April reading wrap up

I know the days are all blurring into one a bit because every lockdown day is the same but wow I actually struggled to recognise where the cutoff between March and April was when it came to writing this roundup. This was a really GOOD month for reading for me and I'm honestly not convinced May can live up to it. With three 5 star reads and 2 four star ones, there's a whole lot I really want to recommend here!

Big March and February Reading Wrap Up

I seem to say this every single time I sit down to write a blog post now, but it's honestly been forever since I last sat down to write. I put a whole load of pressure on myself to write something monumental (especially at the moment) and it seems pointless and trivial to just write something mundane and bookish. However, that basically sums up my life, especially in lockdown.

January Reading Wrap Up

At the start of every new year I always seem to have a LOT of time for reading, and January often winds up being the month where I spend the most time indoors. It's wet and cold and no one has any money after Christmas, so staying in with blankets and books is the only answer. I read 7 books last month and although not all of them are going down as favourites for me, I'm pretty pleased with managing to read that many.

2019's top 10 (and worst 5!) books

2019 was really the year that 10 year old me emerged again with an INTENSE love for all things books. I delved into a whole lot of books that normally stay far far away from my radar, turned my instagram into a bookstagram, re-organised my shelves and *almost* hit my Goodreads target. 

November reading wrap-up (finally!)

December has really run away with itself, hasn't it?! I've not written a word for my blog (until now), I've wrapped zero presents and I only managed to get my cards posted towards the end of last week. It has felt like a whirlwind of a chaotic month so far, but I'm finally sort of feeling like I have a little breathing room (or at least, I will be feeling like that until I start wrapping and remember how much I hate getting it done!).

Overdue October reading wrap up

I've been so slow in getting around to my reading wrap up this month, but October was such a busy month for books for me that I'm really excited to share what I read with you! With Autumn really coming in and Halloween, I started getting into spookier books towards the end of the month, but I'm really glad to have gotten a whole range of genres in.

September reading wrap up

I had grand plans to smother my blog in loads of posts last month (and sort of this month too), but I've just realised that my last post is a reading wrap up from a month ago so THINGS ARE GOING WELL.

June and July reading wrap up

It has been a WHILE since I sat down on here to write. I've been doing a tonne of reading over the past few months, mostly because it's summer and I don't want to do much expect laze around with a book in my hand. Naturally now that we're half way through August though the rainy/Autumny weather seems to have kicked in. 

(A Very Overdue) May Reading Wrap Up

I'm actually so behind on everything (my house is a mess, my blog is a mess and can I even use social media properly anymore? Unsure), that putting this up near the end of June actually almost feels like I'm on time. I read a LOT last month, because, well, mostly because summer's not actually arrived yet, has it? 

My 2019 Goodreads challenge (and an overdue 2018 roundup!)

I read a LOT of books last year, especially in comparison to the previous few years. I finally got back into the swing of loving my books and oh my god is it continuing into 2019. I also got on the Goodreads hype and I love it. The whole tracking of all your books gives me pure stats-based joy. And the emails letting you know when authors you've read before are bringing out new books are giving me life (and potentially bankrupting me) each month.

My top ten books of 2018

I've actually got it together to get a post up for the first time in a couple of weeks and I just?? The flu absolutely knocked me for six and I so wanted to attempt at making January productive. But I've got another 16 days to go and life isn't all about putting words out there. 

1001 books to read before you die ~ a 2018 update

Over a year ago now I wrote out the full list of 1001 books you should read before you die (you can find it online here) by hand in an effort to procrastinate. I succeeded at putting off any other task for days, and I've gone one step further now by shading in each book I read from the list with a new colour for every year. I think this gives a pretty accurate insight into the kind of person I am.

October's Reading in Heels sub box

October seems to be getting away from me - it's absolutely speeding by and I haven't even had a chance to share this month's Reading in Heels box! This one has been a massive hit for me, and I just seem to be getting more and more surprised at just how much they manage to cram into one box. 

September book haul - YA fiction, thrillers and more!

Autumn is when I always seem to get really back into reading. There's nothing better than curling up under a blanket, lighting some candles and turning away from the world for a couple of hours to read on a chilly evening. So it's no surprise that I've picked up a whole selection of new reads in the last month. There are some books in here that I've been wanting to buy for over a year, and I'm so happy to finally see them lining my shelves!

