Olga said

I actually bought myself a set of the John Carter books earlier this year Tina, I was going to read them before the movie but I didn’t get around to it. My partner and I both loved John Carter, I’m glad to find someone else who enjoyed it, I don’t really get why everyone was down on it.

Olga — glad to find a fellow fan. After I saw the movie, I started finding reviews of those who were also surprised about the criticism of the movie, and were sorry they didn’t see it on the big screen (I know I am). Anyway, enjoyed the movie immensely and can’t wait to do more comparisons with ‘A Princess of Mars’.

I miss bookstores too although my city does have Barnes and Noble and Books a Million as far as large franchises, and a couple of local bookstores. And there’s Half Price Books as well. I do miss sitting in a store, surrounded by books; hiding in the aisles while I make some new discovery, or just enjoying their touch and smell. I love the convenience of Amazon and even BN.com, but I miss the intimacy of being in a real book store. But I guess it’s the way I come down in the middle on the issue of real books vs. e-books. E-Books have that instant satisfaction as I can download the complete item or a sample to my tablet in moments. With my schedule being as tight as it is, and although I drive, I don’t own a car and have to rely on public transportation, it can often limit where I can go or have time for — so yes, it’s easier to jump online in my spare time and place an order than catching 2 buses and walking 1-1/2 miles (or getting a ride from a friend) to get to the closest Barnes & Noble.

We watched the movie John Carter a while ago. We weren’t expecting much because it was panned by critics. Although that never stops us. I thought it was really good. I wish they would make a second one. I also bought the book that has all of the Mars stories in it. It was on Amazon for 99 cents.
My mother-in-law who is 87 is on vacation with her sister who is 89. They are staying with a cousin. My mother-in-law was telling her sister that she had downloaded to her Kindle all three 50 Shades of Gray books, and was wondering if she should read them. My aunt wants her to read them now so she can read the good parts!
Before they went on vacation my niece asked her grandmother if she was going to read these books. My mother-in-law said “No way I’d read those kind of books!”
I love my in laws!

My in laws will never be old. They are so funny.

Sharon said

We watched the movie John Carter a while ago. We weren’t expecting much because it was panned by critics. Although that never stops us. I thought it was really good. I wish they would make a second one. I also bought the book that has all of the Mars stories in it. It was on Amazon for 99 cents.
My mother-in-law who is 87 is on vacation with her sister who is 89. They are staying with a cousin. My mother-in-law was telling her sister that she had downloaded to her Kindle all three 50 Shades of Gray books, and was wondering if she should read them. My aunt wants her to read them now so she can read the good parts!
Before they went on vacation my niece asked her grandmother if she was going to read these books. My mother-in-law said “No way I’d read those kind of books!”
I love my in laws!

Sharon — first off…your story about the relatives was hysterical. I was LMAO when I read that!

And I was like you — I didn’t expect much from the movie either. Every time I saw the trailer or commercials I was like “Who the heck is John Carter and why does everything look like Star Wars or whatever?” I had no idea that John Carter was pretty much one of the granddaddies to all of them. I just think Disney screwed up. And yes, I wish they would make a second movie. I don’t ask for sequels that often because most of them are awful when it boils down to it.

Pretty sure Disney dropped the Mars part because of the dismal performance of Mars Needs Moms. Obviously the only reason that movie failed at the box office was because of the word Mars in the title. Same logic caused Rapunzel to be changed to Tangled cause apparently anythng linked to the word Princess will doom the box office – that’s why the Princess And The Frog did bring in LIon King size money.

I’m still plugging away with The Expected One. At the moment they seem to be unravelling information which is good. i still have an issue with the main character being given visions to help find the next clue, takes away part of the thrill of allowing me to try and solve it and see if I’m correct. Also finding that the characters solve the clues a little too quickly for my liking, its like they are the only ones to have thought about the clue that way despite people chasing it for hundreds of years. As long as it keeps plodding along at the current place I’ll stick with it, fingers crossed it doesn’t get all woe is me anytime soon or self righteous.

Beauty And The Beast is hands down my favourite movie of all time. I remember getting so caught up in the movie, the ending was so emotional for me and as the credits rolled I realised that I had been sucked into the universe like I usually am with live action film. Everytime I watch it, I feel like I am watching people on screen not drawings. It’s so perfect and the reason why I am now an animated film tragic and to be honest Beauty And The Beast awakened the musical theatre person inside me.

It is a good thing that it takes all sorts to make a world…
I for one (maybe the only one??? ) detest Disney films.
I didn’t like them when I was younger and I don’t like them now.
I dislike ‘cartoon type’ animations.
Haven’t been in a cinema since 1971 when I went to see Gone with the Wind with a bunch of school friends.
Don’t have a TV so I don’t watch any thing there.
Do have a collection of dvds to watch on my laptop when the urge is upon me but they are mostly B&Ws from way back.
I have never seen Titanic or Depp in his pirate things or anything really that could be classed as modern.
I am not a fan of Sci Fi either.
It is great we can all be so different and yet find one thing at least to bring us together, namely Anne and the Tudor years.

PS as to the reading of Death comes to Pemberley – I have had to put it aside. It is a bit of a let down and I will keep it for emergencies – when I can’t settle to read anything else. I don’t think PD caught the era at all, the characters are not quite right either. So reading nothing again for now but have CJ Sansom audio book playing in the background.

Rocky Horror for the win..IRT movies..Followed by This is Spinal Tap

My partner watches that show Neil. I haven’t watched it myself, our quiet time in the evening consists of him watching TV and me reading usually. He also watches a lot of those “corpse” shows as I call them so I often avert my eyes

Ok I finished Sister Queens by Julia Fox which I really liked. She threw in a few anti-Boleyn sentiments which I found a bit odd actually, they also usually serve to irritate me and I kind of wish she had left them out. She did describe Thomas and George Boleyn baking in the sunshine while watching the monks being horribly executed. There was not a lot of references to them but they were generally negative. I did love reading about Juana though, I didn’t really know anything about her and she did a decent job with it. I find her very easy to read.

I started John Guy’s book on Thomas Beckett, which is excellent. And Weir’s new book, which is just strange. I also can’t believe Random House decided to release it so close to Simon and Schuster releasing PG’s book on Anne Neville, I thought Weir’s book was going to be on Katherine Grey, but she has a parallel story running with Katherine Plantagenet, Richard III’s illegitimate daughter. While it’s not mainly on Anne Neville I just think it’s a weird decision releasing two of them so closely. And it is not like Innocent Traitor at all, the girls are both young and the writing is a touch flowery and it has a little sort-of supernatural theme in it.
Also I will get PG’s new book sent to me, which means I am going to read way too many historical fiction books in a row.