tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13813385624756404072024-02-20T00:52:06.186+00:00it is a sin to kill a mockingbirdKirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.comBlogger52125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-7346297339506915282014-12-26T09:00:00.000+00:002014-12-26T09:00:06.374+00:0052. Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good - Kathleen Flinn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is a book that I clearly downloaded as it seemed like a cheery wee memoir of someone I had no idea who they were but I genuinely had no idea what it would be about. I kept reading it waiting for the point to march over the next paragraph but it never arrived. </div>
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It tells the story from the author’s Grandparents I think, moving across the country, starting a pizza place before pizza was popular and then moving all the way back. The entire book seems to revolve around food…there’s recipes included for her family meals and every story seems to involve it - from when they’re poor and scraping meals together and are given a special meal on their birthday in lieu of presents, to going hunting and scavenging for their own food. </div>
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It seems to be a popular book with great reviews but I can’t help but wonder why I’m supposed to be bothered about this person’s life? Yes it’s amusing and interesting to hear about how this family coped and endured through various degrees of poverty but there’s no real…point to this book? That’s just my opinion, maybe I’m missing something. </div>
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I’m not saying it’s not a good book, it definitely kept me turning the page (as it were) and I did find the stories interesting. I just feel like I missed the point.</div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-205561591150704392014-12-24T23:30:00.000+00:002014-12-24T23:30:00.972+00:0051 - Sous Chef - Michael Gibney<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(102, 102, 102); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #666666; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12px;">
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I really, really enjoyed this book. It’s written in the in second person narrative which puts you right in the thick of it and makes you feel like you’re right there in the kitchen. The story starts when the restaurant begins for the day, taking in deliveries and beginning the prep list for the shift. </div>
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It’s all very exciting and fast-paced. I’ve worked in restaurants (well pubs with kitchens) and have some experience in the industry but I’ve never worked with a professional kitchen where there are numerous chefs, specialising in different areas and a Head Chef who creates specials each day. I found so many aspects of the book interesting.</div>
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And one bit which stood out was the fact that, even at the end of a long and stressful shift, all the chefs go out for drinks, which is all too close to home! </div>
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This book might not be overly interesting if you’re not into food or the hospitality industry, but if you are then I totally recommended it but be prepared to read things about the process that you’re not entirely going to like - life in the kitchen can be rough and its not an easy job. </div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-65889587774834903662014-12-24T17:30:00.000+00:002014-12-23T21:20:57.826+00:0050. The Body Electric - Beth Revis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Clearly I was on a run of trashy young adult books, but what can I say, it was exam time and I needed something to shut my mind off to! </div>
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This book is a wee bit dystopian and futuristic. Ella’s mum invented a machine that let’s people relive their happy memories and Ella has a strange ability that allows her to enter their dreams and memories alongside them. But what would be the point in the book if it was all so easy?</div>
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She begins to see faults and strange goings on in her own memories and then the Government hire her to do some spying for them. And THEN a guy keeps appearing who seems to know her but she has no idea who he is. </div>
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Being honest, it wasn’t a bad book - it was quite well written and the world was definitely vivid but I think if you asked me what it was about, I’m not 100% sure I could tell you. </div>
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It seems to get good reviews on Goodreads though so I suppose it must have something, I’m just not really sure what that is.</div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-13908173142978716132014-12-24T07:00:00.000+00:002014-12-24T07:00:08.139+00:0049. Love and Other Unknown Variables<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I had to google this to remind me what this book was about. Not a good sign! </div>
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I do remember reading it and it was one of those short and kind-of-sweet reads that I did in one sitting when I couldn’t sleep one night. </div>
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Charlie is a typical geeky boy who goes to a smart persons school and has nothing but his sights set on attending MIT. Until, guess what? A GIRL shows up! The opening scene sees him touching the tattoo one the back of her neck in a donut shop….which is something which annoyed me (and the girl in the book) and it just seems so creepy. </div>
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Anyway, of course it turns out that he sees her around and she becomes friends with his sister but the course of love never runs smooth. What I didn’t enjoy was that it’s just BAM she has cancer and is going to die and then this changes the whole course of the book. One minute they’re playing harmless pranks and kissing but then it all goes a bit Fault in our Stars and everything is about what they can do before she passes away. Well that’s how I felt. </div>
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I liked Charlie as a character, he was relatable and cute but I wasn’t convinced by the romance and like I said, it’s all a bit like a poor-man’s Fault in Our Stars. And while I didn’t love that book, it at least had the emotion to make me cry. </div>
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There is a range of relationships explored throughout the book and that does give it a different dimension but I’m still not sure. The relationship with her elderly neighbour was really sweet, as was the adaption and growth of his relationship with his sister as they grow closer and discover they need each other. </div>
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Overall, yeh, it’s not bad but it’s not the next amazing YA novel either.</div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-35741369291127353332014-12-23T23:00:00.000+00:002014-12-23T23:00:00.053+00:0048. Bittersweet Blessing - Ashley Salazar<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I’ve never watched 16 and Pregnant, so I’m not sure what made me read this book but it seemed interesting to me. Being that age and having a baby is something which I cannot fathom doing, I can’t even imagine it at 25! On top of that, I can’t imagine letting a TV crew into my life and following me throughout the process. Ashley has obviously been naive in believing she wouldn’t get pregnant, but during the process, she does seem to have a sensible head on her shoulders. </div>
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The original concept came from her starting a blog to document her feelings and experiences but she was picked up by the MTV team and they also started following her. It’s interesting that she notes that they were quite outside of the process and didn’t overly direct her or set up scenes. It all felt very honest and emotional. </div>
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The most emotional and difficult bit for me came after the birth, with Ashley closing to give up the baby to her family members to adopt. She then changes her mind, takes her back and tries to be a good mum. Ultimately she realises that it’s for the best but it was heart wrenching to read. </div>
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This was quite a short and easy book to read but there’s a lot of feeling and power in her words, even though she’s not an accomplished author, she manages to get her story across beautifully. </div>
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I don't really have a bad thing to say about this book if I'm honest.</div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-38097081518030007452014-12-23T20:17:00.000+00:002014-12-23T20:17:42.369+00:0047. a long overdue Halloween post Information - I started writing this post in October, when I saw the mentioned Buzzfeed post but I needed a break from "spooky" YA books so it's unfinished, but I figured it needs posted so I'm going to stick it up and then update it when I'm done!<br />
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Seeing as it’s everyone’s favourite spooky month of the year (although every day is suitable for horror in my opinion - goth child at heart!), I have had the urge to cosy up on these dark and stormy Scottish nights with a bit of horror literature on my kindle. Then, I came across this Buzzfeed post - <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/alwaysadrienne/13-ya-novels-to-spook-you-this-halloween-a08n">http://www.buzzfeed.com/alwaysadrienne/13-ya-novels-to-spook-you-this-halloween-a08n</a> and decided why not try to read and review all of these “spooky” young adult novels and review them!<br />
Man I know how to have fun!<br />
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<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(18, 18, 18); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">In the Shadow of Blackbirds</span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(18, 18, 18); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; color: #121212;"> by Cat Winters</span></li>
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<span style="color: #121212; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(18, 18, 18);">So the main character is called Mary Shelley, but she's not related to the author and the story has nothing to do with Frankenstein and the like. In the midst of the Spanish Influenza epidemic, American's are wandering around wearing marks and trying to avoid catching the deadly flu. Mary is sent of to live with her Aunt and begins to experience some weird goings on. She's made to go visit a paranormal photographer in order to try to capture a spirit photograph, which her Aunt is kind of obsessed with. There's also links to her best friend, who seemed to be in love with her. So yeh, things start to unravel and reveal themselves as not being quite as they seem. I liked this story overall, it was an interesting concept and did have an air of mystery and a spookiness where you're not sure where exactly it's going, which is the goal here.</span></span></div>
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So I’m sure everyone who knows even the littlest bit about horror, knows about Sleepy Hollow. It’s a classic, but alas still unread by me, book by Washington Irving and obviously a hit film starring Johnny Depp. This young adult version is told from the point of view of Katrina van Tassel (Christina Ricci’s character) and is slightly different from the others. Sleepy Hollow is still plagued by the headless horseman, the Hessian mercenary, however Ichabod Crane comes in the form of a school teacher. This isn’t quite a retelling, but more a re-imagining of the story and while it wasn’t spooky or scary, it definitely kept me guessing. As a hardened horror fan it takes a lot to make me scared and this didn’t cut it, but maybe due to the fact I felt I knew what was coming as I knew the story? I didn’t feel like the author used the imagery of the town enough to create a spooky atmosphere which made it unsuccessful.<br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">4. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">Amity by Micol Ostow</span><br />
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I hoped I would like this book because I weirdly love the story of Amity - whether you believe it’s true or not - and other stories of “haunted” or “possessed” houses. I love the idea that human evil can seep into solid things like houses and continue on through them. This isn’t the classic story of Amity as you’d know it, it’s kind of like the Sleepy Hollow book in that it’s a re-imagining. It tells the story of 2 different families, one living in Amity now, and one 10 years ago. It brings confusion as it chops and changes between the two narrators and if you’re not paying attention then it can be hard to work out what’s going on. I expected more from this but then I remember it’s a young adult book so it’s not going to be all blood and guts but it just wasn’t as creepy and unnerving as I knew it could be. It’s still a good read but it’s nothing if you know the “real” Amity story.<br />
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This is a book I definitely liked the concept of - it’s very “Supernatural” in its set up. Cass is a ghost hunter, in the sense that he goes and “kills” ghosts who are causing trouble and murdering those who are still alive and this is a job that he inherited from his father, who was murdered by an evil spirit while doing said job.<br />
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<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaxHEVCOPiSh89pZp_w_RrDaG9JZY_GCa8GIZpz8Kzd_OGo-HMJu-wp0edRVhROJTklHB_zC99JV_Cv0_RHck5Wrehb9mB_xzEa8cTUOkcaGtcjIKSu2oJWJy5Op3Hn5YxhNIxYIeyD5P/s1600/18509623.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqaxHEVCOPiSh89pZp_w_RrDaG9JZY_GCa8GIZpz8Kzd_OGo-HMJu-wp0edRVhROJTklHB_zC99JV_Cv0_RHck5Wrehb9mB_xzEa8cTUOkcaGtcjIKSu2oJWJy5Op3Hn5YxhNIxYIeyD5P/s1600/18509623.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Helvetica;">The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco</span></li>
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This is another one that you kind of know the story of, but not really. It’s loosely based on the Japanese short story which also inspired The Ring so it has some similarities but isn’t entirely the same. Tark is a 15 year old boy who’s Japanese mother had a mental break when he was a baby and covered him in these weird symbolic tattoos. Also he can see a woman in black in the mirror following him around. There’s also a woman in white, who seems to be linked to the murders of child-killers who die in bizarre circumstances. Basically it turns out that Tark’s mum was trying to protect him but protecting him from what - and was she successful? I kind of didn’t know what to expect from this book and while it was interesting, it wasn’t creepy or scary in any way.<br />
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<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">Hollowland by Amanda Hocking</span></li>
<li><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;">The Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel</span></li>
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What would you do it you suddenly found out you were capable of exorcisms and talking to demons? Well that’s what happens to Bridget. She gets involved in helping the Monsignor at her Catholic high school exorcise the increasing number of demon possessions in the San Fransisco area, but it seems like she has increasingly bad luck. Her father was murdered a year ago but its beginning to seem like his death is related to demons which are becoming increasingly prevalent in Bridget’s life. </div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica;">So there's the start of the post which is WELL overdue! I'll update it when I finally finish the remaining books!</span></div>
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Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-36497028024036178192014-11-26T23:52:00.003+00:002014-11-26T23:52:35.337+00:0046. Girl Online - Zoe Sugg<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So I've skipped a couple of books on the list so I could get this one out of the way.<br />
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I'm a bit of a youtube fan - I like watching vloggers and used to like watching videos by Zoella and all that lot. Ive gone off her a wee bit but I'm so nosy that I couldn't resist reading "her" book. I put that in quotes because due to the fact she never once mentioned in her daily vlogs or anywhere that she was writing her book, there is some debate of whether she did write it or if she had a ghost writer. Either way, I'm here to review the book, not discuss that.<br />
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Although fiction, the book kind of reflects her life - Penny starts an anonymous blog when she feels she can't be herself and finds solace in the online community. She's drifting from her old friends, except Elliot, her gay best friend and neighbour. After a huge embarassment, her parents conveniently get a job in New York, taking her and Elliot and they end up spending Christmas there. She meets a boy, they fall in love, there's secrets and controversy and yadda yadda yadda.<br />
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It's all very predictable young adult romance smush. It's full of cliches - like New York at Christmas, meeting on the beach, going for hot chocolates....its just like someone took all of the YA cliches and stuck them together like those poem fridge magnets you get. Ok, I did like that she included panic attacks and her description of how they feel and how to try to deal with things like that, which I get would be helpful if you're a young teen and are in a similar situation, but that's about it to be honest. Noah was a cliche; the bitchy former best friend and gay best friend is a cliche; the fancying the hot boy at school but being awkward and then when you realise you don't want him, it turns out he does actually fancy you back thing is SO.OVER.DONE it's unreal! <br />
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I will openly admit, it's not a TERRIBLE book, not at all. The writing is kind of halfway decent (for what it is, I mean) and it was read-able (I read it in about 2hrs before I fell asleep) but it's so fluffy and twee and probably exactly what her teen fans want, but that doesn't make it good. I'm neutral on Zoe so I would like to think this is an honest review but all of her viewers and fans will love this PURELY because it's written by Zoe, even though it's an overdone piece of fluff. The fact it was a bestseller before being published says it all. Zoe is a powerful brand but she could have done so much more with this.<br />
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So overall - I like a bit of romantic trash as much as the next girl (well, ok, sometimes I do! It's often needed after reading some heavier stuff) but this is just a YA template with the names/places filled in (what do you call that game? is it madlibs?) (yes it is). I know most YA romance stories have a similar premise but the fact of the matter is, the way it's been marketed, you'd think there'd be something special about it. But there's not. Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-52188084296680256902014-11-22T10:30:00.000+00:002014-11-22T10:30:32.037+00:0045. I'm so behind so let's catch up again! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Apparently this is a sequel to another book but I didn’t know this, which maybe explains why I felt a bit like …eh…why haven’t you explained this? It’s basically the story of a guy, who works in advertising and has a really bad drinking problem. As in, his apartment is full of empty bottles and he has no motivation to clean it, bad. His colleagues end up pushing him towards rehab when his usual drinking-but-functioning goes out of the window and he begins to spiral out of control. He imagines rehab to be glamorous but of course it’s not. We get a glimpse of the other patients, some of whom are worse than him, and their weird goings on and rituals, like giving him teddy bears to keep him company because he “needs them”. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">One issue I did have was that sometimes it felt a bit…overdone? How can someone with such severe alcoholism recall so much detail and dialogue? Apparently there is some controversy surrounding this guy, so I’m not sure if this is one of those James Frey situations but I will admit, I did enjoy this book. It gave an interesting insight into the world of alcoholism and the disease it can be. We see him go from a fully functioning alcoholic to falling down a spiral into total despair. The death of his friend from HIV was moving and emotional. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The Cure for Dreaming - Cat Winters</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This book had some very interesting ideas. Olivia lives in the 1900s in America and it’s the height of the Suffragette movement which she completely believes in. Her birthday visit to a hypnotist turns sinister when her father uses said hypnotist to remove all her free will from her when it comes to women having the vote. For me, and I assume most people, the idea of forcibly having your free will removed from you and only being able to utter the phrase “all is well” when you are raging inside is a terrifying concept. Her father is scary, despite the fact he’s a creepy olde-timey dentist! The story goes on, with Olivia struggling to deal with the outcome of her hypnotism and dealing with her overpowering father. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I definitely recommend this book - its young adult so not a hard read, but the reality of the ideas brought up in it were thought provoking and made me consider how I would deal with that happening to me. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I love Stephen King, but I prefer his horror to his thrillers which is what this is. After years of being beaten by her husband, Rose finally ups and leaves him, running off to nearby city. But Norman is a high up police officer and she knows he will find her. After living in a women’s shelter and finding a job, she finally gets on her feet and begins to forget about Norman, especially after a mysterious painting comes into her life. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Being a King novel, I’m not going into details as you know there’s twists and turns, suspense, creepiness and I do not want to spoil that. The middle kept me enthralled but the ending was a bit like…what? You have to kind of suspend belief in what, up until then, has been a believable story. But that’s what King does and it’s why we keep reading him (killer car anyone?). </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Lies We Tell Ourselves - Robin Talley</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Straight to the point - I didn’t enjoy this book. Nothing to do with the subject matter really, I just found it dull and boring and not an interesting perspective on what went on in these situations. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Sarah is part of a group of the first black youths to enter a white school in Virginia in 1959. The opening pages were moving as they describe the group moving towards the school, being heckled, spat on and knowing the police would do nothing. Naturally, no-one wants to sit near them, won’t work with them and they face teachers not being happy that they are in their classes. This is hard for Sarah who was smart at her old school but is now placed in remedial classes due to her skin colour. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Naturally, black and white are forced together when the most vocal girl against the black kids joining the school is paired with Sarah and another white girl on a project. They have to work in secret and are forced to confront what they really feel and believe. Obviously its an emotional and important book but it felt so…vanilla for want of a better word. I didn’t feel it showed truly how bad these situations could be for people and how heartbreakingly painful it would be for them. The book just read like it was so easy to change people and move on. I could maybe see it as an opening for younger readers to get into the Civil Rights Movement, as it’s not really violent but it does address the important issues as a base level. Having studied the CRM in school, maybe it was just not really addressing it enough for me? </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>The Cellar - Richard Laymon</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Back on good old Richard. I wanted something trashy while I spent my Halloween with no voice! This was suitably trashy. There’s something about the Beast House. There’s been murders aplenty and no-one can quite explain why. The owners run tours, but don’t live there. When she runs away from her home because her husband, who abused their daughter when she was little, has been released from jail, the town where the Beast House resides is where Donna and her daughter end up. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Coincidentally they also meet up with (and Donna starts having sex with) a “demon hunter” who is helping a man who escaped the Beast House and its monsters when he was a boy. He wants to know exactly what lives in there and get rid of it. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This deals with disturbing issues (child molestation) and is very difficult to read but like the previous books, it works as part of the story and isn’t just there for pure shock value. If you’re into that sort of thing, I’ll let you read it yourself and decide. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If you Kindle suddenly showed you hundreds of new works by Shakespeare written in alternate universes where he lived longer, would you read them? What if they existed for every single author? That’s exactly what happens to this English teacher when he orders a kindle but instead of a standard one, his is pink and shows alternate universes. Oh, and the future. Which he sets out to change, and we all know you can’t do that so there will be consequences. This was an interesting wee novella but I wanted more from it! </span></div>
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Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-14519765864971808452014-11-22T09:51:00.002+00:002014-11-22T09:51:23.893+00:0044. People I Want to Punch in the Throat - Jen Mann<div style="font-size: 16px;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPaHKJw-GQa40aauyxBXaKt7KzATUD3hjxt5xVskoEJi3b2H2VioBH5rmLoneF_c9cqYiSx-awCgz984S88_SXE3gYE50IpY_tiAYiQ4Vr8ZUt4AnJ3CiMhIFfvyTBC1QiEgqBExBuEv2x/s1600/18248422.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPaHKJw-GQa40aauyxBXaKt7KzATUD3hjxt5xVskoEJi3b2H2VioBH5rmLoneF_c9cqYiSx-awCgz984S88_SXE3gYE50IpY_tiAYiQ4Vr8ZUt4AnJ3CiMhIFfvyTBC1QiEgqBExBuEv2x/s1600/18248422.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I don’t know who Jen Mann is but I related to the title of this book - don’t we all have people we’d like to punch in the throat? According to the blurb, Mann has no filter, so I was looking forward to an honest collection of essays that would amuse me and allow me to relate to them. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Being honest - I’m writing this review a few months after I read this, and I don’t remember it. That says it all doesn’t it? I remember quite liking it, and finding some of the stories amusing, if not entirely relatable as a lot were to do with her kids and their play groups, her married life and neighbours which I don’t have experience in so my amusement was slightly removed. But I could not tell you exactly what happens in any of these stories. Not one. I think that stands all by itself that this book was kind of good, but not at all memorable. </span></div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-86644483182947299752014-11-22T09:44:00.000+00:002014-11-22T09:44:11.706+00:0043. Yes Please - Amy Poehler<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0bIbJI3sE0g3Q33FYWx8YaI3mHqVl-704Xl4cxMyGzGUqf_R38PN8xxkwOtjTonGDBHdzV5txBlKdIi9QF67F6c_3mKTxgIsDtAvNABqyV4UpmuRHQeQmkGNUNfD0RrG4PfZACYWseNMJ/s1600/20910157.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0bIbJI3sE0g3Q33FYWx8YaI3mHqVl-704Xl4cxMyGzGUqf_R38PN8xxkwOtjTonGDBHdzV5txBlKdIi9QF67F6c_3mKTxgIsDtAvNABqyV4UpmuRHQeQmkGNUNfD0RrG4PfZACYWseNMJ/s1600/20910157.jpg" height="320" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’ve been vaguely familiar with the work of Amy for a while now but haven't really actively looked into who she is or what she does. The reason I downloaded this was because it got good reviews and I like amusing memoirs, even if I’m not totally 100% clued up on their lives work. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I found it interesting that Amy doesn’t really dwell on her childhood, but focuses on her uni years and getting into the improv that made her famous. She’s open and honest, about her marriage and divorce, her kids, her drug use and how difficult she found it to write the book in my hands. But at the same time, she doesn’t really talk about any of it. There’s no detail on her divorce or marriage, just some amusing comments and jokes to go along side it rather than discussing it. Some say the lack of background and focus on anecdotes made them feel like they didn’t get to know Amy, but I didn’t know her in the first place, so it didn’t bother me as much. It wasn’t as funny as I’d imagined but it had amusing stories and points but it wasn’t FUNNY. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">If you are a fan of Amy maybe you’d like it more. I’m torn because I didn’t dislike it, it just wasn’t that amazing for me. The woman has every right not to discuss things she doesn’t want to discuss but then why write a book like this? It’s categorised as a memoir so why is it not a memoir as such? </span></div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-49620749188252816182014-11-15T14:00:00.000+00:002014-11-15T14:00:00.534+00:0042. The Blondes - Emily Schultz<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyujvpjRjBkU8L7D9EIWDmZU-chmMIseCwvSa-xd48dvWMiYmqziQY_ZoELXs56u6WSWVIbKdAn3lQPQlsg4_7wFCvdjzdrfCvnrdvsbWjgDZW7zgm1r0rSU2FR_Tg2FwEn9_jeLYlBsel/s1600/13069116.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyujvpjRjBkU8L7D9EIWDmZU-chmMIseCwvSa-xd48dvWMiYmqziQY_ZoELXs56u6WSWVIbKdAn3lQPQlsg4_7wFCvdjzdrfCvnrdvsbWjgDZW7zgm1r0rSU2FR_Tg2FwEn9_jeLYlBsel/s1600/13069116.jpg" height="320" width="209" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This book had an interesting idea, which is the whole reason I gave it a go in the first place. (Isn’t that why anyone reads any book???). </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Basically the premise is that violent incidents start happening in New York, like a woman pushing a young girl in front of a train or a woman attacking her hairdresser. The weird thing is, the attackers are always blonde. Be it dyed or natural, they are always blonde. People start freaking out, dying their hair and obviously the mystery illness which only affects blondes is raging and uncontrollable. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">The story is narrated by Hazel, who just so happens to be stuck in New York at the time of the events. But that would be too easy. She’s also pregnant with her Professors love child. We follow her as she tries to escape the illness - or whatever it is - and return to Canada. With attacks spreading, this isn’t easy so her story is not simple. She tells the story from a remote cabin in the woods where she’s all alone, still pregnant. It’s one of those apocalyptic, dystopian books where we don’t get a secure ending and we have to decide for ourselves what happens to Hazel and the baby. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Honestly its one of those “could that ACTUAL happen” stories but it kept me interested and looking for more which is always good. I couldn’t put it down which hasn’t been happening a lot recently.</span></div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-60005984473269067852014-11-15T02:23:00.000+00:002014-11-15T02:23:13.572+00:0041. Not That Kind of Girl - Lena Dunham<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacOaci4hPyz8mNNm8IJHluBV_iJnxd5fjzkzOj5LR4ZVMYDSqwzMzQlNzUYZCOKm2YMTUCE0b53ZgbF-FY9oG6bGeY29V9Os1-GHyjEBy4_iPHn9Q8YV4raPCFNajrqnnEvaebwMrrSns/s1600/20588698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjacOaci4hPyz8mNNm8IJHluBV_iJnxd5fjzkzOj5LR4ZVMYDSqwzMzQlNzUYZCOKm2YMTUCE0b53ZgbF-FY9oG6bGeY29V9Os1-GHyjEBy4_iPHn9Q8YV4raPCFNajrqnnEvaebwMrrSns/s1600/20588698.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Not that Kind of Girl - Lena Dunham</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So there’s been some controversy about this book but I read it a few months ago before all of that came to light. Not to say I didn’t notice or agree with it but I just wanted to point out I didn’t read it because of that. I read it because I just binged on the last 3 seasons of Girls and wanted to. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I am not sure about my feelings towards Lena Dunham, but I’m not sure I like her and this book didn’t do much to help my decision. There’s all sorts of stories about her life, her writing, dieting, having an “existential crisis” by the age of 20. To be honest, the book pretty much annoyed me. It didn’t open me up to liking her in any way. Yes, Dunham is clearly an intelligent woman with an interesting way of expressing herself and some unique views on the world. But that doesn’t make her likeable. She’s dealt with mental health issues which is something I can understand and relate to and it’s good she is able to talk about those things and be honest - and if there’s one thing you can say about Dunham it is that she’s honest. She’s also a great writer. Despite awkward subject matter and controversial topics, the book was easy and entertaining to read. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Actually I’ve just read this review on Goodreads and part of it sums it up better than I could. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">“Uh. Why would anyone yell about a banana, even if it wasn't at someone dying a horrible, slow, visibly painful and tragic death? Is this supposed to be funny? Relatable? Is that banana anecdote supposed to make me laugh and say, <i>Lena is so refreshingly honest! I can't count the number of times I've yelled at AIDS patients about bananas!</i>? And then to go overboard to immediately skip hop over a real death to narcissistically view herself as the potential face of a disease as serious as AIDS, were she to have it? Is *that* supposed to be funny? Relatable? Deep? Are we supposed to be taken aback at <i>her honesty about human behavior (and stupid, sometimes impulsive, ugly behavior like this?) and the dark places our minds go when thinking about death and the unknown</i>? Is this refreshing and new? </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">In my opinion, it isn't. Her writing shows a life led with some of the worst kind of privilege – self-centered and lonely and generally indicative of a lack of empathy toward the suffering of others and a hyper focus on the <i>problems</i> of her charmed life (like food diaries and long distance dating woes.) Expect nothing about the glory of getting to bring your own TV show to life; but do expect stories about making out with the camera man and her private liberal arts college's parties. Maybe she's too cool to share the excitement and the very real, admirable and hard work behind having her own show, but she *is not* too cool to share with you what she ate for lunch literally every day for several days in a row in excruciating detail. Good lord. Why.”</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">And a link to the review - <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1025603125?book_show_action=true&page=1"><span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1025603125?book_show_action=true&page=1</span></a></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I’m not going to discuss this any more. Because I don’t want to. I like Girls, mostly, but I don’t like this. It makes me feel weird.</span></div>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-48248454556625113502014-10-19T05:00:00.002+01:002014-11-15T02:01:08.649+00:0040. Let's Catch Up - Short Reviews of what I've been Reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJXKTzyPZYiZ3My69vQtn0lh1JDEJOTVrG1LlA7JxP2L35z6u3m1uHL56efIEUWqf5PaTGAM5eR4tfO22uSDnjJ_pPEHGF8dUktxe1vlkbSlPVCclXkUAmjU7bN5YTmcSe3XaXOXUx9t8/s1600/education-books.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAJXKTzyPZYiZ3My69vQtn0lh1JDEJOTVrG1LlA7JxP2L35z6u3m1uHL56efIEUWqf5PaTGAM5eR4tfO22uSDnjJ_pPEHGF8dUktxe1vlkbSlPVCclXkUAmjU7bN5YTmcSe3XaXOXUx9t8/s1600/education-books.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">I've been super </span>busy<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> with life and university so here's some short reviews of the books I've been reading, just to catch you up and so my blog is not completely neglected. </span><br />
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Smoke Gets in Your Eyes - Caitlan Doughty</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">So I might have read another book about morticians - what can I say, it’s a subject that fascinates me! This book is by a female, rather than the male perspective that came from the last one. Like me, Caitlan had a morbid curiosity for death and what happens when we die and that’s how she ended up in her chosen profession. This is similar to the last book, in that we get a behind the scenes look at the funeral industry, but I found the narrater to be much more likeable and at ease discussing her profession. Obviously this is still a heavy subject and there are sad or moving moments but it’s largely told with a lightness and humour that makes it a much easier and interesting read. I highly recommend this book over the last book I read about the funeral industry. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Terminally Beautiful - Christy Leigh Stewart</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">This book felt weirdly short, like it was just getting off the ground when it ended, but I loved the idea and premise that it brought up and that’s what left me wanting more. According to the author, Diana is ugly, uninteresting and not very smart and that’s how she ends up in rehab for ugly girls. It all starts when a hot guy comes into her work and invites her to a party. Obviously she wonders why but nervously accepts, until she gets there and discovers the boys are in competition as to who can bring the ugliest girl and it’s after this that she ends up in rehab. In the hospital, the girls are transformed through therapy and plastic surgery to make them more palatable on the eye. As the story is told in the first person, we know Diana’s thoughts and I definitely found myself relating to her on some level. It’s always slightly unnerving when a book that has a clearly dystopian, slightly science-fictional setting is relatable but that’s what this book was. There is an interesting ending too which I won’t spoil but this short read is definitely worth a look, mainly because I’d be interested in your opinions. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b> White Bird in a Blizzard - Laura Kasischke</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Being honest, I had to google this to find out what happened and remind myself what this book was. I just couldn’t remember - not a good start. We find that 16 year old Kat’s mother has disappeared and the book follows her and her father as they go through the motions of putting their lives back together. I can’t even spoil the ending because I do NOT remember it. Genuinely. That says a lot about this novel. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Filth - Irvine Welsh</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Oh how I love this man! I remember buying Trainspotting and my dad </span>telling<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> me I'd struggle with it but I devoured it and fell in love. I read this because I want to watch the film but in the </span>sense<span style="letter-spacing: 0px;"> of "bros before hoes" I have to go with prose before...films...yeh, shut up. Anyway, unsurprisingly I adored this novel and read it in 24hrs. The main character was delightfully unlikeable and deliciously terrible. I loved the way </span>the worm began to take over the prose and "devour" the book as it was his body - such a great idea. I love reading books were I know the locations and can get lost in it because I recognise places and can visualise exactly what's going on. The twist at the end was great as well, but I also liked how characters cross over and we get mentions of Sick Boy and Begbie. I won't gush, but I'm definitely in the mood for more or Mr Welsh.Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-49093253839118454952014-09-29T22:17:00.003+01:002014-09-29T22:17:51.032+01:0039. Never Ending - Martyn Bedford<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When a family holiday ends in tragedy, 15year old Shiv can't come to terms with what has happened and insists on blaming herself. After a series of incidents, she ends up at a psychiatric instituation to help her deal with the death of her brother. This, naturally, is no ordinary hospital, it's exclusive and the other 6 patients have all experience similar losses. The treatment is not exactly typical either.<br />
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Shiv's family holiday to Greece starts of in the usual ways - they're staying in a beautiful villa, they spend days by the pool, on the beach and visiting the local sites. However on a glass bottom boat trip, they meet a handsome young Greek boy and holiday romance ensues. It also seems as though her brother Declan has taken a shine to the gentleman, but not in the hero-worship way that everyone seems to think. It is this jealousy that leads to the unfortunate accident which kills her brother.<br />
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The book chops and changes between telling the story of the Greek holiday and Shiv's experiences at the hospital. I kind of like this set up as you're left not knowing exactly what happened with her brother and why she's convinced that Declan's death was her fault. At the same time, you learn about how she's coping and how she interacts with the other patients at the hospital.<br />
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This is one of those books I neither loved nor hated but I was left feeling disappointed once I'd finished the book. I felt like the characters were quite two dimensional and didn't have much oomph to them. Mr Holiday Romance was a typical sleazy lothatio who just comes off as a total creep. Her parents aren't particularly involved, which I suppose reflects the idea that the loss of a child impacts the whole family and mourning may lead other children to feel abandoned. But I felt like the book needed more involvement from them. The whole idea of the psychiatric hospital is what drew me in to this, as I've said before it's something that interests me but it was simply a plot device in this book and not something which was particularly serious or looked into in depth.<br />
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I wouldn't recommed this book purely because of the way it dealt with death and grief. I don't think it was all realistic or practical for those who may seek solace in something like this. Just...no. Don't do it.Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-24596272970850631112014-09-25T02:43:00.001+01:002014-09-25T02:43:18.525+01:0038. Sound Bites: Eating on Tour - Alex Kapranos<div style="text-align: center;">
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I LOVE when two of my favourite things come together, like my body and my bed or pizza and my mouth. But those aren't what this post is about. This post combines two of the things in this world I cannot live without - words on a page and words to music.<br />
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Franz Ferdinand are one of the first bands whose album I remember buying and thinking...woah and then playing it on repeat all summer while I danced around barefoot. I think I was 15 at the time so already had some semblance of my future musical taste but this band definitely made an impact on me. I even went to see them play an outdoor gig despite suffering bad glandular fever and nearly fainting in the crowd. You may be thinking that they've kind of disappeared, but actually they released a new album last year and I love it.<br />
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What brought me to reading this book is that a few weeks ago (maybe only one) Franz played a gig at Edinburgh's Usher Hall in support of Scottish Independance (let's not talk about that right now *simmer*) and my wee pub is just next door, so when I noticed them outside, I had to go get my photo taken like a proper wee fan girl. Actually, my friend took my phone and asked Alex for the photo because I was too shy to speak and I am not a shy person.<br />
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Anyway! Alex wrote this book while on tour with Franz and I guess it kind of brings three of my loves because it's all about food and restaurants Alex ate in while travelling. He's admitted in the book and interviews he is not a food critic and does not have the language and vocabulary to do this. That is what I love about this book. The man clearly has a way with words and he brings his lyrical turn of phrase to the descriptions in here.<br />
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If you read his columns in the Guardian at the time, then this is just a collection of those. Also if you're not really a Franz/Kapranos fan then you may not be interested. I think I mainly loved it because I have a total crush on him. Some of the articles are super short, some are longer. Some describe eating Asian street food or dinging in exclusive and costly restaurants, while he also describes coming home to his flat in Glasgow to find some old orange juice and having his first deep fried pizza as a kid (a Scottish rite of passage, don't you know? They're excellently greasy and disgusting on a particularly bad hangover). I love the mix of highs and lows. One I loved was when he describes eating at T in the Park and having the fear that he will be asked to leave the backstage area thanks to a previous experience where Franz weren't on "the list".<br />
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So enough gushing from me. I definitely recommend this book, but as you can tell, I'm incredibly biased. Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-8598244196385916762014-09-20T08:48:00.000+01:002014-09-20T08:48:01.572+01:0037. How to Build a Girl - Cailtin Moran<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I'm not necessarily a fan of Caitlin Moran. I read How to be a Woman a few years back and at the time it spoke to me, as well as being entertaining and somewhat amusing. It was an introduction to feminist writing that I needed at the time (this naivity has since been rectified by reading <u>actual </u>feminist writings). On a second read though, things didn't quite sit right with me. Follow this up with some controversy that surfaced on twitter a while back and I'm not quite sure where I stand. In <a href="http://bitchmagazine.org/post/why-i-didnt-run-the-caitlin-moran-interview">this link</a> to a post from Bitch magazine on why the cut an interview with her, Kjerstin Johnson pretty much sums up what didn't sit right with me - things like Moran's use of the word "tranny" and other comments I read made me feel uneasy.<br />
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But cut to me finding a copy of her fiction novel (that she admits is somewhat loosely based around her own life, except made up) and I decided to give her another go. I figured if she's writing prose rather than a column based around current events then maybe, just maybe, we'd get along better.<br />
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And I have to admit, I did kind of like this book. It's about a teenage girl who finds herself becoming emersed in music, mainly through renting CDs for 20p from the library. I can relate because I definitely used to do that. I did not, however, run off to London and become a music journalist before I was 16 after creating a new alter-ego for myself like the character in this book does. Johanna seems to become increasingly caught up in her Dolly Wilde side - drinking, sleeping around with musicians and only writing scathing reviews of bands she doesn't like, which results on her having drinks thrown over her. Ultimately, Dolly has her downfall and everything comes out in the wash.<br />
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After reading about Moran's life in HTBAW, I kind of felt like I knew the story and knew what was coming. It was predictable. No surprises, no twists and turns. It did have its relatable moments - as awful as it is, Johanna crying and spending hours in the bath as it was the only way to relieve her cystitis is a situation I'm sure many a woman can relate to. On the other hand, scenes like the opener when Johanna is masturbating while sharing a bed with her younger brother and later keeping her older brother awake because she is "itching" (with help from a hairbrush...ahem) made me feel incredibly uncomfortable and a little sick.<br />
There were some times when I stopped and caught myself appreciating a certain turn of phrase or description and thinking "hey, this bird can actually write!". But the odd eloquent sentence or metaphor doesn't make your book amazing.<br />
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Putting my personal feelings for Moran aside, I can wholeheartedly say I did enjoy this book. But when I remember who wrote it, it makes me feel slightly uncomfortable. It's not a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination but it was a reasonably fun and ultimately relatable read for someone of my age. But maybe that has something to do with me having extremely low expectations coming into it? Who knows. Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-38996818585816146732014-09-16T04:30:00.000+01:002014-09-16T04:30:00.504+01:0036. Let's Talk about Joan<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihxxWblnTErjB3Q957et2MIOUMERkFopayasBCxtMuKNd8p3ffniXM8ed_yuGUdP_bn8614cKceH08AywFCfECbiy_pxZHypU1C7clOUgXUbwcVfrmZZwkvn6AP3_n4dbNrMv9tVHIoXV/s1600/13542945.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgihxxWblnTErjB3Q957et2MIOUMERkFopayasBCxtMuKNd8p3ffniXM8ed_yuGUdP_bn8614cKceH08AywFCfECbiy_pxZHypU1C7clOUgXUbwcVfrmZZwkvn6AP3_n4dbNrMv9tVHIoXV/s1600/13542945.jpg" height="200" width="131" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFPg-qNBhF8_zqQhAgp0BTwaf_kKuYqEyFWJX0pmhOlRCGGlCdTm3KVVvJJ-D0QbECFGxDTH_uzAV6kQodhTlH1ocxS1SJ1GAnL-qBod6HgsgP-ptoaZLEfdfOwwO4kJ2Mu2WX_ZTkxp9c/s1600/18693683.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFPg-qNBhF8_zqQhAgp0BTwaf_kKuYqEyFWJX0pmhOlRCGGlCdTm3KVVvJJ-D0QbECFGxDTH_uzAV6kQodhTlH1ocxS1SJ1GAnL-qBod6HgsgP-ptoaZLEfdfOwwO4kJ2Mu2WX_ZTkxp9c/s1600/18693683.jpg" height="200" width="127" /></a></div>
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In lieu of recent events, it only seemed appropriate to delve into the world of Joan Rivers. She was a bit like marmite - you either loved her or you hated her. Sure she was controversial but I kind of loved her honesty and ability to just say what she thought. And if I can look anything like her at 80 then I'll be a happy grandma!<br />
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First up is "I hate everyone" which is basically a whole long list of Joan's opinions on various things, most of which she hates. It's not a book to be taken seriously and I feel like some of it is truth, but some of it she's just using to get a rise and create a humorous story. I won't lie, some of it may be upsetting and offensive to people, including comments about the Holocaust and similar topics but that's Joan's sense of humour and it can be quite close to the bone. It's the sort of thing where you take a sharp intake of breathe and go "really?!" but can kind of see what she's trying to do. On the other hand, some sections of this book were genuinely laugh out loud funny for me. It was a super quick read and a must if you are a fan of this lady.<br />
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Her diary on the other hand was a total let down. It follows a year in her life after he daughter gifts her a diary and quite frankly it was boring. Some witty lines I recognised from IHE and it lacked in others. It was like she was searching for interesting things to say or do each day. I won't lie, it had its moments but overall I found it a chore to read, so much so I have nothing more to say about it. <br />
