2015 in review

At the start of this year, I made a rather vague set of new year's resolutions. As we've only got one day left of 2015, I thought it was about time to revisit them!

Books

The first thing I really wanted to achieve was my Goodreads challenge of reading 50 books. I actually exceeded my goal and extended my challenge to 60 books. Some people might say I'm a bit of a cheater since I study English at university, but I love reading so much that most of the books I read this year were for pleasure.
Here are some of my favourite reads of 2015, along with a tantalising one word review...

• The Outsiders by S.E Hinton - stunning.
• The Green Mile by Stephen King - heart-breaking.
• Fingersmith by Sarah Waters - surprising.
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman - ridiculous.
• The Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling - ...duh.

hate to be that guy but if you've only seen the film, PLEASE read the book too

Music

One of the major events in my summer holidays was my first ever festival, T in the Park. I had such a great time; some of my standouts were Kasabian, The Proclaimers and Jamie T. The constant mud, overpriced food and portaloos (which should probably be renamed death traps), I could have lived without...but it was all part of the experience. 

However, my favourite gig of the year was without a doubt Muse at the Barrowlands. They've been my favourite band for about 9 years and I'd seen them before already, but had resigned myself to the fact that I'd probably never see them in a small venue. I was wrong!!! I also had the opportunity to meet the band, which was so surreal and incredible. To top it all off, I ended up getting barrier! Probably one of the best days of my life, let alone of the year.

~ enjoy my shitty gig photography ~

Television

For my 17th birthday, I received the Buffy the Vampire Slayer boxset - the show rapidly became my favourite thing in the universe and I got so excited before watching new episodes, especially around season 5. SO GOOD. But that's not to say I let it stop me from getting addicted to multiple new TV shows - some more things I watched this year include Buffy's spin-off, Angel, Parks and Recreation, How To Get Away With Murder, Daredevil, The Mighty Boosh and Master of None. Right now I'm really into Reign and Gilmore Girls. 

♥♥♥

Life

Okay, so my life has changed a lot in a year. I moved away from home, started university at Edinburgh Napier, made new friends, and got my first job. Most of it has been a huge learning curve for me; I'm more independent and confident now than ever, which I'm really glad about. However I've became so comfortable in my own company I think it's made me a bit antisocial, so I'll need to work on that. 

Lastly, I did keep my diary all year! I didn't write every day, but every month of 2015 is down in writing and I'm pretty proud of that. 

I hope 2015 has been a good year for you, and if it hasn't, don't worry! 2016 will be better.

summer 2015: what I've been reading

As usual, a lot of my summer has been spent reading as many books as I could stand. I'm not going to talk about every single book I've read over the past couple of months because we'd be here for an eternity, but I'll mention a few stand-outs (for whatever reason!)

Most Disappointing Read

I'm going to university in a couple of weeks (!) to study English, and this was one of my required texts. All I can say is I'm not looking forward to writing essays on Fruit of The Lemon half as much as I am on everything else I've read so far. My biggest problem with this book was that the blurb really appealed to me, and made it seem a lot more interesting than I actually found it. I expected it to be an exciting story about cultural identity and native pride. Unfortunately to me it just seemed muddled up, and only tentatively touched on sensitive topics that would have been really affecting if they were handled and discussed more forcefully. I didn't care much for the main character's quarter-life crisis. I wanted more drama! Maybe this book will grow on me when I study it? Here's hoping...

Most Surprising Read

Okay so although I had obviously heard of Wuthering Heights, I didn't know much about it. From what I'd heard it was a very dramatic romance between young lovers Heathcliff and Cathy. How wrong I was! This book was about poisonous infatuation, an obsession that destroyed not only those infected, but everyone around them for years to come. Seriously, how anyone swoons over Heathcliff is beyond me. He is despicable. (This is coming from someone who has a real weak spot for misunderstood villains and antagonists, so take me seriously.) I think the most impressive thing about this novel was that I hated all of the characters. They were all completely insufferable. Despite this, I was still excited and desperate to know how their lives would unfold. As someone who finds it very difficult to enjoy a book if I don't connect with the characters, this is why Wuthering Heights really stood out for me. God damn it Emily, why couldn't you have written more?

Favourite Read

I wanted to just pick one, but although these books are completely different I couldn't choose between them for my favourite! Aristotle and Dante is a YA book that explores themes such as identity, friendship, family and sexuality, and handles them all expertly. The prose is beautiful yet accessible, but never cheesy or overflowing with metaphors (something I really dislike in modern YA literature.) This book will warm your heart and make you laugh and most likely make you cry. 

