RC’16: A Book That’s Becoming A Movie This Year

Book: The Girl On The Train
Author: Paula Hawkins
First published: 2015

I guess this could count as the thriller challenge, but like I said before, I don’t want to use the same book for multiple challenges. The Girl On The Train is being made into a film starring Emily Blunt and some other people that I can’t remember. Here‘s the IMDb link if you’re interested.

Summary: Rachel Watson is an alcoholic who’s lost her job, but she still gets on the same commuter train every morning and evening. When the train stops at a signalling box, she can look out at the house backing onto the train line where she used to live with her ex, Tom. He still lives there with his new wife and their baby. A couple of doors down are ‘Jason’ and ‘Jess’, a couple who Rachel projects her fantasies onto – really Megan and Scott. One morning Rachel sees Megan kissing another guy, and then Megan goes missing. Rachel decides to help investigate what happened to her.

Shadowhunters: The Descent Into Netflix Is Easy

Round-up of thoughts on Shadowhunters episode 2! This week was Enjoyable, primarily because we were laughing at the show rather than with it. Apologies to everyone involved. Next week my housemates and I may well be playing with this drinking game (don’t try this at home – unless, of course, you’re old enough!)… Spoilers under the cut.

RC’16: A Book From Richard & Judy’s Book Club

Book: Cloud Atlas
Author: David Mitchell
First published: 2004

So in the original challenge, it was a book from Oprah’s Book Club, but I live in the UK and am more familiar with Richard and Judy. (Plus, I also had Cloud Atlas to hand!)

Summary: The novel is split into different parts with six narrators. The first is Adam Ewing, journaling from a mid-19th century New Zealand island. Second comes Robert Frobisher, letter writing in 1930s Belgium. The third PoV belongs to 1970s journalist Luisa Rey. Then we travel to England, in the noughties, with 60-something publisher Timothy Cavendish. Next comes Sonmi-451’s account of dystopian Korea. Finally we get to post-apocalyptic Hawaii and Zachry’s story. Then we go travel through the narrators again, in reverse order, learning more of the secrets of each and realising things are not quite as they seemed.

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Ep

I watched the first episode of the TV version of Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments the other night with my housemates. I’ve not read the books so I’m approaching this with fresh eyes. Some of the show was slightly embarrassing but some of it was good! Here’s ma thoughts. Spoilers!

RC’16: A Book Translated Into English

Book: The Little Prince
Author: Antoine De Saint-Exupéry (translated from French by Irene Testot-Ferry)
First published: 1943

A confession: I have read The Little Prince before. I was lent it in high school by one of my teachers, and I absolutely loved it. However, books I have to hand that have been translated are few and far between, so I thought I’d start off with this one so I can be on my way.

As a side note, this book also fulfills some other challenges, such as ‘books under 150 pages’ and ‘books you read in high school’. However, I’m going to try and use a different book for each challenge.

Summary: A pilot crashes in the Sahara desert and while fixing his plane comes across the Little Prince, a traveller from a planet far away who has made a journey across the galaxy.

Mockingjay Pt 2: The Girl On WordPress

I went to see Mockingjay Pt 2 yesterday. Since I did a review for SPECTRE, the new Bond film (almost a month ago, whoops), I thought to myself, ‘why not do one for Mockingjay?’ In the same vein as the other review, this is more like an incoherent jumble of thoughts. Sorry.

Also – big apologies about the lack of Linguistish posts. I had a big long draft about IPA saved and then WordPress went and ate it and I cried and I was in the bath.

Spoilers ahead!

SPECTRE: The Writing’s On The Blog

I went to see the latest James Bond film, Spectre, yesterday evening. I sort of grew up watching Bond films, something I’d do with my Dad when I would visit him at the weekend. It got a bit excruciating as I got older and realised what some of the scenes were about, but he was always there to tell me when to look away if there were any sharks around.

Anyway, here, in a completely unorganised way, is my brain dump of thoughts on Spectre (spoilers ahead!):

Doctor What

The idea behind this post is nothing new or original, but after watching Doctor Who (first broadcast 19/09/15, BBC One) I just felt like… what?

Let me preface this post by saying: I like Doctor Who. It’s often a good show. Ten is my Doctor; his episodes were on when I first started watching it. I dipped in and out of Eleven’s episodes, and watched Twelve’s last year because I had a reliable wifi connection at uni for viewing on catch up. I think the show is interesting and I’ll watch it if it’s on, but I wouldn’t say I’m particularly a True Fan.

Here are my thoughts on The Magician’s Apprentice (episode one, series nine)*.