My Reading Year

Back a year ago, I set my 2015 goodreads challenge, in 2014 I planned to read 52 books, one book for each week of the year. And I surpassed that and read 65, thats 13 more books than I planned. So with this in mind, I set my goal at 75, I thought that if I read only 10 more books this year I could get that goal and then this year I could set my goal as 100!!! I wanted to be able to say that I read the total of a hundred books in one year so badly. You see many peoples Goodreads challenges and they are reading 100, 200, 300 + books a year and you start to wonder how that is even possible, how do they find the time, what am I not doing... But then I look back at my year and realised a lot of things have happened and although I haven't read all the books I have wanted to read, I have read some great ones...

So this year I only was able to get 50% through my Goodreads challenge and I feel really disappointed in all honesty. I read 42 out of 75, I read even less than last year! Between finishing my dissertation, my last year of university, working more hours than ever before, I have had to adjust my life and reading has taken a back step... only a little. I am still getting used to how I juggle my new hours, and with a new kitten, and even christmas... things have gotten just a little bit more jumbled up. I am hoping the more I get into a routine in 2016, the more time I can make for reading.

BUT... I am proud of and loved so many of those 42 books I read this year. I FINALLY read GAME of THRONEs... only the first one... but all the same... I am now on the road of the A Song of Ice and Fire Series!

I finally read Angelfall and loved it so much that I read the entire series and it is now amongst one of my favourite series.

Here are a few of my Upmost top favourite books of the year:

This is All by Aidan Chambers
Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight and Heir of Fire by Sarah J Mass
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
Remix by Non Pratt
The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith
Angelfall (Penryn and the end of days trilogy) by Susan E.E
Queen of Babble Trilogy by Meg Cabot
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella
The DUFF by Kody Keplinger
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith
I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson


These aren't all the books I loved but a large proportion of them. All of these I would highly recommend to!


It's been a good reading year, not my best and I think both my reading and my youtube and blogging has suffered this year too, I hope to improve on this in 2017...

So next year... well it's 2017 already... so...

I hope to read 52 books, I am keeping the goal the same and will increase it if I read more than planned and I am ahead of my reading schedule.

What do I want to read/look forward to?

I want to read a lot of my TBR pile as it is huge and I have a lot of books that I haven't touched that have been sitting around for years and I want to see what they are like. I also want to reduce the number of books I keep and I only keep my favourites as my house is quite small and I need all that room for all those new books I want to buy and read! I want to read the next book in ASOIAF series... is it a Feast for Crows? I have just heard that Meg Cabot is writing a sequel to the meditator series which i adored when I was younger. I want to read another Jane Austen novel, and at least 3 other classics. I want to try reading a few different genres. I want to re-read quite a few of my favourites as well.

I am hoping 2016 will be my best reading year yet and I can't wait to see what books are out there for me. What are your reading goals for 2016 and what are you most looking forward to?

Winter is Coming...

Most people who are reading this already can judge from the title where this post may be going... if not... where have you been the last few years! Winter is Coming. It's November the third when I am writing this and a few days I finished reading a particular popular book which I think I read at the right time of the year... because winter is coming guys! Okay I will try not and say Winter is Coming too much....

So the book I am talking about is none other than George R. R. Martin's GAME OF THRONES. Just felt I needed the capitalised emphasis there.

It is just so happened that when reading this book, I was having my lovely DIREwolf duvet on my bed... Okay they are just wolves... but I found it cool... 

So Game of Thrones... this is probably not going to be like more normal reviews... more of a ramble... I am in that sort of mood :P 

I first experienced the world of the seven kingdoms a few years back on holiday on the IOW with Andrew. Flash back to 2014, with this view: 

and fining the GOT seasons 1-3 box set in our cottage....

In the space of our week holiday, we had managed to binge watch the whole of series one and half way through series two, that and have a lovely holiday. 

I loved watching the series so much that when we got back from holiday we ordered the box set, which sat around the house for a year and a half untouched, and treated myself to the entire box set of the books from The Works, (I managed to get the books pretty cheap as the works has really good deals ;) ). The books also went untouched, until now that is. 

A few weeks ago, my hands gravitated towards the Game of Thrones and I was back in the world of Starks, Lannisters, Targaryens and more.  I had a few worries about reading this books though: 

1. Its a whooper of 780 pages. I have read large books before, but this was a different type of massive book to what I am used to and I thought this book would take me a while to plough through.

2. It was outside my normal reading comfort zone. I have read some fantasy books before, but mostly in the YA category. I don't have much experience with fantasy in terms of ASOIAF. I was scared that I would struggle to follow the storyline and the characters and I would find it hard going. 

