Falling in Love in the Summer of 1983, Somewhere in Northern Italy

A Review of Call Me By Your Name

By Cassidy Bailey

Call Me By Your Name, an adaptation of Andre Aciman’s book of the same name, takes place in a small village in Italy during the summer of 1983. 24-year-old American graduate student Oliver arrives at the villa of 17-year old Elio and his family. What begins on the surface as a tense, estranged relationship becomes a passionate, sweeping summer romance that will forever stay with the characters, and readers alike.

Call me by your name and I’ll call you by mine.

The poetic language of the novel translates directly onto the screen, perfectly enacted by Timothée Chalamet’s Elio and Armie Hammer’s Oliver. When words simply aren’t enough, silence expresses the fear and desire shared between them.  Every passing comment and accidental touch becomes a brief yet historical moment in their love story. With each secret glance or sharp breath, the audience is made obtusely aware of the growing intimacy building with every passing summer day.

Crema provides the picturesque backdrop for most of the film, presenting landscapes and architecture of stunning quality, whilst the multilingual cast adds an implicit authenticity to the plot. With direction to shoot the film with only one lens, cinematographer, Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, created shots allowing the characters effervescent chemistry to contrast the background realities of normal life.

The soundtrack compiled 80s pop and Italian classics with 2 original songs from Sufjan Stevens; one of which, Mystery of Love, was nominated for an Academy Award and a Grammy. When combined with such poignant songs, even the films’ loudest visual scenes portray the delicate undertone of the onscreen experiences. Never before have I been so entranced by the sounds of birds chirping or the gentle noise of a tires rolling over pebbles.

 We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything – what a waste!

Elio’s connection with his father, Samuel, plays an important role in allowing Elio to face the realities of falling in love for the first time, with a reliable support system to provide wisdom and reassurance. Seeing such a unique onscreen bond between an adolescent boy and his parents is wonderful yet rare. There is an unaddressed, shared level of understanding that only strengthens the father-son relationship.

Elio and Oliver’s story is a naked portrayal of the all-consuming beauty of first love and earth-shattering loss of first heartbreak. Ultimately, Call Me By Your Name shows what it is to love immensely and hurt deeply; to be human.

 

Favourites from the Soundtrack:

1. Futile Devices Sufjan Stevens
2. Visions of Gideon Sufjan Stevens
3. Love My Way The Psychedelic Furs
4. Mystery of Love Sufjan Stevens
5. Lady Lady Lady Giorgio Moroder, Joe Esposito

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

I originally read this book around 10 years ago (I just worked that out, how scary). It was a recommendation from my mom who loved the series, and ever since that first read, I’ve had the trilogy sitting on my bookshelf proudly. I don’t remember ever finishing the series, but recently my eye has been drawn more and more to the series and more so, the nostalgia. All I really remembered going into this was a boy flying by (what I remember as) a barn and a girl cycling down a round by the beach on the way to school. Those two things do feature, but surprisingly, the book isn’t just about a cyclist and a flying man.

The writing definitely isn’t the most elegant or poetic. The book does unfortunately suffer from the ‘adults trying to write like teenagers and failing terribly’ disease, but after accepting I wasn’t here for the next great modern day classic, I could let it go (mostly) and focus on the actual story.

This book focuses on Helen, a 16 year old beauty who lives on a tiny island, and Lucas, who moves to said tiny island and joins her school. Almost immediately, things start to go crazy when they’re near each other, which is made all the more difficult because they just can’t seem to stay away. We find out this is because they are both several generations removed from Greek demigods and The Furies are trying to make them kill each other. There is a lot of backstory. Greek mythology is the basis for the trilogy, which I love, though at times it did seem like a lot of the story development was occurring due to info-dumping disguised as dialogue. If you kind of squint and tilt your head, you manage to get the gist of the history and can continue reading a sensical story without understanding every single, slightly confusing detail.

