ready player one | The Stacked Shelf

After a fairly disappointing reading month in February, things picked up again in March.

I finally got around to reading Wrath by John Gwynne, the final book in the Faithful and the Fallen series – which was on my list of 8 books that I’m definitely going to read in 2018. So far this is the only book I’ve read from this list – so I’m not doing well! I’m going to aim to get through a couple more this month though.

Wrath was actually a great read and such a satisfying end to an epic series. If you like fantasy, I’d definitely recommend giving these books a try if you haven’t already!

Another book I really loved this month was Ready Player One. I’ve had this on my shelf for about a year, and I have no idea why it’s taken me so long to get to it. I devoured it in just one evening – it was action packed and I couldn’t put it down! I’m looking forward to seeing the film adaptation of this to see if they did it justice. If anyone has seen it already – let me know what you think!

I was fairly disappointed with one read this month though. I’ve been reading DS Aector McAvoy series by David Mark – a crime/thriller series that I raved about a couple of months ago. It took me over a month to get through the seventh book in the series, and I really struggled to get along with the story. Usually I race through this type of book, but I found this one quite confusing and hard to follow. I’ve been finding this with a few book series recently, which have seemed to interest me less and less with each book, and it got me thinking about what writers need to do to keep a series fresh and interesting. Maybe one for a longer post another time!

One thing I’m still way behind on blog-wise at the moment is reviewing books, especially ARCs, so I need to try and pick this up in April!

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Books read:

Scorched Earth DS Aector McAvoy #7), David Mark
Wrath, John Gwynne
Ready Player One, Ernest Cline
Dragonfly in Amber, Diana Gabaldon
Everless, Sara Holland

Blog posts published:

Goodreads Challenge 2018 progress: 20/80

What were some of your favourite reads last month? What books are on your TBR for April?

Everyone has an opinion on whether they love or hate seeing their favourite books being turned into TV shows or movies. I personally really like watching how books get interpreted by different people and how they appeal to a wider audience – although I’ll almost always maintain that the original books are better and I’m always the first to point out if a particular plot point has been skipped or changed!

This year, it sounds like we’ve got some really interesting TV and film adaptations coming up – so I’ve pulled together a few that I’m most excited about.

(This list might be more relevant to UK readers, as the TV section features UK channels, so apologies if you don’t get these where you are!)
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– Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Adapted for… TV. Coming to ITV later this year.
This is a classic, and even though I read it some time ago, I remember enjoying it. The length of the novel, the timespan it covers and the huge cast of characters offers endless material for a series, plus I love a good period drama. I can imagine this being perfect Sunday night viewing, so I’m looking forward to this one!

– A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
Adapted for… TV. Coming to Sky1 later this year.
I loved this book series and the characters, so I’m looking forward to seeing how they come to life on screen. It’s been a while since I read it so hopefully I won’t get too bogged down in minor details and bug bears that sometimes come with watching a book adapted for the screen. I’m also a fan of any TV series that features the supernatural, so I’m confident I’ll enjoy this one!

– The Little Drummer Girl by John Le Carre
Adapted for… TV. Coming later this year as a BBC series.
This isn’t a book that I’ve read, but I loved the Night Manager adaptation and John Le Carre can always be counted on to produce an excellent story. Plus this adaption features Alexander Skarsgard (of True Blood fame for those that don’t know) who’s always fantastic.

– A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Adapted for… TV. Coming later this year as a BBC series.
This has been on the list of books I want to read for years, but I’ve never managed to get to it. It’s such a long book that I don’t see myself reading it anytime soon, so I think here I might just wait for the TV adaptation.

– The Children Act by Ian McEwan
Adapted for… Big Screen. Coming out in the UK in August 2018.
I loved this book, and I can completely see how it could be adapted into a really great movie. It stars Emma Thompson, who I love, and the book was written by Ian McEwan, who I also love.

– Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Adapted for… Big Screen. Coming out in in the UK later in 2018.
The book was great (see my review here), and I’m so interested to see how they adapt it. The book uses lots of different types of media to tell the story (letters, reports etc), so I’m looking forward to seeing how this is represented on screen.

– Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Adapted for… Big Screen. Coming out in in the UK in March 2018.
I’ve actually just finished reading this book and I can’t even describe how much I loved it! It’s so jam packed full of action and I can already imagine how it’ll make an awesome movie, but I’m so glad I read the book first! Plus it’s being adapted by Steven Spielberg, so guaranteed to be a hit.

– On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Adapted for… Big Screen. Coming out in in the UK in May 2018.
This is another that I haven’t read – but I do actually already own it. As it’s a relatively short book I’m again aiming to read this before seeing the film. This is another one by Ian McEwan, who can always be counted on for a great read, so I’m looking forward to both reading and watching this.