3. It has been very hyped. I was worried that it being overhyped would mean it wouldn't live up to my expectations. 

Therefore I have a sense of pride saying that I have finished it because not only was I worried I wouldn't like it but I have found something else I love. And I did love it, I would rate this book a 4.5/5 stars. My worries I had at the start I felt immediately vanished, the book may have been enormous but I flew through it and was reading it any chance I could. I loved the characters and the world building. I have to say that Martin does an excellent job with world building and you end up being drawn into this original world. 

Obviously I already had an idea of what happened in the first book, but I didn't always remember that until I read it again. Me and Andrew have actually started re-watching the first series along with me reading the book, and it was really interesting to be reflecting upon the book and TV Show as I was following the same parts at the same time. The TV show is mostly true to the first book, there are some small differences and the fact that HBO does feel the need to up the sex and gore a lot... But I think they did a good job of the first book. However, the only difficulty when reading and watching along at the same time is the section of the book devoted to Daenerys. This was because her part in the book, is only every hundred pages or so and only for a few pages. However, the TV series tended to include her a little bit in each episode. This just meant that I made sure I had read the next Daenerys part before watching the next episode ... just in case :P 

So onto the book solely. 

The book is separated into several different character perspectives: Eddard Stark, Catelyen Stark, Arya Stark, Bran Stark, Jon Snow, Tyrion Lannister, Sansa Stark, Daenerys Targaryen ... I think that is it... but I will need to check again :P

Each chapter is quite short before you go on to another POV, and this really helped increase the pace of the book as you were able to jump between short sections. I had a few favourite POV which mostly coincides with my favourite characters. I really love the female characters in this book, particularly Daenerys and Arya. I love how they are such strong characters and how they develop across the book. I enjoyed reading Sansa's POV, even though she frustrated me throughout the whole entire book! I Loved read Jon Snow's section and Tyrions. To be honest I enjoyed most of the POV's, sometimes I found Eddard or Catelyen's POV a little dull, but there were really important aspects to the book and were needed to keep the story going. I love the dire wolves and basically any of the animals and found the animal deaths more difficult to deal with than the human ones. 

If you haven't already given these book a go I would say try it. It may surprise you! I am looking forward to reading the next book .... A Feast for Crows? Is that the next one? Anyway... I am not going to put it off as much as I did the first one! I hope to read it by the end of the year at least... but then I did just say it was November... so we shall see. 

I am trying to not include spoilers, even though I know the internet is full of them. So to give an outline of the book for those people who don't know anything, or very a little about the first book/series:

Game of Thrones, is what it says on the tin, its about the politics and competing houses fighting over who should be on the iron throne. There are wars, deaths etc. But there is the added fantasy element, that you get a whiff off throughout the book with undead creatures, unusual animals and the other. 

I don't really feel that does the books justice though, for that you would have to find out for yourselves :)

Review: The Geography Of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith

Review: The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E.Smith

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars ****

I received this book for review from BookBridgr in exchange for a honest review. 

The Geography of You and Me is a book I received ages ago and only recently managed to pick  up to read, and I am generally glad I did.

This book was my first ever Jennifer E. Smith books, I have seen her books about on BookTube but didn't pay my attention at the time it was most popular. Smith's other books that she is well known for are The Statistical probability of love at first sight and This is what happy looks like.


So what is this book about... The title and even the front cover give a lot of it away... it's a love story. The two main characters are Lucy and Owen and you follow their separate lives throughout. Lucy and Owen meet on chance in a New York hotel when they end up stuck in an elevator when there is a big power cut. Their brief encounter leaves a lasting mark and the book follows their stories as they both end up in different corners of the universe. Can a long distance relationship made up of postcards and emails, based of a chance encounter really work?

First of I think the book was somewhat fluffy and cliche and the storyline was somewhat predictable... BUT that didn't stop me loving this one all the same. Maybe I should do a post on how chick-lit is seen in society as a ...lesser than fiction and why it isn't... anyway back to my review... So yes, the books was a little bit fluffy, but sometimes that is what you need, a light lovey book to put a smile back on your face :)

I loved the idea of this book, particularly how the focus in a technological world... I say typing on my laptop... is taken away almost with the use of postcards. The two characters find a way to communicate, granted sometimes by email, but mostly through postcards. I love the way they talk about postcards in the book, and the way the work. It has made me want to buy a load of postcards and send them all to my nearest and dearest... but as most of them only live five minutes from me...
The focus on snail mail is a great addition, as the two characters are constantly moving about and therefore never really know if there letters will reach each other. I guess there is some kind idea of fate and destiny about the book, which I know I don't always believe in, but it creates the idea of hope in the story and I found that a really lovely aspect. Every now and again it is nice to get something that gives you hope :)

