Top Ten  Books I Recommend The Most

1) We Need To Talk About Kevin - Lionel Shriver. Thebes book I read last year, absolutely stunning and you just can't put it down, I wish everybody would read this.

2) The Perks Of Being A Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky. Beautiful, soulful and ageless. Ignore the hype about John Green because I think this beats anything he's ever done.

3) Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk. My very favourite Palahniuk, and one of my most loved contemporary romances, I love this book.

4) ASOIAF Series - George R.R. Martin. I don't think there's any reader who wouldn't enjoy this series -- it has everything! Dragons, war, death, sex, wolves, beautiful northerners, king's, queen's, imp's, intrigue, betrayal....Read it!

5) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte. The best love story ever written.

6) Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen. Because Mr. Darcy.

7) Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov. I had to have one banned book on this list, and this is one of my very favourites. I think before you read it it can be an easy tale to judge, but once immersed you'll wonder why you ever saw any problem with it.

8) Fiesta/The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway. One of my favourite novels, and I think a game changer for those who say they dislike Hemingway's writing.

9) The Most Beautiful Women In Town - Charles Bukowski. This was the first Bukowski I read and I've never looked back.

10) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath. I think it's really important for young women to read this book. Everyone always talks about coming of age stories and recommends The Catcher In The Rye, and while it's a great book, I think it's very easy to grow out of and I think it's important to have a female presence in that genre. The Bell Jar feels like it will be with me always, while now I'm at an age when I just want to tell Holden to grow up.

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.

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."

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  Four Favourite New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2012

Another week of less than ten as I really haven't read that much by new-to-me authors this year - oops!

1. Virginia Woolf - I think the reason I've stayed away from Woolf for so long is because my mum is really not a fan and it must have clouded my judgement as I've only recently purchased some of her books (To The Lighthouse and The Waves) I've only begun one so far but I'm really liking the writing styles and the characters so I'm really glad to have finally read some of her work!

2. Lionel Shriver - For We Need To Talk About Kevin, which is probably my book of the year, absolutely sublime. If you've not read this yet then I strongly urge you to pick it up! I have a review here if you want to know more.

3. Don Delillo - I've been meaning to read Delillo for a long time but have never gotten around to it. I actaly managed to get Underworld for the ridiculous price of £2.50 or something a month or two back and was amazed when it arrived - it's dauntingly huge and a hardback (what a steal!) and though I've only flicked through and read a few chapters, I'm really liking his writing so far!

4. Sebastian Faulks - Birdsong blew me away really, another favourite of the year and I'm still looking to buy the other two titles in the series. 

I'm excited to read everyone else's posts this week as I clearly need to broaden my horizons! 

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!

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Authors I'm Thankful For

1) William Shakespeare - I don't think I can even think about why I love literature without mentioning Shakespeare. I am so thankful for his contributions to English Literature, which remain as beautiful and relevant today as they were when first written and performed all those years ago.

2) Sylvia Plath - Plath always makes me feel like it's okay not to be so cheerful and positive all the time, because I'm not - and life's not. Her work has a huge dose of reality in it, but it's a kind of reality not normally found in poetry, and I'm so thankful for the stark truth that came from this woman. 

3) Emily Dickinson - For some of my favourite poems. 

4) Allen Ginsberg - Howl gets under my skin every time I read it and will always be one of my favourite things to read. I think he was a great man and a great thinker as well as a wonderful writer, his soul seems to permeate his words, and it's always wonderful to find something so thought provoking.

5) Charles Bukowski - For being the vulgar, male version of Plath and making me feel like less of a loner. I find so many facets of my own personality reflected in Bukowski's Hank Chinaski  I always feel a little less alone with one of his books in hand. Picking up a new one is like being reintroduced to an old friend. 

6) Chuck Palahniuk - For getting me into a whole new, wonderful, darkly satirical, humorous  romantic genre of books. I'll be reading his books as long as I'm alive and  don't think he will ever disappoint me. I am Jacks grateful smile.

7) Jane Austen - She and a handful of other women paved the way for mainstream female authors and I'm extremely thankful for that, she also creates beautiful romance that is so readable I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone these days who hasn't at least heard of her work. 

8) Emily Bronte - Again, for her following her dreams and publishing work as a woman in her time. And for creating the best love story ever written.

9) Frank L. Baum - For Dorothy Gale, who I will forever associate with my childhood, and wonderful memories with my mum, who gave me ruby slippers.

10) Roald Dahl - Again, for my childhood - and probably the reason I love to read so much. My brother and I would be read a Dahl story every night before bed and I think it's what gave me my enthusiasm for books, his stories are still so magical to me. 

Top Ten Tuesday

November 13: Top Ten Books  I'd Want On A Deserted Island

1) Lord Of The Flies - William Golding. Hey, you could kind of use it as an instruction manual...or a what not to do...

2) Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk. I'm desperate to re-read this at the minute but I've a pile of new things to read and I'm barely getting through those, so it's going to have to wait a while. I'd want it on an Island because maybe I got there via a plane crash, which is a running commentary throughout this book, seems like it'd fit in well, plus I always class this as a kind of hopeful story.

3) Batman Series - Frank Miller. These graphic novels always leave me feeling really inspired and "fired up", that motivation may do me good on a deserted island.

4) Ulysses - James Joyce. Purely because I own it and have never gotten round to reading it. I've read so so much about this book and  think I've put it off because of all the hype.

5) Fevre Dream - George R.R. Martin. ABookwormBelle just wrote a review on this and now I'm dying to read it! 

6) Some Stephen King - I'm always a bit wary of delving into horror as I've said before, and so many people rave about King, maybe somewhere well away from society would be the place to start...

7) Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen. Just because I probably couldn't go the rest of my life without this book, although the romance may make me a little maudlin...ah well.

8) The Harry Potter Series - J.K. Rowling. To keep my childlike sense of wonder...plus, I could fashion a wand from any trees on my deserted island...Lumos my nights away!

9) Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer. To boost my adventurous spirit! 

10) No surprise here! (I think I mention this every week...) - A Song Of Ice & Fire series - George R.R. Martin. Again, I couldn't not read these books ever again, plus reading the whole series would really pass the time - though imagine if you were deserted before the final books are published - you might never know how things end! Now that's something I don't want to think about...

Top Ten Tuesday

It's another freebie week this week so I'm going to pick a nice and easy topic because  as I mentioned in my last post I'm a very busy bee with Uni work at the minute! I'm going to do a split topic this week so ere are my:

Top Ten Five Most OCD-ish Book Habits:

1) I always read the authors note/dedications the second after I've finished the book and not before.

2) If there's a particular piece of writing I like, a phrase or some dialogue, I fold the bottom page corner, even though I hate the idea of folding a corner to mark where I'm up to.

3) I never ever write in my books. (I used to when I was little, every book I owned was marked as mine and now I hate the idea.)

4) I have to take a book with me pretty much anywhere it's socially accepted. (meaning you won't find me turning pages in a bar...but anywhere else, don't be surprised.)

5) Every new (or new to me!) book shall receive a cursory whiff. Nothing beats the smell of a book.

Top Ten Five Favourite Book Covers:
Note: There are countless numbers of beautiful book covers in the world, some which I one day hope to own, but these five are just some of  my favourite covers from my own collection, they don't have deep meaning nor do I have attachments to the artists, I just find them aesthetically pleasing.

1) The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath. For me, this image so contradicts the writing inside, I think that's why I like it.

2) Haunted - Chuck Palahniuk. (Hardback) I do love a dust-jacket that's part of the design inside.

3) Lullaby - Chuck Palahniuk (I know, I know, but what can I say, I've admitted my love for him already!) I just enjoy looking at this. My eyes like it. 

4) Damned - Chuck Palahniuk - (Hardback) I'm not sure why I automatically thought of this cover, but I did. It is a pretty good representation of what you find inside I suppose, and I like that it's such a simple, almost childish interpretation.

