End of BEDA

At the start of the month I decided to try to blog every day throughout August and for the first 26 days I managed to get up a post every day, and I'm pretty proud of myself for that. The 27th was my 21st birthday and I spent that day and the next in Oxford with no wifi so I didn't get to make a post for those two days, but I had the best time ever! And then when I got back from Oxford I got sick, I've felt so crappy for the past 3 days so I haven't really had any motivation to make a blog post. So I guess I ultimately lost my challenge of blogging every day, but I still really enjoyed trying it out, and who knows maybe I'll try it again another month. For now though I think I'll stick to one or two posts a week.

I'm also thinking about starting up a YouTube channel so I can start being more involved with the BookTube community, so maybe that will come along soon? 

Anyway, thank you to the people who have read my blog at all this month, and I'm excited to carry on with this blog :)

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

Birthday Excitement

So today's post is probably just going to be really small because it was my birthday party today and we're off to Oxford tomorrow, which is my actual birthday :D

I'm so excited for Oxford because we're going to see Rocky Horror and we're going to Blackwell's bookshop and the OUP bookshop and those places are like heaven on earth!

I got a book today from my sister but, as it remains un-opened until tomorrow, I have no idea what it is, so that's exciting!

I feel like a little kid again, even though I turn 21 tomorrow - which I just find mental!

Anyway, I'm off to sleep at the very late time of 10pm...this is the earliest I've gone to bed in about 6 years...so I'm going to end this now so I can talk to my sister who's staying the night for a bit.

I'm so excited!

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

Reading Habits Tag!

Hello again! I'm back with yet another tag! I saw this over on Ben's YouTube channel and thought it might be good to do for today's post. This was created by TheBookJazz and is all about your reading habits...obviously... so here we go!

1 - Do you have a certain place at home for reading?
Not really, no. I kind of just read wherever/whenever i can. I prefer reading either on my bed or sat in the library (the library being the spare bedroom that my parents filled with my books and two incredibly comfy chairs...).

2 - Bookmark or random piece of paper?
I tend to always use bookmarks, just because i really like them and have quite a few. Also bookmarks are usually pretty/interesting and just seem to make the whole reading experience a little bit more enjoyable even when you hate the book.

3 - Can you just stop reading or do you have to stop after a chapter/a certain amount of pages?
I can stop reading whenever really. I prefer it when it's at the end of a chapter as that's just a natural place to stop if you're going to stop reading, but i can stop reading at any point.

4 - Do you eat or drink while reading?
It really depends on whether i'm thirsty/hungry at the time. It's not something i have to do while i read or anything.

5 - Multitasking: Music or TV while reading?
It really depends on what mood i'm in. Sometimes i like listening to music as a i read, other times i want it to be as quiet as possible. I don't really ever read while watching TV though, because i get distracted far too easily for that.

6 - One book at a time or several at once?
A mix of both really. If the books are the same genre/similar in any way i don't like reading them at the same time, but if they're completely different then i read a few at a time. Unless i'm really, really into a book, then i only read that one.

7 - Reading at home or everywhere?
I do the majority of my reading at home, but i like reading other places too especially if i'm not really into the book as a change of location might help. I read a lot when i'm on trains as well, that's the only kind of transport i can read on without feeling sick.

8 - Reading out loud or silently in your head?
Silently in my head. I hate reading out loud.

9 - Do you read ahead or even skip pages?
Not usually no. If i'm hating the book then i tend to flick to a later page just to see if it gets anymore interesting, but 99% of the time i just read it through.

10 - Breaking the spine or keeping it like new?
If it's paperback i don't really care either way, it's harder to keep them looking like new, but i like keeping hardcovers looking like new. If i love the book i tend to be a little disappointed if the spine is a mess though.

11 - Do you write in your books?
Not usually. I write and highlight in my philosophy books because i kind of need to do that for uni and writing papers and stuff, but i don't read in my 'normal' books. Apart from one copy of The Catcher in the Rye, i sometimes highlight and write little notes in that because i have two copies, and Catcher is my favourite book ever and i find it hard to explain why most of the time, and having that helps because i can show people how certain parts make me feel.

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee
Instagram - @meghannalicee

The Literary Identification Tag

Hello there! I'm back again today with another tag, this one comes from the lovely Tiernan over on thebooktuber. I really enjoyed watching him and others do this tag so i thought i'd give it a go myself! Here we go!

(I totally should have looked at these questions properly, but i had a Harry Potter day and now it's nearly 11pm and i need sleep...so this should be fun!)

1 - What fictional character is most like you? (personality)
I'm really not sure about this, i tend to think about this a lot, and everytime i come up with an answer it changes depending on how i'm feeling. I think the most accurate one i can think of (and when i say that i can think of it i actually mean my friend Ashley on skype...) is slightly cheating, but probably a mix of Charlie and Sam from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Charlie is kind of how i've been since i was about 10, but Sam kind of represents how i felt through most of uni. So yeah, that was kind of cheating but it was all i could come up with.