The nice thing about reading this book was the fact I finished it on holiday! I had this lovely view of the beach from my window, the best reading spot ever! That and I felt more connected to the story through my  own travelling :)

I think one of the great aspects about this book is the fact that even though the relationship is the central point to the story, you get to see both of the main characters living their own lives, dealing with their own problems. They both come from very different backgrounds, so it feels like each section from each characters POV has a very different contrast to the other. Family is featured as another large aspect in the book as well:) 

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would in simple terms, if you enjoy a light-hearted but somewhat emotional read then this may be good for you. It's YA and has a positive uplifting feel to it,  even though some parts may end up tearing you apart or frustrating you. I have read quite a few similar books to these recently where relationships are meant to be but just can't happen or can't happen until... for numerous reasons. For example, Where Rainbows End (Love, Rosie), I did a Bad Thing and The Best Thing that Never Happened to Me. 

All of those books had some frustration with them, even though I loved them... but that was because as a reader I could see the couples were meant for each other, and reading how and when and if they get to be together I think is generally a popular but also interesting love story. This book follows the idea that there are so many things that can stop two people being together, but does that mean they should give up?

All of those books had some frustration with them, even though I loved them... but that was because as a reader I could see the couples were meant for each other, and reading how and when and if they get to be together I think is generally a popular but also interesting love story. This book follows the idea that there are so many things that can stop two people being together, but does that mean they should give up?

Quotes:

Here are some wonderful quotes I have taken from Goodreads.com to emphasise some of my feelings of the book. The book was well written and uses some beautiful language :)

“But there's no such thing as a completely fresh start. Everything new arrives on the heels of something old, and every beginning comes at the cost of an ending.” 

“If you were to draw a map of the two of them, of where they started out and where they would both end up, the lines would be shooting away from each other like magnets spun around on their poles. And it occurred to Owen that there was something deeply flawed about this, that there should be circles or angels or turns, anything that might make it possible for the two lines to meet again. Instead, they were both headed in the exact opposite directions. The map was as good as a door swinging shut. And the geography of the thing- the geography of them- was completely and hopelessly wrong.” 

“Maybe they were never meant to have more than just one night. After all, not everything can last. Not everything is supposed to mean something.” 

“Sometimes it seemed as if his whole life was an exercise in waiting; not waiting to leave, exactly, but simply waiting to go. He felt like one of those fish that had the capacity to grow in unimaginable ways if only the tank were big enough. But his tank had always been small, and as much as he loved his home- as much as he loved his family- he'd always felt himself bumping up against the edges of his own life.” 

“Something like that," he said, his eyes shining, and she realized just how much there was she didn't know about him. He was like one of her novels, still unfinished and best understood in the right place and at the right time. She couldn't wait to read the rest.” 

“... they discover that sometimes it is a person rather than a place that anchors you most in the world.” 

“That was the thing about books, she was realizing; they could take you somewhere else entirely, it was true. but it wasn't the same thing as actually going there yourself.” 

Check out some more here

I hope you enjoyed my review, I really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to try some more of Jennifer's works :) 

Examples of Jennifer E. Smith's other works: 

This is what Happy Looks Like

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight 

Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between 

Review: This Is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers

This is All: The Pillow Book of Cordelia Kenn by Aidan Chambers

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars *****

Summary:

This is All by Aidan Chambers is a coming of age story about 19 year old Cordelia. The book is heavily character based rather than plot based. Cordelia uses the form of the Japanese Pillow Book to compile the story of her teenage years and her thoughts. This is All is the last book in a sequence of six novels that explore different aspects of teenage love and self discovery. Each book is a stand alone novel, so it doesn't matter if you have read them or not to read this one. The book ends up as a compilation to give to her daughter in the future to help her through her teenage years.

Note: This book is not suitable for younger readers as it contains some parts that can be quite disturbing, triggering or adult themed.

What is a Japanese Pillow Book? 

On the blurb it says Cordelia:

'passionately needs to write and choosing the old and famous Japanese pillow book as her model, she compiles the story of her teenage years'

What a pillow book is can be found through a quick 'google' but Chambers gives us a beautiful definition on the title page: 

This book is split into six sections: Book one is The Red Pillow Box, Book two is The Green Pillow Box, Book Three - The Orange Pillow Box, Book Four - The Black Pillow Box and Book 5 - Yellow and Book 6 - Blue. The order of the pillow book is explained at the end of the novel, but the book is compiled beautifully together. 

