Number 10 – The Christ Clone Trilogy
Written by James BeauSeigneur, this trilogy is based on the Christian mythos, exploring the ideas of mixing religion with science and politics. In the books, scientist Harry Goodman uses DNA found on The Shroud of Turin to clone Jesus. He raises the clone, Christopher, as his own son. Harry confides the nature of Christopher’s origins to his good friend, journalist Decker Hawthorne. When Christopher shows up on Decker’s doorstep, in tears telling Decker that his parents are dead and have asked Decker to take him in, Decker takes over raising Christopher. As time moves on, it becomes apparent that Christopher is more than human, displaying abilities like that of Jesus Christ and claiming to be able to communicate with God.
An excellently behaved young man and student, Christopher grows up to eventually earn a position within the United Nations. It is from this spot that he begins taking over the world, using miracles and plagues mentioned in The Holy Bible’s book of Revelations, to help him conquer resistant lands and reinforce his professed identity as the second coming of Christ. Hawthorne could not be a happier godfather nor could he be more supportive over Christopher until in the end he is finally forced to face the truth about the Christopher’s true nature.
I’m sure that for many people this book is considered to be sacrilegious and even blasphemous. With all due respect to those people, I thoroughly enjoyed the book for what it was mean to be: an artistic illustration of the apocalypse. There are many, many, many movies and books that seek to serve the same purpose simply using different means. I think they were excellent books, earning their spot on my top ten favorites of 2010.
Number 9 – The Shifter Series
This series is about a shape-shifting college girl who wants nothing more than to live a normal human life: college, boys and a job. She can’t escape who she is though, it’s in her blood. She’s a werecat. Faythe Sanders is quite displeased to be drug back to the location of the rest of her Pride so that she can be protected from the dangerous men that are abducting Tabbies (rare female werecats). She’s heartbroken to learn that her younger cousin has been abducted and furious that there isn’t much that she can do about it under the watchful eye of her Pride. She isn’t going to let that stop her though.
Meanwhile, Faythe finds herself in a really uncomfortable love triangle with to Toms (male werecats). Marc, considered a stray because he was turned into a werecat and not born into a Pride, was adopted into Faythe’s Pride (of which her father is Alpha) when he was still quite young. Faythe and Marc grew up together, falling into love along the way. Faythe is reluctant to allow that love to rekindle, but Marc is quite persistent. The second Tom is Jace, who has always had feelings for Faythe but in the past they have only engaged in playful flirting. It’s not long before she realizes she loves them both and must choose between the two of them.
The Shifter series written by Rachel Vincent consists of six books: Stray, Rouge, Pride, Prey, Shift and Alpha. Alpha was just released this past October and I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I’m definitely looking forward to it and I just may re-read the other five first so that the story is fresh in my mind when I do!
Number 8 – Taken
Retired CIA Agent Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) is on the telephone with his daughter Kim (Maggie Grace), who is on a trip in Paris with her friend Amanda (Katie Cassidy) when the two girls are abducted. Mills rushes to Paris to employ the help of his former contacts, while he acts as a vigilante to find and rescue his daughter who has been drugged and sold as a sex slave.
Famke Janssen stars as Lenore, Kim’s mother and Mills’ ex-wife. The law required Lenore to have Mills’ signature on a permission form before allowing Kim to get a passport and leave the country. Mills was told that the two teenagers would be staying with Amanda’s relatives in Paris, only to find out later that the two girls had planned to spend a short time alone in her relatives home, while they themselves were away on vacation, and to spend the rest of their trip following the tour of music group U2. When Lenore is told about the abduction, she pleads with Mills to find their daughter.
This movie was an excellent action-thriller. A completely horrifying plot that reaches deep into the heart of any parents worst nightmares.
* IMDb (The International Movie Database) was used to verify the spelling of character names and the actors who played them. http://www.imdb.com/
Number 7 – Stardust
This fantastical love story takes place across two worlds, ours and a magical world, separated my a mere stone wall. When young Tristan (Charlie Cox) sees a falling star, he crosses the wall into the magical world hopping to retrieve it as a symbol of his affections for a young woman named Victoria (Sienna Miller). When he travels to the fallen star, he discovers that the star is actually a woman, but nevertheless he chains her and starts on his journey home to give the star, Yvaine (Claire Danes) to his beloved Victoria.
