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"So many books…so little time"

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Happy World Penguin Day! Vintage Penguin books are my favourite editions and I love the collection at the @addymanbooks Murder & Mayhem bookshop. Yes, another Hay post! 😅 These photos were not taken at the recent meet up though, but during the summer when @lostinphrases came to visit me! Sadly, Kerstin couldn’t make this year’s meet up, but she was there last year, so we definitely missed her presence at this year’s event. Hope to see you again soon Kerstin! 😊💚

Happy St. George’s Day! What an exciting St. George’s Day it has turned out to be with the birth of the Royal baby boy! Not only that, it is also the date that marks the birth date and death of William Shakespeare. The coincidental date is a result of no known record of Shakespeare’s birth being available, but as he was baptised on April 26th, he is believed to have been born close to this date. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Featured are my vintage red and white Penguin Shakespeare’s for St. George’s Day, a lovely bookmark from my fellow Shakespeare lover @pagesandplays and a great William Shakespeare Lego figure from my friend @sweeneybricks 😍 Not included is my many other Shakespeare editions! 🎭

“I am no bird and no net ensnares me; I am a free human being with an independent will.” - Jane Eyre 📚 “You can never get a cup of tea or a book long enough to suit me.” - C.S. Lewis 📚 “To write is human, to edit is divine.” - Stephen King 📚 Today marks the 202nd birth date of Charlotte Brontë, as well as National Tea Day and also Get A Job In Publishing Weekend! Cue my confession once again that I still need to read Jane Eyre and Stephen King’s On Writing. They are both high on my reading list this year! Have you read either of these books? I’m hoping I’m not the only person who hasn’t read them yet! 😬

Film Friday - Ready Player One Film Review - ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 🎬 It’s 2044 and the world’s resources have diminished, with famine and poverty widespread. For Wade Watts, his escape is to spend most of his life in the OASIS, a virtual utopia that allows people to create their desired alter egos. Like most of the population, Wade is obsessed by the ultimate lottery ticket that is hidden within the OASIS. James Halliday, the founder of the OASIS, has bequeathed control of the OASIS and his fortune to the person who is able to solve the riddles he has placed inside his creation, all of which are based on his obsession with 80s pop culture. But in Wade’s race to claim the prize, his quest may even claim his life... 🎟 Opening to the riffs of Van Halen’s Jump, Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of Ready Player One is a visual feast for the eyes. Spielberg captures much of the imagery described in the book, including the towering stacks that provide homes to much of the population, and the world of the OASIS is reminiscent of Avatar, although not quite as breathtaking as James Cameron’s creation. 🍿 Tye Sheridan is suitably cast in the central character of Wade and the supporting cast includes the adorable Mark Rylance as James Halliday and Ben Mendelsohn, who plays the villainous Sorrento with relish. While I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the book brought to life on the big screen, I didn’t appreciate some of the notable changes made in the script. Film medium is very different to that of a book, so it’s understandable that there will always be some alterations in a big screen adaptation. However, one of the biggest changes is the time shift of a key scene in the book, which means that the biggest emotional impact in the story has been lost. Many of the 80s references have been omitted from the film too, which is a shame as that is the central premise of the story. At 140 minutes long, the film loses some of the momentum in the final act and perhaps could have done with more editing, demonstrating the difficulty of adapting a book for the big screen! 🎮 Have you seen or read Ready Player One and did you enjoy it? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Travel Thursday...I came across a really great article at my mom’s recently in @youmagsocial, which was by @kaminmohammadi, who wrote about how her life changed for the better after moving from London to Florence. In the article, Kamin described how the Italian way of life helped her to appreciate food and cooking, as well as improving her health. She also spoke about the “bella figura”, which means making every aspect of life as beautiful as it can be, whether in Rome or London, and she wrote about how discovering bella figura changed her life, her body and the shape of her heart. 🇮🇹 Italy is one of my favourite places to visit and I adore the way food and meal times are regarded as such a pleasure in the Italian lifestyle. This is definitely a philosophy to embrace, especially in today’s modern world where life moves at such a fast pace. I really enjoyed this article, which I found inspiring and motivating. Spending a summer living in Italy is definitely one of my dreams and the glorious sunshine today has sparked my wanderlust again! 🇮🇹 Is there a country or a lifestyle that has changed your life? I’d love to hear all about it! 😊🇮🇹☀️

“Consider the word ‘time’. We use so MANY phrases with it. Pass time. Waste time. Kill time. Lose time. In good time. About time. Take your time. Save time. A long time. Right on time. Out of time. Mind the time. Be on time. Spare time. Keep time. Stall for time. There are as many expressions with ‘time’ as there are minutes in a day. But once, there was no word for it at all. Because no one was counting. Then Dor began. And everything changed.” ⏳ In Mitch Albom’s The Time Keeper, the inventor of the world’s first clock is finally granted his freedom, having been banished for centuries as punishment for trying to measure time. In order to redeem himself, he is given a mission to teach two people the true meaning of time. One is a teenage girl who is about to give up on life and the other is a wealthy, ageing businessman who wants to live forever. To save himself, he must save them both. ⏳ The Time Keeper is a book I received from a friend, who told me that it really makes the reader appreciate time and she was absolutely right. It’s a book that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about and has taught me the true value of time. It is also a book that highlights the value of life and how important human connection is to each other and that no matter how insignificant we may seem in the world, we will always matter to our loved ones. Reading like a modern day fable, The Time Keeper is reminiscent of It’s A Wonderful Life and Cecelia Ahern’s The Gift. It is a beautiful story that should be read by everyone.

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