Top 5...#7

Hello again internet! I'm back with another one of my favourite posts to write, there's something that i just really enjoy about sitting down and writing a post about my top five somthings. Today i thought i'd talk about a group of books i adore reading, classics!

Here we go!

5: Emma by Jane Austen

I adore everything i have ever read by Jane Austen, and while everyone i speak to says that Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility is their favourite Austen novel, there has just always been something about Emma that makes is my favourite of her works. I love the characters, the plot, everything really. Austen said that when she wrote Emma; "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." And by describing her in the very first sentence as "handsome, clever, and rich" she was probably going to be right. But i love her. Emma is one of my favourite fictional females and i just love everything about this story.

4: Lord of the Flies by William Golding 

I bloody love this book. Everyone i have ever spoke to about this book has told me that they hated it, and i have no idea why. Maybe it's because they had to read it at school and they didn't like the way it was taught? I don't know, but whatever reason they have for hating this book is lost on me because i think it's one of the greatest things i have ever read. Maybe i love it because, along with the next book on the list, it is my mother's favourite book and that love has been passed down? Or maybe it's because it's just a wonderfully written book which i adore so, so, so much.

3: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Ugh this book. This is my mother's favourite book in the world, and i can definitely see why. I love the way this book is written, the characters, the plot, everything really. This book is one of the few books that has made me want to cry, while still loving everything about it. The first time i read To Kill A Mockingbird i honestly thought i was going to hate it, but i loved it so much, and every time i've read it since i've just loved it more and more. 

2: Dracula by Bram Stoker

This book is hands down one of my favourite books in the world. Vampires have always been something i've kind of obsessed over (Mona the Vampire, Buffy, Vampire Diaries, anything i could find with any mention of vampires) and Dracula truly is the reason the term 'the original and the best' exists. Dracula is perfect okay. There is nothing about this book that i can find that i don't love. Everyone knows the story of Dracula, i'm pretty sure there's more adaptations of Dracula than anything else in the world, but if you've never read the book i couldn't recommend it more if i tried! It's just an incredible book.

1: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger

Oh what a surprise, Meghan's put Catcher at the number one spot on a top five! I don't care, it is easily the best book i have ever read in my life and i love it more than anything! Catcher is that book that when you read it you just know that it is going to change your life. I know that seems like such a stupid thing to say but it really did change my life, i first read it at the point in my life where a book really can change everything and mean so much to you that no book could ever compare. I always say that HP changed my life because it made me fall completely in love with reading, but really it was Catcher that made me realise how something as simple as words on a page can make you feel so much and can change your opinions on everything and just ugh i love this book more than i could express in words.

What are your favourite classics?

Meghan x

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Top 5...#5

Hey there internet, it's been a while. So as i've said before on here i graduated from university back in July and as of last Monday i have officially started studying for my MA at a new university. So far it has been really, really, really good but unfortunately there was a lot of prep reading for the degree and since then it hasn't really stopped, so this blog has kind of been on the back burner. However i think i should be able to start uploading posts more regularly from now on :D

In honour of it being the month of October and the fact that Halloween is quickly approaching, and i LOVE Halloween, i thought i would do a Top 5...Halloween/Horror/Creepy books! Yeah, can you tell i couldn't decide which one to go for?

HERE WE GOOO!!!!

5. The Shining - Stephen King

"A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and from the future."

I LOVE Stephen King, and The Shining is one of my all time favourite horror stories. Both the book and the film are things that i love to read and watch over and over, and i think that October and Halloween make the perfect time to read such a creepy story. I love the way this book is written, and the way the characters just come to life and creep the hell out of you and i think that if you're looking for a good halloween book that has that perfect mix of human depravity and supernatural scares then this is definitely the book to go for!

4. Ring - Koji Suzuki

"In Japan, a mysterious video is killing whoever views it, unless that viewer can solve its mystery."

I adore this book. Maybe that's not the word that should come to mind when thinking about a book which is focused on scaring the hell out of anyone who reads it, but i really do adore it. I love the way that Suzuki has made something so simple and good as home movies into something so terrifyingly sinister. If, somehow, you've never heard of this story i'll make it simple for you: there is a video tape making it's way around Japan that, after you watch it, gives you seven days before it kills you, and in those seven days you must figure out its secret to stay alive. Now i love the idea of this story, and unfortunately for me, i saw the american movie adaptation before i read this book, and even before i watched the 1998 Japanese adaptation, which kind of sucks, but the basic story stays the same throughout and i absolutely love it. Horror is something that Japan always seems to excel in, and this is definitely proof of that.

3. Carrie - Stephen King

"A young, abused, and timid 17 year old girl discovers she has the power of telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her high school'd prom."

Oh Carrie, you poor, poor girl. So Stephen King is making his second appearance on this list, with his amazing story: Carrie. Carrie has been my number one SK novel ever since the first time i read it. I think there's definitely a reason it's one of his most famous works, if not the most famous. He makes you feel basically every emotion you're able to feel, and all in such a short book. I think that everyone who reads Carrie falls in love with it for different reasons, but there is a reason this book has inspired so many adaptations - IT'S AMAZING. I love the book, i love the 1980 movie adaptation, and i cannot wait to see the new adaptation when it finally comes out in the UK. It's the perfect October/Halloween read.

2. Death Note - Tsugumi Ohba

"An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it."

This is the only non-novel that's made it onto one of my 'Top 5's' and that's because it's just so damn amazing. I love the Death Note series, i love L, i love Light, i love Ryuk, i love everything about it. I think it's such a wonderfully written, and illustrated, story and it's one of the few series that had me gripped from the very first page til the very last page. I think it's wonderful and with the whole God of Death, people dying, supernatural-ly feel, this series is perfect to pick up if you're in the mood for something a little bit different for October/Halloween. I know that i'm going to re-read it on the 31st, and i couldn't recommend it more to anyone that's even slightly interested in manga/graphic novels.

1. Dracula - Bram Stoker

"The original, and best, Vampire novel. Dracula is the guy you don't want to mess with."

What can i say about Dracula here that i haven't already said on this blog? Probably nothing, but it definitely deserves to be in the number one spot on a list about the best October/Halloween books because, you know, it's DRACULA. I love this book, and i'm pretty sure everyone already knows that, so i won't say much, but i seriously could not recommend this book more to everyone who likes horror, or who likes classics, because it really is one of the greats. Also, reading this would go great with watching the new series with Jonathan Rhys Myers ;)

Meghan x

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Top 5...#2

Back again with another top five :) this time it's: Top 5 on my kindle

I love my kindle and I love all the books on there (that I've read...) so some of these were pretty hard to think of :) 

5: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is my favourite poet by far and The Raven is what made me want to read more from him. I'm pretty sure this was the second thing I downloaded as soon as I got my kindle because I wanted to read it again and again, without taking a massive collection of Poe around with me. 

4: Dracula by Bram Stoker

This was the first thing I downloaded onto my kindle, and it's basically just because I love the story so much. Including my kindle edition I have about 6 copies of this book I think? I love it. 

And this is my kindle cover, it's love.

3: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Ugh I love les mis! I love the stage version, the film, the book, everything. And I love that I can read this when I'm travelling without having to carry around a 900 page book!

2: Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture by William Irwin

I adore the philosophy and pop culture books, and when I downloaded this one I think that took my total to about 8 different ones that I own? I love philosophy more than most things, and superheroes are something I've loved since I was tiny (thanks to my big brother) and this book was just amazingly wonderful to read.

1: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I really, really wanted to read this ages and ages ago but I couldn't find it anywhere so I downloaded it and fell completely, 100%, madly in love with it. I have the rest of the series in physical form, but I still love that I have this one on my kindle and not physical copy because it's how I fell in love with the world and I like remembering that when I re-read it (like I am now) :). 

Meghan x