A book for every mood

Picking a book can be tricky. There's the fear that you'll pick a shit one, the concern that you're reading too much of the same thing, and the need to look into yourself to ask: what do I really want to read right now? Maybe I spend too much time picking new books, but I hope at least some of you can relate?! 

I went a week without internet (and it was great)

Moving house is basically the most inconvenient thing in the world. Packing, changing addresses on everything (and always missing a few things you're signed up to), finding a new home, unpacking, aligning your move in and out dates. It's an absolute bitch. And once you get there, you are lucky enough to have no internet/TV/anything nice for a few weeks because of the constant delay on installations that every internet supplier has.

2018 Book Bucket List

At the start of the year I did a big roundup of my top ten books of 2017, and when I checked through my Goodreads to see what I'd read, I realised that I'd read a lot of shit books. I'd been saving all the good books for a rainy day and reading things I thought I ought to, or that I figured had been sat around on my shelf for too long. I don't want that to happen this year, so I'm making a big list of all the books I want to read in the rest of 2018 (although I'm sure there will be others!), and I'm pretty proud to say that I've kickstarted this by reading two already since I took these photos.

Book of the Month - 'Lying About Last Summer'

I promised you all more book posts for 2017 didn't I? I am loving all the bookish posts that I've hit publish on so far this year, and they're really helping me fall back in love with reading. I've gone back to being that girl with her nose firmly wedged in a book on the bus, and I catch myself longing for more hours in the day to settle down into my book nook (aka my bed). Seriously though, I really do need one of those Pinterest-esque book nooks in my life.

December and January Book Haul

It's official. I've fallen back in love with reading. A total head-over-heels, can't put things down kind of love. And it's the best. In November I posted my first ever book haul on Nourish ME, and I spoke all about how I want to start doing more bookish posts in 2017. So here we are with round two of the book hauls. In December I didn't pick up that many books, as Christmas was keeping my spirits up, and I wasn't popping into my local charity shop to peruse the shelves as often. But, the January blues hit me hard, so I've now got quite a collection from the past two months to share with you. 

My Top Fives of 2016

After writing all about my top 10 beauty products of 2016, I realised that I really wanted to chat to you about some other things that have made my 2016 a little better. So, without further ado, here are my top five books, TV series' and documentaries of 2016. 
Top Five Books
5.) The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte. It's no secret that I'm a big lover of Victorian fiction, and this lady's two sisters. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is a novel that really pushed the boundaries of what was deemed to be good social and moral conduct in its time. The main female protagonist has fled from her abusive husband, and moved into Wildfell Hall. Her refusal to attend church, and the fact that the landlord of the hall is a man unleashes some ugly rumours in her community. Through her, we see that there is no strict right or wrong, and the guidelines for a Victorian woman's conduct get blurred. I've reviewed this on my secondary blog here.
4.) The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. I used to love Philippa Gregory, but I haven't read one of her books since my pre-uni days. It was an absolute joy to go back and get down and dirty with one of history's most-talked about eras: the time of the Plantaganets and Tudors. The White Queen is all about a common woman who is fortunate enough to have a king fall in love with her and legitimately marry her. Well, sort of anyway. Soon however she discovers that being a Queen is not as easy as it seems, especially when you truly love your husband. You can read my full review of this here.
3.) Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This one has been plastered all over the internet this year, mostly because of the (slightly offensive to say the least) movie version, which featured an able-bodied actor playing the part of the disabled male protagonist. The book however really opened up another side to disability for me. Usually it's glossed over, or the character is displayed as being incredibly positive despite the challenges they face. In Me Before You Will really struggles with some severe mental health problems as a result of his accident and life-changing injuries. I've reviewed this in full here. 
2.) Before I go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. I really found a love for thrillers in 2016 and this was definitely (obviously) up there with the best. Christine Lucas, the novel's protagonist, essentially suffers from short-term memory loss, and has been doing so since she was in her early twenties. Every night when she goes to sleep she forgets any of the memories that she's amassed in the second half of her life. She considers herself to be a burden to her loving husband, and seeks help from a psychiatrist. The secrets that she unearths are utterly terrifying. Read my full review here.
1.) The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. I read this and Before I go to Sleep back to back and they were both so good that they've filled the top two spots of my favourite books of 2016. The Girl on the Train has been all over social media because of the release of its film version, and it's something I NEED TO SEE. Rachel, aka the girl on the train, takes the same train journey every single day, and is obsessed with the same street. When she hears that a woman has gone missing from the road she becomes obsessed with finding what happened. The problem is that Rachel is an alcoholic. No one will take her seriously, and the novel even questions whether we as readers can either. My full review is here.

