The Silver Linings Playbook - Matthew Quick

I saw the adaptation of this book at the cinemas a while back and bought the book not long after. I started reading but ran out of steam about halfway through and put it back on the shelf, not starting again until a few days ago when I quickly got through it.

The Silver Linings Playbook is the story of Pat Peoples, a thirty something man who is just being released from a mental institution into his parents care as the novel begins. Pat is in the institution for a breakdown of mental health resulting from the dissolution of his marriage to College sweetheart Nikki. Pat and Nikki are having "apart time", a time for Pat to work on his body and mind so that he will be a better husband to Nikki once "apart time" is over, Pat's way of justifying a restraining order. While in the care of his anxious mother and stone-faced, sports obsessed father, Pat meets Tiffany - a similarly aged divorcee. Pat has a kinship with Tiffany who is also thought of as mentally unstable, and the two find a solace in one another that they cannot seem to get from other relationships. This is basically a story of recovery and discovery, letting go of the past and learning to see the silver linings in life, no matter how unlikely they may be.

The book is nothing like the film really, so if you weren't impressed by the adaptation please give the book a chance. In the book Pat reads Plath's Bell Jar which he at first is annoyed by and does not understand, but I see this book as a sort of modern, male version. Though it's not a memoir, and by all accounts not based on anything "real life", Pat's journey really does seem honest and like Pat says about "Esther" when he reads the book, he just wants to comfort her; that's what he ends up taking from it, and that's a very similar feeling to the one I got from his character.

I loved the style of writing, and being tied to Patrick and his emotions. There was a huge sense of things being hidden from him by the other characters and they were hidden from us too - the journey of this novel was a great one because we were so in-tuned to the protagonist in this way.

This is Quick's first novel which I think explains the very slightly "scattered" feeling of the narrative, but considering the subject matter I think this actually works really well and is probably one of the reasons the book was published. To me anyway, this is one of those rare books that deal with mental disorders that don't sound like they are coming from a "now-healed" mind, rather it's like we're seeing Patrick's world as he really feels and observes it during his recovery.

The Madman's Daughter - Megan Shepherd

I mentioned a while back that I was interested in reading this book because it is a sort of sequel to H.G. Wells' The Island Of Dr Moreau, which I was reading at the time (see review here). Anyway, turns out this book is pretty tricky to track down for us Brits if we don't want to pay a huge shipping fee, so I downloaded the eBook and an app for my phone to read it on. I wasn't too keen on the idea, I'm one of those "paper books over kindle" types, but surprisingly I only put two bookmarks in this file and finished it in as many sittings, so I guess it was pretty easy to read. I'll try not to reveal anything major about either books should you choose to read them; Wells' should always be heard first hand.

I really enjoyed Wells' original tale of scientific horror and intrigue and I hoped this would be just as good but... I was kind of disappointed. The story centres around Dr. Moreau's daughter who believes him dead. Cast out from society after her fathers public shame surrounding his scientific experiments on animals, the daughter; Juliet, now works in a medical college as a cleaner until one night a professors unwelcome advances are met by a swift injury, causing Juliet to be out of a job.

Fate connects her with old family servant Montgomery, an original from the Wells' tale, though sexed up to fit the new audience. Montgomery admits that Juliet's father is still alive and that he is returning to him presently, a journey Juliet begs to accompany him on to find out the truth about her father. This is where the story kind of looses focus. While on the ship carrying Juliet, Montgomery, his strangely deformed servant and a slew of exotic animals to Moreau's island, the crew come across a dinghy in the ocean. Like the original story, Montgomery gets the man aboard and agrees he must come to the island, seeing as the crew are likely to throw him overboard and there are no other ships. Once on the island Juliet then must confront her feelings which are scattered between the two men.

This is what I didn't like; this story did have potential but I feel the author just flipped it into a love triangle as soon as she could to make it an easier, lower (age) rated book. The horror from the original is all but stripped away and what's left is a teenage love story where the "heroine" is too wrapped up in men to see any danger around her. Even when the "big reveal" comes out at the end, she still lacks depth or any real connectivity with the audience. It just felt like Shepherd was more keen on trying to put her spin on the teen-supernatural-romance craze than creating good characters and well written story. I thought the main relationship in the book would be between Juliet and Moreau but that takes a major back-seat so that romance can be explored. I did like the sense of poetic justice in the end but it didn't really salvage the story for me.

