Top 5: Characters I Love To Hate

For TGIF this week, Ginger at GReads asks: "Love-hate relationships: Which characters do you love to hate?"
 

1. Voldemort from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: Voldemort is one sexy villain. Not literally, of course. He's pretty scary-ugly, in that case. But he's got charm, charisma, intelligence and power that are totally attractive. Shame he's crazy.

2. Soames Forsyte from The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy: Soames is such an interesting character. Brought up to believe in the value of possessions in an era when women were seen as exactly that, he just doesn't understand how to treat his forward-thinking, freedom-seeking wife. He loves her dearly, but he can't express that love in healthy ways, driving him to some pretty horrible acts. Still, you can't help but feel for him.

3. Uriah Heep from David Copperfield by Charles Dickens: Ugh, Uriah Heep makes my skin crawl. He is so disgusting and devious, with his "'umbleness". But he's so wonderfully constructed, I really love his character, even though I really, really hate him.

4. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: Pretty much every single character in this book is horrible, but Heathcliff is the worst. He's the "hero" of the novel and yet he's quite evil, using and abusing those around him to suit his own sick schemes. The love that exists between him and Cathy is so twisted, it hurts everyone that comes into contact with them. He's by no means heroic, but he sure is compelling.

5. Captain Hook from Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie: He may be a murdering, thieving pirate, but hey, he's a gentlemen about it. He's a stickler for "form" and enjoys the finer things in life. And really, who could blame the guy for having it in for Peter Pan, the boy who leaves a trail of fairy dust and mischief wherever he flies... not to mention the little incident with Hook's hand. 



Which characters do you love to hate?

Top 5: Gateway Books (Plus Follow Friday)

This week for TGIF, Ginger asks "Gateway books: Which particular books opened you up to a new genre?" Here are my top five...

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens. My gran gave me a copy of this book when I was little, because I was so obsessed with the musical Oliver! Obviously it went way over my head, but it was the first classic I remember attempting to read. Later, my grandad bought me a whole heap of abridged classics that gave me an even greater taste, and as I got older I returned to them and Oliver Twist and quickly fell in love. By the time I was 17, I was a fully-fledged classic lover, going on to study English Literature at uni.
 
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I've read dystopian novels before - such as George Orwell's 1984, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and P. D. James' Children of Men - and while I did appreciate them, I still wasn't a massive fan of the genre as a whole. Which is why I was resistant to The Hunger Games for a very long time, until finally the hype became too much and I caved. Thank goodness I did, because I freaking loved the series - so much that I decided to give dystopian books more of a chance. 

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants by Ann Brashares. When I was at uni, I had a friend who was really into YA. Not gonna lie, I judged her on it. I thought she was too old to be reading silly teen trash, and saw it as, well, really dorky (clearly I was going through a pretentious stage or something). Then, for my birthday, she gave me Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, one of her favourites. I'd seen the movie and enjoyed it (for some reason, I didn't turn my nose up at trashy teen movies as much as books), so one summer day I decided to give the book a go. I LOVED it, and devoured the whole series within a week. Needless to say, it caused me to do a complete 180 in my views of YA , not to mention made me feel pretty damn guilty - and silly - for being so judgey.

Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding. This was the first adult chick lit I read, and what a book to start the genre with! It made me laugh out loud more than any other book I could remember reading, and it still makes me giggle every time I read it. It's such a fun read, and Bridget's inner monologue is so easy to identify with. The experience of reading BJD has made me pick up many a chick lit book, with mixed results.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. Ah, Twilight. I have a feeling I'll see this on many lists in answer to this question. It seems that Twilight introduced a lot of people to a lot of things, whether it be reading in general or a particular genre. For me, it was the first paranormal romance I really read. I picked it up not long after I started working at Girlfriend, curious to see what was sending so many teen girls (and, for that matter, adult women) ker-razy. Like so many others, I got completely sucked in, and went on a binge of vampire/paranormal romances for the next few months. Too much of a good thing meant I went off the genre completely for a while after that, but now I like to mix the odd PNR with contemporary, literary and other types of fiction.

P.S. This weeks Follow Friday question from Alison Can Read and Parajunkee's View is: "We want to see what you look like! Take a pic with you and your current read! Too shy? Boo! Just post a fun pic you want to share." Because it's 11.15pm here and I'm not exactly ready for my close-up, here are some pics of me with my favourite author, Charles Dickens, instead. Or the closest I'll ever come to him, anyway.

