Liebster Award

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Ana

Hello everyone!

First of all, I just want to apologize for being away for so long.
Things have been a little chaotic around here, I’ve moved back to Portugal, yes I’m living with my parents again, which after almost 5 years of living alone can be a little hard to adjust. After 2 months I’m still waiting for most of my belongings to arrived from the UK, which is really upsting. I still don’t have my driving license, which means that I have to be completely dependable of my family and friends (public transports where I live completely sucks big time), it’s so frustrating. I also started a new job, which is exciting and nerve-racking at the same time! And with my spare time I’ve been hanging out with my childhood friends and studying for the upcoming exams (July), so I’ve really didn’t had the time to write a new post with how chaotic things have been.

But I’m back and very excited since I have been nominated for the Liebster Award!

I would like to thank Holly from NutFreeNerd for nominating me for the award. Please go and check out her blog which is amazingly good and inspiring.

Here are the rules:

Share which blogger(s) nominated you.
Answer the ten questions they asked in their post.
Nominate 11 bloggers of your choosing who have less than two hundred followers each.
Ask eleven questions for your nominees to answer.
Contact your nominees!

So I will proceed to answer the questions 🙂

What author have you read the most books by?
I would have to say J.R.R Tolkien. I’m such a huge fan! I have read every single book probably more than once. I do have a special place for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which I make sure to read at least once a year, but my favorite books by Tolkien would have to be Simarilion.
Where is your favorite place to read?
I really don’t have a favorite place to read, I enjoy reading anywhere that I can. I tend to get lost in the world that I’m reading so I don’t really pay attention to my soundings. But I have to say that reading on a Train does have a special space in my heart.
What is your favorite thing about blogging?
I love the fact that I can express my honest feelings about something and there will be someone, somewhere that will get what I’m saying.
Coffee or tea?
Coffee without a doubt. It just tastes so good, it’s relaxing and basically it’s family tradition.
Chocolate or vanilla?
If we’re talking about Ice-cream I would have to say Vanilla.
But if there’s a dark chocolate cake, well I just can’t say no.
If you had to choose only three books to bring with you to an empty island, which ones would they be?
It’s just so hard to choose only three books, there is too many story’s, characters that I love. But for certain I would take Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen – I just LOVE the books, there is no words to describe all the feels that this books provides me with.
The second book would be The Fault in our Stars by John Green – it’s just one of those books that I fall in love all over again every time I read it.
The third and final books would be One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez – No review, however laconic or ponderous, can do justice to this true piece of art. Perhaps I can only hint at a few of the striking features of the work that are so novel, so insightful, and which make it such a success in my opinion.
Which fictional character from a book would you most like to date?
Park Sheridan from Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. I feel like we was clearly written to be my partner in good times and in bad, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. 😀
Who is your favorite actor? How about actress?
I have to admit that my favorite actor/actress varies from time to time, depending on the last movies that I’ve watched. But one actor that has never left my top list would be Ken Watanabe. As for my favorite actress I have to say Nicole Kidman.
What is your favorite season?
Winter! I just hate hot weather, I have loads of allergies, I hate sweat, I hate how happy everyone seems to me when it’s warm and sunny outside. So yeah, you get it, I have strong feelings about it.
Do you prefer to read paper books or electronic books on an ereader?
I definitely prefer reading paper books, I like the smell, the feel and the texture. But I’m an avid ebook reader, since it’s much easier and cheaper to get books, I do carry my Kindle with me everywhere.
Which book do you think is the most underrated?
The Adolescent by Fyodor Dostoevsky some people say it is unworthy of Dostoyecsky’s canon on account of not reaching the philosophical heights of The Idiot, other cite erratic shifts in tone between comedy and drama; yet for those wise enough to appreciate the novel’s low-key themes and how deftly Dostoevsky gets across the inner turmoil of a young man hell-bent on finding love and escaping the city, will uncover a gem, I guarantee it.

Question for my nominees:

What is the worst book that you’ve read so far?
What’s your favorite trilogy?
Which book as changed your life?
Which book have you read more than once?
Which book as made you laugh?
Which book as made you cry the most?
Which two books do you wish you have written?
What is your favorite film adaptation of a book?
What is your guilty pleasure?
What do you love the most?
What do you believe in?

(All nomeenies have been contacted)

Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Favorite Authors

Posted on April 1, 2014 by Ana

There are so many authors that I truly adore, which makes it really difficult for me to choose just ten.

So I decided to go with the authors that I loved so much that made me read all of their books. So, without further ado, here is my Top Ten Favorite Authors (In no particular order)!