Overall I think I'm feeling like one of those people that sigh at Hunger Games lovers and tell them to look at Battle Royal instead. Just read the original; there isn't any romance, but it's a damn good story which is more than I can say for this.

*sorry it's been so long, but I'm finished with Uni now and should be posting regularly again now that I'm not too stressed out to actually pick up a book.

One Day - David Nicholls

One of those charity shop books that you buy because you went into the shop with high bookspectations (I'm coining that) and were let down. Basically, I wanted to buy something, and I'd heard of this. Let's just say I'm glad I got it cheap because I don't think it's worth its printed price.

One Day is the loooong and arduous story of Emma and "Dex" and their friendship as they grow from students into middle age. When I first started reading this I was actually quite caught up as the first chapter takes on the pairs graduation night, and I myself am rapidly approaching that phase of my life. But, it all went downhill from there.

The most important thing in a novel for me will always be the characters and their development, because if I don't care about the characters then why am I reading the book? I'm not emotionally invested and therefore nothing that happens can make me care, and unfortunately this book really lacked good characters.

Strangely enough, I did quite like the character of Emma at times, though I did feel the author made her a little too confused and that she lacked direction. I say strangely, because the author is male, but; in this book anyway, he seems to make a much more relatable connection with his female characters. The character of Dex is one of the worst I've ever read. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever and I actually really wanted something awful to happen to him just so there'd be some development. Sadly though, he stayed his awful, aggravating self throughout the whole of the novel, and - *SPOILER ALERT*, Nicholls kills off the wrong character. He ends Emma's time in the novel at about 3/4 of the way through, just as the couple finally decide to be together romantically, which I just can't understand. I thought at that point that this was going to be the point of Dex's character progression because he's have to adjust without the emotional crutch of his best friend and lover, but no; HE STAYED THE SAME. Did you get bored halfway through writing Nicholls? I mean, I honestly can't understand why this book got published. (And became a bestseller?!)

I have however seen this type of story done well. Cecilia Ahern's Where Rainbows End has this same type of story arc: two young friends who grow older and are separated by thousands of miles, other relationships, family hardships, and still manage to come together in the end. If you ever consider buying One Day, please put it down and seek this out instead - you'll be much happier when you turn the last page, trust me.

I know there's an adaptation with Anne Hathaway but I don't even think she could redeem this story for me, we've gone too far together now.

Watching: Game of Thrones Season 3 (Lord yes), New Girl Season 2. Everything else seems to be on Hiatus.

Listening To: Kate Bush, Johnny Cash, Sound City.

Thinking About: Family, health, the future

Loving: Being overly dramatic in my script project, which results in over the tp title pages based on blacked out government letters.

Reading: HTML & CSS 6th Edition, Build You Own Website The Right Way Using HTML & CSS. :(

Making Me Happy: Plenty of tea, quilting. (I'm only in my 20's I swear.)

The Host - Stephenie Meyer

When Twilight (the movie) was released back in 2008, I was a girl of 17, the same age as the lead character; Bella Swan. Needless to say I, like millions of other teenage girls, fell immediately in love with the story and rushed out to buy all of the books in the series. At the time, I would argue for the story's integrity to anyone who would listen because, hello, Bella & Edward were in love didn't you know? ... But I'm not 17 any more  I'm 22 and I don't... can't, look at the story the way I used to; it took me a while but I finally did see the heavily implied, thinly veiled messages in Twilight. Firstly, the whole series is an advertisement on abstinence and Mormonism (the religion of the writer) and this bugged me ... a lot. I know it's a really old trick to stamp religious propaganda all over stories and fables, but wow, did this one do the trick. Millions of teenage girls suddenly convinced waiting for marriage is the right thing without even realising they've been persuaded into thinking that way from a YA novel, this sits really uneasily with me. The second thing that now bothers me about the story is that actions I perceived as a young girl as loving and caring, are actually barbaric and downright demeaning. Think about it, if a boyfriend told you that you were no longer allowed to go certain places, see certain people, drive your car etc, you'd go mad. Their relationship is basically one of domineering control and a really bad example to set up for young girls.

