Thursday 1 October 2015

Monthly Wrap-Up | September 2015


Well that's September done and dusted - here's what I got up to last month!






by John Burnside

by Emily Urquhart

by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples

by Robin Talley

by Becky Albertalli

by Jessie Burton

My reading month started fairly slowly after the unfortunate disappointment that was The Dumb House. I didn't really write a proper review for it, but you can read my thoughts on Goodreads here if you want to know why it wasn't for me. After that, though, I had another decent reading month! I went on a bit of a debut novel kick during September, and it's one that I'm hoping to continue throughout the rest of the year so I can read as many debut novels as I possibly can.




Right at the beginning of the month the third, and possibly final, season of Hannibal came to an end in an explosive finale. I'm glad Bryan Fuller gave us an ending that does have a kind of closure if the series isn't picked up elsewhere, though I desperately hope it will be!

With that void in my life I needed a new show to watch, and I found it in Boardwalk Empire. It was always one of those shows I kept meaning to watch and never got around to, so in September I finally started watching it and now I'm hooked. 



I've already breezed through the first season and I can't wait to start the next one - it's been so long since I've found a decent period drama! I do love Penny Dreadful, too, but it has some seriously cool fantastical elements, whereas I find that good realistic period dramas are so much more difficult to find.

Have any of you watched it? If you haven't I recommend it, because now I can't get enough.


September was one of those weird months where I felt as though I did both very little and quite a lot all at once. It's been a fairly confusing month for a bunch of personal reasons I won't go into right now, there's a lot I'm still trying to make sense of in my own head before I start writing it down anywhere else, but I've also been to quite a few places in the UK that made for some really nice days out.

It was my mum's birthday in the first half of the month, and as my poor sister was still slowly recovering from her c-section we decided to order a takeaway rather than go out to celebrate. My mum absolutely loves baking, so I got her a book full of chocolate-themed recipes so she can make me lots of snacks. I'm such a good daughter.

A week after that my nana and auntie came down to visit for the weekend which was lovely, I hadn't seen either of them for about a year and they wanted to come and see my new niece. During on of the days they were visiting we went to Wells for the day; Wells is the smallest city in England, a lovely little place in Somerset with a stunning cathedral.

We had lunch there and had a snoop around the market stalls which resulted in me buying a very cool Cheshire Cat t-shirt and a tiny little book of Shakespearean insults. #NoRegrets.

Then the week after that my parents and I visited Somerset again, but this time we travelled to Weston-super-Mare to see Banksys's Dismaland exhibition. It was so cool. Some of the art was fantastic - there were some little porcelain ladies who'd been covered in tattoos and a painting of bleeding trees that I particularly loved - and the whole exhibition was just brilliant. I'm really glad we went while we had the chance to go!



That night we stayed over in Somerset and the next day we went to Bath for the day. I'd never been to Bath before, but luckily for us the weather was great so we had a really nice wander around the city. We saw Bath Abbey, which was beautiful and had a stained glass window that was blown out during the Blitz and managed to be restored with 60% of the original glass thanks to some very skilled window experts, and we visited the Jane Austen Centre, too.


My mum and dad being... my mum and dad.
The Centre ended up being really interesting - I had no idea Austen had so many brothers! - and the people who worked there, all dressed in 18th century costume, were really friendly; there was a very dapper gent who taught us the best way to use a quill which was pretty cool.


The dapper gent who taught us how to write with a quill, and my mum unintentionally photobombing.
Naturally I came away from Bath with goodies, too, including a copy of Northanger Abbey, some lemon bonbon lip balm and a candy cane scented candle which is quite possibly the nicest thing I have ever smelled and I can't wait to light it when Christmas gets closer!


Mel @ The Daily Prophecy Defended the Disney Princesses

Michelle @ In Libris Veritas offered her Plea from a Bookseller to Parents

Natalie @ A Sea Change shared some very exciting Poetry Competition News!

Mallory @ The Local Muse talked about Why it's Important to Read Banned Books

2 comments:

  1. Wow, The Dumb House sounds... intense, and not in a good way! I read your Goodreads review, because I was curious, and you're so right- the book sounded super interesting based on the premise, but I did NOT like what you ended up having to read about. Yikes.

    Anyway, sorry that book started the month on a bad note :( At least you got to read much better books by the end! The pictures of your parents are too cute! Glad you had such a nice trip, it sounds so fun! And also nice that you got a lot of visits with family in, that is always wonderful! Hope October has been treating you well so far :)
    Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight

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    1. Yeah, it just wasn't my cup of tea!

      Thanks, Shannon! ^_^

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