Bargain Christmas + Video

I love Christmas, every year from about October I start looking forward to it. I plan what presents to get, start dreaming of Christmas Dinner and begin to watch Christmas movies. However for the past five years I have lived in a house share. but this year, as you all know, I moved into a flat which means I can finally have my own Christmas Tree something that was never possible before!

However to decorate for Christmas you need money, something that is always tight with us. So feeling like Bob Cratchit I started looking for bargains and ways to save money, and I thought I would share my finds with you. 

1. Start Early.

I bought my first Christmas decoration in October, along with my first few Christmas presents. It is always important to spread your money as far as you can, so start buying things in September October time and store them away, when December rolls round it will be like a mini Christmas as you re-discover everything you have bought.

2. Use Coupons 

I am with the mobile phone provider O2 and they have something called O2 Priority Moments and you often get Coupons for free items from shops such as W H Smiths Game and Halfords. So far this year I have got Wrapping Paper, Christmas Cards, Chocolate Coins, a Calendar, a Hunger Games Keyring and a Disney Infinity Character all for FREE ! I also got a coupon for 20% off everything in store for 7 Days at W H Smiths so I picked up Advent Calendars Stocking Fillers, Chocolates and Annuals all for 20% off. I also work in retail so I used my 10% staff discount to buy Christmas Trees and Fairy Lights.

3. Find Out What Promotions Are Going on 

In Argos they ran a Toy Drive for Bernardo's Children, where if you donated some old toys you got a £5 off voucher on £30 worth of toys. They also had a get a £10 voucher if you spend over £50 and get £10 if you spend over £100, so when I bought new stuff for my flat I collected a few of these vouchers. The store then fan a 20% off all toys for one weeks so I picked up my brother a set of Lego that normally retails at £70 but using all of these vouchers I had collected I got it for £25 !

4. POUNDSHOPS!

As these pound shops are getting more and more popular here there stock is also improving. I picked up Tinsel, Candy Canes, Baubles Garlands and much much more. The quality is just as good as the items you would pick up at any Supermarket. You don't need to buy high end expensive decorations when you can get items that look just as good at the fraction of the price. Next have a Merry Christmas garland for £10, I got one that looked just as nice for a £1 all you had to do was thread the letters on yourself.

5. Look in Unexpected Places.

Sports Direct have a great range of Christmas Jumpers, especially mens. In most shops mens jumpers are comical where are these ones fore more traditional Christmas knit designs. In Argos I picked up a Tag and Bow set for wrapping gifts for £1. Keep you eyes Peeled as you never know what you might find.

So I hope you found this helpful and enjoyed it, let me know if you have any money saving tips you use at Christmas. I made a little video on my iPhone to show you the result of my bargain decorations. 

(though be warned, the quality is really low! So probably best to watch it on a small screen!)

Merry Christmas

Rella

Xx

Leaving the books at home

When I was 20 I started seeing an ex boyfriend again for the third time. I was convinced once and for all we were going to make it work because to me he was this wonderful perfect boy and we were made for each other. One day I returned home and my house mates announced a gift wrapped packaged had arrived while I was in my lesson. I very excited opened it and discovered this guy had sent me a Kindle. 

Kindles were brand new at the time and cost about £119, and I had mentioned in passing that I would like one as I had to carry a lot of books around, what with doing an English course. And suddenly a week later I had been sent one, and I was shocked and touched by this gesture. That evening I downloaded some books onto it and in my next seminar when I whipped out my flash new toy the whole class wanted to have a look and my lecturer asked what I thought of it and I sang its praises how the books were so cheap and in some cases even free, and it was so light and the battery life seemed endless. 

A couple of months later unsurprisingly, the somewhat rocky and pretty unhealthy on off relationship with this boy came to an explosive end, though we were not officially together picture of him in bed with someone else while he was at his ex girlfriends wedding, and him not wishing me Happy Birthday on my 21st birthday which all happens to be Valentines day finally did it for me. We had a heated phone call and after I sent him a strongly worded text telling him to never contact me again culminating in my throwing my phone across the room. We haven't had any contact since, and neither has the Kindle and me.

