Top 5...#8

Hello there internet! Today i'm here with another of my Top 5's, this time i'm going on over to the BookTube community and discussing the Top 5 BookTubers i have loved watching during 2013!

Now i love a lot of the people in the BookTube community and it has been really hard to narrow it down to five, but i did it! So, if you haven't already, go and check out all these wonderful people!

5 - Jesse (jessethereader)

Okay so i've gone back to try and find exactly when i started watching Jesse's videos and i'm pretty sure this video was the first one of his i watched, and then i immediately subscribed. I love Jesse's videos and i think he seems like one of the nicest guys in the world. His videos put a smile on my face and he has an awesome taste in books! 

4 - Raeleen (padfootandprongs07)

So this is the first video of Raeleen's i ever watched, and that was back at the end of 2011...i so didn't think it was that long ago! But i love Raeleen's channel. Her reviews are great, her tags are great, she's just great really. I'm pretty sure she was the first person from BookTube that i ever watched, and i'm still watching her videos 2 years later, so clearly she's one of the best ones!

3 - Catriona (LittleBookOwl)

Catriona is probably one of my favourite people on YouTube in general. Her videos are funny and she seems really awesome and  she has a great taste in books, which is always a good thing! She genuinely seems like one of the nicest people and i just love watching her videos because she seems so lovely. I honestly cannot remember when i started watching her videos, or what the first one was, but they're all great so you should definitely check her out!

2 - Ben (benjaminoftomes)

Okay i'm pretty sure Ben is the only English BookTuber i watch? And he's great! (wow how many times can i say great in one post?) Ben makes me laugh in basically every video he posts and i really love that. He's probably also the BookTuber i think has the most similar taste in books..? Maybe? Either way he likes really great books, and he makes really great videos and subscribing to him was one of the best things i did YouTube wise in 2013!

1 - Ariel (Ariel Bissett )

Ariel is not only my favourite BookTuber, she is also just my favourite person on the whole of YouTube and the internet in general. I adore all of her videos. She makes me laugh, and she makes me think about things, she makes me want to read books i wouldn't normally read, and her videos just generally make me happy. I started watching her videos from, i think, the third video she put up on her channel? (I know she had a channel before, but i'm not 100% on what that was called...) But i found her on 'Ariel Bissett' and i've just loved her and her videos ever since!

So there we go! My top 5 BookTubers of 2013! I can't wait to see more from them and the rest of the wonderful BookTubers that i watch in 2014, and i hope you all have a wonderful New Years!

Meghan x

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Opposites Book Tag

Hello again internet! I'm back today with another tag, we all know how i love a good book tag. This one was created by this person and i saw it over on Heather's channel.  I thought that it was a pretty good tag and so here i am, looking at all the opposites in my lovely books.

Here we go!

1) What was the first book in your collection/the last book you bought?

Okay, so i'm pretty sure the first book in my 'collection' was This is the Bear by Sarah Hayes at least it is the first book i remember being read to me when i was really little. It's such a great children's book and i cannot recommend it enough! And i'm pretty sure the last book i bought was Teardrop by Lauren Kate, which is the first book in her new trilogy. It sounds really interesting and it is one of the prettiest books i think i have ever seen.

2) What was a cheap book/which was an expensive one?

I'm pretty sure (how many times can i say that phrase!?!?) that the cheapest book i bought was The Host by Stephenie Meyer which i got for a whopping 75p!! How good is that?! The most expensive book i think i've bought is a book called Subjective Universality in Kant's Aesthetics  by Ross Wilson. I really love this book, it's fascinating, but it was a ridiculous £52! Outrageous. 

3) What is a book with a male protagonist/one with a female protagonist?

I'm going to go with The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger for the book with a male protagonist, and Fallen by Lauren Kate for the female protagonist. I love both of these books, Catcher is my favourite book of all time and the Fallen series is one of my favourite series'. 

4) What is a book you read really fast/one that took you ages to read?

I think that the book i read the fastest was Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. I read this book in one sitting, and i absolutely adore it! It's such an incredible book and it's so easy to just get lost in the story and just not stop reading, i highly, highly recommend it! The book that took my the longest to read was probably 1984 by George Orwell. Now i do really like this book, but it's definitely not one of my favourites, nor was it particularly easy for me to read because i was so disinterested in everything that happened. 

5) Which book has a pretty cover/which one has an ugly cover?

For a pretty cover i'm going to go for Rapture by Lauren Kate. This whole series has beautiful covers, but i think Rapture is my favourite. And for the ugly cover i'm going to go for Paper Towns by John Green. I'm really not a fan of the cover that i have, i have seen some beautiful covers for it though, like this one.  

6) What is a book national to you/what is an international one?

