Winter reading 2016

The last week I have been away and didn't have any internet, which meant I got to do a bit of reading which was so much fun! So here are the books I've read over the past few weeks:

A tiny bit marvellous- Dawn French

Everyone has a junk room/ area in their house (even Monica from Friends had one, so this is a scientific fact... obviously) but these holidays my parents decided to clean it out and go through the boxes of stuff we have accumulated over the years. Anyway, that is a completely different story, but what I was getting at, is that we have a lot of books. Like a lot of books, as I'm from a family who loves reading and it just so happened that I stumbled across 'A tiny bit marvellous'. I have been a massive fan of Dawn French, having been raised on watching 'The Vicar of Dibley', so I was instantly intrigued to read her novel. As she is a genius of skits with her partnership with Jennifer Saunders, it was hardly a surprise to find that Dawn French is a talented writer.

Written through the eyes of three characters: Mo (mother going through a mid-life crisis), Dora (moody teenager, soon turning 18) and Peter, aka Oscar (younger son, who is obsessed with Oscar Wilde), each point of view is impressively written with three very distinct voices. The events that take place during the novel itself are just the motions of everyday life, with work, school, personal crises, however it is an insight into the dynamics between members of a fictitious family.
6.5/10

Me before you- Jojo Moyes 
I've referred to this incredible novel a couple times when I talked about my existential reading crisis as well as the From Page to Screen, however, there is nothing wrong with giving a novel such as this with endless praise. Written in the first person, I became so emotionally involved in the life of Louisa and her relationship with her employer Will. Louisa is a 26 year old, newly employed on a six month contract to be the carer and companion of Will, who after being the victim of a motorbike accident, is a quadriplegic. At first it appears that Will absolutely resents her presence, but as time progresses and they get to know each other better, a friendship forms as Louisa becomes desperate to show him that life is still worth living. A definite must read, as it is heartwarming as well as heartbreaking and I encourage to read it when you're not in public so you can not feel embarrassed when you start to cry.
10/10 

The Single Girl’s To-Do List- Lindsey Kelk 
I read this straight after 'Me before you', so it was a tough act to follow, but Lindsey Kelk's novel was so much fun to read (especially after the tear jerker of Moyes novel). It was light and entertaining, about list loving Rachel who unexpectedly gets dumped by her boyfriend of five years. She has never been single and with the help of her two best friends, they create a list to help Rachel realise her potential at being independent. From having a makeover, getting a tattoo, bungee jump, travel to another country, writing a rude letter to her ex, etc. the group of friends that Kelk has created, leave you feeling satisfied with your read. I wanted to read other books she had written. I also liked the extra touch at the end of the book where there are people's 'Single Girl's to-do list', which I actually found really inspiring, as it just allows people to figure out what they want to do in their lives and to challenge themselves and take risks.
7/10 



The End of Summer- Rosamunde Pilcher
Sometimes we read something and at the end of it you’re like “well, that was pointless”. I didn’t enjoy reading ‘The End of Summer’ and the only reason why I finished the book was because it was short and thought I may as well read to the end. It wasn’t because the quality of writing was bad that I didn’t like it, it was I personally thought the content and characters were boring and quite flat. I also thought the protagonist was a weak person who came across as an anti-feminist, in the sense that she was perfectly fine with being dependent on her dad, didn’t want to go out and get a job to claim her independence, but instead had the ambition to find security by one day finding a husband and look after him… this was written in the late 20th century, so I think this mentality is very outdated, and it may just be my own interpretation, but it impacted on my overall opinion of the book. I just was very underwhelmed and unimpressed.
3/10 

Wait for you- J Lynn 
Okay, I’m going to be very honest. This year I made a new years resolution: "to have no dramas this year." That sounds like a really odd resolution, but you need to trust me when I say, the last few years have been a bit crazy with dramas. But I decided that this year I wasn’t going to get involved in things I shouldn’t and focus on my final year of studies instead. At the beginning of this resolution, there may have been a few hiccups but I was really good at doing a bit of maintenance and now I feel like I’m beginning to get my life together with plans after I finish this degree.

What has that got to do with ‘Wait for you’, you may ask. Well, since I have been living a drama-free life, it is relatively boring compared to the drama filled chaos that I’ve been used to. Now I’m living vicariously through other people’s stories, one of which is J Lynn’s book. It’s sad, but it’s true, I really enjoyed reading this book because it filled a gap in my life that I have been avoiding this year. Yep, as I said, I am being very honest, embarrassingly so, because this book is so well written that it has the ability to make your heart race and become breathless.