2 - What character would you most like to play in a book-to-movie adaptation?
Now before i went to see City of Bones i would have said Isabelle from The Mortal Instruments, but i think she was played so wonderfully that i take that back. The only other person i can think of is maybe Anna from the Winter Trilogy? I really love those books and i think it would be fun to play a witch.

3 - What character do you physically resemble the most?
Every time i read Girls Under Pressure (and the other books that follow those characters) i imagine Ellie as looking like me. Maybe it's because i relate to her character more than most others i read and that book almost feels like i could be her, but partly just because the way she is described reminds me of myself.

4 - What is a quote from a book that hits home/describes something in your life really well?
'Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.' - The Catcher in the Rye.

5 - What character do you have the most sympathy for?
I'm going to go with Isaac from TFiOS. He loses basically everything. He loses his eyes, girlfriend, best friend. I just want to find him and give him the biggest hug in the world.

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee
Instagram - @meghannalicee

Book Band Tag

This tag was created by PerformingBookFelf on Youtube  and i saw Jack on JackEatsBooks do it and i thought it looked like a fun idea, and so here is my answers to the band, manager, groupies, name, and title of the first single. This was so much fun to do, however it was so freaking hard to decide on the different characters and coming up with a band name was always something i wanted to do, but coming up with one using book titles was so much harder than i expected it to be. Also, i think that some of the characters i've chosen play different instruments in their books, but i just ignored that part and came up with a band that i would love to go see play live.

Okay, here we go!

Band: 
(I'm pretty sure there was only meant to be four members, but i wanted to make a band that i would love)

Singer :  Robbie - The Confessions of Georgia Nicholson. I mean he's already in a band, he can sing, write songs, and add an extra guitar if they want it. He's just one of the most perfect characters to have in a band really.
Pianist : Jace Wayland - The Mortal Instruments. He plays piano, and he's just all round wonderful, so why wouldn't you want him in a band?
Guitarist : Daniel Grigori - Fallen. He's hot...i'm sure he'd be pretty good at being the moody, hot guitarist in a band. I think he'd fit in quite well with Jace and Robbie as well.
Bassist : Fred - Jess Jordan Series. I just really like Fred from this series, i'm pretty sure in the books he either plays guitar or drums, but i think he'd make a pretty good bassist for this band.
Drummer: Draco Malfoy - Harry Potter Series. I just really liked the idea of Jace and Draco being in a band together...this decision was entirely made by the fangirl part of my brain.

Band Name : I've gone with the name 'Catching Winter' merging together Catching Fire and A Witch in Winter. It's not the greatest name in the world but i think it might work?

Manager : Okay, i've gone for Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I think that he'd be able to get stuff done, and i just think he'd be a wonderful manager (and friend) to the guys in the band.

Groupies : I went with kind of obvious ones for this, but thinking up groupies was hard! Okay, so we have - Alec Lightwood who'd be there for Jace, Georgia Nicholson who'd be there for Robbie, Jess Jordan who'd be there for Fred, Isabelle Lightwood who i think would just be there for the fun, Clary Fray who'd be there for Jace, Luce Price who'd be there for Daniel, and i also think they'd be a band that Jade and her friends from Oh My Goth would probably like so they'd all be there too.

First Single : So i've gone for 'I'd tell you i love you, but then i'd have to kill you' because i think it would make a pretty good name for a first single. It kind of has a Fall Out Boy/Panic! at the Disco kind of vibe in my head, so maybe it would be a good route to go down.


That tag was a whole lot of fun! It was harder than i originally thought it would be, but it was so much fun to think of all the different parts!

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee
Instagram - @meghannalicee 

Top 5...#4

After watching City of Bones last night, I'm inspired to do another top 5, this time listing my top 5 book to movie adaptations. This could be fun :)

5: The Perks of Being A Wallflower

For me, this was probably the most true to book adaptation of the ones in this list, and I love both the book and the movie, but for some reason (that escapes even me) i can't bring myself to rank it higher. Maybe it's because I like a bit of 'creative license' or whatever when it comes to book adaptations, or maybe it's because this is the book/film that makes me break down into a mess of tears each time I read/watch it? Either way I think this is an amazing adaptation, and I highly recommend both book and movie to everyone, because they are both spectacular! 

4: I Am Number Four

I have no idea why I love this movie so much, but I really do. I was so happy that this got turned into a film and I think that might be why I love it so much? Maybe? Whatever the reason the book and film both make me happy. I think Alex Pettyfer plays a wonderful Number Four and I just really love getting lost in this story, whether it be by page or screen. I've never really been into books about aliens, but this is one of the few that really stole my heart. It might not be the best in the world, but it's one of the books (and one of the films) that just makes me really happy. And that's all I want from it.