*spoilery paragraph*
One issue I did take with the story was the incest plotline. Turns out Helen and Lucas are cousins? Or so says Helen’s mom who mysteriously appears out of nowhere a few chapters before the end of the book. Obviously her appearance gives us loads of great content for book 2, but the cousin lover thing did make me super uncomfortable.

I’m curious to see where the series goes and I’m intrigued to see more of the relationships develop, including those in the Delos family after some huge changes in the first book. This was such a quick read and I’m hoping for the same with the next book!

Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Before I explain how much I liked this book, I should say I have issues with it. Not with the plot line, more so the lack of warning for readers about the shocking and triggering aspects of the material. Maybe I’m wrong in saying that there was no warning at all – on other published editions, maybe there are trigger warnings at the start or if I’d done a simple Google search, I would have seen that other readers have raised this issue and that there has already been some controversy surrounding this books publication.

I understand that this is an adult book, so the content is desensitised and can often be more honest and therefore more shocking, however I think a content warning is still needed. There are very specific triggers which could be harmful for some readers and I think it is careless to just assume every reader would do their research beforehand, or that adults should just be unbothered as they know what they’re getting themselves in for with an adult fantasy.

That said, I really did love a lot of this book. It was definitely darker than I expected, more a paranormal fantasy than a magical fantasy. It was also my first time reading an adult fantasy (I usually stick to YA) and I did thoroughly enjoy a more complex, layered world with a unique and, at times, complicated magic system.

To be honest, I was probably confused for the first 100 pages. It was so much information so quickly, and it took me a while to get my head around the Yale campus setting, the different society names and then the magic each society specialised in. I’d say around 150 pages in though, I was getting it and loving it. It made my brain work harder than other fantasies I’ve read which was an oddly satisfying experience?

I love that every character is flawed but it is accepted because, well, humans. I think my favourite character would be Detective Turner because he was just so sassy and I guess seemed like one of the most relatable characters because he seemed the most connected to the real world. Whilst sitting here writing this, I’ve realised there was a complete lack of romance between any main characters (which isn’t unusual just hugely unusual for me to enjoy a book so much without a big romance). I would love for some romance in the sequel, and I think the author could really pull it off without drawing anything away from the main storyline.

Every plotline intertwined magically through non-linear, alternating chapters so key events were revealed in such a clever way. I’m a big fan of Leigh Bardugo’s YA series’ and I think she did a great job for an adult debut. I will definitely be picking up the sequel, and I do hope they listen to the readers who take issue with the lack of content warnings and make some important changes in the future.

2021 Reading Goals

I just checked back at the goals I set myself in 2017. It was the year I completed my A-levels and started Uni, yet I managed to get loads of reading done and was pretty hopeful for the year in January. December rolled around and I did a 2017 Reading Goal CHECK IN. Turns out, I didn’t manage to achieve many of my goals. Whoops? I’ve decided to create some new goals for 2021, some of them the same as the ones I set back in 2017, and see how far we get!

1. Read one book a month

This is so self-explanatory – I want to aim to read at least one book a month. This covers months when I really don’t feel like reading anything because, for whatever reason, I’m just not in the mood. Read something anyway! More thank likely, it’ll get me back in a reading mood and I’m always happy when I’m reading lol

2. Read more non-fiction

I’ve never read much non-fiction because I used to find it boring. With no romance, no secrets, no magic, what was there to get lost in? I used to solely read to escape, but I’m slowly learning to love reading to learn. When I pick a topic I’m interested in, of course it’s going to be a much more pleasant experience and I’m so excited to see what else I can find that I love.

3. Listen to The Diviners audiobook

Maybe this sounds too oddly specific? All I know is, this is the same goal I had in 2017 which means I’ve had the audiobook for at least 4 years (!) and surely I must’ve run out of excused by now to not listen to it. I usually find I get distracted when listening to an audiobook and constantly have to rewind, so my plan is to listen whilst I do all of my covid-walking. Hopefully I’ll manage to get through it by the end of the year!

4. Read more classics

Again, a goal I set myself back in 2017. I still have at least 5 classics on my shelf I haven’t even attempted to read in the past 4 years. But at the end of December, I finished Atonement by Ian McEwan. Yes, a modern classic, but it’s a start and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so I want to explore more.

5. Review more books

This could be just adding a few bullet points to Goodreads, or a full review on this blog. I just want to be able to remember my thoughts about specific books so that when I look back in the future I can actually remember why I loved or hated a book! This will help me so much when I need to argue on behalf of one of my faves with my friends or my mom.

Fingers crossed I achieve at least one of these. It’s very low pressure but it would be nice to expand my reading tastes and overall, read as much as possible! I have a feeling 2021 is going to be a better year ❤

The Sweet Life

Secrets of the Student Sugar Baby

By Cassidy Bailey

It all began with an Instagram DM. A Direct Message from a stranger, who’s Instagram Profile had 27 followers and 3 pictures of a cartoon soldier. The message was sweet enough. How was my day? Am I interested in making new friends? Would I be willing to receive payment in exchange for pictures of my naked body?

It was a hard pass. But it did get me thinking. There really is a world out there in which men are willing to pay me for pictures, and even in some cases just a conversation. Why exactly aren’t I taking advantage? And furthermore, what really happens when people do?

Prior to the DM, the Sugar Daddy, Sugar Mommy and Sugar Baby trend, to me, was a never-really-happens, for-entertainment-only, online phenomenon. A Sugar Daddy refers to a typically elder, richer man who wants to use his expendable wealth to treat young people in exchange for conversations, pictures and sometimes even sex. A Sugar Mommy is the female equivalent, whilst Sugar Baby refers to the typically younger, less wealthy person who wants to be treated. These treats can take all kinds of forms; from expensive fashion accessories, to cars, apartments and student loan payments.

I ultimately see the temptation – who doesn’t want to be free of student debt? But in order to be a successful Sugar Baby, I would need to seriously work on my small-talk skills. Though it’s not necessarily the ideal job for me, millions of people across the world are utilising Sugar Daddy websites to fund school, holidays or their online shopping habit. Despite watching a small selection of the countless videos available online which discuss the how-tos, the incentives and the risks of becoming a Sugar Baby, I still don’t know enough. The trend remains largely a mystery to me, so I decided to take a dip in the sugar bowl myself.

Seeking Arrangement, according to their homepage, is the dating app for a relationship on your terms. If you’re searching for rich, hot people, Seeking Arrangement is the place to be, as it brands itself an online dating platform for successful and attractive people. Creating an account is free. They ask for your name, age, location, a photo and which role you fulfil. Students can sign up using their academic e-mail address and become a member of the Sugar Baby University, or SBU2020. Though, it remains unclear exactly what this achieves aside from increasing promotion of the site to students with debt.

It sounds like a decent deal, until you investigate further and realise that without a Premium or Diamond membership – which both cost – you can’t send many messages and will only rarely appear in the search results. An upgrade will allow you to receive and send unlimited messages, add up to 3 locations to your profile, hide your active status and maintain a profile without a photo.

For this personal experiment, I stuck with the Standard membership which allowed me to briefly explore what the site had to offer. After a few minutes of searching through Sugar Daddy profiles, generally focusing on their proximity to me and their net worth, I found a few viable options. If I was to upgrade my membership and utilise the sites full potential, I have no doubt I could build a relationship with other members and maybe find myself a Sugar Daddy.

The prospect of possibly finding a Sugar Daddy is exciting, but what slightly quietens the buzz is the lengthy Terms and Conditions page that you must accept before you gain access to the site. Usually, like most, I’d skip over the Ts & Cs. But I thought reading through them would reassure, and hopefully not concern, me about the legality and safety of the whole process.

To become a member on Seeking Arrangement, you agree that you are: 18 years old or older, NOT convicted of a felony and NOT a registered sex offender. I was immediately curious to know exactly how Seeking Arrangement are preventing convicted felons and sex offenders from registering on the site. The short answer is they aren’t, because they can’t. Running a background check on each of their millions of users is an expensive task that the site could not afford. The option they do offer is for members to pay for their own background check, which earns the member a “Background Verified” badge on their profile. Though not the ideal verification process, it eliminates some risk of using the site without truly knowing who you are in contact with.

Other definitive rules of the site include no catfishing, no stalking or harassment, no escorting or prostitution, no human trafficking and no child pornography. As I said earlier, before registering on the site, being a Sugar Baby was somewhat a joke that was so detached from my life and my friends, that I never seriously thought of the risks and how dangerous websites like Seeking Arrangement can be. They are allowing users to hide behind screens and fake identities.

They are eliminating important aspects of responsibility, honesty and accountability.

Despite the clear dangers, Seeking Arrangement and other Sugar Daddy websites are used by millions internationally. Therefore, I’m drawing the conclusion that often times people believe that the rewards outweigh the risks. And Sugar Baby websites aren’t the only platform for young people to earn money online.

OnlyFans, a website launched in 2016, allows fans to subscribe to exclusive content from OnlyFans members. Each member can value the subscription at their own price and post content as often as they like. Members of OnlyFans range from famous actors and pornstars, to YouTubers and Twitter users with small followings. The content is largely nude images and videos and has been credited by The New York Times for changing sex work forever. One Twitter user, @lennholmes, created an OnlyFans account and, according to LadBible, quit her job after only two weeks on the site, earning £15,000. As a second-year university student, she was able to pay off some debts, move out of student accommodation and plan a dream trip.

OnlyFans users often face backlash and accusations of a loss of their dignity. However, people with this belief system choose to ignore that, if subscribed to an OnlyFans account, they are hypocritically funding the content creator and therefore supporting their work. Some people insinuate that any person, though stereotypically women, are losing self-respect by consensually posting nude images or videos to a paying audience. This raises a larger issue of people believing that women cannot use their body as they like and that by using sites like OnlyFans and Seeking Arrangement, they are reducing their self-worth to a price or number of views, and falling below the societal standards set by others.

Ultimately, whatever someone posts online is their choice if it is appropriate for the intended audience. Whether someone wants to sign up to a Sugar Baby website, or become a Sugar Daddy or Mommy themselves, it is their right to do what they like with their time and their body. Becoming a Sugar Baby is a popular route for students to take to help financially support themselves throughout University. It helps to reduce the financial stress faced by many young people across the world and allows them to take control of who they are, building confidence and self-love.

Do what you want with your body but be safe.

Though you cannot negate the risks involved, there is information available online about how to best use these platforms to receive the rewards you expect whilst staying safe, both online and offline, and abiding by the law. Sites like Seeking Arrangement offer users a level of support and eliminate some possible dangers. Do what you want with your body, for what you want, but ensure you’re staying safe and only doing what you’re comfortable with. And think carefully if ever faced with a stranger in your Instagram DMs.

What I’ve Been Reading Lately

Oh boy. It’s been a long time – 2 years to the date – since I’ve written anything on this blog. Uni did something really weird to me when it came to reading and blogging. Both took a backseat to everything else going on and it’s only recently I’ve been craving a good story again. And it’s probably only because I now have so much free time, cough *quarantine* cough, that I want to start writing blog posts again. But I’m not going to question it! So, here we are. Welcome to What I’ve Been Reading Lately (OMG I missed this)…

Don’t Panic

I wrote this piece as part of a University assignment, in which we had to write about our experiences with mental health. With this story, I wanted to address a few ways in which panic attacks can affect your daily life and hopefully offer some solutions or advice to help you deal with them. After suffering from them myself, I know how scary it can be to be so out of control of your own body and mind yet having to be the one who ultimately has to take control again. No one can doubt or question the strength it takes to do that.

I wanted to let you enjoy yourself. Truly, I did. But sometimes, I just appear and you can’t just think me away. I’m there in the back of your mind and when you notice me, I won’t disappear with a simple, ‘Don’t panic!’ or a ‘Calm down.’ I’m there to stay until you can breathe, count, walk me away. I’m sorry it’s like that sometimes. I hope you rid yourself of me soon because, Ella, I want to see you happy.

