Sunday 30 November 2014

A Month in Books: November

So as I started working in full force this month, this should really just be called A Month in Book. Fortunately, it was a good one!

Selected Diaries by Virginia Woolf (2008, Vintage)
Virginia Woolf is an author who has a really special place in my heart. My GCSE English teacher was a massive fan of Woolf, and gave her books to me to read. Mrs Dalloway is a firm favourite, A Room of One's Own is an absolute must-read if you are interested in feminism and the wonderful book & film The Hours wouldn't exist without her.

Sadly, Woolf is probably best known for the fact that her life ended early when she committed suicide, and these selected diaries chart her life from 1912 until her death in 1941. Although this is a long period of time, there are frequent gaps in the diary due either to ill health, general business (her and husband Leonard ran a printing press in addition to both writing) or travelling abroad.

Woolf's descriptions of her day-to-day life are really interesting, and as she was a member of the famous Bloomsbury set she seemed to hang out with all the movers and shakers of the time period. These included the authors EM Forster and Aldous Huxley, and the influential economist Maynard Keynes. She even has tea and attends the funeral of classic author Thomas Hardy, who I assumed had been dead a long time.

Whilst there were times when I felt disappointed with Woolf (especially in terms of her attitude towards women of lower class), it is worth remembering that we've all put problematic stuff in our diaries. This book offers a really interesting insight into her life and writing process (it's unbelievable how quickly she wrote such brilliant works) and I'm really interested to get my hands on her letters soon.

Have you read any Woolf? Or diaries of any other famous people?

Amy

Thursday 27 November 2014

2014 Throwback: Cumbria


In August, my Dad's parents celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary and to celebrate a whole load of us de-camped to the Lake District to spend a few days in the area near to where my Dad and his brother & sister grew up.


 We spent a lovely weekend playing giant jenga, eating delicious food, relaxing in front of real fires, introducing my Gran to Cheeky Vimto (seriously) and falling a bit in love with my family's adorable dogs, especially Molly the puppy.



Really, the one thing that I just constantly couldn't get over is how gorgeous Cumbria is. The landscapes around the lakes are just stunning and so atmospheric. I can only imagine how amazing it must be in the snow. It's definitely a place that I'd love to revisit.



Amy

Thursday 20 November 2014

2014 Throwback: Italy

(View from Torre Civica delle Ore, Lucca)

Italy has been on my travel bucket list pretty much since I discovered Italian food. It is definitely my favourite and Italy as a country has so much history that I've been desperate to see with my own eyes. So when a family trip to Tuscany was a possibility, I grabbed it with both hands. Whilst there were a couple of downers (the weather was freakishly awful with horrendous storms; me & my brother had our luggage stolen before our flight home); I really enjoyed my time in the country and I really want to go back.


We stayed in the hills outside of Camaiore, a small town in Tuscany. It's a really lovely town with little clothing shops, cafes and restaurants. A little further afield was Lucca, which is really gorgeous. Notable things to do in the town (aside from eating obviously) include climbing to the top of the Torre Civica delle Ore, which has gorgeous views from the top; walking the wall's which encircle the town and walking through the grounds of Palazzo Pfanner. The composer Puccini was born in the town and you can visit his house, which is definitely something I would like to do should I visit again.


Another day was spent in Florence. Right off the bat I'll say that this is definitely a city that probably needs to have a couple of days to explore as it's pretty massive and there's so much to see. The day we went the weather was pretty bad in the morning so it was a good job we'd booked to go to the Uffizi Gallery, one of Italy's famous galleries which includes the original 'Birth of Venus' painting. Worth a trip if you're into art, but be mindful of massive cruise parties literally taking up entire rooms and taking photos of every. single. piece (bit annoying). Then there's the Duomo, which is huge and gorgeous and beautiful inside. Then there's all the little streets and alleyways to explore packed with cute shops and cafes. We got the train from Lucca and the Italian train system is really A+ (just one ticket for four people rather than having to juggle millions of bits of paper!).



Before me and my brother flew home (my parents stayed an extra week) we stopped in Pisa to visit the famous Leaning Tower. This was definitely one of those surreal moments of seeing something so famously photographed in real life. There isn't that much else to do in Pisa, so you don't really need to spend too long there. Plus don't leave anything on show in your hire car. At all. If you ever want to see your belongings again (still a teeny bit heartbroken about that).


