Category: Monthly Wrap Up

September Review / October TBR

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Hey Bibliofriends,

A brand new month is upon us…well it will be tomorrow.

What I’m Reading

I’m still currently reading ‘Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix‘ which I started earlier this month but have now also begun ‘These Wicked Waves‘ by Emily Layne which is an e-arc from Netgalley due to be released on October 22nd. What will really kickstart my reading again is when my copy of ‘Into the Crooked Kingdom‘ by Alexandra Christo arrives in the post. I won a copy of it from Readers First which is a website I’d recommend to any book lover. You can get a first look at selected upcoming releases and if you write a brief review you get entered into a prize draw to win the book. I have previously won copies of ‘Wicked King’ and Alexandra’s first novel ‘To Kill a Kingdom’ from them – to be honest, the three book draws I’ve entered have all been successful. There aren’t a huge amount of YA/Fantasy novels that come through but it’s a great way to win a book!

October TBR

To be honest, with the current state of my reading, my October TBR will probably consist of the three books I’ve mentioned in the above paragraph. With half term towards the end of October, I’m hopeful to start ticking a few more off my list. You can read about what those books are in my previous TTT post here.

Films I’ve Seen in September

  • IT: Chapter Two – based on the Stephen King novel this thriller didn’t scare me as much as the first instalment of this movie reboot. Don’t get me wrong, the clown is still super sinister, but there’s just something about blowing it up to Godzilla size that just took the scariness away.
  • Downton Abbey – As if I haven’t talked about it enough already I loved seeing the Downton Abbey film this month. I’m normally hit and miss with period dramas, I either love them or hate them but this was definitely a LOVE. I’ve even completed my TV series DVD collection this month just so I can watch all of the episodes all over again!
  • Ready or Not – This movie was like a horror version of Downton. Young bride gets initiated into a rich board-game family by being made to play a game of hide and seek…only problem is, if the family find you, they have to kill you due to some devil pact that an ancestor made. It has some pretty strong gore and violence but I thoroughly enjoyed the concept and it was worth a watch.
  • The Goldfinch – I read this Pulitzer Prize winning novel as part of the Between Two Books Book Club which is a book club created by Florence + the Machine Fans. It really captivated me so I was thrilled when the movie was announced. I love the way the painting runs throughout the main character (Theo’s) narrative and the film was a wonderful way to remind me how much I loved this book.

(A few of the) Things I’m Looking Forward to in October

  • Cheltenham Literature Festival – October is one of my favourite months for the very reason that this Literary Circus rolls into town! Honestly, the line-up doesn’t seem as great to me as previous years however I’m immensely looking forward to it.
  • Rugby World Cup – The RWC continues throughout October. The only downside to it being in Japan is the time difference and being able to watch the matches, however the contest has already been so thrilling that I’m really looking forward to see how the teams end up after the pool stages. Any fellow bookish rugby fans amongst us?
  • The Cheltenham Races Showcase – Jumps season kicks off again towards the end of October and I can not wait!
  • My childhood friend gets married! – This will be my fourth wedding of the year to attend and I am so excited. Hannah is one of my friends from primary school so it will be so wonderful to see her walk down the aisle.
  • Half-Term! – I’m still really enjoying my new job, but any chance to get a holiday and get the chance to breath is always welcome.

What books are you looking forward to reading this month? What has been your favourite September read? What are you most excited about for October both bookish and non-bookish?

As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

August Book Wrap

The Biblioshelf6 Comments

Hey Bibliofriends…if you’re still out there!

Life has been such a whirlwind of adulting over the past few months which has meant that my poor little blog and actually ‘reading’ books has had to take a back seat. In short, there have been house renovations (still not complete!), a large amount of family birthdays and getting a new job! Life in the jobosphere has been quite tricky over the past 12-18 months so it was a massive relief to be offered a new position in a different school; it comes with a higher workload and a lot more responsibility but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. I’ve also gone from teaching the oldest kids in the school to the youngest ones so September is going to be a pretty steep learning curve for everyone in my class. In the absence of my Hogwarts letter it looks like I’m teaching the muggles again for this year at least!

Books I’ve Read: August has finally handed me some free-time to be able to enjoy reading again. I hastily compiled a Newts Magical Readathon List together at the end of July which I’ll be discussing in a forthcoming post. I think I’m still on track to reach my Goodreads Reading Challenge Goal by the end of the year – I’m currently at 33/50.

august reads

  • The Immortal City by Amy Kuivalainen – This was my first ever Netgalley book to review *mini cheer*and I really enjoyed it! If you love Atlantis, Venice and want a more grown up mystical-fantasy story then this may be the pick for you; keep your eyes peeled – a full review will be coming soon.44953207
  • Legendary and Finale by Stephanie Garber – With the release of Finale earlier this year there was no better time for me then to finally complete this magical series. I was really intrigued by Stephanie’s take on the Fates and became truly submersed into the world of Tella, Legend and Caraval.
  • Obsidio (Illuminae #3) by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – Another series I was able to complete was the Illuminae Files. I’ve made no secrets of my love for this series and I’d highly recommend it to anybody. I don’t think you have to love the Sci-Fi genre to enjoy this; I’m not the most impassioned reader of spaceships and galaxies far, far away, but the characters Kaufman and Kristoff created and weaved together through this cleverly plotted and captivating series was absolutely 5-Star and will be one of my favourites for many years to come.
  • Love & Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch – This book really called out to my inner wanderlust. Florence is one of my favourite cities in the world so the fact that this was based here was what attracted me to it. Although I would have loved a little more Florence from the novel, the story of Lina’s journey to the Tuscan city and the relationships she made there created a perfect light-read for Summer.
  • Evermore (Everless #2) by Sara Holland – Can you spot the theme running through my reads yet…? Everless was another series that I wanted to finish this summer. I loved the first book and the fable revolving around the Alchemist and the Sorceress. Whilst this one didn’t enthral me as much as the first novel in the series, I really enjoyed seeing how it all ended.
  • Lethal White by Robert Galbraith – I’ve been reading the Strike series since finding out that J.K. Rowling was secretly Robert Galbraith. This latest instalment in the series did definitely not disappoint and I’d even go as far to say that Lethal White is my favourite of all the Strike novels so far. Although I was initially a little scared of its brick-like size clocking in at 656 pages, my need to keep turning the pages to find out what was happening enabled me to breeze through it in about 5 days. I already can’t wait for Book 5!
  • The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw – This book had been on my TBR for ages and being a standalone it wouldn’t have broken the little task I set for myself to try and finish some of the outstanding series I had on my shelves. I thoroughly enjoyed this witchy read and despite working out where the plot was going fairly early on, I still became immersed in the way the story was told and how everything unfolded towards the end. If the town of Sparrow was a real place, then it’d definitely be on my Literary Travel Bucket-List!
  • The Midnight Game (Episode 1) by Cecilia Dart-Thornton – If I’m being perfectly honest, I read this book as it only had 94 pages and would enable me to complete one of my subjects for the Newts Magical Readathon quite quickly. One of my pet hates in real-life is people who try and talk with a fake accent or use language/words which are almost forced – unfortunately this story did precisely that and I don’t think I’ll be reading Episode 2 anytime soon – it’s definitely not the story for me.
  • England in Cameracolour, Cotswolds and Shakespeare Country – This was a delightful and surprising find. It was a collection of stunning photographs from lots of places in the areas surrounding where I live. Accompanying each photograph was writing about the history of each place. Definitely an interesting coffee-table style book which appealed to a Cotswold local like me.
  • Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman – I recently purchased all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe boxsets on Blu-Ray as I hadn’t seen any of the films before Captain America: Winter Soldier. This Summer I’ve been gradually working my way through them in chronological order and the appearance of Thor made me want to dig Norse Mythology from out of my TBR pile. My knowledge of the Norse Myths is very vague and Gaiman is one of my auto-buy authors so it was great to finally tick this one off my reading list. Gaiman really is a master story-teller and this book definitely satisfied all of my mythological cravings!

Now I list them down, I’m actually quite impressed by the amount of reading I’ve managed to do this Summer, particularly as 4 out of my 6 week break has been spent working at my new school to try and get it ready for the new academic year! 😳

What have you been reading this month and what are you looking forward to reading in September? As ever, drop me a comment below to chat!

T xx

April Wrap Up

The Biblioshelf5 Comments

Wow, what a busy month April was, particularly the end of the month, hence the lack of posting on here and on my Instagram. I’m hoping to catch up at some point soon… 😂 Participating in the OWLs Magical Readathon has definitely helped my reading challenge. After being about 2 books behind schedule last month, I’ve now read 21 of my target 50 books and am 6 ahead of schedule! Having two weeks off for the Easter holidays definitely helped! You can read more about my Magical Readathon escapades here. I’m hoping to get a wrap post up for it during the start of May.

Books I’ve read this month:

  • Mirage by Somaiya Daud – musings here.
  • Five Give Up the Booze by Bruno Vincent
  • Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye – musings here.
  • The Lost Sisters by Holly Black
  • Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
  • Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff – musings here.
  • Stardust by Neil Gaiman (reread)
  • Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander [J.K. Rowling] (reread)
  • To Best the Boys by Mary Weber
  • The Silmarillion by J. R. R. Tolkien [audiobook]

Films I’ve seen this month:

  • Wild Rose (15)

I love country music so a film about a single mum trying to get to Nashville was definitely going to be on my “must-see” list. Also, it has Julie Walters so it’s a win-win! Asides from the brilliant soundtrack, the film has a great sentimental message at the heart of it too.

  • Greta (15)

This film FREAKED ME OUT – but in that great ‘scary-movie’ kinda way! It isn’t a jumpy film with the non-existent soundtrack and bad guys jumping out from everywhere but it definitely leaves you really reconsidering the phrase ‘the kindness of strangers’. Kudos to Isabella Huppert for playing one hell of a scary psychopath! Basically her character utilises her lonely widow status by leaveing fake handbags on the subway in the hope that people will bring them back to her. She befriends them but then gradually wields her stalkerish and obsessive ways with them. If you love films that leave you with the chills, then this one may just be right up your street.

As the calendar has been quite busy and I was away for part of the holidays, I didn’t really get to see as much as I like at the cinema. May is definitely going to be busier as I’ve already got three films scheduled this weekend and one of them is Endgame! 😆

Other life stuff:

  • My friend Emma got married in April! This was my second wedding of four this year. She lives in Lanzarote so she and her now-husband had a quiet UK ceremony for their friends and family over here before flying back to Lanzarote for the ‘party’ part of the celebrations and their friends over there. It really was the perfect celebration to suit my friends; her dress was beautiful and the lace hair piece (which she had instead of a veil) was so gorgeous and intricate. It was a wonderful day which very nearly ended up with us crashing a country dancing event that was also going on in the hotel!
  • Keeping with the wedding theme, I spent the last weekend in April on a hen party for my Potterhead friend who I’ve known since primary school. We had Potter-themed T-shirts, went on a cauldron cocktail making experience at the Cauldron Pub in London and then finished with a Witchcraft and Wizardry escape room at Escape Leicester. Cocktail making was so much fun – there were robes, interactive wands, magically stirring drinks, fire, mythical beast heads and alcohol a-plenty! It’s amazing we made it back to the train in one piece! The Escape Room was also an absolute blast. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make it out of the room as we ran out of time, however we’re hoping to go back sometime to complete it again. We’re all such competitive people that the idea of not finishing the game left us slightly dejected until we saw online that it only had a 51% success rate… at least we weren’t the only ones not to finish!
  • The Racing Club I am a part of were treated to a morning on the gallops to watch one of our new horses whose stable-name is ‘Happy’. She wowed us with her speed so we’re looking forward to seeing what she can do once the summer season commences fully. Afterwards we were treated to some deliciously home-baked cakes. One of our members really has top-notch baking skills.
  • The rugby team I support has made it into the top 4 of our league which means we get to enter the play-offs this month! Our boys have worked so hard this year and we’re looking forward to seeing them get their rewards. The final games of the season will be super exciting!

April has been so fantastic and it seems like there is going to be so much to also look forward to in May.

How was your April? Did you meet your reading goals or see any cool films? What are you most looking forward to doing in May? As always, drop me a comment to chat!

T xx

 

March Wrap Up

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I can not believe ¼ of 2019 has gone already! I am so pleased that the sun is shining more and we are getting into warmer weather. We have so many blossom trees where we live and it’s beautiful when they all come out.

In terms of my Biblioshelf life I am so happy with how March has gone!

Positive things that have happened:

  • Managing to vaguely keep up with the Blog and Bookstagram (at least as much as I could)
  • New Blog and Bookstagram followers (💜 thank you all!!!)
  • My best month yet for reading (even though I’m still “2 behind schedule” according to Goodreads). I’m up to 10 out of 50 and half of those have been March reads.

Books I’ve read:

  • Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo – In my bid to try and finish off some of the book series I was part-way through, I finally got around to ticking this off. What a stunning duology. I really enjoyed it. You can read my spoiler-ridden Biblioshelf Musings about it here.
  • Onyx and Ivory by Mindee Arnett – I was way behind with reading my Fairyloot books from last year’s boxes so many of them are forming as my immediate TBR list to try and catch up. Onyx and Ivory was fab for getting me back into the fantasy genre and I really enjoyed reading it. I added the second novel Shadow and Flame onto my TBR straightaway.
  • The Duke, the Autobiography of David Nicholson – The Duke is one of our local heroes when it comes to horse-racing. He trained his horses in a village not far away from where I live and the trainer and his wife who run the Racing Club I am a part of both used to work for him as well. March was the perfect time to finish this book, which I’d started and then put down last year, as the Cheltenham Festival takes over the whole area where I live so there was a real buzz in the air. It offered a great insight and history into the sport and it was quite strange to read about people who I have met and even know in real-life.
  • A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer – I tried to read this in order to take part in the Fairyloot readalong as this was their February book, however my work schedule didn’t really give me that much time to read it during that week. I have now finished it and love it. Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite fairytales and this retelling offered a fresh spin of such a traditional story. Biblioshelf Musings are yet to come…
  • The Time Machine by H.G Wells (Audiobook read by Kelsey Grammer) – As I have said previously in my Top Ten Tuesday post Audio Freebie, I’m not that keen on audiobooks. I think the price is something of an issue, plus I like to have a physical book in my hands to get lost in. This audiobook was free on iTunes so I immediately downloaded it. It’s quite a classic must-read novel for any fans of Science Fiction. I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed it. Grammer’s narration really suited the character of the time-traveller, almost as if he was the time-traveller himself. The story was just short enough and suspenseful enough to keep me tuned it. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who has this on their TBR.

Other hobbies in my life include going to the cinema. I am a co-organiser of a film club and we often see 2-3 films a week at our local cinema. Like with all things, I’ve missed a few of our film events due to doing other things but here are three of my top March film releases:

  • Fisherman’s Friends (12a) – I absolutely loved this! As I split my time between the Cotswolds and Cornwall it made me really nostalgic to go back to my little house by the sea! Stunning scenery and location aside, this film was heart-warming, funny and poignant in all the right doses. The only thing that disappointed me was that the tale of the ‘music manager falling in love with the village girl and buying the pub to save the day’ was purely fictitious! Anyway a fantastic film nevertheless; if anyone wants to join in a sea-shanty sing-a-long one Friday night down in Port Isaac then count me in!
  • Us (15) – This is probably going to be one of my Top Ten Films of 2019! It had scary bits, humour, mickey-taking, horror, doppelgangers, audacity, fairgrounds, violence, story-telling, mythology and pure, downright weirdness in buckets (or boat-loads 😉)! There are so many layers to this plot that keep you guessing right the way to the very end. Just when you think you’ve worked it all out, something else happens to make you think something completely different. It’s one of those films that you watch again and again and discover something new every time. I won’t spoil it for anyone who is going to see it but if dark, twisty, multi-layered psychological thrillers are your thing, then this is your must-see film of the year!
  • Fighting With My Family (12a) – Any film with The Rock in is immediately added to my cinema list. What I enjoyed about this film was how accurately it portrayed the real-life family which this film is based on. It represented a part of our society that does not get a lot of air-time (if only for the wrong reasons) and showed the hardships that they go through, the struggles they face just to make their way in the world and find a space for themselves. I honestly didn’t feel that this film would be my type of thing. I’m not a wrestling fan at all but that really didn’t matter – the key meaning to take away is about the sense of community and the dreams people can achieve if they all pull together. It’s a message of positivity in what can sometimes feel like a very negative world.

Other life stuff:

  • My friend got married – She had one of the most gorgeous wedding cakes I have ever seen! As a massive fan of the film Labyrinth, her three tier cake was themed around the film. The characters were made of fondant icing and there was even a dancing Jennifer Connelly and David Bowie at the top from the ball scene. It was almost too good-looking to eat but it tasted so delicious. We are massive fans of Gloucester Rugby and always go to their matches. We call ourselves the “Shed Family” after the area of the ground we stand in and in true Glaws Family style, we all piled into the bar to watch the Gloucester match that was taking place that evening – a true rugby wedding!
  • Cheltenham Races – I’ve already talked about this above and in a previous post but Race Week is always a highlight of March. Along with the Six Nations Championship the month is great for sports fans like me!
  • George Ezra – To be honest, if it wasn’t for my friend I don’t think I would have gone to see him live in concert but I am so glad I did! I have his album Staying at Tamara’s which is on constant repeat in my car at the moment and this sunny weather is perfect for blasting out Paradise and singing along at the top of my voice! He is even better live and the anecdotes he told throughout his set were funny too. He was supported by Sigrid who brought her catchy, bouncy pop songs to warm the crowd up. Before George came on they played Don’t Look Back in Anger into the auditorium and there is nothing like a classic Oasis song to get 15,500 people to burst into the biggest round of karaoke ever – fabulous! A brilliant evening and I’d love to see him again.

Tonight I am off out with friends to celebrate their birthdays. We are eating at The Botanist which is new in town so I’m really looking forward to trying it out. I’ve heard lots of great things about it. The restaurant looks so pretty and I bet they have an exceptional Gin/Cocktails list. Afterwards we are going to Mr. Mulligan’s Crazy Golf which I am extremely looking forward to!!!

I want to leave you with a quote from V.E. Schwab which I read from her Instagram post on 8thMarch. It was one of those motivational things you read which seems to come along at the exact time when you need it. I read it after getting some disappointing news and it really helped me to hold things together and get through the remainder of the day. I’ve referenced to it as well in my Six for Sunday post which comes up tomorrow. I’ve written it down; I read it often; it gives me the motivation to carry on doing my own thing, on my terms in my own way. I may not read as many books as everyone else; I may not post stuff on a regular basis; I may not have a viewpoint or an opinion that is groundbreakingly different or that people are even interested in; but this is my little corner of the big wide blogosphere and I am learning to stop putting myself under so much pressure to meet deadlines for this or fit into a mould for that and to just be happy and at peace with my extremely blessed life!

‘Show up. Put in the work. Let go of the outcome. The list of things out of your control is too long. Success is not guaranteed, and sometimes you can do everything right and still miss the mark. Because the mark is arbitrary, and always changing. The only thing you can do is tell your story.’

Gold star to you, reader if you made it through my March ramble! Have a super weekend and enjoy whatever is you’re up to!

T xx