2015 Round Up and Bookish Survey

The amount I have blogged this year has been shockingly low.... I do aim to have time to rectify that, because I love the community, but school and doing everything is difficult. *sigh*

Anyway, like last year, I'll fill this out as best as I can! Thank you,Jamie (The Perpetual Page Turner) for making and hosting this!

2015 Reading Stats

Number Of Books You Read: 93

Number of Re-Reads: 4, I think: The Knife of Never Letting Go, The Lightning Thief, The Sea of Monsters, and Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
Genre You Read The Most From: ...not sure. A bit of many things. Not much historical. A fair bit of contemporary.

Best In Books

1. Best Book You Read In 2015? Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli- see my review here.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More But Didn’t? The Honours by Tim Clare. I love Clare's poetry, and was very excited for this, but it's not as gripping as I hoped and it's just been sitting by my bed.

 3. Most surprising (in a good way or bad way) book you read? Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. End Part One. Huge twist. Loved it.

 4. Book You “Pushed” The Most People To Read (And They Did)? Half of my time as literacy prefect at school has been spent pushing Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Also, Cat Clarke's Undone (three people immediately wanted to read it after I featured it in an assembly, which I call an immense success).

 5. Best series you started in 2015? Best Sequel of 2015? Best Series Ender of 2015?

The Gentlemen Bastards/Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Fantasy, adventure, sass. And the sequel- all that, plus lady pirates!!!

 6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2015? I'm choosing two (collaborating) authors -Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison, who wrote Lobsters - their book is good and in person they're absolutely lovely: Look what they wrote in my copy!

7. Best book from a genre you don’t typically read/was out of your comfort zone? Lobsters by Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison (contemporary, not LGBT focussed, romance) was light, funny, and true.

 8. Most action-packed/thrilling/unputdownable book of the year? Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz- fantasy, beautiful descriptions, and a really unique take on magic.

 9. Book You Read In 2015 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year? Simon vs, aka the hug in book form. Or King Lear by Shakespeare, because that's for my English exam...

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2015? The US cover of Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley.

11. Most memorable character of 2015? The Count from The Snow Child, in The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter. Anyone who knows that story knows why. Anyone who doesn't know is probably better off that way.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2015? Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. So much happiness. Review here

.

13. Most Thought-Provoking/ Life-Changing Book of 2015? This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp. So many perspectives, insights, and emotions. Review here.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2015 to finally read?   How To Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lilis. Such an adorable story, aware of
fandom, and happy and funny and lovely.

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2015? I want to put something from the James Michie translation of Catullus' poems, but I can't choose a favourite.

16.Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2015? Pub Stuntman by Tim Clare, 67 pages. The Secret History by Donna Tart, 628 pages.

 17. Book That Shocked You The Most Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, as detailed earlier.

18. OTP OF THE YEAR (you will go down with this ship!) Aristotle and Dante, as they discover the secrets of the Universe.

(OTP = one true pairing if you aren’t familiar)

19. Favorite Non-Romantic Relationship Of The Year The epistolary friendship between Ollie and Moritz in Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas.

20. Favorite Book You Read in 2015 From An Author You’ve Read Previously The Lost and the Found by Cat Clarke – review here.

21. Best Book You Read In 2015That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else/Peer Pressure: I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, as a result of peer pressure. My review here.

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2015? Locke, Ezri and Zamira from Scott Lynch's works.

23. Best 2015 debut you read? The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Wiliamson - I reviewed it here

24. Best Worldbuilding/Most Vivid Setting You Read This Year? The worlds in Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch, and Otherbound by Corrinne Duyvis

25. Book That Put A Smile On Your Face/Was The Most FUN To Read? Prudence by Gail Carriger.

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2015? This is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

 and All of the Above by Juno Dawson.

27. Hidden Gem Of The Year? … I don't know

28. Book That Crushed Your Soul? This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

29. Most Unique Book You Read In 2015? The Bees by Laline Paull. Entire dystopian set in a beehive.

30. Book That Made You The Most Mad (doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t like it)?  Can't decide.

Your Bookish/Blogging Life

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2015 I can't think of one. I met lots of new people on twitter and real life, but I can't call one a favourite!

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2015? Not of a book, but a theatre review of Secret Shakespeare with theHandlebards.

3. Best discussion/non-review post you had on your blog? Bisexual characters for Bi-visibility day!

4. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)? Hmm.... attending YALC, Love Hurts signing, and YAShot, hosting people like Lisa Williamson and Kim Curran for blog tours.... many brilliant things.... but I'll go with TEDx! Non Pratt, Tom Pollock, Sarah Sky, and Faye (A Daydreamer's Thoughts) and Fionnula (Books for Birds) came, we had lots of talks, one by me (also, the editing people are very busy so the videos are going to be a long time coming... should I record as a vlog my talk on why you should read diversely? I was proud of it, and my ability to deliver it to 100 people without too many mistakes...)

5. Best moment of bookish/blogging life in 2015? the many excellent twitter chats with people. Or my first Drink YA- lots of awesome people, and book themed cocktails! 

6. Most challenging thing about blogging or your reading life this year? Keeping up with it all!

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)? By view, according to Google Analytics, it's my EPQ on whether YA reinforces or challenges gender stereotypes...

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love? ….do any of them really deserve much love? eh... Not about a book, but my review of Spring Awakening performed by Renegade Theatre was nearly 1,000 words and no-one commented on it...

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)? Thanks to Jim (YA Yeah Yeah) and Stacey (The Pretty Books) , Judd Books! Second hand book store in London, cheap, great non-fiction section. Yay!

10.  Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? Haha probably not.

Looking Ahead

1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2015 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2016?

  Suetonius' Lives of the Twelve Caesars, for a research project which has become neglected in the last few weeks.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2016 (non-debut)? Robin Talley's As I Descended- I'm scared to read it because I've built it up to be mindblowing and I don't want to be disappointed but LESBIAN CONTEMPORARY MACBETH!!!

3. 2016 Debut You Are Most Anticipating? Can't think of any.

 4. Series Ending/A Sequel You Are Most Anticipating in 2016? Can't think of any.

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging Life In 2016? Keep up with reviews!

6. A 2016 Release You’ve Already Read & Recommend To Everyone: This is Where it Ends.

Thank you for staying with me for another year of intermittent blogging and overenthusiastic tweeting! It's been a busy year for me, what with AS exams, starting work for A2, taking on a weekend job, applying for unis, and trying to gain some order with my life,  and next year looks to be similar or busier... anyway, happy new year, everyone!

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TEDx HAPPENED!

You may have noticed me on Twitter speaking about TEDx. Well, it happened, and it went really well.

TEDx is an offshoot of the TED talks, where a collection of speakers come and do short talks on a subject of their choosing. The x marks the event as independently organised. One of my friends, Tanya, decided we should do a TEDx event. She looked into getting a license, she got one, and plans started being made.

  

We had a mix of students and external speakers and performers, all covering a range of topics.

NON PRATT, author of TROUBLE and REMIX, talked about how we condition generations into genders.

SARAH SKY, author of the JESSICA COLE series, gave us a quick tour though female spies, past and present.

The A LEVEL DRAMA group did part of their performance of Monsters, revolving around the killing of Jamie Bulger

SHONA DIXON analysed  the response to Ebola.

DR GEORGINA NEALL talked about, among other things, how she balances studying, working, and raising four children.

TOM POLLOCK, author of THE SKYSCRAPER THRONE series, examined the media's role in creating fear in the masses.

GABBY WASSER told us about how mushrooms can help, heal, or bring about an apocalypse

CHARLOTTE SPRUZEN was one of two explaining the science of science fiction, looking at how time travel would theoretically work.

SONDER, a band made up of two students, played two songs.

SARAH RABY BUCK gave the second science of science fiction talk, explaining how biochemistry could work on other worlds.

NATALIE RUSSO talked about the importance of language and why it's not too late to learn a new one.

JEANNIE GALSTON , ex Miss Universe, told us what it was like to be a model in the days before Photoshop.

NAFEESA MOHAMMED performed some of her work (she's an amazing slam poet) and what poetry means for her.

I, NINA CRISP, did a talk about why you should diversify your reading. What else would I say?

REBECCA JURDON summed up very eloquently the failings of an exam orientated education system.

All these talks will soon be available on YouTube, so if you missed them and want to see them, or if you want to relive them, you can! I'll link them when they're available.

We had a selection of world food, both main and desert. The highlights were the  cupcakes. We sold books, both the authors' and some diverse ones I highlighted in my talk.