5) The Lords & The New Creatures - Jim Morrison. This book is not a novel, it's a collection of Morrison's poetry and I like the cover simply because when I see it I can hear Morrison voice in my head bellowing "I am the lizard King. I can do anything."

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Favourite Kick-Ass Heroines

I haven't done a TTT in 2 weeks as last week I was feeling very sniffly and sorry for myself and was convinced I couldn't come up with the 10 Halloween themed books required. This week however I am on top form so lets go, in fact, lets sing 80's female power ballads as we go along because Im sure we are all Kick Ass Heroines (or Heroes!). All in tune? okay...

1)  Daenerys "Stormborn" Targaryen, A Song Of Ice & Fire - George R.R. Martin. My number 1, of course. I love Dany, she and Jon are my favourite characters of the series and when I get to her chapters I'm always so excited. When she listens to others I think that's when she we think she's becoming weaker, but then that blood of the Dragon starts to come out and my head is filled with choruses of "You Go Girl!" "I am Daenerys Stormborn and I will take what is mine with fire and blood!"

2) Arya Stark, A Song Of Ice & Fire - George R.R. Martin - Arya has been Kick-ass since she was first mentioned in the books, and as the series goes on she becomes more and more brilliant and my love for her grows. Arya is a survivor, yes, she also wants a lot of revenge, but she is the only character (apart from Tyrion) who I think will definitely survive the series, she's just so strong and capable of anything, I'm sure She'll be there till the end.“Swift as a deer. Quiet as a shadow. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Quick as a snake. Calm as still water. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Strong as a bear. Fierce as a wolverine. Fear cuts deeper than swords. The man who fears losing has already lost. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Fear cuts deeper than swords. Fear cuts deeper than swords” 

3) Brienne of Tarth, A Song Of Ice & Fire  George R.R. Martin. Ah Brienne, the one woman who managed to make Jaime Lannister realise he had a heart. I really like Brienne, I like that she's not beautiful and doesn't seem to care, I like even more that she managed to become a Knight, but most of all I like her honour and her loyalty which seem to know no bounds. "All my life men like you've sneered at me, and all my life I've been knocking men like you into the dust."

4) Éowyn, The Lord Of The Rings - J.R.R Tolkein. I (gasp) have not actually...read...this series. (Don't shout at me!) and have only seen the films a few times each however I have read a lot about the series and I definitely know who Éowyn is. Her kick-ass line in the film however ("I am no man" as she slays the witch King) alters in the book, but is just as awesome; "No living man am I! You look upon a woman. Éowyn I am, Éomund’s daughter. You stand between me and my lord and king. Begone, if you be not deathless! For living or dark undead, I will smite you if you touch him."

5) Jane Eyre, Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë. Jane is so unbelievably strong. She goes through such massive heartbreak in her life and just seems to take it all in stride, Plus I love the part where Jane first meets Helen as a child and stands to have all her hair cut off with her for showing vanity - all so Helen won't have to be different alone. “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”

6) Jo March, Little Women - Louisa May Alcott. I love that Jo refuses Teddy knowing she may never be made an offer of marriage to again, because she loves him like a brother and has dreams of her own. She wasn't afraid to fight for what she wanted - in terms of her career and her choice of a man. And she cut off all her hair to pay for her mother's train ticket. Clearly I just like it when girls sacrifice their hair. "Well, of course Aunt March prefers Amy over me. Why shouldn’t she? I’m ugly and awkward and I always say the wrong things. I fly around throwing away perfectly good marriage proposals. I love our home, but I’m just so fitful and I can’t stand being here! I’m sorry, I’m sorry Marmee. There’s just something really wrong with me. I want to change, but I – I can’t. And I just know I’ll never fit in anywhere."

