April book haul!

Didn't I tell you I'd get this one up in a more timely fashion?! I've been really slacking for the past few months, but hopefully this will be the start of a more productive period!

Library book sale:

This month, I only purchased one book from the library book sale: namely 'Party' by Tom Leveen. I've been looking at this one for a while, and when I realised it was still there I grabbed it, but I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about it. Apparently it follows the viewpoints of eleven - yep, ELEVEN - different characters. (I wonder if he chose eleven because it's nearly an anagram of his surname?).

Charity shopping:

I didn't buy as many charity shop books as I normally do either. As you can see, in the above pile I managed to pick up quite a few classics that I'm interested in, as well as some brand new releases that I got for a steal (the new Derek Landy hardback was only £2!). The copy of 'Disclaimer' I found was also £2, and - shock of the century - it's also signed. 

Be still my beating heart!

As well as those charity shop books, I also managed to pick up five ARCs. 

I am SO EXCITED to read 'Kill The Boyband' - which publishes in a fortnights time - and 'You Know Me Well', which isn't released until June. I was actually accepted to read and review 'In The Dark, In The Woods' on NetGalley, but my copy was missing every other sentence so I couldn't read it - I'm looking forward to FINALLY being able to dive into this one. 

Graphic novels:

I had to treat myself to the second volume of 'Gotham Academy' when it came out - look how gorgeous the art is!

Birthday books: 

April was also the month that I turned 20. I'm no longer a teenager, guys! It's so scary. But my wonderful mum managed to soften the blow by getting me these three books, and I'm very excited about all of them (particularly 'Frozen Fire', which I've looked at a lot in the past!). 

Brand new books:

Compared to most of my book hauls, this month was rather tiny, so I didn't feel so guilty about treating myself to some brand new books. 

'Shadow and Bone' was left over from my day as a World Book Night giver. I enjoyed the first installment in the series, so I'm not too mad about having to keep this one. 

I had to buy 'The Curious Tale of the Lady Caraboo', because I'm attempting to read all of the books that are nominated for the YA Book Prize before the winner is announced at the beginning of June, and this is the only one they didn't have on the catalogue at the library. I also couldn't stop myself from purchasing 'The Raven King' on release day - I haven't read any of the quartet yet, but I'm much more inclined to now it's finished.

The final new book I bought for myself was 'Shaken' by Joss Stirling. I was going to buy it anyway, because I really liked the first two installments in the series and wanted to read on, but imagine my surprise when I opened up the book and found this on the first page...

THAT'S MY BLOG. IN A BOOK. 

YEP. I am famous. It's official. You can line up over there with copies of your books for me to sign, I don't mind it.

But seriously, I was SO excited that I ran to the counter and paid for the book without a second thought. 

Maximum Pop! books:

I won my first ever Maximum Pop! books competition last month, and I quickly followed it up by winning another! I was so excited when 'Hot Pterodactyl Boyfriend' arrived... But when I realised it was about a girl dating an ACTUAL Pterodactyl, rather than a metaphorical title... I got a little bit scared.

bookbridgr:

 I also received one book from bookbridgr this month: 'Long Dark Dusk', the sequel to 'Way Down Dark' which I read and really enjoyed last year. I haven't had time to read this second book in the trilogy just yet, but I'm getting around to it!

Owlcrate:

As soon as I saw that the genre for this month's Owlcrate was dystopian, I was sure I knew what the book included was going to be. I wasn't wrong.

Yep, it was 'Flawed' by Cecelia Ahern! I've already read the book and didn't enjoy it much, but I can't say that this physical copy isn't gorgeous. I love the simplicity of the design, even if it does make me feel a little uncomfortable that - when you take off the translucent slip cover - it is just a picture of a black girl with the word 'FLAWED' printed underneath it...

As well as all of the above items, the April Owlcrate also came with this lovely art print of a quote from 'The Star-Touched Queen', which I hadn't heard of but definitely need to keep an eye out for. 

That means I only hauled 24 books this month, including two that I won and four that I was given. I bought less than 20 books! That might be (probably is) the first time that's ever happened. I feel so successful. 

Hopefully I'll keep my book buying to a minimum in May, too!

TOP FIVE WEDNESDAY: Top five authors I would meet at BEA

(Top Five Wednesday was created by GingerReadsLainey. Find out more at the Goodreads group!)

Unfortunately I am but a poor UK book blogger, so I will not be attending BEA this year (or any other year, probably). If I could, though, I would make sure I at least met these five authors.

5) Maggie Stiefvater

On the one hand, I'm not sure if I would like to meet Maggie (a few things I've heard her say on social media have left me feel unconvinced) but I have a bunch of her books I could get signed, which would be awesome. 

4) Kami Garcia

I loved the Beautiful Creatures series when I read it many, many moons ago, and it would be amazing to talk to Kami about all of the characters and the wonderful choices that she and co-author Margaret Stohl made.

3) Leigh Bardugo

Okay, YES, I hated the final book in the Grisha trilogy, and YES, I haven't read 'Six of Crows' just yet. But Leigh Bardugo just seems so freaking awesome that I can forgive her, and I can meet her and fangirl.

2) Alyson Noel

I read the first few books in Alyson Noel's The Immortals series, but I didn't have time to finish it - I'm going to be reading her newest release, 'Unrivalled', pretty soon though, and I'm very excited about it because it sounds like it's going to be brilliant.

1) Meg Cabot

Who wouldn't want to meet a legend? Meg Cabot has written so many books that I've lost count. 

I hope you enjoyed this Top Five Wednesday! Are you going to BEA? 

FILM THOUGHTS: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

YES, this blog post is nearly fifteen years late, but I'm finally reading and watching the Harry Potter series! Go me!
I had a lot of thoughts about this film, and I thought I'd do a little list of the pros and cons of the adaptation (just in case anyone else has been wary about watching it).

THE GOOD: 

The casting:

Not just the casting of the main characters, because I feel everyone agrees that those are spot on at this point! I was very impressed with the casting of Professor Quirrell and Oliver Wood in particular - I'm just hoping that in the future installments we get to see more of the three female Quidditch players: Angelina, Katie and Alicia.

The set:

It's gorgeous, and they use the space so well!

Dudley in the snake enclosure:

Need I say more?

Hagrid's arrival:

The first half of the film was so true to the book, with hardly anything getting cut out, which I thought was brilliant. I particularly loved the way they handled this scene, with Hagrid breaking the door down just after midnight on Harry's 11th birthday. 

Chocolate frogs:

"They've only got one good jump in 'em to begin with". 

The ghosts:

Again, this speaks for itself. 

LeviOsa:

I was SO DISAPPOINTED that this quote wasn't in the book! 

Mrs Norris:

Meow.

Quirrell's iguana:

Why does he have an iguana? What does it have to do with Defence Against the Dark Arts? This is the most out of context moment of the film, and I WANT TO KNOW MORE!

Quidditch: 

I find it very hard to visualise Quidditch when I'm reading it, because it's so fast and impossible to follow. I enjoyed Harry's first Quidditch game much more on the screen.

Hagrid's dogs:

I adored the dog who was portraying Fang - LOOK AT HIS FACE, ISN'T HE SO PRECIOUS - while Fluffy was the best thing about the film. 

THE BAD:

No robe fittings:

The scene in the book where Harry first meets Draco Malfoy is one of my favourite moments, so I was disappointed to see that cut - it would only have taken a minute at most!

The Sorting Hat:

In the books, the Sorting Hat seems so happy! He sings his song, introducing all of the houses - rather than there just being a focus on Slytherin and Gryffindor - and he seems overjoyed to sort all of the children into their houses. The film Sorting Hat just kind of scares me... He's so menacing! 

Severe Lack of Neville:

Yes, we still had Neville getting knocked off of his broomstick, but he doesn't go to detention with Harry and Hermione - he gets replaced with Ron. This means it doesn't really make sense when he threatens to fight Harry later in the film... Would he really be that defensive just because Gryffindor lost a few points? 

Draco Malfoy:

Draco's one-liners are just horrible and mean in the film: they don't carry the same sass and humour that they do in the books. 

Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback:

Nobert's a much bigger deal in the books than he is in the film. I think it should be the other way around: he's a DRAGON, for Christ's sake!

No potion puzzle:

I know, it would have taken too long to explain it and Hermione saved the day with the Devil's Snare instead, but I liked this logical puzzle in the books and it would have been nice to see it solved on screen.

So, with a ratio of 11:6, you can clearly see that I enjoyed this adaptation much more than I disliked it. The things I've picked up on that I was unhappy about are also really minuscule: most people probably don't even remember the robe fitting scene, it's just because I've read the book so recently that those magical moments are still at the forefront of my mind. 

I'm already working on the second film - 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' - as I finished the second book in the series yesterday: look out for my thoughts on that one coming soon! 

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Ten child characters I'd visit as adults

(Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and The Bookish!)

There are a lot of characters in books that we only ever meet as children. They go on crazy adventures throughout their childhood, but we never get to know what they're like when they grow up: if they get married and have families, or if they still have insane adventures even when they're retired pensioners.
I think I'd like to visit these ten characters again as adults - whether to see who they ended up with and how, or to see if they're just as fun as they used to be.

10) Renesmee

Purely because I wanna know how that imprinting with Jacob thing works out...

9) Kitty

Lara Jean's little sister, Kitty, is BRILLIANT. I haven't read the second installment in the series yet, so I'm hoping there's going to be more of Kitty - I'd still like to be able to read her as an adult, though. 

8) Noomi

Noomi, Georgie's daughter, has an addiction to meow-ing - it's one of the only ways that she communicates with her family. It's adorable (if a little annoying!) and it would be nice to see how she'd be as an adult character with less childish behaviours. 