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I'll finish by saying I am a Joan fan and I'm sorry to have seen her go but I'm sure wherever she is now, she's still moaning and giving her opinions to whoever will listen. Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-28725789294403555592014-09-09T22:24:00.001+01:002014-09-09T22:24:39.449+01:0035. The Perfect Victim - Carla Norton<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm sure you can tell just by the title that this is not one of the most cheery books I've ever read but I do so love a bit of true crime (reading the books from both sides of the Casey Anthony trial and books about scientology and the Brian Jonestown Massacre are a few of my favourites).<br />
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Anyway, this tells the story of Colleen Stan who was kidnapped by Cameron Hooker and his wife and kept as a sex slave. She was kidnapped while hitch-hiking in the 70s and moved to the basement of the Hooker's home. From the get-go he kept her head trapped in a box of his own creation, which completely deprived her senses and kept her in claustrophoic condition. Her torture went on in the form of being hung by her wrists, forced to provide for him sexually and kept in a tiny coffin-like box under the couples bed.<br />
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The most interesting part of the story is the fact that Stan was given increasing amounts of freedom over the 7 years of her captivity, including being allowed to visit her family and keep a job, but she never once tried to escape or tell anyone of her situation. This, in part, was due to the creation of a fictional sex-slave company invented by Hooker. He told Stan they were watching her and knew her movments and would kill her family if she tried. Eventually, due to increasing jealousy and falling out of love with her husband, Hooker's wife told Stan it was all fiction and the two woman left him.<br />
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It's not an easy read, especially the tales of the torture that Hooker used against Colleen but thankfully it goes through her courtcase and ultimate "happy ending" in Hooker being sentenced and imprisoned, though happy ending is not the right term as obviously this woman still deals with her past. I don't recommend this if you are in any way deeply effected by similar stories as it is intense and hard to read but it is also incredibly interesting. The only thing I wish I'd known more about was what went on in Hooker's head and what possessed him to do what he did. We hear the sides of Colleen and his wife but not really from Cameron about why he kept this woman locked up for 7 years - aside from the fact he was a completely fucked up individual (pardon my language).<br />
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So if you are interested in true crime, I definitely recommend this but just remember it is not going to be a fun read.Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-43366434722325061972014-09-03T21:42:00.002+01:002014-09-03T21:42:52.181+01:0034. Here We Are Now: The Lasting Impact of Kurt Cobain - Charles R. Cross <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Kurt Cobain is one of those people I've had on my radar for years. I discovered Nirvana as a teenager and became interested in him and his story from there, like most people of that age I think. It's hard not to here Smells Like Teen Spirit as a 12 year old and have it spark some sort of interest.<br />
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Here We Are Now doesn't deal with Kurt's story but it does deal with the lasting impact he and his band have had on the world, something I find incredibly fascinating. It's not just the music that was left behind but many things, including fashion (plaid shirts and converse shoes) to the whole invention of grunge music and style.<br />
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This isn't the most fascinating read if you're looking for trivia and tidbits about the band, but if you are interested in their enduring legacy then this is definitely a good read. It's short and more of a dissertation than a novel but still has some worthy points.<br />
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I'm not sure if it's my kindle edition but there were no pictures or images within the book but it would have be nice to have visual references for what is being discussed, whether it be outfits worn by Kurt, or iconic photos of him and Courtney.<br />
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I'm now reading Heavier than Heaven, written by the same author. It's the actual story and biography of Kurt and is a much more interesting read but for Nirvana and Kurt fans, I definitely think Here We Are Now is a valid read. Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-84288765828049818542014-08-30T07:21:00.000+01:002014-08-30T07:21:46.894+01:0033. The Fault in the Fault in Our Stars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, like everyone else, I read the Fault in our Stars last year. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it. <br />
I'm sure you all know the premise, if not the story. Hazel has cancer and she meets "hot boy" Augustus at a cancer support group. They bond, they become friends, they fall in love and when that happens, there's never a happy ending is there? (oh the cynical nature of the young author of this blog!) So despite my dislike for soppy romance novels, I did kind of like this. I definitely didn't cry tho (I did).<br />
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But anyway, I'm not here to talk about a book I read a year ago. I'm here to talk about the film.<br />
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I'm always sceptical about books being turned into movies and do have a rule that, where possible, I will read the book before I see the movie. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't.<br />
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Anyway, I'm sitting watching the Fault in our Stars as I type this. So far? I'm not sure. In hindsight, I enjoyed this book but watching the film is reminding me of things I didn't like about it.<br />
I find Hazel and Augustus, as characters, to be really...dull and flat. I'm sorry but I don't find myself connecting to them at all. Not that they're unlikeable but I'm just not feeling it.<br />
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Call me a bitter and twisted little girl but the whole love at first sight thing is so sickly and saccharine that it is unreal. I simply can't get on board with their love. Now, I cannot lie, I believe in love at first sight...well, love at first meeting (I kind of feel like you have to at least have a conversation with someone first) but locking eyes across the room of a support group and within weeks going across the world to find an author...ugh please. It just falls out of the sky and hits you like a truck. Which I guess is kind of what happens with love (are my bitter defenses showing weakness here?) but it's just...ugh. Especially when she tries to distance herself from him because she's a "grenade" but he says it won't work. While I understand what they're trying to do in the film, and thus the book, I just can't get into it. I don't have any strong feelings towards any of the characters and I'm not finding myself drawn into their stories. <br />
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One thing I do like is the way they do the communication between Hazel and Gus via text. It's reminiscent of the book cover and kind of sweet. I'm so torn about this, both the book and the movie. On the one hand I'm like "oh my god, it's such a cliche!" but on the other, I'm with Hazel while she's constantly checking her phone to see if he's text and wanting to go on picnics and whatnot.<br />
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I'll give it one thing - it's true to the book because I felt exactly the same way when I read that.<br />
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One redeeming feature the film does have? Sam Trammell aka Sam Merlotte from True Blood as Hazel Grace's total DILF :)<br />
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I guess this film has brought out my soppy side, the soppy romantic side I try oh so hard to keep hidden away, even though I'm a little bit disappointed by it over all. I was slightly disappointed by the book, but movies from books will always disappoint me anyway.Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-17885899343001745962014-08-30T04:26:00.000+01:002014-08-30T04:26:14.082+01:0032, The Girl Behind the Blog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As I said before, I'm debating making this blog slightly more personal than just reviewing books the whole time. I'm still not 100% sure about this decision but I thought I'd do the 50 facts about me thing that's been floating about forever. If I don't end up doing that, hey, at least I've introduced myself and you know a little bit about the girl behind the books. <br />
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1. I was born around 6 days late - my mum was due on the 12th of July and I arrived on the 18th. I still very often struggle with lateness.<br />
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2. I wish on 11:11 and the first star I see, though I see less of them now I live in the city centre.<br />
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3. I fall in and out of love with things easily - I watched S1&2 of Game of Thrones in a week and haven't watched any since because I'm bored of it. <br />
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4. I always wanted to be a teacher, to the point of making worksheets and leaving my grandfather homework.<br />
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5. Always reading - I've always been a bookworm and once got caught out of bed, reading by the landing light when I should have been asleep. I always read ahead in school as well.<br />
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6. I love the colour pink and unicorns and do not give a damn.<br />
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7. I got a Barbie for my 21st birthday. She's the limited edition Hard Rock Cafe "Rockabilly Barbie" with tattoos and whatnot. LOVE.<br />
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8. Speaking of which, I currently have 8 tattoos - technically 9 as Beetlejuice was removed and is being covered up with gerbera daisies.<br />
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9. I have 14 piercings at the moment but have had more including my septum, wrist, handweb and smilie!<br />
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10. The loves of my life have been my 2 baby girl rats Lola and Poppy. I miss them! Lola used to lick up my nostrils and Poppy was just a sweetheart.<br />
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11. Perfume of choice is Coco Mademoiselle, mixed with Lush Snow Fairy shower gel when I don't run out.<br />
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12. Disney is my happy place. I don't care if I'm 25 - everyone needs a little magic and fairytale in their life.<br />
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13. I wish I was musical and plan to at least attempt to learn to play the ukulele...<br />
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14. ...inspired by Amanda Palmer, of course.<br />
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15. Additionally, my favourite author is Neil Gaiman.<br />
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16. I am pretty much, usually cold. Which means I get warm very fast, because cold is my natural temperature!<br />
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17. I moan, but I like being outside. My window is always open. <br />
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18.One of my favourite places in Edinburgh is Cramond - walking to the waterfall and up the river and feeding the ducks. One day someone will take me out to the Island. Another, weirdly, is Greyfriar's Cemetary. I love the history of my city.<br />
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19. Stationary is my weakness. I love paper and notebooks.<br />
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20. I love being beside the sea and the beach - I listen to wave sounds to relax and help me sleep.<br />
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21. I love whales and Arctic animals. I got to do a behind the scenes experience with Beluga Whales at Seaworld a few years ago, before I came to my senses are realised how evil they are but it was an amazing experience with beautiful animals that I feel priviledged to have interacted with.<br />
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22. Drink of choice is Strongbow and Blackcurrent.<br />
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23. My favourite food in the world is pizza. It can do no wrong. Maybe also burgers. I really like food. Also both contrain cheese, which I used to get blocks off from the deli when I was a kid instead of sweeties.<br />
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24. I've been dealing with depression since I was 20/21 and it's something I'm no longer worried or shy about talking about.<br />
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25. I've done 5 different art courses (including portfolio, graphics and textiles) and have finally settled into my hospitality degree. I'd love to end up running my own wee bar but it would need to be unique in it's own way. Maybe a retro theme and definitely live music and cocktails.<br />
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26. Despite academically not being for me, I still love doodling, sewing, knitting, embroidery and other crafty things I picked up while doing arty stuff.<br />
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27. I'm a musical hoarder - I like having bands and musicians recommended to me and that's how I discover new music. It started with my dad showing me his "sounds of the 70s" videos and playing me old punk rock as a kid.<br />
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28. Off the top of my head, some of my favourite music includes - Blondie, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Pulp & Jarvis Cocker, Amanda Palmer, Aerosmith, The Misfits, Mumford and Sons, Laura Marling, The Long Blondes, Milky Chance, The Pretenders, Mogwai, Janis Ian, Franz Ferdinand, Belle & Sebastian, Joni Mitchell, Lykke Li, Elvis, Los Campesinos!, The Pipettes, The Hold Steady, Dropkick Murphys, Camera Obscura, Frightened Rabbit, Alkaline Trio, Le Tigre, Horrorpops, Ryan Adams, The Cramps, The Bird and the Bee, X ray Spexs....I could go on. Genre-wise I love rockabilly, psychobilly, electro-swing, punk, rock. And at the moment, I'm in love with The Real Tuesday Weld (thank you!)<br />
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29. My "song" is Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart - cheesy but singing it at the top of my voice makes me happy. One of my favourite songs is Tiny Dancer by Elton John.<br />
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30. I find it hard to pick a favourite book as I've read so many but To Kill a Mockingbird is definitely a main contender. <br />
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31. I love fairytales and think everyone should belive in a little bit of magic. As Roald Dahl said - <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the
whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in
the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never
find it.” </span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">32. I've taken a few terms of burlesque classes and performed at the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen. I did a group performance inspired by Austin Powers and was a Fembot. </span></span></span></h1>
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</span></span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">33. I kind of like being made to feel scared and paranoid by films and books. </span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">34. I think I believe in some sort of life after death. Not necessarily ghosts and hauntings, but the leaving of energy and some part of the spirit. </span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">35. I am not a fan of chocolate and can only ever eat a tiny bit if I'm craving something sweet. I'd rather have a bag of crisps. </span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">36. The way to my heart is with good music and Italian food - playing with my hair helps too.</span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;">37. I find </span></span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">spontaneity, humour, intelligence and curiosity attractive. As well as eyes and beards. Tattoos can't hurt either. I like to complain I'm not a fan of romance but I am...but be unique.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">38. I'm very patriotic and love being Scottish. My love of tartan may or may not be related to this.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw"> 39. I love being in water, tho struggle to get into cold swimming pools. I will settle for regular baths until I can afford a flat or house with a swimming pool.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">40. I love space and the sky and stars. I want to lie on the bonnet of a car with someone and stare at the sky like the do in films. I'll settle for lying on a blanket in a field of grass.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">41. I love Disney villains more than I love the Princesses. Ursula, Maleficent and the Wicked Queen from Snow White are my favourites.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">42. I wish I had better handwriting. I'd love to master calligraphy.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">43. As much as I love words, I don't think I'm very good with them. I wish I was creative with words and could write poetry or lyrics.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">44. I'm a cat person. </span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw"> 45. I hate having things on my feet. As soon as I'm inside I want to take off my shoes and socks/tights. Apologies if you invite me to your house and I do this, especially because, as a barmaid, the smell of my feet is not pretty. </span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">46. I own more red lipsticks than I could ever get through. Most of them aren't even vastly different shades.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">47. I've been dying my hair since I was 12. I've been black, red, pink, blue, gray, purple, ginger and have finally settled on blonde (and a range of wash-out dyes). I've never been brunette and am not 100% sure what my natural colour is anymore.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">48. I have issues with sleeping which is why I'm sitting writing this at 4am. I've tried everything. Only certain things help.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">49. I can't ride a bike but I wish I could. I've tried to learn but always get frustrated and give up. I'd also like to learn to rollerblade but I'm insanely clumsy.</span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw">50. I'm stubborn, determined and bossy. I show my emotions too easily and often let them get the better of me. I wear black eyeliner and red lipstick religiously. I believe in karma and putting good out into the world. I collect other peoples words. I want to travel the world. </span></span></span></span></h1>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span data-dobid="hdw"><br /></span></span></span></span></h1>
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-71211282052364923842014-08-27T00:30:00.000+01:002014-08-27T00:30:00.845+01:0031. Curtains - Tom Jokinen<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This book was not at all what I expected or wanted it to be. When I studied art, I did a project with a focus on anatomy and death, something which fascinates me. In the process I discovered and fell in love with what remains one of my favourite books, by my favourite authors - Stiff by Mary Roach. If you haven't read it, do so. Since then I've had an interest in all things related to death, what happens to us, both physically and spiritually.<br />
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I hoped this book would give me insight into what goes on "behind the scenes" at an undertakers - the process of dealing with and embalming bodies, sprinkled with some interesting and humorous stories about things going wrong or unique stories. Additionally, like Roach, I kind of expected stories or anecdotes about the varying ways people like to be remembered or "dealt with" after their death.<br />
<br />
Alas, my needs were not met. This tells the story of Tom, who for some reason gives up his job at a radio station (I think) in order to train as an undertaker. I don't remember him explaining why. Naturally, when we first meet him and he begins collecting bodies, he's not comfortable around them. He discusses enbalming and making up corpses but not in a way I felt gave me any real knowledge of the process in a way a book specifically about undertaking should.<br />