The Green Pillow box is the one part of the book that took me the longest to read, as it has a very unusual format. The left hand side of the page is (a) and the right hand (b). It does get a little confusing as you don't know what way to read them as the (a) sides follow the (a) narrative and (b) sides follow the (b) narrative. You can choose whichever way you want to read it, even the author, chambers, suggests this. On his website he addressed the why the green pillow box is written that way which I will highlight some of his answer here but if you want to read the whole answer check out his website: http://www.aidanchambers.co.uk/thisisall.htm 

In reference to this part he says: 

In Book One of TIA the passages are not jumbled, but are arranged so that there is a storyline to follow, with 'pillow book' poems and lists and Cordelia's thoughts on various subjects placed in between the episodes of the story. These passages sometimes relate to the episodes of the story and sometimes don't. In other words, Book One is very like Sei Shonagon's book, except that it has a clear storyline. The reader is expected to read the pages of Book One in sequence as they would any novel. But of course, we know that readers can do as they like, and that sometimes they skip and come back to the skipped passages later, and so on.

In Book Two, however, the story episodes are all together without any interruption on the right hand (b) pages, and the pillow book passages are all together on the left hand (a) pages. There is a relationship between the (a) and (b) pages but it isn't immediately obvious. The reader has to decide how to read the Book. You might decide to read all the (b) pages - the story pages - first, and then come back and read all the pillow book passages on the (a) pages. Or vice versa: all the (a) pages first and then all the (b) pages. Or you might 'interleave' them, so to speak - in other words, mixing the (a) and (b) passages for yourself, as you feel like it

I decided to read the chapter of the book as a normal book, and didn't find myself confused apart from when I put the book down for a few hours or days. If you do decide to read the chapter as a normal book from (a) to (b) to (a) pages, I would recommend reading as much in one sitting as possible. But you can read bits a pieces of each part however you want and whatever ever works for you, as that is how the author intended it to be read. 

My opinion of the Book

I fell in love with this book, I have never read anything like it before and I struggle to put into words how amazing this book is. The book talks to you, you find yourself inside the book as much as you read the story of the characters. The lyrical and poignant language is wonderful and enchants the reader. The book is highly rate on goodreads with an average rating of 4.28 and its very deserving of it. If you love words and writing and books and poetry and in general the power of words, I believe you will love this book. It is a chunky 800+ pages, but it is truly worth it and not all pages are full up with written text from top to bottom as there are poems and lists that fill pages.  I got this book from the library and it breaks my heart to give it back because I feel this is one book that the copy you read means so much to you, I ended up filling the pages with sticky notes where I found quotes and passages I fell in love with and found I really related to and was gutted to take them all out to hand the book back. 

Lots of books impact me, but there are a rare amount of books that give me this feeling after reading them, I don't know whether it's enlightenment or just give me the power to think and the feeling of reading a beautifully written book, but this gave me a similar feeling to that of when I read Markus Muzak's The Book Thief over five years ago.  Although the book is not plot centred, I found myself wanting to read more and more, and the writing has something to do with that. The rest of my review is just going to be parts of the book I adored for you to see why and how this book is now one of my favourites that I will always remember and stay with me. Enjoy! And I really recommend this book, if you ever get a chance to read this, do :) 

Quotations and Passages I loved (THERE IS A LOT!):  

(P.S, some of these quotes are just for me, as future reference and documentation to remember my favourite bits, but I hope some of this intrigues you. I don't think any of these really spoil the book at all though)

p.29

'I like that phrase, 'beside myself', it's so right. At such time you do feel you're two people - the angry one exploding your body, and the other you, watching - calm, cool, scornful of your tiresome anger'. 

P.53

'Everyone wants to all someone into their most secret self. Everyone feels so alone inside their deepest wish is for someone to know their secret being, because then they are alone no longer' 

P.113

Here in the book, for Cordelia's 16th Birthday she is given a dictionary of every word Shakespeare has ever used or made and for me a lit student, this was amazing, I wanted my own copy! The book is feature often in the book and hope one day I can own something just like it, or it!: 

P.134

This quotation I loved, because one of modules at university was Literature and Psychoanalysis where I wrote an essay about Doctor Who and the use of the Uncanny and some of the research I looked at reminded me of this and I found it not only a reminder of really interesting theories but also beautifully written: 

' Mili-second of light- shadows caught by chemistry in the tomb of a camera. Photos are always memorials, the graves of ghosts. All photo albums are cemeteries' 

P.147 

Paths - 'How many feet make a path? All those previous soles still imprinted in the earth. All paths are history written in footprints. We keep them alive by reprinting them with our own footsteps. History dies without the present. There is no future without the path made to it by the past'. 