7) Becky Sharp, Vanity Fair - William Thackery.  Becky, like Jane Eyre is an orphan who leaves her school when she comes of age, unlike Jane however, Becky decides that climbing the social ladder is a much more appealing use of her time than working. The ending of this book is the most Kick-ass thing about Becky, she refuses to be poor and always manages to turn her luck around. "I'm not a child, Captain Osborne. Not like your brainless little Amelia. Ambition doesn't tire. Evil never sleeps."

8) Matilda Wormwood, Matilda - Roald Dahl. I'm pretty sure that if you're female and you write a book blog, you consider Matilda to be Kick-ass. BECAUSE SHE IS. Roald Dahl books were a massive part of my childhood and, of course, I always identified with Matilda, if only I had powers and could move stuff with my thoughts too..."The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village."

9) Alice, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/Alice Through The Looking Glass - Lewis Carol. First off, Alice followed a rabbit down a hole, that's pretty darn adventurous, I'm sure I'd never have done that as a kid (or now), then she finds her self in, quite frankly, terrifying Wonderland and just plods along. She only really gets upset once or twice about being there, which, if that was me, would not be the case. The minute flowers start mocking me I'm out. "In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again." 

10) Lady Brett Ashley, The Sun Also Rises/Fiesta - Earnest Hemingway. Brett never does anything particularly adventurous or admirable, I just like that she's so open with her heart, but at the same time sensible. She's in love with love and when she stops feeling it she moves on. I just think she's so wonderfully forward. ""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?""

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Favourite Authors In X Genre (Ex- Top Ten Favourite Science Fiction Authors, Top Ten Fave Contemporary YA authors)

Another Tuesday means it's time for me to not be able to fulfil this weeks prompt! This time because ..I never know what genre I'm reading! (I am clearly terrible.) I think I'm going to do Love, so without further ado;  

My Top Ten Favourite Love Story Authors

1) Chuck Palahniuk - For writing love and romance without Hollywood sickliness an adding a dose of realism into his couples. "If you love something set it free, but don't be surprised if it comes back with herpes."

2) Charles Bukowski - He may be a "Dirty Old Man" but I just love the way he writes women and his obsession with chasing them "I was sentimental about many things: a woman’s shoes under the bed; one hairpin left behind on the dresser; the way they said, “I’m going to pee..”’ hair ribbons; walking down the boulevard with them at 1:30 in the afternoon, just two people walking together; the long nights of drinking and smoking; talking; the arguments; thinking of suicide; eating together and feeling good; the jokes; the laughter out of nowhere; feeling miracles in the air; being in a parked car together; comparing past loves at 3am; being told you snore; hearing her snore; mothers, daughters, sons, cats, dogs; sometimes death and sometimes divorce; but always carring on, always seeing it through; reading a newspaper alone in a sandwich joint and feeling nausea because she’s now married to a dentist with an I.Q. of 95; racetracks, parks, park picnics; even jails; her dull friends; your dull friends; your drinking, her dancing; your flirting, her flirting; her pills, your fucking on the side and her doing the same; sleeping together"

3) Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights is the greatest love story ever. (In my opinion!) "My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being. So don't talk of our separation again: it is impracticable."

4) Anaïs Nin - Her prose is so dreamy and beautiful, when I read Nin's stories it's always like wading out to sea, her work is utterly captivating. "How wrong it is for a woman to expect the man to build the world she wants, rather than to create it herself. "

5) Henry Miller - I adore the hopeless way he writes women, he's jaded but in a way that really works in the stories he tells. "There's something perverse about women... they're all masochists at heart."

6) Lionel Shriver - For We Need To Talk About Kevin, which I find beautiful and captivating in terms of the romantic love story in main protagonists relationship with her husband, but also the issues she faces with familial love in her children. "I realize it's commonplace for parents to say to their child sternly, 'I love you, but I don't always like you.' But what kind of love is that?"