So i'm guessing this one is a book set where i live, which would be England, and international being anywhere else in the world. So i'm going to go for A Witch in Winter by Ruth Warburton which is set somewhere in England. For international i'm going to go for City of Bones by Cassandra Clare as that's set in NYC and that's somewhere i really want to go.

7) What is your thinnest book/your thickest book?

My thinnest book is probably Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by J K Rowling, which is a great book. The thickest book is probably Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, again by J K Rowling. Which is also a fantastic book! 

8) What is a fiction book/what is a non-fiction book?

Fiction: Game by Anders de la Motte

Non-Fiction: Sickness Unto Death by Soren Kierkegaard 

9) What is a really romantic book/action-based book?

For a really romantic book i'm going to go for one where i think the romance is overly played up in the book, and i think the book would be better without it, so i'm going to go for Geek Girl by Holly Smale because that book would be a whole lot better without the somewhat pathetic "romance". For an action-based book i'm going to go for Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, which is just a great book with loads of action

10) What is a book that made you really happy/one that made you really sad?

For this i'm going to go for two books by the same author, John Green. Will Grayson Will Grayson was a book that made me really happy and, kind of obviously, The Fault in Our Stars made me really sad. 

That was a fun tag, and it was harder than i thought it was going to be!

Meghan x

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Top 5...#7

Hello again internet! I'm back with another one of my favourite posts to write, there's something that i just really enjoy about sitting down and writing a post about my top five somthings. Today i thought i'd talk about a group of books i adore reading, classics!

Here we go!

5: Emma by Jane Austen

I adore everything i have ever read by Jane Austen, and while everyone i speak to says that Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility is their favourite Austen novel, there has just always been something about Emma that makes is my favourite of her works. I love the characters, the plot, everything really. Austen said that when she wrote Emma; "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." And by describing her in the very first sentence as "handsome, clever, and rich" she was probably going to be right. But i love her. Emma is one of my favourite fictional females and i just love everything about this story.

4: Lord of the Flies by William Golding 

I bloody love this book. Everyone i have ever spoke to about this book has told me that they hated it, and i have no idea why. Maybe it's because they had to read it at school and they didn't like the way it was taught? I don't know, but whatever reason they have for hating this book is lost on me because i think it's one of the greatest things i have ever read. Maybe i love it because, along with the next book on the list, it is my mother's favourite book and that love has been passed down? Or maybe it's because it's just a wonderfully written book which i adore so, so, so much.

3: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Ugh this book. This is my mother's favourite book in the world, and i can definitely see why. I love the way this book is written, the characters, the plot, everything really. This book is one of the few books that has made me want to cry, while still loving everything about it. The first time i read To Kill A Mockingbird i honestly thought i was going to hate it, but i loved it so much, and every time i've read it since i've just loved it more and more. 

2: Dracula by Bram Stoker

This book is hands down one of my favourite books in the world. Vampires have always been something i've kind of obsessed over (Mona the Vampire, Buffy, Vampire Diaries, anything i could find with any mention of vampires) and Dracula truly is the reason the term 'the original and the best' exists. Dracula is perfect okay. There is nothing about this book that i can find that i don't love. Everyone knows the story of Dracula, i'm pretty sure there's more adaptations of Dracula than anything else in the world, but if you've never read the book i couldn't recommend it more if i tried! It's just an incredible book.

1: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger

Oh what a surprise, Meghan's put Catcher at the number one spot on a top five! I don't care, it is easily the best book i have ever read in my life and i love it more than anything! Catcher is that book that when you read it you just know that it is going to change your life. I know that seems like such a stupid thing to say but it really did change my life, i first read it at the point in my life where a book really can change everything and mean so much to you that no book could ever compare. I always say that HP changed my life because it made me fall completely in love with reading, but really it was Catcher that made me realise how something as simple as words on a page can make you feel so much and can change your opinions on everything and just ugh i love this book more than i could express in words.

What are your favourite classics?

Meghan x

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Book Haul #2 - Merry Christmas to Me...

As it's Christmas time, i've spent far too much time in bookshops for someone who literally cannot go into a shop with books without buying one. So obviously over the past few weeks i've picked up some books for myself (i've also bought one for basically everyone else in my life) so i thought i'd do a little haul of the books i am really excited about reading!

All American Girl by Meg Cabot - So a few years ago my mum bought me a book called All American Girl: Ready or Not and i absolutely loved it, i thought it was one of the best books i'd read in a long time. After i finished reading it i realised that it was actually a sequel and i've wanted to read the first one ever since, so a few weeks ago i picked it up, and omg am i excited! It's about a girl called Sam who saves the life of the president and then ends up dating his son (i think that's what happens?) all i know is that it's meant to be even better than Ready or Not!!

