Kindred Spirits discussion

Use this folder to add random fun things you'd like to talk about or share with the group! A good place for general chatting. :)

New TV show featuring Nancy Drew in her 30s? http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live...

Hm.

Wendy Darling wrote: "New TV show featuring Nancy Drew in her 30s? http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live...

Hm. "

I don't know how I feel about that...

I think I'd check it out! I loved Nancy Drew!

I loved Nancy Drew too, which is why I am automatically suspicious, hah. It's just a little unusual that it's her in her 30s, although truthfully she kinda acted like a 30 year old her the series anyway!

Are there other tv/film adaptations you're excited about? I can't wait for GIRL ON THE TRAIN and BIG LITTLE LIES for sure...and I'm cautiously optimistic about THE LITTLE PRINCE.

Nancy Drew is another book series I missed as a kid. I read Trixie Belden and The Famous Five over and over but somehow missed good ol' Nancy. Must add her to the list.

A series I'm excited for is based on an Australian YA series - Tomorrow, When the War Began. A movie was made a few years ago which I still enjoyed but the books definitely lend themselves more to a tv show so I'm excited to see it.

Oh my gosh, every Aussie I know loves the the TWTWB series! I almost bought a set in Dymocks, I'm sort of kicking myself that I didn't. I can see how that would be explored better through TV.

Nancy is good to try just so you know, I suppose, as she's such an icon. I'm not sure how much I'd enjoy her if I experienced her for the first time as an adult, as she's very much a Mary Sue, hah. But as a kid, I devoured the whole series--she seemed so together and cool. Plus they had a housekeeper, which was such a novel idea to me at the time.

I need to get my butt in gear and read Blyton, too. Blyton and TOMORROW would both be great as readalongs for the group too, I think.

On a whole not too excited about the new Nancy Drew tv series. I love the original books in all their dated glory. If they have to turn it into a tv series I'd rather it be a historic period show sort of like Agent Carter (which I absolutely adore!) than something modern. I've seen previous attempts at this - I'm looking at you Pamela Sue Martin - and they lacked everything I loved about the books.

Also, I have really enjoyed Sarah Shahi on Person of Interest and I hate that this casting announcement probably means POI is for sure over with.

Wendy Darling wrote: "I loved Nancy Drew too, which is why I am automatically suspicious, hah. It's just a little unusual that it's her in her 30s, although truthfully she kinda acted like a 30 year old her the series a..."

I too loved reading Nancy Drew and while I'm curious about this, I wish that she wasn't thirty in the remake.

I was a true Nancy Drew fan as a young reader, and I still am. I will definitely have to check out this show, when it's released, and I wonder how it will stand up to the books.

Very excited about the film of GIRL ON THE TRAIN! Still need to read BIG LITTLE LIES but loved WHAT ALICE FORGOT.

Yessss, I would've been totally on board if this had been a period show. (I also tried to watch the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys TV series from way back when and couldn't do it.) That's a much better idea.

Funny, one of our friends used to be a writer/producer on POI, but I've never seen a full episode! I was vaguely aware of her and her appearance through his Twitter, so when I saw the casting announcement, I was totally confused because I knew she didn't look like a teenager.

Katie--Emily Blunt is far too beautiful to play the MC TGOTT, but she's also crazy talented, so I'm looking forward to seeing how that pans out.

I also never read Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (weirdly, bought a copy and had it for 3 years before admitting it probably wasn't going to happen), but I think the images they've released from the movie look intriguing.

I also love this story--inspired by Nancy Drew, these kids started a detective agency: https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/2016...

<3 ! I fancied myself a detective in elementary school. It was reading all those Three Investigators and Trixie Belden and Encyclopedia Brown books. I read Nancy right after that, but never really pictured myself as being her, though--with her blue convertible and boyfriends and such, she probably felt too sophisticated/over my head to really put myself in her shoes.

Hi,,many of you are probably younger than me, I have a five-year old grandson, but I also liked the Trixie Belden books first and then I started reading the Nancy Drew series. As for Enid Blyton,,I especially liked her Adventure series. My favourite was The Island of Adventure. My grandson is just beginning to learn to read and I'm looking forward to reading with him.

Your grandson is lucky to have a grandma who reads with him! I haven't read Blyton but I really must at some point.

And welcome to the group! Trixie and Nancy and a lot of the other books I loved as a child were technically "before" my time too, as were a lot of the tv shows and movies I watched. Good stories are timeless, and it's lovely to listen to different perspectives on books.

