Who Am I Tag

So I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately- who am 1? What am I? Where am I…? Okay not that last one. I saw this a while ago on Fernanda’s blog and thought I might do it 😀

What is the meaning of my name?

My name, in the ancient apish tongue of Orange, means I am a monkey that loves books 😉

What is my Myer-Briggs personality type? (Link)

Okay so I got the Campaigner personality type

I do think a lot of it was accurate, but then I’ve had different answers in the past and thought they were accurate too- so I suspect these are vague enough that they can be true for most people, a bit like how a fortune teller works (or maybe I’m just saying all this cos I don’t like acknowledging I may have anything in common with Russell Brand- yeesh!- at least I get to be like Will Smith and Robin Williams too)

WHAT IS MY ZODIAC SIGN?

I’m a Libra… apparently that means I’m (un)balanced

WHAT IS MY HOGWARTS HOUSE? (LINK)

I’m a Ravenclaw- blue is just really my colour 😉

WHAT ARE MY LEARNING STYLES? (LINK)

Your scores were:

• Visual 2
• Aural 7
• Read/Write 10
• Kinesthetic 7

This is actually the first time I’ve done one of these tests and I was strangely nervous- but the results made a lot of sense. What’s funny is I’m actually a very visual person (in case it isn’t obvious, I love art and illustration), but I already knew that I don’t learn well through visuals for some reason. Most of the time, I learn through reading or writing things down, but I also like learning by doing things and listening to instructions- so yeah, I think this is a pretty good test!

http://vark-learn.com/the-vark-questionnaire/?p=results

AM I RIGHT OR LEFT BRAIN DOMINANT? (LINK) 

Wahey!

WHAT IS MY BLOOD TYPE?

I’m A Positive person (A+ get it 😉 )

WHAT CAREER AM I MEANT TO HAVE? (LINK)

This test is designed to make me happy!

You have a skill for language, your imagination is vast and you are artistic and creative. Your brain is just overflowing with ideas, and all you have to do is get a piece of paper and share it with the world. You were born to turn words into magical stories.

WHICH DIVERGENT FACTION DO I BELONG IN? (LINK)

I’m divergent!

WHAT DOES MY BIRTH ORDER SAY ABOUT ME? (LINK)

Middle child syndrome right here! 😉

I tag: Liis, Nel, Rivermoose Reads, Sophie, Never Not Reading, Steph, and Rebecca @MyLifeAsASportsFangirl (apologies if you’ve done it already!)

So notice any similarities? Differences? Let me know what you think in the comments!

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The Emperor’s New Clothes Tag

Hello all! So a couple of days ago I dropped the big bombshell that I didn’t like La La Land. Now see the thing is when I don’t get something I hate I always have this *cue music* moment, where this song pops into my head…

And this gave me a crazy idea to make a The Emperor’s New Clothes Tag! Let’s get to it shall we!

“Your Majesty, this is a magic suit” – An Overhyped Book That Promised to be *Something More*  

Everyone hates overhyped books, but why would you compare it to Night Circus?

“Somebody send for the Queen” – A Love Interest That Wasn’t Called For

Sorry guys but it’s got to be Rowan from the Throne of Glass series- to be honest I was hoping she’d do a Buffy and just stay single.

“The doublet is a lovely shade of green” – A Book That Seduced You with Its Cover (that you ended up disliking)

(this is a post for griping guys)

I cover bought it *on my kindle* no less (this was before I knew that they could change the covers on there anyway). What makes it worse is I got the whole series cos it was a bargain… (yes, yes, lesson learnt- deals on kindle are a dime a dozen)

“Summon the court to convene” – A Book Where You Were Swayed by Public Opinion

So I have two answers for this. The first is Twilight- because I admittedly liked the first one (yes, yes, sparkly vampires and all *hangs head in shame*), but as they got progressively worse I saw the error of my ways 😉 .

And my second answer is Pride and Prejudice, which I initially disliked, but was persuaded to like by reading her other works (including Persuasion) I think I was too young to get the irony the first time round… And now I love it!

“Look at the the King! Look at the King, the King, the King!” – A Stark Raving Mad Book That Just Boggles the Mind

Why the hell was this ever a thing?!

“It’s altogether the very least the King has ever worn” – A Tropey Get Up You’ve Seen Before That Probably Needs Redressing (aka a trope you’re bored with seeing)

I really am not keen on the “chosen one” or Messianic trope at the moment. It’s just getting really old- so unless there’s some kind of twist on it, I get kind of peeved with it. That’s why (and I had a really long discussion with a friend about this recently) it really irritated me that Throne of Glass took the messianic route in book 5. Do something different darn it!!