P.157

'There are times when I feel I could blow up the entire world and myself with it' 

P.200

This page Cordelia lists 'some beautiful things', this quote is for book lovers everywhere: 

'A well produced new book: the look, the smell, the sound, the feel of it in my hands as I open it for the first time. In my opinion, a well-made book is the most beautiful and user friendly object ever made by human beings' 

p.202

On the continued lists of beautiful things Cordelia talks about daffodils as they are brave. I loved this part as Daffodils are my favourite flowers. I found myself so much in the character of Cordelia. 

On this page she also talked about who she is writing to which I think is really interesting from a writers POV. 

Who am I writing to? 'Perhaps the self who writes is writing to, and writing for, one of more of my other selves. Maybe my readers are my other selves' 

P.208

This is a poem Cordelia includes and it really spoke to me. 

' Sometimes

I wish I 

Were what I 

Was when I

Wished I were

What I am now' 

p.224

This section sees Cordelia write about old sayings made new + Unusual and amusing words. This part I highly recommend as it breaks apart language we don't think anything about and finds words that are perfect for using in places where you didn't know there was a word for it. 

P.260/262

 On these pages Cordelia talks about why she loves rain and English weather and this part really spoke to me as it summed up my own thoughts about rain and English weather and how wonderful it is and how lucky I am to live in a climate that is so varied and changing. 

p.264

Cordelia talks about footnoting and the conundrum about them being in a book and how to read them which I really loved and found interesting. What do you think about footnotes in a book, do they distract you from the story or do you enjoy them? 

Before I highlight one of my favourite parts of the books I want to include a few more pages I really loved. 

p.276 - sleep

p.310 - past present and future

p.487 - chapter 15

p.496/7 - what is imagination?

p.550-552 - bed

p.569 - future and being decisive 

p.570/571 changing from a child to an adult and the way what we think and act differs so much

p.681 - learning

p.688 - studying English lit and careers

p.752

and The Afterword

As you can see this book I found myself wanting to highlight everything and write on the pages, but I couldn't because it was a library book. But here is one of my favourite bits :P 

p.562-563

The End :)  I hope you enjoyed this review, It is very different to my normal ones, mostly because I didn't know how to describe this book other than show you through the language and quotations I adored. Let me know if you have read this book or plan on reading it :) 

'Currently Reading' ...

Okay, if anyone has ever been on my GoodReads they will soon realise that I am crazy. And when I say Crazy, this is what I mean....

On my shelving system I have a lot of books, a lot is probably an understatement: 

Read (573) : Now to me this is nothing, tip of the iceberg crazy. In 21 years of life I have put as any books as I can remember reading throughout my life on this so far. I started GoodReads in 2009, and pretty much since then recorded a on-the-go record of my reading, so most of the detailed reviews come from the books that I have read since 2009. However, as I said, I have put a lot of childhood books on there, not to up my read pile, but more of a reminder of the books I used to read, books I may want to re-read, books I may want to share with my future children. So to me, this number is not crazy crazy... especially in the book world. However, I know some people will think it is. 

Next...

Currently reading (8): As you can tell from the title of this post, it's about books I am currently reading, so I will come back to this one. And this is quite crazy as it is. 

To Read (6852): Yes, you read that correctly 6852... that is six thousand, eight hundred and fifty two.... 

I am crazy. I will never read all those books. and I know it.... hell I don't own that many either... take away 6000 and you have a rough amount of the books I own (which is still a hell of a lot). My To Read is so high, for many reasons:

1. I like books.... I know, we already gathered that! But I will see a lot of books, and go 'hey, that looks good' and add it because hey... it looked good. I am not picky, I will try anything once and read a wide variety of genres. 
2. I started GoodReads in 2009... I know I already said, but at that time I was 15? Here is where my maths fails me... but the point is my book taste has also changed, there are many books on there that I probably don't want to read anymore... you are probably thinking, why doesn't she take them off... Well I really see taking the time to go through almost 7000 books, not the best use of my time... 
3. Free Books, okay this is probably not the best reason... GoodReads giveaways used to (nowhere near as much now) take up a few hours of my time a week. I used to scroll through to find any books that seem interesting and entered for a free copy. However, this meant that I ended up adding them all to me To Read list too... Now I used to add a lot of books that looked on moderately  interesting because I couldn't resist freebies. Now, I don't add books unless I am really interested... space is an issue. However, I read some books I never thought I would enjoy through that method and found genres that I would have never found before.
4. Okay... basically old me, had a lot of spare time...


My shelves on GoodReads are BIG, so choosing what to read is always a challenge. The challenge does not start with my enormous To Read pile though. It starts with Currently Reading...