At Madame Tussauds

At Dickens' house in London

Happy Friday everyone!

TGIF: 5 Book Blogs That Make Me Smile

It's Friiiiiday!

Which means it's TGIF at GReads, time to recap the week and answer a question posed by Ginger. This week, she asks: "Book Blogs That Make You Smile: Pick 5 book blogs you visit often & think others should, too." Like most book bloggers, I spend a lot of time reading other book blogs and there are a lot that I really enjoy. But here are five of my faves:


1. ...In The Attic. Megan's recaps of the trashtasticness that is VC Andrews are completely hilarious. Right now she's making her way through the Landry series, one of my faves, and her commentary is spot on. It always makes me Laugh. Out. Loud.

2. The Unread Reader. Missie is one of the nicest bloggers I (virtually) know, she has a great sense of humour that shines through in her reviews and some brilliant features/memes, including (my favourite) My Book Boyfriend. Her blog is such a fun place to visit.

3. Holes In My Brain. Audrey has a really unique, quirky writing style that I love. Her posts never fail to make me smile and I especially appreciate the way she breaks her reviews down and ranks books on things like how they match up to her expectations and their level of put-down-ability. 

4. Abbey's Bookshelf. Abbey's interest in photography means her posts are always accompanied by beautiful photos, many of which are her own. Her blog is soooo pretty! 

5. Wear The Old Coat. Jo's reviews are incredibly funny, and the way she splits her thoughts into "initial thoughts", "high points", "low points" and so on makes them really easy to read, not to mention extremely entertaining. But one of my favourite things is the way she includes theme tunes for each of the books she reads.


This Week On Belle's Bookshelf
Review: Where Demons Fear To Tread by Stephanie Chong 
Mag Monday: Swooning over Felicity Jones and Armie Hammer
Pash, Pick or Pass: The Gatsby Edition
Review: Fear, edited by RL Stine
My Book Boyfriend: Alex Fuentes
Bookish Buys: Jewellery for book nerds

Top 5: Books I Want To See On The Big Screen (TGIF!)

This is my first time participating in TGIF, a recap/networking meme hosted by Ginger at GReads. I've seen it bouncing around the blogosphere and thought I'd finally join in this week - especially coz it's such a fun question. Ginger asks: Which books would you love to see made into a TV series or movie? As regular readers of my blog would know, I love me an adaptation, so I couldn't not participate with this question. Here is my top five books, in no particular order, that I want to see adapted for the big (or small) screen (because I love me a list, too):

1. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I'd love to see this as either a movie or a TV show. The sexual tension between Anna and St. Clair and the development of their relationship would make for a steamy and super-cute teen flick, but there's also some awesome secondary characters that could be fleshed out for an ensemble TV show. The location enough would be enough to make me swoon (though St. Clair ain't bad either).

2. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. OK, so the vampire thing has kinda been sucked dry and I'm not gonna lie, I'm getting a bit over the trend myself. But that being said, the Vampire Academy series is a truly great set of teen books, with some awesome characters and plenty of action (of the violent and, er, less violent kind). There's a lot going on which I think would make it perfect for a TV drama series.

3. A Modern Comedy by John Galsworthy. This is the sequel to The Forsyte Saga, which has already been turned into an awesome mini-series in the not-too-distant past. I was so disappointed when they didn't continue the story - I'm still hoping they will one day!

4. Evelina by Frances Burney. This is another classic that I would love to see turned into a mini-series. Evelina's somewhat awkward entrance into society and her relationships with the rakish Sir Clement and the dashing Lord Orville, not to mention her crazy relatives, would make for fun viewing. Plus, it hasn't been done to death like, well, anything by Jane Austen (not that I'm complaining).

5. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is one of those books that I'd be really, really excited and at the same time really, really terrified if they decided to make a movie based on it. It's such a wonderful book and I think it could make an amazing film - but only if it's done right. There's a lot of potential to screw it up and I love it so much that I couldn't bear to see it hurt by Hollywood. So, to sum up, I'd like to see this as a movie - but I also really don't want to.

This week on Belle's Bookshelf...
Mag Monday - Lily, Ita and Donald
Pash, Pick or Pass - The Mortal Instruments Edition
My Book Boyfriend - Lord Orville
Young Adult, The Movie
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare Book Review
Bookish Buys - Cute Bookends
Book/Movie Comparison - The Last Unicorn