Tag | Top 10 Books That Have Stayed With Me in Some Way.

Hey, lovely people. Today, I am doing a tag. As I'm sure you can see from the title, it's a tag about the books that left me with the biggest impression. The loveliest Kristy from Book Nerd Reviews tagged me. Please note that this isn't in any particular order. Ok? Let's go!

1.

Everything by Jane Austen.

You cannot make me choose just one of her books. It isn't fair. Austen is the queen, and I am her ultimate fan girl. I first started reading her back in 2009 and she was one of the main reasons I realised I wanted to have a career in book publishing (or, at the very least, have a career in something to do with books). Since then, I've read all her works, and a couple biographies on her as well. She changed how I read exponentially.

2.

Harry Potter (series) - J.K. Rowling

Again, you can't just make me choose one. Anyway, literally everyone and their mother probably has this as one of their choices so I feel like I don't need to explain why.

3.

Throne of Glass (series) - Sarah J Maas

I'll try to keep this brief, though that might be a little hard. You should all know by now how much I love this series. It is right up there as one of my favourites of all time. Celaena was one of the first characters who I felt was truly well-rounded and wasn't considered strong because of her abilities. She can kill people with the flick of her wrist, but she still loves dresses and books and she has that vulnerability there (especially so in the later books) that you don't see a lot elsewhere. This series inspires me to write. Ok. I'll stop blubbering now before I embarrass myself further.

4.

Bone Season - Samantha Shannon

The reasoning behind this might be slightly more related to the author than the book, but we're going to roll with it. Whenever I think about this book, I think 'wow.' Samantha Shannon, the author, proves to me that I can write and can achieve things. If she can be successful at such a young age, I can too. Is that cheesy? Probably. Oh well.

5.

Imaginary Girls - Nova Ren Suma

When I first read this book, it was totally different to anything I'd ever read. And the writing style really got to me. Nova Ren Suma has the style of writing I aspire to.

6.

Gone with the Wind - Margaret Mitchell

This is kind of an amazing mammoth of a book. This was the first big book I'd finished, and it stayed with me for months afterwards.

7.

Resistance - Owen Sheers

(Sorry, I don't have my copy with me right now - I lent it to someone. Thus, the lack of photo) 

This book just stuns me. The writing, the story itself, everything about it stuns me. I read this one probably about two years ago now, and I still have moments where I just stop what I'm doing and think about this book.

8.

Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding

I feel like we all have a little bit of Bridget in us. There's just something about her - I dig it. This is one of the few books that has literally LOL. Her neuroticism's are my neuroticism's. I can't really explain why I love this book so much, or why it stayed with me. It just did.

9.

Everything by Meg Cabot

She was a big influence on me in my formative teeny-bopper years. Absolute favourite author back then. I devoured everything of hers (even her adult books)

10.

Just One Day - Gayle Forman

Gayle Forman created a character in Allyson that made me feel a lot less alone.

So, that's my list of books. Hope you like them. This was actually a lot harder than I'd initially anticipated. I suppose I ought to tag some people:

Jeann @ Happy Indulgence

Renee @ Book Boyfriends
Bernadette @ The Bumbling Bookworm
Kate @ Fictional Thoughts
And anybody else who wants to do it!

Jane Austen is my Biffle

If you've followed me for a while, then you know that I'm a Jane Austen fangirl. There's no other way to put it. I adore her (not necessarily all her works, though). I've read a few questionable biographies and pieces of fiction about her. I annoy my friends into reading her. I squeal when I see customers buy her books. Some of her novel have made it onto my all-time favourites list of books. She is an A+ super writer. There is nothing wrong with her in my eyes (I know that's not necessarily a healthy approach to take, nor is it a good idea because she no doubt had many faults but that's a blog post for another time).

Recently (as in today recently as in last month recently), I finished re-reading Pride and Prejudice for the third time round. I don't think I've ever gotten into the storyline and the characters as much as I did this time. I laughed at Lizzy's (and her dad's) wit, squealed at the totes adorbs moments between her and Darcy, and generally had to physically restrain myself from scaring the other people on my floor. You know it's a good book when you want to yell to the world about how great it is.

So, today we're talking about Jane Austen. Yep.

One thing I've said again and again about Jane Austen is that she is an author you have to re-read. Not because she's necessarily the best. She doesn't need to be. It's more because the way she writes necessitates that you re-read her work.

I've always maintained (especially with Pride & Prejudice) that the first time I read it, it was a delightful haze, but it was a haze nonetheless. Then, when I re-read it, everything was a little clearer, but the haze was still there. It took three times of re-reading before I got the full impact of the story.