We also had plans to have a bloggers' alley, but it didn't work out because we forgot that devices need to be registered to the school's WiFi system to work, and that the council's service blocks all blogs anyway. Still, it was brilliant to see FAYE (A Daydreamer's Thoughts) and FIONNUALA (Books for Birds).

Thank you, everyone who came and supported us, especially all our external speakers and bloggers who came from a long way away! Also, thank you all the people who worked hard on making TEDx Beaconsfield High a thing. It was brilliant.

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Fourth Blogoversary! And International Giveaway!

It's my fourth blogoversary. Wow.

I honestly never thought I'd still be blogging in the sixth form. I thought I'd have given up some time around my GCSEs.
And I did think about it. Many times. But I also thought I couldn't leave the community of the many friends I have gained through starting blogging, all the people I've met, all the things I wouldn't have done.

I've been to publisher launches (Love you, Hot Key Books. RIP, Strange Chemistry!). I've hosted semi-successful events (Rainbow Reads, The Month Before Halloween). I've written for The Guardian and been featured on it too. I've read much more widely than I would have done. I've met too many people to list, and been in contact with so many more.

I haven't been brilliant at it. Output has drastically fallen and attempts to increase it must be delayed until after coursework.

But this blog is still alive, and that calls for celebration.

So, international giveaway time!

TWO winners will each get to pick books that I have featured on the blog, to a value of up to £10 from The Book Depository. They could have been my wishlist, books I recieved, books I reviewed, anything. Just have a browse. If I convinced you to try a book, please say!
The rafflecopter below lets you enter, and you can earn extra by sharing the word.
The giveaway ends at the end of Sunday 15 March 2015. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Blog Awards + News

Hey! Things are kind of getting sorted in my life right now.

News! 

There's going to be a chat tomorrow (19 January) on twitter about  teenage mental health at 7pm GMT. The hashtag is #gdnbluemonday. Go join in.
Also, Tom Pollock wrote an incredibly brave and powerful post. Go read it. 

I'm really glad that mental health is something that's being talked about more. It might feature a bit more on this blog, I don't know yet. But, like many other things that we need to talk about, it is being talked about more, and maybe slowly society can do the same.

Happier news! I discovered Judd Books, and independent store in London, because I saw Stacey (The Pretty Books) and Jim (YaYeahYeah) by chance while trying to visit the Gothic exhibition in the British Library (I failed. Why did my teachers, who knew we'd be studying  Frankenstein all year, only tell us that it was on and it would be highly useful the week before it closed?)  Anyway, I got two non fiction books because non-ficion second hand books tend to be rarer so I got a book on the history behind the Trojan War and on LGBTQ rights in the Middle East.

Also, I'm thinking of attempting to do fortnightly vlogs. Would anyone be interested?

Main post time! I got nominated for two blog awards over the past few weeks- the Liebster award from Jo, who writes the Eclectic Feel Blog, and the Infinity Dreams award from Holly, who writes Holly Quills and Ivy. Thank you, guys!

From Eclectic Feel Blog. wordpress.com

• Describe your blog in 3 words. So much work.
• What’s your favourite smell and why? Rum and vanilla tea because good memories of times when it was there- see birthday party involving tea duelling
• Name an unusual skill/talent you have.  Less a talent, more proof of my brain being a jumbled mess- randomly slipping correctly conjugated/declined Latin into French lessons or mostly incorrectly conjugated French into Latin
• If you could only choose one – books, music, art, craft or photography? This is evil. Book s or music... books. Just. Evil.
• Oranges or lemons? Organes.
• Your top 3 ambitions for 2015? Sort out my physical health and mental health and sleep pattern. Get decent grades.  Not mess up too badly.
• What was your last holiday destination and what’s (hopefully) your next? Edinburgh  (Fringe festival!!) and Spain (not sure where).
• Trilby or fedora? Fedora
• What was the last book you read/album you listened to (and rate it out of 10)? Last book completed- Love, Sex, and Tragedy- 7.75 out of 10. Last album listened to: Spring Awakening Original Cast- 7 out of 10
• What’s your favourite cheese? Whatever it is that goes on dominoes pizza
• Will you be rocking Pantone’s colour of the year “Marsala” in 2015? No, since I have no idea what it is.

