Hi,
This is my July wrap up. There is a lot of dystopian novels on this because of summer reading that school has asked me to do but there is also some fun reading in there. For TV shows I'm only including what I finish in the month, so I'm currently watching Ackley Bridge but it doesn't finish till next month so it'll be in my August wrap up.
BOOKS
The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood
This is one of the main texts we are studying for my English Literature A-level and while it was very enjoyable it gave me horrific nightmares and really freaked me out. If I didn't have to for school I wouldn't have finished this book despite finding it enjoyable because of how much it got inside my head. Apart from this I did really enjoy this book, Offred was a great main character because her reactions felt very realistic. The pacing was brilliant, I was never bored even when very little was going on. Overall I'd give this book three stars because I didn't like the lack of explanation for the society that Offred lived in and because it really freaked me out but I can absolutely understand why it's such a classic in the dystopian genre.
The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
This is another book I read for school. It's around 50 pages long and therefore I read it in one night. I think if it had been a full length novel I would have enjoyed it way more than I did. The basic idea was brilliant and so ahead of it's time talking about technology taking over our lives, however it felt a bit rushed and I think the plot would've been much more gripping if the characters were more developed. I still really enjoyed it, it was the first dystopian that really made sense to me that I've read for school. Due to all of this I'm giving this book 4 stars.
The Memoirs of a Survivor by Doris Lessing
I have very mixed feelings about this book. It is once again a book I'm required to read for school. I really wasn't sure what was going on at any point and it annoyed me that there was never any explanation as to why England had become like this. However the characters in this book were so rich and detailed, to me this book was about what it's like to be an adoptive parent and I think it will really speak to anyone whose life is effected by adoption. I would definitely read another book by Doris Lessing I loved her style and felt she really understood people and their emotions. I'm going to give this 4 stars because it enthralled me from beginning to end.
We Should All Be Feminists
I recently got a free 60 day trial with scribd and saw this was on so decided to give it a listen during my six hour car journey. It was a great book especially in audiobook format, her voice was lovely and it helped to keep me engaged. One of the best things about this book was that at no point did it make men the enemy. I would absolutely call myself a feminist and this was my feminism that Chimamanda wrote about. I loved this and will definitely be buying a physical copy. It is a 5 star read for me, in fact, I am hoping to make my boyfriend read it as I am determined to make a feminist out of him yet.
Teen Titans: Raven
I was so excited for this book. I love Teen Titans, Kami Garcia and Gabriel Picolo however I'm not a massive graphic novel fan. I thought this could be the first graphic novel I loved unfortunately it wasn't. the story was good, I just find the characters very 2 dimensional in graphic novels. I will be reading on in the series but only if I can get it from the library. It was the only book I completed during The Reading Rush even though I did start two other books during the week. I'm giving this 3 stars, it was enjoyable but not incredible.
FILM & TV
The Stanford Prison Experiment
During the last week of school my psychology teacher showed us two films this was one of them given the experiment is key to our specification. I was looking forward to this movie as it has a great cast such as Ezra Miller and Thomas Mann but everything about this movie fell flat. It was so dull and repetitive. I'm giving it two stars.
Suffragette
This was the second film we watched in psychology, not really sure why. I've already seen this movie and it was still alright when watching it a second time. Some of the scenes with Maude's child made me tear up and the ending was very emotional but once again the film drags a bit and doesn't have enough action nor character development to carry the story. Worth watching once though if you are interested in the women's suffrage movement. I'd give this film 3 stars.
Katherine Ryan: Glitter Room
I loved this so much. I laughed from start to finish. I watch a lot of comedy panel show on the telly and so I feel like I know her. She was so feisty and feminist. Will definitely be re-watch this with my mum at some point. An easy 5 stars.
Gavin and Stacey
Every British person knows about Gavin and Stacey and with the release of the Christmas special coming up I figured that I wanted to be involved in the hype. I enjoyed the show but didn't think it was anything special. It's one of my mum's favourites and I enjoyed the episodes I watched with my parents more as I often find comedies funnier when watching them with people. My main issue with this show is that I hated Stacey everything she did annoyed me. A solid 3 stars will definitely watch and enjoy the Christmas special but don't really understand why it's so iconic.
Dark Shadows
I really wanted to watch this film when it came out, I don't remember why I didn't but it's always been on my radar though by now I'd forgotten the premise. I wish I'd forgotten I wanted to watch it honestly. I was genuinely excited to watch it after all this time but it fell so flat. The characters were very two dimensional. The romances didn't make sense, surely the witch should be over him now and not force us to watch the world's worst kind of sex scene, and him and Victoria were so insta-love. My main issue was that it hadn't worked out whether it wanted to be a drama or a comedy so it ended up being neither. Not worth watching 1.5 stars.
Spider-Man: Homecoming
I've been meaning to watch this for ages, so when my friend asked me to see the second one with her it was obviously motivation to watch it finally. It didn't disappoint. I'm not a massive marvel fan, I love the x-men movies but for the most part they are quite meh for me. If all marvel films were more like this then I would be a massive marvel fan. What was different about this film to other marvel movies is that I felt the characters actually had depth, I'm excited to see their development. The film also made me laugh multiple times which is rare for an American movie and it was still so intense during the action and drama, I actually started to shake during the car ride on the way to homecoming. All in all a great first film therefore 4 stars, I think this trilogy will just keep getting better.
Spider-Man: Far From Home
I loved this film so much. My prediction above was correct this film was way better than the first. The characters became much more fleshed out with the most adorable awkward interactions between MJ and Peter. Zendaya was on 'Shake It Up' when I was little so I've been shocked at how amazing of an actress she is. The main thing about this film was that I thought I was hilarious, I laughed from start to finish. It was exactly my sense of humour. This film was the perfect marvel movie, definitely a 5 star film.
Modern Family
The tenth season of Modern Family finished coming out this month in the UK and I have to say I think this was one of the best. For a while Modern Family took a dip but it is back to it's original quality. I know next season is the last which is upsetting because this is a show I love watching with my family but it will be good to go out with it still being top quality. This season I loved all the storylines. Joe is my favourite character by far I think he is hilarious plus the season finale was such an incredible parallel to the first ever episode. I'm giving this season 5 stars, every episode is a delight.
Big Little Lies
The first season of this show had my family hooked but I'll be honest I was worried they were dragging it out too much by having a second season. However, this season was incredible. Everything about this show is perfect. I'm invested in every single character, the relationship between Madeline and Ed was flawlessly executed. Every sub-plot was important and interesting. An amazing show, 5 star.
