A little break

Okay, I am such a bad blogger on here. 

Things have been crazy busy and I have fallen behind on my personal blog as well. 

I have decided to step back from this one for a few weeks until I get caught up on my other blog and have some more time. Hopefully by the time I come back I will have some awesome things to blog about and can feel better about taking the time to do it!

So check back in a few weeks and I will try not to make it too long of a break.

David Tennant

Almost a year and a half ago I did my post all about David Tennant. 

It's no secret that I love him as an actor and as a Doctor. 

My friend shared a video on Facebook of him winning an award the other day and I loved watching it so much that I decided that I would share that today....

Here it is!

The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

This month I read The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis for book club.

I have loved everything I have read by Lewis so far so I had high expectations for this book. 

Then I was a bit disappointed.

As I read I had to keep re-reading passages because my mind would wander or I would forget what I was reading. Then out of nowhere I would come to a passage that said something to me and I would underline and annotate. 

I went through this pattern throughout the entire book. Lewis is so intelligent and sometimes his writing can feel daunting and overdone. I felt this way frequently.

In this book he discusses what he thinks are the four different types of love that we have the ability to feel: affection, friendship, eros, and charity.

My favorite chapter by far was friendship. I felt like he nailed what it is like to really be friends, not just acquaintances or companions. And also how distance and time won't change that friendship if it is a real one based on mutual interests and that, "What? You too? I thought I was the only one!" feeling.

So I came out of this book thinking... meh. Mostly good but not my favorite.

BUT... then I went to book club. 

I love my book club but we do have the tendency to talk about the book, go off on a tangent, go back to the book, then off again for the entire night. 

This was the first time we stayed on topic for the entire time once we got started. Also we talked for probably 2 hours or more. What I found was that things that didn't stand out to me while I was reading did stand out to the others and as we discussed them, all of a sudden I was passionate about that part of the book too. 

It was a really interesting thing to experience and I found that I actually got so much more out of this book than I thought I did. Because of how I felt talking about it I would really recommend this book. I think it is a great book to use in a book club or to buddy read with someone so that you have someone to bounce ideas around with.That way you will probably experience, as I did, a renewed appreciation and interest in it as you share with others. 

Doctor Thorne

For Christmas I got the new series by Julian Fellowes (the creator of Downton Abbey), Doctor Thorne. It is a shorter mini- series with only a few episodes. 

I loved it right from the start. 

The actors are great. The story was really good and one that I didn't know as I have never read the book it was based on. 

It made me happy, sad, and at the end it made me laugh so hard. 

I took it down to my parents house within a couple of weeks to share it with my mom and I loved it just as much on the second viewing... and she really enjoyed it as well. 

I think if you like period dramas and Julian Fellowes' other works I think you will really enjoy Doctor Thorne as well. 

It was also really fun to see the filming location of Castle Combe as we visited there!

Here is the trailer:

Sorry!

Sorry guys that I have missed my Thursday's post! I have had two kids sick back to back and then I have been sick this entire week. I will be back next week!

Let's talk about: The Case of Beasts

Last year I was there on opening night to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. 

I loved it so it is no surprise that for Christmas two of my gifts were Fantastic Beasts related. 

One of them is The Case of Beasts, Explore the Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them written by Mark Salisbury and designed by Mina Lima.

I love the look of this book. It is quite big and heavy and the outside is made to look like his suitcase. 

You open up the side. It is magnetic so that it flaps down on the front of the book and holds. 

When you open it up it is like a lot of the movie tie ins I have with pictures, information, and fun design bits and bobs. 

There is a section of the different characters. 

 

We also have sections for Macusa, New York City, The other characters, visual effects, and the Beasts themselves. 

There are so many fun pull out items. 

 

The design is beautiful and so fun to flip through. 

 

I read through the entire thing in the days after Christmas and really enjoyed the background information and pictures. 

It would make a great coffee table book however I have it on my Harry Potter shelf with my other books!

If you are a huge Harry Potter fan that now also loves Fantastic Beasts and you also like to get behind the scenes information you will love this book. 

Let's talk about: Mr. Holmes

Last week I watched Mr. Holmes starring Ian McKellen. 

Mr. Holmes is the story of an older Sherlock Holmes. He is suffering from worsening dementia and has retired to his cottage with his housekeeper and her son. He is trying to remember the details of his last case, one that haunts him as he is sure that he did something wrong because of it being his last... but he can't remember what it was.

Along the way he befriends the his housekeepers son, Roger, and shares his struggles to remember the case with him and teaches him to take care of his beloved bees. 

I really enjoyed this film. 

It is superbly acted, as you would expect from Ian McKellen and Laura Linney (she plays the housekeeper). Milo Parker plays her son and he is so adorable and wonderful in this role. 

