If My Life Was A Book, I'd Want It Turned Into A Movie

I love watching movies. I always have. I can be picky about what I watch because I don't like wasting money at the movie theater, or my time at home watching a DVD. There's nothing worse than watching a movie and being disappointed afterward because you spent 2 hours watching a dumb movie. My favorite would be probably any kind of drama or sci-fi movie followed by mystery and suspense movies. I will watch action and adventure movies, but they aren't always my favorites. There are very few comedies, romance and western movies I really like as well.  So I wouldn't consider myself a movie critic because I won't watch just any movie.

I haven't always been big on reading books though. A few years ago, I didn't have time to read books, except maybe when we would go camping. I would read any book written by John Grisham because he was my favorite author. But other than that I wouldn't frequent Barnes & Noble or even our local library. Now, I have expanded my author selection to J.K. Rowling and Stephanie Meyer as my favorites as well.

Last year during the summer, I registered Ashley and Anthony for the summer reading program through the Loveland Library. It was a way I could help Anthony increase his reading skills and have Ashley expand her interest in all sorts of books. She has always loved reading. We would read books together when she was young everyday, and now I continue that tradition with Anthony. Ashley is always looking for the next book she wants to read now.

The way this reading program works is: the younger kids have a reading log that they keep track of how many days they read in the month. They can base it off number of pages read, a certain amount of time read, or even how many books they want to read on any particular day. Anthony always chose to read between 20-30 minutes a day. But the minimum goal is to have read at least 20 days each month. At the end of June and at the end of July they get to pick out a book they can keep. The teens have a reading log that keeps track of how many books they read. Ashley's goal is to read 10 books in the summer. She can enter her name in a drawing 5 times during the summer, so after every 2 books she reads. They can win gift cards or Elitch's tickets. And they can also join teen programs at the library that will count towards reading books. It's pretty neat for the kids.

So this summer I decided to join the adult reading program. It runs the same time as the kids reading program, June 1- July 29th. For every week you read a book, you put your name in a drawing for gift certificates to buy books.

I read the most during the summer. I read throughout the year now, but because we are at the library every week in the summertime, I am more motivated to read as many books as possible. My goal is to read 15 books. I was thinking about what I wanted to read. And because I'm me, I have to plan it out. But also because our library is pretty small, and if there's a certain book you want to read, it's not always available.

I put a lot of thought into this and I've compiled my list. I've decided to break away from reading just fiction books like I always do. I mainly enjoy the mystery or suspense books, just like my movies. So, I will be reading books that have been turned into movies. Some of these, the movies have just been released and some I am waiting for the movie to be released. I have not seen any of these movies, which is unusual for me. I normally see the movie first. It's not planned that way. Some movies I didn't realize were based on a book. And in previous years, I never had time to read the books first. I have never read any of these books either, and they are not in any particular order. I will read them as they become available at the library.

Here is my summer reading list:

Fair Game: How A Top CIA Agent Was Betrayed By Her Own Government- Valerie Plame Wilson

The Tempest- William Shakespeare

The Romantics- Galt Neiderhoffer

Water For Elephants- Sara Gruen

The Lincoln Lawyer- Michael Connelly

The Help- Kathryn Stockett

Something Borrowed- Emily Giffin

Mildred Pierce- James Cain

Never Let Me Go- Kazuo Ishiguro

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo- Stieg Larsson

Dark Fields (Limitless)- Alan Glynn

Beastly- Alex Flinn

Jane Eyre- Charlotte Brontë

Mao’s Last Dancer- Li Cunxin

The Road- Cormac Mccarthy

I will keep everyone up-to-date as I make it through my list, and blog about the books and the movies. I hope I can accomplish this crazy goal! But I mainly hope I can add to my favorite authors list as well! :)