Once I cut off ties with this guy I wanted to rid myself of everything that reminded me of him. I threw out stuff he had given, re arranged my room so it wouldn't remind me of him, I dyed my hair so I didn't look like the same girl who liked this guy, and because I couldn't bring myself to throw out a perfectly good working Kindle it went into the bottom of the wardrobe where it stayed until this September where it finally made its way into the bin. 

My feelings toward e-Books also changed. A Kindle was not practical for a Uni student, I couldn't highlight important parts of the text. You couldn't quickly flip to a page to refresh your memory on what had happened, You couldn't read it in bight lights and they Uni didn't have a format that allowed you to properly reference digital books. I honestly didn't like them, I only liked them because the boy I fancied had bought me one, and I didn't use another e-book format again. 

Until the latest iPhone update where they introduced a new app rather un-inspiringly named iBook. When ever my Phone updates I have a little tinker around with the new apps, and they never touch them again ( has any one every used the Pass Book app?). So I clicked on it and it is basically the same as the Newstand on the iPhone which allows you to down load Magazines but this one it for books. I saw they had a few books which you could download for free and I browsed through thinking they would all be rubbish books because why would an author of a good book allow their work to be given away for free and I came across a book I really like Starter For Ten by David Nicholls. Which made we think the other free books might not be that bad after all.

I decided to download two books, both genres that I normally wouldn't go for one was a crime book The Woods  by Harlan Coben  which is actually pretty good and would recommend you get if you have an iPhone, and the other was a Chick-Lit book called The One you Really Want by Jill Mansell which really isn't that great. I started reading The Woods  first and it is a genuinely interesting book about a man whose sister was killed when they were at a summer camp together as teenagers and her body was never found. The story had lots of twists and turns and suspense it was a good read. 

I found reading it on the iBook meant I was reading at times I wouldn't normally read. The Advert breaks on TV, while waiting for my Boyfriend to meet me in town, and on the bus to work which is only a ten minuet journey. Because the book is right there in my pocket and the pages are only the size of the screen I can whip it out read a few paragraphs and pop it away again. I also really liked that the screen alters is brightness depending on the room your in, If the room is well lit it will display traditional black text on white, but if you are reading in bed in low lighting it will display white text on black which is easier on the eye which reading off a screen. 

Also at the bottom of the page it tell you how many pages you have to go before the end of the chapter, which is handy because if you are reading on the go rather then trying to rush to the end of the chapter you can instead plan to stop at the next paragraph break because you know you just wont make it to the chapter end. 

How there are still thing I dislike. I will never get use to not being able to quickly flip back a few pages to re read a line with out loosing my place. And the other day while reading I accidentally flipped to the end of the book and it was very hard to find my place again. Also I just don't think I could ever bring myself to pay for a book on this app. Because in the back of my mind I will always be thinking "for a couple extra pound you could have a physical book" 

So as far as my relationship with e-books, I feel we can work it out, we will never be where we were but I feel we can be friends. As for that guy ... well that ship has well and truly sailed.

Rella

Xx

The Bookshelf Tour

For every book lover one of the most important things you own will be your bookshelf. I have moved a lot in the past few years as I have mentioned before in previous posts, but not matter what I always make sure I have a book shelf. 

For me book shelves aren't just somewhere for books, they are a place where I also keep little trinkets, post cards photos note people have given, anything that I feel is important tends to end up on their either tucked into a book that reminds me of the person who gave it to me, or set next to some books that I feel reflect the item. When I moved I had to take all my books off take away all the trinkets and ferry them over to my new place, but I took some photos before I took it down and I wanted to take you on a little bookshelf tour.

Please forgive the terrible photos but I panicked last minute remembering that I wanted to take some photos before it all came down, so they aren't the best. but here it is my old book case. 

As you can  see it is totally jammed packed. Like many people my collection had outgrown the case and although there was some order there at some point it has very much disintegrated into a mess! But a very much loved mess. 

Now I wanted to take you few a through of my favourite bits starting at the very top

This is my collection of vintage books, I do have a couple more on the other shelves as well, but the main bulk is kept at the top. All of their books are either gifts from my Dad or I inherited from my Great Grandparents. my favourite one is Homers Iliad, third from the top as well as being a wonderful book in itself steeped in historical importance this old copy has a beautiful cover,  and it is in wonderful condition. 