Wish Upon a Star by Trisha Ashley - I'm not going to lie, i bought this book solely for how pretty the cover is. It screams Christmas and it has glitter on it, glitter!! From what i understand it's about a single mother who is quite content with her life and isn't interested in finding a guy and then her daughter gets pretty sick and she puts all her energy into looking after her while balancing writing recipes (btw that sounds like a great job!) Then she meets a baker called Jago and i'm assuming they fall in love. I think this will just be a nice read over Christmas inbetween reading philosophy books for my essays.

Cold Hands by John J. Niven - Okay i can't actually remember what this one is about. I do remember something basically saying "You think you have the perfect life? New wife, lots of money, attractive son? I'm going to take it all away." or something to that effect...I remember reading the back of the book in about 5 shops before i finally bought it, but i remember it sounding great each time and i can't wait to read it and finally figure out what's going on in the story.

Snow White Must Die by Nele Neuhaus - Okay, from what i remember this book is about a guy in a small town in Germany who is accused of killing two girls, one of which was his childhood friend and the other being his very beautiful girlfriend who is known as 'snow white'. He does his time in prison, and when he's released he goes back to his hometown, much to the annoyance of the people who remember what he was accused of. Then another girl in the small town dies and people start accusing him again (i think?) and that's basically all i know...

Game by Anders De La Motte - Okay i know basically nothing about this book. I saw it in Tesco today alongside the second and third books in the trilogy, which i showed restraint and didn't buy, and i thought it sounded really interesting. From what i gather the main guy gets a message inviting him to play a game that leads to all kinds of bad things (i think..?) It looks really interesting, and all the reviews i've read since buying it have all been really good, so i'm going to start reading this alongside my re-read of City of Ashes.

Meghan x 

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Catching Fire: Book to Movie

A few days ago i finally got to see Catching Fire and oh my gosh was it brilliant. 

Now i am a massive fan of The Hunger Games trilogy and i adored the first movie, but i was slightly apprehensive about watching Catching Fire because out of the three books it is by far my favourite and i didn't want the movie to ruin that love for me. I definitely didn't need to worry there! 

A while ago i made this post  about my favourite book to movie adaptations, and now i'm pretty sure that Catching Fire has joined The Deathly Hallows films up there in the top spot. I love the way they made the arena come to life and how they kept so much of the book in the movie. I loved the scenes between Peeta and Katniss, especially the scene on the train where they talk about their favourite colours, it was just perfect. I also loved, loved, loved that the last scene of the movie was exactly how i imagined it going when i read it in the book, and i love that the last line of the movie matched the last line of the book. I even kind of loved Gale in the movie, which i never thought would happen because i basically hate him in the books and i wasn't his biggest fan in the first movie, but for some reason i just loved him this time around! I wanted to give him the biggest hug ever when he was watching Katniss and Peeta kissing, even though i am definitely on the side of "Katniss and Peeta need each other more than any other two people ever." there is no way someone can come out of that movie not seeing how much Gale loves her, more so than in the book.

Can we talk about Finnick for a minute? FINNICK MAN! Oh my gosh could he have been a more perfect Finnick? NOPE. Sam Calfin was by far the best choice they could have made for Finnick. I think he just captured Finnick so damn well! I could have watched a film that was basically 100% Finnick and i would have been happy. 

Basically, i loved this film and i cannot wait to watch it again! I also cannot wait to see what they do with Mockingjay!

Meghan x

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Top 5...#6

Hello again internet, i'm back with another of my top 5. Now if you know me even a little bit you probably know that i love John Green both as an author and as a human. So i thought that i would do a top five dedicated to characters in John Green books. Oh i am excited about this!

5 - Alaska from Looking For Alaska

Alaska is the main girl in Looking For Alaska (big shock, i know) and i absolutely adore her character. I love the way she interacts with the other characters, and she is nowhere near perfect in the way she treats people or in the way she acts, but that's kind of what i love about her. I think John Green writes her wonderfully and she is one of my favourite characters from a book ever, let alone just from John's books.

4 - Will Grayson from Will Grayson, Will Grayson

WG, WG was written by John Green and David Levithan, and in all honestly i love every single character in the book. I think the entire thing is incredible. However, the Will Grayson which John writes is one of my favourite characters to read from the perspective of. I adore him. I love the way he talks to and about the other Will, Tiny, Jane, everyone really. He's just one of my favourites and if you read the book he'll probably become one of yours too. (I mean he might not, but i think he will because he's great.)

3 - Pudge from Looking For Alaska

Pudge, Pudge, Pudge. I love you. Pudge is the nickname given to Miles in LFA and is the one who's perspective the book is told. I love that he is obsessed with the last words of famous people, and i love his friendship with his roommate, and i love his friendship with Alaska, i love everything about him really. LFA was the first John Green book i read, and Pudge was the first reason i fell in love with the way John writes. I love everything about LFA and Pudge is likw 90% of the reason. (I mean he gets compared to Holden Caulfield a lot and he's my favourite character ever so maybe that's why..?)

