Quotes of the Week

It’s been a lovely sunny week, I’m so happy that it finally feels like Spring! Here are my favourite quotes from this week:

“Imagining the worst doesn’t keep it from happening.” –Lemony Snicket, Shouldn’t You Be In School?

Very true but it’s very hard not to sometimes if you’re a natural pessimist and worrier. I have got a lot better at not picturing the worst possible outcomes though!

“If you have a bruise you do not want it touched, but everyone who cares about you will want to touch it, in the hope of somehow making it better.” – Lemony Snicket, Shouldn’t You Be In School?

I just loved this quote and how sweet it is. It’s so true and so lovely. Lemony Snicket is such a good author.

Fire and Blood: A History Of Targaryen Kings Review

Ever since I started reading A Song of Ice and Fire I’ve been fascinated by the Targaryens and their dragons so this book was everything I needed!

It’s written like a history book (only more interesting), George R.R Martin is so clever. It starts with Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys. These badass dragon riders turned the Seven Kindoms into one, they were fierce, clever and beautiful. I’m really jealous of their purple eyes!

All the battles, betrayls, births and deaths are covered in this book. I really enjoyed it, especially the first half. I got quite upset when it came to the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons, because so many of the dragons die, it breaks my heart.

I hope the second book goes into detail about Robert’s Rebellion and the downfall of the Mad King because that would be so interesting. I am really excited for the second part of the series. Would like to read The Winds of Winter first though…please!!

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye Review

I love the Millennium series, Lisbeth Salander is one of my favourite characters ever, she’s so complex and badass. This is the fifth book in the series and at the beginning we find Lisbeth in prison (only for a couple of months) but she’s using her time there to read up on a complicated maths problem. Until her old guardian Holger comes to see her and tells her about a visit he received from someone in Lisbeth’s past. Lisbeth and her sister Camilla were almost part of an experiment carried out on twins.

Mikael and Lisbeth start looking into the experiment and uncovering the shady people behind it. Lisbeth is under threat, she’s on a high security ward which has been corrupted by an influential inmate. They’re beating up a young woman everyday and Lisbeth won’t stand for it.

We also delve into the stories of a pair of identical twins whose lives were ruined by the scientists who ran the twins experiment.

The book is gripping and mysterious as always with this series. The author constantly keeps us guessing. I still found myself thinking about the story and how it was going to pan out even when I wasn’t reading it. The story is all woven together so seamlessly, it’s fantastic writing.

Dan and Leo (the identical twins) break my heart, they always felt alone because they were missing the other part of themselves. Twins have such a powerful connection and splitting up twins isn’t just fiction, it really happened, it’s disgusting. I find twins so interesting so all the bits about the twins research was great to read about.

I got really in to this book, I read it really quick because I had to know what was coming next. The sixth book isn’t out yet so I have a bit of a wait to find out what happens next in Lisbeth’s mad and dangerous life!

Top Ten Tuesday – Favourite Albums

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic by thatartsyreadergirl is an audio freebie which I was very excited about! I decided to pick my top ten favourite albums and here they are:

1. Sam’s Town by The Killers (2006)

Tracks:

This is one of the first albums that I remember falling in love with, all the songs are brilliant and really spoke to me at the time and still do. The Killers will always be some of my favourites but this album especially so. My favourite tracks are This River Is Wild and When You Were Young.

2. If You Leave by Daughter (2013)

Tracks:

This band are everything, their songs are so beautiful and chilling. This is their debut album and it’s just so stunning. I could listen to them all day, forever! My favourite songs on the album are Smother, Youth and Lifeforms.

3. Atlas: Year One by Sleeping At Last (2014)

Tracks:

This album is one of the most beautiful I’ve ever listened to. It has a mixture of instrumental and lyrical songs and each one is perfection! They are calming and emotional, it takes us on a journey through space, across our oceans. Their music is just so wonderful. I use two of the the tracks as my alarms in the morning because they’re peaceful and won’t make me jump. It’s hard to pick favourites with so many songs but I think it would be South, Mercury, Pluto and West.

4. Ceremonials by Florence & the Machine (2011)

Tracks:

I love this album, it’s so dark and etheral. All of Florence & the Machine’s work is stunning but this album is my favourite. My best songs on it are Shake It Out, Never Let Me Go and Seven Devils.

5. 21 by Adele (2011)

Tracks:

Adele’s voice is so incredible, I love this album it makes me so emotional, but there are some really badass songs on it as well. Adele is so talented, it was hard to choose just one of her albums! My favourites on this one are Somone Like You and Turning Tables.

6. This Is Acting by Sia (2016)

Tracks:

This album is so powerful, Sia is amazing. It’s such an emotional and empowering album. It really means a lot to me this album. My favourite tracks are Bird Set Free, Alive and Space Between.

7. Badlands by Halsey (2015)

Tracks:

I bloody love Halsey, her music is so edgy and dark, especially this album. I was and still am obsessed with this album. The songs are so descriptive, I just love it. My favourites are Castle, Control, Gasoline and Haunting.