Ella, Josh and Nora are on a train heading back to Portsmouth. Ella’s family from up north had come to visit and her parents had decided that she should take the cousins to London for the day. Their day was packed full, visiting the London Eye, Camden Market, even managing to catch a show on the West End. It was pretty close to perfect, actually. With stomachs full from their earlier dinner at a small Italian restaurant, the train ride home was quite quiet, despite the busy carriage. Almost every seat was full when they arrived, so Ella was separated from her two cousins, who sat a few rows behind on the opposite side. This gave Ella time to think. And suddenly, all Ella wanted was no time at all.

It all begins with a sick feeling in her stomach and a heavy chest, like when you’re holding in tears that are desperate to be released. It makes her question whether she’s ill, which is incredibly inconvenient considering the packed train carriage and limited access to a toilet. Ella knows she’s not ill though, and she knows exactly what comes next. Rummaging through her bag, she soon finds her headphones and puts them in her ears. She plays her favourite playlist of the moment and focuses on the music. Her eyes fill with tears, though she won’t let them spill in public. She must quickly focus on her breathing, first through her nose though she feels that does nothing. She opens her mouth slightly and breathes in, though she feels like those around her can hear her gasping for air. After some time, her breathing begins to slow, though that deep feeling of dread does not leave her until that night when she’s snuggled alone in bed.

Two weeks later, Ella is packing for her sixth-form end-of-year trip to Rome. Her mum has offered to help whilst her younger siblings are at school and she can tell something is not right. Ella has avoided packing for this trip, whereas for most trips in recent years, she had packed weeks in advance. When Ella’s mum asked her what she wanted to take, Ella told her a vague list of clothing items and then fell back onto her bed.

‘Ella,’ her mum said, walking over to the bed and sitting down next to her. ‘Is everything okay?’

She began to try and explain, and then burst into tears. She lay her head on her mums lap and tried to gather her thoughts and transfer them into words. Mostly, it was exhaustion, though she had not particularly been any more active recently. It was also guilt, that she wasn’t at all excited to go on an amazing trip with her friends. It was worry and stress, about every aspect of the trip that was already planned, not her responsibility and not hers to control. And it was annoyance, that she was letting her own thinking ruin the experience for her.

Ella and her mum packed her bag, but then all too soon, it was the night before the trip. The family were sat downstairs at the dinner table, though Ella was too consumed with her own anxious thoughts to pay attention to their conversations. Ella’s own mind was fighting with itself and she could not seem to get it to stop. When dinner was over, Ella went upstairs to shower and try and relax before bed. She kept telling herself not to think about the trip and just focus on going to bed tonight, but before she knew it, she was struggling to breathe.

After a moment of complete mental blankness, she began running downstairs to find her mum. She knew she wasn’t going to be able calm down from this alone and needed company, a distraction whilst they waited for the attack to pass. Ella reached her mum as she began hyperventilating, tears spilling down her cheeks as she tried to slow her breathing. Her mum took her outside, and together they stood breathing in the fresh air until Ella was ready to go back inside and shower. The next morning, Ella woke up with the familiar feeling of dread deep in her stomach and tears in her eyes yet forced herself to go into sixth-form and get on the coach.

Upon Ella’s return to Portsmouth, she knew that she needed help. The trip had been as enjoyable as her mum had said it would be, yet it was still tainted by the seemingly irrational feeling of anxiety that ran below the surface. Ella decided to that enough was enough and after feeling so confused and alone with her anxiety, it was time to ask for help. She contacted the Student Wellbeing Services at her sixth-form and booked an appointment with a counsellor.

The hardest part for Ella was when her counsellor asked her, ‘Why are you here today?’ Ella knew why she was there but finding the right words to tell the counsellor was harder than she thought. She began with her general anxiety, then the weird feelings on the train and before her trip, then explained about what she assumed was a panic attack. Ella wanted to know what was happening and why, and how she could get her life back under control. She knew she had always had worries and been stressed, but never anything quite like this. And that scared and confused Ella more than anything, because she wasn’t sure what had changed.

