Tuesday 10 June 2014

September to May: Top 25

Hi everyone! First up, I'd like to draw the attention of you all to The Blog Hermit, where I have my very first guest post! Exciting, yes? Yes.

Anyway. ~spurs on imaginary horse~ Onwards!

If you've been a follower here for any length of time you'll probably have noticed that once a month I do a haul post. As you can imagine, during my hiatus (September to May) I acquired quite a lot of stuff, and today I'm going to share a few things with you because frankly, books are awesome. Clothes are awesome. Exciting presents are awesome. IT'S ALL AWESOME! To stop us all from dying of boredom I've compiled a shortlist (well not that short, but shorter) of my favourite things from since September, so without ado: my top 25 hiatus haul!

(Oh, but it's not in order to my most favourite. Because decisions like that = far too stressful. It's just in chronological order - starting with some birthday presents from October!)

1. Paperchase notebooks! These were birthday presents: the left is a lined journal from my friend Catriona (who, incidentally, turned sixteen today - shout out to her!) and the right is a blank journal from my mum.
I love pretty notebooks.
Like, a lot.
2. Another present from the unceaseingling awesome Catriona. 

Same as Harry's :')

LOOK IT AT! She made, it box and everything!

(Oh, and if you don't know what this is, you're not welcome here you should go and read Harry Potter. Like seriously. Like, why are you still here?)

3. A present from my other equally awesome friend Rose. Pretty!
And she put my very favourite Elbow lyrics inside it! 'At the top is stopping by your place of work and acting like I haven't dreamed of you and I and marriage in an orange grove / You are the only thing in any room you're ever in; I'm stubborn, selfish and too old.'
Click here to listen to the song, Starlings. It's such a beautiful song.

4. Very very old copy of Adam Bede (like, very old, c. 1900) from my brother. 
A very pretty old copy ^_^
Read my review here.

 5. My leather Fat Face satchel, from my mother. I honestly love this bag so much, I have used it almost literally non-stop since October!

6. From my aunt who works in a bookshop. I've not read this yet but I like JD Salinger (that is to say, I liked the one short story I've read by him) so I'm excited to give it a go!

7. Also from my aunt. I am excited for this too. Even more than for Franny and Zooey.

8. OK, I'm going to say something radical: these shoes are possibly the best thing I bought in the whole of 2013. They are so beautiful, and they go with ALL my winter clothes (almost), AND I got them for only £5.99 in the charity shop! Brilliant, right?! Right!

9. Also from the charity shop. It has long been my ambition to own a red coat, and I realised this ambition in the autumn. ^_^

10. OK, now it's into December - Christmas time! This is the best jumper of ever, from New Look. :D :D :D
11. A Christmas dress, also from New Look. 
I love lace.

12. THIS was one of my two most exciting Christmas presents, from my sister. I love jigsaws a lot. I love historical maps a lot. This is amazing. I've not made it yet, but when I do it will be a happy time indeed.

13. My other most exciting Christmas present! I love Lego. Like, a lot. I'm going to take this on holiday with me in the summer and make it there :D :D

14. I got this in January from New Look, snapped up in the sales for only a tenner - reduced from £25! 

15. Bought in February. New Look shoes are the best, and these just go with everything. The only downfall is they're very uncomfortable and not at all easy to walk in .... but still. Beauty is pain etc. 

16. Also from New Look. I love wedges. 

17. Now we're into the realms of the charity shop book finds! I bought this a few months ago, and I've still not read it - but I am very, very excited. If you know anything about me you'll know that I absolutely love a) historical novels and b) fantasy, and the more dragons, swordfighting, back-stabbing, love, murder, intrigue, royalty and war, the better. I am a pre-emptive fan of Game of Thrones, if you get me. I just know I'll love it.

18. One of my favourite books of ever, which I bought in Oxfam because it is important to own copies of your favourites. This will serve well for re-reading purposes :)

19. My two new Vikram Seth novels, both picked up in Oxfam. I've read neither of them yet, but the time is coming. I bought them because A Suitable Boy is a stunning novel which is one of my favourites (and y'all should read it). Read my review of it here

20. Also bought in Oxfam. I bought this, knowing nothing about it, because I vaguely recognised the title and thought maybe I'd seen it reviewed and that it was somewhere on my TBR list. In fact, when I got home, it wasn't - but yay for accidentally bought books, am I right?! It looks v. good.