Avery is in her first year of university, attempting to leave behind her past and family and starting afresh in a place where no one knows her. But the past still haunts her, and when she literally runs into Cam, the perfect guy, she at first is nervous and jittery. As time goes by and they become closer and things get quite passionate between them, she begins to confront the past and move on with her life, learning to trust Cam. And he really is the perfect guy: beautiful, funny, easygoing and he bakes her food! I very happily was living vicariously through this book, so if anyone else is planning on having a drama free year like me, tick of approval goes to this book.
8/10 

Tiny Dancer

A month ago I mentioned Elton John very briefly in my post about Bob Dylan's 'Blowing in the Wind' and thought it was about time that I featured one of his songs. I'm going to admit, I grew up listening to very little of Elton John, knowing only really 'The Lion King' soundtrack and what I heard in an episode of 'The Vicar of Dibley' and later on, I furthered my knowledge with the soundtrack of 'Gnomeo and Juliet' (which is a great movie).

Since then, I have built a small collection of his songs (I only have eight, but one day, it will grow). Alongside 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road', 'Your song' and 'Rocket Man', one of my other favourites and possible my ultimate favourite, is 'Tiny Dancer'. The reason why I chose to write about this song in particular is because yesterday I re-watched 'Love, Rosie' where it is featured. I remember the first time I watched the movie and heard the song, I vaguely recognised it and thought it was brilliant.  But I had absolutely no idea what it was called and couldn't remember any of the lyrics and I kept on asking people if they knew the song that went like "da da da da dada daaaaa" and I got very blank faces or very amused faces as a response. It only happened by chance when one of my friends gave me a couple Elton John songs and I listened to 'Tiny Dancer' and I literally jumped out of my seat and shouted "THIS IS THE SONG!!!!" I was really excited to finally find it and listen to it again.

So here it is, 'Tiny Dancer', which is a great song that is an absolute classic and I'm sure if you don't recognise the name (like I didn't), you'll definitely recognise the tune...

From page to screen: "Me before You"

One of the biggest fears that book-nerds like me have is when books we love turn into movies that just aren't good. There was absolutely no need to worry when it comes to the movie adaptation of Jojo Moyes' beautiful novel 'Me before You'. It was a fantastic film that completely does the book justice. The novel is heartbreaking and heartwarming, which transpired into the film. 

I walked out of the cinema sighing with relief and happiness, because the two friends I saw it with haven't read the book and I had been going on and on and on about how much I loved Moyes novel and hyping it up. And both of them loved the film and said they were willing to pay and see the movie again and now want to read the book too. YAY! Because I really had been talking about this film and book all year. I first saw the trailer for the movie in January and straight away I was so excited and couldn't wait to see it. So for the past six months I have been watching as many versions of the trailer on youtube, as well as a couple of interviews and it was this time last week when I actually read the book, and fell in love with the story and characters instantly. 

Louisa Clark is a 26 year old who is recently unemployed and finds a job (without any qualifications or previous experiences) as the carer and companion of Will. Will, two years previously was a successful businessman working in London, loved holidaying to exciting places and was leading a great life, until he was run down in a motorcycle accident which lead him to a spinal cord injury. Now a quadriplegic, Will meets Louisa and although at first resentful for her presence, during her six month contract, they form a friendship. Desperate to prove to Will that his life is still worth living, Louisa is determined to create fun days out and activities, which don't always go according to plan. 

Written in the first person through the eyes of Louisa, the reader too feels the anxiety of a new job, the daunting and awkward moments with the encounters with Will and his family, and the urgency that grows throughout the six months spending time with him. This was not lost in the film, as Emilia Clarke seems to be made for the role of Louisa. She is perfectly awkward and bright, quirky and loveable, and the chemistry between co star Sam Claflin, is beautiful to watch. 

The relationship between the two characters is a balance of tentative and intimate, which although sounds like a contradictory statement, is clearly portrayed on the screen and validates that statement. The story itself features sensitive subjects, for example, Dignitas, which the film depicts with the same sensitivity and understanding which is demonstrated in Jojo Moyes' book and an insight into Will's need for choice.