7) Vladimir Nabokov - Because anyone who can make me forget that the relationship I'm reading about is that of a paedophile and a young girl is worthy of this list. "There, on the soft sand, a few feet away from our elders, we would sprawl all morning, in a petrified paroxysm of desire, and take advantage of every blessed quirk in space and time to touch each other: her hand, half-hidden in the sand, would creep toward me, its slender brown fingers sleepwalking nearer and nearer; then, her opalescent knee would start on a long cautious journey"

8) Jane Austen - Who doesn't love period romance? "If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more."

9) Cormac McCarthy - He writes beautiful stories about familial love - The Road being a fantastic example. "Listen to me, he said, when your dreams are of some world that never was or some world that never will be, and you're happy again, then you'll have given up. Do you understand? And you can't give up, I won't let you."

10) George R.R. Martin - For Jon and Ygritte. "There's been no one," he confessed. "Only you."

(P.S. Does anyone watch Downton Abbey? If so I feel we need a discussion group of some sorts because this week KILLED ME!)

Top Ten Tuesday

This week is a Top Ten Tuesday rewind, meaning we can pick a past topic we've missed, and as I only started these a few weeks ago, I had quite a lot to choose from, in the end I decided to do Top Ten Book to Movie Adaptations, seen as I'm a film student and all (plus the date of this original prompt was on my birthday!)

1) Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk/David Fincher - If you've read any of my blog posts before you've probably come across my love for Fight Club, but just in case you've not - I love it. I read the book first and fell in love with it when I was around 16 and then luckily enough the film was on TV a few nights after I'd finished it...and then a few days later one of my brother's friends gave me the DVD - kismet I'm telling you. The way Fincher portrays the story is incredible - if you've read the book you'll know there is a big "hidden gun" (as Palahniuk calls the reveal) and he brings it across on the screen so well! And the casting! I swear I now cannot imagine any voice other than Edward Norton as the narrator. The film is just incredible, I promise. 

2) Batman Begins/The Dark Knight/The Dark Knight Rises - Frank Miller/Chris Nolan - The best film series and best comic book adaptation of all time in my eyes. In a word: INCREDIBLE. Nolan brings Gotham into this world and makes it something that could so easily be happening, nothing is too outrageous or theatrical, it's just right. Chris Nolan is without a doubt one of the best film makers out there at the minute and he seems to have this Midas touch, everything he works on is unbelievable and these films are no exception. The Dark Knight Rises was just everything I wanted it to be and more, I don't think anyone will touch Batman for a long time now, because really what could beat Nolan's version? 

3) The Road - Cormac McCarthy/John Hillcoat - I really loved this book, I bought it after reading All The Pretty Horses by McCarthy, because once I find an author I like...I pretty much try to read everything else they've written, anyway; The book was great, the perfect mixture of love, horror and dystopia and left me with a lot of thought. I think the film was at the cinema when I read the book but I didn't see it until it was released on DVD; I was not disappointed. Kodi Smit McPhee who plays "The Boy" was fantastic considering his age, and Viggo Mortenson was just WOW. His dedication to that role must have been very strong considering all the changes to his appearance that he committed to, and it really paid of because this film will remain one of my favourites for a very long time. There are hardly any characters, and most times we focus only on the boy and his father; this film is carried entirely on story and it shows, and it's wonderful.  

4) I couldn't not mention - The Harry Potter series - J.K Rowling/David Yeats Chris Columbus/Alfonso Cuaron/Mike Newell - I don't know how it is in other countries, but being British I have grown up with Harry Potter. We would be read the books in story time through school and they were a pretty huge playground topic, then as I got older and the films were made I saw each one at the cinema with family, and then as I got older with friends, and that seems to be how it is for most people I know, I think I'd be very hard pressed to find someone around my age group who hasn't seen these films, and after The Deathly Hallows Part 2 was released my social network pages were filled with peoples sad thoughts about being left behind by Hogwarts, because we, I, truly have grown up with these stories, and I still cry when I watch that last film.

