a sort of ‘read more’ rant

1/3 of 13 year olds and 45% of 17 year olds say that they read for pleasure once or twice a year.

2/3 of 400 English teachers say that their students consider reading ‘uncool’.

The proportion of teens who never or hardly read has tripled since 1984.

On average, children from the ages of 8-18 spend 10 hours and 45 minutes online.

READ A BOOK FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

What do we get out of social media? (She says from a laptop)

But, what do we get out of 10 hours and 45 minutes spent online?

Why is reading ‘uncool’?

It develops the imagination, you learn new things, it improves your spelling, and has been proven that it makes us more emotive!  (When you read ‘The Fault In Our Stars’, don’t tell me that you did not feel one tear drip down your cheek).

Why is it that we see more people on their phones on a train rather than a book?

Scrolling through statuses and tweets, instead of turning pages…

I’m no social media saint. I do go on my phone. It’s an easy way to communicate with your loved ones, right?

But I do feel that reading gives you so much more than you actually think.

I’m doing this topic for a talk thingy in English and the stats I mentioned at the start shocked me, I just had to share them.

So,if you haven’t picked up a book in a while…

Why don’t you? You’ll be surprised at what reading can do to you.

As always, have a good day!:)

Gracie x

If you’re looking for a lovey dovey quick read, this is it!-Eleanor&Park

Hello there:)

Well, I finished this book in just over a week. It’s a quick read, which is great for those who are not fans of lengthy books or those who are looking for something simple. I think the reason why this book was done and dusted in such little time was due to the addictiveness of it. And, let’s be honest here, that is one of the qualities we look for in a book. For it to be addictive!

Also, if you are into those romancey smancey books, this is for you! It’s a cute story, and the author, Rainbow Rowell, captured young love beautifully throughout the book. 

To sum it up:

-Eleanor is the new girl at school, with a broken family. Unfortunately, she is cast as an outsider and doesn’t get along with the students.

-Park is the inbetweener guy. He isn’t a loser, but not Mr Popular either. He just has a love for comics and good music.

-They both fall for each other. Bet you didn’t see that coming.

It’s a typical crossed lover story, yet done in an original way.

The fact that they both come from such different backgrounds makes it interesting and raises tense moments which get you flicking through the pages.

Those lovely comments being said…

This read was a bit of a let down in some parts.

Not an awful lot actually happens. Yes, Eleanor and Park’s love gradually escalates but within that time nothing seems to stick out. Their love for each other also popped out of the blue. One day it’s sharing comics, the next day BAM Park is holding Eleanor’s hand.

In addition, there were some parts where tension really could have exploded, but instead it just…burnt out.

Last but not least, the ENDING. Cliffhanger’s when there is no following book kill me! Thank you author for letting me make up my own ending but I just can’t do that!

Like I said earlier, this book really is for you if you’re after a simple and quick read and are into those cute love stories.

This was incredibly hard to rate, but I came to the conclusion of 3.7/5!

Have a good day!:)

Gracie x

August Favourites!

Aloha!

Tomorrow is the start of September…how fast has the summer gone?! Although I am very excited for winter, I can’t help but feel a little freaked out…why is this year flying by so quickly?

Anywhoo, I have seen many bloggers post monthly favourites, and so why should I miss out?

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Liz Earle Hot Cloth Cleanser

Unfortunately, I do not own this product. *Cry*. However, my lovely mother does. She was kind enough to let me borrow it, and I am incredibly surprised that she let me pretty much use it all up. I have sensitive skin, and makeup wipes make my face go blotchy and red. Ew. But this wonder cools my skin, softens it and removes makeup amazingly. I’m pretty sure I will have to invest in my own one soon…

Kasabian

After I mentioned my new found love for this band in a recent post, I have been obsessed. They have been a key part of my life during August, I cannot go one day without listening to LSF or Fast Fuse or Underdog. If anyone would be lovely enough to buy me tickets for their upcoming tour I promise I will love you forever.

Bobbi Brown Corrector

Again, this is one of my mother’s treasures. May I say that I do not steal her products, I do ask beforehand! After I saw this in her makeup bag and noticed that it had not been touched, she allowed it to be under my ownership, mwahaha. I have dark circles under my eyes, which can be difficult to cover up at times. NOT ANYMORE! This stuff is great, and once I cover it up with my Benefit Boing concealer, my dark circles are literally eliminated.

Favourite Worst Nightmare

You should know that I flipping adore Arctic Monkeys. In terms of their albums, I have always been more of a ‘Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I Am Not’ fan. Don’t get me wrong, I love many songs from their album ‘Favourite Worst Nightmare’. However, during August my love for that particular album has grown an awful lot! Please do give this album a listen, you will not regret it.

Nivea Makeup Remover

I started to feel guilty as I was using up a lot of my mother’s Liz Earle stuff. So, I went into Boots and bought a Nivea one instead, for a very reasonable price at £3.00. I have not noticed any major breakouts since using this product, my makeup is gone in an instant, and most importantly…it works brilliantly on sensitive skin.

Wreck It Ralph

I have always been slightly put off watching this film due to the game theme. But it was cold, grey and raining (welcome to England) and I just had to watch a film with a cup of tea. This film is amazing. The message delivered is important, the characters are hilarious, the plot is just wow, and the attention to detail with the arcade/game theme is brilliant. I can easily say that this has made it into my top 10 Disney movies and that Vanellope Von Schweetz is one of my favourite Disney characters.

Eleanor&Park

I read this book within a week. It was very addictive, and just an easy love story to read. I will do a post about this book in more detail sometime this week I promise!

 

Burt’s Bees Lip Balm

My lips are a little dry. When I say ‘a little’ that’s an understatement. Then I picked up this beauty at Boots, and I have worn it almost everyday. It smoothens my lips instantly, and lasts long!

No 7 Lash Impact Mascara

Usually, I use the Falsies by Maybelline. But I went for a change, and chose to use this one instead. I actually prefer this to the Falsies, a much loved favourite by many people! I still do like the Falsies, but I find that this No 7 one does not cause as many clumps, it really extends your lashes, lasts ages, and glides on to your lashes beautifully. Also, please can we take a moment to appreciate the packaging?!

Oliver!

Not going to lie, I have never been all that interested in this musical. However, I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to perform in a local production of it (my first performance ever!) After rehearsing, I felt very angry at myself. ‘WHY HAVE YOU NEVER BEEN MORE KEEN ON OLIVER YOU TWIT!?!’. It’s actually such a great musical! The songs are so jolly as well, how can you not smile when singing ‘Consider Yourself’? And the performance (yesterday evening) went amazingly, I have met so many lovely and talented people. I wish them all the best for the future as I bet that some of them are going to be up there in the West End. I feel so honoured to have been part of it and cannot wait to hopefully do more productions in the future, and it will be truly wonderful if the cast of Oliver! will be in the shows I do.

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That is all! A very mixed favourites, and if you didn’t like it, well you won’t like my future favourites as they will probably be even more jumbled and random. Before I forget, I would like to apologise for the quality of some of the pictures. When I save the image, it all looks dandy, then I upload and it goes pixelated. Pffft.

Have a good day!:)

Gracie x

 

 

Mixed Feelings-The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

This morning I was awakened to a delightful Maccy D’s breakfast, and to accompany my bagel and hashbrown I decided to finish ‘The Silver Linings Playbook’ by Matthew Quick. After watching the film I was in love with the storyline, so of course I chose to also read the book.

This book is about Pat Peoples. He just left a psychiatric hospital, and has great determination to re-build his life. One of his priorities is to be reunited with his wife, Nikki. Actually, scrap what I said about ‘one of his priorities’. It’s his life mission. Part of Pat’s therapy was to drain his memory. Not all of it, just how he winded up in the ‘bad place’ as he calls it. So when he befriends Tiffany, who is also mentally unstable, the secrets that his family have been keeping him begin to unravel.

Firstly, in an earlier post I published about silver linings, that was inspired from this particular book. Pat Peoples is incredibly positive and a huge believer of silver linings. Before you read the book, I’m sure you would expect him to be all depressed. Nope! He’s a positive ray of sunshine. Which I think is a good thing, as it defeats your assumption plus lightens the mood of the book. Pat’s desire to see Nikki again is very believable. Imagine if Pat only brought up Nikki one or two times. That would be a little bit pants as he is trying to make himself a better person so that she will love him again. So I am glad that Matthew Quick stuck to that theme consistently. Also, the author has a quirky sort of writing style. I love quirkiness, so that was another good little thing:)

This book was also realistic. Another pre judgement towards The Silver Linings Playbook is that Pat’s family are going to be all happy and want to hug him 24/7 etc. That’s not exactly the case. His dad doesn’t talk to him, and is very to himself. His mother is very lovely, but struggles at times. His brother is doing well though, and has his own life, but does get a bit lairy at the football games they go to. That’s a real family, not exactly perfect.

Okay, just a few more happy pointers about this read:

-It’s such a pleasure to see Pat develop throughout the story.

-Pat is privileged to have the best therapist ever, Dr Patel. Seriously,  he’s just great. I even learnt a little lesson from him, reminding me that it is your actions which make you a good person, not your desires.

-Tiffany is a very interesting, mysterious character.

-When reading, you ask questions. These questions are not answered all at once, they are answered as you progress through the book, so it keeps you reading.

Unfortunately, the beginning does lack some excitement. By beginning, I mean the first 3 chapters. Tiffany only really gets involved at the end also. After seeing the film, I was excited to get to know her character in greater depth, but you only develop emotions for her at the end of the book. Finally, I got bored of the football talk and football game chapters. Probably because I don’t really like sport, so it’s just my opinion! Although Matthew Quick did add in some interesting moments at the football games, so that made it more bearable for me.

I can’t decide if I prefer the book or the film. Usually it is the book, but this one has really been an on going battle for me all day so far. The film is actually pretty different to the book, there are quite a lot of details left out. I really cannot choose. Hmmm.

Just a quick disclaimer: When I do my book reviews, please remember that it’s my personal thoughts on the book. That doesn’t mean that you will feel the exact same way, and that’s fine! Everyone is entitled to their own opinions! So please don’t think that I am trying to brainwash you with my opinion!:)

Overall, I award the book 3.7/5. Very precise, I know.

Have a good day!:)

Gracie x

 

 

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Leuithan

I may have said a few times before that I’m a little bit of a bookworm. And, seeing as I have recently finished a book, I thought it’s about time that I do a book review!

I have a habit of writing mini reviews on the back page of my books when I finish them, which means that I can even do reviews of books that I read months and months ago due to my habit.

But seeing as I finished Will Grayson, Will Grayson by the fantastic John Green and lovely David Leuithan a few weeks ago, I thought I might as well start with that one:)

In a nutshell, it is about two teenage boys, who both have the same name. But one night they both moosh into each other’s lives. Moosh.

I thought that the storyline was very unique despite the simplicity of it. Two boys who have the same name…yet, it’s effective! I guess it’s the way how their lives intertwine is what captures the individuality of it. It’s so damn addictive too! I was constantly flicking through the pages, it was hard to pull me away!

Now the two Will’s, are incredibly different. If there was a spectrum for personalities, they are definitely on different ends. It was so nice to have a contrast between the two character’s, plus one of the Will Grayson’s is depressed. How could David Leuithan shown the difference between the other, happy Will Grayson? By using lowercase letters at all times. Is it me, or is that idea just genius?! The little things count, they really do.

Tiny Cooper. God, I love that boy. He is hilarious. Seriously, I fell in love with his character. He comes across as this big jolly fella, (which is purely why he is so loved!) but in one of the chapter’s he has a breakdown. I am so glad that the authors incorporated that because you wouldn’t expect Tiny to have his own insecurities, yet he does. Just goes to show that not everyone is how they show themselves to be. Plus, that guy is a musical hero. He created, directed and composed his own musical, ‘Hold Me Closer’ and not kidding, I genuinely want to see that on stage one day.

Now a few bad points…I don’t like this part. The first Will Grayson we are introduced to, does he actually have much of a purpose? I don’t want to spoil it here but all I remember him for is just being Tiny’s best friend and for falling in love. Hmm. I still liked him though!

Also, the ending. Little bit confused there. It ended on a high note, it was all happy and left me in a good mood but…UNANSWERED QUESTIONS!!!!!! GGRRR! What’s Tiny’s ending in the end? And the second Will Grayson? And the guy who gave Tiny his number? Aaah!

Overall, a great book. I loved the language and there were some thought provoking paragraphs included which I really should have bookmarked so I could share them. I’m rubbish.

Also, I really want to read some of David Leuithan’s books! Anybody read them?

Out of 5 stars I award it 4.5!

Have a good day!:)

Gracie x