Change For The Better & A Book Tag

A few months ago I had an epiphany of sorts.

Me and Adeel had been disagreeing a lot or arguing, whatever you want to call it, and things were getting tense and frustrating.

But we came through the other side.

And you know what I learned?

Don't try to change others, change yourself for the better instead.

So instead of getting frustrated at the little things he does or says, I've tried becoming more understanding and calm-headed so I don't flip out.

Of course there are still times where I get grouchy, but he's so persistent most of the time that he always manages to make me smile again.

This is definitely something I need to work on because I don't want to grow up to be a consistently negative and moody cow, I want a positive mindset and I want to be kind and forgiving quickly.

What a great time of year to set this new goal, huh?

Anyways, I've also got another book tag below (again I got it from Lindsay's blog, check her blog out here).

Question 1:
Hardback or paperback?

Paperback, they're way easier to hold whilst reading! Although some hardbacks can be really pretty - The Miniaturist is one memorable one with a lovely binding and endpapers.

Question 2:
Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings?

I hate this question. I've been asked it a few times and I never know how to answer. I feel so guilty for choosing! Harry Potter was my childhood so I will forever love it, but, there's just something about Lord of the Rings...

Question 3:
The smell of an old book or the smell of a new one?

The smell of a new one. I've smelt some of the old ones before and some are alright but others can just smell fusty and damp? Maybe it's just however you store them!

Question 4:
Stephen King ot RL Stine?

Okay so I literally just had to google RL Stine as I'd never heard of him, but he wrote Goosebumps! Didn't think I would've read anything of his if I didn't know his name, but I've definitely read at least one Goosebumps book. I've also only read one of Stephen King's books - Carrie. I preferred Carrie to Goosebumps although there's about ten years age difference in when I read them, but I've heard a lot of good things about King's works so I may pick up a few more of his in due time!

Question 5:
Sci-fi or Fantasy?

Fantasy all the way. That's pretty much all I read.

Question 6:
Reading indoors or outdoors?

Depends on the weather really. Indoors mostly though I think. The sun can get so bright sometimes when you're reading outside that it makes me so sleepy and then I'm getting all hot and bothered too. Reading in bed is the best for me I think.

Question 7:
Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey?

Twilight. Although they're both basically the same thing. Hello, 50 Shades is fan-fiction of Twilight. Ahaha, sorry to say I've read all of both. I like the way Stephenie Meyer writes, it's just the storyline of Twilight obviously isn't great, but another of her novels I've read is brilliant. 50 Shades looks like it was written by a teenager.

Question 8:
Shop online or from a local bookstore?

Bookstore. Any chance I get and I'll be in a Foyles or Waterstones, rifling through their many shelves. It's pure heaven. I don't really have any local, independent bookstores in East London though. However, it's great when I visit my dad in Faversham because they have a good handful of old, musty, crooked bookstores.

Question 9:
The Great Gatsby or Catcher in the Rye?

I've only read The Great Gatsby so that one I guess, although I actually didn't think much of it even though everyone raves about it. I will read Catcher in the Rye at some point, added to my ever-growing list of to be reads...

Question 10:
Fiction or Non-fiction?

Fiction. I rarely pick up non-fiction. A great one I've actually read this year, that's non-fiction, was Unbroken. Mind-blowing.

Question 11:
Bookmarks or dog-earing?

I actually do both. I bookmark my position in the book, obviously, but I dog-ear the points of 25%, 50% and 75% because I like to know how far through the book I am. Strange, I know! Aha.

Question 12:
Dr Seuss or Roald Dahl?

I've not really read either? Like I have a little Roald Dahl collection from my childhood on my bookshelves back home but I don't remember reading them very much. And Dr Seuss I think I've only read snippets of. I'll pick Roald Dahl though because I prefer his stories.

Question 13:
eBook or Audiobook?

Audiobook after this year. A new love was found when my friend suggested Audible to me. I like eBooks too, I must dust off my kindle this year!

Hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas
x



☆

Inferno

Image From Pinterest

I literally watched The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons a week or two before we went to see this in somewhat of a "preparation" I guess.

I can't see films out of order even if you don't necessarily need to see the first ones in a series to understand the others.

Although I wasn't that fussed about The Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons was only alright, I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

It definitely started off with a bang and was quite dark and strange from the first few scenes.

It did take a little while to get your head around but it does all come together and make sense in the end.

Tom Hanks did another fantastic job as Robert Langdon, a symbology professor at Harvard, who has to decipher the meaning of a clever trail of ancient clues.

Felicity Jones also did a great job accompanying him.

I must say I didn't see the twist coming even though it seemed pretty obvious to Adeel.

Once this twist is revealed the end of the film develops pretty quickly with a very tense and dramatic ending.