3: The Hunger Games

Now before I get into this I just want to say that the whole part about Peeta's leg being changed for the film still really annoys me, but I understand why they did it. Okay, now that's covered...I really love the adaptation of the Hunger Games and I cannot wait for Catching Fire to be released!! I adore this series, and the film made the world so real for me that I don't really care about any changes they've made (depending on what they do with Catching Fire and Mockingjay...). I love the world Suzanne Collins made and seeing that comes to life makes me really happy.

2: City Of Bones

Omg I really, really, really LOVED the film. SO MUCH LOVE. Even the parts they changed from the book (like the whole Simon/rat/vampires scene) I loved, because as much as I love the book (and believe me that is A LOT) I thought the changes made the film flow much better, and made the film more realistic...you know as realistic as a film about Shadowhunters, Demons, and Downworlders can be... I love this book more than most things, and I can tell that as soon as I get my hands on the DVD of this film it will be constantly on repeat. (Also I'm going to see it again next week, so I'm a very happy Meghan). This is just easily one of my favourite things to happen as far as book to movie adaptations goes and I'm really excited to see what they do with City of Ashes and co. 

1: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Now I love all the Harry Potter films, I don't care. Anything HP related I love, and I know a lot was changed/missing in the films but I'm fine with that because I realised a long time ago that for me they could just be two separate things. The books and the movies. Since then I've loved the films even more. For me the two Deathly Hallows films were the best adaptations in the series, possibly because they were the most beautifully shot, or because the build up to the battle was brilliant, or just because I knew it was ending and it made me sad and therefore more attached? Whatever the reason I thought they were outstanding. I loved everything about them. I wish I could just put all the HP films on here because I honestly love them all to death, but DH definitely wins best adaptation in my eyes.

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

City of Bones: MOVIE

Just going to say there may be some spoilers of the film/movie, just so we all know where we're at. :)

OMG I'M SO IN LOVE.

This is the kind of excitement I've only ever experienced with Harry Potter movies and now I'm sat here with the same feelings over City of Bones. I absolutely loved the movie! There were times when I kind of made a WTF face at the screen, but I went in knowing it would obviously not be the same as the book, and now in my head they're two separate things - just like Harry Potter is for me. I missed the diner part, and the vampire scene was different, but ultimately I really, really loved the film!

Jace and Alec were played perfectly and I fell even more in love with Jace than I was before. 

I don't want to say anymore because anyone who is a fan of the book should definitely go see this film! Even if you don't like the book/haven't read the book you should see this film. It's really great.

(Also, I will be fangirling on twitter, if you want to join me :] )

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

House Pride

I was talking to one of my friends the other day and we got onto the topic of Harry Potter, as we often do, and when I asked what house they belonged to our other friend thought I had gone crazy. He said that Hogwarts isn't real and so obviously we don't belong to any house, and oh boy was that the wrong thing to say.

My friend is a very, very, proud Ravenclaw and I've never seen someone get shot down quite as fast as she shot down our friend. Now I am an incredibly proud Slytherin and, on more than one occasion, have gotten into pretty heated arguments with some of my close friends about the Hogwarts houses. 

I do have a point to this... All these conversations and arguments have made me think about the house pride that we all have for the houses we identify as, this became worse for the people I know when Pottermore came around because then we finally got sorted. Now for me being sorted was great because it solidified what I always knew - i am a slytherin. However one of my best friends has always thought of herself as a Gryffindor was sorted into Hufflepuff, and I have never seen such disappointment in one person. So why is it that being a part of these fictional houses means so much to us? I mean I wear my Slytherin hoodie at least three times a week, and it's one of my favourite things in the world, but why? I have a hoodie from the uni I've just graduated from which I never wear, and I really miss that place, but when I wear my Slytherin I feel a sense of pride and belonging that doesn't happen with my uni hoodie. 

Maybe I'm just nostalgic for HP, or maybe it's just because I grew up with Harry and Hogwarts? Whatever it is I love the pride that's found in the Harry Potter fandom and I'm proud that I'm a part of something so massive.

Slytherin forever <3

(Also, I joined bloglovin' if you would like to follow me on there that would be lovely :] )

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee  

Instagram - @meghannalicee

City of Bones Review

At about 2am this morning I finished my re-read of City of Bones and I realised again why it's easily one of my favourite books and why I love everything about it so much.

Not only is Jace one of the best characters to ever exist, the rest of the characters in this book are so amazingly, wonderfully written that even after one read you know them so well. Alec is probably my second favourite character in this series, I love his relationships with Jace and Isabelle, and I love the development of his relationship with Clary. He's just a really great character. Clary, Isabelle, Simon, and Luke, while I'm not exactly any of their biggest fan, I do still like reading about them, and I what I love so much about this book is how diverse their individual voices are. I love the conversations that happen between the characters, and how they all talk to, and react to, the different characters. 

