Kristen J. Schmidt - Favorite Books & Movies

Kristen J Schmidt Favorite Movies Books - Official Site by theqd.net (Quacker Design) Anthony Wai

 

Fav. Reads: 

When it comes to reading, I've always been very particular in my criteria: I want to escape from the world I know, I want to be entertained, and though I love it for the adventure to take me to the point that it looks like everyone will die, the book better deliver a believable ending that brings me back from the yawning edge of death and to a delivered happy ending where the proper characters end up together alive. People mock me for this sometimes but as I am reading because I want to and not because I have to I see no reason why I shouldn't have desperate adventure and a happy ending.  
 

My top ten favorite books are:

 

1. The Boy Next Door by Janet Quin-Harkin  

The Boy Next Door has been my favorite book since the Christmas of my fifth grade year when it was given to me.  I read it every Christmas or on days when I just want to escape to the annoyances of life in California to the assumed simpler life I've always dreamed of: a small town outside of Cody, Wyoming. 

2. The Wagered Widow by Patricia Veryan

The Wagered Widow has everything I could possibly want in a book: changeable characters, life and death circumstances, and humor. I love reading about Ms. Veryan's adventures set in and around the time of the Jacobite Rebellion and this one never fails to make me fall in love deeper with my favorite characters though I once read it seven times in the same year.

3. The Codex by Douglas Preston

This book is the oddity among my favorites but I have to say that my favorite part of it is not the characters or adventure, though I enjoy them, but the setting.  In a race to find the Mayan Codex the reader gets to explore through swamp and jungle--seeing a world most of us will never even glimpse. 

4. Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn

I was recommended this book by a good friend and I wasn't let down.  The voices of the characters remained so true to those of episodes four through six that I felt I could hear the actors delivering each piece of dialog.  This was a true gem to find.

5. Gather the Stars by Kimberely Cates  

What I really loved about this book is that it was an adventure on two fronts: the physical world, which became quite deadly, and within the minds of these emotionally wounded characters that spent all their energy not on their survival but on helping others to live.  It was beautiful. 

6. The Dedicated Villain by Patricia Veryan

Similarly to The Wagered Widow, Ms. Veryan again uses the back drop of England in the wake of the Jacobite Rebellion, and let's us really get to know a character who thinks he's so far beyond redemption that he will always be the dedicated villain no matter what his heart has to say about it.  I love to see the wonderful way that Ms. Veryan handles the psychological ups and downs of her main character while dealing with a very physical danger and the beauty of love coming upon the Dedicated Villain unexpectedly.  

7. Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini

This book paints such a very vivid picture that not only did I feel like I could see everything as it took place, but I felt as though I actually knew the characters, especially Peter. 
8. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer.  I do not, as a rule, read Vampire fiction, but I enjoyed this Saga though I read it at first under duress and am thankful that my friends got me to read it.  New Moon is my favorite of the books in the saga because there is something in the feelings of loss that Bella experiences that Stephenie Meyer puts so poignantly on paper that I experienced it with her and felt like I reached catharsis in my own life by reading it. 

What happened to 9 and 10 you're asking? Well, to be honest, there are so many other books vying for these positions that I can't rightfully select only two of them.  It would be too big of a toss up from Star Trek Original Series books, Star Trek Voyager books, to The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or The Tombs of Anak by Frank Peretti, or other spiritually minded books like The Scream by Bill Myers, so I will leave slots 9 and 10 open in an effort to be truthful and fair. 

Also, there are several books series that I enjoy to sit down and read.  Here's the top 10: 

1. Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan
2. Forbidden Doors by Bill Myers
3. Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys Super Mystery by Carolyn Keene and Frank W. Dixon
4. The League of Jewelled Men by Patricia Veryan
5. Sanguinet Saga by Patricia Veryan


6. The Professor Challenger Adventures by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
7. The Sacketts by Louie L'Amour
8. The Golden Chronicals by Patricia Veryan
9.Jennie McGrady Mysteries by Patricia H. Rushford
10. The Edilean Series by Jude Deveraux


After seeing my list of favorite books and favorite book series, my favorite authors will probably be seen as something you could have easily deduced, but allow me to list them anyway:


1. Patrician Veryan
2. Robert Jordan
3. Bill Myers
4. Frank Peretti
5. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (though it's out of place I should also mention that my favorite television show of all time came from his book The Lost World).
6. Louie L'Amour
7. Zane Grey.


Top 10 Fav. Flicks: 

1. 4 Jr. Detectives

This movie is dubbed from German to English and I can't find a copy on DVD but I've loved it since I was a child.  

2. Double Dragons

This movie I've seen over 120 times and can quite possibly quote it backwards as well as forwards.  Jimmy is my favorite of course. 

3. The Black Swan

Tyrone Power is an actor whose roles have inspired my desire to write more often than I could ever say and his swashbuckling Jamie Boy is my absolute favorite of his roles. 

4. The Court Jester

It has Danny Kaye and so I think no more is needed to explain how fantastic this comedic musical is.

5. The Avengers

I saw this movie three or four times while it was in the theatres and can only guess how many more times I'll watch it.  I find it hard to choose a favorite character though Hawkeye is a definite scene stealer in any scene he was in. 

6. Missions Impossible: Ghost Protocol

This movie is without a doubt my favorite Mission Impossible movie and it is the way I thought it should have been from the beginning. The camraderie of the characters, the action, and the comedy all add up to a movie I can't wait to see again.

7. Courageous

I have no words that could do this movie justice.  I simply say see it (and you will likely need tissues--it is the exception to my rules for enjoying a good book or movie).

8. McKlintock

What can I say? John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara are amazing in this cheeky comedy and they feel very real.

9. Kiss Me Kate

This takes the story of The Taming of the Shrew to new levels and I never tire of enjoying it.

10. Sahara

If ever I don't know what to watch this movie will always fit the bill.  It is something that my mom and I watch together over and over and over again.
As a writer, I have found that the music I listen to while writing is as important as the pen I use (yes I prefer pen to paper most of the time though it seems hopelessly outdated), the journal I write in, and the comfort of the position I am sitting or laying down in.  

My favorite artists are:

Lady A
Jake Hamilton
Jars of Clay
The Hoosiers
The Stone Table String Band


The Feeling
George Straight 
Marty Robbins 
Howard Keel 
Michael W. Smith

There are other individual songs that I love for writing such as A Hero Comes Home (Robin Wright-Penn), Safe and Sound (Taylor Swift), If I Die Young (The Band Perry), Derailed (Scaring Kids Scary Kids), The Ballad of Mona Lisa (Panic at the Disco), and Remember (Josh Groban), but the above artists are ones that I love for almost any occasion.