Because of all this, I was a little reluctant to read Meyer's other novel The Host, but I found it on eBay for £1 and I thought it might help out with some dystopian research I was doing so I bought it, ad I'm so glad I did!

Basically, this book is nothing like Twilight. There is no real sense of danger where you expect it, and the protagonist; Wanderer, makes the right choices for her life, not the choices men want her to make, which makes her a much stronger heroine than Bella Swan.

The story is set in the future, where an alien race has invaded earth and taken over human bodies to live in. The majority of the population are now these "aliens". There is a small human resistance, of which one member is a young girl in her 20's; Melanie. Melanie leaves her lover and young brother to enter a city at night looking for a cousin she believes to still be human. When Melanie is caught by the "seekers" (aliens who search for the human resistance) she runs and attempts suicide so the aliens may not have her body. However, they have extensive medical advances and are able to save Melanie's body, putting alien Wanderer inside.

Wanderer, like the rest of the aliens, is a gentle soul. They do not believe in, nor are capable of violence or anger. They all work, but money is not used in their world, they simply take what they need and pay for it by putting work into the community. Wanderer works as a teacher, but finds her concentration more and more distant as she begins to hear a voice in her head. Melanie's voice.

The rest of the story is about the struggle and friendship of these two souls locked inside one body and the prejudice's they face against each others races. I really liked this story, and better, I liked the characters. It was really interesting to read something dystopian about invasion but not to have any real outside fear to pace the story. There is no government or "big brother" watching Wanderer, and the pace comes from her character development alone which works really well.

The adaptation is released in cinema's either this or next week I think and it will be interesting to see if they have made it a true adaptation of the books... or just created a blockbuster love story touted on Meyer's name. We'll see.

Top Ten Five Books I HAD To Buy...But Are Still Sitting On My Shelf Unread

I got pretty good at reading my accumulated book pile last year so I don't actually think I have 10!

1) The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test - Tom Wolfe. This book sounded like something I'd love, it was my favourite era/setting etc, but ... I read I am Charlotte Simmons first and realised what a terrible author Wolfe was, so this is still unread.

2) Underworld - Don Delillo. This was an author I'd wanted to get into for a long time, and when I finally got Underworld cheaply on eBay I was really excited to read it ... but it's still unread!

3) Invisible Monsters Remix - Chuck Palahniuk. The reason I've not yet started this one is because I want to re-read the original again first, and I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

These next two are kind of cheats because they actually just came today but:

4) The Host - Stephanie Meyer. Research for my dystopia project.

5) The Handmaid's tale - Margaret Atwood. Research also.

Time to take a seat on the director's chair! If you could turn one of your favourite books into a film, who would you cast?

I have always, always said that I would love to see Chuck Palahniuks Haunted adapted because I think it would make an amazing series. There are so many stories, revelations and plot twists, I think it would be great. Who would I cast? I have no idea, I'd just love to watch it!

Watching: Game Of Thrones Season 2, I bought the box set yesterday as I had a cheeky discount and it's so good to have Westeros back in my life!

Listening To: Lana Del Rey, David Bowie, Cillie Barnes, Leonard Cohen.

Thinking About: Being lazy; I've just had my knee tattooed so all I want to do right now is give it time to heal.

Loving: Having the excuse of my upcoming uni project of a dystopian drama to buy lots of new books as "research"!

Reading: The Long Walk - Stephen King.

Making Me Happy: James Fanco's Instagram, eBay, eating out.

Girl, Interrupted - Susanna Kaysen

Not at all what I was expecting from this little book! I took this to Uni with me the other day as I had a late afternoon tutorial and a few hours to kill after an earlier meeting. I managed to get about 3/4 of this finished in that few hours, and read the rest in about half an hour at home, so a short read, but quite a good one.