The counsellor confirmed that it was a panic attack that Ella had suffered from. A panic attack had occurred when Ella’s body recognised a stressful or worrying situation and the fight or flight part of her brain had kicked in. A panic attack is simply your body fighting the worry. However, whilst you are panicking, the part of your brain which is sensical and rational switches off, so it is difficult to think clearly and find an easy way out of the stressful situation. She told Ella that the stages of a panic attack can be viewed as traffic lights: green, a normal day with no particular feelings of anxiety and panic, can quickly turn to yellow, where your body must fight the panic and distract yourself from the situation or submit to the anxiety and allow panic to set in, and finally red, where you are no longer in control and the attack is happening. The yellow stage is the most vital and allows you to have the most control over what is happening. This is where you can use grounding techniques, like breathing and counting, to help prevent an attack.

Some of the most helpful techniques Ella found were changing the scenery around her, like simply going outside or into a different room. Also, listening to music helped distract her mind and fill it with lyrics. Other more specific techniques suggested by the counsellor were 7-11 breathing, where you breathe in for 7 seconds and out for 11. This was more difficult for Ella at first, as it was hard to concentrate for long enough to count. To overcome this, if Ella did not have someone else around her who could count with her, she made a voice recording on her phone which she could play whenever she needed to count along with her. Other techniques include simply standing up and physically grounding yourself, reciting the alphabet backwards or describing three things each of your senses can detect.

Following on from her first counselling session, Ella knew she was not instantaneously ‘fixed’. She knew it was going to take time. She knew there was the possibility that she would have more panic attacks and that her anxiety wasn’t going to disappear overnight, or maybe ever. But visiting the counsellor had given Ella a way to fight the panic attacks and the anxiety, and not allow it to consume her. She was beginning to believe that she was strong and resilient again and capable of overcoming the hard times, ready to accept and enjoy the good times ahead.

Books You’ve Never Heard Of

Take this with a little salt – there’s a huge chance you’ve heard of these books before, but I personally feel like they don’t get enough hype. I know some of these might have been seriously popular in other countries or at other times or even in different schools or friendship groups, but just not for me. So sorry if I mention books you’ve heard way too much about. Here’s an incomplete list of the best under-hyped books I’ve read!

The book that inspired this post! I read Why I Loathe Sterling Lane over the past summer and LOVED it. Like it’s a 5-star read. Except I don’t think I’ve heard of or know anyone else who’s read it, and you’re all missing out! Trust me. It contains all my favourite tropes, the characters are crazy and hilarious. And the plot/structure/layout of the book is 10/10.

By Invitation Only is insanely dramatic and pretty unrealistic, but I loved it. I believe it’s a self-published e-book, so there are quite a few grammatical and structural mistakes, but if you ignore that, you face a cool location, fun romance, a bit of mystery and some very, very entertaining moments.

I read Ketchup Clouds almost 3 years ago now and it’s still stuck with me. I’m always recommending it to friends – it’s one of the best YA mysteries I’ve ever read. The plot is super unique, and though to begin with it seems the 15 year old character has been written much younger, the cast of characters on the whole are layered and well-developed.

If you read my other posts and have somehow avoided every time (many many times) I’ve mentioned how much I adore The Song of Achilles, then seriously pat yourself on the back. I’ve explained my many, many reasons for loving this book a ridiculous amount of times now, so please, for my sanity,  r e a d  t h i s  b o o k ! It’s based on some Greek mythology, but I promise you don’t have to understand any of it to like this book.

For the final book in this post, I want to mention The Foxhole Court (and all the books in the All For The Game series). I have a review on my blog for this book which explains allllll my feelings. But basically, the most insanely unique and individual plot and beautifully-crafted and precious characters. For a self-published series, I know it’s really popular in the Tumblr community, but outside of that, I haven’t ever heard much about this series. So please, order your copy off Amazon and read it asap!
*FREE EBOOK CURRENTLY AVAILABLE ON AMAZON*
Thanks so much for reading! If you’ve read any of these books and have reviews or anything, let me know so we can gush together! Let me know of any books you love and no one talks about!

