Wrap Up | June Week 3

 

Wolf by Wolf (Wolf by Wolf #2) by Ryan Graudin // ★★★★ // I FINALLY READ THIS! I clearly needed #YALC to pressure me into reading this one. I did enjoy it, and thought it was a great alternate history book. I do wish there was more of the actual Axis Tour in this one? For example, I wanted more of her experiences riding the bike, instead of just seeing the stop points, fights and racing time. 

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones // ★★★★ // Another one I should have read ages ago. I felt like one of the only people on this planet who hadn’t read this or watched the movie. I thought it was a cute story, and it made me laugh several times. The plot is somewhat convenient, but it is a middle grade book so I don’t mind really. 

Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1) by Alwyn Hamilton // ★★★★ // Yup, another one I read way after the hype. And another one I really liked! I do think the ending was quite abrupt, and I want to read the sequel. I might wait with buying it until I’m at YALC though. 

 

Wonder Woman // ★★★★★ // If I could rate this a 11 out of 5, I would. I absolutely loved this movie. I adored Gal Gadot, who did an incredible job portraying Diana Prince. I loved Chris Pine, who played the supporting character called Steve. I loved the story, the humor, the awkward bits, the side characters, the 3 minutes in which people suddenly spoke Dutch… I loved everything. I think Patty Jenkins did an amazing job as a director. I’m not a film critic at all, yet I found myself really admiring the cinematography and coloring of the shots? Anyway, go watch it.

Howl’s Moving Castle // ★★★★ // I couldn’t just read the book, and not watch the movie. This movie is SO DIFFERENT from the book! The only things that are the same are the character names and the title. But I still really enjoyed it? Calcifer was sooooo cute in this. Completely different than how I’d pictured him, but adorable nonetheless. 

Skam // ★★★★★ // It’s over. I can’t believe the series has ended. If you haven’t watched this Norwegian TV show, please do. I don’t speak Norwegian either, but there are some lovely fans who have taken the time to translate the clips. This is now one of my favorite shows ever. It’s the first teenager-in-high-school series I have actually found to be relateable.

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So that was everything I read and watched this week! Have you read any of these books? What did you read and/or watch this week? If you’ve watched SKAM, let me know so we can ramble together!

Reading Wrap Up | June Week 2

The Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5) by J.K. Rowling // ★★★★★ // Yes, I continued my re-read this week and read The Order of the Phoenix again! I actually enjoy this one more as an adult than I did as a teenager.

The Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6) by J.K. Rowling // ★★★★★ // Still on the re-read train.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë // ★★★★★ // SURPRISE! I read another classic, and actually loved it this time. Jane Eyre took me completely by surprise because I didn’t expect to love it at all. I flew through it, and actually couldn’t put it down.

I am so in love with this series. Skam is a Norwegian TV show about the lives of a group of teenagers in high school. It’s so realistic and well done, I’ve never been this invested in a show about teenagers. It addresses friendship, feminism, religion, sexuality, refugees and immigration, etc. It’s just incredible. Currently, season 4 is being released and it’s all about Sana. Each show focuses on a different character from the group. The clips are also not released per episode. Instead, if a scene happens on 15:14 on Thursday, it gets posted on 15:14 on Thursday. You never know when the next clip will be released!

All the Yousana feels though. All of them.

Also, tonight I’m going to see Wonder Woman! I’m so excited, you can’t even imagine. 

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That’s everything I read and watched this week! What did you read and/or watch? Have you seen Skam? Or Wonder Woman?

June Wrap Up | Week 1

It’s time for my first weekly wrap up in a while! I’ll be covering everything I’ve read in June so far, which is actually a little more than a week. But I figured it would still work, seeing as I haven’t finished many books in the past 10 days. Let’s get into it! 

 

Books mentioned:
The Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter #3) by J.K. Rowling
The Cursed Child by Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
The Goblet of Fire (Harry Potter #4) by J.K. Rowling

Weekly Wrap Up | April 16th, 2017

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz // DNF // I DNFed this book at about 62%. I’ve explained all of my thoughts on it in a review though so if you haven’t seen that yet, you can find it here. 

Assassin’s Quest (Farseer #3) by Robin Hobb // ★★★★★ // A #TomeTopple read! I adored this book. It has gone on to my favorites-shelf immediately. I really want to read more about Fitz and the Fool, but I’ll have to wait and read the other series first so I don’t read them out of order. 

The Spy by Paulo Coelho // Read in translation: De Spion, translated by Piet Janssen // ★★★★ // I picked this up because I saw Bree (Bree Hill on YouTube) talk about it. I had never really read anything about Mata Hari, so I wanted to give it a go. I adored the writing! It was beautiful, and I wanted to highlight so many passages. I didn’t though, because I have a library copy… But there were so many aspects of her life that were completely glossed over and unexplained. I couldn’t give it more than 4 stars because of the unanswered questions, but I also couldn’t lower my rating because I did adore the writing. 4 it is.

Season 4 of Skam has started, and I am all in. I’m still sad international fans have to go to such lengths to be able to watch it, but I also truly love this show. I think it is my favorite show, to be honest. This is by far the most honest, realistic and beautiful show on high school teenagers I have ever seen. Season 4 is all about Sana, and I am 100% for it. Sana is the Muslim girl wearing a hijab in the picture above. I’m just loving her perspective so far, and I think this season will teach me a lot about her -but also about Islam in general.

What happened in real life? 

I’m getting ready for my move in a few weeks. Because I don’t really have any vacation days, I pack up slowly during the weekends. Yesterday, I put all (fine, MOST of) the books I’ve read into boxes… I can’t put my unread ones in yet. I know I will never be able to read them before the move, but what if I want to read a specific one and it’s already in a box?? No. 

We’re celebrating Easter today with my dad’s side of the family, and tomorrow with my mom’s. Lots of family celebrating going on! And chocolate. Obviously.

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That was my week! How was yours? Did you read, watch or do anything fun?

Weekly Wrap Up | April 9th, 2017

Emma by Jane Austen // ★★★.5 // I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! I’ll probably do a full review soon, but I thought it had some pretty funny moments even though the second volume was far too long. 

Inheritance (Inheritance Cycle #4) by Christopher Paolini // ★★★★★ // I’ve finished my re-read of the series! It had been about 6 years since I last read this, and I remembered absolutely nothing save for the ending. It was almost like reading it for the first time again.

Hygge: The Danish Way to Live Well by Meik Wiking // Read in translation: Hygge: de Deense Kunst van het Leven, translated by Barbara Lampe // ★★★★★ // This book encapsulates everything I love in life. Just everything. 

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi // Read in translation: Als Adem Lucht Wordt, translated by Anneke Bok // ★★★★★ // I can’t tell you how emotional this auto-biography made me. If you don’t know, this is Paul’s story: a neurosurgeon diagnosed with lung cancer.

I started watching 13 Reasons Why in the past week! I still have about 4 episodes left, and I haven’t read the book, so no spoilers please. This show has definitely made me think about how every action has consequences, but also about how the way we view events and actions is really clouded and subjective. 

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That was my week! How was yours? Did you read, watch or do anything fun? I’d love to hear about it! 

Weekly Wrap Up | March n° 4

Eragon (Inheritance Cycle #1) by Christopher Paolini // ★★★★.5 // I’ve been wanting to re-read this series for ages, and finally decided to do it. I adore this series so much. The reason I gave this book 0.5 stars less than the others, is because it was his debut novel and he was only 17 years old or so. The writing in this book isn’t as amazing as it is in the next ones. 

Eldest (Inheritance Cycle #2) by Christopher Paolini // Read in translation (Dutch): Oudste, translated by Erica Feberwee // ★★★★★ // I wanted to continue the read, but my copy of the book is in Dutch and the library didn’t have the English one at the moment. Keeping my 2017 goals in mind, I decided to re-read the second book in Dutch. Absolutely loved it, I will definitely take a look at other books Erica Feberwee has written or translated. 

