“We read to know that we are not alone.”

                                    

As some of you may know from reading my blog, is that I love to read it is my absolute favourite past time and I get so much joy from it. I have made friends through a mutual love of reading and of the characters inside the novels; not only that but it has improved my imagination, my empathy and understanding of topics that I would never think to discuss. To some reading is a chore but to others it is a way of escapism and a way to relax, it is a way to put your emotions into something else other than your own life and for many it is a way of making people feel like they are not alone. 

As with most things I have my favourites which include titles such as Harry Potter, The Hunger Games and Divergent/Insurgent, which although all follow the same sort of genre follow completely different plots with completely diverse characters and with them all comes with fresh emotion and an experience that I've never had before. I can connect to the characters and feel their happiness, their sadness, I mourn when they die and I feel elated when my favourite characters finally end up together and get a chance at happiness (usually in these types of books their happiness is short lived but you still get the idea)

Out of the very many books I have read during my lifetime, I have also enjoyed The Fault in Our Stars which discusses an issue which could be slightly taboo and although it didn't affect me as much as it has affected the whole of the internet it was still a moving and well written book. I loved The Perks of Being a Wallflower because it related to a lot of feelings that most teenagers have but never feel the courage to speak up about. I am currently reading City of Bones and I can already tell that it’s going to be up there with my favourites once I have finished. On a softer note I have really enjoyed books written by Milly Johnson and although they are they are predictable and soppy they are great for easy reads; my favourites from her are The Birds and the Bees and Here Come the Girls, my mum loves her writing and because of this I have every book she has ever written at my disposal so when I'm feeling cheesed off they are brilliant to loose myself in for a few hours. 

For my English literature last year we were given Of Mice and Men to read for our exam and I read it within a few hours, I (unlike most of my peers) really loved the book as I am the type of person that loves to find hidden meanings and discuss the importance of the novel, I love talking about what could have impacted them to write about what they have and this book is a perfect way to do this. Due to my liking for this book I have extended my library to other classics such as The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Emma and I'm even debating whether to read a Shakespeare novel.

books that have been reviewed or mentioned in previous posts:

  Perks of being a wallflower

Harry Potter

The fault in our stars

bookshelf tour

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: the book and film

When I hear that one of my favourite book is being adapted into a film I am always somewhat hesitant; I mean I can be pretty much sure that I will enjoy it because the basic storyline would be the same but the way in which the directors or actors portray it in most cases always leaves me disappointed and left with improvements they could have made. So when Perks was announced that it was to be made into a film I was  anxious to see how they would capture such a personal book on the big screen. However, I was left pleasantly surprised after watching it for the first time in the opening weekend of the arrival at cinemas, I laughed in all of the places I did in the book and cried in all of the places that affected me so much so in the novel as well. Of course with the director being the author of the book Stephen Chbosky, I was sure that he would make sure the film did the book justice, because of the success of the film it makes me wonder why more authors who's books are being adapted don't take on the role of director?

The only qualms I have about the film, as much as it saddens me to say is that I wasn't a huge fan on Emma Watson's accent she put on, I know she's British and had to put on an American accent but it just didn't sound right and distracted me from her performance which apart from the shoddy accent was brilliant. Ezra Miller and Logan Lerman have since become two of my favourite actors as they played an amazing part in the film, and in all fairness they all took on the roles of the characters we have grown to love and completely embodied them.

9/10 

definitely recommend you read the book first and then see the characters come alive on the big screen.

My week in pictures.

1.Fred chomping on her treat// 2.my chocolate cake// 3. History and French revision *bleurgh*// 4. Merlin series 4 part one and two// 5. Silver Linings Playbook on the Kindle// 6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower DVD// 7. John and Sherlock// 8. Doctor Who series four (sorry about the crappy picture quality) 

Since it was half term I've not done much except watch DVDs and do some revision. I finished Merlin series 3 and have progressed onto series four which is extremely intense- so much so that I screamed so loudly at one point I made my mum jump who was all the downstairs, but oh my gosh it is so good expect a full review on all of the series' once I have finished them all (so within the next month or two). The chocolate cake went down a treat and was finished within a day. Silver Linings Playbook is somewhat boring and hard to get through (again expect a review once I have finished) and also with Perks coming out on DVD this week made me really happy and I have planned a blog post about that which should be up in the next week or so. 

Some of the picture have already been mentioned in blogposts have a look here and here

Top 6 films of 2012

I went to the cinema more times this year than I have ever before in recent years, so choosing my top 6 films was hard but in the end it was definitely these films.

1. The Hunger Games

This had to be number one, purely because the books are one of my favourite trilogies I am pretty happy with the way they stuck pretty close to the books and I cannot wait for Catching Fire! 

                                              2. Perks of Being a Wallflower 

As a pretty big fan of the book I was curious to see how they could do this without ruining a fantastic book, but it defiantly didn't disappoint and I was so happy that they stuck so closely to the book! I will be buying this as soon as it comes out on DVD!

3. The Amazing Spiderman

I loved this film so much! I adored Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield (and his bum) I thought they played such a good part in this film and it brought back a lot of memories from when I used to read the comic when I was younger!

4. The Avengers

I went to see this film about three times, mainly because I love Chris Evans (Captain America) but primarily because this is such a cool movie and so well done, I love it!

5. Brave

Saw this on a whim because the film I was originally going to see was sold out, but I am so glad it was because I love this film! Its another classic from Pixar and I love Meredith's hair!

6. Twilight Breaking Dawn part 2

This film was completely unexpected as I am not a fan of Twilight but I had to give props to it as this was a brilliant finale and the 'twist' in it was fantastically done, so well done Twilight! (Although I'm not entirely convinced you've made a fan out of me just yet, considering the other films were pretty crap)

Books I'm going to read in the Christmas holidays

This Christmas I will read....

1. *re-read* The Hunger Game trilogy- Suzanne Collins

2. The Woman In Black- Susan Hill

3. *re-read* The Perks of Being a Wallflower- Stephen Chobosky 

4. To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee