Book's Crumbs

If you leave the residence of the first english Prime Minister and get on Whitehall Road you will find yourself in front of a big monument dedicated to the woman of World War II. A big metal rectangular block, almost 7 meters high, in which we can see 17 different set of clothing running around its sides, symbolizing the different jobs women did undertake during the war. 

Passing past it I always asked myself: who were those women? What did they do during the war time? 

Knowing almost nothing about this matter, and having quite a lot of misconceptions on the role of women during those years, I gladly picked up this book when I saw it on depositary book. It also was a bargain for less than 5 euro, couldn't let this opportunity slip by.

The Girls Who When to War by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi, tell the true stories of three english women who volunteered for the Army Auxiliaries Services in WW II.

As it's said at the back of the book, the writers tried to stay as faith full as possible to the original stories, but having as more than 70  years passed since the event, the memories of the veterans were understandably incomplete. As in those case they filled the blanks with research and their wits.

Jessie Ward, who joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), Margaery Pott, who signed up for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), and Kathleen, who desperately wanted to join the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), are the amazing and brave women we are presented in this book. They all joined the army feeling the need to do their bit for the country. The writers takes as into their life full of bravery and romance. Man and women working together in the Army did spring for sure the best and sometimes most heartbreaking love stories. And this three girl had their fare share.

The narration and writing style are quite plain, but the content did made up for this lack. 

Even though I don't like historical book I enjoyed reading about this woman and it made my even more interested on this subject.

4/5 STARS

Here an interesting clip from youtube:

Has you might have seen in this lately I got caught up with university and left my reading behind. But that doesn't mean I'm not actually reading at all, I've just been really, really, really freaking slow. 

So let's get in what I've been reading and what I'm looking forward to read next!

It's been a month since I started The Girls Who Went to War by Duncan Barrett and Nuala Calvi and I finally got around. I loved the subject so much that I'm writing my paper on it for my British History class.

I'm also reading Hamlet for class, and is been a pleasant surprise. I hated Shakespeare when I was in middle-school, he was over romantic for my taste and did write in an incomprehensible english, but picking it up again now I'm amazed at how much I actually love it. I will be sure to pick up more of his works in the future.

This october some amazing books came out that I was waiting for!

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Illustrated edition.

The Harry Potter business machine is unstoppable, whatever they do is going to be a success. With Harry Potter and The Cursed Child  still at the top of the chart as a bestselling and the spin-off movie coming out in the middle of november, the second book in its illustrated edition by Jim Kay it's going to be a hit!

It really looks like they want to publish the whole series and I'm more excited than ever for it, even though looking at the size of this two first book I'm not sure how they will manage with the fifth one. 

The Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

The first book of the series was mind blowing! I can't wait to discover what happen to our crew after pulling of an impossible heist and finding them self empty handed.

If you haven't read it yet and love adult fantasy novel, Six of Crows it's for you. 

Wonder's series

In Italy did finally came out Shingaling the third spin-off from the Wonder book by R.J Palacio. I loved the original story not so much  The Julian Chapter, but I'm looking forward to the Charlotte and Christopher stories. Also they are small and quick to read!

That's  probably it for november put I always wish that I'll be able to read more books. What is your TBR for the month of november?

Autumn did finally kick in and halloween is at the doors. So be ready to be spooked!

Halloween in Italy was adopted as festivity, so it's not such an important day. It's is definitely more celebrated in England or America, where every kids wait for this magical day where getting a sugar rush  and scaring people is allowed. I spent one halloween in England and that was the best of my life. There was all the mental preparation to it: carving the pumpkin, getting the sweets, creating a costume and finally when the day came I was ready to spook some kids.

I had so much fun as an adult that it became my favorite creepy-time of the year. So I thought it would be funny to celebrate it with you in a spooky book tag!

This tag is a mix of bits of different book tags, I just took the tips I liked the best from each and made some up.

What book would you crave and set on fire?

This is actually a hard question, first book are sacred for me and second I haven't read many bad book lately. I had to scroll down my goodreads book to see which book mada my more mad and the book that raised a killing vibe was Cruel Beauty by Hodge Rosamund. As a writer she has spectacular skills, but I still don't know how she does it in the end I always come to hate all her characters. So I wouldn't mind doing a little bonfire of it!

Which character would you likely bring back to life?

The character I would likely bring back to life is Dobby, from Harry Potter by J.K Rowling. I think his resurrection wouldn't corrupt the plot, because come on J.K was it really necessary to kill him and ruining my childhood??

• THE WIDOW

John Krakauer's Into the Wild , which I read with a fascinated dread, was one of the best reading of this summer. Chris McCandless's wanderlust, desire to live by the nature's laws and his rebellion against the system, have been for me inspiring and mind opening. 

Chris renouncing his old identity, he rename himself Alexander Supertramp, in conformity of his new way of life. Tramping around, seeing the world, meeting new people, with time made him feel strong and more comfortable with himself and his ability, so much that it took it to extreme.

His story was beautiful and full of meaning, on itself alone would have been able to make a wonderful movie, but the stunning photography, the amazing performance and the unique directing style made this movie one of the best I ever seen. I loved it as much as the book!

So my final vote for BOOK VS MOVIE is: EVEN!!

I loved the novel by Jojo Moyes so much, it made me cry lakes and I wasn't expecting anything less from the movie!

It was realised on the 3rd of june in the USA but we had to wait until the 1st of September to watch it in the italian's theater.

With as our main characters the beautiful Emilia Clarke, mostly famous for showing quite a lot of her in the tv series Game Of Throne, and the amazing and brilliant Sam Claflin, who appeared in some of my favorite major productions, such as: Hunger Games, Love, Rosie, The Riot Club, and the mini tv series The Pillars Of The Earth, this movie with a great soundtrack (Not today by Imagine Dragons) had everything to be stellar.

The romantic drama adaptation of Jojo's Moyes Me Before You is directed by Thea Sharrock, who took a rather simple direction for the filming. The whole film has pretty standard techniques, not showing any particular kind of new takes, instead the transitions between one scene and another are quite harsh, apart from the last one where we have a fluid transition from Will's last scene to Lou in Paris. The use of the drooping leaf was poetic and romantic, really beautiful, it reminded me of the flying feather in Forrest Gump.
Regarding the plot the movie stayed pretty faithful to the book, there weren't any big changes, apart from having to cut a lot of scenes, for the obvious reason that is impossible to fit a whole book in a movie, so I'm going to be kind and forgive them. Also the characterization of our two characters was kept the same as in the book. Lou with her over-positive attitude about life, was portrayed quite well by Emilia Clarke, even though I think she exaggerated with the facial expressions, making Julia Roberts smile be put into shadows over her 360 degrees smile. I loved all her quirky clothes and beautiful accessory; Jill Taylor, the costumist, clearly did her homeworks, making Lou as colorful and unique as I did imagine her while reading the book. It also seems that the actress herself was able to pick up the accessories, earrings and stuff for her outfit making the character even more hers.


Sam Claflin acting was right on spot, I'm not just say this becouse I have a soft spot for the actor (who wouldn't?!), but having his act restricted, for this role, to his facial expressions and voice, he did a brilliant job, proving again that he can fit any role given.
There is not so much space for the second characters in the movie, although I would like to enlight Janet Mcteer for playing the role of Will's mother fantastically, only to uphold all her career's awards.

It's overall an ok movie who didn't leave up to the book, pushing in the end for a sloppy and overseen romantic comedy. where there was instead a lot to make it unique and different as it comes out of the book. I was still deeply moved by the movie, but I think It was becouse I'm really attached to the story, I mean I was already crying when I first saw the trailer, so it was an easy win.

I would definitely pick the book has the winner over the movie, there is no competition!

What do you think? Which did you like best, movie or book?

Want a chance to win the sequel to Me Before You, After You by Jojo Moyes? Enter HERE the free giveaway, closing on 25th September.

ITALIANO:

Ho amato moltissimo il romanzo di Jojo Moyes, mi ha fatto piangere fiumi interi perciò non mi aspettavo nulla di meno dal film!

E' uscito nelle sale statunitensi il 3 giugno, ma abbiamo dovuto aspettare fino al 1 settembre qui in Italia.
Con come protagonisti Emilia Clarke, famosa soprattutto per aver mostrato quasi tutto di lei nell'acclamata serie tv Trono di Spade, e il brillante Sam Claflin, che è apparso in alcuni dei miei franchising cinematografici preferiti, quali: Hunger Games, Love,Rosie, Posh e ancora nella mini serie I Pilastri della Terra, questo film insieme ad una fantastica colonna sonora, degli Imagine Dragons, si presentava stellare.

L'adattamento cinematografico del romantico libro di Jojo Moyes è diretto da Thea Sharrock, che ha scelto una direzione piuttosto sempliciotta per le riprese. L e tecniche sviluppate nel fim sono banali, non mostrano nulla di nuovo, e oltretutto le transazioni tra una scena e l'altra risultano rigide, a parte per l'ultimo cambio di scena, dove si passa dalla scena finale di Will a Lou a Parigi in maniera fluida e naturale, grazie all'ingegnoso uso di una foglia cadente, dando così un tocco poetico al film, molto bello. Mi ha ricordato in parte la piuma che vola del film Forrest Gump.

Per quanto riguarda il contenuto, il film rimane fedele al libro, non ho notato grandi cambiamenti, oltre alle scene tagliate, per l'ovvia ragione che è impossibile far stare un intero libro in un ora e mezza di film, quindi possiamo chiudere un occhio e perdonarli. Anche la caratterizzazione dei personaggi è stata mantenuta. Lou con il suo eterno sguardo positivo alla vita, è stata interpretata molto bene da Emilia Clarke, anche se penso che abbia un tantino esagerato con l'espressioni facciali. E' riuscita a mettere in ombra il sorriso di Julia Roberts sfoderando una dentatura di 360 gradi. Ho aprezzato tutti i suoi eclettici vestiti ed accessori; Jill Taylor, la costumista, ha fatto un ottimo lavoro, rendendo il guardaroba di Lou eccentrico e colorato come me lo ero immaginato. Sembra oltretutto che l'attrice sia stata libera di scegliere gli accessori da abbinare ai suoi abiti, personalizando ancora di più il suo personaggio.
Il ruolo di Will calzava a penello a Sam Claflin, e non lo dico solo per il mio debole per l'attore, ma dovendo restringere la sua recitazione a voce e espressioni facciali ha fatto un ottimo lavoro, dimostrando di essere molto versatile.
Non viene dato molto spazio hai personaggi secondari nel film, ma mi sento di evidenziare la performance di Janet Mcteer, nel ruolo della mamma di Will, ritratta magnificamente, dimostra di meritarsi tutti i premi alla carriera ricevuti.

In generale è un film ok che non ha retto il confronto con il libro, riuscendo solo ad essere una commedia romantica alquanto sciatta e che ricade negli schemi tipici, l'addove c'erano tutti i presupposti per puntare a qualcosa di unico e diverso, come nel libro. Nonostante tutto mi sono commossa e ho di nuovo pianto come una lagna, ma c'è da mettere in conto che sono particolarmente legata alla storia e che ho la lacrima facile, voglio dire stavo gia piangendo la prima volta che ho visto il trailer.

Posso sicuramente proclamare oltre ogni ragionevole dubbio il libro, come vincitore di questo scontro Libro vs Film.

Cosa ne pensi? Ti è piaciuto più il film o il libro?

Vuoi avere la possibilità di ricevere una copia gratuita di After You, il seguito di Me Before You di Jojo Moyes? Partecipa al Giveaway del blog cliccando QUI.

TRAILER

(Christopher McCandless in front of the bus in which he was found dead.)

"Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon."

This was one of the few thriller I've ever read, it's not really my genre, but after reading The Girl On The Train I might include it more often in my future reading. It was engaging, full of suspense and beautifully written.

The story is mostly told by Rachael point of view, but also by the other two women in our story.

Rachel Watson is a 32 years old woman who lives in London and likes to drink a bit too much. She still can't accept the end of her marriage, evermore since her ex husband, Tom, married with Anna, the woman she was cheated on with. She also did recently lost her job thanks to her little addiction to the bottle, but unable to confess the true to her friend and house mate, she still commute to London every day with the train. On the train, she got used to watch out of the window looking to the people outside, she particularly took notice of a couple living in the same suburb area she used to live with her ex. Jess and Jason, or at least that what they are called in her fantasy are the "perfect couple". In real life their names are Megan and Scott Hipwell, but she will come to know that only when Megan makes it into the paper because of her disappearance. From there how the life of this three women will get even more tangled together.