21. Bought from New Look. I love this dress, it is great for summer casual. 

22. And finally, my four most exciting recent purchases - the books I bought for Prizegiving! At my school, there are 'subject prizes'; if you are top in something you get £15 (in book tokens), second gets £12 and third gets £9. I won £66, and so, for the one time in the year, I was able to walk proudly into Waterstones and buy some beautiful, extremely expensive new books! This is a gorgeous clothbound edition of The Once and Future King, which if you don't know is a retelling of the Arthurian legend and, according to the blurb, "the fantasy epic by which all fantasy is judged". Like Game of Thrones, I am a pre-emptive fan because: kings? War? Love? Loss? Death? Murder? Dragons? Over 800 pages long? COUNT ME IN. 

23. Not a pretty hardback (or a pretty anything, I hate this cover -_- ), but never mind because yes, I've finally got my hands on Rose Under Fire! At last! VERY excited to read this one. 
24. Gorgeous hardback. Yet again, historical fantasy - so you can be sure I'm there!

25. And finally, this, a collection of war poetry. As I mentioned in this post, I absolutely love Disabled by Wilfred Owen, as well as his other First World War poems, and I think this will be a really interesting and poignant book.
Hope you enjoyed this little glance into the life of Emily over the past six months! I should be restarting The Best and the Rest at the end of June ... I think. We'll see.

Have a great Tuesday!

Emily x

10 comments:

  1. Hey Emily,
    Thanks for sharing the beautiful goodies here. I just Harry potter stuff that your friend made to you. and you wedges and the necklace.

    I havent read any books that you shared.
    I will go to see your guest post on Amy's blog.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Delvalina, thanks for your comment!
      I am a bit obsessed with my wand .... and my wedges and my necklace!!

      Me neither haha .... apart from Coram Boy. The rest are on my TBR list!

      Thanks! :D

      Delete
  2. I have that exact same dragonfly notebook and I love it! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've not actually started it yet ... it's so pretty, I'm too scared in case what I write is really messy or stupid and I ruin it!

      Delete
  3. oh what? you did a guest post? what is that brilliant blog of which you featured - it must be amazing and have an awesome design and must be run by a all-powerful master, right? ~cough~

    and dude, game of thrones is AWESOME!! i'm only on the second book but still, pretty darn good for far.

    and lastlyyyy, those notebooks are absolutely stunning. i bought one from the works the other day and it was a handpainted shiny blue thing with a blue girl with flower hair and everything and ugh it was just so beautiful.

    amy // The Blog Hermit

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hey hey hey I linked you!!

      I'M SO EXCITED I CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN.

      aaaah I could just marry a pretty notebook you know???

      Delete
    2. i noticed ahaha - i was talking to someone a few days back who had a air of cool, casual sarcasm 24/7 and thought i'd try to mimic it... the result? i think my parents disowned me.

      AND YES I KNOW RIGHT!

      Delete
    3. Hahaha I think that works better in person than on the internet XD

      Delete
  4. SUCH pretty notebooks. Oh, I have a severe notebook obsession. I have a whole pile of them, unused, of course, because what if I wreck them??!! x) I'ma bit sad, that way. I really want to read Rose Under Fire, well...maybe. I'm still recovering from book #1, so maybe I'll keep putting it off. ;)
    Thanks for stopping by @ Notebook Sisters!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Same same same, people always give them to me but I'm terrified of using them O.o

      I, too, am still recovering from Code Name Verity. I think we all are. Not sure I'll ever fully get over it to be honest.

      You're welcome! I've been a silent follower for so long, I decided to get my act together because what is the point of loving a blog if they don't even know about it?? I wonder if I have any silent followers. PLEASE COME AND TALK TO ME, GUYS. I'LL BE NICE I PROMISE.

      Delete

Thanks for commenting! :)