One of my friends and I were obsessed with Trixie Belden when we were around 11 years old. We started a TB fan club...of two! Would have been such a different reading experience if the internet had existed way back then and been able to connect with other girls who loved the series as much as we did. It was around this time that they greatly expanded the series so a trip to B. Dalton's would more often than not turn up a new book in the series.

But before TB it was Nancy Drew and Judy Bolton. I inherited some original copies from my mom and then I stole(!!!!!) a couple from my grade school library but I'm still not sorry about that because I still have and love them and my library would have tossed them years ago. (My story and I'm sticking to it!) Then over the years I hunted down copies at flea markets and used bookstores. Finally as an adult I was able to acquire the remaining few JB's I was missing to complete my collection.

Also read some Dana Girls and there was a six book series about a girls named Meg...one of them took place at Colonial Williamsburg.

Oh and I just came across this article on Girl Detective novels:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cu...

I had never heard of Violet Strange before but the ebook was free on amazon so I'm going to check it out.

I guess this thread is becoming the Girl Detective thread :)

Indiana, that is so cool about the Trixie Belden fan club! And it's funny because I discovered Trixie as a young girl and was absolutely obsessed with the books!

And Wendy, we have another similarity in that I also thought myself to be a young detective, and after I was immerse in Nancy Drew, Trixie, and other mysteries, I was always on the lookout for real life mysteries. I stumbled upon a few! One was in 5th grade when my friend and I saw an upturned umbrella for our backyard table and thought it was the work of someone we dubbed "The Disappearing Stranger." (it was an especially windy day though!) We were always on the lookout for him! It's funny how our imaginations can run away with us as children, and I had such a vivid one. I still do! :)

How about Pat of Silver Bush?? Has anyone read this L.M. Montgomery series (there are two) and/or would like to revisit? I do remember Pat with fondness, but it's been awhile since I've read!

Pat of Silver Bush sounds good to me. I went to P.E.I. four years ago so I now have an idea what it looks like. It's amazing to see the red soil next to the blue ocean. If you ever are in Charlottetown, there are two things I highly recommend: Cow's Ice Cream and a bag or hat dyed with the red mud.

My best friend and I loved Trixie Belden but we never got into any other girl mysteries. I so badly wanted to be Trixie!

I feel you guys would appreciate knowing that there on ongoing Trixie Belden sleepover camps, and we could all attend: http://ternobrien.com/tc2015/tc2015.html

THEY SOLVE MYSTERIES. :D

We got into a huge discussion about this on our Trixie Belden readalong on the blog: http://www.themidnightgarden.net/2015... One thing I found interesting on the reread is that there appeared to be a PSA inserted (a little clumsily, hah) in the book, which went over my head as a kid. Also, I made some fake book covers on a Trixie fan site, including this one:



I'd love to reread PAT and The Blue Castle sometime, per our conversation on Twitter. We should probably space out our LMM books though, lest people think we're all LMM all the time. Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Rosemarie--ohhhhhhh that sounds so lovely! I've read so many articles and daydream-planned so many trips to PEI, it's wonderful that you've actually been. I appreciate those recommendations because I WILL DO THIS someday. I know Katie is in the middle of preparing a recap of her trip to PEI, too. All my jealousies.

I love the idea of solving some mysteries in real life!!

Yes to spacing out the L.M. Montgomery reads...or not! LOL...

I remember seeing this wonderful cover you made earlier when the discussion was going on. I must make one of my own! Which site did you use for this?

It's linked on the blog post somewhere! Sorry, my computer is still spacing out so I can't link it myself atm. I made silly ones for Layla and Kim as well.

*clapping gleefully* A Trixie Belden camp? Yes please!

That Trixie Belden camp sounds amazing and so much fun! I would love to do something like that. But it needs to be in some town along the Hudson River where Trixie lived. My family was actually from that area and I used to ask my Grandpa to drive me around the Sleepy Hollow area "to see where my ancestors lived" (but really to try to scope out where Trixie and Honey lived!).

The camp being in Pennsylvania reminds me how excited I was to find out where the Judy Bolton stories took place was based on an actual town in Pennsylvania and they have festive weekends there to celebrate:
http://www.judybolton.com/index.html

Someday I'd like to go there to see it in person. Lots of book site pilgrimages to make as I'd like to go to the Betsy Tacy town in Minnesota and tour the Little House houses and go to PEI.

At some point I purchased every single book L.M. Montgomery wrote so I do have The Blue Castle and the Pat books.

