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. 

My Top 10 Favourite Books

It's September, so I can finally bring out the Autumn aesthetic in my blog photos. Living. The. Dream. I've been working really hard on improving my photography recently, and I can't wait to move away from bright colours and summer tones into more subtle ones.

Today's post is something I've been wanting to write for months, but it's just so hard to nail a secure top ten list of books that trump all others for me without forgetting anything vital. I LOVE reading posts others' have written like this, and seeing why someone enjoys their chosen books so much, so having finally agreed with myself on a top ten, in no particular order (that is far too much bookish stress for me to handle), here we go:

1.) Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. I know I said this list wasn't ordered, but if I had to pick just one book to be able to read, it would be this. It's the first romantic novel I ever read without a happy ending, and the first book that taught me that love endures death. The wild, rebellious relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff is something that, in comparison to literature of the time, is so refreshing. I was also lucky enough to study it at uni. I looked into mental health in the novel, and the evidence towards the idea that Cathy has an eating disorder brought on by her depression. There's so many angles to read this novel from that I think I'd never get bored of it.

2.) We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. This is my favourite book of the 21st century for sure. I've read it three times now and notice new sub-plots with each read. It's written from the perspective of a mother whose son committed a high school shooting (with a crossbow nonetheless). The nature vs nurture question is discussed throughout, as Eva, the mother, is half-convinced that Kevin's up-bringing is to blame. 

3.) Dracula by Bram Stoker. I put off reading this for years, assuming it must be totally overrated. It's not. I read it as part of my module on first wave feminism at uni and exploring the novel from that standpoint was incredible. I really want to re-read this soon, as I had to rush through it the first time! So many of our cultural notions about vampires come from this book, and it's truly interesting to see how they develop throughout the text. Plus vampires are pretty cool etc.

4.) The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This is another that I've read a couple of times now. Each time it makes me cry. The book is narrated by Death, and is based in Nazi-occupied Europe. I haven't watched the film yet, and I really hope it lives up to my expectations and love for the book.

5.) Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy. For its time, this book is really 'out there'. Tess is an unmarried woman who has lost her virginity and gotten pregnant. The book follows her struggles as a woman who is a maiden no longer, and highlights her morally upright state. I LOVE Hardy and how wordy his writing is. I've been lucky enough to study a couple of his books now, and honestly if I could do a whole course on his work, I would. 

6.) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling. I spent more time than is normal deciding which HP to put in this list, but The Philosopher's Stone is what first introduced me to the world of Harry Potter and Hogwarts. You meet Hagrid, Dumbledore, Voldemort, Ron, Hermione and all the rest of the gang for the first time. I'm re-reading the series at the moment and falling more and more in love with J K's world with every page.

7.) Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. I read a whole lot of slave narratives last year, and it was hard to just pick one for this list because they're such powerful and important reads. This is written first hand from a man who was tricked into slavery. Solomon was a free man in his state, until two white men tricked him into travelling with them under false pretenses, took him out of the state, chained him up and sold him. For twelve years, Solomon was forced to work as a slave and his protests of being a freeman went unheard. Once Solomon is freed, he begins to write about his experiences, and they form this book. 

8.) Maus by Art Spiegelman. This is a graphic novel, but I'm totally going to include it in this book roundup. It's the first graphic novel that I've genuinely loved. It's written in a series of interviews Spiegelman had with his Jewish father, a holocaust survivor. Each race is depicted as a different animal. Jews are mice. Germans are cats, preying on the mice. Americans are dogs, chasing off the cats. It's so clever, and such an accessible way to read a first hand story from inside a Nazi concentration camp.