Despite the iffy weather and loss of ££ worth of clothes, I really enjoyed my week in Italy. It was really great to explore a new country, mangle a new language and eat some *truly* delicious food.


Amy

Thursday 13 November 2014

2014 Throwback: Graduation


In the spirit of #TBT as this is a new blog I figured I would do some posts about the best bits of 2014 up to now. Obviously one of the biggest moments of the past year was completing my degree and graduating.

I went to the University of Birmingham, and graduated with a 2:1 in International Relations & Political Science. During my time there I fell in love with the university, the city and many lovely people I was lucky enough to meet.


There always seems to a be lot of worry around what you should wear to graduation (I certainly went back and forth many times), however as you can probably see the gown pretty much covers everything anyway. I wore one of my favourite LBD's from Forever 21 which is figure hugging but in a smart way and a pair of amazing red court shoes from Next as a way to inject colour to the outfit, though they weren't super carpeted-stair friendly.


The night before the ceremony me and my family headed to one of my favourite places in Birmingham, The Lost & Found, a really quirky bar/restaurant which does amazing cocktails and is really worth a visit if you're ever in Birmingham.

Looking at these photos has really made me miss Brum all over again! Have you graduated recently? How are you dealing with the post-uni blues?

Amy


Sunday 9 November 2014

A Day in London


I've been an official single pringle for quite a while. And whilst sometimes this can be a little bit of a downer, I think it's super important to still feel able to do all of the things that you may feel like you 'need' another half to do. Whilst there are some things I am yet to conquer (ordering in a 'proper' restuarant by myself, still can't shake the fear of a 'table for one'), I feel pretty good about doing things independently.

A couple of weeks ago (life has been a little mental, which is why I've been a little absent) I took myself to London mainly to attend a careers seminar, but figured I might as well make a day of it. 

The main reason for me heading in early was to get the chance to see the poppies that have been placed in the moat of the Tower of London to make the centenary of the First World War. Each individual poppy represents one British death during the four year conflict; giving the whole thing a really poignant beauty. I was there during half term week, so it was a little bit uncomfortably busy, especially at the Tower Hill tube station but it was very much worth it. Also its position gives you a gorgeous view of Tower Bridge and across the river to HMS Belfast.


My next stop (after a bit of a trek through the City to avoid Tower Hill station) was the Nordic Bakery in Soho.


I've wanted to go since a former colleague uploaded a picture of their baked goods onto Facebook and it looked delicious. At first I regretted not also getting one of their salmon on rye bread as well as a cinnamon bun, but the bun was surprisingly filling. I'm used to the Americanised version of the treat which is more bread/cakey whereas this was actually pastry (so did require a little bit of attack with the knife and fork). The bakery is in a really nice bit of London as well, although close to Piccadilly Circus it's all pretty calm and the coffee was good too.


As the careers event was at the National Theatre, I ended my day on the Southbank, somewhere that I haven't really been before. I didn't really get much of a chance to hang around, but I loved the look of the secondhand book & record stand, and of course the famous skate park. There are also loads of restaurants and bars in the area, making it feel really buzzy.

Amy

The poppies are at the Tower of London until the end of November; more information about them and the Tower itself can be found here. The Nordic Bakery has a couple of other locations in London and more info and their menu can be seen here. The event I attended was part of a new initiative by the National Theatre at their Learning Centre, and upcoming events can be found here.

Sunday 2 November 2014

A Month in Books: October


I love reading. I read cereal packets, adverts on tubes...anything I can get my hands or eyes on. Since 2011, I have taken part in the 50 Books Challenge which is what it says on the tin-attempting to read 50 books in a year. This year, I am currently on 49 books, so I'm really excited to make the goal this early!

I thought I would do wrap-ups of the books I've read each month so you can get some recommendations, or know what to avoid! In October, I read 8 books, and you can find out about them below.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay (Harper Perennial, 2014)
Bad Feminist is an essay collection by Roxane Gay who first came to my attention as a columnist for The Guardian. This collection covers everything from Scrabble tournaments (seriously) to sexual assault, and Gay's voice is fantastic throughout. Whilst there are a few cultural essays that might get lost in translation across the pond, this collection is really worth a read. It was really eye-opening for me to get a perspective on feminism from a woman of colour, something that much of popular feminism has been lacking of late.

