Top Ten Tuesday | My 2018 Summer TBR!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This year I've been letting myself get back into reading for the pure, unadulterated fun of it, and after reading and absolutely adoring Six of Crows earlier this year my love for fantasy is back with a vengeance and I'm craving it like mad. As well as high fantasy, lately I've really been in the mood to blast through some urban fantasy reads, the warm weather and my love of The Song of Achilles last year has put me in the mood for Ancient Greece, and I've been craving non-fiction, too, after barely reading any in 2017.

Essentially my summer TBR is brimming with fantasy and non-fiction, and I'm excited for all of it! So without further ado, here are the ten sixteen books I've got my eye on this summer:

Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire: I've seen Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies sing this series' praises for so long and it's a series I've been meaning to get to for the longest time. Seanan McGuire also writes under Mira Grant, and is therefore the author of my beloved Newsflesh trilogy, and I'm looking forward to reading her take on faeries - especially as someone who isn't usually drawn to faerie books.

How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back by Diana Rowland: I powered through the first three books in this series a few years ago and had a great time, but haven't read any more of them despite owning books four and five. It's about time I rectified that!

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs: This is another urban fantasy series I've heard great things about and I've had a copy of Moon Called on my kindle for almost three years so it's about time I read it.

Djinn City by Saad Z. Hossain: This one is giving me Haroun and the Sea of Stories vibes and, when it comes to mythology/folklore, genies aren't a creature I come across very frequently so I'd like to try something a little different this summer.

A Thousand Nights by E. K. Johnston: I can't believe I still haven't read this one even though I own a copy of the gorgeous UK hardback, thanks to the lovely Mikayla @ Mikayla's Bookshelf, so I think it's about time I crossed it off my TBR. Plus when I think of The Arabian Nights, I can't help but think of the summer, warm weather and desert nights.

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik: Another retelling from the same author who brought us Uprooted which, to be honest, I didn't love, but as this is a retelling of my favourite fairy tale, Rumpelstiltskin, I have to pick it up when it's released this July.

Circe by Madeline Miller: I finally read and adored The Song of Achilles last year, so I can't wait to get to Miller's second novel this year.

The Ship Beyond Time by Heidi Heilig: I read and really enjoyed The Girl From Everywhere a couple of years ago and still haven't read the sequel. I don't tend to read many books set on ships, but when I do it's usually during the summer; there's something so summery about the sea.

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi: I've heard nothing but great things about this African-inspired high fantasy so far, so I need to get to it this year.

Headscarves and Hymens: Why the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution by Mona Eltahawy: This is another one I've had on my TBR for the longest time and, as I'm in the mood for non-fiction this year, I'd like to get around to it this summer if I can.

The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman's Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson: In the past year or so I've become really interested in Islam. Unfortunately it's a religion that, in the UK at least, has been tainted by its association with terrorism and often the media wants us to believe that Islam = evil because it helps them sell newspapers. If Islam is going to be talked about so much then I want to learn more about it so I'm not another ignorant butthole leaving ignorant comments on the internet, and I'm fascinated by what it was that encouraged G. Willow Wilson to convert to the faith. If you're wondering where you recognise her name from, she's the author of the Ms. Marvel graphic novels!

On the Front Line with the Women Who Fight Back by Stacey Dooley: I've been a big fan of Stacey Dooley's work for almost ten years now, her documentaries are always excellent, so I'm looking forward to reading her very first book.

Fire from Heaven by Mary Renault: One of my friends adores Alexander the Great and has been recommending Mary Renault's fiction to me for a few years now, so when I saw this beautiful new Virago Modern Classics edition I couldn't resist it. I know very little about Alexander the Great apart from that he died very young and yet accomplished so much in those few years, so I'm looking forward to learning more about him through Renault's fiction.

The Sweet Girl by Annabel Lyon: I read Lyon's Imagining Ancient Women a couple of years ago in which she talked about her research for this novel, so I thought it'd be fun to read this one. I know very little about this one other than it's about Aristotle's daughter after the death of Aristotle and Alexander the Great (there he is again) and the tumultuous turn her life takes.

The Children of Jocasta by Natalie Haynes: We've all heard of the Oedipus complex, but I know very little about the Oedipus myth other than that Oedipus was a prince who was raised by the enemy kingdom and, when he defeated the man he didn't know was his birth father, ended up taking his birth mother as his wife. Here classicist Natalie Haynes has chosen to retell the story from the point of his mother, Jocasta, and I've heard brilliant things about it so far.