So Girl, Interrupted isn't a novel, but more of a memoir of author Susanna Kaysen's time in McLean Hospital in the late 60's. McLean is a psychiatric hospital which boasts a list of several well known previous residents such as Sylvia Plath, and Ray Charles. Kaysen began having recollections of her time at the hospital while writing another of her novels, and then began researching her time there. Her findings and memories are the basis for the book.

Something I really like is that there are copies of Kaysen's files from the hospital in the book, which is of course proof that she was there, but also really solidifies the horror of her situation.

Kaysen herself was admitted for a "Borderline Personality Disorder" which is as broad as it sounds, and basically something that allowed girls who really needed simpler help to be institutionalised. Other girls on her ward are there for reasons spanning from eating disorders, to promiscuity. One thing his book really does is make you appreciate the world we live in now. These days, you can sleep with more than three people without being locked away, you can openly discuss your problems with family, friends, charities or even doctors, without the fear of either being deemed a social pariah, or locked away. I think that's why I'd say this is a rather important book, for girls of a certain age especially, because Kaysen really goes into depth in terms of her thoughts and feelings, what she thought made her "crazy",  but are really just (mostly) normal thoughts we all go through at that point of growing up and choosing our own path, sadly for Kaysen, bringing these thoughts up landed her in McLean, but today, something as simple as knowing someone else has gone through what you have is help enough.

I know a lot of people have seen the film adaptation of the same name and though I think it's a really great film, the book is very different and a little deeper. The character of Lisa, played by Angelina Jolie in the film, is really different, as is Brittany Murphey's character Daisy. There is also a kind of switch up of the happy ending. In the book, Kaysen (played by Winona Ryder) is deemed "cured" and leaves the institution, but all of the other girls stay helplessly inside. In the book there's a little more resolution with the characters and of course with Kaysen herself, as she clearly has been successful and is now a writer.

Like I said, I feel it's quite an important read, so pick it up if you can. For girls, I think this is definitely a great coming of age that is almost on par with The Bell Jar. Happy Reading!

Top Ten Favourite Romances

(And yes, I'm putting all the ladies before men)

1) Kathy & Heathcliffe ♡ Wuthering Heights

"If he loved you with all the power of his soul for a whole lifetime, he couldn’t love you as much as I do in a single day."

2) Elizabeth Bennett & Mr. Darcy ♡ Pride and Prejudice

"I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun."

3) Julia & Winston ♡ 1984

"We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness."

4) Dolores & Humbert ♡ Lolita

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita."

5) Brett & Jake ♡ The Sun Also Rises

"Oh Jake," Brett said, "We could have had such a damned good time together."Ahead was a mounted policeman in khaki directing traffic. He raised his baton. The car slowed suddenly, pressing Brett against me.Yes," I said. "Isn't it pretty to think so?"

6) Anais Nin & Henry Miller ♡ (As authors not characters) 

"Henry to Anais on March 21, 1932Anais, I don't know how to tell you what I feel. I live in perpetual expectancy. You come and the time slips away in a dream. It is only when you go that I realize completely your presence. And then it is too late. You numb me. [...] This is a little drunken, Anais. I am saying to myself "here is the first woman with whom I can be absolutely sincere." I remember your saying -"you could fool me. I wouldn't know it." When I walk along the boulevards and think of that. I can't fool you - and yet I would like to. I mean that I can never be absolutely loyal - it's not in me. I love women, or life, too much - which it is, I don't know. But laugh, Anais, I love to hear you laugh. You are the only woman who has a sense of gaiety, a wise tolerance - no more, you seem to urge me to betray you. I love you for that. [...] I don't know what to expect of you, but it is something in the way of a miracle. I am going to demand everything of you - even the impossible, because you encourage it. You are really strong. I even like your deceit, your treachery. It seems aristocratic to me. 

Anais to Henry on March 26, 1932This is strange, Henry. Before, as soon as I came home from all sorts of places I would sit down and write in my journal. Now I want to write you, talk with you. [...]I love when you say all that happens is good, it is good. I say all that happens is wonderful. For me it is all symphonic., and I am so aroused by living - god, Henry, in you alone I have found the same swelling of enthusiasm, the same quick rising of the blood, the fullness, the the fullness ...Before, i almost used to think there was something wrong. Everybody else seemed to have the brakes on. [...] I never feel the brakes. I overflow. And when I feel your excitement about life flaring, next to mine, then it makes me dizzy."