My other favourite is a copy of Little Women, pictured just below The Iliad, that was passed down to my when my Great Grandparents passed away, the reason I love this book so much is because on the title page in a child's hand the name Nita is written, which was the name of my Great Grandmother, now I don't know if this was written by her, or later on by a child or grandchild but I love that it is there none the less. it give the book such meaning to me that makes me cherish it so much more. 

Another great book is Mrs Beeton All About Everything,below Little Women in the photo, which was a gift from my Dad on my 22nd Birthday, he gave it to me after we had spent the day at the Harry Potter Studio Tour. This book is fantastic as it is literally a book about how to do things like, make jam, polish shoes and also has how to treat medical ailment, and basically not matter what this issue is, part of the treatment will always involve giving the patient Gin. 

Now my bookcase was covered in little trinkets such as these, these were just little gifts given to me over the years which I liked and wanted to display, the Harry Potter Lego was a gift from someone at work, and though I love it constantly fell off my shelf, the trunk use to be filled with gold coins but every time it fell they would scatter across the floor and now only one remains. 

The little jars of spices again came from my Great Grandparents, they were something that were uncovered during the clearing of their house, and given to me, they remind me of something you might find in a potions class, or maybe a Victorians doctors cabinet. Although I never saw them in the house, I liked that they had been hidden away for all those years and felt it about time they were put on a shelf for all to see.

Now these a little puppies that I make  in my spare time. I was bought a kit by my boyfriend last Christmas, and once I masted the first one, the Pug, I was off. It is great fun and I love hand making things but don't always have the space or even the confidence to give it a go, now that I have moved space won't be an issue. But I was proud of these little creations and wanted them on display so up they went on the shelf, though towards the end I did end up with a few too many up there. 

Now you may have noticed that one of my all time favourite book series Harry Potter is missing from this self. That is because when I first moved out to uni I did't want to take all my books with me, as my room was only small and I needed space to keep my books I would need for my course, to the Potter books along with The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials all got packed away and lived in my Dads shed for the next five years, a decision I started to hate myself for because I often found myself wanting to go back and read them, but just simply didn't have access to them, but I now have them all back up on my shelves where they belong. 

And finally this is my over spill from my bookcase. I didn't have room to buy a new bookcase so as my collection grew it became too big for the selves and leaked out onto the floor, so they were caught up with the internet routed and always covered in dust. When I moved I did donate two bags of books, which although it is great that others will get to enjoy those books I always find it hard letting go of books. Especially as I do dream of one day having a room dedicated to the books I have collected over my lifetime, and even if I hate a book I want to keep hold of  it, so when peple see it on my shelf I can tell them what I really think of it, but I did finally let some of them go and I now have a much neater book case, though there is still an over flow issue that may still give me an excuse for a second bookcase soon much to my Boyfriends dismay

In a few months I will do a post about my new arrangements but right now I am still not happy with the lay out of it and it fill be reshuffled a few times before I am happy with in. But I hope you enjoyed this little tour of my old book case. there are so many more interesting little bits and pieces on these shelves that I just didn't have time to photograph in the mad rush to get packed away, but I am so glad I took some to look back on my collection in a few years and hopefully it would of grown some more. 

Rella Xx

The Next Chapter

After yet another time away from the world of the Internet I have returned. 
The past two weeks have been a crazy whirl wind of new experiences and excitement because on the 29th of September I moved from London to the Kent coast, into my very first flat with my boyfriend. 

Now I am no stranger to moving having now seven times in the past five years, but this one was particularly special as this time there are no house mates no shared kitchen no rush to be first in the bath room in the morning because it is just us to, and it is fantastic.

I remember when I was a kid I really wanted to move house, not because their was anything wrong with my childhood home but because I thought it would be exciting to choose a new room and paint it how I wanted and arrange my furniture in a new way. The idea of having a fresh space really excited me and I thought the process of moving looked fun as I couldn't quite fathom just how you pack up an entire house it just seemed impossible to me, I can now safely say I am somewhat of an expert in packing and moving. 

The thing is with this move I have ended up living in a place that I had never even considered moving to until August, and the idea just snow balled and when I came back form Scotland at the end of August within two weeks I had transferred my job over to Kent viewed about 8 flats and ended up signing some paper work, then I had two hectic weeks of packing up a room I had lived in for three years, say Goodbye to some utterly amazing friends from London and basically untangle myself from London's grasp and get ready to just slow down. 