Troy by Adèle Geras: I've owned this one for a while now and I was very lucky to meet Adèle Geras at an event at Litfest several years ago now and she was wonderfully eccentric. As much as I adored The Song of Achilles last year I do feel like the Trojan War has been rather overdone in the realm of Ancient Greek books and movies, but I like the sound of this one because it's the story of two Trojan sisters trying to survive amidst the war rather than following the well-known names such as Achilles, Hector or Paris.

Which books made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | What's in a name?

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Best Character Names' and as soon as I read that I forgot every clever/fun name I've ever heard. I thought of doing some kind of theme, but in the end I decided to go for ten character names I just happen to like for various reasons. These aren't necessarily my favourite character names but the first ones that came to mind - on with my list!

Orc Dave from Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe and various artists: I love Rat Queens, it's like World of Warcraft meets Dungeons and Dragons and a lot of drunk women, and one of the things I loved most about the first volume was the introduction of a group who call themselves the 'Four Daves' with each member being distinguished by their race. I love the idea of four men in a high fantasy world sharing the name Dave, and Orc Dave is adorable.

The Dragon from Uprooted by Naomi Novik: It's no secret that I didn't enjoy Uprooted as much as I hoped I would, but I did like The Dragon a lot purely because he was such a grumpy git and, therefore, very deserving of the name.

Kaz "Dirtyhands" Brekker from Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo: I fell in love with this book earlier this year and I think Dirtyhands is such a brilliant nickname for a gangster.

Atl from Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: There's such a unique take on vampires and various vampire species in this novel and I love Atl, but I also love her because I don't think I've read a novel before that's included a character with an Aztec name.

Sabriel from The Old Kingdom by Garth Nix: This one's just a pretty name! I've always liked it; the title of this book is what first drew me to it when I was around 13 or 14.

Stanley Yelnats from Holes by Louis Sachar: If my surname was Yelnats, I would not hesitate to call my son Stanley if I had one. It's just a wasted opportunity if not, right?

Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins: Katniss is another name for the sagittaria or arrowhead plants, which is a very fitting name for an archer, I think, without being an obvious link!

Sirius Black from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling: Speaking of obvious links, as much as I love Remus Lupin I'm never going to get over the fact that Rowling essentially named her werewolf Wolf McWolf. I do love Sirius's name, though; I like the name Sirius anyway, but that Sirius is the dog star is a nice touch for a man who can transform into a dog, and a much less beat-you-over-the-head touch than Remus Lupin.

Dolphin from The Illustrated Mum by Jacqueline Wilson: I loved Wilson's work when I was younger and I never forgot Dolphin and the simplicity that her mum named her that because she likes dolphins. As a little girl I couldn't help thinking it'd be a very cool name to have.

Carswell Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer: There are all kinds of fairy tale-inspired Easter eggs throughout this series, but I loved the tip of the hat to Rapunzel when the witch pushes the prince out of the tower window and he's blinded by thorns with this one.

Which names made your list this week?

My Top 3 Anticipated Releases of 2018!

I try to take part in Top Ten Tuesday every week and not too long ago I talked about all of the book releases I'm looking forward to this year. I've since discovered even more and today I thought I'd pick the top three books I'm most looking forward to which are being published in 2018.

It wasn't until I compiled this list that I realised that all three of these books are retellings in some way, which I wasn't expecting as I've been staying away from retellings for fear of reading too many and getting fed up with them like I did with dystopian fiction. Since finishing The Lunar Chronicles, though, I've been eager for more retellings that capture my imagination the way that series did.

In 2017 I finally read Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and it became not only one of my favourite reads of the year but one of my favourite books of all time. I went into mourning after finishing that book and it feels like I read it at the perfect time as Miller's second novel, Circe, is being released in April. Like The Song of Achilles, Miller is giving her own spin on another character from the Ancient Greek legends, Circe, who is considered to be one of the very first fictional witches. This one is my most anticipated read of 2018 and I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!

I've been pretty underwhelmed with the Shakespeare retellings I've encountered recently. Anne Tyler's Vinegar Girl completely missed the point of The Taming of the Shrew and Robin Talley's As I Descended didn't capture Macbeth in the way I'd hoped, but when I heard Tor were publishing a high fantasy novel inspired by King Lear I knew I had to keep it on my radar. I've been getting back into high fantasy since reading and adoring The Goblin Emperor back in 2015 and I'm so looking forward to reading a story about three sisters fighting for the same crown. I've yet to read any Tessa Gratton but I have high hopes that I'm going to love The Queens of Innis Lear.