2 - Isaac from The Fault in Our Stars

Oh Isaac, i'm sorry you're not first. If you have ever seen/heard me talk about TFiOS i always, always, say that Isaac is my favourite character, and he is...mainly. I think he is funny, and adorable, and charming, and the best friend anyone could ever have, and he's just a million times better than anyone. So he should probably be first, but he's not, for reasons. But i do love him, in fact i love everyone in this book (it's amazing, go read it if you haven't) and i'm so beyond excited for the movie (plus Nat Wolff who plays Isaac is BEAUTIFUL) and i can't wait to see Isaac come to life, because he is genuinely the nicest character i have ever read about.

And finally, the reason Isaac isn't number one...

1 - Augustus Waters from The Fault in Our Stars

Ahhh Augustus. If you have read TFiOS then you should know why Augustus is number one. He is funny, sarcastic, sweet, kind, amazing, beautiful, and just the best. He is one of the best characters i have ever read about and he makes me laugh, cry, angry, everything. I love him. And i can't wait to see how amazing he is on screen and out of a book. (Ansel Elgort is beautiful too btw) TFiOS has the best written characters i think i've ever read and Augustus is just at the top of a very long list of amazing characters from an amazing book.

(also, i love basically everyone in Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines too, but ya know top 5 can only be 5 people...)

Meghan x

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Bump in the Night Tag

Hello again internet! How are we all today? Good? Oh good! I'm here today with a book tag! This one was created by this lovely person and it is The Bump in the Night Tag! I saw this over on Ariel's Channel and i thought it looked like a fun tag, so here we go!

1) Which are your favourite supernatural/ horror/ scary characters to read about? (e.g vampires, warewolves, witches, monsters, serial killers, murders, etc.)

I adore stories about vampires, they've always been the one supernatural/horror thing that i've been fascinated by and i just love them, however i also love reading about real life serial killers (my MA dissertation is about them) so it's a tie between those two.

2) Which scene from any book would be your ultimate nightmare to have been a part of?

Any part of the Shining, that book has always kind of freaked me out.

3) If you could visit and explore any one scary or evil setting which would you pick and why?

Oh wow this is difficult. Erm, either the world from Dracula because that's one of my favourite books ever, or (if it counts) the Shadowhunter world i'd visit there anyday.

4) Which book was so frighteningly terrible that you almost fell asleep for eternity trying to finish it?

The Great Gatsby. I truly hate this book.

5) Name one book you wish you could pull certain pages out of and swap for others to make it better?

New Moon. I actually really like the Twilight series, i know it's not the best writing in the world and the story is kind of blah but i still really enjoy the series, however i actually kind of hate New Moon and i'd quite like to be able to swap a load of pages of it for some new ones.

6) If you could turn any 'bad or evil' character into a good character, who would you pick and why?

Bellatrix Lestrange. She is one of my favourite characters in the HP series, so i'd kind of like to see what would have happened if she was 'good'.

Quick fire round:

1) Favourite vampire character? Dracula!

2) Favourite werewolf character? Lupin!

3) Favourite witch character? Anna Winters!

4) Favourite monster character? Mr Hyde!

5) Favourite ghost character? Nearly headless Nick...? I read NOTHING about ghosts...

6) Favourite serial killer/murderer character? Valentine! (He totally counts!)

Meghan x

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Most Anticipated Books of 2014

Hello again internet! So today i'm here with the books i'm most looking forward to in 2014. There are so many good books being released next year and these are just the books that i cannot wait to get my hands on!!

(Unless they are a sequel i will put a short synopsis of the book, for sequels i will just mention what it is the sequel to as i don't want to accidently spoil any books for anyone.)

1. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare. OMG i don't think i can even explain how excited i am about this book being released and finally being able to read more from the series! If you add the excitement of this book to the excitement of The Bane Chronicles then i don't think i'll actually make it through 2014 without exploding from excitedness. This book is set to be released on 27/05/14 and believe me i will be counting down the days!
2. Birthright by Cate Tiernan. I really love Cate Tiernan, and i don't think this book will be any different. "Vivi has known the truth about her family - and herself - since she was 13. But that doesn't mean she's accepted it. Being Haguari isn't something she feels she'll ever accept. How can she feel like anything but a freak knowing that it's in her genes to turn into a jaguar? Now 18, Vivi's ready to break away from the traditions of her heritage. But all of that changes with the shocking, devastating deaths of her parents and the mysteries left behind. Vivi discovers family she never even knew she had, and a life open with possibility. New friends, new loyalties, and even romance lay ahead - but so do dangers unlike anything Vivi ever could have imagined." This book is set to be released on 7/1/14.
3. No one else can have you by Kathleen Hale. This book sounds like it's going to be something that i really am going to love, and i cannot wait to get to get lost in this story. "Small towns are nothing if not friendly. Friendship, Wisconsin (population: 688) is no different. Around here, everyone wears a smile. And no one ever locks their doors. Until, that is, high school sweetheart Ruth Friend is found murdered. Strung up like a scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield. Unfortunately, Friendship's police are more adept at looking for lost pets than catching killers. So Ruth's best friend, Kippy Bushman, armed with only her tenacious Midwestern spirit and Ruth's secret diary, sets out to find the murderer. But in a quiet town like Friendship - where no one is a suspect - anyone could be the killer. Ahh it just sounds so good! This book is also set to be released on 7/1/14.
4. Hollow City by Ransom Riggs. A sequel to Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Chidren? Erm YES PLEASE! I am so in love with this story world that Ransom Riggs has created and i can't wait to read more about it! This book is possibly the book i am second most excited for from next year, right after the new Mortal Instruments book!
5. And We Stay by Jenny Hubbard. This book sounds so interesting to me, and i cannot wait to finally read this book! "When high school senior Paul Wagoner walks into his school library with a stolen gun, he threatens his girlfriend Emily Beam, then takes his own life. In the wake of the tragedy, an angry and guilt-ridden Emily is shipped off to boarding school in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she encounters a ghostly presence who shares her name. The spirit of Emily Dickinson and two quirky girls offer helping hands, but it is up to Emily to heal her own damaged self." I cannot wait to read how Hubbard tells such an intriguing story in both verse and prose. SO EXCITED! This book is set to be released on 28/1/14.
6. Deeper by Robin York. "When Caroline Piasecki's ex-boyfriend posts their sex pictures on the internet, it destroys her reputation as a nice college girl. Suddenly her once-promising future doesn't look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear, hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defense and punches her ex to the ground. " Now this book doesn't really sound like the kind of book that i would usually feel drawn towards, but there's something about it that really makes me want to read it. Hopefully it will be as great as the synopsis' make it sound. This book is set to be released on 28/1/14.
7. Alienated by Melissa Landers. Now i'm not the biggest fan of alien stories, but this one sounds so good that i just can't wait to read it, maybe this will be the book that changes alien stories for me! "Cara Sweeney has been hand picked to be the first ever host in an alien exchange programme with the L'eihr. Aelyx is the L'eihr exchange student sent to live with Cara, and although L'eihr's and humans have nearly identical DNA, Cara thinks Aelyx couldn't seem more alien, and she's certain about one thing: human boys aren't this good looking." So yeah although i've never really been into alien stories, i'm really excited to see where this story goes and how the friendship/relationship develops between Cara and Aelyx. This book is set to be released on 4/2/14.
8. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson. "The pre-Sloane Emily didn't go to parties, she barely talked to guys, she didn't do anything crazy. Enter Sloane, social tornado and the best kind of best friend - the one who yanks you out of your shell. But right before what should have been an epic summer, Sloane just...disappears. No note. No calls. No texts. No Sloane. There's just a random to do list. On it, 13 Sloane-selected definitely-bizarre tasks that Emily would never try...unless they could lead back her best friend." So this sounds like it could be a really good summer read, and i'm excited to read about the different tasks that Emily takes on. This book is set to be released on 13/5/14.
9. We Are The Goldens by Dana Reinhardt. Okay, so listen (or you know, read) this: "When Nell and Layla were little, Nell used to call them Nellaya. Because to Nell, there was no difference between where she started and her adored big sister ended. They're a unit; divorce made them rely on each other early on, so when one pulls away, what is the other to do? But now, Nell's a freshman in high school and Layla is changing, secretive.  And then Nell discovers why. Layla is involved with one of their teachers. And even though Nell tries to support Layla, to understand that she's happy and in love, Nell struggles with her true feelings: it's wrong, and she must do something about it." I think this sounds so interesting, and the whole teacher relationship thing is something i always find interesting to read about, and this book just sounds really interesting to me. This book is set to released on 27/5/14.
10. (Don't You) Forget About Me by Kate Karyus Quinn. This book sounds so fascinating to me! "Welcome to Gardenerville. A place where no one gets sick. And no one ever dies. Except there's a price to pay for paradise. Every fourth year, the strange power that fuels the town exacts its payment by infecting teens with deadly urges. In a normal year in Gardenerville, teens might stop talking to their best friends. In a fourth year, they'd kill them." Ugh it sounds so up my street! I'm really looking forward to reading this next summer! This book is set to be released 10/6/14.
11. Finally, The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu. "Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it's stopped mattering whether it's true. The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice's fault. Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring - and keep- Alice down." I think this book sounds really intriguing and i can't wait to read a new, exciting book with multiple perspectives. This book is set to be released on 10/6/14. 

