2014 in books

*sings* It's beginning to look a lot like... 2015 and it's giving people anxiety.

I thought I'd summarise the year with a list of the 23 books I read and the rating I've given them.

I started the year in middle earth, with the first three months occupied by Frodo and Sam on their way to Mordor. I was a bit polygamous with my reading as I read a few other books at the same time and finally decided to see what all the rage about Divergent was. It is with regret that I say I did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would *braces self in anticipation for the barrage of "IT's AMAZING WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM" from the ardent divergent fans*.

1. The Fellowship of the Ring - J. R. R. Tolkien
5/5

2. The Two Towers - J. R. R. Tolkien
4/5 (While the events that took place in the book were necessary to the storyline, I found slightly less intriguing than Fellowship and The Hobbit, which is not to say I did not still enjoy it.)

3. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
5/5 (Thank you Grade 9 English for making me read this.)

4. Divergent - Veronica Roth
3/5 (Sorry guys.)

5. The Return of the King
5/5

After a poignant goodbye was said to The Shire I moved on to the world of Sherlock Holmes and was not disappointed.

6. A Study in Scarlet - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5/5

7. Sign of Four - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
5/5

I now have the full collection of Sherlock Holmes stories waiting to be read on my kindle. Do with that what you will.

The next classic I read was based quite a few years after Watson and Holmes.

8. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
4/5 (Despite being enticingly whimsical, this book gave me a lot of reasons NOT to drink or do drugs. Or travel through Mexico while high on marijuana.)

The next book is one of my absolute favourites. Shout out to my mom for recommending it to me.

9. The Geurnsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
5/5 (Now I really want to be part of a book club. Just go and read it. Now. You don't have a choice.)

I read two John Green books this year. While I have the utmost respect for him and what he has to say about teenagers and the world in general, his books do tend to resemble each other (Spoiler, he has repeated names. I'm not joking. Venn Diagrams are also prevalent.), however, I do still enjoy his writing and sense of humour.

10. An Abundance of Katherines - John Green
3.5/5 (While there were some hilarious moments, I found the plotline a bit predictable.)

After doing World War 1 in history, I was interested to learn more about that period in history seeing as we only learnt about it from an English perspective.

11. All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
5/5 (I particularly enjoyed this because it was written from a German perspective.)

The book that followed All Quiet on the Western Front not only contrasted the style of the book but was also a different war entirely.

12. TimeRiders (Book 1) - Alex Scarrow
4/5 (A perfect example of well thought out counterfactual history.)

The theme of World War 2 continued into the next book which was:

13. The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
5/5 (Words cannot describe the love I have for this book.)

Now for the next John Green.

14. Will Grayson, Will Grayson - John Green and David Levithan
5/5 (Hilarious. This is one of my favourite John Green books and introduced me to David Levithan.)

The next few books couldn't be more different from each other.

15. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
5/5 (Again, Thank you Grade 9 English.)

16. We Bought a Zoo - Benjamin Mee
4/5 (I loved the book and the movie. Also Matt Damon and Scarlett Johansson.)

17.  Prayers for the Stolen - Jennifer Clement
5/5 (This was excellent and so different to anything I've ever read. Shoutout to my gran for recommending it and now I recommend it to all of you because it is an eye-opener.)

18. Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code - Eoin Colfer
4/5 (I have had and always will have a soft spot for Eoin Colfer's writing.)

Because you can never have enough Science Fiction. Ever.

19. Eragon - Christopher Paolini
5/5 (I tried to resist the Inheritance Cycle but, in the words of the Borg from Star Trek, resistence is futile, it is excellent and everyone should read it. The end.)

20. Wolf Brother - Michelle Paver
5/5 (I started reading this series a couple of years ago and stopped for some stupid reason so I started again since I waited to long to read the sequel and was glad to find that I love it now as much as I did then.)

21. Fangirl - Rainbow Rowell
5/5 (I loved every minute of this and now I really want to read the Simon Snow books even if they are a fictional version of the Harry Potter books. Stop judging me and read it yourself, you'll see what I mean.

22. Eldest - Christopher Paolini
5/5 (My romance with the Inheritence Cycle continues...)

23. Brisingr - Christopher Paolini
5/5 (I actually finished this today and I'm not sure if I'm ready to start Inheritance yet because I really don't want it to end.)

Thus ends the list of books I read in 2014.

Live Long and Prosper

Izzy

Merry Christmas

To all Christians, Merry Christmas!

To all Jews, (belated) Happy Hanukkah!

To those not of Christian or Jewish faith, I hope you have a wonderful day too!

To those who do not practice religion, be you agnostic, atheist or not labelled, have a great day!

To everyone that just celebrates Christmas because presents are awesome, I hope you get lots.

Live Long and Prosper

Izzy

 
 





You don't have to be All About that Bass

Lately in media there has been an influx of songs, ad campaigns and articles discussing body confidence and the variety of body types.

Two such songs are All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor and Anaconda by Nicki Minaj, which, if you haven't heard yet I have to ask, which rock are you living under? A lot of the comments on the songs are that it is great that bigger body types are being promoted and that it is great that people are starting to recognise different forms of beauty.

The unfortunate truth is that these songs do not contribute to body confidence and here's why.

Firstly, "boys they like a little more booty to hold at night" seems harmless enough, but it essentially says that to be considered attractive, men have to find you attractive. approach is "My Anaconda don't want none unless you got buns hun", saying that men will only find you attractive if you look a certain way and if you don't, you are, for want of a better word, ugly. I'm not saying it's bad for you to want men to find you attractive, but their opinion (or lack thereof) does not invalidate your attractiveness. You are beautiful no matter what anyone thinks.
Secondly, you cannot promote one body type by shaming another. Lines like "I'm bringing booty back, go ahead and tell them skinny b******" or "You know I won't be no stick-figure" shame women who can't help being skinny or want to be thinner by inherently saying that their body type is wrong. Again, more blatantly, the entire last paragraph of Anaconda is dedicated to shaming skinny girls and about how men don't want what they have. It's okay if you are or want to be curvy, skinny, muscular, anything, but as soon as you shame someone for how they are or want to be, that is not okay.

Lastly,  you are a unique and beautiful human being. You do not have to look a certain way for that to be true, all you have to do is think that you're beautiful. Not every person is going to find you attractive because every person is wired differently but that does not, in any way, invalidate how you look and who you are. Humans are incredible things and if you limit their importance to looks then you need to catch a wake up.

And now, actual body confidence posts.

 

And most importantly...

 

Change "girl" to "person" and it'll be spot on.

 

You are awesome.

 

Live Long and Prosper

 

izzy 

19 days to go! A.K.A. the return of Izzy.

Hello.

Hi.

How are you?

I have returned.

You thought I was gone forever.

You were wrong.

And now, the weather.

In all seriousness, I am truly, eternally (sort of) sorry that I have not posted in ages. Of course, I am not entirely sure if I even have regular readers (besides you, Cath, you're still awesome) and it would be nice if I got some feedback from readers on whether I should keep this blog up and what I should do to improve it but ANYway.

IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS! So, of course, I made reindeer cookies. Behold!

These are the best tasting chocolate chips I've had in ages.

You can expect more regular posts from me as it is now the holidays and if you're new here and you like it so far, please subscribe or follow, I will love you forever.
And now, the Welcome To Night Vale Tweet of the Day

 Live Long and Prosper

 Izzy xxx










Two Years

It's that time of the year again.

What? No I do not mean Christmas!

It's the eighth of September (Okay fine it's the eleventh but I had tests this week).

TWO YEARS OF BLOGGING.

A lot has changed in two years.

Two years ago, I was excited about being almost thirteen. I had no idea that there was a difference between Star Trek and Star Wars (cringe) and I had not yet been sucked into fandom. I had not started highschool, I didn't have the faintest clue what subjects I would take for Grade 10 and my biggest worry was whether or not I would get the book I wanted for my birthday.

A year ago, I was again, excited for my birthday. I was making rainbow cupcakes for my 1-year-aversiary. I was convinced I would be taking French until matric and was counting down the days until Catching Fire. I knew a little about Sherlock and Star Trek and my obsession of the time was Arctic Monkeys (well it still is but ANYway).

Today, on the eighth of September, I'm still excited for my birthday (and trying to convince my parents to buy Star Trek TOS Season 1, mom, if you are reading this, I was not joking). I will definitely be taking Physics, Bio and History. I met my first and only fan a week ago (who is awesome just btw, go check her out). I buy more books than I will ever read, more music than I can listen to and drink a little bit too much tea (because coffee = gross). I wear eyeliner and then "forget" to wash it off because it HURTS. I have discovered a couple more obscure bands that I am in love with and I have a calendar on my wall that I have not used and am not entirely sure how it got there...

