The Sunday Sum-Up #5

The shoes in question

The funniest thing of my week was a little girl in ASDA this morning. She was about four, I think, and was stood behind me in the queue.

So I'm staring absently into space, as you do, when I hear this little voice pipe up - "Mummy! Look, that lady has pink hair! *pause* And pink nails! *pause* And look at her shoes! Mummy, I want to be that lady!"

Aaaawww. That's still making me smile now :)

Book-wise, this is what's been going on here this week:

• Congratulations are in order, as I've most likely managed to write The Least Objective Review In The Entire World (what can I say, Law degrees warp people). My review of Cinderella Ate My Daughter (which I did actually like!) by Peggy Orenstein is here.

• I finally finished off The Hunger Games trilogy, only a year or so after everybody else! My review of Mockingjay is here.

•  Two Bibliomaniacs kicked off their Books to Movie Challenge this month and I've finished my first complete entry - The Reader by Bernhard Schlink. My film review is here and the book version is here.

• My wishlist for this week is here and you can find the rest of it by clicking here.

Thinking about it, I should probably also win the award for the most uses of the word 'here' in one blog post... 

The Sunday Sum-Up #4

'Now I believe in miracles, and a miracle has happened tonight.

But, if you're thinkin'about my baby it don't matter if you're

Black Or White!'

Honestly. You come here expecting a meagre book review or two and instead I treat you to the Michael Jackson lyrics I've had floating round my head all day. Don't say I'm not good to you.

So, irritating song lyrics aside, here's what's been going on at Booking in Heels this week:

• NINETEEN FOLLOWERS! I'm getting there people! Thank you for supporting me everyone.

• This week I read and posted a snarky review of Tolstoy and the Purple Year: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch. You can find it here. Snark snark.

• I also read and reviewed Carrie Fisher's autobiography, Wishful Drinking, here and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins here. 

• I made a start on the Books To Movie Challenge hosted by Two Bibliomaniacs by reading The Reader and reviewing it here. I'll be watching the film some time this week so keep popping back!

• Before this week I'd never received a R.A.K. but five books have winged their way to me now. Five! Can you believe it? Take a look at which awesome bloggers sent what here.

• Finally, these are the three books on my wishlist for the week.

This week I'm planning on finishing The Hunger Games trilogy by reading Mockingjay as well as some of the fantastic books I received as R.A.K.s. Where to start though!?

Have a good week everyone! 

The Sunday Sum-Up and Follow Friday #1

Happy Sunday to one and all! This week has flown by at Booking In Heels, although I didn't do half of what I'd planned to. Ah well, I got through more than enough books and that's what counts, right?

Let's see...

• Firstly... TEN FOLLOWERS! :D I know that's hardly an achievement compared to some of you, but I'm still at that stage where I'm very excited and so I'm ridiculously happy to see every single one.

• Last week I wrote about Lady Chatterley's Lover for the The Time Will Come meme. It must have prompted me to actually read the damn thing this week, because here's the review!

• I must have felt cultured this week - not only did I read a classic, I got through non-fiction as well! You can see my review of The Natural History of Unicorns here.
  

• This week I actually managed to get hold of and post a review of The Hunger Games. A little behind the times maybe, but I got there in the end. Catching Fire and Mockingjay to follow!

• I also joined my first ever book challenge this week - the Book To Movie Challenge hosted by Two Bibliomaniacs. I've signed up to read six books and their film adaptations before the end of the year and you can see my progress here. Wish me luck!

• Want to know what I'm wishing for this week? Take a peek at three from my Bottomless Pit of a Wishlist here.

 

Q. What are you doing to prepare for an upcoming zombie apocalypse and/or the return of Mel Gibson to the silver screen? (Both of which could be terrifying.) 

 
Unbeknowst to most, I've been preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse for a year and a half. It began with the bold declaration that I've developed a convenient disease known as Lupus, which is actually a cunning disguise. The symptoms of Lupus are very similar to those of Zombiehood (slurred speech, shambling walk, slow speed...) that should the zombies come, they will assume I am one of their own and leave me be.

Additionally, my Lupus makes me so weak that my boyfriend will feel duty-bound to protect me and so I shall cower bravely behind him while he battles the dreaded undead in my name.

The Sunday Sum-Up and Book Blogger Hop #2

I don't think I've ever been quite so glad to reach the end of the week. I haven't got through quite as many books as I'd planned to, but that's mainly down to an embarrassing addiction to LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean. In fact, I'm sorely tempted to stop updating you on this week's bookly progress, and just post picture after picture of LEGO Captain Jack...

Or not, cause I'd actually like to keep the few followers I have. Anyway, here's this week in a pleasant, listy format.

• So. We have nice, shiny reviews of Who's Afraid of Jane Austen? How To REALLY Talk About Books You Haven't Read by Henry Hitchins, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark and The Wizard of London by Mercedes Lackey. I also reviewed Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card without getting too crabby at the hours of my life spent that I'll never get back.  

• Should you so desire, you can see what's on my wishlist this week by clicking here.

• I also shone the spotlight on Lady Chatterley's Lover using Jodie's The Time Will Come meme over at Books For Company.

This week I'm reading Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence and then I'm moving on to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I'm so excited to finally read it, I've been dying to get hold of it for weeks now!

 

"What book-to-movie adaption have you most liked?  Which have you disliked?"

I'm sure many of you will sneer, flip your hair and stomp off in disgust after reading this, but I'll accept the possible punishment of being stabbed by crazed Harry Potter fans because it needs to be said. Those films are awful. 

I've seen every single one of the damn things, and I admit that the later ones have improved, but I've hated them since the beginning.

It's the actors. That's all it is. They couldn't have chosen three worse main characters if they'd tried. If I could choose one actress to shoot in the head it would have to be a young Emma Watson. It is it really necessary to talk with your eyebrows? Or open your mouth so wide bats could safely nest inside?

To be fair, I don't have a problem with her in the later ones. She's much much less annoying since about the third one. I still don't like her but I can deal with it. 

Everything else about the Harry Potter films I like - the settings are beautiful, the supporting characters (especially Alan Rickman) are wonderfully cast and they keep to the plot to an acceptable extent.  It's just....*shudders* her.

Oh yes. Book adaptations I actually like. I'm usually fairly good at thinking of the film and book as separate entities so I don't automatically hate the adaptation like some people.

Lord of the Rings is a good example. I really enjoyed all three films. Answering this question has made me realise how much my opinion is based on how well cast the characters are. I liked LotR mainly because of Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo... they were all perfect for their roles and could actually, you know... act (that helps in an actor, I've found).

You can join in the Hop too - just click here.

 

The Sunday Sum-Up and Book Blogger Hop - May 22nd

Well, the end of the week has finally dragged its sorry self here. I've finished labouring in the GAME shop for two days, and I plan to attack my TBR pile with vigour. In the meantime, here's what's been going on at Booking in Heels...

• This week I finally got around to reading The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, a huge novel which has been on my TBR for more than a year. I also continued my apparent mental illness streak by reviewing Veronika Decides To Die by Paulo Coelho and satisfied a friend who has been begging me to read Mortal Engines.

• I also went on a psychotic rampage in my local library, and brought home far more books than was reasonably necessary.

• On Saturday I took a quick look at three books on my ever-growing wishlist and then naturally lamented my lack of available funds for book-buying.

I'm currently reading Who's Afraid of Jane Austen? How to REALLY Talk About Books You Haven't Read. I know, I know, it goes against all my ingrained principles too, but better the devil you know!

So, that was my Sunday Sum-Up - now on to the Hop!

'If you were given the chance to spend one day in a fictional world (from a book), which book would it be from and what would that place be?'

My first instinct is to scream "Hogwarts! HOGWARTS!", grab my already-packed trunk from under the bed (almost definitely a joke....) and dash down to King's Cross in a stripey scarf. Like every other Harry Potter reader in the entire world, I'd kill to go to Hogwarts. Hell, I'd kill small countries for the chance. But then, the question says you can only go for a day and only spending one day at Hogwarts would suck.

So then, my single day experience... I'm contemplating saying the world from David Eddings' fantasy series, The Belgariad. It's a psuedo-medieval world, complete with magic, gods and different races. I'd love to go visit Drasnia especially - the home of the sneaky spies and thieves.

But actually I'm going to be a Cheater Cheater, Sneaky Reader and say I'd visit the BookWorld from Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next series. Ms Next can jump into any book she likes, all of which are connected by a huge library and marketplace called the BookWorld. It would be amazing to meet characters from every book milling about the place in their free time and watch how books are put together.

You can take part in the Book Blogger Hop too, just click here.