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell (Sceptre, 2014)
This was my most anticipated novel of the year. David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas is one of my all time favourite books so getting my hands on a new work of his was something I could not resist. The Bone Clocks is twisty and spans decades, using the life of Holly Sykes as its centre to tell a story of immortality. Mitchell's ability to create character and place is fantastic. If you like your books twisty then you'll love this. And the cover is glorious.

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart (Disney-Hyperion, 2008)
Lockhart's name may be familiar to you as she wrote this year's much hyped and wonderful We Were Liars. I adored that book, and so instantly bought her other works and sadly this novel really fell short of what I expected. Frankie Landau-Banks is a student at an elite school who becomes super hot one summer and lands an eligible boyfriend; but she is upset when he refuses to include her in his all-male society. Lockhart is clearly trying to make some important points for young girls throughout the book but it didn't really fly with me. Frankie's boyfriend and his friends were incredibly annoying and Frankie was the sort of girl who looks down on others for enjoying baking. Perhaps worth looking into if you know a 13-year-old who likes Bella Swan a little tooo much, but not great.

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris (Penguin, 2007)
I've owned this book since *2008* (which should give you an indication of my book-buying habits) and sadly it really wasn't worth the wait. Ferris set his debut novel within an advertising office which is obviously rich with opportunity (hello Mad Men). Sadly, I found this book really boring and could not connect with any of the characters. There is a lovely bit in the middle of the novel, where Ferris really focuses in on one of the characters and the writing is gorgeous-but unfortunately the rest of the novel didn't follow.

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith a.k.a. J.K. Rowling (Little Brown, 2013)
After the previous two books, I was definitely a little dubious going into this-especially as reviews of Rowling's post-Potter books have been mixed. However, I really enjoyed The Cuckoo's Calling. In case you don't know, the novel is about Cormoran Strike, a private detective who is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of a famous supermodel by her brother. Yes, at times it was definitely a little predictable. Yes, Cormoran Strike did possess weird abilities to get people to tell him everything. Yes, occasionally Rowling's writing was a little unnecessary flowery. But all in all, the book was fun and fast-paced and I loved some of the inside fashion-industry jokes (cats called Viktor and Rolf-amazing). I'm definitely going to pick up her second Strike novel The Silkworm soon.

Where Rainbows End/Love Rosie by Cecelia Ahern (Harper Collins, 2008)
I picked up this novel because the gorgeous Sam Claflin is starring in the film adaptation (with Lily Collins and Suki Waterhouse [!?]), and I was intrigued by the fact that it is told mainly through letters. The book is about childhood friends Rosie and Alex who are meant to be together but can't be, for various plot reasons. The novel reminded me of One Day, only I found this waaay more frustrating. The writing style meant that we frequently got weird info-dumps in the middle of 'emails' and we had to get through an awful lot of random exposition about Rosie's friends. It's definitely cute and the ending did make me a little teary. Apparently the film is only loosely based on the novel anyway, so I'm definitely still going to give it a watch.

It by Alexa Chung (2013, Penguin)
I am an unashamed fan of Alexa Chung. Her sense of style is so en pointe, I love her hair and her overall attitude is just so great. I've wanted to get my hands on It since its release so I was super excited to get my hands on the paperback version in Waterstones. I was a little disappointed by this book, just because having read Chung's work for Vogue and elsewhere it is obvious she is a talented writer which isn't really shown here. I literally read this in an hour on the train, but will be keeping it because I love her writing about heartbreak and style in general.

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (2007, Penguin)
It's always nice to finish the month on a bit of a high. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a pretty skinny volume so I don't want to talk too much about it. But, the novel follows Changez, a Pakistani migrant to America who thrives at university and in his finance world job, but after 9/11 his rose-tinted glasses with regard to his  home country are thrown off. Brilliantly written, with an almost-gasp inducing ending, this is worth reading in order to gain a greater understanding of the dangers of some of the West's actions in the Middle East.

What books did you read this month? If you're a user of Goodreads you can add me here.

Amy