A lot can change in two years.

Live long and Prosper

Izzy

Kindle vs. Books? The debate that split the booknerds...

There is something unique about the experience of reading a book. You can spend hours flicking through the ergonomically displayed covers on the shelves of your favourite bookstore before finding the perfect title. You pay for your book, engaging in the customary debate with the cashier over whether "The Fault in our Stars" book to movie transition was better than "The Perks of being a Wallflower". At first all you do is stare at the book on your shelf, not sure whether to crack the spine and dog ear the pages just yet. You finally capitulate and spend the next four hours in whatever world you chose before your mother comes in with the usual "I thought you just bought that book!"

Yes, Kindles are impersonal, they cannot be used as coasters, written in, drawn on etc. These experiences are something the Kindle could never replace. While there is nothing like having a real book in your hands, the Kindle does have one advantage. It allows you to buy out of print books.

My first purchase on my Kindle was "Gregor the Overlander" by Suzanne Collins. Having devoured "The Hunger Games" trilogy, I was eager to get my hands on anything else Collins had written. I was extremely disappointed to find out that "The Underland Chronicles" was out of print until I bought my kindle and soon after the entire series of books.

While nothing will replace the wrinkled pages of the time you accidentally dropped your book in the bath or the hastily scrawled notes in the margins of "Hamlet", don't turn your purist nose up at a Kindle immediately, it might be the only way to access certain books.

Shoutout to Cath for being awesome :D

Live Long and Prosper internet

izzy

Feminism

While scrolling through my tumblr feed yesterday, I came across a post listing several celebrities that did not want to be labeled “feminists” as it promoted female superiority that feminism itself had many negative connotations. Shailene Woodley once in an interview, “I love males too, though! I like to be a feminist, but I’m also a…maleist? What would you call that?”

One of my favourite Ted Talks is by a woman called Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Last year I watched her talk “We should all be feminists” in history and the reason I enjoyed it was because she brought up the idea of a feminist stereotype. In society, the architypal feminist seems to be a woman who is unmarried and hates men, bras and any form of revealing clothing. If that were true, all feminists would probably look like this.

 
 
 

Firstly, if all feminists hated men that would be sexist, which is exactly what feminism is against. Feminism means equality for all genders regardless of your gender identity.

Secondly, feminists don’t have to be woman. You can support animal rights without being an animal, right?

Lastly, people should be able to dress how they like. Whether you want to wear skinny jeans and long shirts or mini-skirts and crop tops, what you wear only becomes demeaning to your gender when you mean it to be. It isn’t about how you present yourself, it’s about the attitude you present with what you wear.

Don’t be afraid to speak out about equality just because of a stereotype.

izzy

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Ted Talk

 

 

What I have been and shall be doing...

It is officially the end of the second term of Grade 9 SHOCK HORROR which means the end of June exams and the beginning of the daunting task of subject choice.

Despite the fact that I had to study, I read some excellent books this term two of which were Time Riders and The Book Thief.

Time Riders - Alex Scarrow
This is possibly one of the best Sci-Fi/time travel/counterfactual history related books I've read and I would definitely read it to those of you that are whovians.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Best. Book. Ever. and Markus Zusak has Tumblr!

I also read Will Grayson Will Grayson and again I cannot compliment John Green enough, and David Levithan is an author I am going to pursue.

My sister and I have been watching Fargo this term and I am in a constant debate about whether I should love or hate Lorne Malvo because yes, he is a serial killer but his character is so *shudders at the colloquialism* awesome! We have just got up to the episode where Lester frames his brother and I don't think he is smart enough to get away with it.

I also bought two more albums which were:

The Smiths - The Smiths
Morrisey. That is all I can say.

and

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not - Arctic Monkeys
I think Riot Van and Mardy Bum are two of my favourite songs ever. Mardy Bum also caused my dad to consider them as a good band :) (and they said it changes when the sun goes down ;) )

I also bought this EP

and I have come to the conclusion that Despair in the Departure Lounge is the best song on it.

I watched The Fault in our Stars and there are no words to describe it.

I also watched We Bought a Zoo again with my little sister and it is unironically (yes, I realise this is not a word) one of my favourite movies.

This holiday my book list includes Eragon, Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code, Inkspell and Wolf Brother.

Live Long and Prosper

izzy

(P.S. who can name which episode the above picture is from?)
(P.P.S. *SPOILERS* it's Amok Time - Season 2 Episode 1)