7) Juliet & Romeo ♡ Romeo and Juliet

"Love is heavy and light, bright and dark, hot and cold, sick and healthy, asleep and awake- its everything except what it is!"

8) Scarlett & Rhett ♡ Gone With The Wind. 

"I want to make you faint. I will make you faint. You've had this coming to you for years. None of the fools you've known have kissed you like this-have they? Your precious Charles or Frank or your stupid Ashley". 

9) Ygritte & Jon ♡ ASOIAF. 

"I know I want you," he heard himself say, all his vows and his honour all forgotten."

10) Isolde & Tristan ♡ The Romance of Tristan and Isolde. 

"Fold your arms round me close and strain me so that our hearts may break and our souls go free at last. Take me to that happy place of which you told me long ago. The fields whence none return, but where great singers sing their songs forever."

The Crimson Petal And The White - Michael Faber

It has taken me a while to finish this book. I think this is a combination of my recent wish to do absolutely nothing, and the fact that this book is damn long. I finished last night at about 4am after deciding enough was enough, and finally pushing myself to get to the end. Despite all this though, I did really enjoy this book.

The Crimson Petal takes place in 1800's London, and is primarily about prostitutes (If you're thinking 'Ugh, another Ripper novel?' Then worry not, it's before his time.) Fanciful cuckold William Rackham, though long since a man, is still of a mind of a University student. He refuses to take over his fathers perfumery and soaps business  preferring instead to scribble meaningless prose in hopes of one day being published and announced the greatest writer that ever lived. Poor Williams life is troubled, in that he refuses to accept in life anything other than the social construct of "normal", unlucky then considering his "mad" wife Agnes who is a constant source of aggravation and worry. William, however has a lucky run in with a prostitute named Sugar, who is not only a match for him in wits and knowledge, but has the utmost faith in him and his abilities. With Sugar's backing, William takes over his fathers company, is awarded with more riches than he could of dreamed, and is in the high graces of the majority of the London gentry. A happy ending. Well, not quite.

The Crimson Petal...was adapted a few years ago by the BBC, starring Romola Garai and Chris O Dowd.

You see, this story is not William's or Agnes's, but Sugar herself's. Forced into prostitution by her mother while only a child, Sugar is rightfully dissolusioned with life, which she tries to make justifiable by using her 'experiences' for the basis of a novel, which she believes will shine a light on the true life of a prostitute. William however offers Sugar a way out. By taking her as his paramour and installing her securely in his life, Sugar is no longer the girl to be spat at and propositioned in the streets, but a lady. A place in life she'd rather die than loose.

I think what I like best about this book is that it was written by a male, as it contains so much contempt for that sex. Men in this novel are cruel and snivelling little beasts, who take what they want and throw away whatever possession is no longer deemed useful, even if that 'possession' is a human being.

You are rooting for Sugar the whole way through the 800 or so pages, and although the story veers for her in a way you'd not imagined, the ending is so clear to the reader and you sit, devouring the words with baited breath, praying for this characters happiness, in whatever way, even if you feel like a traitor to the rest of the story for accepting one so quickly as it's clearly such an unlikely turn of events.

I'm rambling but I really don't want to give anything away because the ending is just so lovely. Please read this book if you get the chance.

Watching: Girls, 2 Broke Girls, New Girl, (Geez, what's with that word lately?!) The Big Bang Theory, Pretty Little Liars. All the shows I watch are back after a hiatus over Christmas and I couldn't be happier. Last weeks episode of Big Bang killed me. I think the noises I was making were the definition of "chortling".
I have also been loving Ripper Street on BBC1, mainly because it stars the beautiful Matthew McFadyen...but it's also great drama.

Listening To: The Postal Service, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Icona Pop, Jimi Hendrix

Thinking About: NEW YORK, less than two weeks to go now!

Loving: Deciding what to pack, coffee, and baths.

Reading: The Crimson Petal And The White - Michael Faber. This is a pretty hefty tome, so it's taking me a while to get through it.