From HollyQuillsand Ivy

Required 11 facts

• I can’t stick to plans about what to read next
• I love my Latin lessons excessively
• I have illustrated my Latin workbooks with daleks, corsets, and a graphic body count of Titus Andronicus
• Underneath my bed is a lot of food
• Current teas on the go: Russian Morning Kusmi 24, and Lapsang Souchong.
• I can’t drink lapsang souchong at night or the caffeine keeps me awake
• I have no idea where I want to start writing my TEDx talk
• My to-review box is overflowing badly
• I keep random bits and bobs in pretty teacups
• Miscast cabaret/backwards broadway nights on youtube make my life complete
• I really want to become fluent in at least two more languages.

And questions...  

• In your opinion, what book has the most beautiful cover ? Current favourite, liable to change: This Book is Gay just because its cover fits it perfectly.
• What is your favourite song? Another current favourite , liable to change, is Touch Me from Spring Awakening.
• Why did you start blogging? Stephanie said she did it and she loved it. I decided to go.
• Would you rather be in The Hunger Games arena or in a zombie apocalypse? Zombie apocalypse
• If you travel anywhere where would you like to go? A tour of all the capital cities.
• What celebrity would you fangirl over most? Hmm...... there’s many..... I have love for Haylee Atwell, Kat Dennings, Colbie Smoulders, Scarlett Johanson.... all the ladies of Marvel really... and Sebastian Stan.... and James Dawson.... and Kim Curran... and Patrick Ness.... and Tom Pollock.... and Laura Lam... and Rainbow Rowell.... I don’t know!
• What is one skill you wish you had? Apart from languages, consistently decent violin skills.
• Narnia or Neverland? Neverland
• Is there one film you can quote word for word? Repo! The Genetic Opera. And the play version of Rent (not a film, but I can do that as well)
• What was your worst read of 2014?  I can’t think of an absolute worst, but I couldn't deal with Game of Thrones.
• What was your best read of 2014? Probably A Kiss in the Dark.

OK, I’m sorry I don’t have time to nominate people or write questions, because I can’t deal with going and seeing who’s won it already and such right now and my interview conducting skills are zero,  but if anyone wants to  tell us a bit about themselves, please do! 

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News! So much has happened!

Argh!! Six weeks until exams! Totally not procrastinating. *procrastinates*  (I am actually getting some revision done. Of the stuff I get. *pretends that the Cold War is not on our syllabus after awful teaching*)

Anyway. Things are happening.

I have books. I have Essence by Lisa O Kane from Netgalley, which I'm reading for my stop on the Countdown to June 5th. It's going to be an epic tour, with lots of authors and bloggers. Thanks to Jim for hosting it!!
I also have Bone Jack (thank you Andersen Press), Hate (thank you, Indigo), and some other books I can't think of right now but will tell you I got from publishers when I  review them.

I also have lots of books I don't want. Shout if you want them. Usual postage costing rules apply.

Divergent premiere. So good. You should see the film when you have the chance. I'll tell you more in another post.

Laure Eve is holding a challenge! Paper vs Pixels! For all of April, we can only consume books in one format. Due to my giant pile, and my need to reduce it, I pick paper! It's going to be hard. Sorry, millions of netgalley things... I am still going to be using my kindle (half my revision stuff is on it!) but books will be paper only. What will you choose?


You know how much I endorse queer fiction. LGBTApril is an event being held by Cayce (Fighting Dreamer) and Laura (Laura Plus Books). You can do anything, as long as you do something related to lgbt fiction. I am going to (after revision) do a post breaking down genre in major LGBT fiction, because off the top of my head, I think queer people are more visible in contemporary and fantasy, and not many dystopians, but then I got suggested a few dystopians and I'm all 1) how did I not know these existed? and 2)how do the numbers really add up?  Look forwards to that in a few weeks.

Marriage equality laws came into effect on Saturday! I am really pleased about this, because it means that queer couples do get their coupleness (actually can't think of a better word right now) recognized in the same way as people with different sexes do. But I can't help but find flaws in the system. Inherently human has a great post on inequalities with gender within the act, and I just think that the push for marriage equality has been at the forefront of lgbt activity, when there are a lot more less pretty, more pressing issues that need to be dealt with too such as youth homelessness and mental health care and suicide rates and intersectionality (lack of). However, marriage equality is a great step towards equality, and I'm happy for all the couples that got a day they'd been waiting for for ages. Here's hoping we can go further.