The story was well written, for the whole reading I was soo tempted of just taking a pic at the last pages to discover the culprit.

Trusting the story to an unreliable narrator was a genius idea, you can't trust what she tells, so guessing was really difficult, for a while a kept on shifting my suspect until I settled on the one that felt fishy, but I wouldn't have put my wager on it.

Every character of the story is horrible, they all own obsessions, flaws and secrets. I couldn't like any of them, nevertheless I loved the book, I think that Paula Hawkins ability to portrait such disgusting character is what makes this book amazing.

Hawkins style is quite commercial and easy to read, that's also what made this a global bestseller!

I would highly recommend it, it's a must-buy!

4.5/5 STARS

ITALIANO: LA RAGAZZA DEL TRENO

Questo è uno dei pochi Thriller che io abbia mai letto, non facendo parte della mia cerchia di generi, ma dopo aver letto La Ragazza Del Treno mi devo ricredere e includere più spesso i thriller nelle mie letture future. E' un romanzo coinvolgente, pieno di suspense e molto ben scritto.

La storia è in gran parte raccontata da Rachel, ma anche dalle altre due donne coinvolte nella nostra vicenda.

Rachel Watson è una donna di 32 anni che vive a Londra, con il vizio del bere. Non riuscendo a superare la fine del suo matrimonio con Tom, la sua ossessione nei confronti del ex-marito e della sua nuova moglie, Anna, la stessa con cui è stata tradita, non fa altro che crescere, portandola a dei comportamenti al limite dello stalker. Oltretutto grazie al suo legame con la bottiglia ha recentemente perso il lavoro, ma incapace di confessare il fatto alla sua coinquilina e amica continua ad andare ogni giorno in treno a Londra. Proprio durante il suo tragitto passa il tempo guardando le persone fuori dal finestrino del treno, in particolare ha sviluppato un particolare interesse per una coppia che vive nei sobborghi di Londra, nello stesso quartiere dove abitava anche lei con l'ex marito.  Jess e Jason, o almeno questi sono i nomi di fantasia che Rachel attribuisce alla donna e uomo, sono la "coppia perfetta". Nella vita reale i loro nomi sono Megan e Scott Hipwell, ma Rachel nè verrà a conoscenza soltanto quando la foto di Megan appare sui giornali sotto il titolo che ne denuncia la sua scomparsa. Da li la vita di queste tre donne si intreccierà ancora di più.

La storia è scritta molto bene, per tutta la lettura ero estremamente tentata di dare una sbirciata alle ultime pagine solo per scoprire il colpevole.

Affidare il racconto ad un narratore inaffidabile, come Rachel, é stato geniale, non si può prender per certo ciò che riporta, rendendo l'indovinare il colpevole molto difficile, ho continuato a cambiare il mio sospettato parecchie volte prima di potermi fermare sul prescelto, ed anche a quel punto non ci avrei messo la mano nel fuoco.

Ogni protagonista di questa storia risulta orribile, sono tutti afflitti da ossessioni malate, difetti e menzogna. Non sono riuscita ad amarne neppure uno, tuttavia credo che sia per quest'eccezionale capacità di Paula Hawkins, di rendere molto bene i ritratti così disgustosi, che ho apprezzato pienamente il libro.

Lo stile di scrittura della Hawkings è molto commerciale e di facile lettura, due caratteristiche che l'hanno reso un bestseller mondiale!

Lo consiglio vivamente, è un must!

4.5/5 STELLE

THIS IS THE TRAILER OF THE UP-COMING MOVIE, ON THE BIG SCREEN IN THE USA ON 7 OCTOBER 2016:

If you have been growing up with Harry, Ron and Hermione, you are probably still waiting for your Hogwarts letter that, for sure, got lost in the mail.
As a BIG fan of the series I've been waiting for a sequel forever! Between fear of being disappointed and excitement I pre-ordered Harry Potter and the Curse Child, months before the publishing. I want in it without knowing anything about it, even though spoilers were available everywhere, I've been a good kid and I resisted every temptations. Maybe that's what I did wrong.
I published a post about the things you should know before reading it, you can find it HERE.

