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

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 Film : The Book Thief

So this review goes hand in hand with my last one, because as much as I love books I also love seeing what happens to that book when it is put on this big screen. The contrast between reading a book yourself and sitting and having the story told to you visually are two totally different thing, and I love both. Some times it works and other times...well you question whether anyone in the film was even aware of the book. 

But I will cover more of those films and their book origins as time goes by. So onto The Book Thief only this time on the screen. 

I was very excited when I heard the book was being turned into a film, normally its the romances or a Teen Dystopian that get the Hollywood treatment, and it never even crossed my mind that The Book Thief would get a chance, and when the cast was announced and I saw them in character I was even more excited. 

Perfect casting in my view

I knew I would have to see this film as soon as it came out, and one day on my way home from work I saw a poster on the underground saying that the Odeon in Leicester Square was doing an advance screening of the film on the 14th of February which just so happens to be my birthday. now with my birthday falling on Valentines Day often leaves me at a loss on what to do, everywhere is too busy or fully booked and and everyone I know has plans, so I tend to keep it small so this fit the bill perfectly. 

So on the 14th me and my boyfriend went out for dinner at a lovely Steak House and then made our way over to the Cinema. The Odeon that it was in was stunning, the seats were velvety and really soft with large arm rest, we were seated in the front row of the royal circle it just felt so grand, like going to the cinema was a real event in itself. Then the movie started. 

At the Cinema!

Like is said so much before the book is beautiful, and visually the film was equally stunning, the colours were so rich, the score was perfect, the cast looked like they had leapt from my imagination and on to the screen, it was just wonderful. 

Also this film really stuck true to the book, watching the film you get a sense that the director is a real fan of the book, and loved it and wanted to do it justice. Which makes for a wonderful viewing experience. However there are some translation from page to screen that have some issues, as I said before about the book, this is not an action packed book, and therefore it was not an action packed film, some of the most wonderful moments in the book for me was Papa teaching Liesel to read in the middle of the night, when she was too scared to sleep, although these scene were touching, they did loose a little bit of the magic that they had on the page. 

One aspect that I did really like was how they made Liesel age, it was just one actress who played the role of Liesel (Sophie Nélisse) and the film is set over a number of years. We see Liesel go from an innocent child to a young girl with her own thoughts and feelings about the world around her, they did this transformation with clever costuming and hair styles and it was very effective as you could easily tell when the time frame of the film had shifted. Though this technique worked well on the actress playing Liesel it didn't work quite so well with the actor who played Rudy (Nico Liersch) Liesel friend and companion during the years in Himmel Street. 

Liesel at the start of the film 

Liesel towards the end of the film 

I had two stand out favourite moments in the film that were just wonderful,the first is when Liesel brings Max (Ben Schnetzer), a young Jewish man in hiding, some snow from outside while he is hiding in the basement, and this becomes an evening of playing in the snow building snowmen and a moment of pure joy where all fear and worry melts away for a few hours in a dark basement below the house, and innocents is returned to Liesel life. Though when the snow thaws the reality is returned and they must carry their fear with them once more. It was a really wonderfully shot scene and was very moving to watch. 

The second moment that I really loved was when Liesel breaks into Frau Heinrich (Frau Heinrich) Library, and the silent moments Liesel spends there as she runs her fingers over the spines of books she can not read, in a house with so much more grandeur then she can imagine for herself, the image of this young girl surround by works of great minds, in worlds she can not picture herself in. I may be bias as I love Libraries but I really enjoyed seeing those moments. 

Now I don't want to mention too much more as I don't want to spoil it for those who have not seen the film, but there are so many more touching scenes, Liesel telling her neighbours stories to calm their fears during an air raid, which represents the power of words, Hitler spread his message of hate with carefully chosen words, and Liesel spread hope and calmed fears with hers, and the climax of the film is heartbreak. But I will let you discover these moments for yourself,.

Even though in moments the film felt a but slow, it is a film you should make time for. I can't think of another film that shows the lives of everyday Germans, who aren't Jewish trying to avoid persecution or a Nazi general plotting some evil. I feel this aspect of the WWII is often forgotten, the story of the German people trying to make it through the war. having Hitler's laws forced upon them, sitting in bomb shelters hoping their homes will still be standing in the morning. It is a wonderful film and a very good adaptation.

Rella Xx

The Book : The Book Thief

I said I wanted to start writing about books, so here it is my first book review as well as a personal story behind this book. 