Not only were the actors perfectly cast, the set and landscape was exactly how I imagined it to be. When watching the movie, it felt like I was reading the book all over again, which is such a wonderful feeling, as it just matched my imagination so well. Mind you, I did watch trailers so many times, so that would have impacted on me subconsciously, but I really and honestly believe that this film  is one of the best novel adaptations I've ever seen, as it stuck so true to the book. Obviously there were a few things that were left out in the film, but they weren't key essential points. I also imagined the mother of Will to be a lot more intimidating than she was in the movie, but I think Janet McTeer's portrayal of Camilla was better and more believable than what my imagination gave me. I also thought that the character Patrick was more of a dick in the novel than in the movie, but I'm okay with that. 

Also with a great soundtrack- featuring two Ed Sheeran songs, both 'Thinking out loud' and 'Photographs' appropriately chosen- this movie really had everything well thought out. As I said earlier, it is a heartbreaking and heartwarming read and watch, which will make you cry from love and sadness. I can easily give both book and film 10/10 

Walking the train line

Every now and then I get weird urges/ ideas. One which I've wanted to do for the past couple of months was to walk along my train line for as long as possible and one day to eventually walk the whole way. There are 23 stations on my train line and it's a considerably long way, however this Monday a couple of my closest friends and I decided to take advantage of the sunny day and attempt this task.

We took the train into the city and from there we headed off back the way we came, but this time on foot. We started at 10:30am and we didn't stop for any breaks or sit down until 4:45pm at our 17th station, and that was only because the sun was beginning to set and we didn't want to walk in the dark. But we walked the majority of the train line and I can honestly say that it was one of the most proudest moments of my life and I'm so glad that I got to share that feeling with my two amazing friends (who happily agreed to go along with my crazy plan).

At the end of the day, the area between my hips and thighs were a bit achy, and when I finally sat down after that walking marathon, I felt like a marshmallow melting on a hot surface. It was glorious having a long warm shower and curling up in my pyjamas that evening, while stuffing my face with a hearty roast and watching TV. But I had such a fantastic day. It was a really beautiful day with bright blue skies, and being winter, the sun wasn't harsh or burning. We got to walk through unfamiliar streets, noticing things we never would have realised existed if we were on our usual train journey. It was really interesting seeing the differences in suburbs as we got further and further away from the city, starting off with the old terrace houses of the inner suburbs then gradually moving through to houses surrounded by eucalyptus and native plants in more of our local areas.

Plus, it was great spending time with my friends and we're planning to finish walking the rest of the train line one day soon. And like the great selfie generation the 21st century has become, we managed to document our progress and the sites, but in the sake of anonymity, here is a photo of the scenery of our midway point in the journey:

Existential reading crisis

This year, because with studies becoming more hectic and full on, I hadn't the opportunity to read recreationally for so long. I would have to read two novels a week for some subjects, and other further readings with my other subjects, so I never had time to sit down, get a book of my own choice and just read recreationally. And because it had been such a long time since I had read recreationally, now that I have entered the winter holidays and have the chance to pursue this much loved hobby of mine, I realised that I had no idea what type of book I wanted to read. Hence the "existential reading crisis" heading.

I realised that the period of my life where I read almost a book a day, was when I was in high school. I used to read books that involved teenage girls in high school and the hot new guy would be paired up with her for a project and then they fall in love, etc. or when there was a new guy in town and she finds out he really is a fallen angel/ vampire/ demon hunter/ werewolf and while discovering this new world, she had to work out how to finish her maths homework... the point is, they were usually 16 years old and struggling through high school. It was a great escape for me when I was that age too, but now that I'm 21, I really don't want to read about school for fun. And I don't want to read books that my mum reads, about 50+ year olds who find out that their husband is cheating on them and so they decide to go on a holiday in Spain where they find new love. I wanted to read about people who are roughly around my age group, 18 years old minimum and 35 years old maximum, preferable in their early 20's (ha! just realised I sounded like a relationship website) so I can relate part of myself with what I'm reading. But where on earth are these books found on the library shelf????

My public library isn't that big, and walking through the 'young adult/ teen ager' section, I saw that I had read the majority of the books on the shelf. And the ones I haven't read, I have read the blurbs at some point over the last decade and had no desire to read them. So I ventured to the fiction section of the library and it was unfamiliar territory, where I had no choice but to pull out books at random and read the blurb. After 45 minutes of critical selection, I came back from the library with seven possible reads. And I'm actually really excited, but I want to be impressed because I just finished an incredible book.

At the beginning of this year, I saw the movie trailer of 'Me before you', which is coming out in a few days time. I have been so excited about seeing this film and have watched multiple versions of the trailer since I first saw it in late January. So I decided to read the novel before I see the movie. Jojo Moyes's novel is absolutely excellent! On Sunday, I spent the entire day in bed reading. I was so thrilled to be able to do that like I used to. It was such a wonderful day, of me just reading all day like I used to, and loving the story I was getting emotionally invested with.