Valentine...what can I say about Valentine? I don't think I've ever loved an hated a 'villain' quite as much as him. I loved, loved, loved his whole story in this book (btw it's so hard writing about one book in a series when you love them all so much...) and I hate him so much for everything he does with Jace and Clary.

Ooh speaking of Jace and Clary, their relationship is one of my favourites to read. I love when they first meet, and when they go to the Vampires, and Magnus Bane, and in the greenhouse, and it still makes me sad that Valentine kind of ruins all of that. One day you'll be together babies, don't worry <3 

Ugh I just love this book so much, and whole series, so much and I cannot wait for Wednesday when I finally get to see this world come to life! 

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

Favourite Fictional Characters

Most of today has been spent looking after my niece and nephew, and now I'm catching up on Dexter and re-watching Hannibal. So I thought I'd make a post about some of my favourite fictional characters. 

Draco Malfoy Harry Potter Series

Jace Wayland The Mortal Instruments

Peeta Mellark The Hunger Games

Dracula 

Holden Caulfield The Catcher in the Rye

Clay Jensen Thirteen Reasons Why

Katniss Everdeen The Hunger Games

Luna Lovegood Harry Potter Series

Dakin The History Boys

Charlie The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Alex A Clockwork Orange

Percy Jackson 

Anna Winterson Winter Trilogy 

Seth Winter Trilogy

Alec Lightwood The Mortal Instruments

They're the only ones I can think of right now, but they're definitely some of the best characters I've come across and I love them all for different reasons but I love them all a whole lot. 

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

Top 5...#3

Today I thought I'd do another top 5, and this one was probably the hardest one to work out, but it's one that is definitely going to have 5 of my all time favourites because I'm going to list my top 5...Harry Potter books! (I am aware there's only 7!)

5: The Prisoner of Azkaban 

I adore this book. Sirius is one of my all time favourite characters from everything, and this book definitely started that love. I just love everything about the story, and I love the relationships that form between Harry and Sirius and Harry and Remus. 

4: The Deathly Hallows

I think this is the HP book I've probably read the most (other than the book in the number one slot.) and I just adore everything about it. I love the the story of the three brothers and it's just a wonderful book to read, apart from Snape... Oh Snape :'(

3: The Half Blood Prince

Snape baby, I love you. I love this book. When it came out I remember my friends that were into HP at the time (there wasn't that many...) were all so sad about Dumbledore, but I was never his biggest fan, so this book doesn't make me as sad as most people I've spoken to about it, but it is definitely one of my favourites. I love everything about it. 

2: The Philosophers Stone

This book started it all and I love it more than pretty much everything because it's basically the reason I'm who I am today. Harry Potter is the reason i like the stuff I do today and it's the reason I love books and reading so much and this is the book that started all that off. I love this book and I owe this book a lot.

Finally....

1: The Goblet of Fire

Oh Em Gee I love this book more than basically everything in existence. It's my favourite of the HP books, it's my favourite of the films, it's just my favourite everything. I love everything about this story and ugh I just love it. Cedric, baby, I love you more than basically everyone. This is just the most perfect book in my eyes. 

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

The Book Alphabet

So I thought I'd try and do the a-z of book titles today. I think I've done pretty well, there's only two letters that I couldn't find a book for. Here we go! :)

A - Abandon by Meg Cabot

B - Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl 

C - City of Glass by Cassandra Clare

D - Death Note vol.1 by Tsugumi Ohba 

E - Eragon by Christopher Paolini

F - Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

G - Gothic Fantasy by Edwin Page

H - Holes by Louis Sachar

I - Inferno by Dan Brown

J - Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier

K- Kiss by Jacqueline Wilson 

L - Lisey's Story by Stephen King

M - Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs 

N - Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell

O - Oh My Goth by Gena Showalter 

P - Passion by Lauren Kate

Q - Quidditch Through the Ages by J K Rowling

R - Rapture by Lauren Kate

S - Sister by Rosamund Lupton

T - To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

U - Unbearable Lightness by Portia De Rossi 

V - Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre 

W - Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

X - I don't have one for this...

Y - You Don't Know Me by David Klass 

 

Z - This is the other one I didn't have one for.

I think 24/26 is pretty good? 

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

Movie and TV covers

II'd say that about 99.9% of my books have the regular, original covers but occasionally one with a movie or tv cover slips onto my bookshelf, and I thought I'd share the few that I have. 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

Parade's End by Ford Madox Ford

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist 

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Bind up of the first two books in the 'confessions of Georgia Nocolson' series by Louise Rennison 

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl 

Books 1-4 of 'The Vampire Diaries' by L J Smith

The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien (this is my 2nd/possibly 3rd copy of this book)

Meghan x

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

Love it or Hate it TAG

Time for another tag :D this one was created by the amazing Raeleen ( http://www.youtube.com/padfootandprongs07 ). 

