Hey hey! long time no see! It's officially 2016 and I've decided to come back to blogging. This blog is now Folded Paper Foxes, and is all spruced up with a new theme and header and will now be more or less solely a book blog.
Kicking off 2016 I've made some reading resolutions, just to help expand my reading and broaden my palette a little.
. Read More Non-Fiction - I've been slowly dipping into non-fiction in the last six months and really want to get into the habit of reading at least one piece of non-fiction every month. I'm growing up now, and starting to form opinions on things like politics, social debates and science and want to make sure that my knowledge is as rounded and solid as it can be, because there's nothing worse than an opinionated person who hasn't got a fucking clue what they're talking about. I will not be that person.
.Reread Harry Potter - I read each Harry Potter book, all the way through, once, when I was younger. Well I actually had Stephen Fry read me quite a few of them, on brightly coloured cassettes! I remember loving them at the time, and having the fourth and fifth on pre-order to make sure I got my copy, but for some reason the love and warmth I had for the Harry Potter universe hasn't stuck with me the way that it has for a lot of my friends, so this year I've decided I want to reread the series and rediscover the magic of my childhood. Plus I'd be very interested to read them as an adult, with a more critical, analytical brain. I'm hoping it doesn't spoil it for me.
.Read More Graphic Novels - This doesn't have any particular backstory. Essentially I really enjoy graphic novels, but keep putting off reading them in favour of novels. I want to try out some new, different graphic novels such as Saga and Sex Criminals, and also expand my collection of titles from the DC Universe.
.Reduce my TBR books to under 10 - So for a few months I've been working for Waterstones... and that means 50% staff discounts... and proof copies... and that means that I've bought a ridiculous amount of books and the busy Christmas period has meant that I've had no time to read much at all! This has all culminated in a shamefully large amount of books hanging around on my shelves as yet unread. This is not ok. So essentially my next year of reading needs to be geared towards working through this backlog and stopping buying armfuls of books after work.
So with some goals in mind I'm kicking off this year as I mean to go on and have a stack of books to help me get started on my reading goals:
January TBR
The Awakening ~ Kate Chopin
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K Rowling
Unspeakable Things - Laurie Penny
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K Rowling
Unspeakable Things - Laurie Penny
Bad Feminist - Roxane Gay
Batman: The Long Halloween - Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
Batman: The Long Halloween - Jeph Loeb & Tim Sale
Five books is a pretty good number for me to read in a month. I'm not the sort of person who races through books but as graphic novels don't take too long maybe I'll end up getting through a few more.
That's all from me for the moment! Thank you for reading, I'll be back soon with my top books of 2015.
Isabelle xx
I turned twenty two recently and as part of my present my lovely flatmates got me a box of LUSH goodies. I've been pretty boring when it comes to bath products recently, preferring to keep things simple and affordable (Ahh student poverty) but having been given the opportunity to try out some new things I've become a little more decadent again and as a result my skin has been feeling 'lush'! Bad pun alert. Among the goodies were these three products and as I've been using them for the past few weeks I thought I'd let you know what I thought.
Rub Rub Rub Shower Scrub
Ooh you guys this stuff is amazing! I love exfoliators but often find that they can be a bit rough and harsh and leave my skin feeling irritated. Not this bad boy. Super fine granules in a gorgeously girly bright blue goop that lathers up in the shower and gently polishes the skin while keeping it baby soft. It's also great for (weirdly) working into your hair as a shampoo, as the salt creates some serious volume and helps create texture that makes it easier to style and the smell is glorious to have wafting around your face all day. Would definitely recommend, I'm getting a big tub of this the second this runs out.
Vanilla Dee - Lite Body Lotion
I usually use my Soap & Glory body butter as an after shower moisturiser but have been using these for the past few weeks. It smells amazing. The scent is vanilla but it's not that sickly sweet baby-toy-plastic vanilla smell, it's a really deep, hot, starchy vanilla that's incredibly grown up and really yummy. My skin always feels hydrated and silky and though it probably won't replace my usual body butter it's a lovely product and I'm going to finish it all. I'd recommend giving it a sniff if you're in a LUSH shop as it's definitely something I'd have overlooked if it hadn't been given to me. It really is Dee-Lite-ful! ... Sorry.
Gorgeous Facial Moisturiser
This is just a dinky little sample but it's lasted me ages! It's a nice creamy moisturiser with very little in the way of colour or fragrance. My skin is 'normal', not too oily and not too dry either and for me this was a bit on the rich side for daily wear, I felt that my makeup seemed to get a little greasy after a few hours which I obviously don't want. For me this actually works really nicely as a night cream, patted a little on after cleansing my face. I've never been one for using moisturiser at night (Beauty treason I know) simply because the thickness of creams geared for night time often mean I wake up with a greasy face and get prone to breakouts. With this however I wake with plump healthy feeling skin and feel all grown up now that I'm using a night time moisturiser... even if it's just a day cream being sneaky. It'd probably be good for dryer skins during the day if you need something quite rich to keep your skin smooth and nourished.
Hopefully that was in some way helpful to you, it's been a while since I did anything beauty related, I'm not sure exactly how to go about it. I can really feel myself getting back into LUSH again, I always seem to go through phases, is it just me? I had forgotten how much I enjoyed their products but I'm very tempted to go in there soon and have a browse, especially with their Christmas bits coming out! If I buy anything more I shall let you know how I get on with it. Until next time, thank you for reading, let me know what you've been using recently to keep your skin feeling 'lush', ahaha... that wasn't funny the first time was it? Ahem. Don't get up, I'll show myself out.
Hey look! It's been less than a month since I last posted! What are the chances?
So I'm back at university and you know what that means, my already unimpressive blogging consistency takes a nosedive. But I am trying to keep up some regularity and have been reading all my favourite blogs even if I haven't had the time to leave any thoughtful or insightful comments.
I thought I'd keep the ball rolling by featuring my October 'TBR' books (I term I'm stealing from BookTube). I mentioned on my Instagram how much I liked that they were all quite colour appropriate for the autumn and, although none of them are especially 'spooky' they all sound quite dark and creepy and great for Halloween reads.
The Gunslinger ~ Stephen King
I'm a big fan of Stephen King but I've never tried his long running fantasy series, which is bizarre because I love me some fantasy. The Gunslinger is the first in what I usually see described as something like 'A Western style Game of Thrones' which sounds really fun. I mentioned a while ago that since finishing what's written of the A Song of Ice and Fire books and the entirety of the Emperor's Edge Chronicles (which I'll be reviewing in the coming weeks) I've missed having a series on the go. There's something so great about a big world with characters you spend a lot of time with so I'm hoping this'll rekindle my spirits and give me another fantasy world to flail hopelessly over.
The Shining Girls ~ Lauren Beukes
I know next to nothing about this book but my friend Holly has said it's amazing and she has excellent literary tastes so I'm looking forward to it. I get the impression it's a crime thriller in the vein of the Gillian Flynn books but with some type of supernatural/ magic realism elements to it so I'm really intrigued. It's not the genre of books I usually go for but I'm always looking to branch out so I'm excited to try something new.
Alias Grace ~ Margaret Atwood
For those who don't know, I love me some Margaret Atwood. She's a sassy bamf who writes awesome literary fiction in a wide variety of genres but that all fit together in a very distinct style. I'm actually lucky enough to be studying a module dedicated to her this year so that's really exciting! This is one of three books on the reading list I have yet to tackle and it's one of her chunkier ones. It's historical fiction of sorts surrounding the true story of Grace Marks who is accused of murdering her employer in 1840's Canada. I'm already a few chapters in and enjoying it so far, though like all Atwood novels you have to let the narrative wind round you for a bit before she closes in on you and smacks you in the face with her sheer amazing-ness.
So that's what I'm hoping to read in the next few weeks. I will probably review The Shining Girls independently, Alias Grace along with a few other Atwoods (I'll have read eight by the end of the year so I'll probably review them in groups.) and The Gunslinger depends, I may wait and see if I read on in the series before I form any major thoughts.
Let me know what you think or if you've read any of these books. I should be back in the next few days with some beauty and skincare so stick around and I have a free day Wednesday so I'm going to come and perv on all your blogs and catch up with you all.
Did I mention I was getting back into graphic novels? Probably.
I adored graphic novels back when I was in my early teens but the demands of school life meant that I had to cut back on more frivolous past times to make time for studying and unfortunately graphic novels didn't make the cut. As a result I couldn't keep up with my favourite titles and after a while found that I had lost interest, as I tend to do with things I know I can't commit to fully.
However recently I've been getting the graphic novel bug back and getting it bad! I thank (or blame) Tumblr to be honest. I wandered into the DC fandom section and immediately found myself right back where I used to be. Batman comics and cartoons where a huge part of my childhood but having been out of the loop I had no idea how much the DC Universe had changed! I suddenly found myself being simultaneously flooded with nostalgia for my old childhood loves and excited to see what the new rebooted series were like so once my University exams were over I went out and grabbed a few titles to reintroduce myself the the Batman universe.
I've read quite a few of the more recent installments now as well as a couple of classics I had missed out and thought I would share some with you. To keep the posts from being being abhorrently long I decided to split them up and review them in little bundles rather than ambush you with a whole summer's worth of deranged 'catch-up' reading. This consists of the first of a big series and two classic stand-alones.
Batman and Son
Grant Morrison's run is one of the most popular and well known series in the more recent canon, so I figured there could be worst places to start. This is the first of the trade paperbacks (when all the little single comics are collected into one big volume) so I picked it up and jumped straight in. I really enjoyed it and can see why it's so popular. In terms of the individual issues collected in it, there are a few that were a bit of a miss and one that just seemed pointless and forced in but overall the story arc was great and the artwork in most of it was really crisp, clean and bright which I love. In this series Batman finds out he has a son! I already knew this as it was something that was hard to avoid while browsing Tumblr fan pages but I was really excited to see what Damian would be like, I pictured him as this cute little baby 'Bruce Wayne' who would be the perfect little batman in training. LOLWRONG. As it turns out Damian Wayne has been raised by his mother, the daughter-of a-war-lord and all around badass Thalia Al Ghul and as a result he's not exactly been brought up with the best of moral guides. When Batman allows him to stay at Wayne Manor he promptly beats the crap out of Tim Drake (the current Robin) and declares himself entitled to the position of Batman's sidekick. Oddly enough Bruce Wayne isn't hugely impressed. To add to Bats' troubles there seems to be various Batman 'tribute acts' running round Gotham taking the law into their own hands.
I thought this was loads of fun and already adore the homicidal little brat that is Damian Wayne. Probably not somewhere to start if you have no background knowledge of the DC universe beyond the movies but if you know your basics and can tell your Dick Grayson from your Tim Drake I think this could shape up to be a really good series, I'll keep you posted as I get through the run.
The Killing Joke
Everyone knows the Joker. Even if your Batman knowledge extends to 'that guy with the cape and the silly voice' the Joker is an iconic villain and probably one of the greatest in superhero history. Or maybe that's just me.
The Killing Joke begins with Joker having broken out of Arkham Asylum and going after Commissioner Gordon and his daughter. It's dark and pretty brutal and the grisly contrasted with this very bold art style with a bright acrid colour palette which gives the whole thing a wonderfully creepy, macabre edge. The narrative flashes back and forth between this and what we are told is the Joker's back-story, detailing how he went from an ordinary man to maniacal clown prince of crime, although even by the end of the book it's hard to decide how much of what we are told is true given the form in which we are given the information.
I also really enjoyed this, my only complaint is that is was very short, it took me less than an hour to get though which, when you've paid eight pounds for something, is a bit of a disappointment in terms of getting your money's worth. Regardless I'm not a bit sorry I bought it as it's one of the most famous stand alone volumes and it's a great addition to my newly growing graphic novel shelf. Again this might not be right for complete beginners simply because it is so short but if you don't mind paying the money I think it's great.
Arkham Asylum
Most superhero storylines are very fast paced and action orientated. This one is something a little different. It's April Fools Day and the inmates, led by the Joker, have taken over Arkham Asylum, declaring they will kill all the staff unless Batman agrees to take their place and lock himself in with them.
In terms of plot... well there isn't really one. It basically boils down to Batman having a wander through Arkham Asylum encountering some of the people he put away: Scarecrow, Harvey Dent etc while every so often the story flashes back to the origin of the Asylum and Arkham, the man who built it. What the story lacks in 'POW' fight scenes and cheesy hero/villain banter it makes up for with expertly wound tension and an art style like nothing I've ever seen in a Batman comic before. The whole thing looks like one of those dreams that's not an outright nightmare but that's horribly unsettling and creepy and from which you can't make yourself wake up.
I bought the fifteenth anniversary edition, which has, at the back, the original manuscript and a few pages of sketched storyboards too and I absolutely loved that. I loved reading Grant Morrison's manuscript scene by scene and flicking back to see how the artist, Dave Mckean, had interpreted his words into art. Honestly that for me was one of the best bits so if you were to buy it I would highly suggest spending a little extra just for that. Not really one for beginners (again... I really haven't thought this through) but if you're looking for something a bit different to try this is a really interesting one. I keep opening up my favourite pages and just marveling at how creepy and beautiful they are and it's made me interested to see if Dave Mckean has done anything else for the DC Universe.