How I Choose My Books Tag

*I started writing this post over a month ago – sorry for being such a failure oops*

I still haven’t been motivated to read much at Uni and I still haven’t written a whole lot either, so when I was nominated to do this tag by TwinTales recently, it looked perfect! Big thank you to Zoe and Annike for tagging me – please head over to their blog and have a look at their fab content! Check out their answers here. Let’s get into the questions…

Find a book on your shelves or e-reader with a blue cover. What made you want to pick up this book?

Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Honestly what a perfect book to begin with! If you’ve never heard of it somehow, this books is the sequel to Illuminae, book 1 of The Illuminae Files, which is a seriously cool and unique YA sci-fi series. The first 2 books are packed full of action and written in such a cool way – through interviews, transcripts of camera footage, e-mails etc. – and I just adored this book so much. Super excited to read Obsidio, the third and final book, which was released earlier this month.

 

Think of a book you didn’t expect to enjoy, but did. Why did you read it in the first place?

City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare

I’m going really old school with this answer. City of Bones will always be special to me as it’s the first fantasy book, and probably one of the first YA books, I ever read – all thanks to my mom. I was convinced I would hate it but I’m pretty sure, once I gave in, I read it in like 2 days? I don’t know, but my love for it was completely unexpected and now (as everyone does) I love the whole series and Mortal Instruments world!

 

Stand in front of your bookshelf with your eyes closed and pick up a book at random. How did you discover this book?

Silence is Goldfish by Annabel Pitcher

 

I read Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher almost 3 years ago now, and I really enjoyed that book. Then I’m pretty sure I saw this book in a 3 for £10 Amazon deal so thought it would be interesting to read something else from her! I haven’t got round to it yet, but hopefully one day soon…

 

Pick a book that someone personally recommended to you. What did you think of it?

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

If not my favourite, definitely one of, my favourite books ever. It’s unlike anything I’d read before and have read since, and I just thoroughly enjoyed it. Big thank you to my bestie Lauren who recommended it to me and then proceeded to buy it for me for my birthday when I was just being too slow myself. I feel like I’d be missing out on something (probably somethings) seriously amazing if it wasn’t for her! This book is amazing and now I can’t recommend it enough. My review!

 

Pick a book that you discovered through YouTube / book blogs. Did it live up to the hype?

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

There’s soo many I could choose for this question – I was just looking at my shelf and I feel like so many are YouTube or blog recommendations. I decided on The Hate U Give because it’s one of the most recent, and most important, books I’ve ever read and it deserves ll the recognition. If you haven’t read it by now, seriously what are you doing? I love this book and I could gush forever, but I’ll save you from that here – you can read my review instead!

 

Find a book on your shelves or e-reader with a one-word title. What drew you to this book?

One by Sarah Crossan

Suddenly realising how many books I own with one-word titles… I went with another of my favourite books because apparently I can never get enough. I never ever expected to love One as much as I did, but it really took me by surprise and is absolutely a book I want everyone to read! I found this in my college library, and it was the only book that really looked appealing, with it’s bright yellow cover. I’ve actually written a review for One too!

 

What book did you discover through a film / TV adaptation?

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness and Siobhan Dowd

I heard all the hype about the movie, and subsequently the book, and knew I had to get my hands on it. Everyone said it made them cry, and as someone who is starting to cry at books more and more, I just had to see for myself. Yep, it made me cry! And I’ve just realised I still haven’t seen the film that kickstarted my love for this book and it’s characters. Again, I recommend it to everyone.

 

Think of your all-time favourite book/s. When did you read these and why did you pick them up in the first place?

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

I don’t even know if I have any left? Just kidding, of course I do. One more favourite I just have to talk about is I’ll Give You The Sun, which is another one of those I feel like you’re probably tired of hearing about. So if you’ve already read it, bravo! I’m sure you loved it as much as I did. If not, please hurry up and get to it! It’s a beautiful story of loss and love and seriously magical. My review here will explain my feelings better than this ramble, but just know I adore it. A common theme with the books in my answers, huh?

Sorry so much for the rambly answers and for taking so long to actually post this. Thank you again to the lovely girls over at TwinTales for the tag! It was really fun to answer questions about loads my favourite books. I can’t think of anything better!

I TAG:

A Myriad of Books | Bookathon | RaeleighReads | BookDragonLair | TheReadingFangirl

January 2018 Movie Wrap-up🎬

Oh wow it’s been a while! It’s weird that now ‘a while’ is a couple of weeks, when ‘a while’ used to be 4+ months on my blog. I started back at uni a few weeks ago and I find it so hard to find time or feel motivated to write anything. I’m also hardly reading – which sucks – but I also don’t want to miss out on anything happening here with my friends. Agh, I’m not sure whether posts are going to be as consistent as before but here’s to hoping!

I’ve always watched loads of films so I wanted to see if I could keep track this year. This all came from a list I made at 2am one night over the Christmas break, when I felt I’d watched every romcom on Netflix and Amazon Prime and in general every romcom ever. Sure, I could watch other genres but they’re just not what I crave. Maybe I should post my list of faves one day… Anyway, here is my January 2018 Movie Wrap-Up!

1. Home Again (2017)

Director: Hallie Meyers-Shyer
Cast: Reese Witherspoon, Nat Wolff, Jon Rudnitsky, Pico Alexander
Rating: ★★★★☆
Review: This was the first film that came up on my ‘2017 romcoms’ search and it was exactly what I was looking for! Cute boys, Reese Witherspoon, lots of laughing and a happy ending!

2. Whatever It Takes (2000)

Director: David Raynr
Cast: Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O’Keefe, James Franco
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Review: I’m a huge fan of 90s romcoms, and though this isn’t technically from that era, there are definitely strong 90s vibe. A typical best friends realise they love each other after a life-long friendship! And a baby James Franco. But it wasn’t very memorable or different.

3. Call Me By Your Name (2017)

Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Armie Hammer, Timothée Chalamet, Michael Stuhlbarg, Amira Casar
Rating: ★★★★★
Review: I adore this film and here is my attempt at explaining why. It’s so beautiful and my favourite film ever. And I’m still yet to read the book!!?

4. The Greatest Showman (2017)

Director: Michael Gracey
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya
Rating: ★★★★✯
Review: This was so much greater (pun intended) than I thought it would be. The songs are so beautiful and catchy, I haven’t stopped listening to them! I loved the difficult themes it covered and it was just magical.

5. Rip Tide (2017)

Director: Rhiannon Bannenberg
Cast: Debby Ryan, Genevieve Hegney, Andrew Creer
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review:  Finding this film on Netflix was wonderful – it came at the perfect time, and though aimed at a younger audience, I really liked it. Yes, there is the cliché ‘lessons’ every kids film has but it was still very entertaining.

6. Table 19 (2017)

Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Cast: Anna Kendrick, Lisa Kudrow, Stephen Merchant
Rating: ★★✯☆☆
Review: This film was quite funny and I can see why people would love it, but unfortunately it just wasn’t my favourite. The secondary characters were hilarious and their subplots were so interesting.

7. Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)

Director: Richard Linklater
Cast: Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review: To be honest, I think the reason I liked this film so much was the cast. I’d known and liked a lot of the actors from other work so it was pretty much guaranteed I’d enjoy a film with them all in.

8. The Layover (2017)

Director: William H. Macy
Cast: Alexandra Daddario, Kate Upton, Matt Barr
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Review: This film was a little odd but definitely entertaining. A cute romcom but it won’t be winning any awards soon. And again, quite possible I only enjoyed it so much because of my love for Alexandra Daddario!

Unexpectedly, there’s a lot of 2017 releases on my list, which is usually never the case – I hardly ever manage to watch films around the time they are released! Though my ratings may not entirely reflect it, I loved a lot of the films I watched this month and am quite proud I found 8 films I’ve never seen before and a lot of new romcoms!! Hopefully next month will be just as great!