1. Top 3 favourite books?

The Catcher in the Rye

13 reasons why

A Clockwork Orange

2. Top 3 least favourite books?

The Great Gatsby

Juno and the Paycock

The Book Thief

3. Top 3 favourite characters? 

Draco Malfoy

Jace Wayland

Percy Jackson

4. Top 3 least favourite characters?

Bella Swan

Jacob Black

Hodge (TMI)

5. Biggest let-down?

The Book Thief, I've only ever heard good things about this book and I just didn't really enjoy it. Maybe I should read it again and try to love it?

6. Books you liked that everyone else hated?

Lord of the Flies. Everyone I know hates this book and it's probably one of my favourites. 

7. Characters people love that you hated?

Gale. I really didn't like him and everyone I know loves him and wanted him to end up with Katniss and I just didn't like him all that much. 

8. Characters people hate that you loved?

Peeta. I don't really know that many people (out of my friends) who liked him, and he's probably one of my favourite characters in the series. 

9. Best quotes?

Basically anything Sirius Black says.

10. Worst quotes?

Twilight. Especially the whole lion/lamb thing.

11. Books you didn't finish?

The only one I can think of right now is The Casual Vacancy, I will finish it eventually but I wasn't really into it.

12. What book have you read the most times?

Either Deathly Hallows or The Catcher in the Rye. I read both of them about 3 times a year. 

13. Series where the first book was amazing but they went down hill from there?

The power of five series by Anthony Horowitz. I really loved the first two books, but after that they didn't really hold my interest as much as the first two did.

Meghan x 

Twitter - @meghannalicee

Instagram - @meghannalicee

"I will go down with this ship, I won't put my hands up and surrender."

"Shipping" is something that happens in pretty much every single fandom, whether it's friendly or romantic, shipping happens everywhere these days. (I'm going to admit that as much as i hate the term shipping i can't help wanting certain people to be together.) So I figured that I'd talk about some of the "ships" I have from books.

Jace and Alec - The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

This is one of the ships that I'm going to mention that isn't a romantic one. I love the brotherly friendship that Jace and Alec have, Alec might be in love with him (and I could kind of get on board with that) but these boys would die for each other. They're my two favourite characters in this series and I just love them. (Just in case you're wondering I decently romantically shop Jace with me ;] )

Anna and Seth - The Winter Trilogy

Ugh I love Anna and Seth more than basically every other couple ever. They're so wonderful and great together, and A Witch in Love kills me a little bit. Can I be Anna? Or can I just have a Seth? Thanks.

Katniss and Peeta - The Hunger Games

If you don't read this trilogy wanting these two to get together in the end - you confuse me. They go through so much together and they make each other better people and I just think that if any two people were to ever be together in the end of a book series it should definitely be these two. 

Hazel and Augustus - The Fault in Our Stars

Oh come on who doesn't ship this? Most perfectly written book/love story/characters ever. 

Light and L. - Death Note

I don't care, I want them to just be locked in that hotel room and just let them get on with stuff. Just saying that I would read that book...

Ethan and Lena - Beautiful Creatures 

Eeep. I just kind of love them together okay? They're a pretty adorable couple and I love Ethan a whole lot and just yeah I love them a lot together. 

Ron and Hermione - Harry Potter Series

The worlds most wonderful couple award goes to... I just love these two together. I love their whole story, and come on who didn't cheer a little bit when they finally kissed?! The best and most wonderful couple to ever come out of a book series. 

Harry and Luna - Harry Potter Series

(Please don't kill me for this one?) I just love them, Harry was really the only one who saw how nice/wonderful/cool Luna was and I just think they would have been a great couple. 

And finally, because why not throw out a completely different one?

Harry and Draco - Harry Potter Series

I'm pretty sure these two have more fanfic written about them than any other couple ever? And honestly I just ship Draco with me (along with Jace obviously...) but I think everyone has that one 'ship' that they have buried deep down that they're not quite sure why they ship it or when they started but they've kind if just accepted it - that's Drarry for me... 

Meghan x 

Top 5...#2

Back again with another top five :) this time it's: Top 5 on my kindle

I love my kindle and I love all the books on there (that I've read...) so some of these were pretty hard to think of :) 

5: The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe

Poe is my favourite poet by far and The Raven is what made me want to read more from him. I'm pretty sure this was the second thing I downloaded as soon as I got my kindle because I wanted to read it again and again, without taking a massive collection of Poe around with me. 

4: Dracula by Bram Stoker

This was the first thing I downloaded onto my kindle, and it's basically just because I love the story so much. Including my kindle edition I have about 6 copies of this book I think? I love it. 

And this is my kindle cover, it's love.

3: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Ugh I love les mis! I love the stage version, the film, the book, everything. And I love that I can read this when I'm travelling without having to carry around a 900 page book!