*
So those are a few that I've read so far. I might make this something I do every few months perhaps? I can't justify buying enough graphic novels to do them more regularly, as they're quite expensive for how long they take to read and I do have rent and bills to pay (oh the joys of being a grown up.) But if you enjoyed this and would be interested to see more please let me know. I feel like I neglected to factor in that most of you aren't particularly well versed in graphic novels even if you're interested in getting into them, so I might try and put together a sort of 'crash course' reading list for introducing yourself to the DC/ Batman universe without getting confused in all the different runs and stand-alones and crossovers and spending a fortune in the process.
I'm going to go do something useful now. If you've made it this far good on you! Here's something embarrassing as a reward: When writing the title of this blog I knew I'd done something wrong but couldn't figure out what it was. I read it over and over, confused about what I'd messed up and why my brain was telling me I'd dome something stupid and then, after about ten minutes, I finally realised: I'd written "Batman Addition" rather than "Batman Edition".
That £9000 a year course in English is clearly paying off.
.JPG)
Ready Player One ~ Ernest Cline
Ready Player One
is a novel that’s been all over the blogging world and been receiving great
reviews so I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon and see how it went.
I admit I found it very slow going at the beginning. It takes place in a dystopian future where most of humanity spends its time plugged into a virtual reality so there’s a hell of a lot of world building and explaining to get through but it’s done very well and it’s not boring, just a bit slow but once things started picking up a few chapters in I actually finished it in less than two days.
It describes a teenage boy living in this world who is one of millions on a quest to follow clues to find the coveted ‘Easter Egg’ (special rewards in video games for anyone who’s cool enough to need to know that) left somewhere in the virtual reality by the owner, the finder of which will inherit his vast fortune and control of the world.
The characters are great, lots of fun and where they could easily become clichéd and predictable they stay interesting and keep you wondering what they’re going to do next. The book is also packed with geeky eighties references which are always a good laugh and, even if you don’t understand all the film, video game and music allusions (I didn’t) the book is still easy to follow and thoroughly enjoyable.
One of my favourite aspects of the book was the detail the Cline put into the world he created. Sometimes when reading these sorts of books you find yourself asking questions about the world that never get answered, or finding things that aren’t quite explained fully so that you can’t quite get your head around it. In Ready Player One I found I had a thorough understanding of the situations without having to stop and read through big chunks of description in the middle of action scenes.
I really recommend reading Ready Player One. It’s fun and unpredictable and, whether you are a fan of geeky things like video games and eighties pop culture or not, it definitely strikes a chord in our current culture where we are so dependent on technology. While it makes for a great story, let’s hope it’s not too close to our own future.
I admit I found it very slow going at the beginning. It takes place in a dystopian future where most of humanity spends its time plugged into a virtual reality so there’s a hell of a lot of world building and explaining to get through but it’s done very well and it’s not boring, just a bit slow but once things started picking up a few chapters in I actually finished it in less than two days.
It describes a teenage boy living in this world who is one of millions on a quest to follow clues to find the coveted ‘Easter Egg’ (special rewards in video games for anyone who’s cool enough to need to know that) left somewhere in the virtual reality by the owner, the finder of which will inherit his vast fortune and control of the world.
The characters are great, lots of fun and where they could easily become clichéd and predictable they stay interesting and keep you wondering what they’re going to do next. The book is also packed with geeky eighties references which are always a good laugh and, even if you don’t understand all the film, video game and music allusions (I didn’t) the book is still easy to follow and thoroughly enjoyable.
One of my favourite aspects of the book was the detail the Cline put into the world he created. Sometimes when reading these sorts of books you find yourself asking questions about the world that never get answered, or finding things that aren’t quite explained fully so that you can’t quite get your head around it. In Ready Player One I found I had a thorough understanding of the situations without having to stop and read through big chunks of description in the middle of action scenes.
I really recommend reading Ready Player One. It’s fun and unpredictable and, whether you are a fan of geeky things like video games and eighties pop culture or not, it definitely strikes a chord in our current culture where we are so dependent on technology. While it makes for a great story, let’s hope it’s not too close to our own future.
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius ~ Dave Eggers
I found this book in a charity shop quite a while ago, I was first intrigued by that oh so modest title and decided to shell out the £2.99 to see if I really would come away with my heart broken. (This is someone who stayed dry eyed at Bambi, My Sisters Keeper and The Notebook so I was skeptical)
The book is a more or less true story of Dave Eggers who is orphaned and left as guardian of his very young brother while only a teenager himself. It was a really interesting account of someone who has all that fresh-eyed 'going to change the world' feeling of youth and the slightly frantic jaded feeling that comes with age all at once. He frets about bills and housing and giving Toph an 'undamaging' childhood where he protects him without coddling him, making him smart but not smug and trying not to do anything that could screw him up. At the same time he's trying to grow up himself and create an anti-establishment magazine that will change the world and sleep with girls. The two lives of a youth and a parent running parallel within one being was really interesting and brought to light a lot of ideas about what it means to be young or old, and how both have their own difficulties and neither really understand one another.
The book is a more or less true story of Dave Eggers who is orphaned and left as guardian of his very young brother while only a teenager himself. It was a really interesting account of someone who has all that fresh-eyed 'going to change the world' feeling of youth and the slightly frantic jaded feeling that comes with age all at once. He frets about bills and housing and giving Toph an 'undamaging' childhood where he protects him without coddling him, making him smart but not smug and trying not to do anything that could screw him up. At the same time he's trying to grow up himself and create an anti-establishment magazine that will change the world and sleep with girls. The two lives of a youth and a parent running parallel within one being was really interesting and brought to light a lot of ideas about what it means to be young or old, and how both have their own difficulties and neither really understand one another.
The writing style is very personal and 'stream-of-consciousness'. A little bit Holden Caulfield. At times this felt really powerful and deep but there were also times when Eggers comes across as a bit of a smarmy git. I think this book is best read over the course of quiet a long time, the plot isn't complicated or confusing so you wouldn't be lost. I think if you slogged through it all in one go you could end up burning out, but dipping in and out over the course of a few weeks lets you absorb it and enjoy it without it becoming a chore.
I would recommend AHWOSG for anyone looking for something quite contemporary with an emotive punch to it.
I would recommend AHWOSG for anyone looking for something quite contemporary with an emotive punch to it.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell ~ Susanna Clarke
I just finished this great hulk of a book a few days ago and it was such a good feeling to finish. Not because I didn't enjoy it, but because it's always an accomplishment to get through over a thousand pages.
I didn't know much about this book when I started it, my only knowledge was that it takes place during the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s, but somewhere along the line there's magic. And the does pretty much sum it up. The magic in this book is interesting in that, when the book begins no one actually practices it any more. It's become something from history that is studied and written about and discussed but never actually done. Then along comes Mr Norrell, who has lived his life in near solitude but who can actually do practical magic. He's sought out by a few theoretical magicians and soon becomes a celebrity, using his powers to help England's efforts fighting Napoleon. Then we meet Jonathan Strange, a young charismatic man who can also do magic. The two falter between rivals and friends throughout the book but as it turns out the magic they wield is part of a much greater power that neither of them can really control.
I found this book really fun and interesting most of the way through. Though it's a hefty thing the chapters are short so it wasn't hard to blaze through ten at a time. We see events through the eyes of a lot of different and very diverse characters and the interactions between them are very complex and realistic, however that does mean that sometimes we know more than some of the characters and it the dramatic irony can be frustrating as we watch the idiots bumble about coming to the wrong conclusion about something or doing something we know is going to backfire. Other than that I did enjoy it, there were a lot of interesting facets to the story and Susanna Clarke creates some really powerful images of the magic performed, e.g Norrell makes the statues of a great Cathedral come to life and the stones that have been voiceless for hundreds of years start screaming about crimes they've seen committed and things they've found out but haven't been able to tell anyone about.
I had mixed feelings about the ending. We follow a lot of characters in detail throughout the story but it seems that only some of them have stories that come to a meaningful conclusion, I felt like some of the side characters are left dangling a little, which was annoying because I, as always, got quite attached to some of the minor characters. There is also an event that I felt the whole story was building up to that would come to a great climactic ending but that I'm not sure actually happened... or if it did it was very small and quite confusing. I wish I could elaborate further but it would seriously spoil the book.
I would still definitely recommend it though, I had great fun reading it and was sad to leave the characters behind. It's definitely made me interested to read more of Clarke's work.
I had mixed feelings about the ending. We follow a lot of characters in detail throughout the story but it seems that only some of them have stories that come to a meaningful conclusion, I felt like some of the side characters are left dangling a little, which was annoying because I, as always, got quite attached to some of the minor characters. There is also an event that I felt the whole story was building up to that would come to a great climactic ending but that I'm not sure actually happened... or if it did it was very small and quite confusing. I wish I could elaborate further but it would seriously spoil the book.
I would still definitely recommend it though, I had great fun reading it and was sad to leave the characters behind. It's definitely made me interested to read more of Clarke's work.
Let me know if you've read any of these books and what you thought of them or if you're interested in picking any of them up after this review.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!
My exams are finally over! I disappeared for a little while when the only thing that was going on in my life was revision and mindless procrastination-geared scrolling through Tumblr but thankfully I've made it through those few weeks and can get back to doing things I love, like reading and blogging!