Meghan x

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The Bane Chronicles

So i'm half way through writing up my blogpost about the books i'm most looking forward to in 2014 and i was about to write about how excited i am about the idea of The Bane Chronicles. If you haven't heard about The Bane Chronicles then i'll explain a little bit about it.

The Bane Chronicles are ten short stories written by Cassandra Clare, Maureen Johnson and Sarah Rees Brennan all about Magnus Bane from The Mortal Instruments. I for one am so beyond excited to read more about Magnus Bane as he is one of my favourite characters from the series! These short stories are set to be released in ebook form in Fall 2014  and, i believe, they will then be brought together in a physical book sometime after that..? At least that's what i have heard. Either way i am SO EXCITED for these stories!!

What Really Happened in Peru (The Bane Chronicles, #1) 

The Runaway Queen (The Bane Chronicles, #2) 

Vampires, Scones, and Edmund Herondale (The Bane Chronicles, #3) 

The Midnight Heir (The Bane Chronicles, #4) 

The Rise of the Hotel Dumort (The Bane Chronicles, #5) 

Saving Raphael Santiago (The Bane Chronicles, #6) 

The Fall of Hotel Dumort (The Bane Chronicles, #7) 

The Course of True Love [and First Dates] (The Bane Chronicles, #8) 

What to Buy the Shadowhunter Who Has Everything [And Who You're Not Officially Dating Anyway] (The Bane Chronicles, #9)

• The Last Stand of the New York Institute (The Bane Chronicles, #10) 

So there are the ten short stories that i cannot wait to get on my kindle!

Meghan x

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Top 5...#5

Hey there internet, it's been a while. So as i've said before on here i graduated from university back in July and as of last Monday i have officially started studying for my MA at a new university. So far it has been really, really, really good but unfortunately there was a lot of prep reading for the degree and since then it hasn't really stopped, so this blog has kind of been on the back burner. However i think i should be able to start uploading posts more regularly from now on :D

In honour of it being the month of October and the fact that Halloween is quickly approaching, and i LOVE Halloween, i thought i would do a Top 5...Halloween/Horror/Creepy books! Yeah, can you tell i couldn't decide which one to go for?

HERE WE GOOO!!!!

5. The Shining - Stephen King

"A family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and from the future."

I LOVE Stephen King, and The Shining is one of my all time favourite horror stories. Both the book and the film are things that i love to read and watch over and over, and i think that October and Halloween make the perfect time to read such a creepy story. I love the way this book is written, and the way the characters just come to life and creep the hell out of you and i think that if you're looking for a good halloween book that has that perfect mix of human depravity and supernatural scares then this is definitely the book to go for!

4. Ring - Koji Suzuki

"In Japan, a mysterious video is killing whoever views it, unless that viewer can solve its mystery."

I adore this book. Maybe that's not the word that should come to mind when thinking about a book which is focused on scaring the hell out of anyone who reads it, but i really do adore it. I love the way that Suzuki has made something so simple and good as home movies into something so terrifyingly sinister. If, somehow, you've never heard of this story i'll make it simple for you: there is a video tape making it's way around Japan that, after you watch it, gives you seven days before it kills you, and in those seven days you must figure out its secret to stay alive. Now i love the idea of this story, and unfortunately for me, i saw the american movie adaptation before i read this book, and even before i watched the 1998 Japanese adaptation, which kind of sucks, but the basic story stays the same throughout and i absolutely love it. Horror is something that Japan always seems to excel in, and this is definitely proof of that.

3. Carrie - Stephen King

"A young, abused, and timid 17 year old girl discovers she has the power of telekinesis, and gets pushed to the limit on the night of her high school'd prom."

Oh Carrie, you poor, poor girl. So Stephen King is making his second appearance on this list, with his amazing story: Carrie. Carrie has been my number one SK novel ever since the first time i read it. I think there's definitely a reason it's one of his most famous works, if not the most famous. He makes you feel basically every emotion you're able to feel, and all in such a short book. I think that everyone who reads Carrie falls in love with it for different reasons, but there is a reason this book has inspired so many adaptations - IT'S AMAZING. I love the book, i love the 1980 movie adaptation, and i cannot wait to see the new adaptation when it finally comes out in the UK. It's the perfect October/Halloween read.

2. Death Note - Tsugumi Ohba

"An intelligent high school student goes on a secret crusade to eliminate criminals from the world after discovering a notebook capable of killing anyone whose name is written into it."