I'm probably as surprised as you are to see this book here as it's no secret that I wasn't the biggest fan of Uprooted. I didn't dislike it, but it left me feeling a bit empty and took me a long time to get through. I wasn't all that intrigued when I heard Naomi Novik was releasing another fairy tale inspired book until I came across Spinning Silver and realised she'd written a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin just so happens to be my favourite fairy tale, I read it so many times when I was younger, and I have been waiting for a retelling for the longest time. I might not have enjoyed Uprooted as much as I wanted to, but I'm hoping to love this one! (I'm also hoping we might have a different cover in the UK that matches the UK cover of Uprooted).

Which books are you most looking forward to this year?

The New Disney Princess Book Tag!

I saw Deanna @ Deanna Reads Books do this tag and, being the Disney nerd that I am, I couldn't resist doing it myself.

THE RULES

• Mention where you saw the tag/thank whoever tagged you!
• Tag Zuky and Mandy's posts (the awesome creators of the tag) so they can check out the wonderful Princess fun throughout the blog world (Mandy @ Book Princess Reviews & Zuky @ Book Bum)
• Play a game of tag at the end!

SNOW WHITE

This book (like the movie) started it all

Favorite Debut Book from an Author

I know you're all so shocked, but of course it's Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Signal to Noise. This debut took me completely by surprise in 2015 and it's one of my favourite novels of all time.

CINDERELLA

A Diamond In The Rough

Just Like Cinderella, You Either Didn’t Expect Much Out of This Character in the Beginning But They Turned Out to Be a Total Gem

Neville Longbottom. What a precious bean. I don't think anyone really expected much from Neville, not even his own grandmother, and then he grew into one of the best characters in the Harry Potter series. I love Neville.

AURORA

Sleeping Beauty

A Book That Makes You Sleepy, or Just Could Not Hold Your Attention

I'm sorry to say it's Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus, knowing how beloved it is. I did like it but it took me so long to get through; the circus itself fascinated me, but I actually found Celia, Marco and their relationship really boring. I might try rereading it at some point, though, because my tastes have changed a lot since I last read it.

ARIEL

Under the Sea

A Book With a Water/ Ocean Setting

I'm really looking forward to reading Julia Ember's The Seafarer's Kiss, a lesbian retelling of The Little Mermaid with vikings. All the yes. I'm saving my copy for the winter months because I'm going to Iceland in the first weekend of December, so I think Reykjavik will be the perfect setting to read about vikings.

BELLE

Beauty and the Books

Name A Book With The Best Bookworm/ Booklover

Hermione Granger is the obvious answer, and I do adore her, but instead I'm going to go with Catherine from Austen's Northanger Abbey, who loves Gothic fiction so much she wrongly accuses her future father-in-law of murder. Oops.

JASMINE

The Thief and the Princess

Name A Book With An Unlikely Love Story (Either in Terms of Romance, or a Book You Didn’t Expect To Love So Much)

I think I'm going to go with Agnieszka and The Dragon from Naomi Novik's Uprooted. Heteronormativity is real, so whenever a book is released with one female and one male protagonist we can be certain they're probably going to fall in love at some point, but when I started reading Uprooted I began to think there wasn't going to be a romantic relationship, after all. What surprised me most, though, was that when their relationship did become romantic, I actually really liked their chemistry. So kudos to you, Naomi Novik, you did a good job!

POCAHONTAS

The Real Life Princess

Name A Book That is Based On a Real Life Person You Want to Read or Have Read

It's been on my TBR for a while now and I still haven't read it simply because, when it comes to historical fiction, I don't tend to read many books set in the medieval period, but I really want to give Sharon Penman's Here Be Dragons a try. Penman is such a huge name in the realms of historical fiction, so I need to read some of her anyway, and Here Be Dragons follows Joan, Lady of Wales, also known by her Welsh name Siwan, who was an illegitimate daughter of King John and was married off to the Welsh Prince Llywelyn ap Iorwerth. I've always been fascinated by her, it's a shame we know so little about her.