The reason why I didn't write a music post yesterday was because I was out all day and when I got home that evening, I continued reading  and couldn't put the book down until I finished it at 2am, where I was silently bawling my eyes out (because of the content, not because I finished the book). It is an absolutely beautiful read which I highly recommend and I can't wait until I see the movie. 

'Me before you' has helped me overcome my existential reading crisis, giving me faith in recreational reading again. When I was younger, I was really addicted to reading, to the point where I would take off days of school so I could just read. I still remember the first time I did that, which was when I was 12 and the last Harry Potter book had just came out; I took a week off school for that. There was a point when I didn't do homework because all I wanted to do was read, and my mum threatened to confiscate my book from me... yes, I was the child who would read until the early hours of the morning with a torch under the blankets. 

Broken

Occasionally I have a habit of listening to one song on repeat throughout the duration of writing an essay, if I'm writing in a long block. I think my record was 'Alone again (naturally)' by Gilbert O'Sullivan, playing it 166 times over the course of three days. Yeah, I don't think I'll even manage to break that record (and I feel like that might be a very good thing), but last week when writing my final essay for the semester, I was listening to a variety of musicians and albums, until I ended up listening to Jake Bugg's song 'Broken'.

My iTunes library was on shuffle, and I'm the type of person who has to listen to music when working because it actually helps me concentrate on the task at hand, instead of allowing all the random thoughts that would normally pop up in my mind. After a while, I somehow manage to tune out the songs, still listening to it, but it's just sort of like white noise in the sense that it is always there, but I don't really notice it unless I really change my focus back to the music. But when 'Broken' came on and it was late in the evening after a long day of continuous work, I literally was broken from the "essay-trance" and was quite spellbound. And that's when I began listening to it on repeat. It's one of those songs that has the ability to stop you in your tracks  and your heart sort of flutters achingly with a sense of loss, which you don't know where it came from.

The lyrics themselves, I find are quite mysterious, not quite able to grasp the meaning, so I just think it's really open for the individual to reflect for their own interpretation. For me, I imagine it's about someone who tried and then gave up on life, and the singer is mourning and trying to hold on to them and the possibility of hope for a future, despite the brokenness of the person left behind. I don't really know. I may be just completely stupid and missing the obvious which everyone else gets, but that's what I imagine.

The acoustic guitar opening is soothing and when the subtle beat of the drums, it's like a faint heartbeat that grows stronger and it becomes your own heart which motions the song forward as well as the listener. It's just beautiful in every sense.

Study Buddies

After what felt like endless amounts of homework and multiple essays and assignments due each week, it is finally the end of the semester and the beginning of the winter holidays!
This week I had two 2000 word essays due and I was really proud that I finished each of them before the due date, which is so unlike me. I was so productive each day and the only reason why that was  possible is because I discovered the perfect study buddy, who just happens to be one of my best friends ever, which makes it even better. As she likes to put it, we create "positive peer pressure" for each other, because despite doing completely different subjects... like total opposites, we work hard when we are together.

I've finally acknowledged the fact that my home environment is too full of distractions for me. Being the only person who has to study in the household, it means that I don't really have anyone to tell me they need to do homework and need quiet, or they need everyone to focus. But at my friend's house, which is already my second home anyway, we both need to work. So, sharing a table, we both can see the other studying, which means that I feel like I have to study too because I don't want to distract them from doing their absolute best. Because, she is one of the most amazing person on the planet, I want her to do well and I don't want to stop her from doing her very best. Which means I can't complain about being lazy, or procrastinate or muck around. I need to work hard too!

And it works so well! I wish I was able to discover this earlier in my university life, but the main thing is that we have figured it out now. So last weekend, I stayed over Saturday through Monday where we worked in 2 and a half to 3 hour blocks, from early morning (well, 9:30) until late evening, and in between we'll watch a couple episodes of 'New Girl' as a reward and drink tea. That weekend I managed to finish an essay on Saturday night that was due on Tuesday, so on Sunday I was able to start working on an the essay that was due on Friday. I went back to her place on Wednesday and stayed until Thursday evening, when I finished and submitted the essay. I don't think I ever enjoyed essay writing so much in my life, because it was also an excuse to spend time with my best friend and watch one of my favourite tv shows.

So if anyone is struggling to study for exams or write essays at the moment, if you find the right person, study buddies is actually a really affective way of getting stuff done.