My room in London

For once I am actually quite happy to be doing something that makes me more of an adult, having a flat makes me feel that I am actually making some progression in my life, I have moved away from my university, and left my student lifestyle behind. Honestly I feel so happy and content, I have the sea on my door step and I am feeling more positive then every about getting a decent job. The tides in my life are changing.

I look around me and I wonder how I managed to fit my whole life into one room, and so many things I have wanted to do for so long finally have a chance of happening. I have such a good feeling about this, and I look forward to being able to look back at my time in London with nostalgia and fond memories rather then remembering how stressful and depressing that city can be when you spend your days counting every penny to your name and realising you still don't have enough money.

This is what's at the end of my road!

This Chapter is going to be so very very good 

Rella

Xx

1838 Days of London

I always look forward to September because no matter what September always brings a change for me. It almost like September is my new year, to start fresh and redirect my life or push it forward to the next stage. 

When I was younger the school year always started in September, so I was either starting a new School or at least starting a new school year. I would get to put on my new uniform and pack up my new stationary and get ready to face what ever challenges I might come come up against. 

One of my most monumental Septembers was in 2009, the year I left my place of birth and moved to London. I grew up in Surrey, I got my education there, all my friends lived there and  my family home, the only home I had ever known. I had lived in the same house for 16 years, and earlier in the year I had to move out as my Mum moved to Scotland and I was in the middle of my final year of college, I decided to stay behind and moved in with an Aunt I really didn't know all too well. 

And it was my support group of all the people in Surrey that got me through. I didn't have my physical home any more, but the familiar streets were home, my friends were home, the trees that line every Surrey road was home. 

My wonderful friends who helped me out so much when my mum moved away

When I got my college A-level results I was sat in a cow shed logged onto a computer in  a makeshift internet cafe with my best friend, and I suddenly realised I would be moving away to London. Away from everything I had always known into something I had always wanted. I had achieved the most amazing thing I had ever done, I had got into university. I got myself through my GCSE's without too much support, I had dropped out of my first round of college and on my second attempt doing A-level my mum had up rooted the family, and yet I still managed to maintain my college work and it had lead to that moment, at 8 am in cowshed in Somerset. 

One of the hardest parts of moving was not having my parents to help prepare me to move. I had a friend who I had grown up with, he had lived across the road from me and our mum were best friends, and he had his mum too him out to buy things like plates and kitchen ware and new bedding, and I tagged along,, not really knowing what to do or where to start. My very best friend, who had been with my in the cow shed, did her best to include me in her uni prep but I started to realise how on my own I was. 

Don't get my wrong both my parents are amazingly supportive, but distance limits the actions they carry out. I feel in that one month of preparing to move to uni on my own, working out this maze of unknown territory of kitchen pan sets and storage solutions I became incredibly independent and have remained so ever since. 

I moved to London on September the 17th 2009. I packed everything of value into my Dad's car and he too me to Greenwich, he dropped me off, and he couldn't hang around long, he was only allowed to park for half and hour I think, and suddenly I was alone in this city,in a single room with my possessions in boxes for the second time in a year, with my friends dotted up and down the country and my family spread out as well, and I had not idea what the future had in store, in one year my life had totally changed, everything I knew was different now.

 

My lovely uni house mates in our first year

Turns out a lot of amazing things and opportunities. The past five years have been amazing. I have met some amazing people, and done some pretty impressive stuff and even got a degree and fell in love along the way, and still every September my life would take a new turn.

September 2010 

I moved in with friends into the worlds worst house in Lewisham, and got my first ever London based job

September 2011 

I moved into a shared flat with one of my old House mates and met my boyfriend 

September 2012 

My boyfriend moved in with me, and I went to my first ever wedding that just so happened to be my Best friends, and to to celebrate my year anniversary with my boyfriend, which was also marked my longest relationship ever

September 2013

 I quit my job in the start of the month and by the end I started a new one, and I started a College course

And here I am in September again, and I am facing the biggest change since my move to London. That is my moved out of London, today September 16th 2014 I submitted the final bits of paperwork for a flat in Kent. I have let everyone at work know I am leaving, told my Landlord in London I won't be signing a new lease and started getting things ready to leave. 