I have 8 books I am 'Currently Reading'... I have put it in inverted commas because I am not really reading them right now... I never used to have so many books I was currently reading until I started university. I used to stick to one book at a time and that was easy and simple. But university meant I had to be reading several books at the same time. It also meant that I had to put down books often to pick up a new one, only to put that one down unfinished and start another.... see the pattern? When I started uni back up in January, I was currently reading one book, but had to put it down for uni and ever since then uni reading has got in the way of picking it up, and each one of them I have had to put down for another book for uni... So my 'currently reading' looks a little bit like this: 

How did I get into this mess?

Let's start by the one that has been on there for the longest amount of time:

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

This book was added May last year, I was reading it ... for uni. Now the reason it is still up there is that it is all short stories. I have read all but three or four of them. For this reason I cannot see the point of taking it of the 'currently reading' shelve to To Read, as I have almost finished it... But I also cannot bring myself to say I have Read it... when I haven't... not cover to cover. Short stories are good, but I find a collection of them I never read all of them. Hence, quite often they sit in the middle ground of 'currently reading' until I feel like reading the last few stories... 

Allegiant 

Okay, I started reading this series over christmas break. In all honesty I am not enjoying as much as I hoped, it's okay... kind of overhyped. But that is for another day... This book I read probably only 20 pages until I thought, I really need to get on with uni reading before I go back for semester two. The book has sat there ever since. 

Now That I've Found You

A Review copy I received. I tried to read this before it's release date but as with Allegiant.. Uni took over my life. 

... And The Rest of the Books....

All the uni books, I have started and had to put down to start another one, or to start an essay, or to write a dissertation.... 

So I have Finished uni now, no more books to read. I am free to read my own books now! But this 'currently reading' shelve is interfering with my freedom. How do I choose which book to read when I have all this I have started, staring at me and judging me for putting them down barely read. So what do I do? Part of me just wants to wipe the slate clean, clear my 'currently reading' shelve and choose my next book with the freedom to know that there is no other book my time is committed to. But I feel like doing that I am committing myself to an endless cycle of books that I may not be 'currently reading' but in my head I know I am... I know that if I take them off, I will have to re-read all that I have already read... and hence, the book becomes not as enjoyable because I have to push myself through to get to the part I haven't read... in order to say that book is done. That makes me seem like I am not reading the books for enjoyment... but I am... all the books on my 'Currently Reading' pile are all books that look really good or interesting. But do I have the time to give them the attention a few years down the line, to the parts I have already read? So I am stuck... stuck between the books I have started, but not reading, and the huge pile of books To Read that is endless and feels like freedom right now. After university, I am yearning that freedom, that endless possibility of choice to what I pick up next. 

So what do I do?

How far into a book are you, when you are actually 'reading it'. I have books that I have read 10 pages off, books that I have read 100 pages off and books that I am over half way through. If I am only 10 pages through though, have I really started the book? 

So for peace of mind, do I clear all the books off that I haven't really started? If I am only a few pages in, will it make a difference to me re-reading just them few pages really. 

In that case off comes The Devil Wears Prada, The Marlowe Papers, Allegiant...

But the Borrowers, won't take me long to read... I can read that in a day, even though I am only a few pages through... And A Thousand Acres, have I only just begun or am I halfway there...  Do I include that I have actually started to re-read Uglies, even though it's not on my 'currently reading' shelve?

Welcome to the trials and tribulations of the 'currently reading' shelve, where your soul is tortured through books you have started and want to finish, but they are like tiny chains tying you down to them, even though you haven't read them in ages. When does reading turn from become a hobby, a thing you enjoy, to a indecisive battle between the millions of books that exist? I am just overwhelmed by the choices of books in the world, or am I lazy abandoner who doesn't like to finish what they have started? Or am I just reading too many books, because I using random household objects for bookmarks...


Maybe I am just making this more difficult than it actually is.... 
Sometimes you need to just pick up a book and start.... instead of contemplating over everything. 

My advice to myself... Just Read! 

Review: Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek By Maya Van Wagenen

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for A Modern Geek By Maya Van Wagenen

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars ****

Plot:

Popular: Vintage Wisdom for a Modern Geek, follows the journey of thirteen year old Maya as she goes from a 'social outcast' to 'popular'. That is the very oversimplified plot though. Maya has always been a social outcast and one day she comes across a 1950's guide to being popular and decides she will follow a different chapter each month and experiment to whether the advice given in the 1950s is still fitting today. From hair and make-up to confidence, Maya takes each piece of advice and tries to apply it to her life in the 21st Century. Through this she discovers what it really means to be 'popular'.