Since It's hard to talk about the plot of the play without spoiling bits. I will just give you the start point of the story. The story picks up from Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows epilogue. Nineteen years after the Battle of Hogwarts our heroes, now grown up, are at platform 9 3/4 to send off their kids. From there the story skips forward to Albus, Harry's kid, forth year of school. The play concentrated itself on the relationship between father and son, Harry and Albus.
I'm just going to give you some clues about the plot: Time-turner, Cedric, Triwizard Cup.


Let me say I was really happy to see our heros back, some even from the dead, and was surprised with the new characters. I loved Scorpius Malfoy, he is a good mix of intelligence and humor, on the other hand  Albus Potter felt obnoxious to me and as stupid as his father, sorry Harry.
The plot was kind of boring and felt like a bad fanfiction from start to finish. After finishing the Harry Potter series we all said good byes to the characters or made up our own story, I would have like to see their kids in Hogwarts, playing quidditch, going to potion class and making some mischief, we don't get any of that again someone is messing with magic to bring back You-Know-Who.

I think that most of my problem with this book was in fact that it isn't a book, but a play the only way to judge it honestly is to see it on stage. As a read it was not so entertaining.

3/5 STARS

ITALIANO:

Harry Potter e La Maledizione Dell'Erede uscirà in Italia il 24 Settembre.

Se anche voi siete cresciuti con harry, Ron e Hermione, state ancora aspettando la vostra lettera da hogwarts, che deve essere andata perduta nella posta. Come GRANDE fan della serie ho sognato un sequel per la saga! Tra la paura di una delusione e l'emozione di poter rileggere dei  miei personaggi preferiti, ho pre-ordinato  Harry Potter e La Maledizione dell'Erede mesi prima della pubblicazione. Sono stata brava e prima di iniziare la lettura ero riuscita a non spoilerarmi nulla a riguardo, volevo fosse un esperienza pura. Forse è proprio li che ho sbagliato, troppe aspettative e disinformazione. Ho pubblicato un post sulle informazioni utili da sapere prima di avventurarsi nella lettura, lo trovate QUI.

Dal momento che è difficile parlare della trama senza spoilerarvi nulla, mi limiterò a darvi il punto di partenza del libro.
La storia riprende dall'epilogo di Harry Potter e i Doni della Morte. Diciannove anni dopo la Battaglia di Hogwarts, i nostri eroi, ormai cresciuti, sono al binario 9 3/4 pronti a salutare i loro figli che in procinto di salire sul treno che li porterà ad Hogwarts. Da qui la storia salta in avanti, al quarto anno di scuola di Albus, il figlio di Harry e Ginny. La recita si concentrerà sul rapporto padre-figlio di Harry e Albus.
Vi lascio solo con qualche indizzio per il resto: Giratempo, Cedric Diggory, Torneo Tre-maghi.

Mi è piaciuto molto rivedere i vecchi eroi, alcuni persino di ritorno dall'oltretomba, e sono rimasta sorpresa da alcuni dei nuovi. Il mio preferito è sicuramente Scorpius Malfoy, un mix di intelligenza e umorismo, caso opposto invece Albus Potter, l'ho trovato antipatico e stupido come il padre, scusa Harry.

La trama è banale e sembra una cattiva fan-fiction dall'inizio alla fine. Dopo aver terminato la serie di HP, abbiamo detto addio hai nostri personaggi o immaginato un seguito tutto nostro. Personalmente avrei voluto vedere la nuova generazione di maghi alle prese con Quidditch, lezioni di pozioni e qualche guaio magico, in questa sceneggiatura non c'è nulla di tutto questo ma ancora una volta qualcuno sta giocando con la magia per riportare Tu-Sai-Chi in vita.

Penso che il mio problema maggiore con questo libro, sia il fatto stesso che non è un libro, ma una recita teatrale che per essere giudicata onestamente va vista sul palco. Non l'ho trovata una lettura piacevole, purtroppo.

3/5 STELLE