J.R.R Tokien – I feel as if there is not author that compares to him. The depth and detail he adds into his writing is amazing. Adding languages, poetry, stories within stories, and just this great depth of history makes you feel like you are in a real world.
J.K. Rowling – Her books were my childhood, I grew up with them and would’t change that even if I could. I could read the Harry Potter series for the rest of my life, that just how much I love it. Joanna tough me so many things through her books and I’m really thankful.
Charles Dickens – There are no words to describe my love and respect for Mr.Dickens books. I just feel that he is such an incredible story teller. Great Expectations and David Copperfield are my favorites among his novels.
Fyodor Dostoevsky – I feel that Dostoevsky is in completely different level from all the other authors. He’s a genius, anyone who read Crime and Punishment can bow to that.
Leo Tolstoy – The thing that I loved most about his work is the way in which his imagination was never daunted. His world is large, and his characters have their own life, and are not his puppets.
Jane Austen – You haven’t read a great love story until you read one of Jane Austen novels.
Stephen King – A master of Horror and understanding of how the human psyche works when he is trying to create a work of pure terror. His Ideas are somewhat too terrifying in some of his works, but he makes up for that in the Dark Tower series which are just riveting and a masterpiece among the fantasy writers.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – Have you read The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes? It’s the work of pure genius.
John Green (A new favorite) – My most recent obsession. I just can’t get over how much I adore all of his books.
Oscar Wilde – Just pure satirical genius and very enthralling.

My Favorite Movie Adaptations

Posted on March 29, 2014 by Ana

I would have to say that books and movies are two of my absolute favorite things.
So when there is a movie adaption of one of my favorite books, count me in… even if it means that I will end up utterly disappointed, mad with world, crying my eyes out (most of the times), making me momentarily loose all the faith in the human race.

Favorite Movie Adaptations (by no particular order):

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy – This is probably my favorite book trilogy, I cannot tell you how much of a nerd I am concerning LOTR. Peter Jackson dusted off the J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy, published in the mid-’50s, in a film trilogy that boasted a first-rate cast and never-before-seen special effects, especially in its creation of Gollum, a CGI creature voiced and embodied by actor Andy Serkis. It won a well-deserved Best Picture Oscar, among others, for the final 2003 installment. I will admit that I watch this trilogy every single month (sometimes more than once :P)

The Harry Potter Series – I grew up reading these series and I LOVE the books and the movies, some a little more than others, still I love them. Though they occasionally suffered from being too close to a literal interpretation of the books, the Harry Potter movies by and large proved that a fantasy series could be brought to the big screen in glorious, engaging, humanized detail and satisfy the vast majority of its all-ages readership.
I’m a big fan o J.K.Rowling and I’m thankful to her every single day for welcoming me to the wonderful world of literature.
The Notebook – I like to consider Mr.Sparks one of the biggest romance writers of our generation.
The heartbreaking 2004 adaptation of Mr.Sparks’ first novel about a lifelong, tortured love affair made Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams instant stars. Subsequent Sparks books-to-films have not fared as well. As a Notebook book fan, I have to say that the movie in my honest opinion the movie is really faithful.
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – So.. An adaptation and a Hollywood re-make. I wouldn’t usually touch this with a ten foot barge poll and initially I got on my high horse and said, ‘No.. Not even going to watch it when it comes to DVD.’ Having seen the Swedish trilogy I was already annoyed because I believed they just didn’t come up to scratch to the extraordinary trilogy of books by Stieg Larsson. What made me give it a try was what my two of my friends said, both lovers of the book too, when they came back from watching it at the cinema. They said it was good and that they really enjoyed the watch, but I wasn’t inclined to believe them. Then I asked, How did it end?’ ‘It ended as it did in the first book.’ they told me. Well.. this grabbed me. The Swedish films missed out this part, which devastated me because it missed out one of the most interesting character developments that then make the next two books so interesting. The American version’s dedication to the preservation of the literature and even the locations and settings is something that blew me away. I loved the story from the books an this film doesn’t mess with it. Brilliant.
Requiem for a Dream – Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream is arguably one of the best anti-drug films to come out of Hollywood in the past few decades. Based on the acclaimed Hubert Selby Jr novel of the same name, the film explores addiction in its purest form. The beauty of the film is that it itself is an addiction that sucks you in with its brilliant script, soundtrack, characterization, and cinematography until you’re hooked, and then the inevitable happens. Like Trainspotting, the film projects the effects that drugs has on the mind on screen, but unlike the Danny Boyle classic, there is no bleak humor, there is no comic relief at all. This film simply injects itself into your veins and stays there for a very long time.

So far these are the ones that make my Top 5 favorites.
I do have to say that I’m looking forward to a few movie adaptations coming out this year, such as: