Friday 4 July 2014

Monthly roundup // June Reads // This Month's Hearts

Hi everyone. When you read this I will literally be lying on the beach ... but such is the magic of scheduling posts. 

So, does everyone remember this type of post? Yes? No? Basically, it's an end-of-the-month thing in which I link up to the posts of the month gone by and give you a little life update about some of the good things/things I've liked this month. I used to also add the best book of the month, although from now on I will not be doing review posts like I used to, instead doing a generally review post at the end of the month. That is, except for today - I only finished one book in June and frankly it does not deserve a post to itself. 

Anyway. That was a bit of a convoluted paragraph. But we can deal.



Monthly roundup

May Reads - reviews of the books I read in May

September - May: Top 25 - sharing some of the lovely things/books I've got since September 

September - May: A Bookish Tour (Part 2) - some more reviews of books I've read since August. Part 3 coming soon!

Beautiful People Linkup - I took part in the writers' linkup hosted by Further Up and Further In and The Notebook Sisters

This Month's Hearts

General life 

~ The weather! It finally got hot! ~capers around~ Admittedly it has also rained torrentially and been freezing this month ... but such is life when you live in Britain. I actually got sunburned. Yes, really. 

~ I had my Duke of Edinburgh Silver final expedition. And ... it was not as bad as expected!!! In fact, it was actually ... ~whispers~ kinda fun. Yes, it certainly had it's low points - but overall it was pretty good. We canoed up Loch Lochy and Loch Oich. And I read the Bible to my friends a bit - !! Prayers appreciated :)

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Loch Lochy. Very pretty, despite its ridiculous name.
(I mean, whose idea was that?!)
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And Loch Oich, complete with canoers. I remember paddling in that exact spot.
~ I won some subject prizes for Prizegiving (I was actually top of my year, which I'm pretty proud about) and, more to the point, BOUGHT SOME VERY PRETTY BOOKS with the book tokens I won. Be excited, bloglings. Click here for the post containing said pretty books.

Music 

~ I have been listening to lots of Radiohead. 

This song. So beautiful. So sad. Ugh. Life.

~ I have also been listening lots to The Punch Brothers' new album, Who's Feeling Young Now? Click here to listen to the full album.

This is my favourite song from the album. You should listen to it! .... !!!!!

~ My friend Rose was singing a song on DofE called You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate ... and so I discovered the fantastic band Zoey Van Goey. Listen to the shamazing album Propeller Versus Wings here

I really hope you're listening to these songs. THIS one is amazingggg.

Writing

~ I wrote a bit in June - pretty exciting! Corrie met her best friend Mel for the first time, and I am currently crafting a supervillain. Exciting.

Posts I've loved

Following in the footsteps of  Ruby from the ever-wonderful Feed Me Books Now, I am going to list a few lovely posts from June. That is, from those I remember. Which may well be very few.

Harry Potter Names Etymology by Ruby @ Feed Me Books Now - HP fans, read this post! Very, very, very cool.
~ Cait @ The Notebook Sisters on 2nd Drafts.
~ I discovered the blog A Book So Fathomless!
~ I also discovered Recovering Potter Addict (as you can imagine, the blog name had me from hello). 
~ July's blog I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good turned three, and she's having a party!
~ Charley R discusses colours in novels @ The Book Chewers

June Reads

As I said, this would normally get its own post, but due to a Rather Annoying Thing known as School I only finished one book in June:

Dune by Frank Herbert tells the story of Paul Atreides, the ducal heir, leaving his home planet with his parents to the desert planet of Arrakis, as war brews between the Emperor and the Great Houses of the galaxy. On Arrakis, Paul is forced to grow up quickly as he confronted with treachery and betrayal, the harsh conditions of a life where water is the most precious of materials, and the mysterious desert. It contains the myth-ridden giant sandworms, the coveted spice that is the currency of the whole galaxy, and the strange people of the Fremen - and here, Paul must learn to survive.

"An unparalleled achievement of imagination" says that copy of the book. I cannot deny that, in Dune, Herbert created a vast and incredible sci-fi world, from religion to mind-control, ecology to sociology. However: unparalled? No. Narnia, Hogwarts, Middle Earth ... these are all worlds created in books which, in my opinion, rise high above Dune. It contained a fascinating world and premise - but past that, the plot was strange and slow, and the main character was pretty unlikeable. I understand that this is an internationally acclaimed book - but honestly, I just didn't get it. It seemed too far-fetched for me - which coming from a fantasy fan is a pretty big statement - and I found myself just desperate for it to end. I find that, the longer a book takes me, the less tolerant I am - if it only takes two days, I'll remain at least partially benevolent even if it's pretty rubbish, but if a book takes a month, it has to be pretty amazing. Dune took a month. And it was not amazing.

Rating: 5/10 (harsh I know, but it's a dog-eat-dog world out there, kids.)

That's all from me today - I hope you all had a great June :)

Emily x

4 comments:

  1. Aw, congrats for being top of the year! Well done!
    And those book are very pretty. One of my favourite hobbies is stationary shopping. I love going to TKMaxx and looking at all their wonderfully pretty notebooks..... *sigh*

    You have a really different taste in music. I really like it! Especially that last song... it's just so .... odd, but really catchy.
    I am going to go now and read those posts you've highlighted - I really have to catch up...!

    Marian ^_^ x

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    1. Thanks Marian! :D They are very very very pretty ^_^ I love stationery shopping too, TK Maxx have such nice things! They also sell lovely soap in pretty boxes :D

      Haha thanks! I listen to very random stuff. You Told the Drunks I Knew Karate is a pretty odd song but very catchy, I was listening to it almost on repeat at one point!

      Thanks for stopping by :D x

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  2. Loch Lochy?!?!?! Really? Oh goodness, that does seem a bit ridiculous xD Glad you had at least a teensy bit of fun on your trip, it would be miserable if you hated the whole thing.
    Thank you for linking my celebration post! It means a lot that you would think of me as one of your June favorites ;)
    Much love,
    July

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    1. haha I know! :')

      You're very welcome, I shall be checking your blog momentarily :D x

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Thanks for commenting! :)