I loved the whole concept of combining the elements of Hell, a virus and Dante's paintings together.

I found it way darker than the first two. In fact the imagery Tom Hanks hallucinates/remembers throughout is quite horrific.

The setting was beautiful as well; makes me want to visit Italy all the more!

All in all, I think I preferred this one over the other two.

---

Rating:

★★★★☆

Festivities

I can't believe it's Christmas tomorrow. 

WHERE HAS THIS YEAR GONE?

I'm at home, hanging out with the family, a box of roses chocolates next to me and a cat on my lap.

It's been a chilled few days seeing family and friends and helping do odd bits around the house, but I wanted to share the day we went to Winter Wonderland as it's all festive and merry.

I met Adeel in central London reasonably early (okay, more like just before lunchtime, whoops) and we headed on in to Hyde Park.

He'd booked The Nutcracker on Ice so we wandered over to a tent lit up inside like you'd hope to see the night sky some time - little stars twinkling all over the ceiling.

We sat through an hour of a beautifully choreographed show with some absolutely amazing lifts and flips - ON ICE. There's no dialogue, but a smoke machine and fake snow. If that doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will.

Afterwards we wandered around, weaving through the stalls and rides, picking up a duck wrap or two and some churros along the way.

We didn't stay very long all in all. In fact we later headed over to Leicester Square to watch Rogue One!

But I thought I'd leave you with some Christmassy photos.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

x

The Girl on the Train

Image from Pinterest

So, I really need to start packing, I've got a couple of items left in the fridge that need to be eaten and a few more things on the planner that needs watching.

Oh the woes of going home for Christmas.

Just kidding. Can't wait to be honest.

I watched this ages ago. Clearly, as it was out in October. Whoops.

I know I watched it literally a week or two after I'd listened to the audiobook.

Honestly, I was a little let down by the book. I felt everyone had hyped it up too much and it didn't live up to said hype.

But the film, the film did a cracking job of following the plot line of the book (bar one or two things).

The characters were on point. 

I almost loathed Rachel in the book but Emily Blunt played her so well. She was even gorgeous when she was meant to be a stinking hungover mess.

I hated Rebecca Ferguson's Anna and Justin Theroux's Tom as well, which is exactly how I felt about them in the book. Anna was so stuck up and paranoid, Tom an evil prick.

Funnily enough, again, I felt like I could empathise more with Megan. Haley Bennet did a great job of portraying her. She certainly doesn't have a nice or easy backstory, or, indeed, a nice story altogether.

To be honest, the only character I wasn't completely sold on was Luke Evans's Scott. I don't know what it was but I just couldn't connect with the character. In the book he has quite a mean side but could make you feel sorry for him too. I didn't feel any of that whilst watching Luke Evans portrayal. A shame really because I think he's great as an actor.

The setting - obvious no no as it was changed from London - was actually alright set in New York. I still got the same feeling as before - the long commute, rural villages on the outskirts of a big city, blah blah blah.

There were also a few minor changes in Rachel and Scott's interactions but I didn't think anything of these really.

The cinematography was beautiful, the sudden cuts to close-ups magnifying and lovely.

Overall, I think the directors and producers and cast did a fantastic job.

Even though I knew the ending it still had me sat on the edge of my seat waiting for it.

Worth a watch if you're up for a murder mystery riddled with twists and turns, but not one I feel I would need to watch again.

---

Rating:
★★★★☆

The Goodreads Book Tag

I have so many reviews to do that I might just erratically post them up until the New Year. I apologise in advance if I bombard you with them all!

Although there will be other more lifestyle-y posts or tags in between.

Today was actually my last day at work for the year (am working from home next week) and I'm so looking forward to this Christmas break. 

Hopefully I'll have some time to write all these posts up. And also to finish writing up the rest of my blasted novel! Whoops.

Anyways, I got this tag from Lindsay's blog, link here. Check hers out too!

Question 1:
What is the last book you marked as read?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. I recently chose to re-read the entire series as I'd been dying to do so for ages and I thought Christmas was the perfect time of year! I'm currently most of the way through the second one, loving life.

Question 2:
What are you currently reading?

I'm always reading three books at once. I often get asked how on earth I keep up with them all but it's really rather easy. I listen to my audiobook whilst I'm getting ready for work, I read another one during my lunch break and then the final one before bed. They are all quite different as well which helps! Anyway, they are currently: The Fall (The Strain Trilogy, #2) - audiobook, The Secret History - lunch break - and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - bedtime.

Question 3:
What was the last book you marked as to-read?

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I'm getting on really well with one of my colleagues at work and I asked her what her favourite book was (or one of them) and she said this one so I thought I'd add it to my list.

Question 4:
Do you use the star rating system?