MULAN

The Princess That Saved Her Country

Name the Fiercest Heroine You Know

That has to be Saba from Moira Young's Blood Red Road. I adore her, she's a real survivor and I wouldn't want to cross her.

TIANA

The Princess With the Coolest and Most Diverse Crew

Name A Diverse Book, Whether it is a Diverse Set of Characters (Like Tiana’s Group of Naveen, Louis, Ray, and More)or Just Diverse In General

That has to be Becky Chambers' The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, whose entire cast of characters are different species and genders and sexes and sexualities and nationalities and races whom Chambers uses to explore what makes us different and, more importantly, what makes us similar. It's often compared to Firefly and I can understand why, but honestly I think I'd much rather watch a TV adaptation of this.

RAPUNZEL 

Let Your Longggggg Hair Down

Name the Longest Book You Have Ever Read

I had a look on Goodreads and was surprised to realise that the longest book I've read so far is Winter by Marissa Meyer. I don't know why I was surprised because I never read books that are 800 pages long or more (my edition of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is only 766 pages long) although I'd like to read more long books in future, because I certainly own plenty to get through.

MERIDA

I Determine My Own Fate

A Book Where There is No Love Story/ Interest or Isn’t Needed

I'm going to go with Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor, which is one of my favourite books ever. Our protagonist, Maia, becomes betrothed in this book and we do get a hint that he and his fiancee will be happy together and might even love each other one day, but there's no life-altering romance getting in the way of what is already a wonderful story.

ELSA & ANNA

Frozen Hearts

A Book in a Winter/ Cold Setting

No book has ever made me feel as cold as Hannah Kent's fantastic descriptions of the Icelandic landscape in Burial Rites.

MOANA

How Far I’ll Go

A Character That Goes On a Journey

I have to go with Nan King. Tipping the Velvet isn't my favourite of Sarah Waters' novels, but it's a true coming of age novel and such a fun, saucy romp through Victorian London. While reading it I got the feeling that Waters had a lot of fun writing it - there isn't much that poor Nan doesn't go through, and by the end of the novel she's a completely different person to who she was at the beginning.

If you'd like to do this tag, consider yourself tagged!

Top Ten Tuesday | Books I Struggled to Finish

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Books I Struggled to Get Into But Ended Up Loving or Ten Books That Were A Chore To Get Through or Ten Books I've Most Recently Put Down', so I decided to talk about some of the books I struggled to get through. Some of them I ended up enjoying, some of them I really didn't, and the first five are all books I had to read for school/university.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare: I had to read this at school and at university and I can't stand it. I know Hamlet's a masterpiece, I know it's many people's favourite Shakespeare play, but I loathe it; Hamlet's so whiny and useless and I can't believe I kept having to study it over and over again.

Regeneration by Pat Barker: I didn't completely hate this novel, set during the First World War, but I was 17 when I read it and I definitely found it pretty dull. Having said that, I do remember quite a lot about it so maybe it had more of an impact on me than I realise.

The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins: I made myself read this over the summer before my third year of university, knowing I would be studying it for my module in Victorian Popular Fiction, and I'm really glad I forced myself through it; not only was I well prepared to talk about it for my classes, but it also ended up becoming one of my favourite classics.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: I know this book is beloved by a lot of people, and I completely understand why, but I had to read it during sixth form and I hated it. All of the characters are pretty awful and I just didn't like it.

Persuasion by Jane Austen: This is one of the classics I had to read for school that I'd like to revisit, because it's thanks to this book that, at 18, I convinced myself I hated everything Austen. The older I get the more I understand Austen and I'd like to try reading this again because, as beloved as Pride and Prejudice is, a lot of people consider this novel to be her true masterpiece.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler: This is a retelling of The Taming of the Shrew in the Hogarth Shakespeare series and I was really excited for it. I ended up hating it, but I forced my way through it because it's fairly short. Check out my review here.

Requiem by Lauren Oliver: I really, really liked Delirium, the first book in this series, but both Pandemonium and Requiem were such disappointments for me and Requiem in particular I really had to force myself through, only to be given the most disappointing ending I've ever come across in a series. I could see what Oliver was trying to do, but I think she should have wrapped the story up just a little more.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern: Undoubtedly this is a beautiful book, but I didn't love this one as much as I thought I would because it took me so long to get through it. Morgenstern's writing and her descriptions were beautiful, but I found Celia and Marco's relationship a bit too dull to really be invested in and, looking back, I don't think I ever really cared how the book was going to end.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: I had a similar problem with this novel, I loved the ideas behind it but something about Novik's writing meant I didn't completely get on with it and it ended up taking me a while to finish it. I enjoyed it, but when I put it down I didn't feel compelled to pick it back up. Check out my review here.

