The Great Gatsby

I'd heard a lot about this story, especially in the past few years, and with so many good reviews on the novel and the film, how could I pass on the opportunity to read it as well? 

I'm pleased to say I thoroughly enjoyed it too!

[Young, handsome and fabulously rich, Jay Gatsby is the bright
star of the Jazz Age, but as writer Nick Carraway is drawn into
the decadent orbit of his Long Island mansion, where the party
never seems to end, he finds himself faced with the mystery of
Gatsby's origins and desires. Beneath the shimmering surface of
his life, Gatsby is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never
be fulfilled. And soon, this destructive obsession will force his
world to unravel.]

I loveeeeee the way Fitzgerald writes - all of that detailed description and the time period he often sets his novels in is just perfectttt. The plot was great, but having seen the film first, all I could do was picture Leonardo DiCaprio saying "old sport" with a martini glass in hand. Not that that was a bad thing. But I evidently saw the end coming the entire time, making it somewhat less dramatic.

It got a little confusing at times, the writing seemingly jumping ahead or trailing off and never filling in the details or picking back up from where it left off. Maybe that was the effect he was going for as the narrator himself was writing the events down as he remembered them, causing the skimming over of particular details that he himself may have had trouble remembering?

I didn't like Tom at all, especially that he could get away with having an affair and Daisy couldn't - maybe this just portrays the time the novel was set in well. But still, hypocritical much? Also, where on Earth was Daisy for the entire end of the novel?? She just disappeared, not even fazed by the events that occurred.

Even though I did know the ending because of the film, it still left me feeling a bit deflated and bad for poor old Gatsby. Did no one really care for him at all but just for his fabulous parties? It's just too sad.

Although, I guess it was actually nice to see a love story not end with the typical 'happy ever after' for a change! If you can even call it a love story with Daisy being so all over the place.

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The Final Paris Adventure

Minus the other two, Yasmin and I headed off early to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur, bags packed and left in the trusty hands of our check-in receptionists (Yasmin had been the previous day - God knows what I was doing - but we wanted to buy everyone French novelty gifts!).

With the sky a tremendous blue and the sun shining down on us for the first time in our four days, we soaked it all up not wanting to waste a second of the beautiful March day. We headed around all of the typical touristy shops and stalls, finding a little cobbled square full of boutique cafes and antiques, spending our Euros as we went on plenty of souvenirs, chocolates and pastel coloured macaroons!

We came across the most beautiful chocolatier - stunning architectural French buildings were carved into slabs of chocolate and put on display behind glass cases, taking our breath away.

Before we wound our way back to the hotel to pick up our luggage for our return journey home, we perched ourselves on a rustic bench beneath the shadows of an overhanging tree up on the hillside, the Sacre Coeur above us, surveying the hustle and bustle of Paris in all of her beauty below us.

What a perfect way to end our trip and a great gift to myself for my twenty first birthday for the following day!

Although I was disappointed in myself for not being able to explore as freely as I would have liked or in being comfortable abroad in myself, I really did enjoy my time there and it was definitely a stepping stone to get my confidence up with travelling and facing my many fears (I mean since this time last year I have been to Dubai for two weeks with a combined time of 14 hours on a plane as well as doing many days/weekends out of my comfort zone, including a recent weekend to Oxford for my 22nd birthday! Although I'm happy to report that that wasn't so out of my comfort zone and I am slowly conquering my fears once and for all. Can't wait to bring you the posts on my time in Oxford!❤)

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Walking Through Paris

On our third and final full day we met up with my other couple of friends that had joined us the evening before and tried another cafe, talking through our plans for the day ahead of us. I vaguely remember deciding on going to some sort of chocolate museum, walking all of the way there and not even going in (think it looked small and rubbish) and then settling for another cafe making more decisions for our day.

We then did a lot more walking all the way to the Pont des Arts, otherwise known as the lock bridge, and took the obligatory photos.

Think this was the closest I got to the Eiffel Tower

We then wandered over to the Louvre and joined the massive queue, but then thought better of it and meandered off down towards Champs-Élysées instead, taking more pictures as we went.