Review:

Okay, so I have mixed feelings on this book, I would give a 3.5/4 stars because of this. Let's start of on a negative note so I can end positively. I think one of the things that I didn't like about the book, which I have found many people have said on GoodReads, is that it is too 'nice'. By that I mean at times it was too sickly-sweet. I found that despite being perceived as not popular and bullied a little, Maya already has quite a happy life. However, that being said she does learn a lot through the process... ( we will come back to that). One of my bigger issues was that someone so young was dieting and worried about body image, even though the end doesn't promote this, the book still goes through chapters and chapters highlighting how Maya changes herself to make herself popular. The end doesn't follow this message, but Maya has still taken on advice to change herself and image, as to become more popular. Maya's age can be seen throughout her writing sometimes, however most of the time she writes really well. I think with age and practice though, she will become a better writer. There may be a few other small points that I wasn't happy with at the time of reading, but  I want to go on to the positives for now.

So first of, I want to say Maya must have been really brave to experiment with some of the ideas in this book, from wearing pantaloons to talking to people she has never talked to before. Maya jumps completely outside her comfort zone and encourages you to do so to. However, even though Maya does encourage the reader, I will probably not do much moving outside my comfort zone, maybe because I am lot older than the Maya, but I feel sometimes the book suggests you have to force yourself to impress others. I feel safer in my private cocoon. Anyway, despite the issues with some of the chapters, the end picked up for me... and although I wanted to shake Maya throughout the book and tell her that popularity does not matter, in the end she realises so.

One part I would have liked to know more about was the area she lived in, I don't know anything about the kind of life people live in that area apart from what Maya tells me and from Drills due to armed robberies across the street from their school and gangs, I want to know more about the area.

The end of the book is what really made the book for me... so SPOILER ALERTS FROM HERE ON....


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The last few chapters were what made the book, for me, able to reach 4 stars. Now this was because the body image ideal was thrown away and it was more about confidence and being yourself. When Maya does a week where she sits with each different table of people at her school, from 'social outcasts' to 'Football Fanatics', I loved the fact she was breaking the status quo. But doing so she wasn't just doing something to meet new people, but doing something that made a statement to the people around her. People can mingle, you don't have to be in one particular group to talk to a particular type of people. At my school, we did have 'popular' people, but the groups weren't like how American High School is presented on TV or in books. We just had friendship groups in the end, and they weren't exclusive either. But at Maya's school this 'ideal' stood and she was able to break it. Her  actions didn't just change herself, but the people around her. I also love the fact that she interviews people on what being popular is and whether they are popular. I would have loved more of this interview technique throughout the book, a bit like Candance Bushnell's Sex and The City , journalist idea. I would have liked to know what other people thought about clothes, hair, skin etc...

I wanted to also know more about her family as well, I felt that although the story was about Maya's journey that her family had some interesting characters and there is potential for more stories surrounding them?

Below I will insert some quotations I really loved and why :) :

This quote I really love because it is true. When tragedy strikes, the barriers disappear between groups of people. As a human response we respond to another persons pain and we can see this through just watching films and reading books. However, I would also like to add that big celebrations also break down boundaries, a happy event can allow everyone to express themselves. But we are all human is what Maya is really saying.

This one may be a little difficult to see, but is says 'Why is everyone so scared of one another?'. This I feel links a lot to the previous quotation. I like this one, because if you walk around, you find that people try not to talk or make eye contact with one another. ( I should know, I do this too) Especially in the UK and in big cities. Maya asks an important question. Why are we scared? or more importantly why am I scared?

This one is also not very clear, late night reading, equals late night quotation photographs. This one I found resonated a lot to me. I am the latter in the equation though.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, I feel it aimed a lot younger than me and I feel like some of the book was hard to relate to. However, the messages that Maya leaves at the end is easily relatable to teenagers. I loved some of the writing style, and some of the thoughts Maya puts across, and feel that she is an author to look out for in the future. I feel this books will be beneficial because of the overall message for teenagers, however I hope they don't find themselves dieting and changing their look just to be come 'popular'.  I feel without the book Maya would have experimented with some of the things in the book anyway and found her own voice and style as part of growing up. But I guess it is always helpful to have a guiding voice a long the way through Betty, which know Maya can provide to others.


Recommend to: teenagers who believe the concept of popularity needs to change and want to find out what popularity really means.


Popularity is just a social concept: the idea that certain people are seen as better for having more friends or being a certain way. Remember, it's not how many friends you have, it's the type of friends you have. 

WORLD BOOK DAY

If you didn't know already, today is World Book Day :D One of my favourite days of the year, which some people will think is a little sad, but for a book lover, who can really blame me. A day to celebrate everything bookish? I mean what is better?

