Books || February Book Haul

                                     

As an avid reader I am constantly collecting new books on my travels or sometimes just on a rainy afternoon on Amazon and this month I have managed to acquire A LOT. I was extremely lucky at the beginning of the month to have a work experience placement at Penguin (an absolute dream) and they have a set of shelves where each department basically puts any books they don't need or want anymore for anyone to take and your entitled to two a day, so I definitely took advantage to get some more variety into my personal library. I've also indulged in some kindle offers and rather guiltily bought myself some books when buying presents for someone else. So here's all the books I've gotten throughout the course of February:

Work Experience:

So the following are the books I got whilst during my work experience, so are published by either Penguin or Random House

The Accident Season – Moira Fowley-Doyle – A book I'd heard a lot about during my previous work experience at Random House I had to satisfy my curiosity when I saw copies available  

Little Lies - Liane Moriarty

The Day We Disappeared – Lucy Robinson

Techbitch – Lucy Sykes, Jo Piazza

Recipe for Life – Mary Berry  - Despite this being an autobiography, which are usually aren't my type of thing I just couldn't resist as a huge fan of Mary

Him & Me – Jack Whitehall

Love Tanya – Tanya Burr – As someone who has been a fan of Tanya's for years I couldn't resist picking this one up whilst I was there

The Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files – Pittacus Lore – I've never gotten round to reading these despite reading the rest in the series since I thought these were only available as e-books so it was great to get a physical copy  

Kindle Purchases:

I know these books were all on offer around Valentines day so I decided to give into romance and treat myself

Lobsters – Lucy Euson and Tom Ellen

The Lover's Dictionary: A Love Story in 185 Definitions – David Levithan  - Having heard a little about this book, my curiosity was definitely peaked and given the low price I couldn't resist

The Rosie Effect – Graeme Simsion – I fell in love with the Rosie Project and Don Tillman when I read it so after trying to resist because I had so many other books to read I finally gave in to the second instalment of the story

Penguin Little Black Classics:

I saw these in a Youtube video and couldn't resist when I went into Waterstones, for 80p a piece and  the perfect size to fit in your handbag it would be rude not to buy a few. There are a total of 80 in the collection and for now I chose:

(No. 15) Femme Fatale – Guy de Mau Passant

(No. 33) The Beautifull Cassandra – Jane Austen – Which I hadn't heard of before so am very

much looking forward to giving it a go.

(No. 42) The Yellow Wall-Paper – Charlotte Perkins Gillman – I know this was reference to frequently in criticism for the module I did at uni on Victorian and Decadent literature and shamefully I can't remember whether I read it or not, either as a second read or a first I'm looking forward to it.

(No. 53) The Goblin Market – Christina Rossetti – I remember reading an extract in A Level English to compare it with Chaucer's Wife of Bath, but despite being intrigued by the poem have never read the whole thing, so after much anticipation I look forward to reading this.

Baking || Making Beer Bread

Bread is not something I would usually attempt to bake, mainly because it can be so time consuming waiting for it to rise and I'm someone who simply likes to have my cake and eat it too. However I am always up for a challenge and enjoy trying new things especially when it comes to baking or cooking so when I was given this as a gift I was excited to give it a go (especially since it combines cooking with drinking, always a perk).

I have only ever made bread from packet mixes but even so they can be time consuming, but this one was so much easier than any I've tried in the past. All you have to do is add a bottle of beer to the ingredients in the packet, mix together and pop in a greased loaf tin in the oven for 45 minutes. The packet does give the option to use cider if you prefer but I was a little skeptical about this adding an extra flavour to the bread of apple.

I was given the Chilli and Garlic mix and it was definitely a lot better than I expected it to be. The garlic flavour was delicious and the chilli definitely gave an extra kick to the flavour. 
Having searched amazon there are quite a selection of other flavours which sound great so I definitely think I'll be buying another to try in the future given the success and ease of this one.

-Cloee xoxo

Monthly Favourites || January

Book: 

Literary Listography: This book combines two of my favourite things, lists and books. It was so great to go through the book and look back on what I've read over the year and go through my shelves to fill it in and is something I can continue to fill in as I read more.

Film: 
Into the Woods: Fairy Tales + Musical = Winner 

T.V Shows: 
Pretty Little Liars: I have been hooked to this show for a LONG time, but finally it's on Netflix exclusively and every Wednesday I can get up ad watch a new episode (YAY)

The Undateables: I'm usually a bit a of a cynic when it comes to love, but this series on Channel 4 is brilliant in providing a look into the world of dating from a variety of perspectives.

Music:
Hozier: Hozier

James Bay: Hold Down the River

Food and Drink: 
Costa Caramel Latte: Christmas has gone and sadly so have the festive drinks (Boo!) so I've had to move on and find a new drink at Costa and this is it.

Chambord (Black Raspberry Liqueur): Perfect with a glass of Prosecco

Cocoa loco organic Chocolate & Raspberry Stars: the perfect bite size treat 

Beauty: 
Rimmel - Brow This Way (medium brown): This is just so quick and simple to use and keeps your brows in place for the day as well as giving some colour and is a lot easier than using an eyebrow pencil. 

Miscellaneous:
Yankee Candle Tea Lights - Angel Wings: I got these in my stocking for Christmas and they give such a gentle and soothing scent perfect for lighting in the evening whilst you snuggle up with a good book.

-Cloee xoxo 

Books || 712 More Things to Write

Creative writing is something I haven't done since I was in school when I basically had to. However it is something that I would like to get into again, but it is something I often find myself struggling with. As someone who often suffers from writers block I can never come up with an idea, but once I have one I can write for hours. So to get me back into the swing of things I decided to purchase this book, after having bought my sister the drawing equivalent for Christmas and seeing as she successfully got on with it I decided to branch out and take another attempt at creative writing, but for fun this time.

As the title would imply the book is filled with 712 prompts for writing ideas and guides you through various scenarios to write about and perspectives to write from. The pages inside vary between those divided into four, two or given one topic, some giving obviously short topics such as lists, personal ads or instructions. One of the great things about the topics in the book is there is such a great range, which include both opportunities for personal writing which allows you to draw on your own experiences "worst date of your life" or "how to get from your house to the nearest supermarket" as well as characters which are far removed from your own situation "the migration of Southern Floridians if sea levels have risen by three feet by 2050, at which point Miami will be underwater and uninhabitable". The topics also range throughout the book to the amount of detail which is provided for the writer from "a place from the past" to "You are a famous actor being interviewed by a bright young reporter about the movie you just made. You thought the script was lousy. You had a terrible time on set with the director. You dated and dumped your costar. You start the interview praising the film but gradually the truth slips out. Write the scene from the beginning" giving you a lot of freedom to expand the characters your creating however you wish with only a minor restriction on what you're supposed to be writing about.

My main criticism of this book would be that some of the topics provide only a small area to write in which if like me you have large handwriting or simply like to write at length then you can find yourstruggling to keep everything contained, although I guess this is dependent on the individual. Overall though I think I will find myself getting a lot of use out of this book as something to sit down with when I have nothing to do and is easy to flick through and pick a page at random. If like me you struggle with coming up with ideas or simply just want to push yourself with your creative writing then I'd definitely recommend it and it would make a great gift for any creative writers you know.

-Cloee xoxo