Tuesday 10 March 2015

Book Recommendations

Books are one of the most important things in my life. Reading is a big passion of mine, nothing beats losing yourself in a whirlwind ride of a new story. Recently I've picked up and read several books that have really grabbed me and have left me speechless and in awe long after i finished the last page. In this blog post I'm going to talk about a few of my favourites and hopefully inspire more people to pick up these wonderful books.


Everyday - David Levithan



The idea for this book and it's plot is amazing and definitely intrigued me. It focuses around the character 'A' whom doesn't have a physical form. Everyday the consciousness of A wakes up in a new body of someone who is the same age. For that day A takes over their body and tries to live that day as normally as the person would. However, that all changes when A takes over the body of Rhiannon's boyfriend and falls in love with her. 

This idea allows the author to write about and explore so many different types of people and their environments. From; drug abusers, high school jocks, a sufferer of depression and people with physical disabilities. A may only stay in their bodies for a day, but this book shows how much can affect and change a person in so little time.

The beauty of this book is the open mindedness of the main character A whom you would class as gender fluid and pan sexual. This character is beautifully written and as a reader it's definitely one you can't help but fall in love with.


The Art Of Being Normal - Lisa Williamson


This is the debut novel by author Lisa Williamson and she has definitely started with a bang. This book is one of the only books I've read that is not only focused around transgender characters, but actually represents them well. I loved the fact that the author didn't gloss over the treatment of transgender people in public, but instead brought to light the unjust treatments that can occur as well as the beauty of acceptance.

I loved the alternating chapters between the two main characters as it lets you connect with each character and their individual story as well as slowly creating a friendship and connection between each of them.The characters in this book are so lovable as they deal with everyday teenage problems as well as trying to figure out and accept who they're in life.

This book takes you on a journey of self acceptance and shows you that being "normal" isn't important compared to being and loving yourself.

I have already recommended and lent two of my friend's this book and they both enjoyed it as much as i did. Which proves how much of an amazing book it is as one of my friend's doesn't generally enjoy reading. So like i told them you really need to read this book. It's a beautiful read and the author deserves a lot of recognition for this amazing piece of work.


More Than This - Patrick Ness


Patrick Ness is definitely my favourite author so there was no way that this book wasn't going to be on this list.

I'm going to put this out there straight away;This is my new favourite stand alone book.

This story follows Seth a teenager who drowns and ultimately should be dead. However he wakes up in his old childhood city (England) across the waters from where he died and he is totally alone, It follows him and his thought process of trying to figure out where he is and the fact that there may be more to his life and life in general than he previously thought.

The book is split in to four parts and each one ups the pace of the book and the story. I could not put this book down as it had my mind racing with so many questions and a wanting to known more. 

The characters in this book are so beautifully written and their life stories and struggles make the characters feel so real. Seth is a really relatable character as many of the questions he tries to find answers to are things most teenagers would be questioning; the main one being is there more to life.

I'm not going to write anymore about this book as I'm going to take a leaf out of John Green's book and tell you to "Just Read It". Experience the twists and turns of this book for yourself. I guarantee you wont be able to put it down.


So these are three books i recommend everyone to read they are all very different, but all incredible books and i know everyone will enjoy them as much as i did.

Wednesday 7 January 2015

My Top 5 Films Of 2014

Last year was definitely an amazing year for film and before 2014 is in our distant memory i want to countdown my top 5 films released during the year.

5) The Maze Runner was the film adaption of the best selling first book in The Maze Runner series. I've already done a review of this film before (read about it here) so i shall keep this one quite short. The main reason why this film made my list is the visuals. The maze and the grievers were produced so real and life like it really made the movie a masterpiece to watch. The casting was also a huge success for the film and it definitely managed to boost the hype of the movie having young actors such as Dylan O'Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Will Poulter and not forgetting the leading lady of Kaya Scodelario. There were quite a lot of changes to the book which could be seen as a negative, but overall Wes Ball whose first directing job was on this film did a great job!

4) The Imitation Game is the film based on Alan Turing's life. It especially focuses on his time working to solve the enigma code at Bletchley Park. The film was beautiful and incredibly emotional. The casting was brilliant and Benedict Cumberbatch played Alan Turing with so much powerful emotion and heart. He really took on the character and portrayed him with high standards. This film gave us an insight in to the world of Alan Turing. It portrays him with all of his flaws and struggles and in a way this makes the character even more likable. What the film may have lacked in factual substance it definitely made up in Character.

3) The Hobbit: The Battle Of Five Armies is the final film set in middle earth and is the concluding chapter of Bilbo Baggins' adventure in The Hobbit. This is a film that definitely lives up to it's name with a big percentage of this film being a action packed battle. In my opinion The Hobbit chapter sadly did not live up to the standard's of The Lord Of The Rings, but this film was definitely the best and closest to living up to the original series. In my opinion this film managed to create a good mixture of action, emotion and humour. However it could have been deemed a little slow at some points.Richard Armitage deserves a big credit for this film as he portrayed the internal struggle of Thorin superbly.
Overall this film was a good end to The Hobbit Chapter and did a good job of wrapping the plot up and paving way for the plot of The Lord Of The Rings.

2) How To Train Your Dragon 2 comes second on my list. It's the second in the trilogy in the computer animated story of Hiccup, his dragon Toothless and his friend's. This film is a family film that can reach people of all ages. This is mainly because of the loveable and relatable characters created. No matter what age you are you cant help, but love Hiccup and Toothless. This film was a very big shock to me as although it was a family film it made me (a teenager) cry in the cinema. The emotional storyline about family and loss just made this film even more loveable and taught the audience all a lesson.

1) We have finally reached my top film released lat year. Guardians Of The Galaxy. With the movie world being taken over by superheros left right and center Guardians Of The Galaxy brought something fresh: Humour. Although all Marvel films have been known to contain bit's of humour none of them focused on it as much as this film. Even during the dramatic near death experiences this film couldn't help, but make you laugh. The soundtrack of this film was also another reason that this film was so successful and has made it to the top of my list. The soundtrack was absolutely perfect and whether you knew the songs before the film or not, one thing was for sure you would be humming along to them once you left.
The characters in this film were amazing and Chris Pratt really played an outstanding and breakout role as Starlord this movie. Zoe Saldana once again playing a badass female. Bradley Cooper voicing the loveable and hilarious Rocket Raccoon, Dave Bautista slowly making us become more understanding and loving of Drax. And finally Vin Diesel bringing so many different emotions to just one line and providing probably the most loved character of 2014: Groot. It's fair to say that this film was amazing and i can't wait for the sequel.

So there we have it they are my top 5 films of 2014. Let me know if you agree/disagree and which films you would pick. My next post will be a continuation of this and will let you know which films i'm most looking forward to next year. So watch out for that!