I thought long and hard about which book I wanted to start with, and it was a tough choice, partly because this is my very first review and I know as I keep on doing this and improving I will probably look back at this review and feel a little bit embarrassed ! But I have to start some where so I thought why not start with one of my all time favourite books, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

The Book Thief was a book that I bought just after my twenty first Birthday a few year ago, I was given some money by my Great Grandparents and wanted to spend it on something I could keep for a long time rather then going out or a meal or clothing, so of course I picked books. I wanted books the reflected them. I bought three books. 

One: The Catcher in the Rye because it is a well loved classic book about discovering ones self and my Grandparents always help me to discover more about myself and the person I could be.

Two: Good Evening Mrs Craven The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes because both my Grandparents served in the Second World War. My Granddad was in the Army my Nana was a nurse, this book reflected the world in which they spent their twenties and as I had just turned twenty one I wanted to see how much the world had changed.

Three: The Book Thief, I love books and the cover of this book caught my eye, I had heard a lot about it thought the idea of Death being the narrator really interesting, and again it was set in World War Two and therefore I felt the link to my Grandparents.

After buying the book it sat on my shelf unread for month, I was in university and had my reading list to get through and I just didn't have time to read it, even when I did have time I still managed to put off reading this book. Until May the following year when for one reason or another I picked it up off the shelf and began. 

From this first page this book had such a mind bending beauty about, it is so vivid and bold the imagery surrounds you engulfs you completely I have never read a book so beautiful before of since. On that basis alone I would encourage you alone to pick up this book regardless of the plot line. 

Lucky the plot is as beautiful and touching as the language. It is set in Nazi Germany on Himmel Street, there is nothing extraordinary or special about this road, it just so happens to be where a girl named Liesel ends up living with a family who is caring for her, since her parents can longer due to circumstances beyond their control. There is a war on and everyone is just trying to stay safe. 

What makes this story so different from other is that Death is narrating Liesel story. He follows her through the years since she caught his eye as she stood in the graveyard aged nine and he follows her throughout her time on Himmel street. 

Their are some wonderful character that Liesel meets, the one who touched me the most was Papa Liesel new father, a kind hearted man who teaches Liesel to read in the dead of night from a book she stole about grave digging. Papa shows us that there were kind hearted loving Germans in a time and place where so much hatred and evil was going on, that not all Germans were Nazi's and Papa only tries to join the party in order to protect his family. He is the opposite of what we expect of German during this time, he is full of love ad acceptance and he hurts knowing what has happened to his country and the people in it. 

Then their is Max a young Jewish man on the run and in hiding trying avoid capture, he knows his family is probably dead and is running out of places to turn he feels like a burden but he can not help himself, he relies on other to help his survive. He is battling against Hitler in his own personal way when he destroys a copy of Mein Kampf to make Liesel a book about re writing the world around her, Max takes Hitler word and make them his own. 

In terms of a story line which involves action and adventure and a great romance, this book doesn't offer that, it is a book about life. About a young girl trying to grow up in a world of hate, and trying to make sense of it, it is about having the chance to make your own choices and choose your own path and the struggle to fight for that when it gets taken away, it teaches about loss but also about what can be gained from those losses. It is a about a girl who steals three books.

This book mixes the world of Nazi Germany with the life of a young girl and her family together. She can go from playing a football game with her friends to seeing Jews on a death march. The narrative is beautiful but ultimately is spoken by Death who takes away life. This book is just beautiful, I can not express that enough.

I can not recommend this book enough. Read it, drink it in you will not regret it. I just wish I had read it on that first day I got it. 

I am so glad that I spent my money on this book especially since my twenty first birthday was the last birthday I spent with my Great Grandparents as not long after I bought my three books, Death came and paid my family a visit, a few weeks later my Nana died suddenly at the age of 90, she was a wonderful women and I is her greatly every day, she was and is one of the most inspirational people I have ever met and so glad I got to spend twenty one years getting to know her. 

The following year my Granddad died after a hard year in which he never recovered from the grief of the loss of my Nana and suffered a serve stoke the left him unable to walk, but he was still an absolute pleasure to go and visit and talk to, he loved my Nana so utterly and deeply it was beautiful to see, and I feel if someone was to write a book about their love for each other I would want it to be Zusak because this book is just phenomenal.

Me as a Child with my Nana Granddad and Brother

Rella Xx