So, yea. She's a great writer, but her writing can be a little confusing if you don't focus. Or if you aren't in the mood. Or if it's just generally the first time you've read her. Basically, what I'm trying to say, is that if you want to get the full-throttle of Austen's genius, you really need to re-read her stuff.

My absolute favourite of her novels is Persuasion. It's one of her lesser known works, but I think it's one of the best. It's got quite a different tone to it (not a lot, mind you, but still), and a lot of the things you come to expect in an Austen novel, aren't there. It's certainly not her most perfect work (she was very ill when she wrote it) but I think that the mistakes work for it. And because it's not up to as high a standard as the rest of her works, I always recommend people to read this one first. This one, or Northanger Abbey.

The restraint she often shows in her earlier novels, is loosened a little in these two. Albeit, it might've been because she was ill. The lack of restraint makes for a better read though, in some ways.

And the heroines! Are fantastic! Love them. For being so limited in what was open to them, the women in Austen's novels are amazing. They've got such depth and strength in character. People always say Lizzie Bennet is their hero, and if you read Pride & Prejudice (or any Austen novel), you'll understand why.

The men love interests are pretty cool too. I mean. Yea. They are.

Some of you might see her work as fitting into a bit of the chick-lit genre. I will say, that yes, technically it is. But there's so much more to her works. Her use of irony, social commentary, her wit. And, as my lecturer said, Shakespeare's comedies often have the same basic plot line. So, there. If you can like Shakespeare, you can like Jane Austen. They're on exactly the same line. Shakespeare's comedies are just as much chick-lit as Jane Austen. Bloody double standards.

I'm not going to start on that though, because that's a post for another time. Basically: Read Jane Austen. Nao. Or re-read Jane Austen. You'll get a lot more out of it. Pinky promise.

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I originally thought up this post a month ago. I can't remember what my thought patterns were. I think it was supposed to be a rambly-I-adore-Jane-Austen-and-you-should-too post. But I don't know. Because I don't remember.

Things I'm Digging | March 2014.

March has ended! It's that time of month again! Favouritesssssss.

TV: My Mad Fat Diary

Best Friend Georgia told me I needed to watch it. So I did. I watched the first season. In two days. This sounds so much more impressive when you don't know that there's only six episodes in the first season. Anyway!

British TV at its finest. Really, really good series. It's got a good amount of funny, and a good amount of drama, and it incorporates some really well-developed elements and looks at things that need to be looked at.

I've been saying it's in a similar vein to Angus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging (Don't lie. You've seen the movie. I know you have), but so much better. And a bit more mature (in terms of themes). So, little kids, do not watch. I thoroughly, thoroughly recommend it.

And Finn. Can I have a Finn? I want a Finn.


MOVIE: Camp Takota

It's that movie that Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart and Mamrie Hart did, remember? I watched this last weekend and it was great. I wasn't in the best place mentally (hello, stress!) and this just picked me right back up. It's sweet and funny and you just need to watch it, ok?



BOOK/S: Pride & Prejudice and The Assassin's Blade

It is a toss-up between Pride and Prejudice, and The Assassin's Blade. I had to re-read Pride and Prejudice for uni, and I adored it more than normal. Like, I'm a hardcore Jane Austen fan on a good day, but this reading of it was just the bomb dot com. I laughed, I squealed, I just got intensely into the whole thing. Omg. Just Jane Austen, ok?

The other one I decided on was The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas. You guys know how much I adore the Throne of Glass series. Well, The Assassin's Blade is a collection of five prequel novellas. It's A+. The perfect way to subdue my longing for Heir of Fire (the third book in the series. To be released in September. So close, yet so far). Fair warning though: It doesn't make your heart hurt any less. In fact, it probably makes it hurt more. So. Yea.


MUSIC: Hozier

Thank you Teen Wolf for introducing me to the genius that is Hozier. It's pretty and he's gorgeous and the song itself is gorgeous and ahhh. Thank you Teen Wolf.


MAKEUP/FASHION: Dress from TopShop

TopShop had a sale. I got excited. I bought a dress. It might be a size smaller than I normally go for, but it fits. That's the important thing here. It's so pretty. And the colour! And the style! All the love. Such pretty. Can you feel my excitement from your screens?

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So. Those are my favourites for this month. How about you guys? What have you been crushing/enjoying/lusting after?

Hope you've all had a wonderful month of March and will continue to have a wonderful month of April.