Taking Yvaine back to Victoria proves to be more of a hassle than Tristan had bargained for as he learns that there are three witch sisters Lamia (Michelle Pfeiffer), Mormo (Joanna Scanlan) and Empusa (Sarah Alexander), who also seek possession of Yvaine so that they may eat her heart to regain their youth. Meanwhile three princes are on a quest to find their King father’s ruby (which he cast into the heavens from his death bed, knocking Yvaine from the sky). The first to find the ruby and return with it will be declared the next king… that is if any of them are left alive.
This was a great movie, with a good plot, great effects and a morbid humor that kept me in giggles the whole way through. A definite must watch!
* IMDb (The International Movie Database) was used to verify the spelling of character names and the actors who played them. http://www.imdb.com/
Number 6 – The Sword of Truth Series
Brought up as simple man with good values, Richard Cypher is at home in the woods acting as a guide. After the unexplained, gruesome murder of his father, George Cypher, Richard’s world begins to turn upside down. While trying to uncover the meaning behind a clue left by his father, Richard meets a beautiful woman, Kahlan Amnell, walking alone in the woods being followed by four heavily armed men. Before he realizes it, Richard has been thrust head first into a journey that will change the world, and will most certainly change his life.
There are twelve books to The Sword of Truth Series written by Terry Goodkind, with a thirteenth on its way. I’m on my second reading of the books even as I write this. Following the chronological order of the story, the books are: Debt of Bones, Wizard’s First Rule, Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen, The Pillars of Creation, Naked Empire, Chainfire, Phantom, Confessor and the soon to be released, The Omen Machine. The short novel, Debt of Bones is a prequel to the entire series, but was released after The Temple of the Winds.
These are fantastic books, with a rich plot and unique cultures. Terry Goodkind worked wonders with these fantasy novels, gaining enough popularity for a television show called Legend of the Seeker to start, but it failed to capture the audience the way the books did and was canceled after two seasons. Sadly, I have to say that it was easy for me to see why. I stopped watching it after the first couple of episodes. The story was changed drastically, and in ways that clashed horrifically with the books. I was severely annoyed and couldn’t watch any more of them.
Number 5 – Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Musicals normally aren’t my thing, but anything with actor Johnny Depp in it is bound to draw me in. That isn’t to say that I’ve loved all of his films, but I haven’t regretted watching any of them. In the retelling of this musical, Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Johnny Depp plays a renowned barber named Benjamin Barker who had his family stolen from him by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman), after sending him to Australia to serve a sentence based on false charges. Years later, a mentally deranged Barker returns to London using the alias Sweeny Todd.
He finds that his former land lord, Mr. Lovett has passed away leaving his widow, Mrs. Lovett (Helena BonhamCarter) to run the restaurant below his old apartment. Mrs. Lovett swiftly recognizes him, telling him that Turpin has custody of his teenage daughter, Johanna (Jayne Wisener), and his wife, Lucy (Laura Michelle Kelly), poisoned herself after Turpin’s forceful advances. Mrs. Lovett flames Todd’s desire for vengeance, by showing him that she had hidden his fancy straight razors all this time and encouraging him to move back into the apartment, and carefully plot out the murder of Judge Turpin.
As the story unfolds, many people eventually fall victim to Todd’s blades as he falls deeper and deeper into madness. All the while, at his side is Mrs. Lovett who is trying to convince him that she loves him and he could love her too, they could be happy together and put his past behind him, but Todd is simply despondent when not actively seeking vengeance. In the end, when all of the pieces have fallen into place, the audience is left with torn emotions over the tragedy that is this story.
* IMDb (The International Movie Database) was used to verify the spelling of character names and the actors who played them. http://www.imdb.com/
Number 4 – The Proposal
Sandra Bullock plays the control-freak, work-a-holic boss, Margaret Tate in the romantic comedy, The Proposal. In the film, Margaret learns her visa has expired while she was too busy handling affairs at the book publishing company she works at to reapply, and is about to be deported back to Canada. Her solution? Create an elaborate lie about an engagement to her American assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), and then use extortion to get him to go through with marrying her. Within seconds of creating the lie, the entire office knows about the shocking engagement thanks to the office gossip loop via instant messenger.