This is the only non-novel that's made it onto one of my 'Top 5's' and that's because it's just so damn amazing. I love the Death Note series, i love L, i love Light, i love Ryuk, i love everything about it. I think it's such a wonderfully written, and illustrated, story and it's one of the few series that had me gripped from the very first page til the very last page. I think it's wonderful and with the whole God of Death, people dying, supernatural-ly feel, this series is perfect to pick up if you're in the mood for something a little bit different for October/Halloween. I know that i'm going to re-read it on the 31st, and i couldn't recommend it more to anyone that's even slightly interested in manga/graphic novels.

1. Dracula - Bram Stoker

"The original, and best, Vampire novel. Dracula is the guy you don't want to mess with."

What can i say about Dracula here that i haven't already said on this blog? Probably nothing, but it definitely deserves to be in the number one spot on a list about the best October/Halloween books because, you know, it's DRACULA. I love this book, and i'm pretty sure everyone already knows that, so i won't say much, but i seriously could not recommend this book more to everyone who likes horror, or who likes classics, because it really is one of the greats. Also, reading this would go great with watching the new series with Jonathan Rhys Myers ;)

Meghan x

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Because Feelings Matter TAG

I saw this tag going around on BookTube and i thought it would be quite fun to do. This is the original tag, if you wanted to check that out :)

1) What book has made you feel confident either about yourself or your life?

So the obvious answer i can think of for this question is Girls Under Pressure by Jacqueline Wilson, as i read it at a time when i hated basically everything about myself and i felt a lot like Ellie, and reading how she overcame how she felt and that she started to love herself made me feel a lot better about myself, and when i'm feeling down i like to read that book again to cheer myself up a bit. I also feel a similar way about Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi.

2) What book has made you sympathize with the characters?

Well the obvious answer would be The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, so yeah i'm going to go with that. I think if you can read TFiOS and not feel really bad for basically every character i applaud you because this book made me feel so bad for so many people. And Hazel saying "I do." at the end just makes it hit home how bad i feel for everyone.

3) What book made you feel anxious?

No book has really made me feel anxious, i guess the closest to feeling anxious i've gotten is when i was reading The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult. I was just found myself on edge a lot (which sounds silly now that i've written it) throughout the book because i wanted to know who had killed him but then i didn't want to know, and then i didn't want her to be found in Alaska, and everything made me feel a lot of different things mainly just because of what the book was about.

4) What book has made you feel annoyed?

Oh where to start...A few books have made me feel annoyed, but i think the one that annoys me the most is New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. I HATE the way Bella acts in this book (well in all the books really, but especially this one) particularly when Edward leaves. Yes i get that you're sad that your boyfriend has left you but seriously get a grip. There are pages where Stephenie Meyer has literally just written the name of the month because Bella is in such a state of despair that she can't do a single thing! Ergh i just really hate this book because of how annoying and insufferable i find Bella in it.

5) Which book has made you feel disappointed?

I'm going to go with Geek Girl by Holly Smale because i honestly thought that i was going to love this book and then it was just kind of a let down over and over again...

6) Which book has made you feel confused?

Confused? Hmmmm? I'm not sure i've ever really been confused by a book, and if i have i can't remember it. I guess Evil Star by Anthony Horowitz confused me a bit, but i think that's mainly due to the fact i read it before Raven's Gate (Evil Star is the second book in the Power of Five series, Raven's Gate is book one.) so that left me a little confused.

7) Which book has made you feel satisfied?

I'm going to say 2 very different books for this. First off i'm going to say Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan because this book was exactly the kind of book i wanted and needed to read at the time that i first read it. I was in a bit of a reading slump and this book made me realise why i love reading again. It's funny at times, sad at times, made me laugh, made me cry, and i honestly love every single thing about this book. The second book is The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger because it is my all time favourite book and i think i read it at the right time in my life. I read it at that time in a person's life where a book can just feel right and like this book could change your life and that a book can just mean so much to you. Catcher is my favourite book and it means more to me than any other book and every time i read it i feel satisfied knowing that this book is something that i can come back to over and over again and no matter what it's there for me[?] (that sounded better in my head i think...)

8) Which book has made you feel like you really related to the character? 

I'm just going to name a few books where i really related to a character (maybe i'll expand on them some day) :
Harry Potter, The Catcher in the Rye, Girls Under Pressure, Girl 15 series, Will Grayson Will Grayson, Looking For Alaska, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, 13 Reasons Why, City of Ashes, Kiss, Oh My Goth, and many others really..

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee
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Book Haul #1 - Oxford and Birthday...kind of.

It's been about two weeks since i finished BEDA and wrote my last blog post and i've missed sitting down and writing something everyday, but it's also been nice to not think about what i'm going to write and making sure i put up something before the day ends. 

