A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

Narrated by Sir Derek Jacobi, Kenneth Cranham, Miriam Margolyes, Jenna Coleman, Brendan Coyle and Roger Allam

Image From Goodreads

[In October 1843, Charles Dickens - heavily in debt and obligated to his publisher - began work on a book to help supplement his family's meagre income. That volume, A Christmas Carol, has long since become one of the most beloved stories in the English language. As much a part of the holiday season as holly, mistletoe, and evergreen wreaths, this perennial favourite continues to delight new readers and rekindle thoughts of charity and goodwill. With its characters exhibiting many qualities - as well as failures - often ascribed to Dickens himself, the imaginative and entertaining tale relates Ebenezer Scrooge's eerie encounters with a series of spectral visitors. Journeying with them through Christmases past, present, and future, he is ultimately transformed from an arrogant, obstinate, and insensitive miser to a generous, warm-hearted, and caring human being. Written by one of England's greatest and most popular novelists, A Christmas Carol has come to epitomise the true meaning of Christmas.]

I apologise for not posting this yesterday, I just had the craziest busy weekend and ran out of time to write it!

It may have been one hell of a crazy weekend but boyyyyy was it good.

I'll tell you more about it in Wednesday's post!🙊

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A Christmas Carol was never really something I'd considered reading so I'm pretty glad Audible made it available for free over Christmas.

I love the film Scrooged, but for some reason I never put two and two together that A Christmas Carol is the story of Scrooge also.

I mean duhhhh. How did I not know that?

I loved the cast, a whole host of people for an audiobook! Genius.

Sir Derek Jacobi as Dickens was wonderful. He's so flamboyant and squeaky-voiced, it almost feels like a children's story and his voice is so expressive, it really makes you understand the characters without the need to see any facial expressions.

The story itself - obviously - is great. The four ghosts were equally comedic, terrifying and kind. The sound effects helped greatly with this, especially when Jacob Marley makes his first appearance - really creepy!

It was short and sweet and I think I might read/listen to it every Christmas now. It really gets down to what Christmas is all about - or what it should be about - and I want it to be a reminder for myself each year that I should be thankful for my family and loved ones over gifts and money. 

Because, let's face it, at Christmas it can all get a bit hectic and it seems the trivial things take over and the meaningful ones are forgotten.



☽

The Secret History

By Donna Tartt

[Truly deserving of the accolade Modern Classic,
Donna Tartt's novel is a remarkable achievement - both
compelling and elegant, dramatic and playful.

Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a
group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college
discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from
the humdrum existence of their contemporaries. But when they
go beyond the boundaries of normal morality their lives are
changed profoundly and for ever.]

Apologies for the lack of posts last week, I decided to take an unexpected break. 

I went home for a few days on Wednesday night until Saturday, saw some family and packed up my room (it's getting new carpet put in there) and then Sunday I literally watched the majority of season 4 of The Walking Dead!

Fun times.

Anyway, I've been doing grand on my reading goal so far this year but this one was one of the last I read at the tail end of last year.

I found myself wanting to read something different for a change as I always tend to stray towards fantasy or YA. My dad suggested this to me one time when we were in Foyles.

I was hesitant at first because - obviously - this was out of my usual comfort-zone-genre, but I quickly grew to love it.

There's no beating about the bush, the murder victim and the murderer(s) are stated in the first few pages which begs to differ, how the hell was this over 600 pages long? But it gripped me more than I thought it would.

To start with, Richard as a protagonist was a fantastic character. I empathised with him when everything started to fall apart and really felt like I could relate with him even though I've never had to deal with anything he had to go through. He wanted so bad to join this illustrious group of students studying the classics, yet when he finally got in, he had no idea what he was letting himself in for.

The other five main characters were quirky and strange but they grew on you as their characters developed. I particularly liked the twins - Charles and Camilla. I even liked Bunny for the most part, even if he was quite a detestable character in the end.

The plot was refreshing, clearly told from a future Richard looking back on his time at school, recounting his tales. There are obviously the odd little bits left out as he was also left out of them at the time. But I have to say, the ending caught me completely off guard. I don't know how I thought it would end but it certainly wasn't what I expected.

A surprisingly great read and one I would definitely re-read time and time again.



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Should Photography Be Something That's Studied?

I've had a lot of thought on this subject. But it's something I really should have thought about a lot more before I took it on for five years through college and then university.

Through reading a lot of blogs and interviews lately, whether they're well-known or unknown photographers, has got me thinking about my own choices in studying photography.

In the majority of these interviews, said photographers have all been asked the question 'Where did you learn photography?' and their answers have pretty much always been 'I'm self-taught'.

And their body of work is amazing. It doesn't matter if they're even just on Instagram - they have photographs that reach people and that they're proud of and it's all because they've gone in their own direction instead of being set projects to adhere to and then being told what's "wrong" with your work when photography is supposed to be subjective??

Woah. Clearly I have some pent up anger with this subject.

So why did I choose photography? It all started really when I was playing around, photographing the park we always went to one summer with my dad and sisters. He just happened to mention that he thought I had a good 'eye' for photos which kinda stuck in my mind.

I didn't seriously think about it though until college. My art class was dropped due to lack of interest and I was worried about what subject I'd pick up instead because I really didn't think I was suited to anything like sociology or maths or science. My worst nightmare. Instead I picked psychology as I thought it would be interesting (hardest. subject. ever).

And so photography, being the only creative outlet I had, was what I turned to (being one of my three subjects - psych, english lit/lang and photography (I didn't pick up film until second year).

So, like I said above I studied photography for 2 years in college and even though I loathed the teacher I, for some very strange reason, then went on to study a further 3 years at University. Um, what?

I don't know how my brain figured that one out. But after five years of crappy teachers and being told my work wasn't good enough when I've worked my absolute ass off was a little disheartening and these days I don't even want to pick up a camera that often any more, if at all.

That's probably why the majority of my posts tend to fall into the review category because I find it easier to quickly snap a photo of a book or something than trying to think up something creative. In fact, I find the writing of blog posts easier than the taking of photos.

So, no, I don't think photography should be something that's studied because, in my experience, it blocks the creative process within you, it doesn't bring out what you can do best because you have project rules to abide by and teachers breathing down your neck about what they think is best when in reality that's just their ideas being forced onto you.

Okay, I understand they have a marking scheme to look to and it is useful to get feedback on your work and sure, it's good if you want to learn about the technical stuff like exposure or depth of field. But - in all honesty - you can learn that basic stuff online if you really wanted to and then be free to explore your passion on your own. Anyone will give you feedback, it doesn't necessarily have to be from someone with a photography background.

I do not regret my choice however, because I met my best friend in college and my boyfriend in uni. It all could've been very different if I had chosen to study something else instead ✌︎

p.s. don't you think the emoji chocolates are cute? Got them for Adeel for Valentine's 🙊



📷

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Image From Pinterest

Spoilers Ahead - although if you haven't already seen it, where on earth have you been??

I was reallyyyyy hesitant about seeing Fantastic Beasts. In fact, I didn't really want to see it until my friend mentioned a certain someone making a sneaky cameo appearance at the end.

I was partly worried it'd taint the Harry Potter universe and not live up to that giant reputation. But I was also partly worried it'd overshadow it too.

Thankfully, it's so different that it does neither. I think it's on par with Harry Potter and I really enjoyed it.

I loved Newt as a character and Eddie Redmayne was phenomenal portraying him. He was one of those people I was initially wary of because I didn't think he could be that good of an actor as everyone had raved about him. But he really is. (I watched The Theory of Everything shortly before Fantastic Beasts and he is simply amazing).

Jacob was another character I loved and (portrayed by Dan Fogler) was equally as good as Redmayne. He was cheeky and funny and adorable with his passion for bakery and his head-over-heels-ness for Queenie.

Tina and Queenie were great. It was great how opposite they seemed to be but they still had a strong sisterly bond.

Now, the setting. Oh. My. God. I never knew a Harry Potter universe set in the 20s could be so amazing. And in New York as well! Brilliant.

The balance of humour and dark magic worked very well indeed. It had me guessing throughout of what this subplot could be about and as soon as we saw the Deathly Hallows symbol or the surname Lestrange was mentioned, we both got so excited!

The effects for this dark magic were amazing. I especially loved when all the darkness seemed to be spiralling around inside the train station.

Of course, I can't not mention the Fantastic Beasts. The effects used for them were also great and they provided a lot of entertainment throughout.

And finally, the spoiler I can't wait to talk about (so if you haven't seen it yet, look away now for God's sake!)