I thought I'd come back with a review of Wool by Hugh Howey, given to me as part of a swap with the lovely Toni. This has been getting a lot of attention recently so I was excited to get stuck into it.
The first hundred or so pages had me hooked, it was full of twists and turns and I loved the feeling of under the surface menace. I also loved Juliette, the protagonist. She didn't have the dreaded 'feisty' syndrome. She was just a smart, kind, tough, slightly world weary young woman who gets thrown into something beyond what she should have to handle and I really enjoyed that.
Where this book let me down was in the writing. God it dragged at times. This pretty hefty tome could have easily been 200 pages shorter but everything was narrated in such precise detail. A character we cared about would be in a dangerous situation where short snippy sentences were needed to ramp up a sense of urgency, Howey for some reason felt the need to describe to us just HOW stuck someone's foot was or the exact details of the action of jamming a spanner into a piece of machinery. We spend paragraphs reading about someone just changing clothes or having introspective reflections at really inconvenient moments. The plot also feels rushed at times, with certain things happening just to push the story along. It's just not as well crafted as I would have liked.
It's worth pointing out that Wool was originally published in segments which might account for this (That's why a lot of Victorian fiction drags) but you'd have thought they could have edited it a little bit to make it suit a single volume format. The writing and slightly messy plot just smacks of 'not-quite-finished' and although I finished the book, I found myself skimming bits toward the end of it just to finish and find out what happens.
I did enjoy it overall and as I said large chunks of it were great and I really enjoyed the moral complexity of the situation the characters were in but I just wish a bit more time had been taken on refining the plot and making the writing flow better. It just feels quite a lot like someone rushed it through editing and processing to get it on the shelves while dystopian fiction was popular and I hate to sound cynical but that's just the feeling I get.
If you enjoy dystopian I would still recommend it, even if just for how much I enjoyed the first third or so, you may have more patience with the writing than I did.
Let me know if you've read Wool and what you thought of it, I'd love to hear other's views on this one!
>> On Repeat . Touch - Shift K3Y <<
A little something different today. I saw Loreal's top ten Disney crushes from her childhood and could instantly relate. Fictional crushes are something you think are ridiculous... until they happen to you. This is just a funny and slightly embarrassing little trip down memory lane, recounting five of the top fictional gentlemen that have occupied my daydreams throughout my childhood... bleeding into my teens... and present day.... shh. So hopefully you enjoy and can let me know some of your childhood fictional crushes.
01. Prince Philip - Probably my very first childhood crush. Sleeping Beauty was my favourite film as a child, my Dad still knows all the words to 'Once Upon a Dream' because of how often he watched it with me. A lot of people aren't fans because of what a wet heroine Aurora was, (she did spend half the movie asleep.) But what I loved about it what the Gothic art style, the bad ass villain Maleficent and the dashing hero. All he had to do to win my heart was defy his father, fight his way through a cursed castle and defeat an evil magic dragon. Even at five years old I knew my standards.
02. Batman - No live action, Nolan-verse batman for me. My love affair with the masked vigilante started when I used to sneak down at about four in the morning to watch Justice League on Toonami when I was about ten-eleven. There was something about his stoic, brooding, bad ass nature that I just adored. Batman will always be my favourite male superhero and I always love the various reincarnations that people create.
03. Roronora Zoro - I'm well aware that most people reading this will have no idea who the hell this is, but know that if you do recognise this guy, I unconditionally love you. This guy is from an anime called One Piece. It's still going strong in Japan, but an English version was aired in about 2005 and I watched it devotedly until it stopped being shown. Zoro is the first mate in the pirate crew that makes up the main cast of characters. Like Batman he's the bad, brooding type and is a master swordsman.
04. Maximus Decimus Meridius - I think it reflects my growing maturity levels that at some point I moved from animated men to live action ones. I first saw Gladiator in about 2008 and it was the first really epic adult movie I had seen. I became instantly infatuated with the idea of a snarling, brooding Roman General turned Gladiator and began an unwavering crush on Russell Crowe that survives to this day. So far it seems that my 'type' is a solemn bad-boy type with a heart of gold... in a costume. Some form of fancy weaponry wouldn't go amiss either. Make of that what you will.
05. Jon Snow - Having said that here's my last and most recent fictional crush. Jon Snow from Game of Thrones is such a cutie pie. To be fair he is rather dark and brooding, wears a fancy costume and has a sword so he ticks all my boxes, but he's actually really quite sweet and innocent, particularly in the first three books in which he's completely naive to the political scheming of the rest of the characters and incredibly innocent when it comes to women and war. Though to be completely honest the real deal clincher for me is just how incredibly gorgeous Kit Harington who plays him in the HBO series. Just... NOM.
