2015 READING CHALLENGE: AUGUST ROUND-UP

I just wanted to write a quick paragraph here to mention that last Sunday, the 23rd of August, was two years since I posted my first blog post. I know there's not all that many people, but I am so grateful to everyone who clicks on and reads my blog. I enjoy writing it regardless of if anyone reads it or not and it's been a good two years. Thank you. I also redesigned my blog last week and I'm really happy with the way it looks, I think I'll eventually change it to be all white, but I'm happy for now.

I had a really good reading month in August, there were loads of things I wanted to read and in total I read 8 books this month. This means that I have read 46 books so far this year and I am 92% through my reading challenge. I am yet again thinking about increasing my goal for this year, I started with a goal of 30 books, which I increased to 50 books, and am now thinking about increasing it further to 60 or 70 books in 2015. It's been a good reading year. This month I also took part in the Bout of Books 14.0 read-a-thon over the 17th-23rd August, where I managed to finish one book, read two full books, and start another book. I am also currently on page 143 of 352 of 'Destined for Doon', the second book in the Doon series, which I am enjoying so far and am hoping to finish by tomorrow.

Books Read:

1. 'Blue Lily, Lily Blue'- Maggie Stiefvater 
Oh Maggie Stiefvater, you've done it again. I love this series. I love this series. I love this series. I love it so much, I love all the characters with every inch of my heart, it has one of my favourite groups of characters of all time. This has fast become one of my favourite series of all time and I'm waiting in agony for the fourth and final book coming out in early 2016. I thought this book was incredible, I didn't love it as much as I loved the second book but I thought the progression of the story was great, great, great. Also this book has the most beautiful front cover and spine that I have ever seen. And that is all I have to biasedly say on that.

2. 'Pride and Prejudice'- Jane Austen
It took me way to long to read this book, I started it years ago but I never got very far, and now I've done it. The TV series starring Colin Firth as Mr Darcy is one of my all-time favourites and I was surprised about how similar and almost identical it is to the book. Congrats BBC. I enjoyed this book though I did find it to be a very slow read, and as much as I hate to say it, it's not my favourite Jane Austen book, despite how much I love the TV series. Obviously you can't not love Pride and Prejudice, but the top spot is still held by my beloved 'Emma'.

3. 'The Invasion of the Tearling'- Erika Johansen 
I'm about to make a very brash statement here, but I think this may well be the best book of 2015 so far. It literally had no flaws. None at all. Everything about it was perfect and, despite the size and tiny font, I flew through it. I loved the first book though I did think it started off a little too slow, but this one was 1000% times better. As I've said, this is not only the best book I've read it 2015, but I think it's the best book published in 2015 as well. 11/10, I can't wait for the third and final book next year.

4. 'Amy and Roger's Epic Detour'- Morgan Matson
I was really in the mood for a road trip book after reading Paper Towns, so when this book was announced as Little Book Owl's 'Little Book Club' book, I jumped at the chance to join in and read it. Sadly, this book kind of disappointed me, I can't place exactly what it was, but I just didn't enjoy it as much as I thought it was. I thought it was a well written book, and I really liked the added extras of the playlists and scrap book things, but of the two Morgan Matson books I've read, I preferred 'Second Chance Summer' to this.

5. 'The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender'- Leslye Walton
Be prepared for some very controversial comments here. For some reason this book reminded me of the time I read 'Big Fish', I literally felt nothing towards either of those books. Absolutely nothing. I basically tolerated it enough to not to give up on it, but I didn't expressly like or dislike it. Until the main event of this book. Which really made me hate it. This book is so loved, so many people have commented on the beautiful writing and how it's like 'being wrapped in a warm blanket'. I really don't think we can have been reading the same book. I didn't see the beautiful writing, it didn't make me feel anything, and I really feel bad about bashing this book but I hated it. I'm sorry.

6. 'Stardust'- Neil Gaiman
I'm so upset to say this but I was so disappointed with this book. I absolutely love the film, it's one of my favourites, and I actually thought it was way better than the book. I'd wanted to read this for ages, but I just felt that nothing really happened. All the big action scenes in the film weren't in the book at all and the romantic relationship between the two main characters was so weird, there was literally nothing and suddenly a page later they were in love. I'm so upset that this book wasn't what I thought it was going to be.