My friend told me a certain Mr Johnny Depp makes a tiny appearance in this film which is kinda (wholly) what swayed me to go and see it in the end.

And I knew, I just knew, that Colin Farrell's character was way too powerful for his own good and that there was something fishy there. And I was right. My suspicions were confirmed when he transformed into none other than Gellert Grindelwald aka Mr Depp!

I AM SUPER EXCITED FOR THE NEXT ONE.

And who are they gonna cast as Dumbledore?!

EEK!

Absolutely brilliant and a fantastic addition to the Harry Potter series.

Keeping the magic alive.

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Rating:
★★★★★

The Year of the Rooster

Last weekend were the Chinese New Year celebrations in London and, for once, we decided to go, damn the tourists.

It was a miserable day in general with rain forecast all afternoon, but I didn't let it dampen my spirits.

The parade kicked off just after ten and there were thousands and thousands of people filling Trafalgar Square (and probably all the way to Chinatown).

It was kind of slow because they kept stopping for ages at certain points and there wasn't really any music or anything. So a silent parade, with spits of rain and a million peoples phones in the air (mine and Adeel's included).

We then sidled off for a quick bite to eat and taking shelter from the rain before wandering around Trafalgar Square. There were a handful of stalls selling all sorts of Chinese charms and trinkets for the year ahead.

Deciding to come back later when we thought all the real festivities would kick off, we wandered over to Chinatown (turns out it's really not that far and I have been taking the long route for many years).

I don't envy the people working in Chinese restaurants on Chinese New Year. The queues leading out of every restaurant was phenomenal. But the whole area looked very pretty with hundreds of red lanterns hanging above us.

We then found ourselves in Leicester Square as there really isn't much to do in Chinatown except eat and we weren't joining any of those enormous queues!

We found a timetable of events and so went back to Trafalgar Square as Sadiq Kahn was going to be one among a handful of official representatives giving speeches.

There was a Lion dance and then a Dragon dance afterwards, but all in all I'm a little disappointed. I thought it would be more of a festival-y atmosphere, loud and joyous, yanno? But I found myself feeling frequently bored.

At least the decorations were pretty though.

Not one to repeat I think given the amount of tourists and waiting around in odd silence. Maybe it's better in actual China...

Anyway, below are some of the photos I took. It was difficult to get a clear picture over the many heads of tourists, but I selected the best handful I think.

🐓

The Fall (The Strain Trilogy, #2)

By Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Narrated by Daniel Oreskes

Image From Audible

[Humans have been displaced at the top of the food chain, and now understand - to their outright horror - what it is to be not the consumer, but the consumed. Ephraim Goodweather, director of the New York office of the Centers for Disease control, is one of the few humans who understands what is really happening. Vampires have arrived in New York City, and their condition is contagious. If they cannot be contained, the entire world is at risk of infection. As Eph becomes consumed with the battle against the total corruption of humanity, his ex-wife, Kelly, now a vampire herself, is ever-more determined to claim their son, Zack. As the Biblical origins of the Ancient ones are gradually revealed, Eph learns that there is a greater, more terrible plan in store for the human race - worse even than annihilation...]

I actually wanted to write about the Chinese New Year Celebrations we went to on Sunday but I feel that it deserves more of my time and concentration, so for now, here is another review.

I quite enjoyed this second instalment, but not as much as the first one. I didn't feel as engaged.

Although there was the imminent threat of the vampires, obviously, it wasn't as immediate for me anymore because, well, the outbreak is the most exciting part, right? It has immediate consequences of who gets infected and who survives. So once the main outbreak has claimed the majority of the human race it doesn't quite seem as scary (obviously I wouldn't be saying that for a real virus outbreak).

As I'd already seen the series, I knew somewhat of the plot (although I feel like it almost lacked in this one, not a whole lot actually happened) so wasn't too surprised about what did happen.

Eichorst made his appearance (hallelujah!) but he wasn't as horrible as he is in the series which is a little bit disappointing. Still no Dutch (I reckon they used their "artistic licence" for the show and created her).

But I do like Zach better in the books. He's a right little twat in the TV show (good technical term there) and I don't particularly like him, but in this - so far - he's alright.

I'm a little surprised by the ending of this one though. Something that didn't happen in the TV series is definitely something good as I didn't see it coming. I'm now perplexed as to what to expect in the final one!

☽