Book or Movie...There's Still A Woman In Black

I woke up this morning to my eight year old daughter (*S*) jumping on my bed and saying "breakfast will be on the table in 3 minutes".  She and my husband cooked breakfast this morning...eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy, and my daughter made the pancakes and coffee all by herself.  She was very proud and even took a picture of the table all laid out with the food.  It was really good and I'm extremely full  (:  It's gray and rainy outside, and I feel a day of reading, movies, and a game of Monopoly coming on.

Photo Credit:  *S* (8)

Last night was date night at our house, so my husband (being the great husband he is) agreed to go see The Woman in Black, so we went out for dinner and a movie.  My sister (aka fellow book lover) kept *S* for us.  She had big plans for the night...playing outside, pizza, video games, and movies.   My seven year old nephew (*C*) knows how much his cousin loves Goosebumps.  He and my sister were picking out movies before they picked  *S* up for the night, and he spotted the Goosebumps movies.  He offered to put the movies he picked out back if they could just get *S* a Goosebumps movie.  Of course my sister told him he didn't have to put his back and they could still get a Goosebumps movie, but I think it's so sweet that he offered.  It just so happens that he picked out the movie for the book that *S* had just finished and returned to her school library earlier that day.  Needless to say *S* was super excited!

Source:  cd universe

Now as for the movie version of The Woman in Black...

First of all we were in the movie with A LOT of teenagers, therefore it was loud in the theater.  I was a bit surprised by this, and I thought maybe they all came because it was a "scary" movie.  Then my husband suggested maybe they were all Harry Potter fans and there for Daniel Radcliffe.  I hadn't thought of that, but it makes good sense.  Whatever the reason, the theater was full of kids.

I thought the movie was visually stunning.  The village, the marsh, and Eel House were exactly as I had imagined them in the book, very dark but beautiful at the same time.  I loved Daniel Radcliffe as Arthur Kipps.  I thought he did a very good job.  So much of the movie was him reacting to things...no words...just the expression on his face, and I thought he was great.

As I expected, the movie was very little like the book.  The names of the characters, the woman in black, and the circumstances that made her are all that remain of the book.  The movie did have those "boo" gotcha scary parts...you know those parts in a movie that you know are coming but you still jump when they do.  It might not have been so bad if the little girl next to me (I'd say she was 14) didn't scream like like a banshee at every scary part.  My husband and I did a lot of laughing at the kids.  You could tell they were bored at the first half of the movie, but when the action started they were into it.

Over all I liked the movie, but I think it's more of a mystery than a scary movie.  And my husband, who knew nothing about it going into the movie agrees.  He said it was a decent mystery movie for him and an appropriate scary movie for young teens...nothing to heavy....just a good ghost story.

So if you like historical movies with a great setting, if you like mysteries, if you like light ghost stories, or even if you just like Daniel Radcliffe, go see it.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.


Next month's date night...The Hunger Games!!!  They showed a preview for it before the movie last night, and my husband says he's interested in seeing it.  Excited!!!!

Flies, Lions, And A Woman In Black

My sister and I went out shopping today and needless to say, more books found their way to my house. I bought three used books, and they're all in good condition.  I also purchased one new book.


The first is Lord of the Flies by William Golding and I paid $.50 for it.

Source:  Goodreads

The second book is The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  The funny thing is I was just telling my daughter I think it's time for her to read this one, so I'm glad I found it.  I paid $.25 for it.

Source:  Goodreads

The next book is The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.  I paid $.25 for it.

Source:  Goodreads

And the last book is a new book, The Woman in Black by Susan Hill.  I've been seeing the movie previews for this one, and I'm interested in seeing it.  I have to read the book first though, so when I saw this while I was grocery shopping I had to get it.

Source:  Goodreads

From the back cover...

Arthur Kipps is an up-and-coming London solicitor who is sent to Crythin Gifford--a faraway town in the windswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway--to attend the funeral and settle the affairs of a client, Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House.  Mrs. Drablow's house stands at the end of the causeway, wreathed in fog and mystery, but Kipps is unaware of the tragic secrets that lie hidden behind its sheltered windows.  The routine business trip he anticipated quickly takes a horrifying turn when he finds himself haunted by a series of mysterious sounds and images--a rocking chair in a deserted nursery, the eerie sound of a pony and trap, a child's scream in the fog, and, most terrifying of all, a ghostly woman dressed all in black.

I'm really looking forward to reading all of these, but I think The Woman in Black is the next book for me.