It is an end of an era, a great era, in five years a little patch of the world I knew nothing about became a new home, red buses line the streets instead of trees and some of the friends I held so close and drifted away and new ones have filled their gap, and the streets I call home have different names now. On the 29th of September I will walk out of this little flat in London and into a whole new Chapter of my life. It's scary  and its exciting, the sea will be on my door stop instead of the tube, and family once again within touching distance. 

I am excited, this next chapter 

Rella

Xx

Social Media Book Tag

So this is the Social Media book that which is basically a questionnaire based on books with the question inspire by different type of social media websites. it's been floating around for a while and I recently saw Kristina Horner do it on her YouTube channel and I decided I would fill it out on here !

▌Twitter ▌

► Your favourite short book (under 200 pages)

I Want My Hat Back by  Jon Klassen

This is in fact a children's book, and I picked it up one day in Waterstones while I was browsing with my boyfriend because I thought the cover was funny, and me and him laughed out loud in the middle of the shop while reading it. It is very funny. I find that children's story books are getting funnier these days which I think is great because it encourages adult to read more to children and enjoy the experience together

▌Facebook ▌

► A book that everyone pressured you to read.

 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K Rowling

I was about this book as a gift when I was 10 in the year of it's release in 2000. I was given it by a family friend because everyone knew I enjoyed reading, I loved Jacqueline Wilson and always have one of her books on the go. However the issue here was that I didn't own any of the other books. My brother had the first few but I had never picked them up.

I took this book to school as my free reading book, because it was massive and it made me feel smart and I liked the dragon on the front. However I didn't know the Harry Potter books were a series and you had to read them in order. So when my teacher came to sit with me so I could do my reading session with her I had no idea what was going on, and it didn't make sense and there were no dragons in the start, and after about two weeks I swapped books to another Jacqueline Wilson book, much to my teachers disappointment as she was a Potter fan !

About a year later my Aunt bought my all the current Potter books, including a new Goblet of Fire which was good as mine had been destroyed by me carrying around all the time because it made me feel important and smart !And devoured them and I fell in love with the books, and still love them to this day.

▌Tumblr ▌

► A book you read before it was cool.

Divergent Trilogy by Veronica Roth 

I must say though, this is one of my least favourite book covers ever!

I read these books back when the trilogy was unfinished and as I got further and further through the second book I tried to slow down as there was still no news of the Third book getting a release date. My local Waterstone didn't carry these books in stock at the time, I would often look for them as I had heard so many positive reviews about them, but they were never there and in the end I had to place and order for them so I could buy them, as I always like to support my local book store if I can afford to buy the book new ( If i can only afford second hand unfortunately I still go through Amazon) 

I loved this series for the most part, I loved Tris's character especially in the first book, because unlike many dystopian female leads, she wasn't very strong or skilled to start with, she had to work hard and she was often bullied, but she fought hard to do well and I loved that. I also loved the strong friendship bond she made and the importance they played in keeping her motivated. It made such a nice changed from the normal hard shelled loner protagonist we often see. 

I felt the series did let me down a bit in the third book, and the writing was as strong as in the second, and I felt the love story did become a little bit too central to the story but over all I love the books, and I am glad they are getting the recognition they deserve. Also Roth was only 22 when her books were published and that is awesome.

▌MySpace ▌

► A book that you liked when you were younger, but you probably would not like now.

 The boy in the Burning House by Tim Wynne-Jones

For so long I loved this book mainly for the cover, it was dark and dangerous and everything about it seemed so grown up to me. I read this when I was about 14 and I myself was getting into heavy music and dressing darkly and basically finding my own personality and this book fitted right in with it. Before this I was always reading Harry Potter or Jacqueline Wilson or something similar and widely popular. This however was unknown and when I told people about it  they were unfamiliar with it and it made me feel cool.

The book is about a young boy Jim trying to find out if his father was killed or had simply vanished, after a year of no news of him, a young girl called Ruth Rose the pastors daughter help Jim to discover a shocking truth. I did re-read this book when I was about 18 as I was still telling people it was one of my favourite books. But really it wasn't as great or dark as I remembered it. It was definitely a good book to transition me from Children's Literature into Young Adults / Teen fiction but it certainly not as great as 13 year old me made out.

▌Instagram ▌

► A book that has the most beautiful cover in existence.