8. Eyes Open by Snow Patrol (2006)

Tracks:

I love this band and this album so much! My Mum loves Snow Patrol and used to listen to them a lot which is how I discovered them, me and my sisters used to sing their songs in the kitchen while we washed up after dinner. My favourite tracks are Chasing Cars, Set The Fire To The Third Bar and Headlights On Dark Roads.

9. The Lion’s Roar by First Aid Kit (2012)

Tracks:

This album is so beautiful. I love First Aid Kit’s folk style, their voices are so beautiful. This was the first album I found of theirs and I love every single song! My favourites though are Emmylou, The Lion’s Roar and In The Hearts Of Men.

10. Bad Blood by Bastille (2013)

Tracks:

This album is so epic, Bastille have such a great style. Obviously one of my favourites in Pompeii, I bloody love that song, also Daniel In The Den and Icarus!

I had so much fun making this post. What are some of your favourite albums?

Top Five Tuesday – Books Set In Space

A new Top Five Tuesday, the promts are created by Bionic Book Worm. I realised as I was thinking up this list that I have barely read any books set in space, I love space! I’ve only read two of the books on my list but the others are on my TBR list so I’m not cheating that much…

1. Children In Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

This book is so good. Humanity are branching out into the stars, a project has identified different planets to terraform and make suitable for human life. But it’s also an evolutionary experiment, they send down insects and animals and some of our primate ancestors. But there are people back on Earth who believe this is wrong, we are meant to live and die on Earth. They sabotage one of the spaceships. The captain sends the monkeys off towards the planet along with the evolutionary accelerator. Then she is trapped in a tiny escape pod, orbiting her planet, transmitting a distress signal. 100 years later survivors of Earth find the planet and attempt to make it their home, but something has gone wrong. There are no monkeys here, instead the world is covered in webs. I loved this book, it was so interesting and I just found out it’s the first part of a series!!

2. The Long Mars by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter

It’s the third book in the Long Earth series and probably my favourite. I’ve always been fascinated by Mars and whether it used to hold life so I really enjoyed Sally’s journey through the different Mars’. On some versions of Mars there was life, in order for a planet to have parallel worlds there has to be sentient life on it. I found it fascinating how the different possibilities were explored.

3. The Martian by Andy Weir

I really love Mars…I haven’t read this yet, but it looks really good and funny. An astronaut gets stranded on Mars after his mission goes wrong. He has to try and survive on his own until his fellow crew members can rescue him. I’m excited to read this and it’s a series as well!

4. Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh

The Earth is dying, but ten astronauts embark on a mission to find the planet that is theorised to be habitable for humans. It will take them twenty three years to reach Terra-Two. I can’t imagine being stuck with nine other people in a confined space for twenty three years! This book looks great, I can’t wait to read it!

5. Red Rising by Pierce Brown

This book is set on Mars again! It’s a series set way in the future and people are labelled by colours. All the reds are working to get the surface of Mars livable for future generations. But what they don’t know is that humanity has already reached Mars there are cities thriving meanwhile the reds have been working all their lives to make a better future for their children. This sounds so epic! I’m really excited to read these books.

So that’s all of them, what are you favourite space books?

Quotes of the Week

I hope everyone has had a good week! These are my favourite quotes I read or heard this week.

“An evolutionary asset during one particular era can become a liability during another.” – The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye

This quote is so true! That’s why we’re all so stressed and anxious now. When we were cave people and having to hunt our food, our fight or flight reflexes were a great help. But now we don’t really need them. We’re not being hunted, when you have anxiety it’s like you’re constantly in fight or flight mode and you don’t know how to calm down!

“Life often looks at its best from a distance. He was yet to understand that.” – The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye

This is sad and again so true, that’s why social media can be so damaging. When we look at other people’s lives, their pictures and posts everything looks great but we’re not, ‘why can’t I have that?’ we wonder…everyone has their own struggles because life is difficult.

“I thought if I could make something so good and so pure, maybe I’m not a monster.” – Cersei Lannister, Game of Thrones 6×01 The Red Woman

This woman breaks my heart, this line made me cry so much. I just want to protect her from the cruel world of Westeros!!

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR List

Today’s Top Ten Tuesday topic by thatartsyreadergirl is the top books on my Spring TBR list. A lot of these may have appeared on my Winter TBR post…I didn’t seem to get very far!

1. Shouldn’t You Be In School? by Lemony Snicket

It’s the third book in the All the Wrong Questions series, I haven’t read any Snicket’s books in ages so I can’t wait to get into this one. His style of writing is so unique!

2. The Storm Sister by Lucinda Riley

This was definitely on my Winter list, I’m still really looking forward to reading it though, it’s only two books away!!

3. The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

Although this is the second Discworld novel I haven’t read it yet! I’ve read lots of his book in a completely random order but I’m now tracking down the ones left.

4. Saturday Requium by Nicci French

I miss Frieda…this was also on my Winter list but I actually have the book now so we’re all set.

5. Why Is This Night Different From All Other Nights? by Lemony Snicket

The last in the series, I tried to not read the third and this one too close together because if I read too many books that are similar together, I tend to get bored.

6. Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

The seventh book in the Discworld series as with all of Pratchett’s books this looks funny, strange and wonderful.

7. Transcription by Kate Atkinson

I’m so excited for this book, I’ve been waiting for it to come out in paperback and it’s finally due out next month! It’s set in WWII and the Cold War, it follows a woman who joins MI5 and once peace is declared expects her job to be over but she’s very wrong. I don’t know a lot about the Cold War so this will be so interesting.

8. The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton

Again I’ve been waiting for this to be published in paperback form and the time is almost here! I love all of Kate Morton’s books, she never disappoints.

9. The Virgin’s Spy by Laura Andersen

I really enjoyed the first book of this series and I’m eager to find out how all the characters are getting on.

10. The Shadow Sister by Lucinda Riley

If I make this far before the Summer I’ll be seriously impressed. The third book in the series, this one is set in England and follows Star on her journey of discovery.

What are you planning to read over the Spring?

Mid March Catch Up

Hello, I hope your March is going well so far. The weather is very un-Spring-like at the moment, I can’t wait to see all the flowers blooming! Here’s what I’m reading, watching and listening to at the moment:

Reading:

Fire and Blood – A Targaryen History by George R.R. Martin

I am loving this book, it’s so cleverly written, it’s as if it was a history book but so much more interesting! I’ve always been fascinated by the Targaryen’s so it’s perfect, the Dance of the Dragons, their civil war, is really sad though.

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye by David Lagercrantz

I only started it this week but already I’m gripped, Lisbeth is looking into her past again, something to do with a social experiment she was part of as a child.

Related by Blood by Holly Sheidenberger

I signed up to the website Voracious Readers where you get sent ebooks by new authors for free so you can review them and spread the word. Related by Blood is told in three parts, I’ll post my full review on here when I’ve finished all three. It’s really well written, it grips you straight away. A couple are on a romantic road trip when they hit someone on the road, instead of calling an ambulance, they cover it up. The characters are so strange and intriguing, it’s a great read so far.

Watching:

Game of Thrones season 5

This season is so depressing.

Dirty John (Netflix)

I started watching this but it creeped me out quite a bit and I just found myself wanting to bang my head against the wall! It did also remind me a bit of my Mum’s ex (it wasn’t as extreme as that obviously and thankfully they didn’t get married) so that’s probably put me off it a bit…

Listening:

Why We Sleep Audiobook by Matthew Walker

It’s really interesting, although it does make me feel guilty that I’m not sleeping enough!

World War Z Audiobook by Max Brooks

It’s so cleverly done, the book is about a zombie outbreak which humanity manages to survive. Our main character travels the world to hear people’s stories. The audiobook is narrated by different people with the right accents so it feels so real when your listening to it.

Ruby Wax’s No Brainer Audiobook Review

“You might even become a mermaid”

I loved listening to this audiobook, I was walking along laughing and smiling to myself. But aside from the natural humour that Ruby brings, it was also so informative and hopeful.

I loved finding out about parts of our brain and how we can train it. Clearly I need to take up mindfulness, I’ve tried meditation before but I could never get the habit to stick. Mindfulness is a way of meditating that can train your brain to stay in the moment and to step back from what’s going on around you rather than let the stress overwhelm you. It also gave me hope for if I become a parent in the future. If you are at peace with your life, you won’t unload all your stuff onto your child.

I literally had no bad points to say, I’m so glad I listened to this!

“Sadness stuck without context.”

Top Five Tuesday – Books Set In Your Country

A new Top Five Tuesday, the promts are created by Bionic Book Worm. This week it’s our top five books set in your own country. I live in England so there’s a lot to choose from!

1. Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

This is one of my favourite books ever! It’s set during the 1920s-1940s and follows Ursula through her life, she grows up in the country but is working in London during the Blitz. One of the most amazing things about this book is how it shows us different versions of Ursula’s life, in one chapter she dies in childhood but in the next that crisis is averted. It’s so clever and my favourite parts are when we’re in London during the Blitz it sounds so terrifying but the way everyone works together to try and save people is so lovely.

2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

A dark and twisty classic, I think that’s why I like it so much. It’s set in Yorkshire in the middle of the countryside. It’s dark and gloomy and cold. I personally don’t think I could handle living in the countryside, it’s no surprise that Cathy went mad, I would too!

3. The Famous Five series by Enid Blyton

I used to love these books so much when I was little, me and my sisters used to read them and in our collection we have some books of my Mum’s and new ones. They’re all set in the children’s holidays where they stay in Dorset on the coast. They have picnics and adventures, there’s a small island near their home which they can row to. It reminds me of summer and I live on the south coast so all their beach fun used to remind me of our summers.

4. Frieda Klein series by Nicci French

The series follows Frieda who is a psychologist, she lives in London and we see a lot of it through he eyes as she loves to walk. She walks for hours around the city as it helps to clear her head.

5. The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

This is set in Tudor times but still in England, we get to see the old homes of the Lords and Ladies of that time. I’ve read all of Philippa Gregory’s Tudor series but this one is probably my favourite!

Thanks for reading, hope you have a lovely day!