Clichés are the best and worst things: though they can help you express your feelings quickly and easily, no one wants to hear the same old clichés over and over again. Luckily, the Clichés Book Tag puts a fresh twist on ancient sayings. Thanks so much to Ugne @ My Passion is Happiness for tagging me!
“Actions speak loud”: A book that wasn’t or couldn’t be better than the film.
This question is really difficult for me to answer because I’m usually a big proponent of books over their movie adaptations. However, I must admit that I think the movie adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky is just as good as the book, if not better. Although I really enjoyed the book, I have such fond memories of going to see the movie in a theater with my friends in high school. I love everything about it: the cast, the soundtrack, and the climactic tunnel scene. For me, it’s the exception to the rule!
“The grass is always greener on the other side”: A rags to riches, or a riches to rags, story.
How could I not mention my beloved Great Expectations by Charles Dickens? Not only is this a lovely bildungsroman, but it’s also the ultimate story of inadvertently climbing the socioeconomic ladder. The journey is certainly a winding, twisting road, but fortunately it all works out for poor Pip in the end.
“The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”: A parent-child relationship you loved
No parent-child relationship is perfect, even in fiction. Still, I loved the relationship between Blue and her mother Maura in The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. This series has a strong family presence not often found in the Young Adult genre. Even more rare is that the family Blue lives with is all women– talk about female representation!
“You can’t judge a book by its cover”: A great book that NEEDS a better cover
Though I love Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments series dearly, I have to be honest: I really dislike these cover designs! Models on covers are probably my least favorite design a book could have, and I think in this case it makes the covers look overdramatic and over the top. When it comes to cover designs, I believe that simple is always better!
“You can’t please everyone”: A book you hated/loved that everyone else loves/hates
Last semester I was assigned to read My Ántonia by Willa Cather for my literature class and I immediately fell in love with it… the rest of my class, not so much. I loved the writing style, the almost ethereal ambience, the fascinating questions about nationality and gender performance that it raises.
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”: A book you are better person for having read
Reading Seth Holmes’ ethnography Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States last semester for my Introduction to Anthropology class made me realize the horrors, struggles, and hardships behind the fresh fruit on my kitchen table. This book has opened my eyes to the maltreatment of migrant farmworkers and the long road we have ahead of us towards changing this horrid, unjust system.
“Love is blind”: A book with disabled character or actual “blind love”
Yes! Another excuse to mention my love for Anthony Doerr’s amazing historical fiction novel All the Light We Cannot See. Featuring Marie-Laure, a blind French girl living in Paris during World War II, this heart-wrenching story will captivate you from the very first page and not let you go until you’ve turned the very last one.
“Ignorance is bliss”: A book you know is bad you don’t want to admit it, or a book you don’t want to read in case it’s bad
Even though I’ve already read it and I strongly dislike it, I’m still going to mention Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, and John Tiffany. I went back and forth about reading this play for the longest time before finally giving in because I wanted to form my own educated opinion. I don’t necessarily regret my decision to read it, but I definitely could have lived my life without doing so. It’s safe to say that “disappointing” is definitely an understatement.
“There is no time like the present”: Your favorite contemporary book
I’m going to go with my old standby favorite: Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. I’ve discussed this book countless times on my blog at this point, but that hasn’t stopped me from talking about it even more. If you haven’t read this book yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up ASAP!
“Better safe than sorry”: A book you don’t want to read in case it’s bad or vice versa
I’ve been contemplating reading A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin for what seems like ages, but I’m afraid that it’s going to be too graphic or unsettling for me. I’ve heard these things about the TV show and I can’t help but fear that it all stems from the original book series. If you’ve read this series, please let me know what your thoughts on it are!
What books do these clichés remind you of? What do you think of the books that I’ve mentioned? Let me know in the comments section below!
Yours,
HOLLY
What a fun idea for a post! Regarding Game of Thrones, the thing I recall most about it was that it helped me to better place the many characters and understand the setting from the start. I don’t remember if the book was terribly graphic or not, but HBO does have a tendency to up the shock/gore/sex on most of their programming.
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That’s a good point! I’ll probably try reading the first GoT book and then depending on what I think trying watching the TV series after that.
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Game of thrones is not as graphic as the television series… U should go for it 👍
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That’s so good to hear! Thanks for the advice 🙂
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I adore perks so much, it one of my all time favorites and the movie is a amazing companion to the book!