“Summon the court physician! Call an intermission!” – A Book That Needs Medical Attention AKA A REWRITE

Any book that manages to make dragons suck needs a rewrite in my opinion- but I chose this one because I actually came up with How It Should Have Ended a while ago 😉

“It’s altogether the very least the King has ever worn” – There’s No Hiding For This One: A Book That Is Just Nakedly Bad

Could there be any other answer?

Bonus: “His majesty is wide open to ridicule and scorn”- Something (anything) That Astounds You With Its Popularity

 

TV– Big Brother- I read 1984 before I ever heard of this and my reaction was “WHY THE HELL WOULD THAT BE A THING?!” After turning it on once and seeing a braindead conversation on what IQ was I turned it off and never watched it again #noregrets

Music– “fight fight fight fight…” no explanation needed

Movie– I didn’t like this movie- blah blah blah 😉

Art– Tracy Emin’s Bed- I’m not into the debate over whether something is or isn’t art- but I do think you can have a discussion of what is bad art- this demonstrates zero technical ability and is pure shock value.

And (don’t hate me)… Pokemon Go. I mean, I somewhat get why people liked the game- but I don’t get why people quit their jobs and wandered off cliffs to catch imaginary creatures…

Well that was fun to get all that off my chest (though I have no idea how it will be received!) time to tag some people:

James, Nel, Kat, Sophie, Rivermoose, Drew, Liis, Twin Bookmarks, Reading in the Wings, Anatomy of a Book Thief, My Midnight Musing, Zezee, Stephanie and Dani

And that’s all for today! Agree with my choices? Disagree? Let me know in the comments!

 

One Lovely Blogger Award – Musical Edition

Because it’s Saturday and I’m gonna have a lazy day reading (I’d say don’t judge- but you guys aren’t gonna judge me for that 😉 ) I thought I’d do a chilled out post today. Thank you to the *lovely* blogger Amelia in Hull for nominating me to do this award!

THE RULES FOR THE ONE LOVELY BLOGGER AWARD

1. Each nominee must THANK the person who nominated them and link their blog in the post.
2. They must include the rules and add the blog award badge as an image.
3. Must add 7 facts about themselves and then nominate 15 people.

Tomorrow I’ll be discussing a *controversial* opinion where more than 90% of people are bound to disagree (cos that’s the rating for this movie on Rotten Tomatoes)- so I thought it might be fun to give some musical related facts about me:

1. I have sung in the rain- more than once 😉

2. Cabaret *FREAKED ME OUT*- that scene with the Hitler Youth *shivers*. Also this guy…

3. I have a soft spot for the Wizard of Oz cos it used to be one of the only three videos my grandparents owned (the other two were Donald Duck and Marx Brothers)- we used to visit them every weekend, so I pretty much know that movie by heart.

4. My history teacher took us to see Les Miserables when we were studying that period of French history- it wasn’t entirely relevant, but it was fun!

5. Speaking of which, I have several versions of a lot of the Les Mis songs on my Itunes- for “On My Own” I have the official soundtrack, the movie version, the anniversary edition and the French one #noshame

6. I’ve recently started listening to Hamilton *a lot*. I shouldn’t even like it cos I’m British and we’re still butthurt about the war of independence (JK! if you believe that, you need a strong dose of British humour- I prescribe Oscar Wilde and Austen 😉 )

7. If you asked me to pick a favourite I would laugh… and then cry. *Some* of my faves are: the aforementioned Les Mis, Wicked, Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver, Singing in the Rain, Bugsy Malone and Sound of Music (and that’s not even including Disney or the Muppets!)

My Nominees: 

Vicky, Wonderfilled Reads, Franlaniado, Kristin, Read and Rant and Rock and Roll, Always Trust In Books, I’ve Read This, Roseread, Embuhlee, Pooja, Anna and Nicole

So are any of you also fond of musicals? What are your favourites? Let me know in the comments!

BOOK VS. BOOK TAG

For the first time ever I have a good reason for taking so long to do a tag, because when I was first tagged I’d read just one of the books on the list, so doing it would have been totally pointless. However I decided to treat this like a challenge to see how many I could read…. Annnd now that I’ve finally managed to read ALL the books on here so I’m READY TO ROCK!!

Thank you so much to Emily @Rose Read for tagging me and creating such an awesome list of books- I had so much fun doing this!!

Here are the rules:

• Thank the blog who tagged you and link back to them
• Your first book is the last book of the person who tagged you
• Follow the list of books the tagger you gave you and then face off “book 1 vs book 2”
• As soon as you have a winner, choose 7 more books and blogs to tag

Emily ended with Cinder by Marissa Meyer, so that’s my starting book. Here’s her list of contenders:

1. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
2. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
3. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
4. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
5. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
6. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobosky
7. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

ROUND 1

Cinder VS Illuminae: Already I’m gonna have some guilt with this question because of how easy it is for me to say ILLUMINAE! In truth, I did really enjoy Cinder but I didn’t love it nearly as much as Illuminae.

ROUND 2

Illuminae VS Ready Player One: Again I did actually enjoy Ready Player One in the end but IT’S NOT ILLUMINAE DAMMIT!

ROUND 3

Illuminae VS Enders Game : This is getting ridiculous!!! Guys, I just really like Illuminae okay!?

ROUND 4

Illuminae VS Outsiders: Okay, before you get up on me for my Illuminae bias, I’m still trying to pin down my thoughts on Outsiders since I had mixed feelings about it… so yeah… it’s got to be Illuminae.

ROUND 5

Illuminae VS The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: Ahh well this one’s easy too- cos I actually didn’t like the Part-Time Indian– I didn’t relate to it at all and as I said in my mini-review, I think it’s more aimed at an American audience. So yeah, Illuminae for the win!

ROUND 6

Illuminae VS Perks of Being a Wallflower: Arghhhh no!!!! Why are you doing this to me?!?! I really thought with how easy it was for Illuminae to win the last few rounds that it would run away with it and I wouldn’t have to make any tough decisions… Alas you’re making me choose between my babies *sobs*!! I think it actually has to be Perks because Illuminae was tough to get into (see I can actually criticise books I love from time to time) whereas Perks was faultless (okay, not always)

ROUND 7

Perks of Being a Wallflower VS Eleanor and Park: *controversial opinion alert* I didn’t actually like Eleanor and Park… so this one’s a no brainer.

THE WINNER!

The winner is Perks of Being a Wallflower! Yes, I know, we all thought Illuminae would win for sure, but at the last minute the dark horse of the competition snuck up and stole the prize!

Anyway I’m really looking forward to seeing what people do with this one.

Here’s My List of books:

1. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
2. 1984 by George Orwell
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
4. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
5. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
6. Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
7. Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff (I feel like it came so close it deserves to be on here)

I chose books I wouldn’t be able to choose between- I’m so mean- mwhahahaha!

I tag:

Nel, Kat, Valerie, Shannon, Briana & Krysta @Pages Unbound, Lashaan & Trang @Bookidote, Dani @Perspective of a Writer, Villain Library, Two Gals and a Book, and Around the Library in 80 Days (as always don’t feel like you have to do it and feel free to give it a go if you like the look of this!)

And what do you think of my choices- which book would have won for you? Let me know in the comments!

And heads up I’m gonna be gone for a few days, visiting friends, so there won’t be any posts until the end of next week! I will leave you with this tune…

Which is nice and appropriate for a trip to Scotland 😉

The TBR Tag!

Tis the season for readathons… And yesterday, I had actually planned to do a post announcing a TBR and deciding to plunge straight into one for the first time… Buuuut I kinda missed the boat. Trouble is, as much as I want to join some of these, I am currently drowning under my TBR and often feel like the challenges are more likely to push me under than act like a life raft (yes, I know, overdramatic much?)

So that was a realllly long (and unnecessary) preamble to explain why I’m gonna talk about my crazy TBR- cos maybe, just maybe, shaming myself out of my bad habits *might* force me to change (we can all live in hope)

Anyhoo, thank you so much to the *awesome* Katie @Never Not Reading for tagging me recently and the lovely Reg @ She Latitude and the wonderful Larkin @Wonderfilled Reads for tagging me ions and ions ago too!!

 

Onto the public shaming!!

How do you keep track of your TBR pile?

Okay, first question and I’m already going to sound like a basketcase- I have several ways of keeping track of my tbr:

1. My goodreads- nice and normal…
2. My amazon wishlist- for books I will most likely have to buy to read- most “independent” books go on here
3. My physical tbr which I place in full view so that I can’t escape it!!
4. An excel spreadsheet which I try to update with unread kindle books
5. Scraps of paper for books I can get out the library at some point… yeah… if you started reading this thinking I was really organised I doubt you’ll be thinking that now 😉

Here’s my current physical tbr:

Is your TBR mostly print or ebook?

However I can get hold of it! My usual choices are library/second hand sites/reduced ebook

How do you determine which book from your TBR to read next?

I’m a mood reader- but my moods are often determined by whichever books (physical or ebook) that I have to hand 😉

A book that’s been on your TBR the longest.

Annnnd I promised to read that last year- what’s wrong with me?

A book that you recently added to your TBR.

Which one? I am intrigued…

A book on your TBR strictly because of its beautiful cover.

I’ve gotten so much better about not adding books for pure cover value- I have been burnt so many times before- but I do have books on my TBR like Homegoing which both sound amazing *and* have pretty covers- result!

A book on your TBR that you NEVER plan on actually reading.

Hahaha you caught me! I have a few books on my TBR I’ll probably never read. A couple of which I got free on my kindle- one is Ulysses and the other is the entire Virginia Woolf collection… I already dnf’d these books but I’m so stubborn I can’t bring myself to say I’m never gonna read it (I’m never gonna read it though)

An unpublished book on your TBR that you’re excited for.

Book of Dust!! Pierce Brown’s new book. Licanius trilogy.

A book on your TBR that basically everyone has read except you.

A book on your TBR that everyone recommends to you.

I first saw A Suitable Lie on Meggy’s blog and recently I’ve seen it tons of places- I want to read it!!

A book on your TBR that you’re just dying to read.

Pahahaha just one?! I’m gonna go with one that I don’t have- otherwise it’ll just be highlighting the fact that I have no excuse not to read so many of the books on my tbr!

And let’s pretend there are no more books I need to read… Oh alright then, here are two more that I’ve been “currently reading” forever because they are long and difficult- SHAME!

(and if I do sporadically try to join into Tome Topple, these will be *it* for me)

The number of books on your goodreads TBR shelf.

Jeez- this is gonna be hard to answer! I considered just sneakily putting my goodreads on here, but that wouldn’t be terribly honest, so I’m going to give a breakdown:

• 90 ebooks
• 282 on goodreads
• 135 on amazon wishlist

So 507… Yeah… like I said I’m drowning *gasp* *splutter* *gasp*

I’m gonna be lazy today and not tag anyone directly, cos I don’t know who has and hasn’t done this- but feel free to do it!!

Okay, that post was about as rambly as my TBR! Do you have a problem keeping up with your TBR? What are your shameful TBR confessions? Commiserate with me in the comments!

Hogwarts Tag

I wasn’t tagged for this, but I saw this brilliant post over on Zezee’s blog and even though I didn’t get tagged… this was too good to pass up!! Especially on Harry Potter’s birthday!

And if you’re wondering how I know that date, my answer is…

Am I a pureblood, half-blood, or muggle born?

Probably half blood- my family are batty enough that there’s got to be a wizard in there somewhere… but then there’d also be a lot of oblivious muggles I reckon

Which wand chose me?

Did I take an owl, cat, rat, or toad with me?

I couldn’t pass up an owl, even if I’d want a cat! Which is a pretty contrary answer, but whatever, who could say no to this face…

Where did the Sorting Hat put me?

What house did I want to be in?

Ravenclaw- isn’t that how the hat works? It takes your feelings into account 😉

What lessons are my favorite and least favorite?

Favorites:

Charms (what’s not to like?)

Transfiguration (ditto)

Defense Against the Dark Arts (let’s kick some dementor butt!)

Divination (if not taught by Prof. Trelawney)

History of Magic (I never get why no one likes this- it’s *history* + *magic*- basically it’s fantasy books!)

Meh:

Arithmancy (I’m assuming it’d be like maths, which I liked up until my last year of school and then I got bored)

Astronomy (it’d send me to sleep)

Study of Ancient Runes (ditto)

Care of Magical Creatures (upsides and downsides- the upsides being nifflers and hippogriffs… the downsides being blast-ended skrewts)

Least favorites:

Divination (ARGHHH THE FUTURE IS SCARY- STAY AWAY!!)

Herbology (ughh basically biology)

Potions (Snape who, let’s face it, was a horrible teacher + chemistry = yeuch!)

Muggle Studies (ermm real life? Who’d pick that?)