I'm sure none of you are unfamiliar with Lucy the Reader and Project UKYA. But in case you don't know, April will be a UKYA Extravaganza! Check out @lucythereader and @projectukya for more info.


Campers! Campnanowrimo is here for April! I'm not participating, as I have other things to do and just about have carved out a regular writing schedule. But if you can, and you want to, do. Awesome people will be writing with you.

Anyone here on twitter? If so, you should totally enter this competition held by Quercus.
"Tweet why you want a signed competition copy of Cat Clarke’s A Kiss in the Dark between the 31st March and 4pm on 4th April. Make sure you @Cat_Clarke & include the #AKITD to be in with a chance of winning. The winner will be announced on Friday 4th at 4:30pm. Good luck."
I have A Kiss in the Dark on my To-Read pile, and I'll be reading it for Paper vs Pixels. I recommend you read it because...well, it's Cat, who is a totally awesome author (find my love for her here).


So, that's it for now. Divergent post should be up soon. Reviews should be up soon. Enjoy your week. 

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December Update

IT'S DECEMBER WHERE HAS THIS YEAR GONE??? Ok, it's been December for over a week now. But I didn't have a talky post last week, so here's one now.

Seeing as it is December, and therefore nearly Christmas, I made a book tree. Because reasons.

That's as Christmassy as my room is going probably to get. But, in my mind, it's a good Christmassy. So there. 

With this and my nearly-6-foot-tower, I think I should totally go in to book stacking. This is a thing. In Japan.  

November is over! And here's my efforts of Nanowrimo. 15 sheets double sided handwritten.  Probably about 15000 words-I gave up counting halfway through. Considering this was done in the middle of 5 pieces of coursework, I think I did good. 

If I can finish and clean it up some day, it'll make its way on to the internet. Maybe.

Other things that have happened.... 

I read a bit. Not much. But what I have on the go now, I plan to finish before the end of the year. I have a big to review pile, so I'll get on that in the next week or so.

I've nearly finished season 1 of Lost Girl. It's awesome. 

My library has More Than This!! I'll start that soon too hopefully.

I'm rereading Pride and Prejudice so I can write a broadway style duet for Lizzy and Darcy. 

I'll try and be around the bloggy world more after next week.

Have a great week!

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News! Sadness, and prettiness, and awesomeness,

Hi guys. Sorry for the little silence around here. That wasn't meant to happen, but things got in the way.

So news.
Despite my avoidence of the internet, I got spoiled for Allegiant. Damn. Good luck anyone still to read it.

Now seriousness. Apparently, Veronica Roth has been recieving death threats for it. NOT COOL, OK!! Strong reactions, fine, I get it, that wouldn't be the most well received series endings. But to go all out on an author for writing a plot twist you don't agree with is not acceptable.  I really hope none of my readers are any of these people joining in, but you never know. DON'T DO IT GUYS.

Nice news. Banished by Liz de Jager has a cover now! ISN'T IT JUST BEAUTIFUL???

I can't deal with people who can do art like this. Definitely got to get hold of this some time soon.

Big news! Megan invited me to the awards ceremony of the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and Young Critics Competition. It was an amazing night, I met some great people, I'll be doing a writeup about it soon, and Rebecca Stead's Liar and Spy, which won, sounds awesome.  Megan, I could fangirl over her and how bloody awesome she is for ages. I'm not going to because my fingers hurt from all this typing, but hopefully you get the idea.  Just go check out her blog, yes?

Sherlock should be back on 19 January! (I don't trust them to give us happiness regarding Sherlock).

You know I said about that gender in YA project? Can you please go here? And spread the word? There's 30 questions, but you don't have to answer all of them, or you can go through and come back. This is something that is worth half a GCSE, and it's an interesting topic. 

Link- http://dft.ba/-genderinyaq

I'm not going to be around for the next week or so, because I'll be going on an "educational" trip with my Latin class! Internet will be intermittent. A few reviews are scheduled. I'll be hanging round my emails every now and again, and maybe other places like goodreads and facebook, but majorly I won't be here. Have a great week everyone!

Awesomeness to leave you with.

More epic bookstore signs via a-geek-without-braces

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