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The gist of this book seemed to be a memoir all about the various funeral homes in the Winnipeg area in which Jokinen resides. There's much discussion about competing companies, those who will claim to do the job for pennies, or who will claim to the charge ridiculous prices. Ultimately that's what bored me about this book. Jokinen discusses attending funerals but then nothing of note happens that make it worth talking about. Many of the funerals are sparsely attended which he does contrast with a discussion of Jewish funerals and how the entire community comes together to support the family.<br />
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For a subject I am completely fascinated by and keen to learn about, I was left entirely underwhelmed by this book. <br />
<br />Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-63794271026497987302014-08-26T13:30:00.000+01:002014-08-26T13:30:01.391+01:0030. Bird Box - Josh Malerman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2o-0im4zpjDm1ZK4ca4juGpH_hTTU-9O_oWakIwYKSC-5zMMLAhq_JIGYAESXo1mlwvN59GW0Agsl6N_cjr5iPVp46w4HXcs8SFgEfVhuzyz7VL3A5SSACmwRp2l9EKchoHlo4Ptf6u1S/s1600/18498558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2o-0im4zpjDm1ZK4ca4juGpH_hTTU-9O_oWakIwYKSC-5zMMLAhq_JIGYAESXo1mlwvN59GW0Agsl6N_cjr5iPVp46w4HXcs8SFgEfVhuzyz7VL3A5SSACmwRp2l9EKchoHlo4Ptf6u1S/s1600/18498558.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
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I'm gonna say right off the bat that this is one of those books I do not like. Ok, it's not that I don't enjoy it or like it but I just...it's so frustrating because you don't know what's going on and while I love using my imagination and that makes it all the more scary, I like to know!<br />
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Marjorie finds out that she's expecting a child as reports of people killing themselves and others start of surface on the news. It started in Russia, but it soon moves to American soil and very close to home. People are seeing something and whatever they're seeing drives them to insanity and murder. Obviously, this means noone sees this creature and survives, so noone knows what they're fighting. People start to barricade their doors and windows and only go outside wearing blindfolds.<br />
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The story flashes between Marjorie's live then and now. Now, she's living in a house with her two children; children she's trained to wake up with their eyes closed and listen and identify the slightest sound. This is the house she came to for safety and was full of people who took her in and cared for her during her pregnancy.<br />
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I'm finding it difficult to talk about this book, mainly because I want to avoid spoilers, but also because there's not much to spoil. Like I said, like the characters in this book, we don't know who or what is causing people to go insane and become murderous. Not all that much happens in this book but that's part of the beauty of it. It's not a completely unique idea but it's well executed and well written.<br />
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How long do you think you could go without looking outside? Even if looking meant risking the lives of those around you, as well as your own. Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-49525214541870219772014-08-25T20:10:00.003+01:002014-08-25T23:13:24.551+01:0029. For those about to study, we salute you!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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In my quarter of a century on this planet, I've spent 13 years in complusory education, let's say 4 years studying higher education in a creative sense, and now, with a short gap studying "life", I'm entering my second year of university studying a "real subject", by which I mean it's in the Business School and doesn't involve carrying a glue stick and colouring-in impliments in my handbag...though I do still carry those). So while I may not be some sort of expert in student life, I've given it a damn good go and one thing that still excites me about the new school year? NEW BOOKS AND STATIONARY!!! (well it is a book based blog, what did you expect?)<br />
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Let's start with stationary, because while it may not be directly related to literature, it's still a huge passion of mine. In fact, part of me thinks I studied art just so I could have an excuse to play with different pens and papers. Most people these days will rely on their laptop but I personally am a fan of the old school pen and paper...and highlighter...and post-it note...and different coloured pens for titles...and pencils in case there's a diagram...sorry, I just woke up in a puddle of my own drool.<br />
What I'm trying to say is that student cannot live on technology alone.<br />
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I personally have a different notebook for each module I take and am a fan of A4, lined and spiralbound and preferably hardback (in case buying me presents takes your fancy, seriously, a bouquet of pencils is my idea of romance). This allows me to keep my subjects seperate and I'm unlikely to run out of room, meaning I can use the extra paper for essay writing notes or jotting down other information when it comes to revising and the like. Last year, I bought all of my stationary from Paperchase or a wee local shop called Paper Tiger which has some more unique and indie items. I got a cute pocket sized year planner from there which was the greatest, especially as I suck as carrying around a diary!<br />
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There are so many websites out there that will tell you "stationary essentials" for students but it's all down to personal preference and you should know this from high school. I saw people using journals with all their notes jumbled up, as well as people who printed out every lecture slide and kept them in a massive binder (sorry planet earth!). I just like talking about stationary which was basically why I wrote this post. Most people stash porn in their bottom drawer, mine is full of notebooks! <br />
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The second part I love about going to uni is the books. Mmmm textbooks. What? You don't agree? Textbooks are not something you have to buy - the library has plenty of them and they've even reached the modern age where you can access a lot of the books online. Do not feel like you have to buy your books! But if you're like me and get slightly over-excited at the thought of education, as well as having books of your very own, you might want to buy them. The thing is, you usually get a list of about 10 books, some of which are "must-reads!!!" and some which are just suggested or relevant for one section of the module. I only bought a few of my books and I had a look into them first and made sure I would use them through-out my degree or over multiple modules.<br />
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When I bought my books new, I used <a href="http://bookshop.blackwell.co.uk/stores/students/?route=students">Blackwells</a> and I cannot fault them. The one in Edinburgh has a huge textbook floor so it's nice to go and have a browse for your books and see if they might be relevant and then you can do your homework and see if they're cheaper elsewhere. Did I mention they have a nice stationary section too?<br />
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My big secret for buying textbooks for uni though was to use <a href="http://www.abebooks.co.uk/">ABEbooks</a> which is a second hand buying and selling site. They won't always have what you want, and the books are often older editions so you may need to check any information for accuracy but it meant that for pennies, I had the books beside me when I was writing essays and didn't have to fight for them in the library. As an example, I bought three books, including shipping for £13 when one textbook alone sets you back about £40.<br />
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So...I'm not entirely sure if this post has a point, aside from "Kirsty loves books and stationary yay!" but I'm thinking and debating about writing more about university life on this blog rather than just my wee book reviews. I don't even know if anyone reads it (a comment would be nice if you do! :P) so it's mainly just for me but it might happen. All you may have learned from this post is that the way to my heart involves something very similar to that scene from Beauty and the Beast (you know the one I mean...and pizza, it definitely involves pizza, and beast is less of a wild animal and more a dirty, hairy...ahem. nevermind). <br />
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1381338562475640407.post-69849334042890443612014-08-25T20:10:00.001+01:002014-08-25T20:10:32.511+01:0028. The Savages - Matt Whyman<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I'm trying to shy away from Young Adult and teen books but I was so attracted to the cover of this book and the description that I couldn't resist giving it a go. I mean look at them! They're so Addams Family-esque, although the father figure kind of looks like that Russian President guy right?<br />
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So anyway, the title of this book kind of suggests there's something not "normal" about this family and you'd be right. What we gather about this family is that they have a weird obsession with food, what you don't expect is that that food is human meat. This practice started with the family's grandfather during World War 2 when he and his wife were held captive in Leningrad. Naturally, upon moving to London, it's something they have to keep a secret and only do occassionally and they've been successful at this, until now.<br />
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Sasha begins dating the hottest boy in school, who also happens to be a vegetatian-wannabe-vegan, who convinves her to try out his way of life. This would be hard enough for most meat-eaters, let alone a cannibal. At the same time, her father's dodgy business dealings have begun to arose suspicion and there's a private investigator trailing the family. And we all know that <i>that</i> never ends well.<br />
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This is far from a serious book, but it's not laugh out loud funny. I read it in one sitting (thank you gastroenteritis) so it's not long or in-depth but it was a really good read. The ending was a bit...meh but it's kind of what you'd expect (psst! they get caught!) but please don't let that discourage you.<br />
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It's a new and interesting concept for a young adult book and it's definitely unique. If you're into gothic type teen novels then I think you'll like it.<br />
Kirsty Bhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07297647184962662960noreply@blogger.com0