So that's my own slightly cringey list of fictional crushes I've had over the years, which I've realised I've put pretty much in perfect chronological order so that's nice! Let me know what your most intense (or most embarrassing) fictional crushes have been, the more hilarious the better, and we can all have a good laugh at how sad we are.
Thanks for reading!
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The other day I was feeling making something tasty and effortless for me and my little brother when we had a day stuck in the house waiting for deliveries. Neither of us wanted to go out (read - change out of our pyjamas) so I went a-searching online for what I could whip up with what he had hanging about in our kitchen cupboards to keep us going through our grueling day of video-game playing, movie watching, (Gladiator with Russell Crowe, NOM) and halfheartedly doing chores our parents had set us (one of the down sides of being home for Easter).
I came across this little recipe for salted caramel popcorn bars and it was just the ticket! It was pretty easy and only took about 35 minutes from start to ready to eat. I made some changes to adapt it to a UK recipe, e.g swapping corn syrup for golden syrup but there was no problem and they came out wonderfully and really tasty! I also don't have a candy thermometer like the original recipe calls for but there are ways around that which I'll get to. Definitely give these a try if you like the sound of them, they were really delicious, even for my picky little brother!
I came across this little recipe for salted caramel popcorn bars and it was just the ticket! It was pretty easy and only took about 35 minutes from start to ready to eat. I made some changes to adapt it to a UK recipe, e.g swapping corn syrup for golden syrup but there was no problem and they came out wonderfully and really tasty! I also don't have a candy thermometer like the original recipe calls for but there are ways around that which I'll get to. Definitely give these a try if you like the sound of them, they were really delicious, even for my picky little brother!
Ingredients
4 cups popped popcorn
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup golden syrup
2 tbs flour (any kind)
1 tbs Vanilla extract
Chocolate chips to taste
Coarse salt to taste
01. Heat the butter, syrup, sugar and flour in a pan over medium heat stirring occasionally. You want it to get to something called hard ball stage. To figure this out without a thermometer I had a mug of ice cold water and, every few minutes dropped a tiny amount of the mixture into it. You want it to form a ball that is hard but mouldable with your fingers (be VERY careful, unless it's cooled it will burn you and it will be horrible) for me this took about eight minutes. This picture was taken just after it reached the perfect consistency.
02. Drop in the vanilla essence and some of the salt and give it a quick stir before adding the popcorn and mixing thoroughly making sure all the pieces are nicely coated in the mixture.
03. Into a tray lined with baking paper tip the mixture out and pat down evenly. I sprinkled on a little more salt at this stage, then let it start to cool until you can sprinkle over the chocolate chips without them melting.
04. Pop it in the fridge for a while and let it cool and harden before cutting into slices. Then keep an eye on them if, like me, you have a little gannet for a brother because they might just start disappearing.
So that's the recipe, not hard at all! Let me know if you give these a try or if you've got any similar recipes to recommend.
04. Pop it in the fridge for a while and let it cool and harden before cutting into slices. Then keep an eye on them if, like me, you have a little gannet for a brother because they might just start disappearing.
So that's the recipe, not hard at all! Let me know if you give these a try or if you've got any similar recipes to recommend.
>> On Repeat . Oh Darling - Plug In Stereo <<
A friendly reminder from the glorious Iris Apfel to us mere mortals that our individuality is more
important than acceptance.
The unbelievable feathers of this parakeet photographed for National Geographic.
I sometimes feel that human attempts at art and beauty are a little bit pathetic when
I sometimes feel that human attempts at art and beauty are a little bit pathetic when
we look at what is created by nature.
On a far less 'deep' note. Need this. Now please.
And these nifty little ceramic tumblers, given a revamp with a bit of DIY graphic
printing. Would be really cute for pen/makeup brush pots OR to plant teeny tiny
flowers or cacti for a windowsill. Naww.
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Sammy's amazing girly Game of Thrones nail art. These are freaking glorious. If I had any
nail skills whatsoever I would be on that. But I don't so I'll just praise hers.
This handy guide to pulling off the harshest pastel colours this summer.
9 Practical Party tips for the Unpopular and Awkward. Also known as an article I
have bookmarked in my 'Will Definitely Need' folder.
.Blogs I've Loved This Week.
>> On Repeat . Pyramids - Frank Ocean <<
I have a vague memory of saying that I wasn't particularly bothered with summery colours in my last wishlist post where I showcased a palette of greys, blues and tans translated onto floaty fabrics and summery prints... well I lied.