I knnnnoooow, I want to go to Trixie camp. I agree, being in the environs where the Beldens lived would be ideal, however. That's amazing that you got to see Sleepy Hollow! Did you ride horses? I still think of Trixie on the rare occasions that I see strawberry soda.

I really have to read Judy Bolton. Everything you've said about her in this group makes me sure I'd enjoy the books.

I'm dying to go to so many bookish places. Obviously PEI, I'd love to see Little Women places and see the Hundred Acre Wood, I'd love to do Laurapalooza and see most of the homesteads, and YES to Betsy-Tacy! I think Laurapalooza is (or was, one year) near Mankato, and they had directions on how to do the trip if attendees were interested. One of these days...

I did visit Almanzo Wilder's farm a few years ago, however: http://www.themidnightgarden.net/2013... I cannot describe how overwhelmingly emotional it was--I'd read the book and pored over Garth Williams' illustrations so many times, I was more familiar with Almanzo's childhood home than I was my own. I still tear up sometimes thinking about it.

I also went and visited some spots in Beverly Cleary's town a couple of years ago, which was so much fun. I'll share a bit more of that in the ELLEN TEBBITS readalong.

Have you all seen the amazing trailer for MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN?

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/trai...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWrNy...

I never read/am somewhat indifferent to the idea of reading the book (and I haven't been a fan of more recent Tim Burton stuff, so I was a little nervous), but this looks like it's so well done! I just love Eva Green, too. She was Serafina Pekkula, you know.

I'm also totally going to see the next SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN movie. The first one wasn't awesome, really, but it was fun, and the whole aesthetic is just appealing. Also, it's got Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain kissing, which sounds like a great idea.

The movie for Miss Peregrine's Home looks so so so fun! I saw the trailer for it when I went to the movies to see Allegiant on Sunday (ugh. don't get me started on that movie).

Anyway, I really want to see the Miss Peregrine's Home movie even though I wasn't a huge fan of the book.

Hah hah, noooo tell us about ALLEGIANT! I liked the first film but never saw INSURGENT, so at this rate I'll probably wait for them all to be released on streaming. I did read a hilarious review of the film that called it "woefully inert" and saying Tris' biggest opposition was now: exposition.

And your book reaction to Miss P justifies my never having read it. :P It just looked like it would make a better film than book from the beginning; I'm sort of over those gimmicky old time photographs in YA.

Do you guys know about Audiosync, btw? Every summer they release two free YA audiobooks every week for downloading, usually a recent one and a classic paired together. Here's this year's line-up: http://www.audiobooksync.com/2016-syn... Begins in May, goes on weekly through the summer.

Good stuff! I've listened to some lovely audio titles this way, including CRUEL BEAUTY.

I really enjoyed the first Divergent film. Insurgent was kinda meh. This latest film was just ridiculous. They spent WAY too much time showing completely over-the-top sci-fi technical stuff and not enough time on the actual plot and storyline. I think part of the reason they did that was because they wanted to drag it out into two movies and unfortunately the whole movie suffered. Most of the tech stuff they had in the movie did not exist at all in the book.

I'm sure there are some fans out there that loved it, but I just thought it was too much.

Didn't know about the Audiosync thing. I'm going to try to remember to check that out!

Wendy, Thanks for sharing the link about your trip to the Wilder Farm. I didn't know it existed and you could visit it. Your visit and your reaction to it very much sounds to me like my own experience when visiting the real "Green Knowe" in England. Giddy is very much the word to describe it.

I hated the Miss Peregrine's Home book so very very VERY much. Despite the movie trailer having a good look I will never be able to bring myself to watch it because of my negative impression of the book.

The Huntsman movie, on the complete other hand, I am all over that. I enjoyed the first movie. This second one has a great look and I won't say no to watching Chris Hemsworth run around in the woods again.

Wendy Darling wrote: "Have you all seen the amazing trailer for MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN?

http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/trai...#..."

Very excited about the movie, though I remember I didn't like the book as much as I thought I would. However, I'm thinking about giving the second installment a chance...

I am going to make a random statement and am curious about your resposes.
Whenever I go to visit someone, no matter how often, I am drawn to their bookshelves and want to see what books they have. When I'm on the subway, streetcar or anywhere else that people are reading, I am always curious as to what they are reading. Sometimes, if I am lucky, I actually get to find out.
Our Sunday newspaper has a feature where they randomly ask four subway riders what they are called "word under the street", so I'm not the only curious person.

Rosemarie wrote: "I am going to make a random statement and am curious about your resposes.
Whenever I go to visit someone, no matter how often, I am drawn to their bookshelves and want to see what books they have...."

