurie King stops in Baltimore on her "Fifteen Weeks of Bees" tour, which includes the celebration of the 150th birthday of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle on May 22.

Presented in partnership with Mystery Loves Company bookstore. They will have copies of Laurie King's books for sale following the program.

Monday, May 04, 2009, 6:30 pm

Southeast Anchor Library
3601 Eastern Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21224
410-396-1580
www.prattlibrary.org

Full-screen

For other events around the country check out the Where's Laurie? page at her blog.

Another Post is Up at RGG

My latest post is up at ReadingGroupGuides.com. In it I talk about my book club's reaction the two of Barbara Kingsolver's novels, THE POISONWOOD BIBLE and THE BEAN TREES.

Hop on over there and post a comment for me - I'd love to hear what you have to say!

March '09 Summary

Well, I didn't do as well as I hoped this month but I still did pretty good!


Books - 9 (2,931 pages - great number, huh?)

• Homefront (312 pages) - from the author
  
  
• A Monstrous Regiment of Women (326 pages) - for my Month of Joyful Reading
  
  
• A Letter of Mary (315 pages) - for my Month of Joyful Reading
  
  
• The Moor (369 pages) - for my Month of Joyful Reading
  
  
• O Jerusalem (425 pages) - for my Month of Joyful Reading
  
  
• The Castle of Otranto (128 pages) - for the 1% Well Read Challenge
  
  
• Justice Hall (352 pages) - for my Month of Joyful Reading
  
  
• The Bean Trees (336 pages) - for book club
  
  
• The Game (368 pages) - for my Month of Joyful Reading
  
  
• I am ALMOST finished with Locked Rooms (the most current in the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series) but it will have to count toward April's totals.
  
  

Audio Books - 3 (42.43 hours)

All the audio books were "just because" books that I've had on my TBR list.

• Moby Dick (15 hours)
  
  
• People of the Book (13.93 hours)
  
  
• Sword Song (13.5 hours)
  

Mom & Son Book Club - 0 books

• We HAVE been reading but I haven't written up the posts yet ...

Other Stats

• My TBR list gained 29 titles and kiddo's list gain 4.
• Favorite books: The Moor, Homefront, and People of the Book. I wish my book club hadn't outvoted People of the Book - that would have been excellent for discussion!
  
• Two author posts, both by Laurie R. King - here and here

On the whole, my totals aren't bad this month. I really wanted to be finished with the Mary Russell books but I'm not far off my goal so I'm not really disappointed. How was YOUR March?