Alice's Adventure in Wonderland and other Stories by Lewis Carroll Barnes and Noble Leather-bound Edition 

This photo does it no justice as to how beautiful it really is

This book is just beautiful ! and I love Alice in Wonderland, I have three copies of Wonderland books, and there is another edition I plan to get because again I love the cover. I view my book shelf both as my personal library, but also a collection, if there is a book a love and they bring out a new cover or an anniversary edition then I will buy it because books are beautiful. 

The Barnes and Noble Leather-bound books are just glorious I also have the Sherlock Holmes Complete Stories, The Secret Garden and Greek Mythology books from this collection and there are about five more book there I desperately want, and will be first thing on my Christmas list. 

There is just so much detail on the cover, the art work is wonderful, they feel beautiful as well. If you get a chance go into your local book store and pick one up and see for yourself.

▌YouTube ▌

► A book that you wish was made into a movie. 

Unwind by Neil Shusterman

I picked this up as a part of the old 2 for 3 offer Waterstone use to always run, which has now been placed with the buy one get one half price offer. I took it with me to the Summer Camp I use to work at and my friend read it before me, and then told me I had to read it as she enjoyed it so much. It is about a procedure called Unwinding, which can be performed on teenagers under 16 who are either troublesome, unwanted or as part of a religious ceremony. Their body part are basically donated to others and nothing is wasted there for they aren't dead they are just spread out among many bodies. The book focusses one three teenagers who are being Unwound for different reasons and their journey to save themselves.

I loved it and I was classed as my favourite book for years, and in about 2007 Tasty Film bought the rights to the film.  However after some money issues production came to a stand still and nothing more has been said about the film. The Unwind IMbD page say the release date would be in 2016 but there is no further information. With films such as Divergent and Hunger Games doing so well at the moment and The Fault in Our Stars showing how great young adult literature can be for inspiration for films I think now would be a great time to make this film, but only time will tell.

▌Goodreads ▌

► A book that you would recommend to anyone and everyone.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett 

This is such an emotional and inspiring store, I owned this book for about a year and a half before I read it because I was worried I wouldn't like. It is a fairly long book, 451 pages, and has a very small print and I didn't want to have to drag myself through that and not enjoy it.

But one month, I was low on money and couldn't afford to buy any books, so I went to my shelf picked it up and start and I could not put it down. I stayed up late reading it, and picked up first thing in the morning. I was recommending it to people before I had even finished reading. 

The book is about young Miss Skeeter who has returned home from Ole Mis having got herself a degree in journalism, and she is trying to fit back into life where her friends host Dinner Parties, and Bridge club while maids raise their children. Set in the 1960's where slavery has been abolished, but blacks were not seen as equal. Skeeter sets herself the challenge or writing down the stories of The Help, but women are too scared to come forward and talk and her friends don't want her to distract their maids from their work. 

It is a brilliantly written book, written from both Skeeter, her best friends maid Aibileen and Aibileen's friend Minny's point of view it give and insight into people attitudes to race and women during this time. It is brilliant, one of the best books I have ever read. It will make you cry and laugh and you will learn something from it. Seriously if you haven't already go out and get yourself this book.

I would love it if you guys filled this out on your own blogs, Facebook page or Tumblr I would love to read your answers

Rella Xx

Warm Bodies: The Movie

So after yet another break away from the blogging world I am back. I was recently away in Scotland visiting family for my Mum's 50th Birthday, while I was away some pretty exciting life decisions were made which I will write about in a personal post soon. So keep tuned in if you are interested!

So Warm Bodies the film! This was another film I went to see as a Birthday Celebration in Leicester Square and I saw in the Empire Cinema which is a lovely little cinema and I my absolute favourite cinema which shows current releases. It reminds me a lot of the cinema I grew up with which was a wonderful independent Cinema in Surrey, and it both cinemas carry the vibe that going to the cinema is a real event, a big day out. It has beautiful red velvet seats which are really comfortable, and the Cinema I feel is reasonable priced for a London cinema. 

So this film is a really fun film. It is pretty funny from the get go, bumbling zombies trying to carry out the pre zombie lives makes for amusing views, it is sort of like if toddlers were given adult bodies. We are introduced to R, the protagonist setting the scene which is pretty similar to the book. Few years past an out break happened turning people into Zombies, the humans have made a safe area and send out scouts to collect supplies from the surrounding city, where they can be attack by Zombies who hunt in feeding packs. Though they spend most of their time in the Airport. 

