Liebster Award- Questions!

Hey guys! Today I thought I could just answer the questions I asked at the end of the Liebster award post. I don’t think anybody will answer them so I might as well.

 

1. What character would you like to be your boy/girl friend?                                                         I would like Simon Lewis from ‘The Mortal Instruments’ to be my boyfriend. He is so adorable and funny. If he looked like Robert Sheehan in real life then that would be great or Alberto Rosende! They both bring Simon to life so well and I love him as a character because he’s so enthusiastic and loyal.
2. Do you read any classics, and if so what is your favourite classic book?                Recently I’ve been trying to read more classic books and now I’ve been giving a reading list at school with lots of great classic books on there so I hope to read them soon. My favourite classic book so far (bearing in mind I’ve read hardly any) is ‘Wuthering Heights’ by Emily Brontë although I still haven’t finished it!
3. What poem got you into poetry? If you don’t have one, what is your opinion on ‘Because’ by James Franco?                                                                                                      Funnily enough, ‘Because’ by James Franco is the poem that got me into poetry. It isn’t a real stand out poem, but it was the first poem I read that was honest and cut to the chase.
4. Are there any books that you are desperate to be made into movies?                            Definitely my top five books: ‘The Kissing Booth’, ‘Soulmates’, ‘Love Like the Movies’, ‘The Sky is Everywhere’ and ‘I’ll Give You the Sun’. I bet there’d be loads of gorgeous men in there (just saying!). I think the film rights have been sold for Soulmates and I’ll Give You the Sun! I have always said Famous in Love would be a totally awesome movie and I think it is being turned into a TV series. I would prefer it as a movie, but it would still be cool as a TV series.
5. What is the shortest book you’ve ever read?                                                                                 I can’t be completely sure on this, but my Auntie has these little Felicity Wishes books that are really small and cute- so probably one of those.
6. If you could only take three things to a desert island, would you bring a book with you? Why/why not?                                                                                                                             No I wouldn’t, because if I was bored I could make coconut bikinis and I would rather bring water, food and a tent there so I could survive. I don’t need a book, I could use logs to make a fire.
7. Do you have any friends that deserve to have a book written about? What would it be about? (If all your friends are really boring then what book would you write about yourself?)                                                                                                                                                     I have a lot of interesting friends. To be honest, I’d rather write about myself because obviously I know myself and it’s hard to imagine kissing scenes about your friend. If I had to, I would write about my best friend because I probably know her the best out of anybody I know. We have a lot in common too. I’ve always said one of my other friends is very writeable because she has such a complex personality as well.
8. Do you remember the first proper book you ever read i.e. Chapters, one hundred pages or so? If you can’t remember what was your favourite childhood book?            The first proper book I read was ‘Twin Tales’ by Jacqueline Wilson. I remember my Dad reading this to my sister and I when he got in from work. After that I read every single Jacqueline Wilson book as well as the Rainbow Fairies books.
9. Is there a certain genre that you will never read?                                                               Horror, crime, war… most things that aren’t romantic, dystopian or a good YA book. I’ve read books before with no romance in and actually really enjoyed them. I’m definitely not into gruesome things though.

I was struggling to answer the two questions I missed, but I’ll try to answer them in another post some time.

Love, Sydney

2014 Book Awards

Hey! When I wrote this a year ago, I started writing this really cool award ceremony thing on OneNote, which I just accidently deleted and there was not an undo button. This means that it’s not a great post but just try and imagine what it could’ve been like (sorry). This is an award ceremony for 2014. I shall do another one for 2015 soon!

Without further ado, let’s get on with the Sydney Actually 2014 Award Ceremony! There are four highly coveted awards tonight, honouring some of the greatest books published in 2014.

The first award tonight is for the most romantic book of the year. There have been many great love stories written over the years, including Pride and Prejudice, Gone with the wind and Wuthering Heights. I wouldn’t quite say this book is on the same level, but it is definitely the love story of the year. It gives me great pleasure to announce, that the winner of this award, is, Famous in Love by Rebecca Serle!

The next award is for the book that gave me the best feels. This book has a certain man, who appears to be a number yet is so much more. This man gives me many,*cough* Theo, feels and is extremely gorgeous. As a huge fan of food, I absolutely love that this man has an obsession with food i.e. chocolate cake, which makes me love him even more as well as gives me food feels. If you haven’t guessed it yet, the award for best feels, goes to… Four: A Divergent Story by Veronica Roth.

Now the award for best character. Let me picture this character for you and see if you agree with me that they are the best character. Well, his best friend is a ginger kid but it’s not Ron, however the actor starred in a movie with Rupert Grint. You could describe him as loyal, hilarious, geeky, fit, energetic and adorable. The clothes he wears are made of boyfriend material. There is also a remarkable resemblance between him and Jesus- “Jesus!” Luke exclaimed.

“Actually, it’s just me,” said Simon. “Although I’ve been told the resemblance is startling.” Give it up for Simon Lewis from City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare!

Finally, the last award goes to cutest book of the year. This book is adorably mysterious… with loads of hunky guys in it. I would describe this book as super cute, fluffy and warm-hearted. The story line revolves around a girl searching for a boy who made a cd full of love songs for another girl… Do I really need to say anything else to convince you how cute it is? And that is why this award goes to Playlist for a broken heart by Cathy Hopkins!

 

Sorry for not including Girl Online in the awards but I didn’t have time to do more than four award. I hope you enjoyed the award ceremony! Here’s hoping that the next award ceremony will be much better written!

Love, Sydney

Top 5 Christmas book moments

So originally I was going to post this on Christmas day! Apologies to those people that want nothing to do with Christmas now that it’s over. Anyway, I’m counting down my top five Christmas moments in books.

5. Little Women- Louisa May Alcott

Earlier on in the chapter, the girls gave their Christmas breakfast away to poor people, which was a really nice thing to do at Christmas. It was very sweet of Beth to also be thinking of her Father at Christmas.

“I never had such a fine bouquet before! How pretty it is!” And Meg examined her flowers with great interest.

“They are lovely. But Beth’s roses are sweeter to me,” said Mrs. March, smelling the half-dead posy in her belt.

Beth nestled up to her, and whispered softly, “I wish I could send my bunch to Father. I’m afraid he isn’t having such a merry Christmas as we are.”

4. Let It Snow- John Green

One of the best things about Christmas is snow and in particular- SNOW ANGELS!! This is why I absolutely love this bit from Let It Snow, because it’s so magical and Christmasy!

I scampered out of my angel and made another, but this time I used my gloves to give my angel horns. “Snow devil!” the Duke shouted, gleeful. With the snow all around us I felt like a little kid in one of those inflatable moon walks- I couldn’t get hurt by falling. I couldn’t get hurt by anything.

3. Breaking Dawn- Stephenie Meyer

As you probably know, I used to be Twilight obsessed- so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that this was in my top 5 Christmas moments. I love all the gifts Renesmee gets and they seem so special. The thing I love doing most on Christmas Day is running downstairs and opening my presents, so I thought this was a cute touch to the book!

Renesmee wore the locket I’d given her at dawn, and in her jacket pocket was the MP3 player Edward had given her- a tiny thing that held five thousand songs, already filled with Edward’s Favorites. On her wrist was an intricately braided Quileute version of a promise ring. Edward had gritted his teeth at that one, but it didn’t bother me. Soon, so soon, I would be giving her to Jacob for safekeeping. How could I be bothered by any symbol of the commitment I was so relying on?

2. The Mortal Instruments- Cassandra Clare

I love the bit in CoHF where Simon and Clary are present shopping, it makes me chuckle! I also love the one liners from Jace they’re just amazing.

“That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about.” Simon’s brows drew together. “I think. I’m not sure. We haven’t discussed it. The relationship, I mean.”

“You really have to DTR, Simon.”

“What?”

“Define the relationship. What it is, where it’s going. Are you boyfriend and girlfriend, just having fun, ‘it’s complicated,’ or what? When’s she going to tell her parents? Are you allowed to see other people?”

Simon blanched. “What? Seriously?”

“Seriously. In the meantime—perfume!” Clary grabbed Simon by the back of his coat and hauled him into a cosmetics store that had once been a bank.