Great post =)
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Thanks! I agree, Perks is amazing ❤
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I hope you won’t limit your Willa Cather experience to My Ántonia. After visiting her home in Red Cloud, Nebraska, I read all of her novels and short stories. Willa is one of my favorite writers, and as much as I liked My Ántonia, I thought O Pioneers was even better, at least with regard to her prairie novels. Death Comes to the Archbishop is my absolute favorite, for the beauty of the setting (New Mexico) and language.
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Definitely not! I’ve only read O Pioneers since then, but I’m really looking forward to reading some of her other work when I get the chance. That’s so cool that you visited her home! I would love to travel across the country just visiting the homes of writers…. yet another addition to the ever-growing bucket list! Thanks for all of the recommendations 🙂
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Didn’t Stephen Chbosky write the screenplay and direct the film?
You taught me a new word: bildungsroman. 😊
I have zero interest in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The same goes for Fantastic Beasts. I’m afraid all the new stuff will sour my love for the original books.
I tried to read A Game of Thrones years ago and couldn’t get past the first few chapters. There was way too much sex and violence for my taste.
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I think so, which is probably why the film was so fantastic. It had a similar vibe to the book, but it was different enough to make it stand on its own.
That’s my fear with Game of Thrones, although people have told me that the books are much more tame than the TV show… I’ll just have dip my toes into it a little see how I feel!
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All I knew about GoT at the time was that it was fantasy and that it was being compared to Tolkien (I think the double R. R. was responsible!). So, the sex and violence caught me off guard. Knowing about it up front might work to your advantage.
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I can’t believe so few people in your class liked Cather 😭😭 like actually tragic. Such a powerful and thought provoking work. You should definitely read O Pioneers! And My Mortal Enemy they are both fantastic works too!!!
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I know! I couldn’t believe that more people didn’t fall in love with her writing like I did. Since then I’ve read (and loved!) O Pioneers! and I’m really looking forward to reading more of her work. I’ll have to add My Mortal Enemy to the list! 🙂
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So many book adaptations simply cannot live up to the source material, though there’s always the rare exception, like the LOTR trilogy, which I enjoyed even more than the books! The Hobbit not so much…
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I definitely agree, especially with The Hobbit. I was really disappointed with the Hobbit movies, mostly because of the way they stretched out the story into three movies when it really could only have been one. Each LOTR book got one movie, so splitting the Hobbit into three definitely wasn’t necessary.
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thank you for doing this tag! It was lovely to read your answers.
I loved the Perks of Being a Wallflower movie more, too. Everything you have mentioned about that movie is perfect. Same with Game of Thorns series!! but I hope we will find the right time for them and enjoy it! ☺
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I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels that way! Thanks! 🙂
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I don’t really like those TMI covers either …
But the new ones (both UK and US) are absolutely stunning ❤
And I'd pick Cursed Child for that one too – I read it (and actually didn't hate it, thankfully) but I have to admit it has a lot of flaws 😦
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Ooh I don’t think I’ve seen the new TMI covers– I’ll have to take a look! Thank goodness they’ve made new ones haha 🙂
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I really liked this tag! I actually liked Cursed Child when I didn’t compare it to the rest of Harry Potter (something I loved that everyone hated) and I really liked Briony from Atonement although the rest of my class didn’t (ditto). All The Light We Cannot See is fabulous! the blogging community should talk about it more often. It was very… lyrical. And I’m with you on game of thrones! I was at the library today while my friends were checking out books for winter break. One of them was trying to persuade the other to get game of thrones ‘skip all the graphic scenes and you’ll be fine, I read it when I was 12 and I had no idea what was going on’ but my other friend (sensibly) didn’t go for it. I really NEED to read Jellicoe Road. I recently read Saving Francesca and it was amazing. 🙂
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I’ve never read Atonement, but I’ll have to add it to my list! And YES to Jellicoe Road! It’s such a fantastic book. ❤ I don't take many books for fun with me to college because I don't have any time to read them, but I always bring along my copy of Jellicoe Road just to have it on my shelf.
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HAHA The City of Bones one is SO true. They’re are many editions of it, but thats the one I own and it is SO BAD lol
For GoT, I don’t recall anything overly graphic? Obviously, some of the things in the show happen in the book, but I think a lot of the blood, gore, and graphic sex scenes are just added. (Don’t tell anyone but I actually find the books REALLY boring xD )
Molly @ Molly’s Book Nook
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haha I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels that way about City of Bones 🙂
That’s good to know about GoT– ahhh I’m so on the fence about it! I guess I’ll just have to give it a go eventually…
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Yeah, give it a shot! The first book is VERY like the show. Also, the second is kind of boring. I didn’t really start liking it till the third…so it depends on how committed you want to be to it lol
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