Friday 18 November 2016

Dolly On ... Smashing My 2016 Reading Goal!

So back in April, I'd read a total of two books: The Martian (that I read while I was in Thailand in February) and Midnight's Children (that took me the entire month of April to finish). I never thought I'd make this years' reading goal (26 books), but I am more than happy to say that I've smashed it out of the park and am on 33 books and we've still got six weeks of the year to go! I think I'm gonna up my goal to 40, because there's so many books on my TBR!

So, without further ado, below are the 33 full size books I've read this year (I've also read some short stories by Edgar Allen Poe, and the short Pottermore e-books, but I've chosen not to count them on here). I've put a star rating next to all the books, mostly I've given 4 stars, and I don't whether that means I've really lucked out on choosing good books this year, or I'm too nice to give anything lower. It's probably a mix of the two. 

I've arranged these in loose categories, not by date read, in fact, I literally finished Empire of Storms a few days ago, but I wanted to put the whole series together - obviously. 


Throne of Glass | Sarah J. Maas ****
Crown of Midnight | Sarah J. Maas ****
Heir of Fire | Sarah J. Maas ****
Queen of Shadows | Sarah J. Mass *****
Empire of Storms | Sarah J. Mass ****


Shadow and Bone | Leigh Bardugo ****
Seige and Storm | Leigh Bardugo ****
Ruin and Rising | Leigh Bardugo *****
Six of Crows | Leigh Bardugo ****
Crooked Kingdom | Leigh Bardugo *****

A Court of Thorns and Roses | Sarah J. Maas ****
A Court of Mist and Fury | Sarah J. Maas *****
Harry Potter and The Cursed Child | J. K. Rowling & Co. *****
Zenith | Sasha Alsberg ****
The Invisible Library | Genevieve Cogman ***

Freedom is a Constant Struggle | Angela Y. Davis *****
Are Prisons Obsolete? | Angela Y. Davis ****
Bad Feminist | Roxanne Gay ****
I Call Myself a Feminist | Victoria Pepe ****
Between the World and Me | Ta-Nehisi Coates ****

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas | John Boyne *****
The Reader | Bernard Schlink ****
The Diary of a Young Girl | Anne Frank *****
Slaughter-House Five | Kurt Vonnegut ****
Midnight's Children | Salman Rushdie ****

The Martian | Andy Weir ****
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Philip K. Dick ****
Room | Emma Donoghue ***
The Girl with all the Gifts | M. R. Carey *****
Every Day | David Levithan *****


Bitch Planet Vol. 1 | Kelly Sue DeConnick ****
The Examined Life | Stephen Grosz *****
Stiff | Mary Roach ****

Thursday 17 November 2016

Where I'm At | November 2016

Hey guys, so I just logged into Blogger and realised that I haven't posted since April. That's what, seven months ago? Just wow. I'm terrible - but I'm pretty sure we all knew that anyway. So, I'm gonna just give you a life update, and then to ensure that this doesn't become too boring, I'm gonna share with you some of my current jams (that's songs for those people who aren't as awesomely cool (read: super lame) as me).

Ok, so what's happened since April? Well, a lot and also not much at all. I got a new job that I think I love (it's hard to tell when you're as mentally unstable as me), and have been there for just over six months now. The work is boring, but I've made some really good friends, and it's great to hang out with them all day. Everyone's also really social, so we go out at least once a week which is pretty much all I've ever wanted. 

I've also 'given up TV', in that I'm not watching any new series'. This has worked really well for me, as I've been a freaking monster with reading! I've read 33 books this year! I'm planning to write more about books, so look forward to that.

Apart from that I've been my usual up and down self, still not found a way to level myself out, but Im trying. Sometimes.

November Jams

Daniel Caesar | Get You (feat. Kali Uchis) - I discovered this artist through a playlist on Apple Music called #Mood. He's a mixture between D'Angelo and Frank Ocean, who are two of my favourite artists, so he was bound to be a winner. Unfortunately he's not got that much music out, but what he does have is fantastic - especially this track. 

Childish Gambino | Sober - Yet another thing I have Apple Music to thank for is the Childish Gambino Essentials playlist. I really like 'because the internet', but I've never really taken the time to branch out from that, so this playlist opened my eyes to some of his other tunes. There's some really great stuff on there, but at the moment I think Sober is my fav. 

Kiiara | Gold - Yes I know I'm late to the party with this one, but I was only introduced it through this cover by Pentatonix. Mitch's voice is incredible, but I have to admit that this is the one time I prefer the original to PTX's cover. Mostly because I just love the minimalistic production. 

Ariana Grande | Santa Tell Me - You know I love Ariana Grande right? Know I love her so much that my mum has put a ban on me playing her music round the house? Well, that happened, but #noregrets. Anyway, as soon as the clock struck midnight on All Hallow's Eve, I had this song on. I fucking love it, and I just hate that I've given in to the unwritten rule that one can't listen to Christmas music all year round. 

Solange | Cranes in the Sky - This song is fabulous. In fact this whole album is fabulous, and if you haven't listened to it, I give you permission to leave, do that right now. GO!