Making Me Happy: My dog, thoughts of the next few weeks, and upcoming tattoo appointments.

Top Ten Best Bookish Memories (waiting in line for a new release, meeting an author, or some sort of great experience with a particular book that was unlike others)

1) Getting a book signed by my favourite author; Chuck Palahniuk. I got the book as a Christmas present a few years ago from the site St. Helens Bookshop, which has sadly now closed down. Having a personally inscribed book from this author means so much to me, definitely a treasured possession.

2) Twilight. I know, I know and I don't want to hear it! I read these books when I (like Bella Swan) was 17 years old and they were huge to me. I will always remember that feeling I had when reading this series and discussing it with my best friend.

3) Bedtime Stories. My mum used to read to me brother and I every single night before bed. Our favourites were Old Bear and Roald Dahl's Tales Of The Unexpected.

4) Meeting Jacqueline Wilson. If you're about my age or younger and you grew up in the UK, you read this authors books, it's just what you did. Once, she was coming to our local bookshop, and those of us who wanted to go and meet her (I was about 9) got the day off school to do so! I ended up taking all of my hardback Wilson books but unfortunately she was only signing her new release, Vicky Angel....I still have it somewhere.

5) Dying my hair silver so I could be like Daenerys Targaryen. (Seriously, after watching the show, who didn't want to be called "Silver Lady"?!)

6) All of the wonderfully fantastic adaptations that have been released over the years. There's something so special about watching something you've only seen in your head, come to life right in front of you. 

6) It's not necessarily bookish, but he was a poet, so: The first time I heard The Doors music. Jim Morrison's words hit me really powerfully, weather he's speaking or singing and I can remember, about four years ago, the very first time I sat down with my second hand "Best Of The Doors" compilation, bought in a charity shop because my mum thought they were "my kinda thing", and listened to The Crystal Ship. I'm still in a daze for their music.

7) Being Dorothy Gale for the entirety of my childhood.

8) Romeo & Juliet. I'm not sure how I'm construing this as a memory, but it's always struck a chord, plus I can recite the prologue from memory, so...

9) The first time I read Fight Club (At 16 I think). My first ever transgressive novel, or novel of any sort outside of classics and YA really, and boy, did it blow my socks off.

10) Starting this blog!

Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters Ever

1) Inspector Javert - Les Miserables. Self explanatory,  the man obsessed over one man for his entire adult life. I mean, there was a revolution happening right under his nose, and he had one of it's leaders within his grasp, but why do his job and keep peace on the streets when he could be chasing down Valjean for the mighty debt of stolen bread. Go home Javert, you are clearly a mad man.

2) Scarlett O'Hara - Gone With The Wind. Oh Scarlett, you just couldn't see a good thing when you had it. Rhett Butler is one of the best men in classic fiction, and I love his character, but ugh, Scarlett. She obsesses over sickly looking Ashley who wants nothing to do with her, and throws Rhett's love away, she only wants him after he'll no longer have her, she's such a brat. 

3) Alex DeLarge - A Clockwork Orange. Why do you do it Alex?! Better yet, why do I feel sympathy for you?! I just wish Alex had had the change of heart on his own, and redeemed himself, instead of feeling remorse through the experiments.

4) Cersei Lannister - ASOIAF. There is nothing that will make this character redeemable. She has been locked up, paraded through the streets of Kings Landing naked, lost her husband, lost her children, and still she feels no humility! 

5) Mrs Bennet - Pride & Prejudice. Her nerves. Her nerves give me bad nerves, I swear. I hate the way she just forgives Lydia with not so much as a reprimanding look, just forgives her and accepts her happilly becsause she has a ring on her finger, and I hate the way she treats Lizzie as her least favourite. Speaking of Lydia...

6) Lydia Bennet - Pride & Prejudice. What a scheming child she was. Forgetting the fact that Wickham and Lizzie were a kind of thing - she just vanished with him, not sparing a single thought for her reputation or the reputations of her 4 unmarried sisters, so selfish.