Top Five Documentaries
5.) Life of Mammals. We all love a bit of Attenborough. Mammals to me are the most interesting type of animals, and I loved watching this series. There's just something so soothing about watching David Attenborough talk about creatures on our planet when you're all bundled up in a dressing gown with a roaring hangover.
4.) The cost of cute: the ugly side of the puppy trade. If you're not following Grace's blog then that's something you really need to sort out. This woman has done some amazing things over the past year, and making this documentary for the BBC was one that I loved seeing her do. This documentary made me weepy in parts as I began to realise how cruel humans can be to animals purely to make profit from them. 
3.) Planet Earth II. Need I say more? Seriously though, the footage on this, the most recent of Attenborough's documentary series', was absolutely insane. It captured so much detail of the lives of animals in different climates across the globe. My personal favourite of the series was possibly the cities episode, as it really opened my eyes as to how urban and natural lives merge in cities around the world.
2.) Clean Eating's Dirty Secrets. For starters, the name of this is kind of epic. Secondly, it's another of Grace's documentaries for the BBC. I'm a little obsessed with both this and 'The cost of cute'. This one completely opened my eyes to what's going on behind the scenes of the clean eating trade. For so long I duped by it: I actually started Nourish ME because I wanted to get more involved in 'clean eating'. Although I've come to see the truth a little bit in the past couple of years, this truly made me realise how disturbing and dangerous the trend is.
1.) Blackfish. I couldn't leave this out could I? I'm actually not a big watcher of documentaries. Unless you count the odd ones on TLC, or Tattoo Fixers. This, however, was something I knew I needed to watch. In case you haven't heard of it, 'Blackfish' is a doc all about the use of orcas in entertainment in America, particularly at Seaworld. With the death of Tilikum (Seaworld's most famous, and most dangerous orca) last week, Blackfish is more relevant than ever. The popularity of the documentary was a large factor in Seaworld's decision to officially end the use of orcas in shows once the generation of whales that they currently have dies out.
Top Five TV shows
5.) Orange is the New Black. You can tell how good this list is going to be just by the fact that this is last in the top five. OITNB is something I've watched for a couple of years now and I loved the new series, even though a lot of people found it a bit meh. Can we just talk about that ending though? No spoilers, but jheez I need to find out what happened already. This was possibly my favourite series of OITNB yet. 
4.) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. This is one of my favourite TV shows ever, and the new series was just as great as the first one. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is a satirical comedy about a girl trapped in a bunker for over a decade by an extremist reverend. When she's rescued she moves to New York and must learn to adjust to modern city life. 
3.) Stranger Things. This was all over the internet back in September/October, and when I finally submitted to the hype I could see why. 'Stranger Things' is set in a small town in which a boy goes missing. We see him disappear, as if into thin air, despite being seemingly chased by something that is very much real. His group of friends do their best to find him, and soon realise that Will's disappearance has a lot more to do with the supernatural than anyone first considered.
2.) Gossip Girl. How did I make it into my twenties without watching this? This was practically life changing. If you've ever watched and enjoyed shows like One Tree Hill or 90210 then this will be right up your street. This is a series that I would 100% rewatch, and it made me keep on watching endlessly. The last episode was a little ... odd though. If you've watched to the end then let me know what you thought of it!
1.) Homeland. I feel like I've had a real mix of shows on here. 'Homeland' focuses on an FBI agent called Carrie Mathieson who works on gaining intelligence in the Middle East. She is effectively part of an anti-terror unit and is one of the best. Sergeant Brodie is a soldier who was held by a terror cell in Afghanistan for seven years. When he's released, Carrie is the only one who considers that he might not be as innocent as he seems. Yet she's proved wrong. As she begins to trust herself less, the audience gets an insight into how somebody who struggles with bipolar disorder behaves under intense stress. 

So there we have it, my top fives of 2016. What would yours be?
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