Top Ten Picks: Book Covers

Top Ten Picks is a weekly meme by Jillian about your top 10 picks! Each week, there will be a different theme and this weeks theme is 'book covers'. So here are my top 10 book covers (in no particular order) ~

1. The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

I think these books are just so pretty and eye catching. My favourite is the first book, I love that it has Katniss on the cover. In person the HG monogram is raised, so gives the cover a nice feel.

2. Dark Goddess by Sarwat Chadda



This is one of the prettiest covers I've ever seen, and I love how it completely ties in with the story in every way. It also has pretty shiny gel like swirls all over the cover which is a nice extra.

3. Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick



A falling half-naked angel, need I say more? I also love the fact the background is metallic silver.

4. Memoirs Of A Geisha by Arthur Golden



I love anything that is Geisha related, so this naturally falls into that catagory. Her face is just so pretty, I find this cover almost mesmerising.

5. The Shadow Of The Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon



I love the colour, and the almost haunting picture of the shadowed man walking alone through the streets.

6. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger



Again, this cover depicts the story so well, plus I just think it's kind of intriguing. When I first saw this cover I couldn't stop wondering why the little girl was stood by a pile of clothes and shoes, obviously when I read the book it became apparant.

7. The Arena (The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins)



I think I was around 14 when I first saw this cover, and the it drew me in instantly. I have a thing for covers with faces on, and the girl mixed with the sepia tone, the great title font and the title all mixed together make a great cover.

8. Fallen by Lauren Kate



Not only do you have the mysterious girl at the front who's covering her face, but you have the kind of creepy blue and black background, the whole thing just intrigues me.

9. Fairytale Of New York by Miranda Dickinson



I'm not a massive fan of chick-lit, and I don't read it that often, but this book cover is just so pretty that I had to have it! With the pink and purples, and the girl on the bridge with her face to the sky, I just think it's lovely.

10. The Death And Life Of Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood



This cover just seems so care free, two brothers playing and having fun and that reflects the aspect of the book about Charlie and Sam being such close brothers and not being able to let go of each other.

So what are your favourite book covers?

Top Ten Picks: Fictional Places

Top Ten Picks is a weekly meme by Jillian about your top 10 picks! Each week, there will be a different theme and this weeks theme is 'fictional places'. So here are my top 10 fictional places (in no particular order) ~

Places I'd Love To Visit

1. Hogwarts (Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling)

I would absolutely love to go and learn at Hogwarts, magical lessons during the day, big feasts for tea, and Quidditch for fun, what more could you ask for?!

2. Susie's Heaven (The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold)



Of course I don't want to be dead, after all, who does? But if I died and went to a place like the heaven described in The Lovely Bones, I'd be pretty happy.

3. Forks (Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer)



I hate summer, so the thought of somewhere where it rains a lot and generally has pretty bad weather is the place for me! There also is that little matter of perhaps bumping into one of the rather lovely Cullens too...!

4. Stonehaven (The Women of the Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong)



I loves the wolves in this series, and I really wish I could be one of them so I could live at Stonehaven with Jeremy! I think it would be pretty awesome to just go running free on the land whenever you wanted!

5. House of Night (House of Night series by P.C. & Kristin Cast)



Another school, but this time a vampire one. I love vampires, so learning their histories and how to become one is pretty darn cool in my book.

Places I Wouldn't Want To Visit

6. Bon Temps (The Southern Vampire mysteries by Charlaine Harris)



I love Bon Temps and there are many places there I'd love to visit, such as Merlotte's, and Sookie's house. However, with all the wars, and the random disappearances, I think I'd be better off not visiting!

7. The Arena (The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins)



Not really a place anyone would want to be. After all, it's kill or be killed and I have a feeling I'd die pretty quickly in that place!

8. The Forest (The Forest of Hands & Teeth by Carrie Ryan)



Again, not a place you'd like to be, surrounded by zombies that will bite you in a blink of an eye. You'd either be eaten to death, or you'd become one, neither is a particularly fun fate!

9. Morganville (Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine)



Who would want to live in a town where mean vampires are the bosses and humans are food. Get caught out after dark and you're guaranteed to become dinner, would be rather scary wouldn't it.

10. Europe, 6000 Years Ago (Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series by Michelle Paver)



Just seems like such a harsh and brutal place to be, not to mention incredibly scary. Couldn't imagine having to walk for days, hunt for the simplest of foods and fight with possessed animals.

So where are your favourite fictional places?

Top Ten Picks: Favourite Book Quotes

Top Ten Picks is a weekly meme by Jillian about your top 10 picks! Each week, there will be a different theme and this weeks theme is 'favourite book quotes'. So here are my top 10 favourite quotes (in no particular order) ~

1. "You don't know what goes on in anyone's life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person's life, you're not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person's life, you're messing with their entire life. Everything...affects everything."
~ Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

2. "I am nothing special, of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough."
~ The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks


3. "Long ago, men went to sea, and women waited for them, standing on the edge of the water, scanning the horizon for the tiny ship. Now I wait for Henry. He vanishes unwillingly, without warning. I wait for him. Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as glass. Through each moment I can see infinite moments lined up, waiting. Why has he gone where I cannot follow?"
~ The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger


4. "I wanted to tell the book thief many things, about beauty and brutality. But what could I tell her about those things that she didn't already know? I wanted to explain that I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I ever simply estimate it. I wanted to ask her how the same thing could be so ugly and so glorious, and its words and stories so damning and brilliant."
~ The Book Thief by Markus Zusak


5. "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."
~ Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling


6. "It's possible to go on, no matter how impossible it seems, and that in time, the grief...lessens. It may not go away completely, but after a while it's not so overwhelming."
~ Dear John by Nicholas Sparks


7. "So, I guess we are who we are for alot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them."
~ The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky


8. "In a place far away from anyone or anywhere, I drifted off for a moment."
~ The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami


9. "I know there’s evil in the world, and there always has been. But you don’t need to believe in Satan or demons to explain it. Human beings are perfectly capable of evil all by themselves."
~ The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen


10. "You must walk alone to find your soul."
~ Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson


So what are your favourite quotes?

