I was watching the film version of David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas the other night and, I have to admit, I rather liked it. It got me thinking, though: What makes a book to film adaptation work? Have the adaptations I've actually enjoyed stayed truthful to their respective novels or have they veered off in unexpected directions? What are the important elements to retain when making an adaptation: characters, plot, beginnings, endings? In short, I had many quesitons, and how to g

David Mitchell has to be one of my favourite authors at the moment. Cloud Atlas, Jacob De Zoet, Black Swan Green, Number 9 Dream – they’re all incredible. I was thus expecting great things from The Bone Clocks and, in many ways, it delivered. It’s not quite as descriptive as these other works but since the book is written in first person present, long descriptions are sacrificed for a more authentic character voice, which, in my opinion, was a very good move for the most part

It’s a point of contention, isn’t it: how to make that perfect cup of tea? Putting to one side the fact that some people insist on having tea without milk while the rest of us stick to our traditional milk and tea formula, the biggest divide is the battle between the BIFs and the MIFs (the Bag in Firsters or the Milk in Firsters). Now, interestingly, I was brought up as something of a MIF until I finally saw the error of my ways halfway into my teens. Bag in first has got to

So, I’ve finally got around to watching House of Cards these last two weeks (I know, I know, very late on this one!) and I have to say that I was really sold for most of season one. It dipped a little bit for me closer to the end but then it had a nice little shock in store, which reinvigorated the show. Season 2 started off with a bit of a bang but I found I just wasn’t as involved with the drama as much in this season and now I think I know why . . . It got me thinking abou

Tonight’s episode of Game of Thrones was a great start to the new season. It doesn’t exactly kick-off with a bang and it doesn’t particularly end with a bang but it was a thoroughly gripping episode nonetheless. We’ve been told to expect a host of new characters this season so it was surprising there weren’t any new faces, but this, I feel, was probably a good move at this stage. However, there were a lot of jumps between the characters we do have, with the show reverting to

Our journey into Japan’s Daisetsuzan National Park started with a six-foot bear. Luckily, it was stuffed and confined to the Tourist Information Office but from that point on, I was going to be picturing bears everywhere. How did I manage to get my girlfriend to agree to this? ‘Only fifty-five kilometres from one end of the park to the other. The guide calls it The Grand Traverse. With a name like that, we have to do it!’ So there we were, hiking up the daunting Asahi-dake Mo

Fairly common question but what better question is there for a first blog post? A friend asked me to choose 7 books from my bookshelf the other day and challanged me to write a sentence as to why I chose each. Here goes . . . Gormenghast Dark enticing tone, richly weaved at the backdrop of writing’s most compelling antihero. The Tale of Desperaux The ultimate romantic tale of a hero overcoming all odds to save the day, and the hero is a mouse! Peter Pan The classic tale of ne