2: Superheroes: The Best of Philosophy and Pop Culture by William Irwin

I adore the philosophy and pop culture books, and when I downloaded this one I think that took my total to about 8 different ones that I own? I love philosophy more than most things, and superheroes are something I've loved since I was tiny (thanks to my big brother) and this book was just amazingly wonderful to read.

1: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I really, really wanted to read this ages and ages ago but I couldn't find it anywhere so I downloaded it and fell completely, 100%, madly in love with it. I have the rest of the series in physical form, but I still love that I have this one on my kindle and not physical copy because it's how I fell in love with the world and I like remembering that when I re-read it (like I am now) :). 

Meghan x 

The 7 Deadly Sins of Reading

Hello again Internet! (Still have no idea why I keep putting that...) Today I thought I would do the 7 deadly sins of reading tag, I'm not entirely sure who created this tag but it's been going around the BookTube community for a while so I thought I'd have a go at it :)

Greed: What are your most expensive and least expensive books?

Most expensive are probably my Harry Potter books, maybe? Or possibly some of the philosophy books I used as part of my degree seeing as they all cost quite a lot. My least expensive, that I didn't get in a second hand book shop/charity shop, is probably a book about Kant by Ralph Walker (I think that's his name) that has £2 printed on the back. 

Wrath: Which author do you have a love/hate relationship with? 

I'm going to go for Ally Carter because of the Gallagher Girls series. I finished them quite a while ago, and just kind of ended the whole story in my head, and now a 6th book is being released sometime towards the end of this year and I don't like waiting that long for a final book. I mean it would have been 2 years. 

Gluttony: What book have you devoured over and over again with no remorse whatsoever? 

The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger. It's probably my favourite book and I read it at least two times a year. It's love. 

Sloth: What book have you neglected to read due to laziness?

I'm going to say both The Casual Vacancy, which I've started about 6 times but then I just get distracted by other books, and Inferno by Dan Brown which came out a few months ago and I got it straight away but it's long and I get distracted by books far too easily. 

Pride: What book do you talk about most in order to sound like a very intellectual reader?

None really...a lot of people have questioned whether I do actually like The Catcher in the Rye or whether I just say it because it's "cool" to like it or whatever, but I just talk about the books I enjoy and I don't really care what people think about it...

Lust: What attributes do you find most attractive in male or female characters? 

Well my favourite male characters are Draco Malfoy and Jace Wayland, so a mix of them would be great.

Envy: What books would you most like to receive as a gift?

Harry Potter: Page to Screen and Harry Potter: Film Wizardry. Or like a first edition of Catcher...either way :) 

Thanks for reading :)

Meghan x  

Top 5... #1

Hey there Internet! :) I've decided to do a new series type thing over here on my blog where I talk about my "top 5" I certain types of books. I love a lot of different types of books and I thought this would be a good way to talk about all the different kind of books I love.

To start lets look at: Top 5 Series

5 : Fallen

I love, love, love the fallen series. I love the premise and plot of the series and I love (almost) all of the characters. Cam and Daniel are two of my favourite characters in a book and I love the weird friendship/hatred thing that they have going on. Yeah I just really like the series.

4 : The Hunger Games

Who doesn't love the Hunger Games series?! The world Suzanne Collins created in these books is one of my favourite worlds that I've ever read. I love pretty much everything about this series, some parts of each book kind of disappointed me, well apart from Catching Fire which was just amazing.

3 : The Winter Trilogy

Ugh I love these books so so so so much. Anna and Seth are one of my favourite couples ever, and I love every other character, even the ones I hate I love. They're just brilliantly written and completely addictive. Just, ugh I love them. 

2 : The Mortal Instruments

Oh come on everyone should read and love this series! Jace is basically the love of my life (just don't tell Draco...) and the world is one of the greatest places to escape to ever. Each word makes you fall more in love with the series and each character is so wonderfully written that you feel like you know them better than most people you actually know. It's basically a perfect series. 

1 : Harry Potter

Obviously. The most amazing, wonderful, perfect collection of books ever. Everyone loves Harry Potter, if you dot then you are definitely wrong... Without being to clichè these books changed my life, and without them I know that my life would be completely different. So yeah, no books will ever beat the love I have for Harry Potter. And, you know, it has Draco...

Meghan x 

My Heart's as Cold as Ike.

The Wide Window

By Lemony Snicket 

I had this plan a few weeks ago where I was going to read all thirteen books in the A Series of Unfortunate Events series(saga? idk) but that plan kind of failed once I read The Wide Window. I'm not entirely sure why, it might have something to do with me re reading The Mortal Instruments, or it might be because I just didn't fully want to commit to reading thirteen books that I've already read when there are so many books I'm currently excited about. Either way I've kind of put Lemony Snicket on the back burner while I jump back into the world of the Shadowhunters. 