Diving Belles by Lucy Wood: Unfortunately this one is probably my most disappointing read of this year because I so wanted to love it, but I realised fairly early on it wasn't what I was hoping it would be and that meant that, like Uprooted, I just didn't feel compelled to pick it up and read it and I ended up having to force my way through the end just to cross it off my TBR. Check out my review here if you want to know more about why I wasn't a big fan!

Which books made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | A Series of Failures

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Top Ten Series I've Been Meaning To Start But Haven't', which is essentially the story of my life. I'm a bad finisher and I'm impatient, so I'm much better at reading standalones than series because I can't bear the wait. A series has to be very special to captivate me. That being said, I miss that feeling of being captivated by a series and a huge cast of characters the way I was when I was younger, from Harry Potter to The Old Kingdom to Twilight (yep, I went through that phase, too), so here are ten series I'd really like to get to at some point.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan: If I'm being honest I don't know if I ever will read this series now, I feel like I should have read them when I was a bit younger because I'm not sure I'll get the sense of humour now that I'm 25 (oh god I'm 25), but I still love the idea of the series. I may get around to it one of these days, maybe it'd be a fun, quick series to blast through over the summer months.

The Memoirs of Lady Trent by Marie Brennan: I actually tried reading A Natural History of Dragons a few years ago but ended up DNFing it, I just wasn't feeling it at the time, but I've heard so many people raving about the series and it ticks so many of my boxes (I love books about ladies in science) that I think I have to give it another chance. I'm going to give the audiobooks a try.

The Bel Dame Apocrypha series by Kameron Hurley: This sounds violent and gritty and so fun. I recently read Hurley's essay collection, The Geek Feminist Revolution, and it's made me want to read her fiction even more. This sci-fi series is set in a world where insects play a large role, I believe, and where the society is inspired by Islam rather than Christianity which sounds super interesting to me.

The Flavia de Luce series by Alan Bradley: I love me some historical crime, and this series set in the 1950s has a child protagonist who loves science. All the yes. I'm always interested by books written for adults with child protagonists because children can be so difficult to write, so I'm hoping this series will be a good one when I get to it.

The Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo: I should have read this by now, especially as it's only two books long. I've heard fairly mixed things about Six of Crows, but my friend Natalie @ A Sea Change loved it and I really enjoyed Bardugo's story in Summer Days and Summer Nights, so I'm looking forward to getting to it at some point this year.

The Gold Seer Trilogy by Rae Carson: The covers of these books are beautiful and I love the concept, so hopefully I'll at least give the first book a go soon after I received it the Christmas before last from the lovely Mikayla @ Mikayla's Bookshelf.

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik: This series is essentially the Napoleonic Wars with dragons. What's not to like? Admittedly I'm not actually the biggest dragon fan, I'm much more of a unicorn girl, but I love the idea of including dragons in a well-known historical setting. I struggled a bit with Novik's writing when I read Uprooted (reviewed here) which is why I haven't started this series yet, but I'm hoping I enjoy it.

The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon: I really want to watch the series but I want to read the books first, only there's so many of them and they're all HUGE. It's pretty intimidating.

The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire: Seanan McGuire (also known as Mira Grant) is one of my favourites, and though I'm not the biggest fan of faeries I do really like the sound of this urban fantasy series. There are already ten books in the series, though, so I have some catching up to do!

The Glamourist Histories series by Mary Robinette Kowal: Similar to Temeraire, this series involves slipping something fantastical into Georgian/Regency history. These books are essentially Jane Austen with magic and considering I own the first book, Shades of Milk and Honey, I'd like to start the series this year.

I actually own all but one of these books, The Lightning Thief being the only one I don't have a copy of, so perhaps I should set myself the challenge of reading the first book in the nine other series by the end of 2017...

Which series made your list this week?

Top Ten Tuesday | First Impressions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature created at The Broke and the Bookish. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week's theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!

This week's theme is 'Ten Books I Loved Less/More Than I Thought I Would', so my list is divided in half with five books I liked more than I thought I would and five I liked less than I thought I would. On with my list!

