With the release of the movie Marley & Me this past Christmas, we thought it would be fun to do a special little Marley & Me Giveaway!

Here’s what you’ll get if you win:

Plus the mass market edition of the original book! (the one with the movie cover.)

We’re going to have a little fun with this contest! To enter, please write a short story about your favorite pet that you’ve ever had. It should be at least five sentences long, but the longer the better. If you have a picture, go ahead and send that along too! Entries should be sent to thefriendlybooknookATgmailDOTcom. We’ll post our five favorite entries (assuming we get that many!) and then let you vote on the winner!

This contest will be open until Januaray 12th at midnight. I hope you’ll enter…I think we could use some animal love around here.

Lipstick Jungle is the only book of Candace Bushnell’s I’ve ever read. I know that Sex and the City was based on her book as well, but well, I never read it.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy Lipstick Jungle and I was surprised by how much I did. I was fascinated by the lives of these high powered women and how they attempted to balance family, work, and friends. I was interested in how they navigated their way around the workplace and frustrated by how everything seemed twice as hard for them just because they were women.

So I had somewhat high hopes for the television series. I felt that if properly executed, it could be really interesting and rich since television series have the chance to really develop characters and construct a variety of different scenarios and situations for them to face.

Unfortunately, the show is an hour long drama that is trying to be a light-hearted comedy. I think that Lipstick Jungle should have it’s own identity, but in many ways it seems to be trying to be Sex and the City all over again. This is terribly disappointing as the potential for this series was huge.

But, like a trainwreck, I just can’t turn away.

Have you read Lipstick Jungle and/or tried to watch the television show? I’m interested in other’s thoughts. I have to say that I think the actor playing Kirby is the best part of the show. He reminds of Scott Speedman who played Ben on Felicity, one of my all time favorite (and brilliantly written) shows. Comment away, friends!

First off, I must state that I loved Philippa Gregory’s novel, The Other Boleyn Girl. I found it to be a page turner (even though I knew the ending), educational (I spent hours reading real life history after reading this book), romantic, scandalous, and intriguing. I very much looked forward to this movie.

It could be that the book was too long to properly tackle. It could be that the screenwriter thought he could somehow improve upon the best-selling novel. Or maybe it was the fact that without the historical knowledge, this movie would have made no sense.

The good: Natalie Portman. I think had Anne been properly scripted, she would have been even better. Having said that, she was very convincing, particulary during the execution scene.

The costumes: they were all gorgeous.

The Bad:

Um, where do I start?

The film held true to the novel only in one regard, really, Anne Boleyn had a sister who was the king’s mistress before she was.

William Stafford wasn’t hot enough.

Scarlett Johanssen wore the same expression on her face throughout the entire movie.

Not enough George.

There was absolutely no sense of the time it took for the king to move on from Mary (who bore him TWO children) to Anne and then to divorce Katharine. It seemed like it all took place in about two years when it was much longer than that. Additionally, there was no real sense of the impact his actions had on the country.

By having Mary come to court on request of the King, the film eliminated the intriguing relationship Mary had with Katharine.

The film failed to provide the atmosophere of the court..a court that thrived on pleasure seeking and ambition. This very tense and artificial environment could have been such a wonderful backdrop for understanding what was going on in the film.

I could go on and on, but really it just felt like a whole different story.

Sometimes, when our TBR piles get too high, we skip on reading the book and just watch the movie. In this case, I must tell you not to bother with the movie…the book is infinitely better and cheaper and more rewarding.

My recommendation is to save your 10.50 and grab the mass market edition of this book. You won’t be sorry.