Unfortunately I won't be doing much bookish things this year, I haven't really done much in the past few years though. However, I am writing this post because World Book Day means a lot to me, and even though I have dissertations and essays to write, I want to share with you what World Book Day means to me.

I have always have fond memories of books in general from when I was younger, but World Book Day is something that does stand out. The only thing I don't like about World Book Day is that it kind of goes off your radar once you finish secondary school and if you no longer work with children or books. There is not much around for adults on World Book Day, it's very focused on the children. Which makes me sad because books aren't just for children, I guess once a lot of people leave school they leave reading behind with it. But not me :) But I don't mind the focus on children for World Book Day, without it I wouldn't have so many fond memories of it.

First thing is the dressing up! Now me and my family took dressing up seriously. We made costumes and put together things we had around the house for World Book Day. Going into school with all the teachers and all the students (apart from the odd few) dressed up as character and having to guess what book they were from. Trying to remember all the different costumes I wore over my childhood years is impossible. But I remember in Year 6, dying to dress up as Tracy Beaker from Jacqueline Wilson's books and the BBC TV series. The frustration of this, was for a girl who had dead straight hair that refused to curl, it was kind of difficult to dress up as a girl with black crazy curls. Yet, despite the let down in my basic biology, I still dressed up as Tracy Beaker for the day.

Another of my memories of dressing up for World Book Day comes from me and my sister dressing up as the queen of hearts. Now I have to say my mum is pretty amazing at helping with these costumes, she would find simple things and make them look amazing. We had our own little trays with Jam Tarts on (not real ones though) and little hearts painted on our cheeks. For me the whole part of dressing up on World Book Day was really opening up your imagination with it, really getting stuck in with your creativity and immersing yourself into the world of fictional characters. I have other days at school where we dressed up and I loved them all, I can't remember whether some of them was for World Book Day or not though. The two instance above though I remember as distinctly being World Book Day.

The funny thing is, on my 18th birthday... it may not have been World Book Day, but I basically created that... Everyone had to come dressed up as a book character and the whole party was book themed as much as we possibly could. Thanks to my mum again who even though probably would say she isn't but she is. She is such a creative person and comes up with some amazing ideas to create costumes and food and decorations. I think she has really taught me that it's the simple silly details that make it all worth it sometimes, in life particularly. I was dressed up as Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice <3 I think I need to write a post about dressing up as looking back through old pictures, so many fond memories of just dressing up. I mean who doesn't love a bit of fancy a dress... okay I know not everyone does. But it's a bit of fun and I love it :D AND CHECK OUT BUZZFEED'S 2015 WORLD BOOK DAY COSTUMES!!!! THE CUTENESS!!! http://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/kids-who-are-winning-world-book-day?bffb&utm_term=4ldqphz#.hprOPj2JY

Next up is the Book fairs! Oh how I loved having the school hall filled with books and wondering around looking at all the endless possibilities there were, the endless amounts of worlds, characters and journeys I could embark on. I brought some good books from those fairs. If only I could remember some of them right now!

Okay next up is a little thing and it may be a little materialistic but oh well.... it's the £1 off book Tokens! I don't even think it was the fact I got a £1 off a book or could get a book for free out of a small chosen selection. To me it was all part of the package that is World Book Day. Sadly, I am too old to get a pound of a book, but then again I have the money to pay an extra pound anyway. But that little voucher was one of the best presents you could get... Well me anyway. When I got into secondary school I remember as the years went on, less and less people wanted the book vouchers and knowing I was such a book obsessed person, I would end up with a pile of book tokens people no longer wanted. I wasn't complaining :P

I generally love the idea of World Book Day. Books are such a big part of my life, they may not be a big part of other people's lives... and I won't ever disrespect them because of that. But I feel like everyone has a memory of reading a book they loved, whether at school or later in life. And if they haven't, I believe that book is still out there waiting for them. Because I honestly believe with the millions and millions of books out there, there is at least one book that will suit you, whether non-fiction, romance, YA, fantasy and sci-fi, crime etc... You will find your book if you haven't.

So my plan for today may not be very book involved, but I hope in the future to become a big part of World Book Day. I want to promote reading and the love and enjoyment of books. I am currently looking at library jobs for after Uni and if I do go into that career, I really really can't wait for World Book Day as a librarian :)





Image sources: Photographs - My own,  Book Token: http://www.judgemeadow.leicester.sch.uk/_files/images/Learning/English/World%20Book%20Day%202013/446E99235E872CF6ED362D9998544787.jpg,
World Book Day Logo: https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/510377084967866368/nMRh8YrN_400x400.jpeg