Books I liked more than I thought I would

Signal to Noise by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I know! Considering how much I talk about this book, who'd've thought I wasn't always sure it was going to be for me. I don't know what it is, but I'm never drawn to books set during the '80s so I really didn't know what I was going to make of this. What I got was a fantastic coming-of-age story along with totally unique witchcraft - I love it!

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng: I saw Mallory @ The Local Muse mention this and decided to pick it up, but it seems the '80s aren't the only decade I tend to stay away from - to be honest I don't tend to read much fiction set in the 20th century after the 1950s, and I'm not usually a big lover of family sagas because there's always at least one person I don't care about and I get bored, but this debut proved to be the exception. It's written and plotted beautifully and I can't recommend it enough.

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn: This is a tricky one in that I didn't realise I had actually really enjoyed it until a couple of weeks after I finished it. When I initially finished I wasn't sure how to feel about it, and I felt little cheated by the ending, but then I couldn't stop thinking about it and the more I think about it the more I realise how cleverly it was plotted.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: Austen and I have a difficult relationship and a couple of years ago I read Northanger Abbey after avoiding Austen for around five years. I actually quite liked it, and I'm tempted to give her another chance.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney: I had a very similar experience with this book as I did with Dark Places. I couldn't stop thinking about it despite not enjoying it as much as I thought I would, and now I think I'd like to re-read it in future so I can fully appreciate it.

Books I liked less than I thought I would

St Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell: I went into this short story collection full of hope and it just wasn't for me. I liked a lot of the ideas behind some of the stories, but I felt like every single story had a very weak ending that Russell just didn't know how to execute... so she didn't do anything. Not for me, sadly!

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn: Unlike Dark Places, I haven't developed a new respect for Sharp Objects since I finished it and I was so hopeful. I don't really have any interest in reading Gone Girl, but I do think Flynn is a fantastic writer and I was very excited to read her debut; I love stories that explore mother and daughter relationships, especially the creepy ones like Carrie and Black Swan, and I'm all for Southern Gothic, but this story and I didn't get along at all. Dark Places felt clever, Sharp Objects felt gratuitous.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: I didn't dislike Uprooted, but I didn't love it either and I was hoping I would as my lovely friend Natalie @ A Sea Change thought very highly of it. I just felt kind of 'meh' about the whole thing and that was mainly because of the way it was written; I don't know what it is about Naomi Novik's writing in this book, but it felt like a struggle to get through. The cover is beautiful, though.

Among Others by Jo Walton: So many people love this book and I hated it! I really wish it didn't because it sounds like the perfect book, but I had way too many problems with it to enjoy it.

Summer Days & Summer Nights ed. by Stephanie Perkins: I really enjoyed My True Love Gave to Me, but I ended up DNFing this one. So many of the stories were so bloody depressing until it eventually got to the point where I realised I didn't care anymore. I did enjoy Leigh Bardugo's story, so I'm planning to read Six of Crows this year.

Which books made your list this week?

Monthly Wrap-Up | October 2015

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...

The Poor Clare

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Wytches, Vol.1

by Scott Snyder and Jock

Uprooted

by Naomi Novik

Horrorstör

by Grady Hendrix

We Should All Be Feminists

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Carrie

by Stephen King

What We Left Behind

by Robin Talley

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

by Elizabeth Gilbert

Step Aside, Pops

by Kate Beaton

Sugar Hall

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!

The Miniaturist

by Jessie Burton

Uprooted

by Naomi Novik

The Poor Clare

by Elizabeth Gaskell

Affinity

by Sarah Waters

Wytches, Vol.1

by Scott Snyder and Jock

Horrorstör

by Grady Hendrix

Carrie

by Stephen King

What We Left Behind

by Robin Talley

Nell Gwynn

by Jessica Swale

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear

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.

My 2015 Reading Goals: An Update

Book vs. Adaptation | Coraline by Neil Gaiman

24 Things I've Learned in 24 Years

From Screen to Page #2

Book vs. Adaptation | Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Part One)

Book vs. Adaptation | Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Part Two)

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.

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!

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.

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!

Catherine @ Based on the Book talked about the Similarities between Authors and their Characters

Cait @ Paper Fury talked about How to Be Kind to Book Bloggers

Tracy @ Cornerfolds talked about Authors Who Can't Let Go

Wendy, Layla and Kim @ The Midnight Garden discussed Roald Dahl's The Witches

What did you get up to in October?