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
Instagram - @meghannalicee

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

Instagram - @meghannalicee

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