Why it's okay if you aren't a fan of Beyoncé

We live in a culture where if someone achieves mega-fame, they are likely to retain and be revered for it. Some good example of people who have achieved mega-fame are Oprah, J.K. Rowling and in this instance, Beyoncé.

Beyoncé is a household name. It is a synonym for utmost fabulosity. If my friends and I want to seriously compliment someone we would say, "OMG, you are Beyoncé!". She is portrayed to be the closest thing a human will ever be to a God(ess) and is fondly known as "Queen Bey". Anyone who claims not to like Beyoncé is deserving of any form of retribution.

I know about two Beyoncé songs. Crazy in Love and Single Ladies. I have never particularly enjoyed her music simply because it has never been a genre I have listened to. Before you stab me with the nearest pencil, this is not me trying to say, "Look how different I am! Look at how I defy cultural norms!" or that Beyoncé is undeserving of any of her success. I have the utmost respect for all of her achievements and what she contributes to feminism.

What I want you, the reader, to acknowledge is how readily you were ready to stab me with that pencil. In a world where our whole lives are so public it has become part of ones social status whether or not one likes people like Beyoncé and it seems that it is only socially accepted to be part of her enormous fanbase.

This is my appeal to you to like what you want to like and respect other peoples prefferences. It's 2015!

Izzy

More on Queen Bey: http://hellogiggles.com/queen-bey-unretouched-photos

2015 Calender

The last two days of the quickly diminishing holidays have been spent making a slightly late 2015 calendar which you can save to your computer and print if you so wish.

If you like it, I don't know do whatever you want with it. It is now available to print, keep on your computer, anything.

If you like this, please comment to let me know or follow to see more posts like this.

Live Long and Prosper

Izzy

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