So as i said in one (or a few) of my posts during August, the 27th was my 21st birthday and i went to Oxford for a few days, which was amazing and i got to watch Rocky Horror live which was one of the best things ever! And i also got to go to Blackwell's which is my favourite bookshop in the world. Then when i got back i went shopping and, of course, bought a few more books. So i thought now would be the perfect time to do something i've wanted to do since starting this blog: A BOOK HAUL! (the capitals were needed to express how excited i am...obviously.) 

Let's start with the books i bought in Oxford. I only got a few because we were walking around all day and then obviously had to go get ready for the show, but i'm really excited about the books i picked up there.

The first book i found was For Esme ~ with Love and Squalor and Other Stories by J D Salinger. Salinger is one of my favourite authors and although i've already read this and i have it on my kindle i just couldn't walk out of Blackwell's without making it mine. I love that this copy matches both of my copies of The Catcher in the Rye (where this one is blue, they are red) and i can't wait to re-read this with the added bonus of it being a physical copy!

This next book is one i am beyond excited to read! Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson sounds so so so so so so good and i can tell that i am going to adore this book! I originally picked it up because, as a philosophy student, i love Wittgenstein's theory of language games and was convinced that if this book named him in the title then it was definitely a book i at least had to check out. The story follows a woman who is convinced that she is the last person alive on earth, and is apparently so convincing that the reader will start to believe her. It sounds so good and i cannot wait to read this!

AH!!! I AM SO EXCITED! I'm really really really happy that i decided to finally pick up this series! This is obviously The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare and i am so ridiculously excited to be able to read these straight after i finish my re-read of The Mortal Instruments. I was a little annoyed that Clockwork Princess was taller than the first two books in the series, but then i noticed the most magical words in the world: collector's edition. Ugh, no two words could make me buy a book faster. This edition has a fold out family tree at the back, which is beyond exciting to me. I am sooooooooo excited to finally be able to read these books!

 

Every Day by David Levithan was the first book i bought when i got back from Oxford. I've heard so many good things about this book so i am really excited to read this (what a surprise) and i love the bright orange cover that it has, the only cover i had seen before i found this was the black and white cover with the two people(?) but i like this cover a whole lot more. I'm intrigued by the story, i watched a web series that had a similar storyline and i enjoyed that so hopefully i'll enjoy this one too.

United we Spy by Ally Carter is the sixth and final book in the Gallagher Girls series, and i adore this series so i am really excited to see how it ends. This copy has a bonus short story called 'A Gallagher Wedding' so i am stoked to read that because i really do love this story and i just can't wait to do a full re-read of the first five then finish with this. It's going to be a fun autumn/winter!

OMG IS THERE A MORE PERFECT BOOK? This is Marvel's graphic novel version of Jane Austen's Emma. Marvel + Classics = Happy Meghan! I'm going to read this really soon, because it's pretty short and it's a graphic novel so it's not really going to take away from the two books i'm currently reading. I am so excited for this!

omg. Okay, so apart from the Harry Potter series, The Mortal Instruments is probably my favourite series and i LOVED the film (and i may have been slightly devastated at the City of Ashes news) and when i saw this in Ben's video (benjaminoftomes) i knew i had to have it! So as soon as i saw it i grabbed it and basically ran to the counter to pay. It's such a good book, seeing how the book was turned into the movie, and with a few pictures of Jamie Campbell Bower thrown in how could it not be a good book? ;) (Also, if you like books and you watch YouTube, go watch and subscribe to Ben - he's definitely one of my favourites and he's just a wonderful human.)

Much like the book above, as soon as i saw this i had to have it! It's such a cool little guide to all the characters and things you need to know, and as a massive fan of the shadowhunter world, this book makes me all kinds of happy.

So i actually really love the first two books in this series, and yet i've never even thought of buying this book, but when i saw it in the shop yesterday i knew that i wanted to read it and find out what happens between Jess and Fred. Girl, 16 Pants on Fire by Sue Limb is the final book in the trilogy and i am going to start reading this when i finish this post, because it's a pretty easy, quick read and i just need to know if Jess and Fred last, you know?

I don't really know a whole lot about this book. I know that it's about a couple who really want a child, and then they discover this orphan boy who's lost his memory, so they take him in and then weird things start happening...i think? Either way i am very intrigued and excited by The Orphan by Christopher Ransom. Always good when a book is centered on a creepy child.

Again, i don't know a whole lot about The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes but i know that it sounds super good! From what i remember, it's about a girl who gets attacked and lives, who then goes after the man who attacked her, who she believes has killed many other girls, but he shouldn't exist...at least that's what i get from the back of the book... I know that this sounds like a book i want to read and that would be really interesting to me. I love creepy books, and crime books, and i think this will combine the two very well. 

So that's the end of my first book haul :) I had fun...Hopefully i will start blogging in some form of routine from now on, i just don't know what that will be yet.

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

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