Nicholas Holt plays R, and I think he is a great actor who always nails the roles he is given, and I am surprised we don't see him more often. A lot of the film is narrated by R, and his internal monologue since he has trouble making is Zombie body say what he wants. Holt facial expressions and movements really help to bring humour to these moments and make R such a loveable lead that you really end up routing for. 

One of the main difference between Book R and Movie R is this sense of humour, there definitely are funny moments in the book, but I wouldn't call it a comedy book, R is very deep and conflicted about his situation, he doesn't feel like he can accept his fate, he is trapped and he can't express himself. Movie R is far more comical, and also a lot younger, in the book he is described as wearing a smart shirt as if he was going to work when he became a Zombie, while in the Movie he is more of a teenage/ young adult age wearing a hoodie which is how R's best friend M (Rod Corrdry) is described in the book, it is as if M and R have switched bodies for the Movie. 

Also not surprisingly the story is sped up quite a bit for the film. R has fairly good verbal skills when he first meets Julie (Teresa Palmer), and also Julie is far more comfortable around R then she is in the book, she is intrigued by him, but she is still scared and wants to escape him, until she can start to see the change in him. Also Julie is upset with R in the book about him killing and eating her boyfriend, which you know is perfectly understandable,  where as in the film she seems to get over that fairly quickly. 

The main difference for me though is the book is far more intense. Both Julie when she is in the airport with R and when R sneaks into the compound to find Julie they are in real danger. Also the ending is far more tense in the book, with Julies father Grigio ( John Malkovich), meeting a fairly grisly end, after exposing himself to be a very unkind and unjust leader.

For me this is not a true adaptation of the boo, but it certainly is a fun one. Would I wanted to have seen a deep soul searching Zombie film in the a climactic ending ? Probably not, it would have made for an odd viewing, but it works really well as a book, where you can seem attitudes and character slowly change and evolve with each chapter, and I don't think that sort of character development always translate to the screen very well. 

And I feel the comedy route for this film was far better fitting, and made for great viewing. My main criticism for the film would be how the role of Nora was down played in the film, she really helped Julie and R in the book, but in the film she became a quirky best friend, though she was played brilliantly by Analiegh Tipton, I also really liked how in the book R was always very unhappy with his Zombie life while M was far more content with what his life, and this conflict of interests in the film.

I would recommend this film, it is very unique and very funny, but it doesn't quite hit the nail on the head in terms of an adaptation but I do like what they have done with it none the less.

Rella Xx

The Book: Warm Bodies

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, I didn't know this book existed until after the film came out in 2012. Which I went to see for my birthday. So as a result I was always thinking back to the film while reading it. The film

 ( which I will write about in a few days) was a comic zombie romance film. This book takes a different approach. 

Now this is a book I never would have picked up with out the film being made, for one simple reason...It's about Zombies. Zombies are one thing I find truly terrifying, I have only ever read one other book about Zombies, World War Z, and I found that difficult to get through as it freaked me out a bit. Even comedies about them such as Shaun Of The Dead are fairly frightening for me. But I liked how the film told this story and I felt I needed to make myself read it. 

So the book is set in America after an outbreak of a virus that has turned a large amount of the population into these Zombie like infected people who fed on the living to stop their bodies breaking down and decomposing. 

There are two main differences between a regular Zombie story and this, 

One: It is set in a world where it has been a few years since this Zombie break out and the humans and Zombies have established lives, so there is no waking up and realising half the world is dead, and trying to get to safety which is a story we have all read before. 

Two: This book is written from the Zombies point of view. 

Our protagonist R is a young man with thoughts feelings and dreams the only problem is that he's a zombie. He can't remember his old life before he became infected. He doesn't know how old he is or what he use to do he can only guess on his past based on this shirt a tie but he has no hard facts, all he know is his name began with R. He lives in an airport where many zombies have gathered and he follows a mundane life. He gets a zombie wife and some children, which are just children who are also infected and wander about the airport, and he hangs out with his best friend, who can often be found in the toilets attempting to have sex with other zombies. 