The form my patronus takes:

Ocicat- I was so happy with this, cos as I mentioned recently, my favourite animal is an ocelot, and this is pretty darn close!

 

What does a boggart look like for me?

Ermm a crazy person? A clown? A high building? I’m pretty easy to scare… I mean just ask any of my family members- I jump when they enter a room- so yeah- it’d probably just be someone going “BOO!”

Gosh I’d have the lamest boggart ever.

Do I partake in any magical hobbies or school sports?

Haha I’d love to think that I’d be good at quidditch- but let’s face it, I was never good at/interested in school sports. I’d have been that really cool kid that hung out in the library all the time with the books 😉

Where would I find myself hanging in my free time?

Hehe okay, time for some naughty school confessions: I was very very good at hiding in all the schools I went to. Here are just some examples: in a secret corner of the music room I discovered was the perfect nook for reading (plus you could leave your book there before the lesson and read to your heart’s content- result!), anywhere where there were overgrown foliage, under the stairs, behind the shelves in the library, the careers room (no one was ever there), the roof (which makes sense, I *am* a monkey). It’s a wonder I was never caught- either way I imagine, even at Hogwarts (especially at Hogwarts!), I would be anywhere I wasn’t supposed to be. I’d snaffle that Marauders Map in a heartbeat and end up in the Shrieking Shack before you can say Alohamora!

Also the message of this story for anyone under 18: stay in school kids! (But more importantly, if you’re gonna misbehave *don’t get caught*)

What would I most likely get detention for?

Reading at my desk, writing things unrelated to class, duelling (I mean if I could manage to create epic battles with just a ruler- imagine what I could do with a wand!)

What career do I want after leaving Hogwarts?

This one’s actually really hard, cos I don’t know that many wizarding careers- I’d say writing for the Daily Prophet cos it’s the closest to writing I can think of (I could be the next Rita Skeeter… ugh what a thought)

 

I tag:

Sophie, Vicky, Kat, Marie, Reg, Nicola, Never Not Reading, Sherbet Lemon Reviews, Wonderfilled Reads and anyone else who wishes to do it!

Dreamy Book Covers Tag

Since it’s Sunday I thought it might be nice to do a lazy (but pretty) tag!! Thank you so much to Vicky over at Books and Strips for tagging me- she runs an absolutely brilliant blog and if you haven’t checked it out already you really should!

RULES:

• Thank the person who tagged you. (Thank you Anj!)
• Mention the creator of this tag (Tiana @ The Book Raven)
• Use the original tag image in your post.
• At least tag one fellow blogger for doing this tag!
• List the rules.

1. ‘No Ideas But in Things’ A book cover that perfectly expresses the novel inside it.

I’m being very literal here- but it’s a graphic novel, it has artwork on the front- dada!

2. ‘Dark and Lovely’ –A cover that is so creepilicious, that you want to eat it up.

Keeping up the graphic novel theme…

3. ‘Sugary Sweet’- A CUTE cover that is so fluffy, you want to give it a hug.

 

This came to mind cos I read it really recently and it’s super sweet!!

4. ‘The Simple Aesthetic’ – A book cover that stuns with the most minimalist of designs.

But don’t let that cover fool you- man it delivers a punch!

5. ‘Cover Envy’ –A book you wish you had on your shelves, but don’t yet.

Well this was an excuse to ogle all the books on my tbr…

And this one was right at the top… I wants it!!

6. “Traveling Abroad” –A beautiful book cover featuring a country outside of your own.

Beautiful, beautiful book!!

7. ‘The Colour Wheel’ –A cover that showcases one of your favourite colours.

Well I don’t have a favourite colour, so I picked Incarnate cos it has many colours:

8. ‘Changing Gears’ –A cover change you absolutely adore.

9. ‘Oldie but Goodie’ A favourite cover of your favourite classic

I’ve mentioned it before, but I adore my copy of Austen

10. And the winner is-Which book cover mentioned above is your favourite.

Wait- this feels like I was set up- how do I choose between with all of these *gorgeous* covers?! Probably Austen?! Or maybe Shatter Me?? Ahh I have no idea!

I better just tag people quick:

Nel @ Reactionary Tales, Sophie, Embuhleeliest, Liis, Perspective of a Writer, Bookish Endeavours, This is My Truth Now and Around the Library in 80 Days

Well since I couldn’t answer that last question, I’ll leave it upto you- which was your favourite cover on this list? Let me know in the comments!