I figured since I read The Wide Window (maybe not fully this time around, but I have read it!) I would carry on and do a review of this as well as the first two books in the series. 

In the wide window, the orphans are now living with their Aunt Josephine by the, slightly terrifying, Lake Lachrymose. She's obsessed with grammar and kind of recently lost her husband, Ike. She's nice and good and all that lovely stuff, but then obviously Count Olaf ruins everything. 

I'm not going to lie here, The Wide Window is probably my least favourite book in this series, maybe that's why I've lost the motivation to read it? But as always it's wonderfully written and Count Olaf continues to scare and creep the hell out of me. 

Meghan x 

Bookish Questions Tag

Hey there, I wasn't sure what to write about today so me and my friend Ashley to come up with some book questions for me to answer. Kind of like a new tag...Here we go...

Which book changed your life forever?

Is it too clichè to say the Harry Potter series? Because I guess Harry Potter has impacted/changed my life more than any other book.

Which book have you read the most?

The Catcher in the Rye.

Which character do you have the biggest crush on?

Draco Malfoy is basically the all time love of my life, other than that it has to be Jace Wayland.

If you could be any character in a book which character would you be and why?

Anna from the Winter trilogy.

A book you want a film adaptation for?

13 reasons why. It's such an amazing story and I think it would make a really good movie.

 Have you met any authors?

I met Nick Arnold (who wrote the horrible science books) when I was younger. That was fun. 

Do you have any signed books?

I have a book signed by Nick Arnold, from when I met him. My TFiOS book is signed. And (the best one) my Chamber of Secrets book is signed by the Phelps twins :D

If you could be a character from your favourite book for 24 hours, who would it be and why?

Clary from The Mortal Instruments. And basically so I could have Jace...

Bookmarks or dog-ears?

Bookmarks!

A book you feel everyone else has read except you?

Divergent. I really want to read it though.

Your favourite author and why?

At the minute it's Cassandra Clare, other than her it's probably either JK Rowling, John Green, JD Salinger, or Ruth Warburton.

Do you not finish books if you don’t like them or do you persevere?

A mix of both really, it depends how much I'm hating it.

Most anticipated book to movie adaptation?

City of Bones!!

All time favourite book character(s) and why?

Draco Malfoy, Jace Wayland, Holden Caulfield, Dracula, and Alex Rider.

That was fun.

Meghan x

(I don't know why but the font seems to have randomly changed on this post, no idea why...)

Justice: Kira vs L.

Death Note (black edition vol. 1)

By Tsugumi Ohba

When i first picked up death note i had a slight idea about what i was getting into but i had NO idea how much I would fall in love with everything about it.

The story itself is so exciting, fast-paced, interesting, wonderful, basically every good adjective you have ever heard in relation to a book. I was absolutely captivated from the first page until the last. As soon as I finished volume 1 I jumped straight onto amazon to order volume 2. I can't remember the last time I fell in love with a story as fast as I did with death note. 

Every single character is so wonderfully written that with every page you just can't help but fall more and more in love with all of them. Even Ryuk.

Light is by far one of my favourite characters from anything ever. He is so intelligent, witty, dedicated, he's just all round wonderful really. And when he is first pitted against L, well everything just gets that little bit more amazing.

After starting this series I can totally understand why everyone has been raving about it all this time. Part of me wishes I had caved earlier and read it before now, but I'm just really glad I finally decided to get in on the greatness that is Death Note. 

Meghan x 

Book Identity.

Anyone who loves to read knows that every time you start reading a new series you just become part of a whole new world. Now as soon as you start to fall in love you start to imagine yourself in that world; where you would live, who you'd be friends with, basically everything that you would do if you were to actually live in this world. 

So when I was watching YouTube earlier i saw a new tag over on LittleBookOwl's channel that seemed like a fun thing to do. (I've changed some of the questions slightly to fit the books and series's I've read because I hadn't read 2 of the ones they chose.)

What dystopian/fantastical work would you live in? 

My automatic answer would be the world of Harry Potter, but I think I'm going to go for the world in The Mortal Instruments. 

Who would be you boyfriend?

I'm torn between choosing a long time favourite and a recent one...Draco or Jace....hmmm....I'm going to go for Draco Malfoy. 

Who would be your godly mother/father? (Percy Jackson series) 

I'm going to go for Hades. That could be fun. 

Would you be a downworlder or nephilim? (The Mortal Instruments series)

Nephilim. I want to be a shadowhunter more than pretty much anything.  

Would you be a part of a 'vegetarian' family or a regular nomad? (Twilight series) 

Regular, blood drinking nomad vampire. Unless I could be married to Jasper, then I choose that.

What district would you live in? (The Hunger Games trilogy)

Either district 4 with Finnick, or the Capitol, pre-uprising.

