Top 3 Movie Adaptations of 2013

Being a big reader of YA books, it was a good year at the cinema for me. Lots of my favourite books were adapted to movies, so today I bring to you my top 3 movie adaptations of 2013. They might not all be world wide hits and improvements could be made but I still loved them. 

I don't think I could write this list without mentioning Catching Fire. It was a brilliant movie and faithful adaptation. It was incredibly close to the books and it really captured emotions that I felt the first movie lacked. It was an incredible movie and I cannot wait for parts 1 and 2 of Mockingjay over the next two years. 

 
The Hunger Games  DVD
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire DVD Pre-Order 
The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay books 

 My second favourite adaptation is The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones movie. I know this bombed at the box office and the second will probably not be made but I hope it it. I loved the movie, and while somethings were a little silly and overlooked it was a good film. I was engrossed watching it and it inspired my to carry on the book series past the first book. I hope they can get the second one on track and maybe just a bit more faithful to the novel so I can watch Jamie Campbell Bower covered in tattoos once again.   


 

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones DVD
  City of Bones (Mortal Instruments) BOOK

 My third favourite and last on this list is The Host. The book is one, if not my most, favorite book of all time. I've read and reread it and I was so excited for the movie. I did love the movie but just not as much as the book. I know why I don't love it quite as much but that cannot be changed. It wasn't that the director or writer missed something vital it was just little bits that were captured in the book that made it special are almost impossible to capture on film in the short period of time they had. If the movie was something stupid like 5 hours it might have captured those moments, but no one is sitting down and watching a 5 hour movie. 



The Host DVD The Host Book  

Bookish Pet Peeves

I've seen a few posts/videos on the internetz with people discussing their bookish pet peeves. I thought I would be the big ol' copy cat that I am and throw in my two cents on what my Bookish Pet Peeves are! 

Trilogies

Why does everything have to be in groups of three now days? Why can't books that could clearly be either a stand alone or duo just be that?  Stories that could be told in one brilliant books are being pulled apart and put into three "okay" books. I am so glad that The Host which could have fallen victim to the Trilogy trend remained one novel. It is one of my favourite books ever, and as a trilogy it would have just been okay.

Cover Changes 

I like my series to look like series. I want them to match and line up on my book shelf, looking pretty and MATCHING. Who decided to change the cover design half way through the series? I just don't get it.  The Chemical Gardens Trilogy did it, and I hate it! 

Different Size Books 

This one is very similar to the cover changes pet peeve. If you have a series of books don't release one in a normal size and make the next one HUGE! The Chemical Gardens Trilogy is a great example. Wither is a normal size book but it's follow up, Fever, if a massive book and about 1 1/2 inches taller than the first book. It doesn't line up, and I hate that! 

No Labeling

I have googled what order book series go in way to many times. Is it really to hard to put Book 1, Book2 etc on the cover or even inside the book? A duo I can handle, a trilogy maybe but when a series has 4 or more books I need labels to tell my little brain how to order them. I love that the Morgonville Vampire series does this, but would it have hurt the Vampire Academy publishers to have put a 1 to 6 on the spine?  

5 Confessions of a Reader!

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So, today my post is all about bookish confessions. There are some things I probably should deny but honesty is the best policy and today I lay before you my embarrassing book confessions for you all to read! 

 1) I have never read Harry Potter (not even one line). I have a feeling that now it might be too late for me to truly appreciate the books. I've seen the movies, so I know the outline of the plot and the books are so hyped up that I fear they will never live up to my expectations. Should I read them? 

2) Twilight was the first book I ever "really" read. I hated reading before I read Twilight. I'd never really given it chance to be honest but reading Twilight launched me into something I now adore! I'm never without a book in my bag, and if I have a few spare moments my head is buried in a book. 

3) I always judge books by there covers. I own so many crap books because the covers are all so pretty. Getting a Kindle has really helped stop me doing that because you don't really see the cover, but my shelf is full of books I never even read the blurb of because the cover was gorgeous. I even have a post dedicated to my love for pretty covers I'm lusting after right now! Read here

4) I will always choose chick lit over classics. I love reading because it gives you a place to escape to. It gives me a place to stop thinking about the real world and launches me into a world where I can dream about dreamy boys. When I read a classic I just find myself having to think too much and I don't get the escapism I love about other books. 

5)  I like to spoil myself when reading a book.   I don't do well with angst and anticipation so I often just won't read a book to avoid that. If I give myself a little spoiler I can read the book without giving myself a heart attack while reading.

Characters I Love To Hate...

