It's Friday!

It's finally Friday!

I don't know about you, but I've had a whirlwind of a week but 2 very exciting things happened this week that just had to be talked about!


First up: National Poetry Day!

It was National Poetry Day yesterday (Thurs 3rd October) and the theme was 'Water'. National Poetry Day, for those who don't know is a nationwide celebration of poetry held every year on the first Thursday of October: "it shakes poetry from its dust-jacket and into the nations’ streets, offices, shops, playgrounds, train stations and airwaves" and reminds people of the beauty (and fun) of it.
The theme was taken from the inspiration of Coleridge's 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner':

"Water, Water, everywhere

And All the boards did shrink,

Water, Water, everywhere

nor any drop to drink" 

The National Poetry Day organisation commissioned this fab little animation for the occasion to illustrate the Water, water theme:

Did anyone do anything for National Poetry Day? Either going to an event or even marking the occasion yourself by writing a poem (or failing to if you're as hopeless at poetry writing as me)?
I think one of the great things that has made a real impact in spreading the word for NPD is the use of Twitter. This year, National Poetry Day has been storming its way across twitter (in book-circles anyway) and has allowed so many more people get involved, virtually, than they would've done otherwise (we love Twitter!). The National Poetry Day org. set up a twitter account and reached 12,000 followers!
I also know that a lot of people (publishers etc) ran tweet poetry competitions - how do you write a poem in a 140 character tweet?

If you've got any good ones - share them? or maybe leave instructions on how people who can't do poetry (i.e. me) can write one?

I also found this article from the Independent, which i thought was quite a nice idea for NPD - "10 famous poems you have to read" - I've read 4 out of 10 (English Lit degree helps massively with this)!

How many have you read?

Also, I'm far too excited about it not to mention that the film adaptation for 'How I Live Now' was released today! (Woohoo!)

I read 'How I Live Now' quite a few years ago and absolutely loved it (I'm even quite sure why) and it was definitely one of those books that I was determined to make everyone read it (now it's moved on to TFIOS by John Green!), so the film adaptation has been much awaited!

Here's a quick rundown of the plot for anyone who hasn't read it:
Fifteen-year-old Daisy is sent from Manhattan to England to visit her aunt and cousins she’s never met: three boys near her age, and their little sister. Her aunt goes away on business soon after Daisy arrives. The next day bombs go off as London is attacked and occupied by an unnamed enemy.

As power fails, and systems fail, the farm becomes more isolated. Despite the war, it’s a kind of Eden, with no adults in charge and no rules, a place where Daisy’s uncanny bond with her cousins grows into something rare and extraordinary. But the war is everywhere, and Daisy and her cousins must lead each other into a world that is unknown in the scariest, most elemental way.

Here's the trailer for anyone who hasn't seen it:

And for anyone who is intrigued you can read an extract from the book here (thanks to Penguin)

What do you think the film is going to be like? From the trailer it looks darker than the book seems, but I wasn't sure if that was just me not remembering it properly. I also read an article from Meg Rosoff when the film was being written that some of the minor characters have been written out but I reckon it makes for a pretty good film adaptation as they go!

Who's planning on seeing it? I have to wait until next week to see it but I'm really excited, so let me know what you think!!


Have a great week!