Top Ten Picks: Favourite Books Of All Time

Top Ten Picks is a weekly meme by Jillian about your top 10 picks! Each week, there will be a different theme and this weeks theme is 'favourite books of all time'. So here are my top 10 favourite books of all time (in no particular order) ~

1. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

2. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult



3. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling



4. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson



5. The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer



6. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak



7. The Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris



8. The Rizzoli/Isles series by Tess Gerritsen



9. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher



10. Women Of The Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong



So what are your favourite books of all time?

Top Ten Picks: Favourite Male Literary Characters

Top Ten Picks is a weekly meme by Jillian about your top 10 picks! Each week, there will be a different theme and this weeks theme is 'favourite male literary characters'. So here are my top 10 male literary characters (in no particular order) ~

1. Albus Dumbledore (Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling)

2. John Tyree (Dear John by Nicholas Sparks)



3. Henry DeTamble (The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger)



4. Robert Langdon (The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown)



5. Noah Calhoun (The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks)



6. Death (The Book Thief by Markus Zusak)



7. Sam Roth (Wolves Of Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater)



8. Tolliver (Harper Connelly series by Charlaine Harris)



9. Jacob Jankowski (Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen)



10. Jeremy Danvers (Women Of The Otherworld series by Kelley Armstrong)



So who are your favourite male literary characters?

Top Ten Picks: Favourite Books To Movies

Top Ten Picks is a weekly meme by Jillian about your top 10 picks! Each week, there will be a different theme and this weeks theme is 'favourite books to movies'. So here are my top 10 books that have been turned into movies (in no particular order) ~

1. The Time Traveler's Wife

This has been my favourite book for about 5 years now, so I was a bit apprehensive when the film was released, because I didn't want the story I loved so much to be ruined. Luckily, I thought the film was fantastic and that Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams did a great job as Henry and Clare.

2. The Notebook



I actually saw the film of The Notebook before I read the book, and only decided to read the book because I loved the film so much. Whilst the book in itself is a great read, the film is just magical, I love the characters of Noah and Allie, and always get completely immersed in their story.

3. My Sister's Keeper



This is another of my favourite books, but the transition to film was a bit rocky. I heard pretty early on that they were changing the ending, and I was very unsure as to how that would pan out. When I watched the film, I did so with an open mind, and enjoyed it, but as a seperate thing to the book. I thought the acting of Sofia Vassilieva was out of this world, and she pretty much made the film as great as it was, and I think the ending in the movie suited the story told on screen.

4. Into The Wild



Again, I saw this before I read the book, and I was so glad I did. The movie is amazing, the true story of Chris McCandless is utterly heartbreaking, but the book is nothing like the film, and in my opinion, not nearly as good. The film fleshes out the story a lot more, you get to know Chris more and you delve more in to his motives behind wanting to go to Alaska so intensely. A fantastic film, and a fitting legacy to Chris, who was determined to follow his dream, no matter the consequence.

5. Harry Potter



Like a lot of people from my generation, I'm a massive fan of the Harry Potter books and movies. My personal favourite is The Order Of The Phoenix, because I love the huge fight scene in the ministry at the end. I think the books have transferred to screen well, especially considering a lot of the plot has to be cut due to the length of the books.

6. Speak



This is a relatively unknown book and film, which seems weird to me as I read the book about 8 years ago. The book is great, but the film is fantastic. It stars Kristen Stewart back when she was unknown, and she plays the role of Melinda so well. A touching story about a girl who tries to overcome a terrible incident, but when no one listens, she stops talking.

7. The Da Vinci Code



A lot of people seem to hate Dan Brown, but I guess I'm one of the few that enjoys his books. The Da Vinci Code is my favourite of his, and so I was excited to see it come to life in the film. Especially as part of the movie was filmed in the town I live in, so that was a nice touch for me personally. I'm a massive fan of Tom Hanks, so I love how he portrays the character of Robert Langdon, and I thought Audrey Tautou was great as Sophie.

8. The Lovely Bones



This was pretty controversial when it was first released, but I rather enjoyed it. Okay, so some of the scenes could be considered 'over the top' with the whole CGI thing, but I think that it is meant to represent a young girl's heaven, and there's no reason why it couldn't be like that. I liked the cast, and thought the actors really suited the roles and the music added to the film was great as well. I thought it followed the book pretty well too, which was a plus for me as I enjoyed the story in the book.

9. Dear John



As soon as I saw the advert for this movie I knew I was going to love it. It seems like the perfect summer romance on the top, but under the surface there's a lot more going on and I like that in a movie. My one niggle would be that in the film, you don't really get a definitive answer about what happens at the end between Savannah and John, so I had to read the book afterwards to find that out. Other than that, I thought it was a fantastic film, and I loved the book as well.

10. Girl, Interrupted



I can't remember the first time I saw this, I think I was in my young teens, but I enjoyed it then and I still enjoy it now. The acting is fantastic, especially by Angelina Jolie and Brittany Murphy, who are so convincingly out of their minds crazy. The book I didn't enjoy so much when I read it a few years ago, but I did enjoy the insight to what happened to some of the girls after they left the hospital, which isn't mentioned in the movie. Definitely a must see.

So what are your favourite books to movies?