Brisingr (Inheritance Cycle #3) by Christopher Paolini // ★★★★★ // I can’t believe how much his writing has improved by the third book. How epic this series really is. I finished this one on Friday, and am planning on starting the fourth book this weekend.

NOTHING BUT YOUTUBE VIDEOS. With all that heavy re-reading, I didn’t have time to watch anything else!

But I’ve been getting back into beauty and lifestyle videos, which I’d been neglecting for a long time now. Some of my current favorite channels are Rachel Talbott, The Michalaks, Samantha Maria, Gothamista, Beauty With Emily Fox, Caroline Hirons, Joan Kim, Tashina Combs, The Anna Edit, Hot For Food, and Cheap Lazy Vegan.

What have I been doing this week? 

Not much. I’ve been reading.

I’ve been preparing for my first move. If everything goes well, I’ll be moving out (for the first time) in May. So I’m slowly packing things up. I know it’s early still. But I work full-time, and I don’t want to have to rapidly pack everything in the evening the week before I’m moving.

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That was my week! How was yours? Did you read, watch or do anything?

Weekly Wrap Up | March n° 3

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater // ★★★★★ // I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I’d been meaning to read more Maggie Stiefvater books, and this seemed like a great place to start. It was epic. I was a tad confused at first about the water horses, but grew to absolutely love the story and characters!

The Sword of Summer (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #1) by Rick Riordan // ★★★★.5 // I finally read this! I really, really enjoyed it too. I like the diversity added, and I loved Sam as a character. She was such a bad ass. I know next to nothing about Norse mythology, so I learned a lot from this! I do want to do some research separately though. Anyway, great start to the series.

Red Rising (Red Rising #1) by Pierce Brown // ★★★★★ // Wow. I finally read this. Man, it was epic. This thing is so violent though, that it makes a rebellion seem a lot more realistic? I liked Darrow as a character too, especially because he wasn’t truly likeable. That made him feel so much more real, and like someone who has lost as much as he has. I’ll definitely be continuing the trilogy! This actually reminded me of Das Experiment, the movie they made about the Stanford prison experiment in the 70s. 

I watched Star Wars episode IV: A New Hope for the first time ever. I actually enjoyed it, which I didn’t expect!! I’m hoping to watch the next one today or maybe in the coming week? 

On Saturday, I went to Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in Concert! If you don’t know what that is, they play the movie but enact the music out live. It’s performed by an orchestra and a choir, and they play the music from the movie live.

I’m hoping to be able to move to my own apartment in May. It’s not 100% sure yet, but I have high hopes!

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So that was my week! How was yours? Did you read, watch or do anything fun?

Weekly Wrap Up | March n° 2

The Exiled Queen (Seven Realms #2) by Cinda Williams Chima // Read in translation: Koningin in Ballingschap // ★★★★★ // I really wanted to continue this series, but I only had a copy of the first book. I’m trying not to buy so much, so instead I took a look in my local library. Turns out they have the series, translated in to Dutch. I was curious whether I’d still enjoy them, and I really did. I loved it! I’ll definitely be getting the next books from the library too. Maybe one day I’ll buy English copies to match the first one I have, but for now I’m quite happy reading the translations.

Etched in Bone (The Others #5) by Anne Bishop // ★★★★★ // My most anticipated book of the year. I read it in one day because I just couldn’t stop reading. I barely did anything else that day (outside of my work day obviously). I adored it. I can’t believe Meg’s story is finished now…

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli // ★★★★★ // Another one of my most anticipated books of the year! And another one that didn’t disappoint. Another one I read in one day. I nearly cried because of how much I loved Molly. 

The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows by Ava Lavender // ★★★★ // I’ve been meaning to read this book for ages. I did enjoy it, but man, it’s so SAD!

