Somehow I packed quite a lot into this month. I was posting reviews like crazy - mainly because I wanted to review as many spooky books in October as I could - and my October was fairly busy. How, you ask? Let me tell you...
by Elizabeth Gaskell
by Scott Snyder and Jock
by Naomi Novik
by Grady Hendrix
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
by Stephen King
by Robin Talley
by Elizabeth Gilbert
by Kate Beaton
by Tiffany Murray
Well, somehow I managed to get through ten books last month! Shockingly I didn't read all the books on my Halloween TBR, in fact I read quite a few books that I hadn't planned on reading, but it was a lot of fun to get through a few spooky books in time for Halloween! Sadly I still haven't read The Raven Boys or Half Bad, but I'm determined to get to them at some point. It's Sci-Fi Month in November, so I'm planning to read a little bit of sci-fi and then just read whatever else takes my fancy!
by Jessie Burton
by Naomi Novik
by Elizabeth Gaskell
by Sarah Waters
by Scott Snyder and Jock
by Grady Hendrix
by Stephen King
by Robin Talley
by Jessica Swale
by Elizabeth Gilbert
I went to see Jessica Swale's new play Nell Gwynn in London last month, and it was so, so good! I've reviewed it on my blog already, and I'll be talking more about my trip to London below!
My mum and I went to see Suffragette in October and I enjoyed it. I'm weak for a period film, and I'm honestly astounded that there hasn't been a film about the suffragettes until now - that's kind of ridiculous considering what they did for us! I don't think it was the best film I've ever seen - one of the villains was so villainous he was almost a caricature, and I thought it was a real shame there were no people of colour in the film at all - but I did enjoy it and I'll definitely get it on DVD. It made me quite emotional, actually.
I also watched Black Roses: The Killing of Sophie Lancaster on the BBC, as well as a few documentaries about witches which I all really enjoyed. Black Roses is so emotional, and I highly recommend watching it should you ever have the chance. For those of you outside the UK, Sophie Lancaster was a young woman who was beaten to death by a group of teenagers because she was a Goth. She was basically murdered because of the way she looked. She and her boyfriend were both attacked, and she covered her boyfriend's head while they beat her. Her story is harrowing, and in Black Roses British poet Simon Armitage has given Sophie a voice with some beautiful poetry, interspersed with an interview by Sophie's mother. The interview is real, but her mother is played by an actress in the programme.
For anyone in the UK, Black Roses is still available on iPlayer for another seven days and you can watch it here.
As October was, of course, Halloween month, I also ended up watching Practical Magic and the 2013 adaptation of Carrie. I'd seen Practical Magic before, of course, but it's such a fun movie that I couldn't resist watching it again, and I ended up watching Carrie on Halloween with my dad. I thought it was a great adaptation, actually, and I'll be talking about it in another post later this month.
It was my birthday in October! On the 10th I turned 24 (I'm so old!) and as my birthday fell on a Saturday this year, I went to London for the weekend with three of my friends from university to see Jessica Swale's Nell Gwynn at The Globe.
I had a brilliant weekend. I set off early, but it meant I got into London before lunchtime and I met up with the others in the station; all four of us had come from a completely different part of the country, and it had been about two years since we had all been together. It was really lovely to see them all again and catch up.
We were going to the theatre that evening, so before then we decided to go and drop our things off at the hostel we were staying in and then go to Westminster Abbey. I'd been to London several times before but I'd never been to Westminster Abbey - it was always closed for whatever reason when I wanted to go - and it turned out that this trip wasn't going to be any different. We got there and we got into the queue, and then when we were only a few places from the front we were told it was closing - why an attraction like Westminster Abbey would close at 1:30 on a Saturday I really don't know, but there you go!
It wasn't the end of the world by any means, but pretty much all of Britain's monarchs are buried in Westminster, along with a lot of other cool authors and historical figures. One of these days I'll get in there!
After that we decided to go to the National Gallery instead, which was beautiful. I'd been in there once before, several years ago, and it was nice to go back; I have a real weakness for Renaissance art so it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon, and it turned out to be pretty helpful for one of my friends who's currently doing her PhD on Early Modern Literature.
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| Cocktails at The Hard Rock Cafe |
We had a very nice dinner at The Hard Rock Cafe - along with a yummy cocktail each, because what are birthdays for if not cocktails? - and then we went to the theatre.
I'd never been to The Globe before, and it was such a fantastic experience to see a play in Shakespeare's theatre. I loved the play and I really hope it's going to travel around the UK so people who couldn't get to London have the opportunity to see it. We had brilliant seats and basically spent the evening laughing. Afterwards we had a nice, nighttime stroll back to our hostel; it's amazing how peaceful yet alive London feels when the streets aren't crammed with people. Our way back involved walking over the Millennium Bridge, which just so happens to be the bridge that the Death Eaters destroy in film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Then we got snacks and went to bed, and considering I'd been up for about 20 hours it didn't take me long to fall asleep!
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| From left to right: Elena, Beth, me and Hannah outside The Globe! |
The next day was even more chilled out than the first; we weren't heading back home until late afternoon, we wanted to give ourselves two full days in London, and though there was lots of sight-seeing that we could have done, we ended up getting a late breakfast in Trafalgar Square (I had some delicious pancakes) and then we accidentally spent three hours in a huge Waterstone's. It was three hours well spent.
After that we found a nearby pub and just sat and chilled out and caught up. It was so nice just to be sat chatting with friends for a while, and though I would have loved to have gone to The Tower of London or the Natural History Museum or Westminster Abbey, this was just as good, if not better.
Needless to say, I had a great weekend!
Last month I was also lucky enough to attend In Conversation with Sarah Waters, which was hosted by Cardiff Metropolitan University. I work at an independent publishing house in Wales so we were sent an invitation, to which I said a huge YES PLEASE.
I love Sarah Waters; she's one of my favourite authors and The Little Stranger is one of the best books I've read this year. She was interviewed by a couple of members of the university staff and she was absolutely lovely, she was so intelligent and funny and incredibly pleasant. I loved hearing her speak and I'm so glad I got the chance to go and listen to her. I am a little gutted I forgot to take my copy of The Little Stranger, though - I might have got it signed!
Two days later I went to Swansea for an EP launch. I met Cath Elms through another friend of mine, and she has the most beautiful voice. Last month she was releasing her new EP, So Far From Whole, so I went to Swansea for the launch and met up with a few friends. It was a great night and Cath did really well. I'll leave a link to her website here so you can go and check her out!
And finally, I went to Swansea again the night before Halloween to take part in a murder mystery at my friend's house. It was so much fun - I haven't laughed so much in ages - and I had a fantastic night. I got to dress up like a Victorian, and I'm never going to turn down an opportunity to dress up like a Victorian, and it was a brilliant night; everyone brought food and everyone put effort into their costumes and really got involved.
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| From left to right: me, Cath, Kirsty and Eve - ready to solve a murder! |
Basically October was the busiest month I've had in a while!
Cait @ Paper Fury talked about How to Be Kind to Book Bloggers
Tracy @ Cornerfolds talked about Authors Who Can't Let Go
What did you get up to in October?
I love, love, LOVE your Halloween themed banners ♥♥♥ Looks like you had a fabulous month^^ lots of books, lots of good watching AND it was your birthday :D I hope that November will treat you just as well! xx
ReplyDeleteThank you for the kind words - and thank you for coming, it was lovely to hang out! <3
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