In books and TV shows there are generally characters you hate. They might be the "villian" or something like that or they might just be plain annoying! Most of these hated characters are people I wish would just disappear. There is the one type of character I love to hate though.  They are generally people getting in the way of "cannon" couples or are the bad guy with a good heart.  

Anyways, I'm going to jump right in with some of my favourite "love to hate" characters from books, TV and movies. 

Jacob from The Twilight Saga Books/Movie

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Oh, Mr Black, why you be trying to break up Mr Edward and Bella? From the moment I started reading I was Team Edward so I was never going to love anyone getting in the way of that thing, but Jacob did have some good qualities and while I hated him for the vast majority of the series I did love him as well.

Klaus from The Vampire Diaries TV Show

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The actor just plays him so well. You see his bad side, you see the glimmer of good in him and the actor plays him in such a way that you cannot help but love him. You have to hate him though because of the whole EVIL thing. Sometimes, a girl has just gotta love a bad boy.

Simon from The Mortal Instruments Books/Movie

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I don't like book Simon but I adore Movie Simon. If they were combined I'd love him in the books. In the books he is just a little too annoying for me at the moment. I love that his is witty and funny (and I love me some Robert Sheehan) but I don't like him and Clary together and in the first bit of the first book he is a bit to sleazy for his geeky personality.

There are more but I think I'll save those for part 2. Do you have any characters/people you love to hate? 

Current Favourite Booktubers | PolandBananasBooks, Little Book Owl and More!

I adore watching people talk about books. It's something I've never really thought about before but seeing someone talk so passionately about things I love myself is great. 

I "found" youtube when I started getting into makeup but after hours of watching beauty videos I started watching book videos. I can now honestly say I don't go to youtube to check if Ingrid or someone like that has uploaded a video I go and check to see is PolandBananasBooks or Katytastic has uploaded. Sure I still watch (and love) the beauty gurus but books are just holding my interest much more at the moment so by extension booktubers are getting my views first. 

Anyway, today I just wanted to share five of my current favourite booktubers. I subscribe to so many more (and if you know any let me know because you can never be subscribed to enough) but these are my current top 5 favourites. 

PolandBananasBooks // Book Talk with Xtinemay

When you can watch over 20 of someones video in just one evening, you know you are addicted to their channel. I've watched just about every video from Christine over the last few days and now I'm just waiting eagerly and some what patiently for the next upload! Brilliant booktubers, and great main channel too! 

Jesse The Reader 

I think Jesse might have been the first booktuber I found. I think he is absolutely hilarious, on point with just about everything he says and did I mention HILARIOUS!

Katytastic

I binged on Kat videos for about 2 days straight recently. I've been subscribed to her for ages and have just caught up with all her videos. She makes great videos, is funny and I NEED her bookshelf.  

The Readables

The Readables, along side Jesse The Reader, was one of the first booktubers I subscribed to. The videos are amazing. They are well created with cute graphic annotations. She is well spoken, to the point and tells you just about everything you need to know without give "too" much away. GREAT Youtuber! 

Little Book Owl

I adore this girl (in a totally no creepy way). I love here accent, I love her content and think she is all round good egg. If you haven't watched her yet what are you doing with your life? Go! Go now... 

7 Deadly Sins of Reading | A Little Bit of Literature

I have a little something different for you all today. For those who don't know me very well, I'm an avid reader. I never leave the house without a book or my kindle and any opportunity I get I've got my head stuck in a book. I've been watching some "booktubers" recently and saw that they did this tag and wanted to give it a go, so here it is, my 7 Deadly Sins of Reading tag. 

GREED: What is your most inexpensive book? What is your most expensive book? 

I have a number of books that I’ve brought for 50p from a charity shop or two. I couldn’t name them all because the post would go on and on forever but charity shops are always a good place to shop. The most expensive book would probably be one of my university text books which are around £30 a piece. My first year at uni I thought I should buy all the books for my course, now I’ve learnt to borrow them from the library! 

WRATH: What author do you have a love/hate relationship with?

I can’t really answer this one because I don’t tend to love an author I love a book, if that makes sense. I never read a book by one person and then assume I’ll like their other books so I don’t read them unless I’ve read a summary I like the sound off. At one point in time I would have said Stephanie Meyer because I loved the Twilight Series (which got me into reading) but when I first started The Host I hated it. I powered through the first few chapters of that after a while and fell in love. 

GLUTTONY: What book have you deliciously devoured over and over with no shame whatsoever?

