New Beginnings

This time, it's serious!

Haha OK what I'm trying to say is I've gone and started another blog. I know... But I'm really trying to stick to it this time. Promise! It's going to be a lot more book-focused and I'm hoping once I start uni again, it can turn into a bit of a postgrad study guide as well.

Anyway, please go and check it out at https://quadruplespaces.wordpress.com/

Popsugar 2015 reading challenge

A non-fiction book - Lena Dunham "Not That Kind of Girl"
A memoir - Malala Yousafzai, Christina Lamb "I Am Malala"
A Pulitzer Prize-winning book - Harper Lee "To Kill a Mockingbird"
A funny book - Mindy Kaling "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?"
A book with magic
A book based on a true story - Cheryl Strayed "Wild"
A book that became a movie
A book published this year - Anna Smaill "The Chimes"
A book by a female author - Jeanette Winterson "The Gap of Time"
A book written by someone under 30
A popular author's first book - George Orwell "Down and Out in Paris and London"
A book by an author you've never read before - Graeme Simsion "The Rosie Project"
A book from an author you love that you haven't read yet - Paulo Coelho "Adultery"
A book a friend recommended - E. Lockhart "We Were Liars"
A book at the bottom of your to-read-list - Karen Joy Fowler "We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves"
A book you own but have never read
A book you started but never finished - Eleanor Catton "The Luminaries"
A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
A book written by an author with your same initials
A book that came out the year you were born - Jeffrey Eugenides "The Virgin Suicides"
A book with more than 500 pages - Kate Atkinson "Life After Life"
A book with a number in the title - Emily St John Mandel "Station Eleven"
A book with a one-work title - David Nicholls "Us"
A book with a colour in the title
A book with antonyms in the title - Anthony Doerr "All the Light We Cannot See" &
A book that was originally written in a different language - Milan Kundera "The Festival of Insignificance"
A book more than 100 years old - Jane Austen "Sense and Sensibility"
A book that takes place in your hometown
A book set in a different country - Jeffrey Eugenides "The Marriage Plot"
A book set somewhere you've always wanted to visit
A book set during Christmas - Stephanie Perkins "My True Love Gave to Me"
A book based entirely on its cover - Marie NDiaye "Three Strong Women"
A book you can finish in a day - Nora Ephron "Heartburn"
A book that made you cry - Hanya Yanagihara "A Little Life"
A play - William Shakespeare "The Winter's Tale"
A banned book
A book based on/ turned into a TV show
A poetry book - Charles Bukowski "The Pleasures of the Damned"
A mystery or thriller
A book that your mum loves
A book from your childhood - Lewis Carroll "Alice in Wonderland"
A book with a love triangle - Francesca Segal "The Innocents"
A book set in the future - Howard Jacobson "J"
A book set in public school - Charlotte Mendelson "Almost English"
A book of short stories - J.D. Salinger "Franny and Zooey"
A trilogy - Helen Fielding "Bridget Jones' Diary", "Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason", "Mad About the Boy"
A classic romance - Jojo Moyes "Me Before You"

*this list has been slightly modified & I have taken certain liberties with interpreting the challenges, but hey, it makes sense to me!

what i've read

2016

1. C.S. Lewis - The Horse and His Boy
2. C.S. Lewis - Prince Caspian
3. Jeffrey Eugenides - The Virgin Suicides
4. C.S. Lewis - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
5. Jennifer Niven - All the Bright Places
6. Marissa Meyer - Cinder
7. Marissa Meyer - Scarlet
8. Margaret Atwood - The Penelopiad*
9. Ali Smith - How to be Both
10. Colleen Hoover - Confess
11. Marissa Meyer - Cress
12.  

2015

1. Lena Dunham - Not That Kind of Girl*
2. G. Simsion - The Rosie Project
3. Cheryl Strayed - Wild
4. K. Fowler - We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
5. M. Kaling - Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me
6. Paulo Coelho - Adultery
7. Harper Lee - To Kill A Mockingbird
8. J. Moyes - Me Before You
9. E. Mandel - Station Eleven
10. K. Atkinson - Life After Life
11. E. Catton - The Luminaries
12. Jane Austen - Sense & Sensibility*
13. Anthony Doerr - All the Light We Cannot See
14. F. Segal - The Innocents
15. N. Ephron - Heartburn
16. Malala Yousafzai & Christina Lamb - I Am Malala
17. J.D. Salinger - Franny & Zooey
18. David Nicholls - Us*
19. George Orwell - Down & Out in Paris & London
20. H. Jacobson - J
21. Charlotte Mendelson - Almost English
22. Jeffrey Eugenides - The Marriage Plot
23. Milan Kundera - The Festival of Insignificance*
24. Junot Diaz - This Is How You Lose Her
25. M. NDiaye - Three Strong Women
26. Anna Smaill - The Chimes
27. Hanya Yanagihara - A LITTLE LIFE
28. E. Lockhart - We Were Liars*
29. William Shakespeare - The Winter's Tale
30. Jeanette Winterson - The Gap of Time
31. Charles Bukowski - The Pleasures of the Damned (poetry)
32. H. Fielding - Bridget Jones' Diary
33. H. Fielding - Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason
34. H. Fielding - Mad About the Boy
35. Stephanie Perkins (ed) - My True Love Gave to Me*
36. John Green - Looking for Alaska
37. L. Carroll - Alice in Wonderland
38. C.S. Lewis - The Magician's Nephew
39. C.S. Lewis - The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe

my weird rating system (in descending order):
Author Name = I loved it
* = honourable mention
Author Name = a good read
A. Name = okay but not great

films

2016
1. Burnt*
2. And Then There Were None
3. Sisters*
4. The Bad Education Movie 
Flesh and Bone (TV series) - horrible, strange plot that was both over- and underdeveloped. I rarely regret watching something but I do wish I could unwatch this
5. He Named Me Malala*
6. Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
7. The Big Short
8. Gravity
9. 
 

2015 (highlights)
Salt of the Earth*
Suffragette
Spy
Mad Max: Fury Road
Still Alice
Woman in Gold
Cowspiracy 
Whiplash
What If
Love, Rosie
Saving Mr. Banks
Her