 

“Waiting for a special occasion to kill me? Christmas is coming.”

 

 

“That does it,” said Jace. “I’m going to get you a dictionary for Christmas this year.”

“Why?” Isabelle said.

“So you can look up ‘fun.’ I’m not sure you know what it means.”

• A Christmas Carol- Charles Dickens

 

How could I not include something from A Christmas Carol? It’s the ultimate Christmas book. I really love the ending when Scrooge becomes a new man on Christmas Day!

Running to the window, he opened it, and put out his head. No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial, stirring, cold; cold, piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air; merry bells. Oh, glorious! Glorious!

“What’s to-day!” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes, who perhaps had loitered in to look about him.

“Eh?” returned the boy, with all his might of wonder.

“What’s to-day, my fine fellow?” said Scrooge.

“To-day!” replied the boy. “Why, Christmas Day.”

“It’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”

“Hallo!” returned the boy.

 

Merry (late) Christmas everybody!

Love, Sydney

Best and Worst book sequels

Aloha! Right well today I’m doing best and worst sequels. I may have already mentioned some of these books and what I think of them before so sorry. By sequels I mean any book in the rest of a series so I might talk about book 5 in a series of 6 for example.

BEST #1

The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire- Cassandra Clare

I adore The Mortal Instruments. I love all of The Mortal Instruments and City of Heavenly Fire is definitely my favourite. It is just the perfect ending to a sensational series. I can’t believe what happened to Simon and I was so shocked by some of the characters deaths. There was lots of drama and tension but when I read it, it feels ‘homey’ if that’s a thing? Well I just feel comfortable and I really enjoy it, unlike The Infernal Devices; which I love, but I don’t find them as engaging.

WORST #1

Eclipse- Stephenie Meyer

In my opinion, this book was basically a filler book. I wasn’t engaged as much, it was just an unnecessary book. You could have put the half the contents in the other books or just cut it out. I didn’t like how the book focused on Victoria coming back to kill Bella when in the end it took like 5 minutes for Edward to kill her. Victoria’s extremely irritating and I thought it was just utterly predictable in a bad way.

BEST #2

Mates, Dates and Sizzling Summers- Cathy Hopkins

Again, this is another book that’s the last in the series. For me, there’s something about the final book in a series! They either make or break the series, it depends on how you tie/ or don’t tie all the loose ends. Personally, I hate cliff hangers- I need to know how everything ends. I loved this book as it combined Mates, Dates with the Truth, dare, kiss or promise series. I liked how they went to the beach, because it was like they were finished with the story and ending it with a holiday.

WORST #2

Allegiant- Veronica Roth

I loved Divergent so much and Insurgent was quite good, but I was so annoyed with the ending. SPOILER ALERT I was so so vexed that Tris died, like what was the point of the whole trilogy if she just died at the end? I really liked Tris as well. It was such a shocking ending; I couldn’t stop crying. If the ending was going to be so dramatic I think Four should have died as well, I don’t like the idea of him living without her.

BEST #3

Catching Fire- Suzane Collins

I strongly dislike The Hunger Games and Mockingjay. However, I have to say Catching Fire was a very good sequel to The Hunger Games. There was a lot more going on in this and it had a vivid storyline. I love the addition of Finnick- he’s great and I love Sam Claflin in the movie. The idea of the clock in the arena was really clever. To be honest, this book on its own is actually fine, I would prefer that to the trilogy. Catching Fire raised the reputation of The Hunger Games overall for me.

WORST #3

Bridget Jones’s Diary: Mad about the boy- Helen Fielding

Before I even read this book, I was really annoyed that it was actually written in the first place. I was satisfied with the ending of the second book and I was glad that Mark and Bridget ended up together. I thought I would give the book the benefit of the doubt, but I was utterly upset to find out that SPOILER ALERT Mark Darcy had died. I didn’t particularly like Mark but I thought it was nice that she was with him. There was a lot in the book about Bridget’s issues with modern things such as technology, which I didn’t find entertaining. I think that is just so overdone- what happened to the Bridget that was alcohol/fag orientated?!

Hopefully see you next week!

Love, Sydney