Although it will without a doubt cause you to weep, the similarities end there with my other favourite from this summer, A Thousand Splendid Suns. I had studied Hosseini's other novel The Kite Runner, and wanted to see if the effect it had on me was just a fluke. Safe to say it was not. This man is an evil genius. This book flips between the perspectives of two women in Afghanistan. Although they are originally strangers to one another, over the course of the book they form a unique bond. Although it shows the devastating reality of life under Taliban rule, it is also a truly inspirational tale of female strength and endurance. Still absolutely heartbreaking, though. 

I hope you enjoyed me rambling on about books for a while! If you want to see more of my reviews, you can add me on Goodreads. See you soon - my life is about to get pretty hectic, but I'll try to keep posting!

life update

This has been one of the busiest and most emotional months of my life to date, and before it ends next week I'm away to London! It's going to be so busy due to Wimbledon but I can't wait to experience the atmosphere - I'll make a post on it once I'm back. Anyway, back to the present.

Prom

I suppose this would be considered my official highschool send-off; although it plays a staple in so many American teen movies it has become almost a rite of passage here in the UK too. It was a very surreal experience for me, as I had my hair done and a long dress on, two things that very rarely happen for me, and a combination of the two only occurring once in a blue moon. If I ever get married I've decided I don't want a dress with a train - way too much effort. One part I did love was the excuse to wear as much makeup as I wanted! I did it all myself (well, with the help of a Youtube tutorial. The wonders of the internet.) The prom was held at the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow where we had a 20's Great Gatsby-esque theme. Everything looked so classy and beautiful, even if the drinks were absolutely extortionate! Although I suppose that means I've been able to remember the night a lot better (even if was just to cringe over how bad our DJ was.)

School Show - Back to the 80s

As it was my final year of school, I finally plucked up the courage to audition for a main part in our production of Back to the 80s, and I'm so glad I did!!! I have always enjoyed being a part of the chorus but being a main cast member this year has been so rewarding; not only has it improved my confidence so much, it's also helped me make loads of new friends who I would probably never have spoken to otherwise. I will be sorry to part with my alter ego Sheena Brannigan and all the other people who made up William Ocean High School. On the last night I had the privilege of saying the vote of thanks with a friend, which was a true honour to finally be able to recognise the efforts and enthusiasm of all the wonderful people involved. I think it speaks volumes that on my official last day of school I was completely unphased, but once the curtains drew on our closing night, the floodgates opened and I was crying uncontrollably. No matter if you perceive yourself to be talented or not, I encourage everyone to get involved in a musical production at some point in your life - I promise you won't regret it. 

Total Eclipse of the Heart <3

Other stuff...

Although my reading pace may have been a bit slower than usual due to endless show rehersals I've still been keeping up with my Goodreads challenge. A Room With A View is what I'm currently making my way through, but I've read a lot of great books lately, including Fingersmith by Sarah Waters and Longbourn by Jo Baker. I also finished Persuasion, meaning I've read all of Jane Austen's completed novels (I am officially a fledgling Janeite.) I've got lots of other books that I plan to read this year too - maybe a future blog post? 

Thanks to the godsend that is Netflix I've also caught up with all of Orange is the New Black series 3. Seriously, if you've somehow missed the massive buzz surrounding this show, please go watch it. It will warm your heart and break it in half and make you laugh and probably change your attitudes towards a lot of things. 

As I've said I am going on holiday next week so expect more posts soon! What have you all got planned for summer? 

2015 to-do list

Better late than never, right? Having my birthday right at the start of the year always gets me thinking about how many other things could change in the space of twelve months, and 2015 is going to be a big one for me! I've just turned 17 and it seems like this is going to be the year that I'm expected to start acting like a semi-adult, and making some lists is always a good way to de-stress. Here's some things I want to do this year!!!

Books

Reading has always been a big part of my life, so this year I've decided to set myself a Goodreads challenge of 50 books. (here's my profile) Right now I'm really into feminist literature and classics, so if you have any recommendations I'd love them!

A few I'm already planning to read:

• A Song Of Ice And Fire by George R R Martin (nearly 4 down already!!)
• Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
• The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
• Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garea Marquez

Music

This year I already have three gigs lined up: The Kooks, The Black Keys and The Wombats. I've wanted to see all of these bands for a long time so I'm so excited for all of them. I'm also going to my first festival T in the Park this summer and I'm still waiting impatiently for at least some of the lineup to be announced. I'm not exactly the biggest on camping but I'm hoping it'll be worth it! On the music side of things, I'm also hoping to keep up my hobby of violin - when I was younger it used to be a real chore, but after over 8 years of playing I genuinely enjoy it now, and I really hope leaving high school and my obligations of orchestras and ensembles won't change that.