And this is why...even though I have mostly converted to e-books for portability and readibility (I have bad eyesight, and I'm now 40! *sob*). I still have my "Bookcases of Fame" where I display my favorite books and Series' of all time. (They are so full that I won't allow myself to buy a physical book unless I've already read and loved it!)

I am now 64 and have had reading glasses since I was 50. I was in denial for a couple of years before that. I was a substitute teacher and sometimes had difficulty reading the names on the attendance list, and whether they were M or F. The kids thought it was funny when I made mistakes, and so did I. I didn't get glasses until my husband and I were going on a trip to Germany and I was the navigator. I didn't want us to get lost, even though I speak German.

Rosemarie wrote: "I am going to make a random statement and am curious about your resposes.
Whenever I go to visit someone, no matter how often, I am drawn to their bookshelves and want to see what books they have...."

Rosemarie, I can completely relate to these and am always sneaking a look at the bookshelves of people's houses, as well as trying to get a glimpse of what people are reading on the subway. It's not something I can really control!

I'm glad I'm not the only one!

Katie wrote: "Rosemarie wrote: "I am going to make a random statement and am curious about your resposes.
Whenever I go to visit someone, no matter how often, I am drawn to their bookshelves and want to see wha..."

Me too! I feel disappointed if I don't get a chance to look at people's bookshelves or see the cover of the book they're reading.

Me too!! I absolutely love looking at other people's book shelves and am also rather "obsessive" of my own. I've had to do some major downsizing of my bookshelf space over the past few years so I've become pretty particular of what books I buy and keep. I wish I had more room, but it's still so much fun to develop my shelves and show them off!! Plus, I recently gathered up all of my children's/YA books from my parents house and other random boxes so now they have a space of their own too!!

I still have a bunch of my daughter Victoria's books on my shelves. I've read some of them, but I'll be glad when she has room for them.Of course, that doesn't stop us from buying more books. She likes new books, and I like them used.

Trisha wrote: "Me too!! I absolutely love looking at other people's book shelves and am also rather "obsessive" of my own. I've had to do some major downsizing of my bookshelf space over the past few years so I'v..."

My solution was to have a daughter, and then put all my favorite childhood books on HER bookshelf! LOL

Good idea, Dichotomy Girl.

I really wanted to participate in the read along and have been trying to get all the books you mention each month. Alas! We don't get those in this part of the world

Indiana--I'd watch Chris Hemsworth do pretty much anything. :D

Rosemarie--I ALWAYS check out everyone's bookshelves when I visit other houses, too! In fact:



It's very telling (and frustrating) if someone has no books lying around.

Ria--I'm so sorry to hear that! I think we do have some we're planning to do in the future that are available as ebooks though, in case that interests you? And actually, Emily of New Moon and their sequels are readable via Project Gutenberg for free online if you don't have an ereader: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0201... I believe you can convert these to mobi, Word, and other formats that might be better for you.

Okay, did anyone else see THE HUNTSMAN'S WAR over the weekend? I did! I was surprised at how much more fairy tale-like this one was in comparison to the original, it felt a bit MALEFICENT-ish and WILLOW-ish (both films I love). I also didn't expect it to be more of a sequel than a prequel, and that Emily Blunt would be in it so much more than Charlize Theron. I was really excited by that, because she and Jessica Chastain are two of my favorite contemporary actresses. And it was funny! And gorgeous costumes! Plus lots of kissing, y'all.

Wendy Darling wrote: "Indiana--I'd watch Chris Hemsworth do pretty much anything. :D

Rosemarie--I ALWAYS check out everyone's bookshelves when I visit other houses, too! In fact:



It's very telling (and frustrating) ..."

Actually at Project Gutenberg, for many books you can download it directly into mobi format.

Wendy Darling wrote: "Okay, did anyone else see THE HUNTSMAN'S WAR over the weekend?
No...*sob* With too many things going on this weekend there wasn't a chance. I suspect that will be the same with this upcoming weekend. And I hear it hasn't been the box office draw so I'm afraid it will just be completely gone from the theater by the time I can go. I suspect this might have to be a rental unfortunately. Your comments make it sound enjoyable.

I need to go see The Huntsman's War! I've just moved houses and as you know, moving is such a drag, but maybe I can plan to go to the cinema for a break this week!

Came across this "luxury ring" site that makes rings with secret compartments inspired from famous books. The artist is Theo Fennell My favorite is the Wizard of Oz