The Princess Diaries

I did not like this book. It just wasn't my style ( )

I was surprised by how fun this was. Anne Hathaway as the narrator uses a young girl's voice. It is in the form of a diary. ( )

A student demanded I read this book, so I did. It was okay. One of those rare instances where I liked the movie more, but I wonder if that's because I've seen the movie so many times.

Eventually I will probably read the rest in this series (I really do like Lilly's written character better than in the film version) but I didn't feel compelled to go out and get the rest of the series right away. Enjoyable, to be sure, and when my nieces are older, I'll definitely recommend this one. ( )

This was fun! I think I picked up a book in this series when I was first venturing into the libraries teen section but I used to read series out of order because I would never look up which books came first (I did the same thing with Meg Cabot's Mediator series, which I also want to go back and revisit), so I don't actually think I ever read this one. I'm very happy I did go back and read this!

I am definitely outside of the age range for this book but I still found it very entertaining, which I think is a good sign. This captures the chaos of high school and freshman year really well. I was honestly surprised how much of this book just focused Mia's daily life and issues and not even that much of the royalty element, but I really liked it. It made a story with a sort of out there plot seem much more grounded and I enjoyed that.

The writing style was really fun to me. It has a pretty straight-forward structure but you could really see Mia's voice in it. It truly felt like a character writing in a diary and just recounting the events of the day. Some of the passages just made me smile, which is really rare for me when reading. I just loved how much the writing in this book felt like I was reading a 14 year olds diary and I loved how the parts about her being a princess were so neatly folded into discussions of the normal problems of a high schooler.

I think I will continue this series because these are just so fun and they're really quick reads. I can't wait to see how this story continues because this book just made me fall in love with Mia. ( )

Though usually not among the choosiest of bookworms, I feel it necessary to to briefly recount my experience with this tale.
Like many others, I enjoyed the movie based off this very book. Being among those who strongly believe the saying, "The book was better" almost always applies, I felt as though I couldn't go wrong with this book. How sadly was I mistaken.
Gone is the awkward charm and sweetness from the movie. Instead, the book is filled with vulgarity and crude remarks from start to finish. I found myself cringing at the beginning, and skimming practically whole chapters at a time near the end. All in all, I spent about an hour on this book, and believe me, I consider that time wasted.

Sad to say, time-honored beliefs do not always prove true, and...

The movie was better. ( )