I do for reviews on Goodreads, not on here though. I think it'll be interesting to see if I'll change my mind in the future about ratings/reviews I've given.

Question 5:
What book do you plan on reading next?

Well, that all depends on which one I finish first. If I finish the Harry Potter one then obviously Prisoner of Azkaban is next. Whereas if I finish the audiobook first then I'll have to wait until I get my next credit, but it'll either be the final part of The Strain trilogy or another Brandon Sanderson one. If I finish The Secret History though I'm tempted to pick up my copy of Frankenstein or maybe delve into a big fantasy series of Robin Hobb's.

Question 6:
Are you doing the 2016 reading challenge?

Yeees. I've mentioned before that I originally set it at 30 before upping it twice, once to 35 and then the final time to 40 as I kept getting nearer and nearer to my goal with a tonne of time left. I'm three books away from completing it whilst currently reading three books so I think I'll manage :)

Ooh, these are quite cool to do. I may see if I can find a few more tags and complete them. It's weird, I used to write out those questionnaire type things in the notes section on Facebook, and some of them were long.

Ahaha, how embarrassing those answers were...



☆

The Strain

By Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Narrated by Ron Perlman

Image From Goodreads

[A plane lands at JFK and mysteriously 'goes dark', stopping in the middle of the runway for no apparent reason, all lights off, all doors sealed. The pilots cannot be raised.

When the hatch above the wing finally clicks open, it quickly becomes clear that everyone on board is dead - although there is no sign of trauma or struggle. Ephraim Goodweather and his team from the Centre of Disease Control must work quickly to establish the cause of this strange occurrence before panic spreads.

The first thing they discover is that four of the victims are actually still alive. But that's the only good news. And when all 200 corpses disappear from various morgues around the city on the same night, things very rapidly get worse. Soon Eph and a small band of helpers will find themselves battling to protect not only their loved ones, but the whole city, against an ancient threat to humanity.]

I've been watching the TV series for a while now (series three has just finished!) and I thought del Toro's take on vampires had such a unique twist that I couldn't help but be drawn in. 

I loved it from the start. So I thought I would try reading/listening to them as well.

I'm happy to say this first book is on par with the TV series. Except for a few differences, they are exactly the same and because I watched it first I can picture everything perfectly!

I love how it's almost read like a script with the headings of each section the whereabouts in the city. 

The dialogue is good, a bit bland at times, and the descriptions are fantastically gross. 

The added music effects were really creepy and helped to break up all of the parts. 

I was so creeped out listening to this that even walking around my empty house in the day I had to put the radio on to ease my nerves!

The characters are the best part. I grew to them quickly in the series and, subsequently, the books. 

The snippets of backstory we get for each character is great, especially for Setrakian.

Fet is my favourite character, although that might be something to do with the TV series too. He still has a sense of humour even amongst all the end-of-the-world-ness going on.

From watching the series first though, I am a little disappointed by the lack of Dutch and Eichorst. Both of these characters were so amazing in the series, I hope they do make an appearance in later books.

I'm definitely intrigued as to whether the next two will follow with the series or branch off. They've certainly left off where series one ended and I can't wait to read the next one!

Favourite Books I've Read This Year

The weather may be warming up unfortunately, but Christmas is well and truly on it's way.

Today at work we had Christmas Carols over at Southwark Cathedral for an hour at lunch.

I didn't go last year being new to the company and all, but this year I decided to go along.

The service had a good handful of hymns sung by our colleagues, a couple of local primary schools and the whole audience joined in too.

It was beautiful.

There was one girl in particular who I recognised from work who did a solo at the beginning and she was amazing.

There's just something about a choir singing hymns that can always give me goosebumps.

I also baked my first Yule Log to take into work (my colleague baked mince pies) and we've been stuffing our faces for the past two days (picture is at the end!).

As this goes live I should be at our Christmas Party (yes, it's on a Wednesday, one of the reasons I didn't go last year!) and Thursday we'll be having a free Christmas lunch in the canteen.

And then I only have Monday left at work and I'm on my Christmas holidays!

Well, sort of. I'm working from home between Christmas and New Year, but that's fine by me.

I CAN'T WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS.

Anyway, as I've been reading a lot this year, I thought I'd do a little round up of my favourite first-time reads.

Initially, my goal was 30 books in a year but around August maybe(?) I upped it to 35 and then 40 because I kept getting nearer to my goal and still having a month or two left of the year.

It's now still on 40 and I'm currently 3 books away from completing it (am also currently reading three books so it's just a case of finishing them before December 31st!)

1. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton - February 
Oh. my. God. I just loved this. I'm a hugeeeee fan of the films anyway and I only found out they were books last year so my dad bought me them for last Christmas. I devoured them and loved every minute of them. Although, like the films, the first one was better. If you're into dinosaurs, science-y lingo and action-packed adventure, you'll love this.