There were a few times when I thought I wasn't going to like it anymore as it had a few really sad parts and one part that seemed like it was going to be... but thankfully got better. 

I loved the idea of seeing Sherlock Holmes in a way that we haven't seen him before. 

I highly recommend it. 

Here is the trailer: 

2017: Moving Forward

This year has slipped away from me when it came to blogging. 

I have found that both of my blogs have been neglected, but especially this one. 

Which is crazy since I love this one so much and have had so much fun with it. 

So, I realized I need to set a goal for this blog in order to make sure that I keep up with it in 2017. 

I used to have a daily theme but after a few months it was really hard to keep going 5 days a week. 

Then I said I would just post as I felt like it. Obviously that didn't work either. 

So going forward I plan on posting every week. 

On Thursday. 

Each week will have a theme. 

First week of the month: Movies

Second week of the month: Books

Third week of the month: Celebrity whether that be actor, actress, singer, author, YouTube, etc. 

Fourth week of the month: Misc. 

On the occasion of a fifth week I will post another misc. type post that could be anything. 

I hope to, and might, post more than just the once a week post but I figure that if I commit to this I have a goal to work towards to keep me focused but not overwhelmed. 

Let me know, as always, if you have any suggestions for posts or anything you are really interested in me posting about!

I hope you have had a wonderful 2016 and an even better 2017!

Cheers!

Let's Talk About: The Cursed Child, a new play by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany, and J.K. Rowling

I was so excited when I heard this play was coming out with the script in book form. 

I got it at Target the Monday after it came out. 

I started reading it as soon as I got home and I finished it within a few hours. 

I had heard mixed reviews so I went into it with low expectations and I was blown away. 

Was it without flaws? No. But it is a script of a play meant to be seen on stage. So I think it is a little unfair to expect it to feel exactly the same as a Harry Potter novel. 

But I wanted to base my opinion on this book on how I felt while I was reading it. 

And I felt happy. 

I think it was a really fun read and I LOVED seeing all of our old friends and a few new ones. 

Scorpius Malfoy was my favorite and I loved that. 

I plan on reading it again very soon and I gave it 5 stars.

I didn't want it to be rated the exact same as the original books but I also liked it enough that I rounded up the 4.5 stars to 5. 

If you have heard bad things and read bad reviews... still read it. 

You may love it. Don't let others influence how you feel about it whether that is to love it or to hate it. It is okay to love things that aren't perfect and that entertain you.

I will never get enough Harry Potter!

Celebrating Beatrix Potter video

Let's talk about: Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge

"Christ Church, Oxford is the location of this tale of the Leigh family, set in the days of Queen Elizabeth I.

In her notes about the origin of the book Elizabeth Goudge writes: "It is impossible to live in an old city and not ask oneself continually, what was it like in ages gone by? Who were the men, women and children who lived in my home centuries ago, and what were their thoughts and actions as they lived out their lives day by day in the place where I now live mine?" (Goodreads)

I picked up this book at the beginning of the year after hearing about it on YouTube.

I planned on reading it before our trip as I knew that it contained history of Oxford.

But I never got the chance to read it before we went. I took advantage of the read-a-thon week to spend a couple of days devouring it.

And I did devour it.

I LOVED this book.

 "The first gray of dawn stole mysteriously into a dark world, so gradually that it did not seem as though day banished night, it seemed rather that night itself was slowly transfigured into something fresh and new. 

So shall I be changed, whispered a dirty, ragged boy who lay on a pile of dried bracken, two books beneath his head for a pillow, within a gypsy tent, and he sat up and grinned broadly at the queer gray twilight that stood like a friend in the narrow doorway." (first paragraph of the book)

This is the first book I have ever read by Elizabeth Goudge and I am now going to search my library for anything and everything by her. She writes beautifully and weaves the history of Oxford into the life of one particular family and those that surround them so well.

I love the characters although I feel like Oxford is the main character... if that makes sense.

We basically get a look through a window to the past of Oxford and how it came to be, how those who lived there in the 1500's lived, and how they interacted.

She also includes real life figures into the story such as Sir Walter Raleigh, Philip Sidney, and Queen Elizabeth the first.

There were times in this book when I had to re-read a sentence because I loved it so much... like when she was describing the ugly cuteness of one of the characters:

" The Creator, when He thought good to take Faithful out of eternity and cast him upon the earth, had taken him out of the same box as the baby donkeys and the penguins..."

While this book was the longest of the read-a-thon I loved every minute of it and almost wished it was longer.

I think my love of Oxford also helped to nurture my feelings for the book as it was set at Christ Church which was one of the places we explored. As it talked about the history there and about the buildings I could picture it and knew exactly what she was talking about. I loved that. I also loved learning things about Oxford that I didn't know before reading it.

I really can't say enough about this book.