7) Sunny Baudelaire

The youngest of the Baudelaire orphans, Sunny might not have much to say for herself but she's still a very focal character in the story of the trio. Seeing Sunny as an adult would be interesting to say the least - would she still go around biting people, or would that tendency fade with time?!

6) Matilda

Matilda's intelligent and well-read, and I always think there's more to her story than is told: she gets her happy ending, but you know that her life would be a fascinating one. I always imagine she'd be a teacher and she'd help all of the children who needed her. 

5) Sawyer Brooke Scott

I couldn't pick ten children in books that I'd like to revisit, but I definitely want to see how Sawyer - Lucas and Peyton's daughter - turns out. Lucas and Peyton are my favourite characters, and when they have their daughter and leave Tree Hill it's a very bittersweet moment: I'd love to see Sawyer all grown up, because then we'd get to see how Lucas and Peyton are doing!

4) Hiccup

Between 'How To Train Your Dragon' one and two, there's already quite an age difference in Hiccup. It would be nice to see him continuing to be badass, running his tribe and adventuring around the world discovering new breeds of dragon. 

3) Tracy Beaker

Tracy Beaker was very mischievous, but because she knows what it's like to be abandoned by her parents you can tell she would be a brilliant mother. It would be funny to see her finally empathising with all the adults she annoyed when she was little!

2) Alice

Can you imagine Alice having children of her own? They'd all be just as troublesome and adventurous!

1) Neville Longbottom

I've only just starting reading the Harry Potter series, but I ADORE Neville Longbottom. I know that we get to see some of the characters when they're older in the final book, but I don't know if Neville's one of them - I have my fingers crossed.

I hope you enjoyed this Top Ten Tuesday! Which child characters would you like to revisit?

April wrap-up!

Where the hell did April go?! It felt like less than two days ago that March started, and now we're at the beginning of May. I'm terrified by how quickly this year is going.
This month, I got older: I'm now 20. TWENTY?!?!?!?!??!?!
Yep, I'm going to be one of those adults standing in the teen section feeling all shifty, with everyone assuming I'm shopping for my kids while I'm really daydreaming about tax and mortgages. I'm already planning my retirement party, and don't even talk to me about funeral plans...
But even though I'm old now, my eyes and ears are still working, so I've managed to go and see loads of shows this month, and I've read a metric shit-ton of books!

Bookish wrap-up: 

In April, I read 24 books, including 3 graphic novels.

For the #2016ClassicsChallenge, I revisited 'The Catcher in the Rye' by J. D. Salinger, which I read a very long time ago and could hardly remember. I didn't enjoy it as much this time around, but it was still a 4 star read.

For my personal series challenge, I read five installments of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, meaning I'm going to be moving on to book nine ('The Hostile Hospital') in May.
I also continued on with David Moody's Autumn series, reading books two and three, and I re-read 'Half Bad' by Sally Green (and the two novellas) to prepare me for reading the rest of the trilogy.
I didn't actually finish a series this month, but I've been working on so many! I've also started taking part in Bloomsbury Books #ReadTheMagic readalong - I'm currently three quarters of the way through 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' and will be reading another book in the series every two weeks.

The best books I read in April?

These three were all 5 star books, which was great after March (in which I read loads of 4 stars but nothing that really stood out). 

The worst books? 

'Anything You Want' was the only book I read this month that got less than 3 stars - it received a paltry 1 star. Dreadful book. 

Musical wrap-up:

It seems that every other month I either have no releases I'm excited about or I have no time to listen to them, so I haven't heard any albums in full that were released in April. I'd been really excited about The Summer Set's 'Stories For Monday', but I haven't managed to get hold of it yet - hopefully they'll be selling copies when I see them in Bristol in a couple of weeks.
That being said, I did discover the wonderful Terrible Love when they supported Funeral For a Friend in Cardiff - they played their EP in full and I really enjoyed it, so that's going to be my release of the month.

 

My lyric of the month has to be from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, because I haven't stopped listening to them since seeing them earlier this week. I've been listening to so many of their songs, but I have to pick a lyric from 'Let's Eat': "I never knew what a carbohydrate was, turns out that it's all the snacks I love". 

My song of the month? Hands down, it has to be the new Blink-182 release, 'Built This Pool'.

Okay, I am kidding slightly. Yes, 'Built This Pool' perfectly demonstrates how their lyrical style has matured with the arrival of newest member Matt Skiba, and it's so beautiful that it does bring a tear to my eye... But my ACTUAL song of the month is 'Circles' by Pierce The Veil.

Despite the fact that we went to a lot of shows this month, my concert of the month has to go to PVRIS, who recently wrapped up their first UK headline tour. I saw them twice in April, as they also supported Bring Me The Horizon at the Royal Albert Hall, but their headline show was unbeatable.

I hope you enjoyed this April wrap-up! Did you have a good month?!