5) Wuthering Heights - Emily Brontë/Peter Kosminsky/Cody Giedroyc - I'm mainly mentioning the 1992 Ralph Fiennes/Juliette Binoche version here, but also giving a nod to the 2009 ITV series which starred Tom Hardy (yum). As I mentioned last week in my Top Ten Books You Don't Want People To Forget About; I adore this story. It's my favourite love story of all time and Heathcliffe is one of my top male literary characters. The two versions I' mentioning are (I think) the best. They are both great and I don't think I like one better than the other. I will say though that adaptations of this novel can go wrong - I cannot stand Andrea Arnold's 2011 version, which in my opinion besmirches (that's right! Besmirches!) Brontë's story.

6) Romeo & Juliet - William Shakespeare/Baz Luhrmann - We all know the story so I won't go into that here, but I will say that if you think you've seen adaptations of this play and this is just another, stop! watch it! because I promise it's not like any other Shakespeare you've seen. Yes, okay, this version is not how Shakespeare is intended to be seen; it's loud and brash and overly theatrical, but it's brilliant. One of my favourite moments is Romeo's entrance, which is accompanied by Radiohead's Talk Show Host and just beautiful  Honestly, just go and watch this film, you'll love it. 

7) American Psycho - Brett Easton Ellis/Mary Harron - Christian Bale's acting in this film is top notch, I'm telling you. The book is wildly satirical and darkly humorous, and this adaptation really lives up to that. There is (of course) gory scenes but I actually tend to forget to look at all those parts in a bad light when thinking of the film because the rest of it is just so, as I said, darkly humorous. I really like all of Ellis's adaptations actually, I don't think his films are particularly easy to adapt but those who take them on seem to do a great job, if you're looking for something similar to this film try out The Rules Of Attraction, which was adapted in 2002, and which I love. (Side note: One of the main characters, Sean Bateman is actually a literary younger brother to American Psycho's Patrick Bateman, cool, huh?)

8) Pride & Prejudice - Jane Austen/Joe Wright - I'm talking about the 2005/Keira Knightly version here - not the BBC version! The reason for that is....Colin Firth is not Mr. Darcy in my eyes and I actually don't think much of Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet either. The Joe Wright version is by far my favourite  I love it, know all the words, etc, It's just such a lovely version of the classic; the cinematography's wonderful, the music is beautiful, and Matthew McFayden is such a good Darcy. I adore that scene in the rain where he proposes! and the ending..gah! All the roles are filled by such great actors - Donald Sutherland manages to portray a caring Mr. Bennet, and Tom Hollander as Mr. Collins is so pathetic and hilarious at the same time, I just can't find fault with this adaptation, it's wonderful.

9) Into The Wild - Jon Krakauer/Sean Penn - This book was my first foray into "adventure" writing, and I really enjoyed it. Krakauer writes the non fiction book about a young man Christopher McCandless who, literally went "Into The Wild" and sadly died there. I wasn't sure at fist how Penn would adapt the book, but it'd from McCandless own view, and used the book as a guideline as Krakauer had collected as much information as he could about McCandless time travelling from various people he had met and diaries he had kept. Because of this obviously some parts of the film are guessed at but it feels no less authentic and is a completely respectful take on the young man's life. McCandless is portrayed by Emile Hirsch, who I thin is a really great actor, but at the end we do see the real Christopher, in a smiling picture he took of himself before he died. Amazing film and book.

10) Factotum - Charles Bukowski/Bent Hamner - Factotum is the only Bukowski adaptation I've seen, though I believe Tales Of Ordinary Madness, Barfly and Crazy Love are all adaptation from his various works as well. Matt Dillon stars as Chinaski (Bukowski) which I think was a great choice! I really like Matt Dillon and he works so well in the role, Bukowski fans have probably seen this one but if you haven't then definitely do so; it's not the world best adaptation but I really enjoy it, and I like seeing Bukowski's words come to life.

Well...That was a pretty hefty list! I know there are so many amazing adaptations coming out if the next few months - what are you all looking forward to seeing? Has anyone seen The Perks Of Being A Wallflower yet? What did you think of it? I'll hopefully be seeing it this week and I can't wait!