I loved it.

"It is the dreams that are died for that live."

I highly recommend this book to anyone.

Read-a-Thon Wrap Up!

I loved doing the Scones and Crackers read-a-thon last week. I hope that any of you that joined in enjoyed it as well. 

I plan on trying to do another one around the beginning of 2017. 

So keep that in mind and I will announce that sometime in December or January. 

I was able to get a lot of reading done last week! I picked quite a few shorter books that only took a couple hours to read so I was able to get done even more than I thought I could. 

I will briefly share what I read but I will go into more detail about each book in individual reviews to come! I will link each one to the reviews as they are posted.

I was able to mark off each of the challenges: 

1) A book by one of your favorite British authors: 

 

 

For this one I read Stancliffe's Hotel by Charlotte Bronte. 

 

2) A non-fiction book:

 

 

For my non-fiction category I read C. S. Lewis' autobiography, Surprised by Joy.

 

3) A book of poetry: 

I read The Golden Store, an illustrated selection of poetry by William Wordsworth. 

4) A play:

 

 

I read Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare. 

 

5) A book that takes place in your favorite British location: 

 

 Towers in the Mist by Elizabeth Goudge takes place in Oxford which was one of my very favorite places we visited in England. 

 

6) Extras:  

 

I still had a couple of days left and so I was able to read two more books. 

 

First I read Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher. It was a bit longer but it was a really easy read so only took a couple of days. 

 

I had one more C.S. Lewis book and another Jane Austen book that I was hoping to get to but we ended up having a really busy weekend where I didn't get very much reading done. 

I had a little time on Saturday and Sunday so I grabbed Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen adapted into a graphic novel by Nancy Butler and Sunny Liew. 

Because it as a graphic novel it only took a couple of hours. 

 

  

Overall it was a great reading week. There weren't any that I hated and only two that I didn't love. 

More to come!

What did you read?

Read-a-thon TBR

It's time!

Next week is my Read-a-thon. 

For a reminder, what do I do during the British Read-a-thon?

I read books that are written by or about British people or have British locations. 

It can be pretty much anything. 

This year I want to add some more fun to it in the way of challenges. 

You can choose to do one, none, or all of them!

I am setting five challenges for the books. 

Challenges:

                                                1) A book by your favorite British author

                                                2) A non fiction book

                                                3) A play

                                                4) A book of Poetry

                                                5) A book that takes place in your favorite British location. 

That's it!

I am setting myself an extra goal of reading 7 books because that is how many books I was able to read during my first experience doing Ariel Bisset's booktubeathon this summer. I have a few very short books that shouldn't take long to read so I am hoping to reach that goal or even more!

I will also be doing a photo challenge on Instagram every day. 

I will post my picture every morning with the theme and if you are on Instagram and want to participate you can use the hashtags I will include so we can all see the pictures! 

It should be really fun!

I will wait to tell you which book I am reading for which challenge and why until my Read-a-thon recap but I will share the picture of my To Be Read list: 

There it is! My seven books I hope to read next week! 

Let me know in the comments if you plan on reading along and if you want to- share your TBR pile on Instagram, the comments here, or your own blog!

Let's talk about: On the Other Side by Carrie Hope Fletcher

"A love story like no other, this is the debut novel from Carrie Hope Fletcher, author of the Sunday Times No. 1 bestseller All I Know Now.

Evie Snow is eighty-two when she quietly passes away in her sleep, surrounded by her children and grandchildren. It's the way most people wish to leave the world but when Evie reaches the door of her own private heaven, she finds that she's become her twenty-seven-year-old self and the door won't open.

Evie's soul must be light enough to pass through so she needs to get rid of whatever is making her soul heavy. For Evie, this means unburdening herself of the three secrets that have weighed her down for over fifty years, so she must find a way to reveal them before it's too late. As Evie begins the journey of a lifetime, she learns more about life and love than she ever thought possible, and somehow , some way, she may also find her way back to her long lost love . . " (Goodreads)

I pre-ordered this book through Book Depository months ago so that I wouldn't have to wait for it to be released in the United States. 

As I have mentioned before, Carrie Hope Fletcher is one of my favorite YouTubers. She is adorable, talented, and seems like a very nice person. I read her non fiction book for teenagers, All I Know Now, last year and enjoyed it. You can read all of my thoughts on it here.

I wasn't sure what to expect from her debut fiction novel. 

First of all, the book is beautiful. The dust jacket is beautiful and the hard cover underneath it is just as pretty. I love a pretty book. 

I gave it four stars on Goodreads but really it was more of a 3.5 star review for me (when are they going to start having half stars!?) and there were moments in the book that would have only been three stars. But there were also four star (and more) moments for me as I found it to be very unique and engaging. I thought about it when I wasn't reading and I really enjoyed the story. 