7) Frodo Baggins - TLOTR. I know his weakness is humanity and it's supposed to make us empathise with him but god, every time he puts that god damn ring on I get so mad, then there's the most frustrating moment of all (for me), when he puts on the ring to "hide" from the ring wraiths, and then JUST LIES EXACTLY WHERE HE WAS, THUS THE STABBING. Yes they can see him anyway, but he clearly didn't know that, he could have rolled to the side or something ATLEAST.

8) Holden Caulfield - The Catcher In The Rye. He just makes so many bad decisions and he's halfway between acting how he wants and how he thinks he should at all times, I wish he'd just commit to one. 

9) Kathy - Never Let Me Go. Just feel something will you Cathy?!

10) Amy March - Little Women. For burning Jo's manuscript. I will never not hate you for that Amy. 

Top Ten Settings I'd Like To See More Of (Or At All)

1) England - I realise there are a lot of English-set novels, particularly of the classic variety, but I'm talking more modern here. I think I've read 2 modern English novels in the past year and I'd really like to read more this year. 

2) New Orleans/The Bayou - I have a little compulsion when it comes to this setting, and I tend to be drawn to books that are set there...more please.

3) The Past (Medieval) - We all know I'm a big huge massive fan of ASOIAF, and I feel like I need a little something else to obsess over in case GRRM does the unimaginable and breaks my heart by taking away my beloved best character :(

4) The Past (Romanticism) - I'm talking Austen, Bronte, etc..you can never have too many books set in this era.

5) The Past (Victorian/Georgian/Edwardian) All those romantic poetic men like Tennyson and Elliot...yes please, more.

6)The Past (Post Modern - 60's/70's) - My favourite decades! And I barely ever find books set in them, I think I've read 6 or 7 max, and none were exactly top notch.

8) Boats/n'HoesShips - I really like novels set on boats, especially if they're done cleverly and sound authentic, because then you're learning something too. I once wrote a script set a ship using only information I'd garnered from novels. So handy.

9) Hollywood - Classic Hollywood, why aren't you in more novels? I love classic Hollywood, the language, the style, the feel, everything. 

10) Planes - Like the boats, I like having a book set on one confined space, because then they have to be really character driven, which I love. Look at Life of Pi, Pi had only his imagination and a life boat - yet Martel gave us a story that felt huge.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Two Most Anticipated Books For 2013

I'm going to assume that this prompt means anticipated as in, books you're waiting on being released, but personally I'm not so good with the shall we say "new releases". I very rarely wait for a book to be released because I tend to have so many titles on my "to read" list that have been out for a while. I think this past year I bought two books on or near their published dates, which were; A Dance With Dragons - George R.R. Martin, and Damned - Chuck Palahniuk (which I actually think I pre-ordered.) Getting down to it I think there's only one new to be released book I'm waiting for this coming year and it's (absolutely no surprise here)...

The Winds Of Winter.

Shocker right! Yes, book six is (hopefully) going to be released in 2013, which I am more excited about then I can eloquently say, as I presume, a lot of us are. (If you've not read the sampler on Martin's website you can find it here.) I do fear I'm being a bit optimistic with this choice, and in all likelihood the book won't be out next year at all, but dammit, I can hope!

And again, (I see a pattern here) I'll most likely be awaiting Palahniuks new novel which is said to drop next year and is a sequel to Damned. I really tried to think of a couple more titles but I can't! I have a pretty hefty list of book to get through at the minute anyway, so this is probably a good thing.

Also, I really like the look of new movie; The Silver Linings Play-book, (and if you follow Brett Easton Ellis on Twitter, you'll know he hasn't stopped raving about it being one of the films of the year) has anyone read the novel it's based on?  I had a sneaky peek at a few pages and it looked interesting, let me know!

Liebster Award!

Lovely Sus gave me the Liebster Award! The award is given out to blogs with fewer than 200 followers and Sus chose me as one of the blogs she'd like to award so thank you very much!

The rules of the Liebster Award are: 

• Answer the blogger's eleven questions.
• Think of eleven questions of your own.
• Choose eleven worthy bloggers (with fewer than 200 followers) to pay it forward.

1. What is your favourite book? I hate trying to answer this question! I have far too many favourites. 

2. What is your favourite movie? Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy, The Toy Story Series, or Beauty & The Beast

3. If you could go back in time and save 1 person, who would it be and why? Jeff Buckley, because he had a beautiful soul.

4. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? I don't really know, I'd like to visit a lot of places but I'm happy in England. If I were to move country it would still be in Europe I suppose. 

5. What is your favourite food? Toast or Yoghurt.

6. What is your biggest regret? Not stating this blog earlier, or not taking more time to think about the future when going to University I suppose. I don't really have many because the little things are inconsequential and I've never made any huge life-altering mistakes.

7. If money was no object, what 1 thing would you buy for another person and why? A house for my mum because she deserves not to worry and to feel secure for once.

8. Do you give to charities and if yes what is your favourite? I've given to WDCS and random coins into charity cups but no, I'm not a regular donor.

9. Ebook reader or regular old physical book? Physical book, every time.

10. If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? Charles Bukowski.

11. What's your favourite animal? Dogs, Birds, Deer and Horses.
My 11 questions: 
1) Where did the name for your blog come from?
2) What did you want to be when you grew up? 
3) Who is your favourite literary character of all time?
4) What's your favourite genre to read?
5) What song/album changed your life?
6) Who is your favourite Disney Princess?
7) Do you collect anything?
8) Do you have a talent?
9) What's your favourite TV show?
10) What are you going to be for Halloween?
11) What are the 5 things closest to you right now?
The blogs I chose to pass this award on to are:
A Bookworm Belle
Courtney Reads A Lot
Beauty & The Bookshelf
Nickie Anderson (Who has 201 followers but...I'm still picking her blog)
Little Bird Reads
Soon Remembered Tales
Fourth Street Review (I actually am not sure how many followers Rory has but I enjoy her blog so she is on my list anyway!)
Get This Rolling
Everyone else seems to have more than 200 followers! So  if you're reading this, have less then that and want to participate, then please do so! I award you all!

Tune In Tuesday

Tune In Tuesday is a weekly feature in which bloggers get to showcase another one of their loves, music! The feature is hosted by Ginger over at GReads! but until further notice you can find it at Kate’s Tales of Books and Bands.

I used the site 8tracks to create a playlist for my Tune In Tuesday with the track-listing as below:

Manchester Orchestra - Slow To Learn

Brand New - Aloc Aloc

Jimi Hendrix - All Along The Watchtower

Death Cab - We Looked Like Giants

Brand New - Untitled 1

Death Cab - Brothers On A Hotel Bed

The White Stripes - Sister, Do You Know My Name?

Joni Mitchell - The River

You can listen to my playlist here

Blog Hop - October 5-11

This weeks Blog Hop is hosted by Soon Remembered Tales. Question: Banned Books Week ends on the 6th. How do you feel about books being challenged to be banned from libraries or schools? Have you read any banned books?

I actually have quite a large collection of previously banned books. In my opinion the books that have been banned are the ones that are very thought provoking, have important messages and really just worth reading, (also, who doesn't feel rather cool toting around Henry Miller...) In fact when I first got my laptop a few years ago I saved the American Library Association's list of banned or challenged books to my favourites as a "to buy" list! I always find it so amazing looking at the things that were banned less than a hundred years ago, things that people don't bat an eye at in today's society, look at the first 20 titles on the list; 

I've read the majority of these novels and in our time with most of them I'd never guess there had ever been any question about their readability. The idea of censorship in general really rubs me up the wrong way. I don't like the thought of what I see or read being controlled, but apart from being aware there's really not anything we can do about it, everything is controlled, if it's not by the government it's by the media and occasionally a book will come along which doesn't cater to the parameters of what's deemed acceptable; thus banned books!

 So, How do I feel about the banning of books? In a word: Angry! Sex exists, violence exists, drugs exist, you can't change the existence of these things so why try to halt people's awareness of them? It's so backwards for people to believe that just because you can't see or read about something then it just doesn't exist! As far as I'm concerned we should judge for ourselves if we're prepared to read about something, if we're not we can just close the book, the option of picking it up at all is what matters...I think I may have written more than the hop really asked for here so I'll stop my little rant now. I'm really looking forward to reading what everyone else has to say about this subject.