Life

This is the scary part!!! I'm still waiting on a reply from one university until I can finally make a decision, but no matter what it looks like I'll be packing my bags and leaving my hometown in September. I feel way too young to be genuinely contemplating this kind of thing, but it's pretty exciting and I think some change is needed in my life. Some of the things I want to achieve:

• Learn how to cook some meals - I became a vegetarian in 2014 and it's been a really rewarding decision so far, but I really want that to continue when I move away even if I'm a disgustingly poor student. So I need to learn how to make more out of less, and that doesn't mean just pasta bake and omelettes.
• Approach new people myself. I'm in a really good place with all of my current friends, and I'm determined to maintain contact with everyone that's important to me. Saying that, I also can't wait to meet new friends, and that means being confident enough to initiate conversation first - something I desperately need to improve on.
• Keep a diary. A romantic at heart, I've always loved the idea of having some sort of life chronicle to look back on when I'm feeling nostalgic - this undoubtedly came from my pre-teen obsession with The Princess Diaries/Confessions of Georgia Nicolson books series. However I've always failed at maintaining a diary for more than a few months, because I never kept a proper structure. But I've been writing every day this year and I'm going to continue that for as long as possible. My life isn't half as dramatic as Mia's or Georgia's but I still feel accomplished.

So there you have it, along with watching the entirety of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there's some of the most important things I'm planning to do this year. I hope your new year has got off to a great start, and if it hasn't, don't lose faith - January is never the most exciting month. It's for breaking your unrealistic resolutions in the first week and spending the rest contemplating what you really want from the year. 

a summer of reading

It's officially the last day of summer and pictured above is my biggest accomplishment of the last 6 weeks! I was looking forward to summer so much because I finally had the time to read for pleasure - a welcome change from the countless revision notes that had been my constant companions for the last few months.

I was so excited for City Of Heavenly Fire's release in May, the sixth and final installment in the Mortal Instruments series. I was all caught up with the rest of the books and ready to buy CoHF as soon as it was available, when a friend of mine stopped me in my tracks. She strongly recommended that I read the Infernal Devices series before I raced onwards, because she was worried a lot of it would be spoiled if I didn't.

I am so glad that I took her advice! I loved this trilogy so much and loved all the little connections to the modern Shadowhunter world of the Mortal Instruments. Luckily these books are so easy to read and it wasn't long before I could move on to CoHF and consequentially get my heart broken and put back together multiple times. Real tears were shed. Perhaps the only series I've read that I was actually satisfied and moved by the epilogue! (Cough - The Hunger Games epilogue...blech.)

Although I allowed myself a short mourning period for the end of the Mortal Instruments series, I quickly moved on to the second book in A Song Of Ice And Fire (aka Game Of Thrones.) I was having serious withdrawal after the season 4 finale so I finally revisited the books after reading the first one about a year ago. I'm now determined to catch up with all the books before the next series is aired! In Westeros nobody is safe and I'm anxious to find out the fates of all my favourite characters, of which there are WAY too many. The second book seems to me like a transitional period for a lot of the characters and a set up for the third book, which I'm expecting a lot more action in. A Clash Of Kings was definitely a book of character development.

My number one girl Sansa Stark. I will defend you to the grave.

After that I decided to take a little break and treated myself with reading the completely delightful and swoon-worthy Vince And Joy by Lisa Jewell. I loved this book so much and read it over the course of two days. It sounds terribly cliche when described; two teenagers fall in love on holiday and never get to say goodbye, until fate/destiny/whatever you want to call it leads them to meet again as they grow older. And I suppose it is pretty cheesy, but I fell completely for it. I'm a romantic at heart and this book completely satisfied all my wants.

I read The Night Circus after hearing so many people raving about it and telling me how wonderful it was. Granted, the description in it was lush and Erin Morgenstern definitely knows how to use the readers imagination to her advantage and can paint a beautiful picture with her language. To tell the truth though, I was a bit dissapointed with the pace of this novel. I expected a dramatic magical duel between the two main characters, but it was more like an agonisingly slow game of chess. I was much more interested by the subplots in the book, with Herr Thiessen and the Reveurs, or with Bailey and the twins.

To date, I'm still making my way through all of Jane Austen's novels. I read Pride And Prejudice months ago and completely adored it, and I've always been fascinated by Jane as a person, especially after watching Becoming Jane, which details an affair she had as a young woman with a mischievous Irishman. (played by James McAvoy. Yes, this may have been my original incentive for watching this film. So what?) I'm studying her for my dissertation in my Advanced English class and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her books! I'm halfway there!

If McAvoy in period clothing isn't enough to make you watch this film then what is?

Unfortunately I'm going back to school tomorrow, so it's likely that I won't be reading books at the rate I want to for a while. (Or for that matter updating my blog. Please forgive me!!!)