It is strong on the magical realism which I didn't realize going in so that caught me off guard at first and there were times when I had a hard time with staying engaged through the "magical" elements. 

I compared it to Alice in Wonderland meets Somewhere in Time mainly because there were times when reading Alice that I asked myself, "What the?" and I did the same with this book. And there were things that reminded me of Somewhere in Time that I won't go into because... spoilers. 

If you are looking for diversity/ representation in a book this is a good one to go to. There are three characters that are LGBTQ+ (one bisexual, one pansexual, and one gay). 

I think that, just like her first book, this story will really appeal to her teenage and early twenties audience but it really is for all ages.

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I think that Carrie is a strong writer and I think she will only improve over time. 

3.5 stars ***

Let's talk about: Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Before this year I had never read a novel by Virginia Woolf but I really wanted to. So this year I picked Mrs. Dalloway for one of my choices for my book club. 

I bought my copy at the Shakespeare and Company book store in Paris, France while I was on my trip to Europe and started reading it on a train through Switzerland. 

That may have something to do with my romantic feelings toward this book....

or maybe it is just a darn good book.

I was worried before reading Mrs. Dalloway as I found out that it is written in the stream of conciousness style which I loathed when I read The Sound and The Fury by William Faulkner a few years ago. 

But this was immediately different. I felt like she wrote how we actually think. 

I could follow it and the characters felt and sounded different to me for the most part. 

I actually enjoyed the seamless transitions from character to character. 

There were no chapters and it would focus on one thing from one character's point of view and then slip into the mind of another person seeing the same thing. 

Her writing is beautiful and her talent just shines in this book. 

I had my pencil close by at all times to underline passages. These were some of my favorite: 

"The compensation of growing old, Peter Walsh thought, coming out of Regent's Park, and holding his hat in his hand, was simply this; that the passions remain as strong as ever, but one has gained- at last!- the power which adds the supreme flavour to existence- the power of taking hold of experience, of turning it round, slowly, in the light."

"for what can one know even of the people one lives with every day?."

"Despairing of human relationships (people were so difficult), she often went into her garden and got from her flowers a peace which men and women never gave her."

There are so many more!

 I highly recommend this book. 

 

Read-a-thon announcement

Hey everyone!

It's almost time for another British read-a-thon!

Right now I am planning on doing a read-a-thon the week of August 21st-28th. 

This is the week after my kids go back to school so I figured it would be a good week to gift myself with permission to read as much as possible!

As a reminder for the British read-a-thon I read books that are written by or about British authors/ people and/or take place in the U.K.

I have already started mentally preparing my To Be Read list. 

I hope that some of you will decided to join in!

I will post again a few days before the read-a-thon begins to let you know what my TBR list is going to be and maybe come up with some fun challenges for anyone wanting to join in!

Queen's College Library

We visited Queen's College Library while in Oxford and it was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. 

To read all about it go here.

Let's Talk About: Secrets of Chatsworth

After visiting Chatsworth in England I watched the documentary Secrets of Chatsworth on Netflix. 

I found it to be so interesting. 

I tried to look it up on there again and it looks like they have taken it off but you can watch it on YouTube. 

I highly recommend checking it out!

Giveaway Announcement

It is July 1st and I promised I would announce the winner of my blog birthday giveaway today!

I had Madeline help me with picking the name out of a bowl. 

And the winner for the birthday giveaway is.....

Marcia (The Kings)

Congratulations! I will get the package to you soon!

Highclere Castle

Highclere Castle is beautiful. 

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey, I am sure it is on your bucket list should you ever find yourself in England. 

So of course when I was there we had to visit it. 

Highclere Castle was designed by Sir Charles Barry in 1842. He also designed the Houses of Parliament in London and you can see the similar styles. 

You have to get tickets from their website and they offer limited tours throughout the year. Sometimes they do special parties and events and other times it is just a time that you are allowed to come tour. You can tour just the house and gardens, just the gardens, or also add on the Egyptian Exhibit. 

When you tour the house you get to see the Library which was absolutely beautiful. It was a dream come true to walk through that library. 

You also tour the Music Room, the Drawing Room, The Saloon, The Dining Room and you walk around looking into the bedrooms as well. 

The gardens are extensive and you could spend hours on them alone. 

In the Egyptian Exhibition you get to learn a lot about the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and his discoveries. He, along with his partner Howard Carter, discovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun in 1922. It was extremely interesting to see this exhibit. 

You can eat in the house as well and they have a little gift shop around back. 

I was a little disappointed in the gift shop as their collection of Downton Abbey themed items was very small. But they still had a lot of beautiful items and I was able to get some Highclere specific things. 

It was a wonderful experience and I highly recommend a visit to Highclere!

To read more about our visit go here.