Apologies for the world's crappest photo of the Arc de Triomphe 

We stopped for food again and then me and Yasmin decided to head back, tired from all of our walking. The others headed on as they wouldn't have any time in the morning before their train.

Shameless Paris selfie

My new favourite mug

Later in the evening we all ordered pizza, played numerous games (including my beloved Uno) and the others drank some cheap wine which was such a nice way to finish off a long day and our few days together!

The others were leaving early the next morning so we bid our farewells and with a few hours to kill the next morning, we packed in preparation and settled in for our final sleep in the hotel

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Jurassic Park: The Lost World

By Michael Crichton

[It is now six years since the secret disaster at Jurassic

Park. Six years since the extraordinary dream of science

and imagination came to a crashing end - the dinosaurs

destroyed, the park dismantled, the island indefinitely

closed to the public.

Now there are rumours that something has survived...]

The second and last of the Jurassic Park novels and the worst out of the two unfortunately. It took a very, very long time to get into the action of it all and, in fact, was absolutely nothing like it's film counterpart except for one scene - the trailer over the cliff.

This scene was done particularly well, being very tense and so well-written. It's just a shame I didn't enjoy the whole book as much as the first one. Maybe it's because I'm not a huge fan of the second film which probably made me biased and doubtful for this book (thank God that awful T-Rex scene in the city was not included in the novel! How ridiculous was that scene?!)

Although it did have a slow start, the plot itself was pretty good. It certainly kept me intrigued and I love love love how Crichton was able to use so much detail about the dinosaurs, mathematics, animal behaviour and scientific theories as well as keeping it very action-packed!

I also quite liked Malcolm and Sarah's characters. Malcolm was still his usual self and Sarah's addition was welcomed with the loss of such great characters from the first one (however Grant and Ellie were briefly mentioned near the beginning which was nice!). The kids - Kelly and Arby - were cute and brought some innocence to the story. Levine, on the other hand, was irritating - although I think that was the idea! And of course Lewis Dodgson was also a character I didn't like, but that was to be expected as the anti-hero of the novel.

The conflict between the science companies and Malcolm/Sarah's team was definitely played up in the film version. It was more of a small team of three to four against one another in the novel as to the whole host Sarah's team is battling in the film. I feel this made the book have a more personal feel to it as the intentions were made clear in what each team wanted out of this illegal visit.

The ending was a little rushed and unrealistic to me (well, as unrealistic as a novel about dinosaurs can be) which ruined it a little bit. Like the first one, they got themselves into a lot of trouble but seemed to get themselves out of it too easily - yes plenty of characters died and a few injured, but I didn't really feel the protagonists lives were really at stake.

Still, well worth a read as the follow-up to the first one though!

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Exploring Paris

Although the hotel wasn't perfect, we did wake up to a pretty beautiful view - the balcony, the entwining railing, the curtain blowing in the morning breeze. Perfect.

We got ready and made our first trip on the metro (which is so much more confusing than the tube!), heading straight for the Notre Dame.

We arrived to a snake-like queue and after stopping to take a dozen photos, eagerly joined it in order to get a peek inside. However, I got a bit panicky (eugh, only I could get panicky and wimp out of exploring to my little heart's content) and decided I'd take a walk around the Notre Dame as Yasmin went inside. I got to oggling the crepe and waffle stalls as well as all the cheesy souvenir shops. I stopped off to buy myself the traditional tourist-y t-shirt and a couple of presents for people back home!

When I met up with Yasmin again, not long after, we headed next to the Pantheon, through winding cobbled streets and an abundance of beautiful old shops, convinced we could see our first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

The Pantheon itself is stunning inside and out, filled with long passageways, mosaic high-ceilings and long floors with a handful of pillars and statues to keep you entertained. We even went down to the chilling tombs where our voices echoed and our footsteps slapped loudly against the stone floor.

After our morning adventure we went back to the hotel to have a rest - meeting up with a couple more friends later in the afternoon. Once they had settled in we went to a little cafe and ordered tea like the civilised Brits that we are and had a good old natter.

Later on, the others went to the Eiffel Tower - I chickened out again, saying I was too tired. I honestly can't remember what I did instead, but I wish I had had the courage to go and see the Eiffel Tower! They even stopped off for dinner and had snails!

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