Ella Enchanted

This was a fun fairytale book to read. I enjoyed the story, the way that it is a retelling of a classic fairytale without being an almost precise replica of that tale. I felt endeared with Ella and the way she attended to the challenges presented to her with a bit of stubborness. I like the discoveries she makes of the world around her, and how, even though she is given a challenge in her life, she still does her best to make her life happen the way she wants it to.

One of the things I didn't like about this book, and is probably just a personal preference, is that there are gibberish languages that really can't be pronounced and are put in to demonstrate that different creatures speak differently. Also, there are several parenthetical explanations that violate the "Show, Don't Tell" rule and bug just a bit.

I have actually seen bits and pieces of the movie rendition of this book. I seriously doubt that the book was read by the screen writers. Yes, the movie still has ogres and giants, and there are the characters who have the same names, but the story, character development, basic plot...pretty much everything in the movie is created for the movie and is not seen in the book at all. It is yet another verification of the reasons I really try to avoid movies recreated from books that I like. 99% of the time I'm incredibly disappointed and quite upset. Especially when the movies don't even try to be like the book. ARGH.

(coming down from movie/book tangent now...)