The infected remember aspect of life before such as marriage and sex and they try to mimic this, and R collects relic of life before small trinkets of everyday life, but he just can't accept that this is  it, that he will be cold dead and hunting the living. Then one day he meets Julie, who for reason unknown to him he saves her. After eating her boyfriends brain and he catches glimpses of his life with Julie he realises that that is what he wants. Warmth and kindness and love and life. 

Julie although scared for her life realises that this is something more to R then meets the eye, she can see there is something that sets him apart from the others. The more time they spend together the more R begins to change, his speech improves, his desire to hunt humans fades and life begins to return to him. Between them they may have found the cure to end the era of the zombies.

This is a great book with a balance of comedy romance and insight to life. I found it to be a really fun and interesting read, and even with my fear of Zombies I was able to read this one with out too much issue. these is a very clear Romeo and Juliet theme running through out the book, two lover that can't be together, the threat of death and even their names R and Julie echo that of the tragic Marion even managed to sneak in a balcony scene. 

I really enjoyed this book, it was an interesting read, and is has a good few twist and turns to keep the story from going stagnate. It's got a bit of everything romance zombies fear and hope it is a very unique story and I am surprised I hadn't heard about it before, if you haven't read this book I would definitely say to add it to your list of must reads. 

Rella Xx

Let's Get Physical

GUESS WHO'S BACK ! 

A replacement charger arrived yesterday and I am back on-line. Which is nice, but i must say being off line was not as back as you might expect. Of course when I first found my charger broken and my Laptop dead i was annoyed, more so about the fact that I would have to shell out money for a new one, then anything else. Also when you loose anything you suddenly remember the 50,000 things you needed to do on-line, like I had to email a company about stuff that didn't arrive, I needed to change my ticket for travelling to Scotland, I had to order a birthday present for my Mum and I also had a post that I wanted to put on here as I had a pretty good stride going ( that post will be up soon) 

But by that evening once I had got those things sorted I sat down with a cup of tea and my book (A Storm of Swords Part 1) and I had a pretty good night, I read a good chunk of my book and enjoyed the lack of distractions. I should also point out that I don't have a television I use my laptop for that as well. 

However one thing I did discover was, I hate doing things on screens. I have always preferred writing my notes down on paper, and I use a real life calendar to keep track of my events rather then my phone. I feel like an old woman in my generation sometimes. I will be writing a note to someone or making plans on paper and some one will always say Why not use your iPhone ? or something along the lines of  It's quicker to do that on-line. Well I don't like do that.

When I was at Uni I would use my computer just to write essays, my research my book my class notes would be around me, and I would physically turn to the page I needed or highlight the information I wanted to use. If I could avoid on-line research I would, because I feel trapped by the screen, like my brain doesn't have enough room to think within these little squares, no matter how many new tabs I open.

When creativity is limited to keys and a screen I feel claustrophobic. I like making things with my hands not just the tips of my fingers, I feel like I have something to show my hard work if I fill a note book with my work rather then a Word Document. I like it when someone hands me something they have made rather then send me a link. 

In my ideal world this wouldn't be a on-line blog, but rather a mini flyer I could send everyone. Now I know this probably sounds like I am trying to be of niche and different but truly I have tried, I once had a Kindle, because what could be better then a library in my pocket, plus carrying a few novels to Uni every day was really heavy. I used my Kindle for one month then I shut it away in a drawer. I missed being able to flick through my book and highlight passages and quickly re-read a page, I missed cover art, and that feeling when you are approaching those last few pages, I missed my book mark I missed books. I remember when I was 12 my neighbour brought over a Digital Camera, It was the first one I had ever seen, and I remember thinking, That will never work, people like hold their photos, how wrong I was, and although I love always having a camera on me, I still print out physical photos in my local Boots and put them in frames or scrap books. 

My scrap book.

I always love it when my Mum gets out her photo albums from her younger years, and she has a huge chest in her room with a lock on it and that it where she keeps all her memories, things she has collected over the years letters and trinkets and when she lets me peek inside and pull a few bits out it is so exciting, we have spent hours travelling back into her memories like that, but I share my moments on a social media page, so she always knows what I've been up to. I just really like the idea of in my old age being surrounded by things that I have created or mementos that I have collected, rather then have to log into a Facebook account aged 75. 

I love technology I really do, I just wish we didn't all have to hide behind a screen to be creative.

Rella Xx