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?

Theatre Review | Nell Gwynn by Jessica Swale

'They've disgraced our trade. Ruined our art. They've put a woman on the stage!'

I'm here with a little something different today. I don't tend to review plays mainly because I don't tend to see them that often; when I go to the theatre, which isn't as often as I might like, it's usually to see a musical or a ballet, but very rarely a play. In fact before I went to see Nell Gwynn I couldn't even remember when I last saw a play - probably during the last year of my undergrad when I went to see The Winter's Tale, around two or three years ago.

It was my birthday on the 10th October, and myself and three of my friends spent the weekend in London so we could go and see this play. I've been fascinated by Nell Gwynn for years; a 17th century woman who started out life as an orange-seller, then became an actress, and then became probably the most famous of Charles II's many mistresses. She was boisterous and cheeky and vivacious, and I was so happy to see someone had finally written about her and given her a story, and that the person to have done so was a woman.

Jessica Swale previously wrote the play Blue Stockings, so I was pretty confident that she could bring Nell to life, and with Gugu Mbatha-Raw in the starring role, how could she not? Mbatha-Raw is probably most famous for playing Dido Elizabeth Belle in the 2013 period film Belle, directed by Amma Asante. What I really loved about this is that Swale and Mbatha-Raw have been friends for years, much like Nell Gwynn's own good friendship with the 17th century writer, and spy, Aphra Behn.

Nell Gwynn (left) and Aphra Behn (right) were good friends; Aphra even dedicated one of her plays to Nell.

The play follows Nell from her discovery by Charles Hart, an actor and eventually one of Nell's lovers who introduced her to the stage, through to her meeting Charles II and her life afterwards when she tries to juggle being an actress on the stage while also being an actress at court, not to mention her strong feelings for the king.

The thing I loved most about this play? It was funny. And I don't mean 'ah yes I see what you did there' funny, I mean 'ow my ribs hurt' funny. Swale's script is fantastic - it's full of dirty jokes, as Renaissance plays so often were - and the actors were brilliant; Amanda Lawrence, who recently appeared in Suffragette, played the part of Nell's friend and confidante, Nancy, and she was a comedic genius. Some actors have a real talent for comedy, and she has it in waves. I also loved David Sturzaker's portrayal of Charles II - he was so much fun and, despite the rather ridiculous wigs men wore back then, really quite sexy.

I also appreciated that Swale didn't fail to mention the fact that Charles was never a one woman at a time kind of man. In fact I was rather surprised that the two of them declared their love for one another in the play, as I'd always thought of the two of them as having a 'friends with benefits' kind of relationship. Charles had other mistresses alongside Nell, and though Nell often teased them there are also accounts of her playing chess with his other mistresses. Ultimately, the real Nell knew what she was there for, and it's believed that Charles favoured her so much because she knew how to have a laugh. I imagine there was a very deep connection there - on his deathbed Charles asked his successor, his brother James II, to 'let not poor Nelly starve'. James kept his promise and Nell received £150 a year for the rest of her life, which is about £150,000 in today's money - but I don't think they were 'in love' in the traditional sense.

I'll admit I was a little bit disappointed that Aphra Behn didn't appear in the play. She's briefly mentioned, but she doesn't make an appearance; I suppose if she had Swale might have had to try and fit too much into one play, but considering the two of them were such good friends it would have nice to catch just a glimpse of her.

Before Nell Gwynn I'd never been to The Globe before and I'm so glad to have seen this play there. It's such an interactive theatre, especially if you stand by the stage. (We booked seats for the balcony so we could see everything instead, which was just as good!)

I just really enjoyed this play. If I could go and see it again I would, and I'm hoping it goes on tour so people who couldn't get to London can see it elsewhere. It's so bizarre to think that there was a once a time in which people thought that letting women act would bring about the end of theatre; one of the characters, whose name I've completely forgotten, is rather put out because he always plays the female roles, and when Nell joins their troupe he has something of a tantrum: 'No woman can play a woman as well as I can play a woman!'

There was also a fantastic line, delivered by the wonderful Amanda Lawrence to a character who is a playwright, which was probably my favourite line in the entire play: 'If women play women, you won't have to write them so feminine anymore.'

I really hope this play is performed again, and when it is I hope you get the chance to see it. It's wonderful!