2. The Maze Runner by James Dashner - March
My friend bought me these for Christmas also I think (or a belated birthday present, I can't quite remember). I don't know if I watched the first one before I read them but I literally read all three in about a week. Twists, easy-to-read YA that you just can't put down. Follow Thomas as he is thrown into a world he doesn't know anything about and has to figure out how to survive the everchanging maze.

3. Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson - May
This was my first audiobook and I adored it way more than I thought I would. My friend (same one as above!) recommended it as an easy fantasy to get stuck into and boy was she right. Full of Gods, Princesses and an almost Greek-like empire, this story takes you on a rollercoaster of events which has you guessing at every turn. Not all the characters are what they seem or who they say they are.

4. The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin - July
I sped through the first two in the series sometime last year and eagerly awaited this final instalment's release earlier this year. A fitting ending for an epic trilogy of vampires, love, friendship, loss and power in a dystopian world. I loved every single character, even the antagonists as they provided so much to this story. Cronin nails backstory, timejumps and has an incredible eye for detail I am well and truly inspired by.

5. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand - July
This one I picked up at work having always been intrigued by war stories (not realising it was true at the time). It was horrific and heartbreaking, but also so honest and heartwarming at the same time. It's such a fantastic story that it's amazing to think it's all true. To think somebody actually lived this life detailed on 500 pages is unbelievable.

6. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - August
This is another audiobook, a long one at that, but one worth every page. Rothfuss is another writer I envy and aspire to be like. His ability to turn the mundane events into interesting encounters blew me away. A world full of magic, aspiration, friendship, growth with an undertone of darkness, The Name of the Wind will take you on an adventure like no other. The characters are phenomenal and so likeable. Kvothe is someone you will want to follow through the university on through his daily dealings in the Inn he now owns.

7. The Infernal Devices: Book 3, Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare - November
I know I wrote the reviews pretty recently, but I'll say it again - this prequel series is way better than The Mortal Instruments. It was refreshing to see a love triangle that didn't make me want to kill all three of the characters. Tessa was a strong, independent character who happened to fall in love with Jem - a kindhearted, broken boy - and Will - a fiery, sarcastic boy - but refused to hurt either of them intentionally or choose between them. This love story entwined with clockwork creatures, magic, fate and family is one brilliant finale for the series, one that left me for days after feeling lost and wanting to dive back into the Shadowhunter world.

I hope this recap has inspired you to pick up a novel or two! Goodreads has a cute little feature at the moment of a look back on the current year and I have read approximately 16,895 pages - insane!

Let's hope for a bigger and better goal next year.

My to be read pile still isn't getting any smaller...

Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children

Image from Pinterest

I am getting so bad at this whole keeping-to-my-schedule-for-blogging-thing.

I just can't seem to find the motivation or the time at the moment to write any posts, not even the reviews.

Christmas may be the most wonderful time of the year, but it's also the most stressful and time-consuming as well.

You've got to do all your Christmas shopping, wrapping and writing cards. 

You've got to fit in all the Christmassy things you want to do like Winter Wonderland, markets, light switch ons and so on. 

But you've also got a five day work week and weekends choc-o-bloc full with seeing people you won't see over the holidays or trying to relax amidst all of the mayhem.

How are you supposed to do it all?!

Moving swiftly on.

We saw this strange film a few months ago now on Date Night.

We went out for dinner one Friday night at Frankie and Benny's and then popped over to the cinema to see Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children.

And it was indeed peculiar.

I don't really know where to start.

The plot was odd - a young boy can see creatures from a world most people cannot see. He finds himself thrown into this mysterious world and meets an awful lot of interesting people whom he needs to eventually help save.

Going in and out of this time loop business was enough to give me a headache. It was interesting, don't get me wrong, but so so weird.

Eva Green seems to excel at weirdness and she was no different in this. Terence Stamp (having last seen him as Mordred in Merlin) has certainly shot up - height-wise. His acting wasn't brilliant but it wasn't terrible either. Samuel L. Jackson was terrifying.

The creatures - hollows - were intriguing. I can't think what they reminded me of at the time but I liked that they were invisible to almost everyone, it added more tension.

Funnily enough - even though I don't think he really needed to be in the film, he didn't really have anything to do with it - I liked Chris O'Dowd's character as Abe's father. He added comedic value to the film in a sarcastic kind of way.

I thought it ended way to quickly considering the length of the film itself. I found the main parts to be dragging a bit but the tie-up happened in about five minutes. All too quickly if you ask me.

An interesting dark fantasy film with some intriguing qualities to its characters and plot.

I probably wouldn't watch it again though.

---

Rating:
★★☆☆☆