What house would you be in? (Harry Potter series)

SLYTHERIN. Easiest decision ever. 

Meghan x 

(Tag made by LittleBookOwl, Katytastic and Benjaminoftomes) 

Uncle Monty forever.

The Reptile Room

By Lemony Snicket

So as I've said before A Series of Unfortunate Events are some of my favourite ever books, and The Reptile Room is definitely one of the best books in the series. 

It shows Violet, Klaus, and Sunny move into a new house to live with their Uncle Monty, who is a world expert in reptiles. It's brilliant. They start to feel at home, begin to feel happy again and then, obviously, Count Olaf comes along and ruin it. 

I always feel so happy that they've finally found a nice relative to live with and they're feeling happy and a part of me just wants that to be it for the series. They just stay with Uncle Monty and everything's fine, but then I carry on reading and the sadness sets in. Stupid Count Olaf ruining everything. 

I really am enjoying re-reading this series (even if it has been slightly put off so that I can re-read City of Bones before the movie comes out). 

Meghan x 

Bowties are cool.

As any fan of doctor who knows, today was the day that the 12th doctor was announced, and lets just say I was left slightly disappointed.

I'm not saying that Peter Capaldi isn't going to be a good doctor or that I hate him or anything because we haven't seen him be the doctor yet. I'm also not disappointed with the choice because "he's not young an attractive" because that's just a silly reason to not like the choice. However as I said I am disappointed.

Partly because when Matt Smith was announced I could see him as the doctor, without him having to be the doctor for even a second, and then when Peter Capaldi walke out it just didn't feel right to me. Also party because he's been a character in both Doctor Who and Torchwood and now him being the doctor will never really feel right for me. 

As many, many, many people have already said on various social medias we can't judge how good he'll be as the doctor until we see it, but I for one am not holding out that much hope....

Meghan x

(Book related posts are back tomorrow.)

The Best Beginning...

A Series of Unfortunate Events is easily one of my favourite book series, so the other day I figured I would start reading them again. 

As soon as I opened The Bad Beginning I remembered how it felt when I first read and fell in love with the series. The writing, imagery, characters are all just so brilliant that I never want to stop reading.

I can't believe I waited so long before starting to re-read such an amazing series. 

So if you have a series that you love that you haven't read in a while, please GO BACK AND READ IT. 

It's like going back to your childhood all over again. :) 

Meghan x

(I know this is long but I'm ridiculously tired and kick ass is on...better post tomorrow!) 

Hunting Books

Hello there, nice to see you :)

So you might have seen a tag going around the BookTube community for a while called the Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt and I thought that might be a fun thing to do over here on my blog. So here it is my bookshelf scavenger hunt...

1 - Find an authors name, or a book title, with the letter Z in it.

Point Blanc by Anthony Horowitz

2 - Find a classic.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

3 - Find a book with a key on it.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (the robin is standing on it)

4 - Find something that is not a book.

My nightmare before Christmas calendar/bookmark holder.

5 - Find the oldest book on your shelf.

Roman by Roman Polanski (1984 edition, pretty sure that's the oldest)

6 - Find a book with a girl on the cover.

Torn by Cat Clarke

7 - Find a book with a boy on the cover.

A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer

8 - Find a book with an animal in it. 

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

9 - Find a book with a male protagonist.

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

10 - Find a book with a female protagonist. 

Girls Under Pressure by Jacqueline Wilson

11 - Find a book with only words on the cover. 

The Catcher in the Rye by J D Salinger

12 - Find a book with illustrations in it. 

Death Note by Tsugumi Ohba 

13 - Find a book with Gold lettering. 

The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien

14 - Find a diary, true or false.

Diary of a Wimpy Vampire by Tim Collins

15 - Find a book by someone with a common name, like Smith. 

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith

16 - Find a book with a close up of something on the cover.

Only the Good Spy Young by Ally Carter

17 - Find the book set in the earliest time period. 

Othello by William Shakespeare (I'm assuming my Shakespeare's the earliest time period and I just chose one out of all of his works..)

18 - Find a hardcover without a dust jacket.

The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

19 - Find a teal/turquoise coloured book. 

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

20 - Find a book with stars on the cover.

All American Girl : Ready or Not by Meg Cabot

21 - Find a non YA book.

The Complete Poetry of Edgar Allan Poe

22 - Find the longest book on your shelf.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J K Rowling (I assume...)

23 - Now find the shortest book.

Fantastic beasts and where to find them by J K Rowling

24 - Find a book with multiple PoVs.

Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan 

25 - Find a shiny book.

Girl 15 by Sue Limb

26 - Find a book with flowers on the cover. 

New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (this is as close to flowers as I could find)

And that's it! Some were a LOT harder than others but this was a really fun tag to do. If you've done it either on a blog or on YouTube let me know because I love watching/reading these!

See you tomorrow! Meghan x