7. 'Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe'- Benjamin Alire Saenz
Oh my heart. My heart, my heart, my heart. The ending was so perfect it hurts my little heart. This book was very hyped, and I really enjoyed it. Not all that much really happens, but in this case I didn't mind. At first I wasn't so sure, but I really grew to love the characters, and I loved seeing how they developed as people throughout the course of the novel. I really enjoyed the writing style and I'm interested in trying some more of his books. Overall I really enjoyed this book and it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy and happy inside.

8. 'The Kiss of Deception'- Mary E. Pearson 
I've been waiting for months to read this book, since February, but I was waiting for it to finally come out in paperback, and it did this month. I really, really enjoyed this book, but I didn't love it as much as I expected to. I really loved the mystery of not knowing which one was the assassin and which one was the prince, I liked that I got to make my own guesses about it, and I liked the fact that I'd actually guessed it wrong. I thought this book was a really good read, I enjoyed it a lot and I'm looking forward to continuing on with the story. (I'd also like to add here that I think I prefer Kaden to Rafe).

IN ORDER TO HIGHLIGHT MY NEW RUCKSACK - #OOTD 26/08/15

I'd wanted a leather rucksack for so long but real leather ones are just so expensive. And then I saw this Accessorize beauty online. This rucksack was literally perfect, it's fake leather so still has the same look as a real leather one just for a fraction of the price, and it was just so beautiful I couldn't resist. The only problem was the £35 price tag, I told myself I couldn't justify buying it until I got a job. Two months later I had my first pay day of my new job, and the first thing I did was go and buy this bag. I am a very happy bunny. This bag is also the perfect size, it fits all my everyday things with room to spare, and I'm confident that it's also going to be able to fit all my college stuff come September. I am in love.

Bag- Accessorize (£35)

Jumper- Boohoo (£12)
Top- H&M (£9.99)

Jeans- Topshop Jamie (£40)

Boots- Dr Martens (£100)

AN EXTRA SPECIAL BANANA BREAD

I love banana bread but it's something I rarely eat, so I decided to try my hand at making my own. But I didn't want to make just any old banana bread, I couldn't decide between making one with walnuts or with dark chocolate, so I made one with both. This recipe for banana bread with walnut and dark chocolate chunks is slightly adapted from a Paul Hollywood recipe.

Recipe makes enough mixture to fill two loaf tins to roughly three quarters full

You Will Need:
-Three overripe bananas
-250g caster sugar
-2 eggs
-140g butter
-250g plain flour
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-100g walnut chopped into chunks (not too small)
-100g dark chocolate chopped into chunks (any size but not overly large)

To Make:
-Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
-Line two loaf tins with baking paper. Greasing the tins with butter first will help the baking paper to stick.
-Mash the bananas and sugar together in a mixing bowl with the back of a fork. The banana will look lumpy but that's okay.
-Add the two eggs and whisk together. The mixture will look overly wet but that's also okay.
-Add the butter and whisk again.
-Sift the flour and baking powder and fold in using a wooden spoon.
-At this point, if you haven't already, chop the walnuts and the dark chocolate into chunks. Don't chop the walnuts too small or your final product will feel grainy and weird (I learnt that on Bake Off). Unlike what I did, it would probably be better to chop the walnuts and dark chocolate before you start.
-Add the chopped walnuts and fold into the mixture.
-Add the dark chocolate chunks and fold into the mixture.
-Add the mixture to the tin and fill until about three quarters full as the mixture will rise slightly in the oven.
-Cook for an 45-50 minutes. Yes that long, I thought it was a weird timing but all the recipes say an hour, though mine didn't need that. You can see from the pictures that it looks ever so slightly burnt on the top but that's probably more due to the oven shelf maybe being a bit too high that the timing.
-Leave to cool.

Rosie

AN EYELINER CHEAT

It's a sad fact of life that I'm not very good with liquid eyeliner. The saying always goes that practise makes perfect, and I am practising, but I've blinded myself more times than I can count. In the meantime, I've come up with my own easy cheat way to achieve the 'eyeliner-on-the-top-lid-look' (I can't think of a name for it) that I am very proud of figuring out. 