I always do that. I get comfortable in my Autumn/Winter colours and when the summer clothes first start coming out I'm still in that mindset, but then a few weeks go by and my eyes start wandering to the brights and pastels and before you know it my wishlist looks like a fight at a fruit factory. This season I'm particularly drawn to fluro shades, which are those weird pastelly-neons that are cropping up. I love how they look as Accessories paired with whites, washed out denim, simple makeup and hair scraped into a messy bun, I think they're fun, inoffensive and really flattering.
I also just have to include this book as well. I absolutely love Terry Pratchett, his Discworld books especially are a joy to read, wonderfully written with brilliant characters and just so much fun. So imagine my delight when I was browsing through Waterstones and found these amazing special editions! I have a serious soft spot for beautifully covered books and just couldn't resist. Straight away I bought Good Omens (which he wrote with Neil Gaiman) and this one, Mort, is next on my list followed by several others... A long row of these have already materialised on the fantasy section of my future dream bookshelf.
Let me know if you like anything from this list and what's been on your wishlist recently!
At the beginning of February my friend, the lovely Beth, owner of Beth Tinkerbell organised a blogger book swap in which we were each paired up with another blogger, exchanged a few emails about our favourite types of books and went on the hunt with a £10 budget for some books to send to our swap partner. I was paired with Toni over at The Left of Perfect.
Yesterday I received Toni's half of the swap and thought I'd show you what she chose for me. I did have to chase the postman down the street with my jeans on back to front to get them as when he rang the doorbell I was still snuggled up in bed in my pyjamas... it wasn't noon yet it was fine.The three titles Toni sent me are perfect. I love things that are dark and a little twisted and I love a good fantasy series to sink my teeth into so I can't wait to curl up with these reads
The Gunslinger - Stephen King The first in a long running fantasy series that Toni tells me has a similarity to Game of Thrones (which we both love.) I love Stephen King's horror books but have never tried out his fantasy stuff so I'm looking forward to enjoying this and hopefully finding a new series to start obsessively devouring.
Wool - Hugh Howey Another in the seemingly endless flow of dystopian fiction. I usually get bored of book 'trends' really quickly but this one looks different from anything I've read yet. From what I gather it tells the story of a community of people living in an underground silo protected from the uninhabitable outside world, but things are not as simple as they seem. I've already read a few chapters and am really enjoying it. My mouth dropped open at one point and we're only a few chapters in!
Really excited to get through these now I've got a bit of time over Easter so a big thank you to Toni for some fab additions to my bookshelves! Look out for reviews once I've read these and I'll let you know how I get on with them.
Thankyou for reading!
>> On Repeat . Dreams - Wet <<
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Hello lovely people! Things are finally getting warm and sunny here in the UK and that means I get to start revamping my makeup and skincare for the summertime... something that makes me embarrassingly excited. Having had a browse through my collection and pulled out everything I've been gravitating towards recently and lain them out I've noticed a theme emerging, and that's brights.
Summer always sees me going for bright colourful polishes, my favourite currently being recent purchase Barry M's Green Berry and old favourite Essie's Cute As A Button, glossy shades of turquoise and coral that look great on fingers and toes and complement any skin tone, tanned or not (usually not in my case).
Lips have gone a similar route, I've been pairing a bare lid and plenty of mascara or a clean flick of liner with a lovely bright lip making a nice change from the nudes and tinted balms I've worn all winter. Revlon's Strawberry Shortcake is a glossy pink that's comfortable to wear and perfect for a flattering everyday look. I love the classic look of a red lip and Strawberry Suede by Revlon is a wonderful creamy matte red that's bright and, unlike a lot of reds, actually looks really cute with freckles (which usually invade my face in the summer) MAC's Flamingo is a bright, satin coral that can be lightly dabbed on for everyday or layered for a more glamorous lips that screams warm summer evenings.
For cheeks I've been favoring a very effortless approach. Sculpting and mixing shades are things that belong to my AW winter routine. as the weather warms up I just want to dust a bit of a glow over my cheeks and get out in the warmth. I've mainly been reaching for either MAC's Pink Swoon, a bright pink flush that is perfect on the apples of the cheeks or this Soft Lights Blush by Smashbox, a gorgeous creamy powder that can be used in sections, or swirled together and dusted over the high points of the face for a glowing bronze sheen.
So those are my picks for SS14. I'll definitely be doing a skincare section for this as well, as my skin changes dramatically season to season.
Thankyou for reading, let me know what your summer staples are.
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MAC Flamingo - Revlon Strawberry Shortcake - Revlon Strawberry Suede
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Essie Cute As A Button - Barry M Green Berry
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MAC Pink Swoon - Smashbox Soft Lights Powder
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