With both Sandra Bullock and Betty White (playing Andrew’s grandmother, Annie) in this film, the scales tipped to the comedy side of the romantic comedy genre. I found it impossible to keep my laughter at a decent volume while watching Margaret Tate and Andrew Paxton bluff their way through a visitation with Andrew’s family, acting passive-aggressively towards one another as their love-hate relationship unfolds.
* IMDb (The International Movie Database) was used to verify the spelling of character names and the actors who played them. http://www.imdb.com/
Number 3 – The Pirates of the Caribbean Movies
The amazingly charming and incredibly lucky pirate, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), and his… ah, erm… traveling companions, the young love-struck couple of Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) sail their way across these movies in Sparrow’s beloved ship, The Black Pearl. Much to the vexation of The East India Trading Company, Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) and many others, Sparrow somehow manages to elude permanent capture, and even returns from the land of the dead.
Although I find it difficult to believe that there is a soul alive over the age of 8 who doesn’t know who Captain Jack Sparrow is, it is possible that not everyone has seen the movies (or read the books, played the video games or ridden the rides). With that in mind, I must seal my lips and stay my fingers, so as too not reveal too much. Currently there are three films, and a fourth to be released in May of 2011. The titles are Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and the soon to be released Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strange Tides. If you haven’t seen them, I insist that you do before the release of the fourth!
* IMDb (The International Movie Database) was used to verify the spelling of character names and the actors who played them. http://www.imdb.com/
Number 2 – Southern Vampire Mysteries
In these provocative books, author Charlaline Harris dances around the limits of the socially accepted norms of her field. These books tiptoe the line of great fiction and erotica; they are definitely not for the faint of heart nor immature audiences. These books, too, I have read three times (and will most likely read again and again).
When vampires all across the world decide to “come out of the coffin” and admit their existence, after the invention of a synthetic blood that can both be used for transfusions and supports their diet, the small city of Bon Temps, Louisiana begins to become more and more interesting. The books track a small town, telepathic barmaid, Sookie Stackhouse through her adventures of meeting her first vampire, getting dragged in to the hidden world of vampire politics and discovering that there is a lot more to the world that normal humans still believe to be fantasy.
The main story is written over ten novels, but Harris has also written short story collections that contain more tidbits about Sookie Stackhouse. The main books are Dead Until Dark, Living Dead in Dallas, Club Dead, Dead to the World, Dead as a Doornail, Definitely Dead, All Together Dead, From Dead to Worse, Dead and Gone, and Dead in the Family. I haven’t yet read any of the short stories, so I cannot really comment on them.
The HBO ® original series, TRUE BLOOD, is a retelling of the Southern Vampire Mysteries books. I say retelling because it seems that they have taken the idea of artistic licensing to mean that they are going to nearly completely change the story, saving just enough to be identifiable as being about the same characters in the same town.
Number 1 – Twilight Saga
Stephenie Meyer’s the Twilight Saga are some of my favorite books. I rarely re-read books, but I have read this set three times. Each time a new aspect of one of the characters, or the setting is revealed to me in a way that it wasn’t in the previous readings. That isn’t what brings me back to these books time and time again though.
Written from the first person perspective of teenage Isabella Swan (who prefers Bella) who falls in love with a more-than-100-year-old-teenage vampire named Edward Cullen, Meyer creates a whole cast of three-dimensional characters with a realness that I have not seen matched. It’s difficult to put my finger on, difficult to describe why these books are so addictive other than to say that the characters truly seem to come to life through the imperfect way that Meyer writes. It seems to me that when authors become sticklers for perfect grammar, there is a loss in the suspension of disbelief that makes a book truly worth reading. Real people don’t think that way, they don’t talk that way… so why write that way?
The story unfolds across four main books, one secondary book and a partially completed manuscript that was leaked online. The main books in order are Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn. The secondary book entitled The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is quite short and from the perspective of a “newborn” vampire, who was created with nefarious intent against Bella, unbeknown to Bree. This story line intersects with one of the main books, Eclipse. All though The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was released after the main books, I suggest reading it in conjunction with Eclipse. The unfinished manuscript, Midnight Sun, which was leaked online much to Meyer’s dismay, is said to be a retelling of Twilight from Edwards perspective.
Although targeted to an adolescent female audience, the books and their following movies have become a world-wide favorite to people of all ages. I definitely recommend reading the books first, the movies don’t live up to the books (movie’s rarely do) so if you must watch them do it only after reading the books!