My secret is eyeshadow and those cheap sponge brushes that come with eyeshadow palettes. I use the shade 'Noir' (the black shade, obviously) from my Sleek 'Oh So Special' palette, and all I do is pick up a bit of colour with the very tip of the sponge and drag it straight across my eyelid right on the lash line. It goes without saying that a brush is so much easier to control than a pencil or felt tip liner, it's so much easier to create a nice straight line without blinding yourself or making any huge messes or mistakes. The tip of the sponge also creates a slightly thicker line than an eyeliner would, so there's no need to keep having to build up until you get the thickness you want; it's also so easy to build up colour if you want your eyeshadow to look darker. 

I don't know how well I've explained this, in my mind it's simple, but I know what I'm talking about. So to summarise, black eyeshadow, tip of the sponge eyeshadow brush, straight cross the lash line, keeping almost on top of the lashes to avoid any gaps. Simples. 

I'm going to keep practising with liquid liner at home, but for the time being, out in public, this suits me well. 

BOUT OF BOOKS 14.0

Just a quick note to say that my blog is now two years old, crazy!

I thought I'd do a quick post just to summarise the Bout of Books 14.0 readathon, my first ever readathon. During the week, I managed to take part in five of the Bout of Books photo challenges, which you can see on my Twitter, @Rozoid97.

In my post last Sunday, I stated that I wanted to finish 'The Invasion of the Tearling', which was my current read at the time, and then read maybe 1-1.5 more books over the course of the week. I managed to exceed this goal, and I finished 'The Invasion of the Tearling', and then read the whole of 'Amy and Roger's Epic Detour' and 'The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavendar'. I am also 93 out of 194 pages through 'Stardust', which I was hoping to be able to finish tonight but I'm going to end up finishing tomorrow. Overall, over the course of the week, I managed to read 854 pages.

I'll go into more detail in my August Reading Round-Up at the end of the month, but I thought I'd briefly mention my thoughts of each of the books. I absolutely loved 'The Invasion of the Tearling', I thought it had no flaws and it was a fantastic continuation of the trilogy. Despite having the tiniest font size by far, I actually found 'The Invasion of the Tearling' to be a fast-paced read, in my opinion, the other books were actually quite slow reads, despite their large and misleading font sizes. I enjoyed 'Amy and Roger's Epic Detour', though I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, I actually preferred the other Morgan Matson book I've read, which was 'Second Chance Summer'. Now 'The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender' was an interesting one, it has so many popular reviews and so many people love it, and I just didn't. I had absolutely no feelings towards it until one event in the story, which more or less made me hate it. So far, I'm enjoying 'Stardust', it's quite a slow read but I really, really love the film so I have high hopes for the rest of the book (plus it's only 194 pages long so it's super short).

CAMBRIDGE - 13/08/15

Last Thursday, my father, brother and I took a day trip to Cambridge to do some sightseeing and general touristy things. I'd never been to Cambridge before but I thought it was absolutely stunning. The pictures below include our (rainy) punting trip down the river, our visit to Kings College Chapel and the grounds of a few of the colleges we wandered into- Christ's, Gonville and Caius, King's and Pembroke colleges.

MY FIRST READ-A-THON

There is such a thing in the online book community (Booktube, bookbloggers, etc.) known as a 'Read-a-Thon'. The premise of said read-a-thon is that the participants try to read as many books as possible within a set time, usually a week. I've been interested in trying a read-a-thon for a few months now, so yesterday I decided to take part in the Bout of Books 14.0 that is occurring from 17/08/15-23/08/15. The Bout of Books website claims that it's a 'low pressure' read-a-thon, which suits me quite well for a first read-a-thon.

I've given myself a rough guide of what books I want to read, it's not a case of me wanting to read all of the books on the list, but more to give myself some options during the week. I am planning on finishing my current read, 'The Invasion of the Tearling', which I am currently 395 pages through out of 511 pages, plus one-and-a-half to two more books, depending on timing and how busy I am.

Bout of Books 14.0 TBR:
1. 'The Invasion of the Tearling'- Erika Johansen
2. 'Amy and Roger's Epic Detour'- Morgan Matson
3. 'The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender'- Leslye Walton
4. 'Stardust'- Neil Gaiman

'I AM HEATHCLIFF' - 11/08/15

Back in October, my father and I visited Haworth in West Yorkshire, the home of the Bronte family. Since October, I have been desperate to hike across the moors to Top Withens, which is thought to be the house that Wuthering Heights is based off in Emily Bronte's novel, 'Wuthering Heights'. This August, I finally got the chance to visit, and it was fantastic.