The Girls by Emma Cline // ★★.5 // What a disappointment. I’m glad I got this from the library instead of buying it. It’s a story about a 14-year-old girl who gets involved with The Girls, and a cult. It’s boring. It’s so weirdly focused on sex that it made me uncomfortable. It’s literally on almost every page, and this girl is barely 14?

I bought myself a new monitor, big enough to make blogging very easy -and to watch movies on.

I’m full of hope. I saw a beautiful apartment, and I’m hoping to be able to rent it. Fingers crossed, I guess we’ll find out this week.

The weather this week has been kind of beautiful? Especially this weekend. It’s sunny, but still chilly. The perfect first days of spring.

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That was my week! I didn’t talk about watching anything, because I didn’t. I was too busy reading. How was your week?

Weekly Wrap Up || March n° 1

His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet // ★★★ // I picked this up at the library because I thought it looked interesting. It’s like a fictional true-crime thing? I know that didn’t make sense, but it’s the best way of describing this. I just didn’t connect with it at all. Not bad, but not as good as I was expecting it to be. 

Black Heart (Curse Workers #3) by Holly Black // ★★★★ // I really enjoyed this ending to the trilogy! Cassel has my heart.

One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus // ★★★★ // A review book I really enjoyed! I’m thinking of making a video review on this too, in addition to my written one (which I still have to write). I kind of agree with the pitch of Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars. Although you could also say that it’s kind of The Breakfast Club meets Gossip Girl. 

The Magician’s Workshop (Magician’s Workshop Vol. 1) by Christopher Hansen & J.R. Fehr // ★★★ // A review copy I’ve been reading for a while. I’ll have a full review for this one up soon, but I just didn’t love it. It’s certainly not a bad book. I just didn’t love it. 

I watched the new episodes of Riverdale. I don’t agree with the erasure of Jughead being aromantic & asexual, but I do have to admit that I really like the show -and Cole Sprouse.

I re-watched one of my favorite animated movies yesterday, just because I could. If you don’t know, Anastasia is one of my all-time favorite animated movies. I have loved this one since I was a kid.

What happened in real life? 

I was my brother’s birthday. 
We’re going to the restaurant today to celebrate my cousin’s birthday too. 
I’m still on the hunt for an apartment. It’s stressful: SO MANY CHOICES TO MAKE.
I got a second library card from the library of the city I work in (Leuven). It has a much bigger English selection than mine does.

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So that was my week. How was yours? Did you read, watch or do anything? I’d love to hear about it! Have a great week, everyone. 

Weekly Wrap Up | February n° 4

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson // DNF // This book just wasn’t for me. I made it to page 133 before deciding to continue. I think I can actually see why people love it as I think the writing is really unique, but it just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t invested in the story, nor in the characters, and once put down I didn’t feel the need to pick it back up. 

A Conjuring of Light (Shades of Magic #3) by V.E. Schwab // ★★★★★ // I read this immediately when it was released, to avoid all spoilers. I took my time though, as I read it in 3 or 4 days. I absolutely loved the conclusion of this trilogy. Yes, it was long, but it never felt dragged out -in my opinion. I’m excited to see what V.E. Schwab will do next.

Wicca: Guide for the Solitary Practitioner by Scott Cunningham // Read in translation – Dutch // ★★★★ //  An interesting non fiction pick, right? I was never raised in a religious manner, and know next to nothing about it. I’ve also never been attracted to any of the biggest religions, as I feel no connection to them. While I didn’t agree with everything in this book, I did find a lot I could relate to, understand and get behind. I’ll definitely be reading more on Wicca, (Neo)Paganism, Druidism, etc. If you have any recommendations, feel free to let me know!

I didn’t really have any time this week, so I just watched the new Shadowhunters episode, and rewatched some of my favorite Skam ones. 

I had an interesting week at work today, as the event we’ve been working on for 2 months finally happened. I’m quite happy and proud with the way it turned out! 

Other than that, not much happened this week!

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So that was my week! How was yours? Did you read, watch or do anything? I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!