I would have to say Eclipse. It’s not the best written book but like many people I fell in love with the story of the Twilight Saga and Eclipse is by far my favourite of the four. I think it has the best story and it’s nice a romantic too. 

SLOTH: What book have you neglected reading due to laziness?

Harry Potter. I’ve spoken to so many people that are shocked I haven’t read the series and I really want to but I think about how long it will be if I read from 1 to the end and I just get put off by it. I’m thinking of tackling it over the summer of 2013. 

PRIDE: What books do you most talk about in order to sound like a very intellectual reader?

I tend to bring up books that I read for my A-Level English course. I read a few classics for that course and because of the essays and discussions I had to write and have on these kinds of books. I really didn’t enjoy reading them, but they do make you sound a little more intellectual person instead of bringing up the likes of Twilight and Soul Screamers which I read for pleasure. 

LUST: What attributes do you find most attractive in male characters?

Is it cheesy to say mysterious? I like a guy to be mysterious but not creepy. I don’t particularly have a preference with looks but I always tend to like them a little older than the main female character.  Add in a little bit of a quirky quality and some good hair and I’ll be falling at their fictional feet. 

ENVY: What books would you like to receive as a gift? 

I would love to get the full set of True Blood novels as a gift. I really want to read the books but there are so many to have to buy on my own that receiving them all as a gift in a nice box set would be brilliant. 

I would tag some people but I don't know how many people love reading or would want to do this so I'm just going to say I tag all the people who want to do this little tag! 

The Hunger Games Trilogy Review | A Little Bit of Literature

I found it quite hard to write this review, simply because I didn't quite have the words for this trilogy. It's the first of it's kind (YA Dystopian)  that I've read, and I'm unsure if I want to venture into this genre more. That is most definitely not to say  that I didn't adore this series, because I did. I think I'm going to find it hard to find a similar book that lives up to this, and that makes me want to read quite like this series did.

The Hunger Games

The first book, The Hunger Games, is really my favorite of all three. It took me about three days to read and I can't wait to pick it up again. It gives us a world and characters that you can connect to and it's very well written. It's written in the first person, and in the present tense which made it all the more easy for me to read. I find it hard to connect with books that are written in a differing format than this book.

This novel can stand alone if you really wanted to, which is good and bad. If you are not a fan of series then it's great news for you. The Hunger Games is for you, but if you don't mind series then the finality of this book can put you off reading the next two. It did for me. It took me about 6 months to pick up Catching Fire. 

Catching Fire 

Catching Fire is probably my least favourite of the series. In my opinion it's what I would call a filler book. It doesn't really introduce anything majorly new like the Hunger Games and Mockingjay, but I still read it and enjoyed it. It took me a little longer to read this but I still got though it in about two weeks. 

Mockingjay

Mockingjay is my second favourite of the series, but I really hated the ending. I really didn't feel like I got closure on the series if that makes sense. I raced through the book, and that surprises me now that I look back on it. It's the most violent and most adult of the three novels and that kind of things doesn't really appeal to me.

Katniss

I won't mention much about characters because I don't want anything to be spoiled but Collins did an amazing job of developing that characters through the yes of Katniss, the female protagonist. Katniss Everdeen may not seem the kind of person you would think of as a role model but the character that is developed in the book - I don't like her in the movie - is one that I quite admire. Many of her characteristics and actions are ones that I can seen (in a small way) in my self. She is devoted to her family, does what it takes to survive and tried her best. She might make mistakes, but who doesn't? 

The Ending

The ending, as I mentioned above, was a disappointment for me, It felt somewhat rushed and I was just left wanting more. I could understand this if there was another book, but it didn't wrap up the whole trilogy well enough for me. I like finality, and I just didn't get a feeling that it was really final. If that makes any sense at all. I felt like there was so much more of the story to tell, and I want more. 

Final Thoughts

The series as a whole is fast paced and an 'easy' read. It does deal with some heavy subject, so it's not a light read but I didn't struggle to get through it and I found myself itching to turn the pages. 

If you don't like violence, especially violence against children, then this might not be for you but I'm firmly against those ideas and I found that this novel really makes you think. The world that we are presented with is something so familiar (even thought we obviously don;t live in this world) that it makes it easy to connect with emotionally. That makes it an all the more interesting read because you can get even more emotionally invested in the story and characters.

 

Sorry

I'm sorry this whole review is a bit all over the shot, I just wanted to get all my thought out there. There are so many more that I could share but this is already too long. I just leave you with the strong recommendation that you at least read the first novel. The second and third novels are worth a read, and really well written but The Hunger Games will remain my favorite.