9.) The Monk by Matthew Lewis. If you're into Gothic fiction, then this is a must. It's the earliest book that is recognised as being part of the Gothic canon. I was expecting it to be pretty dry and reserved, but it was incredible. There's a whole load of Gothic tropes in it, and it has a whole load of unexpected sex scandals in religious institutions. I was obsessed and I can see myself reading this over and over again.
10.) Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I have an intense amount of love for Dickens and the social commentaries he exudes in his novels. I was hard pushed to decide which of his was my absolute faovurite, but I think Bleak House wins. This is one of the longest books I've ever read, and had about 3000 characters in (or so it felt), BUT it really went in-depth in terms of explaining what was going on at the time. If you're interested in crime novels, then this is fab as it looks into social, moral and legal crimes, and evaluates them against each other to see which is worse. Plus it has actual twists and turns the plot, which I really was not expecting. 
What would you include on your list?
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10 Alternative Advent Calendar Ideas

Can you believe that December is only two days away?! I could hardly believe it until I stepped outside to feed my bunny this morning and his water bowl had frozen over overnight! The weather has definitely dropped a few degrees in the past few days, and I'm feeling very thankful that we have access to heating, and are able to pay for it to keep our home warm. 
I've been thinking about what to do during advent since October, when I started watching Zoella's 2015 Vlogmas. I decided I really wanted to do something special for my nearest and dearest this year to get them excited for the big day. It's the first year that me and my boyfriend will be spending Christmas day together, and I really want to make it one to remember.
So, here are 10 special advent ideas that I considered, before finally settling on doing number one for him and my sister:
1.) 24 days of small presents. I have genuinely had so much fun doing this one. I set myself a budget of up to £2 for each gift, apart from a special one on Christmas Eve, and got to work finding loads of little treasures. I started collecting things for these advent calendars way back in October, so it hasn't felt too costly. Now all I have to do is wrap them and put them in an order that I'd like them to open them in! I included a whole range of beauty, toiletries, lifestyle, fashion and trinket-y bits in these, and I can't wait to see what they think of them.
2.) Writing a letter/postcard a day. My grandma and I mostly communicate by writing letters back and forth every few weeks, and I love sending cute, artsy postcards to my sister, so this one seems like a lot of fun. Either choose 24 members of your family/friends, or double up on a few people! If I was going to do this, my sister and grandma would probably get 4 or 5 each. 
3.) Do one kind deed a day. The #GRLPOWR Twitter chat was all about giving during the Christmas season this week, and I felt so inspired by it to do more during the month of December. If you want to make this into an actual calendar, then you could totally draw your ideas for the kind deeds up into one and hang it on your wall. I'm thinking of buying a homeless person a hot drink one day and trying to smile at everybody I meet on another, even though I'm not 'officially' doing this one.
4.) Give one thing to charity each day. When I moved house I realised just how much unnecessary stuff I hoard for absolutely no reason, when someone else would just love it. There's still a whole bunch of things in my wardrobe that need to go, and a pile of books waiting to be taken to the charity shop, so I'm going to be bringing it all in in December. It'd be so great if we all did this and gave charities a massive boost during this time of year!
5.) Special chocolates each day. I actually got this idea from one of Tanya Burr's vlogs, where she spoke about the fact that her husband, Jim, hid little lindt teddy bears around the house during advent: one for each day. Doing this with your partner's/mum's/sister/'s/dad's/whoever's favourite chocolate or sweet would be a lovely way to perk up their day.
6.) Call someone every day. Christmas is all about spending time with people, but if (like me) you don't live too close to your family anymore, that can be really hard to do. Giving someone a call is such a nice, simple way to make someone know that they're being thought of at this time of year. I really struggle with making phone calls because of my anxiety, so this would be perfect for me if I felt like challenging myself.
7.) Have a present hide and seek with clues. This is another idea that I've borrowed from a Youtuber. Zoella did this last year for her partner and it looked like such fun! I would love to make up little clues to find lots of little presents all around the house.
8.) Go on weekly dates, with a present each day leading up to it. This is a couple based one (obvs), but you can alter it how you want. It's so hard to find time to actually go on dates anymore, but it would be lovely to set aside four nights during December to do it. Each day you can give the other person little hints as to what the date will be, or little things that they can use on the date. I'd love to go to an outdoor ice rink, and would get gloves, a hat, a scarf, etc, as the presents leading up to it.
9.) A homemade candle advent calendar. There are a few candle advent calendars out there, but (in my opinion at least), they're pretty overpriced, and they never have exactly what you want. Making a candle calendar for yourself or someone you love with their favourite scents in would be such a thoughtful gift. It also doesn't have to work out as being too expensive: Primark have some really good jar candles for £1 and I've spotted some for the same price in Wilkos too!
10.) A homemade beauty calendar. This idea is obviously pretty similar to the last. Beauty advent calendars are even more overpriced, and I may have shed a little tear when I wandered into The Body Shop a couple of weeks ago and saw how much they were charging for theirs. You can include loads of different toiletries, and minis to keep the cost down AND then it will be filled with things that the person will actually use.
I've filmed a video over on my Youtube channel all about this here:

I really hope that you enjoyed this post, and that it's helped you feel a little more festive. What kind of advent calendar are you doing this year?
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My Top 10 Disney Films

I've been filming a really serious Youtube video for you all today, so this post has come just in time to make me feel all light hearted again. Disney is my favourite comfort food of the cinematic world. On a bad day, some cheesy nachos, a blanket and a Disney film (or three) are definitely the way forward. So, I've rounded up my top ten Disney films to inspire you all this Saturday. Some are classics, some are more recent, but all are animated. Because animated Disney films are always going to be the best, dur. I had a shortlist of about 25 initially, so consider these the creme de la creme of my Disney obsession.
1.) The Nightmare Before Christmas. Is it a Halloween film? It is a Christmas film? Who knows. I've already watched this one this year, and totally used the excuse of it being a Halloween film. This is a Tim Burton masterpiece, and if you've never bobbed up and down around the house singing 'THIS IS HALLOWEEN, THIS IS HALLOWEEN', then you're doing it all wrong.
2.) Up. Have you ever had your heart broken? If not then prepare yourself because this attacks you right in the core of your feels. A cute, grumpy old man named Carl won't let developers knock down the house he lived in with his wife until she died, and his attempts to deal with everything just make my heart bleed.
3.) The Princess and the Frog. I'm not usually a big fan of the traditional Princess movies (although I have to say that this is not the only one on the list), but I absolutely adore this one. The humour in it is perfect, and I don't think I've ever been so upset by the death of a character. I'm not going to spoiler it, but if you've watched it then you'll totally know who I mean.
4.) Tangled. I did warn you there would be more Princess-y ones on the list. Tangled is effectively the story of Rapunzel, but Disney-fied. Rapunzel has her very own chameleon sidekick called Pascal, who is the cutest little guy imaginable. Some of the songs from this one are astounding, and the scene with the lanterns is all pretty unforgettable. I only wish I had gotten to see this on the big screen in the cinema. 
5.) Big Hero 6. In my opinion, this is the most unjustly underrated Disney film out there. Seriously, how have more people not seen it and fallen in love? Big Hero 6 follows the tragic story of the death of an older brother, who has engineered Baymax, a personal healthcare advisor. After his death, Baymax still exists on standby, waiting to detect someone in pain. All I want is my own personal Baymax to introduce himself and give me a hug when I feel poorly. Someone needs to get on that asap.
6.) Alice in Wonderland. I'm talking the traditional one rather than the Johnny Depp version. I used to watch this as a child all the time. This is one that the creators really ran wild with, and I loved all of the swirling colours, rapid scene changes, and the fantastical storyline.
7.) Lilo and Stitch.  I know a lot of people that really hate this one, and I have to ask: what are you doing?! Stitch is the cutest little alien I've ever seen. Also, if the 'ohana means family and family means no one gets left behind' quote doesn't tug on your heart strings, then you may need to get them checked out. The montages of naughty Stitch in this are hilarious, and something I could watch time and time again. 
8.) Beauty and the Beast. What a classic. I'm actually SO excited to see Emma Watson in the live action version oft his, but the animation will always take a place in my heart. The songs are addictive, and I wish Belle's simple dresses were the 'in' thing right now. They are just too good. 
9.) A Muppet Christmas Carol. Okay, okay I know two Christmas movies made it onto the list, but it's November so this is totally okay. I've never actually watched a 'normal' version of A Christmas Carol because who needs one when you have this? Tiny Tim is the most adorable little creature, and I love the narration they have throughout it.
10.) Hercules. This is mostly here because of the songs, I'm not going to lie. And then partly because of Pain & Panic and Meg's sassy nature. The muses' songs are quite simply addictive, and this is one film that I've watched so many times that I can now quote the entire thing almost word for word. 
What would you have put in this list?
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